บท 5: Eternal Darkness

(End of Prologue and Start of 2nd Volume.)

Inside Yue's internal world the thousands of arena survivors he'd rescued were coping with the sudden turn of events as best they could, the children were huddled together; the eldest taking care of the youngest.

Some had splintered off from the main group to find their parents with only a select few finding theirs among those saved during the genocide.

Yue watched on, seething with rage, he kept a grip on his temper and told himself to stay calm – he was the strongest one here, it was more than likely that if he died so would the rest – it was a burden that he was not yet ready to take on, he sighed at his own bad luck and stopped his observation of the survivors.

"Tsk, where the hell did that damn thing place us?" Everywhere there was darkness, not even the light of a star was present just the darkness.

Lightly shrugging his shoulders Yue started flying through the darkness, his only indication of movement being the resistance he felt from space as he moved through it – it was slightly comforting to learn that not everything was different to what he was used to.

…

"Brother! Brother!" A young girl knocked on a wooden cabins door – the cabin having been made in the middle of a forest and constructed from the trees.

"Lily…" A young man opened the door with a smile, this man being Yue. "Look what I made!" She brought a small dagger into his view, it was made of iron and couldn't even leave a scratch on his clothing yet to Lily it was her most prized possession. Ruffling her hair he chuckled at her enthusiasm, how many years had it been since he'd been so excited?

Lily was from the group of orphans he'd taken in during the massacre, the remaining adults had decidedly allocated them into families, Lily having only been a baby when Yue had taken her in.

Shaking his head he turned his attention to the darkness outside, it'd been five years since the Genocide, the rage in Yue's soul had never settled however. The fire had merely been cultivated not snuffed.

Within five years the survivors hadn't idled, they'd meticulously constructed a town – using materials from their Spatial Rings to grow crops and create buildings, even the warriors with immense pride had laid down their weapons and helped teach the children. If it wasn't for the raging fires in their souls it would almost, just almost, seem peaceful.

The few with experience in blacksmithing had dedicated themselves to constructing weapons and relics, it had only taken five years for a quarter of Yue's internal world to be converted into a Puppet factory with the most current estimate of Combat Puppets being a million.

It was luck that some of the survivors had Rune Guides in their spatial rings – which one person, an old man who had almost reached a million years in age, specialized in inscribing; for five years he'd dedicated his life to teaching the children who had shown aptitudes for Rune Inscriptions.

There were hundreds of factors which could've stopped this explosive growth to name a few: Had Yue not reached the level of naturally forming resources within his internal world it would've been impossible for either buildings or puppets to have been created, If Old Man Wu the Rune Inscriber hadn't come to the arena and spectated the fights with his family and had stayed at his shop to finish an order it would be almost impossible to know who had the Aptitude to study Runes and who the experience in the profession to promote rapid growth among the children.

It was a series of events which seemed almost too coincidental with the only explanation being 'the cosmos work in mysterious ways, we should not try to understand them but simply work with what we're given.' It was an answer that Yue had disliked – he would never blindly put his faith into the mysterious power of 'luck.'

"My internal world may be able to support the base materials needed for everyday life like the Mortal Empire to the west however we need proper metals and materials to create an army. The million combat puppets are only made of simple Oak Wood and Iron they might be able to contend with those of lower cultivation bases but they'd be of no help at all in the long term."

It was a dilemma, Yue wasn't even sure they'd ever make it out of the dark, let alone form a rebellion with what little influence they had. He could either choice to sit and meditate, his hopes of achieving a breakthrough currently being miniscule, or continue to fly with no direction or indication of where he was going.

…

In a study somewhere within the Library sat Rochu, it had been five years since his 'prey' had escaped from him, Yue had come to his mind many times within the last few years yet a content smile was always on his face at the thought. If there was no news of the brat now he was most likely trapped.

"Master, the 100th check of the Dark Zone vicinity has been performed, as you commanded we have shut down the patrols at the border and have noted Yue down as on a mission for the Library with an indefinite return date." The machine voice came from the kneeling puppet behind Rochu.

"Excellent, if that brat hasn't managed to break out now it's impossible – even I would be hopelessly lost after being submerged in that darkness for so long." A rare streak of fear was visible on his face, it was obvious that he'd experienced first-hand the strange nature of the Dead Zone. "

We hypothesised that the Dead Zone was the Battleground of the Eternal Gods , the records uncovered state that Darkness itself imploded in that space, causing an eternal prison for those unlucky enough to lose their way almost immediately." Rochu reminisced about the past peacefully, a stark contrast to his viciousness prior.

"Dismissed."

…

"Hmph!" A blast of energy stopped Yue in his tracks, this was the first time in five years that he'd encountered any form of life at all, it was such a surprise that he'd even forgot to put up his defences against the blast of energy, luckily it was harmless and was akin to a repellent force than an attack.

"Why does an ant intrude on my sleep? Speak or you and the rest of your companions will die!" A merciless voice, sending shivers like knives into Yue's soul.

"This one did not knowingly intrude on seniors' sleep, I am simply looking for an exit." Yue could sense the disparity in strength, however it was could destroy him with a single breath – the sense of danger was even more than what he had perceived from the Library Spirits main body. "If Senior would allow me to…"

"Silence!" The voice interrupted Yue before he could continue, "Those who intrude on this Gods rest will die!" Before Yue could attempt to dodge a fist was already aimed at his head, threatening to turn his body to dust.

"Tch, you win you crazy idiot!" The fist stopped before it reached his face, another voice rang out from within the darkness - Yue took the chance to try and retreat but no matter how much he tried he couldn't move his body. "It's not use child, once this crazy idiot's aura infected your soul I had already awoken, your body belongs to me."

"Darkness." Yue's body bowed in respect towards the empty space, a shadowy figure appeared before him if it wasn't for it being grey rather than black it would have been impossible to distinguish between the world and it. "Knowledge." The showed figure returned in kind, "Give me back my body!" Yue shouted from within his soul, yet no matter how much he wanted to form true words his body didn't respond to him – it was like he'd become the passenger rather than the driver it was a feeling which couldn't be described and one had to experience to truly know what it felt like.

"It's no use, this body is now mine – it's barely suitable to inhabited by myself, you have done a mediocre job of using my powers to your advantage during my slumber. However all has not been in vain so to celebrate I will not destroy your soul." Yue's body, or rather Knowledge's Body turned to face Darkness. "Old friend, please do me this favour and send the soul of this child away – we have important matters to discuss which are not for the likes of mortals to hear."

"With pleasure." The Grey figure approached Yue's soul which had just been expelled from his former body, his consciousness fading as he tried to crawl his way back only to realize he had no limbs.

Wordlessly Darkness flicked his fingers and the Darkness disappeared, he and Knowledge had also disappeared; he found himself floating through a void… then he lost control.

…

[Asura Intent has transformed, the hosts rage has reached a suitable level and has been transformed into the Asura System.]

[Host currently has no body, searching nearby dimensions for inhabitable bodies compatible with host.]

[Results: 931,134,411. Possible Host Bodies – Please make selection.]

[Host is in an unconscious state due to lack of power, System has made the choice for the Host.]

[Name: Yue (Callum Rose)]

[Race: Human]

[Cultivation: None]

[Abilities: None (Blind)]

[Talent Grade: 0 (Cannot cultivate)]

[Error: Host body chosen is unsuitable!]

[Error Fixed: Talent Grade replaced by Asura Talent measured by the rage of both the Host Body's former soul and the Host's soul.]

[Asura Talent: Kill! Kill! Kill! (A Murderous thirst which can never be quenched!)]

"Wake up you piece of sh*t" A sharp kick landed on Yue's abdomen, the pain jolting him awake to the torrent of notifications in his mind.

"You blind b*stard! Get up and get to work!" Another kick came but this time the foot landed on his face instead, Yue's head was pounded against the wall he had been sleeping against.

Rage bubbled within his heart, he tried to summon his strength to destroy the man yet realized he was powerless. A helplessness he'd never experienced before had grasped his soul tightly and wouldn't budge.

[Mission Given: Kill your Master!]

[Time Limit: 4:00 Minutes]

[Skill Gained: Eco-location.]

[Rewards: Unknown Value]

[Eco-location (Level 1)]

By clicking your tongue against the roof of the Users mouth the vibrations are used upon return to create an image of the surroundings, current images are rough and barely distinguishable – additionally the current range of use is within 1 Meter.

'Useful… But I need a weapon.' Yue remained calm, despite the current circumstances and the sudden appearance of this 'System' it was not the time to be asking questions while he was being attacked.

"Clck, Clck, Clck." As quietly as possible he clicked his tongue in multiple directions to get a rough idea of where he was. The outlines suggested he was in a cell, no chains attached to him however – the man standing over him was sizeable, he could just barely make out that the man was made of fat not muscle, further reinforcing his plan to kill the man.

There was a rock laying 2 centimetres to his left, it was blunt with no jagged edges to make use of. If he wanted to do this he had to act swift and fast, going for a blow to the head to knock the man out before he could react.

"I TOLD YOU TO GET UP YOU PIECE OF F*CKING S*IT" The man roared, enraged that he wasn't following his orders, foreign memories came to mind – the man was drunk, he was a poor man of the lowest caste who had managed to buy him however he hadn't known the slave he had brought was blind, completely useless! From then on Yue became a way for the man to release his stress and tension through abuse.

Counting in his head, Yue waited for the time he knew the man would drag him up – using the force along with jumping he would be able to gain momentum to land a blow to the head.

[Time Remaining: 2 Minutes and 5 Seconds]

"3…"

The man reached down, fumbling to grasp Yue's wrist.

"2…"

He finally grasped his wrist and muttered something incomprehensible.

"1…"

Yue grabbed the rock and the unsuspecting man pulled with all his drunken might, a horrifyingly cruel grin the last thing the man saw before he fell to the ground.

[ Author Thoughts:

Well it's the end of the Prologue! To be honest the story would probably be readable if one skipped here rather than reading the first 4 chapters.

Thanks for reading! (Extra Chapter to make 3 for this week.)

I've enjoyed writing this so far! It's been fun, I hope to keep this motivation as we progress and improve my skills in writing, I acknowledge the errors and mistakes I've made so far when writing and hope to correct future mistakes before they happen! I'd really appreciate the critique, thanks! :) ]