Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

At first, nothing much happened. The Qi in the area refilled the void left behind after the explosion, but then, instead of settling down, it became agitated, beginning to spiral.

The pile of black crystals was in the middle of the storm, but by the time the others noticed it, it was already a raging hurricane.

“Get back!” General Red warned and they took a step away from the storm, watching wide-eyed.

A dark mist covered the cavern, attracted by the storm. That mist, as it condensed, began to heat up, turning crimson.

“Is that…?”

“Blood!”

The black shards rose into the air, the Qi pouring into them, as they began to heat up and glow. The mist intensified, turning into a blood cloud. Lightning began to spark, shooting bright white tendrils to anything nearby, oftentimes striking the glowing molten remains.

A roar suddenly became heard, a sound transmitted directly into their minds which they couldn’t force out. The roar of a wild beast, containing with it rage and pain. With it came a pressure, a force threatening to crush their bones, yet at the same time preventing them from moving. And the storm continued, raging, with no end in sight.

More and more crystal shards joined the fray, swirling in the mist, all of them merging into a glowing white blob until it reached a certain size, after which it rapidly transformed, growing a skeleton. It was large, incredibly so, like the bones from a prehistoric beast, glowing with power and heat.

The blood cloud became denser and hotter, destructive lightning flickering out of it and striking stone. The Skeleton inside was struck as well, clouds of smoke bursting out from where it struck.

“What the hell is going on?!” General Orange shouted.

The material the mansion was made of, the light-colored rock that did not belong in the Underdark, began to crack apart under the assault of the lightning and heat, with tiny glowing particles separating from the stone and merging with the skeleton.

The blood cloud and lightning wrapped the skeleton, turning it into a glowing crimson sphere. The Qi in the area began to swirl, layering itself around the sphere like the shell of an egg. It became dense enough to see with the naked eye, like wisps of smoke over the glowing core. Then, suddenly, it was sucked in, and the sphere contracted, compressing from dozens of meters in diameter to just a few. Then it elongated on one side, more closely matching the shape inside.

Under the watchful eyes of the six Cultivators, the egg-shaped object dimmed, its outside layer hardening as it cooled down, and remained floating in the air just above the rubble.

The roaring sound gradually ceased, replaced by silence.

For long minutes nobody moved even though the pressure on them was gone. They didn’t even dare to blink, waiting for something to happen.

Something did.

The cavern shook again and the egg exploded with a roar from the inside. A figure, completely red and bathed in flames, emerged.

[So I have died… again.] Gerald grunted, examining his hands. [Rebirth through flames. What a cumbersome process.]

“Gerald? Is that you?” Sunfire called quietly.

The figure floating in the air looked nothing like they remembered. First of all, it was naked. Its skin was red and instead of nails, it had black claws. Two horns grew from its head yet it had not a single hair on its body. Instead, it had a tail, and on its back, wings.

But that was all so different than before.

There were no scales. It was not like the previous Dragon form. This one was elegant, gentle, regal almost, yet completely inhuman. Everything except the face was unrecognizable, and even that was not the same. The eyes, for one, were completely black and without eyebrows.

The… being, looked at her. She felt as if getting her Soul pierced by the gaze of an ancient beast.

[Hmm. I guess I am.]

The woman gasped, approaching. “What happened to you?” She tried to touch him, but the flames surrounding his body were too hot, with flickering lightning inside, so she stayed her hand a safe distance away.

[I guess you could say I…] Gerald began and a tiny point of energy began to gather and spin at the tip of his index finger as he examined its shape. [I was reborn. Improved even.]

His expression changed and he pointed the finger at her, the tiny sphere at the tip of it rumbling as energy spilled into it.

Sunfire’s heart skipped a beat as the ball of Qi was pointed at her, yet she didn’t move.

Gerald grinned at her and then pulled back, reabsorbing the energy. [Better. Greater. Complete. I feel…]

He looked at her, his abyss-like eyes staring into hers.

[Whole.]

Pitiful machine. It attempted to wipe me from existence, yet I endured.

As I looked at my new body, I was intrigued. Red skin. Black claws. Immeasurable strength. Bottomless Soul power. That was my true form after my second resurrection. I was human no longer. I was something… greater.

My bloodline upgraded, merging completely with the beasts I absorbed. We were separate no longer.

The Seed in my body grew, sprouting. The first roots began to take hold. What once was broken, became whole.

I looked at the pitiful humans, trembling before the unknown, and laughed. I was hungry after my resurrection, but not hungry enough to lose my cool. With a quiet grunt, I reshaped my body, my skin growing pale, my sharp claws retracting, and my wings growing smaller, reabsorbed into my back.

Soon I appeared no different from before. A human.

Gerald stared with indifference at the sight of destruction before him. The location marked the place of his death and resurrection, yet at the same time, it hid something more. He looked at his hand, his digits naked and devoid of his precious rings. All his treasures, lost.

With a snort, he stretched his hand, brilliant lightning dancing along his fingers, and drew a line in the air. The reality itself split apart, revealing a black, bottomless abyss. And out came pouring his wealth.

Pills, precious metals, talismans, elixirs, enchanted armor, and expensive relics all came pouring out. Beside them, clanged out a mountain of swords. From the most basic blades to luxurious Spirit Swords worth a fortune, they were a sight to behold.

As the wealth of a small Sect spilled onto the smoldering stone floor, the rest of the Cultivator had no choice but to gawk at the sight. Gerald scanned through the items, confirming it was all there, and then turned to the people present, scanning them as well.

[I need a ring.] He stated.

Silence hung in the air for some time as his piercing eyes moved from one to another, making them uncomfortable. Though his eyes appeared normal, they struggled to forget the black orbs he possessed previously.

“Here…” Astrid did the first move, taking one of her storage rings, and handing it over.

Gerald soundlessly lifted his hand and the ring floated over, slipping on his finger on its own. With a momentary burst of power, a new owner was established and the treasure was permanently removed from outside influence.

One by one the swords and gear began to disappear as Gerald brought his hand over, before tossing his two Spirit Axes to Astrid in exchange for the ring. He might have been just resurrected so his emotions were somewhat muted, but that didn’t mean he would stay in someone’s debt. The axes more than paid for the ring.

Astrid, having just received the weapons, quietly gulped. They were more than her salary would bring her in months. Even if the pay wasn’t anything much, what she just gained in exchange for a simple storage ring was still too much.

Under the jealous gazes of her team, she quickly stored away the items before any of them had the gall to complain. Not that they had the time to.

Minutes after Gerald’s return, sounds reached from the ruined entrance, shambling, groaning figures coming to light.

The warriors working under General Orange appeared from the tunnel leading to the underground city carrying green glowing lanterns. The environment was kind of dim after the blast, so I threw up a ball of light, letting it hang under the ceiling and illuminating the cavern.

I heard movement behind me and heard sounds I did not recognize. As I turned, I saw a bunch of armor-clad figures shuffling out of the broken mansion entrance. I squinted at the group of humanoid figures as their brass-looking armor became bathed in the radiance of my light.

There was something severely wrong with them. The movement was off, some were missing limbs, chunks of flesh, and a select few even parts of their face. Among them were even some larger creatures in a similar state, the broken limbs held together by that dull golden metal. I could hardly believe my eyes.

I simply stood my ground and watched as the creatures shuffled past me, moaning and growling, with an ever-increasing gait. Most of them ignored me, though a few slowed down, turning to look, and stretching out their grubby hands. They came against a barrier and after struggling without results for a while, continued on their path.

I was undetectable to their small, beady eyes, but the group of foot soldiers on the other side of the cavern were not. General Red and General Orange shouted something at once at the site of those creatures, the Cultivators preparing for a fight.

It quickly became… messy.

As the first spell was cast, the shambling bodies seemed to awaken, like dying men injected with stimulants, they shrieked and accelerated, throwing themselves at the enemy without a shred of self-preservation.

The yellow indestructible metal clanged against the Spirit Swords, protecting the wearers from mortal wounds while at the same time offering a way to break through established defenses. The cavern became filled with screams and blood.

I took a step, stretched my hand, and caught a nearby straggler by the shoulder. The creature turned, its sunken, half-rotten eyes opened wide. The mouth, broken, and barely hanging on by some torn muscle strands, was opened wide revealing shattered, jagged teeth.

A gurgle escaped from its throat and some clearly toxic gray liquid began to drip down.

[What… is a zombie doing here?] I said, cocking my head to the side.

The monster screamed and threw itself at me, only to freeze in the air as my energy took hold. My eyebrow shot up as I willed it over, examining it up close. Rotting flesh, broken bones, torn pale skin… It was a corpse. A living, breathing corpse. But it also had a Soul. How very peculiar.

The zombie growled, spitting and clawing at me ineffectively. Squinting my eyes at the unholy creature, I squeezed.

Bones popped and rotting flesh and blood leaked out of the body, yet the thing didn’t die. Even as I squeezed harder, its heart and brain turning to mush, it tried desperately to reach me, its Soul stubbornly refusing to separate from the flesh. That was, until I crushed it completely, removing any semblance of a human body.

However, as soon as I devoured the newly freed Soul, my gaze shifted towards the ceiling, to the kilometers of stone separating us from the outside world, and I understood.

[So that’s how it is…]

Hearing a now familiar growl behind me, I slowly turned, noticing another zombie trying to reach me. I already began to extend my hand to burn it to ash, when another thought occurred to me. Instead of attacking it physically, I opted for a different approach.

Superior Soul power encased the foreign Soul desperately clinging to the corpse, and began tearing it out, roots and all. The zombie screamed as if in pain, howling as loud as it could, and then with one final pull it fell silent, collapsing to the ground motionless, as a corpse should be.

My face carried a thin smile as I took a walk among the dead, the living corpses screaming their heads off, before eternally falling silent.