480 [480] The Crystal Palace.
It was a palace. A grand palace.
The walls of ice were carved in intricate ways to possesses a grand beauty, and the sheer size of the construct was massive.
Alan, gasped when he saw the sheer size of it. In front of him, the water level remained the same, but there was something different.
A throne of ice, behind which were multiple crystals i an orderly fashion, designed to enhance the grandeur of the frosty throne.
The stairs leading up to the throne were quite peculiar. Instead of regular steps, they were carved in like the bodies of snakes piled on top one another, leading towards the elevated ground that held the throne.
The entire area seemed to possess an ethereal aura, something which pierced into his body…but that was not what he was looking at.
Behind the throne, was a statue. But it was not the statue of a king or an emperor.
But it was of a snake, made from white jade with green emeralds, as large as cars for eyes.
The snake’s head and a little bit of its upper body were visible, but the rest of the body was shrouded in darkness, behind the throne. Was it endless? Alan didn’t dare try to find out.
‘…’
He gulped, as a strange pressure enveloped his being. Cautiously, he walked forward, looking everywhere in order to not be caught off guard. The water level remained the same, and Alan reached the first step, surprisingly, it was not slippery at all.
The round body of a snake and the texture of it made it appear like it would be a chore to walk on it daily, but that could not be further more from the truth…it was quite rigid. His feet felt like magnets attracting iron, giving him a stable grip on the floor.
He proceeded. The second step, the third, the fourth and so on, all this time, his attention was on the snake statue made from white jade behind.
‘James…’
He knew very well who it belonged to, or rather signified. And that irked him to no end. Who knows…maybe that damned statue could come alive and try to eat him. Knowing James, it was not wrong to think so.
As he made his way up, he paused, a certain thought was given birth in his mind. 𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚
‘Wait…is this not a floor?’
He wondered, the last thing he remembered was that he passed out, like usual when he cleared a series of floors… But what floor was it…?
‘Six… Six… Sixty? No, I can’t be that far ahead…right?’
His head began to hurt, but he kept trying to remember. Which fucking floor was it?!
“SIXTY!”
He yelled in triumph as he bashed his head against the stairs, this was a strange and dangerous act, but at least it brought him some clarity. He wiped the blood from his cut head. The stairs beneath him were fine. It was surprising, although he didn’t have his mana with him, the stairs which were made of an ordinary material in his eyes shouldn’t be untouched.
Maybe this entire domain was special.
Standing face to face with the throne, a strange feeling encompassed his heart. He looked at the statue, in case it moved or not. Peering right into its eyes for a second, seemingly lost within them. Snapping out of it, he looked at the throne once again.
There was… a certain desire within to sit on it. Like it was… his throne. A throne meant solely for him, a dragon. The desire was like a silent ember at first, but soon became a raging fire.
But, he suppressed it.
“That statue…”
Alan didn’t dare look up again, he had an inkling that staring at the statue was what brought forth that desire. Carefully, he examined the throne. It was cold to the touch. Sitting on it would probably freeze the arse.
The throne had special indents on it, small cavities which seemed like they were supposed to hold something, the size of the cavities suggested it was probably gems or gold. Which were more likely to decorate a throne. But…something seemed odd to Alan.
Alan went behind the throne, keeping an eye on the statue, but making sure he didn’t gaze into its eyes. The crystals behind it were smooth.
“What is this?”
He muttered, as he found strings of letters behind the throne, on the crystals. They were foreign to him, consisting of symbols he had never ever seen before. Whatever language it was, it didn’t belong to Earth, that was certain.
Alan touched the symbols, and all of a sudden something happened. He could…understand the letters.
The crystals reflected his glowing eyes, and because of them he was made aware they were like that.
The letters reorganized themselves, The language seemed so familiar to him now, like his tongue was made to speak it, and only it. Only that language was worthy of his speech.
“Humans…”
The first word was deciphered.
“Domain.”
The second one.
“Special power.”
The third and fourth. And so on.
“To dominate…or is it rule?”
Slowly, connecting words appeared between the main words. Forming a proper sentence.
“The special ability of Humans… To create a domain to rule over.”
As he spoke, the space shook. The crystals seemed to come to life, and the throne began to glow a blue hue. Veins, like thunder, appeared on the crystals and went towards the throne. The throne became a beacon of light, but that was not it.
The veins spread out from the throne, and encompassed the large space. The entire space began to shine. Each and every vein seemed to possess its own…uniqueness. One that Alan couldn’t quite pinpoint right now.
Before Alan could even admire it. He felt his heart being gripped. Shivers ran down his spine as he followed his instincts to hurriedly turn around.
But it was too late, and his body was thrown against the hard crystal wall.
This content is taken from 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝑚