Black Onyx - Phoenix Resurrection

“Let go of my ear! Bastard! Die! Die! Die!” Thalza continued stabbing my body all over as I dragged her away from the poor guy.

I turned to her, released her ear, and blocked the blade with my fingers, pinching it so she couldn’t move it anymore. [Seriously, stop. You will ruin my shirt.]

To my surprise, she actually stopped, but for some reason, that was not the end of it. Thalza released her weapons as her body trembled, crouched down, and then began crying. I curiously lifted an eyebrow as she began to weep like a baby.

She sobbed loudly, with tears pouring out of her eyes. “It’s not fair! I’m trying to kill you and you instead worry about your stupid shirt! It’s not fa-ha-air! I hate you!”

[There, there.] I patted her on the head. [It’s going to be alright, little one. You can tell Uncle Gerald everything.]

Thalza stiffened and then pushed me away, shouting. “Fuck off! Don’t patronize me, you freak! I don’t need your pity! I’m strong!”

[Yes, yes…] I nodded sagely like an experienced elder while giving her some space.

“I’m serious! I am!”

[I never claimed otherwise.] I said.

The Drow continued with her hysterical rant. “I’m strong! I’m smart! I’m useful to my people! I don’t deserve to be here, stuck with you!”

[Well…] I said, rubbing my head. [I wasn’t the one who put you in here. As far as I remember, this was your punishment.]

“Because of you! It’s all your fault!”

[Hmm, I don’t know about that. I’m pretty sure it’s your fault Antasaghar’s flying island was destroyed. If you didn’t tattle on us, maybe you wouldn’t have been in this situation.]

Thalza stiffened. “Wait… The Murtsac Metnalov was destroyed? You are lying.”

[You really should just call it a Flying Castle and be done with it. But, yeah, essentially… It got smashed to bits just before that useless priest of yours locked me in here.]

“No… No, you are lying! That’s Impossible!”

I snorted a laugh. [Why would I lie? I was seconds away from killing Antasaghar after I destroyed his toy, and he looked pissed. You should have seen him. All bloodlust and rage.] I clicked my tongue in annoyance at the memory. [Unfortunately, he used a cheap trick to save himself. After I get out of here, I’ll have to finish what I started.]

“I’ll never let you do that. I’m just a small step away from the Sky Realm. I’ll get out before you do and then I’ll warn the High Priest!”

[I don’t think that’s a good idea, considering you are responsible for his nice toy getting destroyed. I bet he’s already regretting letting you live. He probably can’t wait until you show your head so he can cut it off once and for all.]

“No... he wouldn’t. He wouldn’t do that.” The Drow firmly shook her head. I grinned as my story seemed to be affecting her.

[Are you sure? Because I clearly remember the High Priest dishing out quite severe punishments. I mean, just look around you. This wasteland is basically a death sentence already, even if you don’t think so. You have been brainwashed too much. Just like the Widowmaker.]

“The Widowmaker? How do you… Right, they sent her after you, of course.” Thalza frowned and then suddenly became serious. “What did you do to her?!”

[Apart from saving her?] I laughed. [Did you know that the Widowmaker was originally a human?]

“What? That’s the most bald-faced lie if I have ever heard one. The Widowmaker is a powerful Drow warrior, everyone knows that.”

[Keep telling yourself that, darling. She is a human, or was one at least. Your people twisted her into an abomination. Combined her bloodline with that of a Demon. What fools. They were killing her. Slowly.]

“Lies! All lies! The Widowmaker is a Drow warrior blessed by the ancestors. Her physique is without equal, and there is no way you beat her. You probably escaped before she even arrived, as cowardly humans often do!”

I was rendered speechless for a moment. Then I became mad. [Do you seriously think she could compete against me? Did you not see what I just did? The slaughter and death?! How could you possibly believe one of your weaklings could beat me?]

“Hmph! Just because you can kill a thousand common soldiers doesn’t mean you can go against an elite. And the Widowmaker is even above that. She is a Drow of the highest order!”

I snorted. [Her name is Olivia, you uneducated buffoon. And I will not be questioned by some lowlife that mingles with Demons. Your race betrayed this world, yet you still dare strut around proudly like you own the place.]

I looked at the Drow with contempt, which she returned with just as unkind gaze. [I’ll enjoy crushing your race once I get out of here. And don’t worry, I will not kill you yet. You live long enough to get to watch.]

Silence fell on the land, with only the sound of my footsteps on gravel keeping me company. The wasteland was vast and empty, especially after the few wild beasts were killed. The dim, gloomy sky remained as it always was, immutably depressing in the shade of deep red.

“What did you mean when you said my race betrayed this world?”

[You are still here? I thought you would go your own way, doing mischief or whatever you people do.] I answered Thalza who was walking soundlessly behind me, without turning my head. I kept my senses restrained so I didn’t even know she was behind me. There was nothing to see in the Lower Plane anyway. Just hills of gray rocks and the occasional dried tuft of grass.

I heard her shifting behind me, and soon she caught up to me, blocking my path with hands on her hips. “I asked you a question.”

Continuing on my path without stopping, I nearly passed her when the expression she carried gave me pause.

[You seriously don’t know?]

“Know what?” She frowned. “You can just look into my mind and see for yourself, can’t you? Mister mind reader.”

I shook my head and decided to humor her. [Have you never asked yourself how is it that this world has so little Qi?]

Thalza staggered back, feigning offense. “Little Qi? Sure, this place is deserted, but back home? There is so much Qi everywhere. What are you talking about?”

That statement stunned me, so I took a peak inside her mind and was nearly shocked to death. [Oh, wow. Wow, wow, wow.] She thought that was normal! She thought it was normal that Qi was drained from one place when you Cultivated and that the highest peak anyone has ever reached, the peak of Sky Realm, or maybe the first level of becoming a Demigod... She thought that was it!

[What kind of nonsense are they teaching you guys? How do you not know about the great war 10.000 years ago?] I demanded.

“Huh? The what war?” She seemed genuinely confused.

Unable to contain my curiosity I scoured her mind for answers and found out that the Drow did know about the cataclysm that happened so long ago, but she was completely clueless about her ancestors’ involvement. She didn’t even know that the world’s Qi was stolen!

Sure, the High Elves fought against the Demons with all they had, but their descendants then still decided to mate with their conquerors afterward. Such a thing was nearly unthinkable.

[Then again… It has been a while since then. Bah, I shall not blame your ancestors for doing what they did to survive. However, the fact that you still follow the orders of Demons, the invaders who plundered this world, that I will hold against you.]

“What are you talking about? You aren’t making any sense. Why don’t you start at the beginning and explain it so I can understand it?” Thalza said.

[How about I show you?]

I reached out and grabbed her head, pulling our foreheads closer. As they touched, I flooded her mind with my memories. She screamed, the torrent of knowledge too much for her to bear. But I had no intent of letting her learn to control it slowly. She would have to fly before she even learned to crawl. Or die.

Well, as I expected, the Drow was a fast learner, and soon she was absorbing the memories with just a mind-splitting migraine.

“No more!” She suddenly shouted, and I released her as she fell to the ground on her knees. She was heaving loudly, sweat pouring out of her as she doubled over. Her entire body was shaking and I created a chair to sit on as I waited for her to recover.

It took her about an hour. Time didn’t really mean much in the Lower Plane, but still.

“That was horrible!” She gasped. “Please don’t do it again.”

[Feeling better?]

“Not really…” Thalza mumbled and collapsed on her ass, sitting in the gravel. “I need some time to process… this.”

[The fact that you are working with the enemy?]

“The fact that we were lied to. All of us. I thought the Demons were our distant cousins. I had no idea they were invaders from another world.”

I laughed. [Yeah, believe it or not, you took it quite well. I half expected you to have a mental break or some-]

Thalza decided that that exact moment was the perfect time to faint, and so she did. Her legs almost comically jumped up and then down as she fell on her back and remained motionless.

[Hmm.]

After leaning back in my seat I added a footrest to get comfortable. Being in no hurry to get anywhere, I decided to wait for her to wake up. While solitude was fine, having someone with me to bully was even better. She might as well atone for her sins by being my stress pillow.

The other Drow in my mind were obviously not happy with that arrangement, not to even mention the wild beast Souls that I consumed and stored for later. In total, I had a few hundred Spirit Realm Souls in my Sea of Consciousness waiting to be devoured. They ranged from the First Level all the way up to the Ninth at the peak.

Those guys were really rowdy, even trying to take over sometimes. It was so fun watching them stumble and fall over and over. The inside of my Sea of Consciousness was an even bigger danger than the wasteland around me. It was full of flames and thorns, with rivers of magma and active vulcanos.

In the very middle was a mountain, a single tall peak full of blazing energy and swirling storms, with a throne at the very top on which my Soul sat, skin as red as blood and wings blazing like the sun.

If I didn’t know any better I would say I looked like a devil. Then again, I wasn’t exactly far from it. I had horns and a tail, I was just missing hoves and a goatee.

It gave me an indescribable feeling of satisfaction and power, watching the Souls marching toward damnation, there only to feed my grand magic and nothing more.

“Ugh…” Thalza stirred and I opened my eyes, looking at her. She slowly rose up on her elbows and lifted her head.

[Feeling better? It seemed to me like you needed a nap.]

“Hmm. I’m not going to try and kill you anymore if that’s what you are asking. Still hate you though. Prick.”

[Acceptable.] I said and jumped to my feet. [Up you go now, we are leaving.]

“And go where, exactly?” She said, squinting her eyes. Her skepticism was understandable as there wasn’t much to see in the Lower Plane, and she couldn’t exactly go back to the village. People there kind of wanted her dead, for obvious reasons.

That’s why I enjoyed her expression that much more as I spread out my hands, gesturing grandly. I knew things she didn’t, and that gave me the advantage.

[To find the others, obviously.] I smiled.