God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.-Chapter 788 : To a Damned Soul, The Secrets of Eternity (2).

Cain felt his consciousness drift for a moment.

Or perhaps it was a bit longer than that...

Then it returned.

His eyes fluttered open.

He was still for a moment.

The ground beneath him was cool to the touch, but there was a subtle heat streaming in from every other direction, making it a bit unbearable.

He looked around.

He realized he was in a grand hall.

The grand hall had no ceiling.

Instead, there was a starless void right above him.

He took in a deep breath.

"So this is the final trial..."

He sat up.

His senses spread out.

'There's no one here.'

Susan, Evangeline, Jenny, and Roselle.

He could sense none of them as far as his senses could go, which had increased significantly after {Eye of Clairvoyance} had been replaced with {Beholder's Eye}.

He let out a sigh then slowly stood up.

The hall was void of all decorations and ornaments, perhaps from being ransacked some time in the past.

The walls had turned black with age and seemed on the verge of crumbling altogether.

Even the air here reeked of archaic business.

He frowned to himself, 'What do I do now?'

He turned around. As far as he could see, there were no doors that could take him out of this place, which was odd.

On the other side of the hall was a chair. This chair looked normal.

So normal, it was almost out of place.

'It might be a clue.'

He walked towards the chair cautiously.

Upon reaching the chair, he began inspecting it.

It was made from some dark wood. It had been engraved with a few strange patterns, but nothing that seemed too out of place or magnificent.

Instead, they were all plain, even though he could not understand most of it.

There was one thing he did understand. Engraved into the arched back of the chair, were a few words written in ancient runic text,

"Here sits, for eternity and a thousands year, Siva, the great destroyer, bearer of the eternal Sunflame, and he who shall love forever."

Cain's frown deepened.

"Get your stinky hands off my chair, boy. You'll ruin the painting."

Almost instantly, Cain jumped forward, pulling a sword out of thin air and pointing it at the throat of every had snuck up on him.

His eyes widened.

A pain of bony fingers were clamped onto the tip of the sword.

"Oh? A human?"

Cain's face paled.

He had encountered many creatures, living and what not.

This wa sthe first time he had encountered an actual skeleton. A true undead.

But for whatever reason, this thing was speaking to him like it was every other weekday.

"What the hell is this?!"

The. He remembered...

"The remnant corpse of the God that never dies. Siva..."

The sound of bones clanking together filled the empty hall as Siva took a step forward, the bright flames burning in its hollow eyes focused on him.

'Hot!'

Cain took a step back. Much to his shock, he realized he couldn't pull the blade he had conjured away from the skeleton's grip.

"How intriguing. I am sure that guy must be jumping in his seat right now." The skeleton said after a prolonged moment of silence.

Cain winced as he let go of the metal sword that had now become too hot to hold.

The moment he let go, it turned into a puddle of glowing hot liquid metal, splashing onto the ground with a sizzle.

"So you are here for my trial, huh..."

Cain took a closer look at the skeleton.

It wore a blackened headpiece in its white skull. On its left hand, it wore several rings on its body fingers, and in its right hand, it carried a strange looking pole with something attached to its head. However, he couldn't see what it was, as it was covered by a black piece of cloth.

It looked exactly like the statue!

'The corpse of an ancient god.'

Thsiw as not his first time coming in contact with dead gods and what not, but it still felt surreal.

He couldn't sense anything too terrifying or glorious about this skeleton though.

It looked just like a regular skeleton. However, it was a skeleton that could speak.

"Yes, I am." Cain could only answer as such.

Siva nodded then walked towards the chair and sat down with a sigh,

"Quite frankly, I'd rather not put you through any tests. Knowing how this will play out, I'd rather just be done with it and spare you and I the crap."

"What do you mean?" Cain asked with a frown.

Siva's skull tilted,

"Hm? What do you mean by 'what do I mean'?"

Cain was silent. He had no idea how he was supposed to answer that.

The skeleton sighed,

"Human, there are plenty ways to seek death. Tearing your own stomach with a blade will be far more merciful than the fate you are asking for."

Cain shook his head,

"Enough with the roundabout bullshit. Are you saying it will kill me?"

Siva let out a laugh.

It bounced off the walls before ascending into the darkness above them.

"Kill you? I just told you death would be a mercy, didn't I?"

The flame within his hollow skull burned brighter,

"I will tell you your trial then, human. Your trial, is to bear the burden of Sunfire for Eternity. The moment you are able to do so, you pass. Sounds easy, right?"

Cain fell silent.

"What the hell does that mean? For eternity? That doesn't make any sense."

Siva chuckled then pointed a bony fingers up,

"You... Do you have any idea where you are right now?"

Cain shook his head, a bit dumbfounded.

"You are inside the thing know as Eternity. It if my eternal jailer and master. I am bound to it for Eternity and a thousand years. Fortunately, he isn't very cruel. Look, he even gave me a rather nice piece of furniture of I do say so myself."

The confusion was too much.

Cain sat down, trying to piece his thoughts together.

"Wait a moment, so you are saying my trial is to bear the Sunfire for Eternity, not for an eternity. Is that right?"

Siva fell silent. Then his skull moved up and down,

"I would say your interpretation is spot on. However, I will have to warn you. If you don't want to be like me, you should decline taking this trial and simply take your own life. Consider it the final mercy I can offer a human such as yourself."

Cain went silent.

'I think I get it now. But there's still a few things I need to ask.'

"Is there any way to get out of here besides killing myself?"

The archaic bones clicked together as Siva tapped his bony fingers on his skull,

"Well, there are two that I know of. The first is to successfully complete the trial. However, I'll have to warn you. It is impossible. The second would be to be like me."

Cain raised a brow, "Be like you?"

Suddenly, Cain had an idea.

He activated {Beholder's Eye}.

BANG!

Cain let out a bloodcurdling scream as he clutched his left eye.

A deep sense of weakness consumed him as he fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

"Now, now... Humans truly aren't sensible creatures. Why would you try to peer into the Eternity? Do you not fear madness? Do you not fear the absolute death?"

Cain let out a teary chuckle,

"Yeah, that was stupid."

He took his hand away from his eye.

Staring at the hollow socket let behind with wisps of smoldering blood, Siva shook his skull and let out a sigh. Then he turned his chair around,

"I have some time to rest. Your soul should be spared, so I hope you have a better fate in your next life, human."

Cain was silent.

His healing was already kicking in, but it was not enough. Gritted his teeth, he activated {Blood Restitution}. The healing accelerated.

'I was careless.'

Indeed, he had been.

He had made the mistake of believing what his normal eyes had seen.

'I should have trusted my gut.'

He looked up again.

The darkness above him was indeed terrifying. But was not what had given him this harrowing injury.

The true culprit, was Siva.

The skeleton of the dead god had told him no lies.

Indeed, the darkness above them was its prison, he had seen that much.

However, that was not all.

The skeleton had failed to mention that the darkness above he referred to as Eternity, was him.

The skeleton and the eternal void were the same being, but different representations.

And what linked them together, was a frightening, harrowing wrongness he would rather not recall.

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He clutched his eye. Feeling the blood leaking through the gaps in his fingers made him nauseous.

'When he said I have to hear the Sunfire for Eternity, he was talking about himself.'

Cain gritted his teeth, his expression morphing into a snarl as he glared at the skeletal frame of Siva,

'That's what this trial is about, isn't in? I have to give you your sweet respite by bearing your burden, even if it is for a little while. Fine then, bring it on!'