Myriad Rivers to the Sea

The temporal ejection immediately threatened to tear their bodies apart. The forces pulling at them were not just spatial but temporal. They were being dragged back to their proper place in the timeline, not that they knew that.

Garrick roared and pushed his Qi outward and was trying to maintain a protective dome. But the pressure was simply too immense. Tiny cracks spiderwebbed across his glowing barrier.

Before the dome could shatter completely, a brilliant light erupted from Li Yu's chest. His Koi Soul emerged on its own. The majestic Koi swam through the violent temporal storms. It opened its mouth and exhaled a shimmering translucent bubble that completely enveloped both Li Yu and Garrick.

Inside the golden bubble, the violent shredding forces instantly stopped. The transition smoothed out entirely. Garrick was once again surprised that this soul could stabilize them where he couldn’t.

They floated through the dark passage for an unknown amount of time. Once the temporal shift was finally complete and they were safely anchored back in the present timeline, the Koi Soul looked tired. Its scales dimmed slightly before it turned and swam directly back into Li Yu's body.

Garrick immediately took over the duty. The Great Sage expanded his own domain of Qi once again to shield Li Yu from the environment they had just entered. Li Yu looked around and his eyes widened in wonder.

They were not in a realm at all. They were floating in a twisting and folding space that was not like anything he had seen before. One moment they were surrounded by a crushing darkness that felt completely empty. The next moment, the space around them erupted into a blinding explosion of vibrant colors. Swirling nebulas of raw energy washed over Garrick's shield like ocean waves.

Up and down were completely meaningless concepts.

"Where exactly are we?" Li Yu asked as he was looking at a distant streak of silver light that folded in on itself.

"This is the space between realms." Garrick explained. His voice echoing strangely inside the Qi bubble. "It is the cosmic void that separates the different realms and dimensions. Not many people truly understand it and I sure do not either. It is a place of raw creation and destruction."

Garrick crossed his thick arms and looked out into the shifting colors.

"I can exist here just fine and I can travel around in it." Garrick continued. "But unless I am actively guided by something or pulled by a specific dimensional draw, I have absolutely no idea how to navigate it. It is like being dropped into the middle of an endless ocean without a compass or the stars."

"So what do we do?" Li Yu asked.

"I will just take us to the closest realm I can find. That will also rely on luck." Garrick stated confidently. "I will wander around and hope to bump into something solid. Hold on."

Far away and in another completely different place within the cosmos.

Inside a lavishly decorated private chamber, Khaos and Kaia were lying naked under a thick silk sheet. The room was warm and smelled faintly of burning incense. They were wrapped tightly together and sharing a passionate kiss.

Kaia ran her fingers through his dark hair pulling him closer. Suddenly Khaos stopped. He pulled back slightly and his dark eyes flashed with a faint purple light. He looked past the ceiling of the room, his senses expanding across the vast expanse of the cosmos.

He felt the distinct temporal shift. He sensed Li Yu's foundation stabilizing in the present timeline. The young wanderer was finally back.

"They are back." Khaos whispered as a soft sigh escaped his lips. "Our quiet time together will have to end for now."

Kaia frowned and tightened her grip on his shoulders. She looked up at him with beautiful but pleading eyes.

"Could you not stay with me just a little longer?" Kaia asked, her voice entirely soft. "Just a few more hours. I want to go a few more rounds with you."

Khaos let out a warm and booming laugh that rumbled deep in his chest. He reached down and gently brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

"Kaia." Khaos smiled brightly. "Besides eating, drinking and chatting for a little bit, going a few more rounds is literally all we have been doing this entire time."

Kaia narrowed her sharp eyes and scolded him playfully while poking his bare chest.

"It is entirely your fault." Kaia declared without a shred of guilt. "You are gone for far too long. All this time is a very long time to wait for my husband to return. You owe me."

Khaos softened his gaze. A sense of love and guilt washed over him. He understood perfectly.

"I understand." Khaos said, leaning down to kiss her forehead gently. "I truly want to continue this as well. But I have to go back to my duty right now. I need to be there to shield Li Yu and guide him. At least for right now."

Kaia sighed softly but she nodded. She was a warrior first and foremost. She understood duty better than anyone else in the Void Shell Citadel.

"Go." Kaia said to him and released her grip on him. "But you better return to me the moment you can."

Khaos instantly summoned his dark robes. The fabric wrapped around his body as he stood up from the bed. He offered her one last loving smile before his body dissolved completely into dark purple void energy. He vanished from the room in an instant.

Kaia sat up and wrapped herself in a thick dark robe. She tied the sash around her waist and walked toward the heavy wooden doors of her private quarters. She opened the doors and stepped out into the corridor.

Four of her personal maids were standing outside the doors. Their faces were completely flushed and bright red. They were looking down at the floor and were entirely unable to meet her gaze.

Stolen story; please report.

Kaia raised an eyebrow. "What exactly is wrong with all of you?"

One of the braver maids stepped forward but kept her head bowed respectfully. "Matriarch... we need to request that the isolation arrays around your quarters be heavily upgraded."

Kaia blinked and then caught on immediately. The arrays had not been strong enough to block out the sounds of their passionate reunion. The maids had heard absolutely everything. Kaia was not embarrassed in the slightest though. A bright and confident smile spread across her face.

"There is no need to be embarrassed," Kaia told them as her voice returned to its melodic commanding tone. "That is exactly what true passion is all about. Put in the work order for the arrays tomorrow."

Kaia turned and walked down the sprawling corridor. As she moved away from her private quarters, the warm and loving smile completely vanished from her face. Her expression hardened, returning to the serious imposing look of a supreme leader.

Back in the twisting void, Khaos reappeared perfectly inside Li Yu's Koi Sanctuary. He sat down quietly where he always stayed and continued his duty to shield Li Yu from prying eyes.

In the space between realms, Garrick was flying forward through an explosion of green and blue light. He had been wandering around this place for a full three days now. He suddenly stopped and raised his thick hand.

"I found one!" Garrick announced. Li Yu looked forward but saw absolutely nothing but empty shifting colors. "I do not see a rift."

"There is no rift." Garrick grinned, baring his sharp teeth. "There is just a realm boundary here. I can feel the solid wall of laws. We are just going to make our own door."

Garrick pulled his right arm back. His massive muscles bulged and terrifying Qi coated his metallic fist. He let out a booming roar and punched forward with his Dragon Beetle strength.

His fist slammed into the invisible boundary.

The impact created a deafening shockwave that rippled through the space between realms. The solid wall of laws completely shattered under the brute force of his strike. A jagged and chaotic tear opened up, revealing a bright sky on the other side.

Li Yu looked at the shattered dimensional wall and was genuinely impressed.

"You really are incredibly strong, Garrick." Li Yu complimented. Punching a hole directly into a realm without using spatial laws was a feat of unadulterated physical power.

Garrick puffed his chest out proudly. "Of course I am strong, kid. I am a legendary beast. Now hold on tight, this is going to be a very rough landing."

Because Garrick was a brute and smashed his way in, the resulting spatial tunnel was highly unstable. The moment they crossed the threshold, the chaotic energy grabbed them and violently spat them out. They shot out of the sky like a cannonball fired entirely out of control.

They plummeted downward through the bright sky. Below them was a sprawling city built entirely from dark stone and strange organic materials.

They crashed directly through the open ceiling of a colossal building. It was an arena that was easily the size of several city blocks. They slammed into the hard stone floor creating a massive crater and kicking up a huge cloud of thick dust.

Li Yu coughed and slowly pushed himself up from the rubble. He shook his head trying to clear the ringing from his ears. As the dust began to settle, Li Yu looked around and his blood ran completely cold.

The massive open area building was completely packed. There were tens of thousands of soldiers standing in perfect formations. But they were not normal soldiers. They were horrifying mixtures of insects and demons. Some had armored beetle carapaces and massive mandibles. Others had the lower bodies of centipedes and the upper bodies of muscular orc like beings.

It was a major military district and the locals here were going through their daily combat training when two strangers violently smashed through their roof. There was a moment of stunned silence. Then the entire arena erupted into pure chaos. The soldiers reacted instantly and were assuming it was a highly aggressive enemy sneak attack.

"Kill the intruders!" A commander roared from the viewing stands. "All forces mobilize! Defend the grounds! For the Hive Empire! For the Hive Emperor!"

Tens of thousands of weapons were drawn simultaneously. The deafening sound of buzzing insect wings and clicking mandibles filled the colossal arena. Overwhelming killing intent locked entirely onto Li Yu and Garrick.

Li Yu was snapped completely out of his dazed surprise by the specific words being yelled.

‘Hive Empire? Could it be? Was he truly in the realm of Xerxis?’

The massive insect demon soldiers began to charge forward, their spears leveled and their heavy boots shaking the arena floor.

Garrick immediately summoned his massive spiked mace. He stepped in front of Li Yu and was entirely ready to fight. But Garrick also knew this was a terrible situation. They had just violently crashed into a military stronghold. It was completely their fault. Fighting an entire army of this scale would draw out the supreme experts of the realm and lead to an endless war.

"Get ready to run, kid!" Garrick growled over his shoulder. "I will smash a hole through their lines and we are leaving."

Li Yu and Garrick were completely ready to flee. But then Li Yu remembered the encounter back in the demonic realm. He remembered the terrified Hive Emperor begging for his life and presenting him with gifts to appease the hidden experts.

Li Yu quickly reached into his storage ring. He bypassed his weapons and pulled out the single object that might stop the slaughter if they were indeed where he thought he was. He pulled out the dark metal token given to him by Xerxis. It was intricately carved with the shape of his monstrous bee head and hummed with supreme authority, most likely the aura of the Hive Emperor himself.

A massive general possessing the thick armored plates of a rhinoceros beetle and wielding a giant halberd was charging directly at Li Yu. The general was mere feet away ready to swing his weapon down and cleave the intruders in half.

But the moment Li Yu pulled the token out, the supreme aura of the Emperor washed over the front lines. The general felt the aura. His compound eyes widened in terror. He recognized the personal energy of his supreme ruler instantly.

The general slammed his heavy boots into the stone floor, stopping his charge so violently that he tore two deep trenches into the arena. He threw his arms out wide to halt the troops rushing up behind him.

"WAIT!" The general yelled at the top of his lungs and his voice cracking with panic. "Stop before you kill yourselves! Halt the attack immediately!"

The charging soldiers stumbled and crashed into each other. They were confused by the sudden and desperate order. The massive general did not hesitate for a single fraction of a second more. He dropped his giant halberd, letting it clatter loudly against the stone. He fell heavily to his knees and slammed his armored head directly into the ground, offering the deepest bow possible.

The soldiers in the front rows finally saw the token shining in Li Yu's hand. They felt the suffocating aura of their Emperor radiating from the metal.

A wave of dread swept through the ranks. The soldiers immediately dropped their weapons and fell to their knees pressing their heads against the hard stone. The wave of submission cascaded backward through the massive arena like falling dominoes. Within seconds, tens of thousands of fierce insect demon warriors were bowing completely on the ground.

Li Yu stood there frozen in the center of the crater. He held the token up high above his head and was looking like a majestic statue surrounded by an endless sea of subjugated monsters.

Because this was an active military district, the commotion had drawn the attention of the surrounding forces. A constant stream of new troops, elite commanders and high ranking generals poured into the open area building through the massive archways to see what the attack was.

But the second they entered the arena and laid their eyes on the token held high in the air they too immediately dropped their weapons and slammed their heads to the floor.

No one said a single word. No one dared to even breathe loudly. The only movement in the entire colossal building was the continuous stream of new soldiers running through the doors and immediately throwing themselves to the ground, joining the silent massive bow.

Li Yu just stood there holding the token and wondering exactly what he was supposed to do next.