章 3: The Sacred Beasts Of Feng Shui
'But why will the First Order Supreme Judge want to see me?'
Daniel thought to himself as he sneaked a peek at the middle-aged man reclined behind the table.
After several fruitless train of thought, Daniel finally gave up on overthinking things and simply decided to ride whatever wave came his way.
His gaze once again swept across the entire study; it was indeed very simple and plain; the bookshelves had an ancient scent to them and some night imperceptible carvings that almost didn't glow.
However, when his gaze landed on the table at the center of the study, Daniel couldn't help but marvel at its exquisiteness; it seemed to have been carved directly out of the upper parts of a tree.
The area just beneath its flat surface and legs weren't just flat like any other table, instead it was curved just like that of a branch.
Furthermore, there were also parts of the surface that was bumpy but smooth, as well as other areas where it seemed like some branches had been clipped off.
However, captivated Daniel the most wasn't this exquisiteness, and neither was it the little plants growing on the legs of each table; but the four different colored flames dancing at the edges of the table.
These flames weren't attached to any form of lamp or candlewick, they were just hovering just off the table surface.
Entranced, and as if being enchanted, Daniel gradually walked over to the table to took a closer look, and gasped; right there, within these flames were the images of four different beasts that seemed alive since they were actually moving, albeit on the same spot.
Are those…?"
Daniel marveled at the phenomena; the first flame was white with a tiger-looking beast prowling about within it; yawning silent roars as it emitted a very ancient and predatory aura.
The second flame was black, and within it was a turtle, floating about as its serpent-like tail kept baring its fangs at him.
The serpent's eyes gleamed in restrained fury as they stared directly into his; but the turtle's dome-like shell on the other hand, kept gleaming with a sturdy, impenetrable sheen.
Awestruck and hypnotized by these mysterious creatures, Daniel hurriedly looked toward the third flame. This flame looked like those that surge out of every volcanic lava-pops; red-hot and erupting.
With every eruption, the tip of the flame transforms into the image of a bird with its wings spread out in a majestic manner as it screeched out a silent cry against the heavens.
Daniel's eyes dashed toward the last flame, anticipating another mind-blowing experience.
This last flame was green in color, and within it was an archaic creature; a beast with features that shouldn't be possible.
A serpent with limbs, and a head with what seemed to be sentient tendrils or whiskers.
This serpent did nothing but coil itself and hovered within the flames as it gazed at him with its flaming, soul-sucking eyes.
It emitted an aura of benevolent holiness, but hidden deep within this heavenly aura, was an ominous aura of utter savagery and domineering tyranny.
The mystical holiness emanating from this serpent almost compelled Daniel to bow and worship it, while its domineering loftiness made him subconsciously portray himself a lower creation.
However, these flames suddenly flared and Daniel's vision changed in a blink of an eye.
Looking around, Daniel realized he seemed to have been transported into the depths of a dense jungle with towering trees and dense foliage that stretched into the distance beyond his vision could span.
Then a deep but low growl floated over from behind him, followed by a heavy gust of wind that shook him off his feet.
Turning around, Daniel got the shock of his life; standing right there, in front of him was a massive tiger that was staring daggers back at him.
It was in an aggressively stance, with eyes filled with bloodlust, baring its shinning metallic fangs that were about the size of a Greek pillar at him.
The tiger had silver stripes, and its retracted claws were even bigger than his entire body length.
The tiger slowly pawed its way towards him, and Daniel legs automatically turned to jelly as he felt all the strength in his body vanish.
The sheer amount of bloodthirsty aura coming off the tiger left him horrifically helpless.
Schweein!
The tiger's claws suddenly popped out of its paws, and instantly, Daniel turned around and fled for his life, but before he could even take his first step, an overwhelming force rammed into him from behind, sending him skidding several hundred miles within seconds.
Daniel was still tumbling into the distance when the smell of the sea assaulted his nostrils, and before he could even register what was going on, he felt himself roll off a cliff and descend through the air at insane speed.
For a moment, Daniel managed to steady himself, however, what he saw next almost made him piss himself.
Rapidly approaching him, was the surface of an endless ocean. Thinking back to how he had died, Daniel couldn't help but scream in horror as he approached the ocean surface at a speed more than ten times when he had fallen off the massive tuna.
Broom!
Strangely, what Daniel had anticipated didn't happen, and instead of slamming onto the sea surface and splattering like egg on a metal surface, his entire body stabbed straight into the ocean waters and sunk him to its depths.
Braah!
Failing to learn from his past mistake, Daniel tried to scream once again, but only found himself gobbling several liters of ocean water as he continually sank toward the bottom of the ocean.
But just after sinking midway through the ocean floor, he suddenly felt the entire ocean shift around him.
Quickly, Daniel managed to steady himself to observe his surroundings, and the moment he did so, two massive flaming eyes suddenly snapped open right before him, causing him to lose control of his bowels.
Screaming for the third time, Daniel once again drank a few more liters of ocean water.
'It's the black turtle!' He exclaimed in terror as he turned to flee once again.
Upon turning around however, the ocean water suddenly began to spin and swirl, and before he could react to the situation, Daniel found himself sinking to the bottom of a massive whirlpool.
But before he could reach halfway down, a strong vibration spread out from below.
As he looked down to see what was happening, the only thing he managed to see before getting impacted was a massive pillar of water erupting from the depths of the ocean like a geyser.
Boom!
Daniel was shot out of the ocean like a comet, tearing through the sky in a tumble as he approached an unknown destination.
Breeze battered his face, leaving him breathless as he tried to reorient himself.
Before he could gather himself together, Daniel suddenly felt the surrounding soar at frightening speed.
The farther he traveled across the sky, the hotter it became, and soon enough, he began to feel like he was flying into an overheated oven.
Looking ahead, he saw a gigantic volcano whose peak pierced through the sky.
The volcano was ejecting insane amounts of plumes, and with each puff, a new patch of cloud seemed to form in the sky, joining its peers.
"Ah!"
Daniel screamed his lungs out when he realized he was heading straight into the mouth of the volcano, and as he approached, he began to feel seismic vibrations rippling across the area.
The seismic vibrations were so strong that they made the air around him tremble and churn aggressively.
Then just as he arrived at the mouth of the volcano, a massive pillar of magma suddenly erupted into the sky carrying a level of heat that threatened to sear the entire heavens.
'Too hot!'
Daniel lamented in horror a burst of heatwave buffeted him, threatening to blast him into oblivion.
But just as he thought the worst was over, another seismic vibration suddenly rocked the entire atmosphere.
'Fuck me sideways!' Daniel cursed his luck.
If he had been too close to the previous pillar of magma, right now, he was directly in its path.
Boom!
The volcano swelled to almost twice its size, before erupting with an earth shattering blast. However, this time, there was no magma; instead, it was a gigantic flaming bird that shot straight into the sky.
Daniel watched in horror as the bird approached him like a bullet train, with its massive beak pointing straight at him.
Bang!
Daniel felt the force of a freight train ram into him as he shot into the sky like a bullet, tearing through the clouds and exiting the atmosphere entirely.
Less than a breath later, his body finally slowed to a stop, however, instead of falling back towards the ground, Daniel strangely found himself suspended midair.
It took him a few seconds to finally realized that he was now in space, as a dimension of heavenly bodies greeted his vision.
"Wow!" He couldn't help but exclaim, despite his current situation.
The sight his vision was currently beholding was just that mesmerizing. Being at such proximity with galaxies of stars and auroras spreading as far as his eyes could see, Daniel couldn't help bust bask in the momentary reprieve.
In the face of such mesmerizing sights, Daniel was compelled to look around, and just as he turned around, he suddenly found himself staring at a massive serpent head with eyes that seemed to reflect the entire cosmos.
Rrrr!
The serpent seemingly bleated as a blast of air buffeted Daniel.
Strangely however, instead of getting blasted or tossed into the void, a gust of energy gently washed over Daniel.
This gust of energy was so refreshing that he felt his soul tremble and groan in euphoria.
In the next moment however, the massive jade serpent swiftly turned away, and just as he was about to sigh in relief, he suddenly caught the serpent's tail whipping toward him with lashing speed.
"Yeah right. Like it would be any different."
Daniel didn't even bother to scream and simple gave up, spreading his arms wide as he welcomed the incoming whiplash.
However, just as he was before he got lacerated into oblivion, a booming voice suddenly rocked the entire void, calling out a simple reverberating command;
"Wake up!"
Instantly, everything around Daniel vanished as he once again found himself back at the study.
Daniel quickly checked out himself, but he couldn't find or feel any damage whatsoever. It was almost as if everything he had experienced up until now were mere illusions; or were they?
His eyes shot straight toward the table, and he could see the four flaming beasts looking back at him. However, there was something about their gaze that made a vein bulge on his forehead; were these assholes... gloating?
Daniel almost erupted into a savage fit. He wanted to hurl pages upon pages of curses at the shameless beasts; however, the middle-aged man's visage came in between him and the table, causing him to stare daggers at the man.
"Ho ho. Easy there tiger."
The man said in a soft and disarming tone that caused all of Daniel's pent up anger to vanish with a puff.
"To be able to peer into the consciousness of the Four Sacred Beasts of Feng Shui and survive, I must say, I'm really impressed." The man said with a slight smile.
Daniel stared at the middle-aged man, and after several scrutinizing looks, he was still unable to find anything over the top or out of the ordinary about him.
Though he was very handsome, not overly so; he looked athletic, but nothing like a body builder.
The strangest thing however, was that Daniel could tell that, hidden beneath all that façade was someone who had the power to obliterate an entire planet with a sneeze, if he wanted to.
He couldn't tell why exactly, but the man seemed like someone who hides himself quite deeply.
"Sorry, but who are you; and where am I?"
Apparently, whilst his anger might have vanished, his frustrations was still at an all-time high.
"I'm the Supreme Judge of the Netherworld, but you can call me Yama. As for where you are, this is the Netherworld; my abode, and a place where all souls return to upon dying." Yama replied with another disarming smile that calmed Daniel to his lowest.
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