God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

Chapter 174: The Heavenly Plane...

Somewhere in the 9th layer of the Heavenly Planes, the dwelling place, of Tian, the supreme Golden Heavenly Emperor...

A dungeon created to keep the most powerful and notorious of prisoners, rebels against the emperor who will face their eternal punishment. A punishment of everlasting darkness and solitude...

The warden of this prison, the Nightmarish Abyssal Wyrm, holder of the Devil Eye of Madness, and scryer of the abyssal planes, a creature of the abyss subdued and tamed by Tian, guarded the gates of this prison day and night.

Due to its strength that transcended even the strength of many celestial beings, it was the perfect candidate to guard the famed enemies from all parts of the vast universe that had been conquered by Tian and his army...

Within this dungeon, created with Hell Blackstone, and divine-grade fiend steel, an old withered man sat bound by chains of gold inscribed with millions upon millions of tiny runes wriggling within them. The old man sat in the pitch-black, with nary a change in his movements.

He had been this way for an unknown period. Years? Centuries? Millennia? It was unknown...

He sat in a cell that was made from the same divine-grade fiend steel the walls of the prison were built in.

However, this fiend steel had been treated with the blood of a thousand grade 1 abyssal devils, causing the devil essence running within them to be so pure and concentrated, that even a being as powerful as a Celestial diety, regardless of how powerful, would be torn into pieces, its soul unable to rest, even in death as the malevolent devil essence tears and gnaws at it for all eternity should it make contact with the bars of the cell...

The chains binding the old man were created from material even scarier...

Out of all the cells in the dark and murky dungeon, this cell was made so that its inhabitant would never, ever escape. A cell that was made to never open again. It was obvious that whoever made the cell had no intention of seeing the captive ever again.

That is, until today...

CLINK...

CLINK...

CLINK...

The sound of the sole of a shoe hitting the hard floor echoed within the supposedly eternal silence, rousing the inhabitants from their punishment...

However, every single active here had either gone insane or had found a way to die. Either way, due to the bars created from the treated fiend steel, their souls would never be able to return to the circle of rebirth. Even in death, they would never find release, their souls bound forever within the walls of their cells.

Even in death, their souls would never leave until they served their full sentence...

Their punishment was truly... Eternal...

CLINK...

CLINK...

CLINK...

The sound of footsteps continued to echo within the dungeon until finally, it stopped. Standing before the cell of the old man bound with the golden chains, was a man clad in all black, his face and figure obscured by a shadow...

Once the man came to a stop, one would expect the never-ending silence to resume. Instead, it was replaced with the loud voice, that was still filled with spirit, despite all the millennia it had spent in the darkness...

"Long time, no see, Gabrius..." The Old man bound in chains said, his voice slicing through the thick darkness and silence to reach the black-clad man.

"I truly thought you would have decided to die by now, Skyrim," Gabrius said as he threw the hood covering his old head down.

"Die? Why would I die?" Skyrim said, his voice filled with questions.

"A great majority of those who enter here chose to take their own lives, turning their bodies into torches consumed by their devil flames and turning into god ash," Garbius said slowly. However, this oy caused the Old dragon to burst out laughing, his voice filling up the silent prison.

"Hahaha! Well, sorry for you, but I have no intentions of dying, at least not right now. Besides, what use will it do me to wander around as an old dragon ghost in this smelly cell? I'd rather just sit here and wait..." Skyrim said with a hearty laugh.

Even after so many years, the old dragon had not lost his kingly bearing, his tone and aura still radiating the makings of a king.

"Waiting? Waiting for what?" Gabrius's heart quickened as he sensed an underlying message in Skyrim's words.

However, the Old Dragon simply let out a chuckle before moving a little, his old withered bones letting out ghastly crackles.

"Let me tell you a story, Gabrius..."

"A story?" Garbrius had a frown on his face as he tilted forward, his body nearly coming into contact with the life-claiming fiend steel bars.

"Hahaha... Yes, a story..."

Without waiting for Gabrius's consent, the Old Dragon began a monologue, his tone changing from a vibrant one to a dreamy one...

"There are many planes within the Nomad's domain.

The physical plane, the plane where all of this, our entire existence is placed within, The Spiritual Plane, the plane in which all forms of energy reside, the Aether plane, home to all the creatures and beings of summoning, and the Abyssal Plane, the plane linking all these planes together, as well as the birthplace of the devils also known as the greater void..."

"Within the Physical Plane, resides the five realms of existence. The Earthly realm, The Godless realm, The Godly realm, The Divine realm, and The Heavenly realm, each with smaller worlds of their own within, create a complex network of a near-infinite amount of worlds.

All these worlds have their own stories, their heroes, their villains, their wars, their great magical sages, their master swordsmen, their unique beasts... The list goes on..."

"Of all these worlds, we are currently in the highest of the highest... The 9th heavenly realm. The plane that used to host the rulers of the great celestial race.

On a certain planet in this plane, there has also been a great multitude of tales told in the past..." Skyrim said, his expression unseen due to the great darkness that not even the eyesight of a celestial being could cut through completely.

"What does all this have to do with anything, you old bastard?!" Gabrius said as he banged against the cell bar, a crisp metallic ring cutting through the darkness like a sharp knife.

Completely ignoring Gabrius, Skyrim continued,

"On that planet, before the creation of the lesser realms, there was a kingdom. A kingdom filled with a certain celestial beast race, the Qulins. These beings were holders of divine lightning and thunder magical arts and were rulers of the weather. These beings also possessed great fleshy bodies adding to their incredible magical potential."

'Just what is he getting at? If I remember correctl-'

"Yes... It is just as you remember, Gabrius." The dreamy voice of Skyrim dropped by a few degrees and became incredibly raspy.

"You!"

"Don't 'You!" Me! You were there that day! You saw as that Madman, Tian burned an entire civilization of Quilins, a treasure of our Celestial Beast race, to the freaking ground!" Skyrim let out a wild rage-filled bellow that shook the foundations of the dungeon.

Gabrius let out a sigh as he let his head drop...

"I'll never die. Not until I tear that bastard limb from limb with my claws. I'll bury my spear into his head and stick it into the battleground as a war display. The only way you bastards were able to defeat me and get me into this accursed place was with that abominable trap!" Skyrim continued his vocal rampage while Gabrius remained silent.

Suddenly, Gabrius let out a sigh...

"There is no escaping this prison..."

Skyrim fell silent, "I know that..."

"Then what makes you cling on to life if. Do you know this? It surely can't be baseless hope, as you cannot be so naive." Gabrius said.

"This hope isn't baseless... Don't think my Celestial Beast race is just a bunch of pushovers. Skyrim said calmly.

'He knows something but doesn't want to give too much for fear that he will reveal his secret...'

Gabrius fell into deep thought for a while, allowing the silence of the dungeon to take over for a while longer before letting out a very deep sigh,

"There's a possibility, however how slim it may be, that your grandson, the god killer, is still alive..." Gabrius said after a long pause.

The silence that permeated between the two this time seemed to come alive for a moment...

"What... Did... You... Say..." The Old dragon said shakily.

"A Prophecy... The things revealed by the Records can never be a misinterpretation or a mistake, or even a baseless story... These are the Records of the past, present, or future. Events and knowledge that have existed and will exist and the beginning and end of time." Gabrius said with an air of mysticism around him.

"A Prophecy?" Skyrim asked, his eyes streaming with an intense light that broke through the darkness for the first time in centuries.

"Yes... A prophecy hinting at his revival. His death would forever be recorded in the annals of time, but what if he didn't die that day? What if his soul still roams the endless universe, waiting for the moment to be reborn? What if that moment is finally here?" Gabrius said, his eyes shining brightly.

"But how? How is that even possible?! Even if he revives, how are we to know, and how do I help him?!" Skyrim said in a low voice.

"That's why I have come to you today, Old dragon..." Gabrius said with a resolute expression.

"What are you saying? These chains make sure I won't be able to even smell a lick of mana or Ki. I'm useless right now. To think that I, once called the calamity bringer, has now been forced to this state..." Skyrim said with a mocking laugh.

"You might be unable to do anything there, but there might be someone out there who can. All I need is something. Anything to work with..." Gabrius said softly, his tone nearly pleading.

"Why do you try so hard, Gabrius? What pushes you to go as far as betraying the wishes of the Golden Emperor?" Skyrim asked through narrowed eyes.

Garbrius went silent for a while before responding, "The future..."

"The future?" The Old Dragon raised a brow at this vague answer.

"The future is enveloped in only endless darkness without the existence of a light that only the children of destiny, will be able to produce. If all the pieces do not fall in place, our existence will merely lead toward one end... Certain Doom."

"Why does the future look so bleak?"

"That, I do not know... The Records can show, but not more than the wilder can handle at a time. It also doesn't help that I have used up a fair bit of my time in this plane of existence. Doing more than I can might send me to the grave quicker than I can form a coherent sentence." Gabrius said.

"It also doesn't help that the records won't give me information that it isn't supposed to. I believe I have gotten all of what I should know. The rest can only be left to fate..."

"Fate, huh... What a stupid word..." Skyrim said, a small smile playing on his lips.

"So, will you help me, Old Dragon?" Gabrius asked, his eyes smoldering with a thick dark light that seemed to cut through even the thickest of darkness...