It had been a while since I got a headache in this world. The pain pulsated in my head so hard that I felt like I wanted to pluck my brain and squish it.
As my vision cleared, I realized that I wasn't at the same place.
Lush greenery filled my line of sight. Ankle-high grass with flowers of all kinds of colors swayed in the clear, fresh breeze. The sky had moderate clouds so white they made they sky look like it had multiple suns.
The giant trees just at the edge of the horizon added the perfect touch to the beauty. Even an artist would drop his jaw before the sight.
"You okay? That was scary." Uzzaran asked me.
"Yeah. Just a slight headache. Where are we?"
"Don't know. It looks different from where we were before. Did we somehow return to the world?"
"That might be a possibility."
I remembered what happened before then. The ground just began to shake and then collapsed for no reason. How though?
If we fell down, shouldn't we be deeper under the surface. Then how did we end up there?
The sky shouldn't be visible, yet it was literally clear as day.
"Wait."
It took me a while to notice, but once I looked around, I couldn't see him.
"Where did he go? That, thing?"
"What? Are you worried about him?"
"I'm worried about something, that's for sure... Where could he have gone? I don't see any traces of him anywhere. And it doesn't help that this place is so huge."
"Almost like another world."
What was I even supposed to do though? I was at an unfamiliar place where danger might be lurking anywhere. I didn't even know where to begin.
"What's that over there."
Uzzaran noticed something in the distance. But when I looked over, there was nothing.
"I don't see anything."
"You sure? Because it's pretty big."
"What do you see?"
"I'm not sure. It's like a fog. And something's in it."
I looked around some more and still couldn't see anything.
"What is it doing?"
"Nothing, really. From as far as I can tell, it's the only anomaly here."
Whether it was dangerous or not, there wasn't much else to do. But why was she the only one who could see it? Was it because she was a phantom?
"Probably. But my best guess revolves around the fact that this is the second time I've come to heaven."
That's right. All phantoms have already been to heaven.
Actually, that was the point where I realized just how little about heaven that I knew.
All humans go to heaven when they die. Even if they were evil. From there, their fates are determined; whether to remain and spend their afterlife in bliss, or to return to the physical world as phantoms.
Since it happened to Uzzaran, demons also seem to go to heaven. Does that mean that even monsters might go there?
What's the point of all of it though? Why phantoms? And what does heaven really look like?
Also, I still couldn't talk to Clara nor could I hear her. Why?
I decided to set aside all the questions for later.
"Tell me where it is."
One of her hands creeped out of my back and pointed towards a specific direction.
"Over there."
It was the only clue.
"We're going."
"Is that really a good idea?"
"We aren't here for this. Remember."
"Right."
I was getting side tracked. Well, I didn't even know where the track was to begin with.
I began to walk over to the place where she showed me. All I hoped was to make some progress with, well, anything.
...
"Did you actually send them to the southern continent?" Michael asked the goddess while in her domain of white.
"You already know this."
"I was hoping that someone tampered with my magic. It's not the easiest thing for me to get to that continent unlike the other two. That tower guardian has been doing his job a little too well."
"... The girl you brought, how come you gave her your spear?"
"I have more. Besides, you wouldn't want her to fail, right?"
Before then, she had no expression on her face while speaking Michael. Here, a warm smile appeared on her face.
"Thank you."
"Yeah yeah. I have to go back to wo..."
He was interrupted by a powerful aura that he felt. Then the entire domain shook a little for a brief moment.
"Well that never happened before. What was it?"
He didn't even listen to what she said. He looked annoyed, actually.
"You've got to be kidding."
...
The continent level Heaven's Tower. It stood at the middle of the ocean, far from any land.
Both of it's ends weren't even visible. The top looked like it tore through the sky, for a golden magic ring surrounded the skies around it, leaving some space between the two that looked like a hole.
It had golden lines running across the entire body seemingly in no logical direction, but when you look closely on each one, they seemed to begin at the top and head towards the bottom or vice versa.
The light emanating from the lines glowed even brighter out of nowhere. It looked like a blood vessel transferring something from the sky to the ocean.
The light continued travel downwards until it reached the end of the tower and the bottom of the ocean.
Inside of it, the lines converged into a few that lit up a throne. A human figure made of stones sat on it. He wore clothes like those of kings. He even had a crown.
He was the one referred to as, The Tower Guardian.
When his thrown began to glow from the golden light, he looked up into the sky with an unreadable face, mostly because of his appearance.
"Sometimes, I wish that you had a sense of humour, heaven. Look at what the one you favour has done. Look at what he has unleashed upon this world. Releasing him is like taking the world back to the age before The Falling."
"Gabriel, the world you built is slowly getting destroyed. What will you do?"
...
There was a small demon, around the size of a goblin, that was walking around the forest with a jar of black, viscose liquid.
After every few steps it took, it poured a little of the liquid into the ground, almost like he was doing some kind of ritual.
Just then, he came across something that he didn't expect to see. A Heaven's Tower, this time with blue lines like the one on the other. The same one that destroyed the military kingdom.
A national level.
But the demon didn't know about it, seemingly. He walked to it curiously, then stopped immediately when he noticed the large cracks in the ground.
"That was close. I would've been swallowed by the ground."
Then he heard something, like a high frequency bell sound coming from the sky.
When he looked up, he was caught off guard by the magic force seemingly dropping from the sky.
The lines on the tower were glowing a lot faster, dropping to the ground at incredible speeds.
When it hit, a shockwave caused the demon to be sent back.
He didn't understand what just happened. So he dropped the jar his was carrying and fled away screaming.
After he ran, noises came from the tower. Banging noises.
...
A luxurious palace, one so majestic that you can only hope of living in such a place, with walls made of gold, expensive paintings and other works of art, and servants so many they could fill an entire city.
Not only that, but the whole building by its own looked like a city. It's impossible to see the other end while at the entrance.
It was a palace from another continent. A palace that housed only one person.
With long red hair, no crown, and a presence of a true king, he sat on a throne. His eyes closed, his face leaning on his fist, almost looking a sleep.
Identifications dangled from both of his ears. Death on the left, Primordial on the right.
No words came from his mouth. Only his dark red eyes opened and stared into nothing.
Then the slightest smile appeared on his face, as if he just heard some good news.
That was all.
...
Even after walking for so long, it didn't seem that the sun was going down. Actually, the more I looked at the sky, I noticed how the clouds weren't moving either.
Where was I?
Clearly I wasn't dreaming if you take into account the headache I was feeling.
What happened to Clara?
Ever since I got to 'Heaven', I haven't been able to communicate with her.
That thing...
He called himself Black Death. Where did he come from, and where did he go?
"You're getting close." Uzzaran told me.
I still couldn't see anything. Nor could I feel anything.
"Stop."
I obeyed without a second thought.
"What is it?"
"Movement.It's the fog. Before now it stood still."
"It's spreading?"
"Towards us."
That's what she saw. To me, it all looked normal. Only trees and tall grass in my line of sight. No fog or any other abnormality.
"We're surrounded."
My guard was up. I made multiple layered barriers of protection on me and grabbed a sword, ready for battle.
But there was nothing I could do in preparation for what happened next.