Mad God – Reborn

It was early morning when Ren, Ariana, and Kyu finally arrived at Thunder Valley. The once-small town had grown into a giant city over the years. The main roads were paved with cobblestone, and there were even four- and five-story brick-and-stone houses. Not to mention the hundreds of smaller wooden homes scattered everywhere along the many alleyways. The previous wall, built for defense, now separated the inner city from the outer one, where more than 200,000 souls called the place their home. Not only demons, but humans alike. Surprising the trio, a welcoming committee stood in the middle of the city, at the main plaza, ready to meet them. They were Niji, Kang, Pongo, and Uhure, while hundreds of demons watched curiously who was coming to visit, warranting such a delegation waiting for them.

"Let me guess, you foresee us coming." Ren smiled after landing, looking at Pongo.

"A few days ago, yes." The orangutan nodded.

"We heard what happened…" Niji sighed, but Kang was faster. He just stepped forward, grabbing Ren, hugging her strongly, scaring Kyu. She immediately turned into her demonic form, looking at Kang menacingly.

"Don't hurt my Mom!" She roared, but Kang just blinked his eyes, surprised, before looking down at Ren, who couldn't help but smile. Since yesterday, Kyu has only called her mother... and nothing else.

"Oh my…" Pongo chuckled. "Relax, you little furball! Nobody would hurt her here."

"She's right," Ariana whispered to Kyu to calm her down.

"You are…?" Niji watched her with an unshakable trepidation inside his mind. He couldn't explain why, but as he looked at Ariana, he felt... weird.

"My name is Ariana, Master's disciple." She cupped her hands, bowing.

"She is going to have some trouble here," Pongo commented, looking at Ren with one eye... "But nothing that we can't handle. I'll notify the other leaders living here to not cause any trouble." The way she was speaking... Ren knew at once she was clean for the moment.

"Interesting power… The one she had been blessed with." Uhure commented, the only demon amongst the four who was in her human form. "Maybe the pups are going to finally act according to the rules! If not, we could tell them that the dreadful girl is going to take them away while sleeping."

"Hey…" Ariana blinked her eyes with surprise, unable to respond at all.

"Not a bad idea." Niji smiled, crossing his arms. "I had enough with the mischief of the raccoons! They are a pain in my ass!" He sighed, shaking his head.

"I see that the city has grown pretty big. I need to catch up with a lot of things." Ren said, getting out of Kang's embrace. "Of course, I'm not here to butt in as to how you manage it. I just need a place, and that is all. Treat me like any other citizen."

"Your home is already prepared." Pongo smiled as Ren looked into her eyes.

"I remember you said I'd be living here once… did you… foresee this? What would happen?" She asked with a heavy voice as Ariana stepped forward, holding her Master's hand. She was quickly drawing on her own affinity, absorbing Ren's surfacing wild emotions.

"No," Pongo answered, not looking away, keeping up eye contact with her. "What my vision shows me are only snippets, fragments of the possibilities that can happen. I saw you living here. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I see." Ren nodded, closing her eyes and calming herself down. She was smiling at Ariana, letting her hand go. "Thank you for receiving us." She bowed towards the group, and soon they were escorted away under the curious gaze of the onlookers.

The house reserved for her looked more like a tower, four stories high, with a spiral staircase rising up in the middle. The ground level was clearly a workshop, ready to make artifacts, with space to store multiple types of materials. On the second level, a spacious living room took its place with a small kitchen, empty bookshelves, and couches facing the panoramic window. From there, the sun's rays shone through brightly, bathing it in an orange hue. On the third floor, they found their bathroom and bedroom, and when Ren looked at the wide, double-sided bed, she couldn't help but sigh softly. She felt a familiar hand touching her shoulder, but when she looked back, only Pongo stood there, introducing them to their new home.

"What is at the fourth level? And how… Can we get up there?" Ariana asked curiously, clearly loving the new place that she would call home from now on. But the strange thing was, there was no staircase leading upwards anymore.

"A meditation chamber." Pongo smiled. "It is a special room." She walked to the wall, placing her palm on the only red brick in it.

Pressing on it, a hole opened up above them, leading into complete darkness. She just signaled at them, and Ren jumped up effortlessly, followed by Ariana. The room itself was completely dark. No windows or doors were there, except the hole in the ground that slowly closed up after they were all present. When it finally shut close, the cold floor under them lit up with a blue, complex formation, and above them, a star-filled sky appeared as if they were standing in outer space.

"Woah…" Ariana whispered, looking around, amazed by the beautiful images of nebulas, stars, and countless wonders she had never seen before.

"This is…" Ren gulped with a trembling voice as what she was seeing was something she had once also seen with her own eyes. When she still called herself Athos or, as others addressed her, the Mad God. She immediately found herself lost, unable to say anything as her soul trembled, traveling back in time...

It was... the Cosmos... The same thing she had once seen.

…

….

…..

Athos was floating amidst the endless infinity with his eyes wide open. He was unable to take in the scenery before him, as it was too much to comprehend. He was surrounded by the beautiful expanse of space, with all of its wonders laid out before him.

It was the reward that he got when he was trying to figure out a way to prove the other Gods wrong, that their state of being was not the final stop, and that there were still many more things to explore and discover. He traveled far and wide in the realm after breaking up with Nilier. And... As he did so, he found mysteries that baffled him. While the others just accepted it as something… natural, or as if they didn't even exist, he did not.

Something that should not be questioned was nonexistent in his dictionary. Everything has to be questioned! Like... the endless ocean. The thing that was now called the Calm Blue. No matter how far one traveled, it never came to an end. As a God, he took a journey that lasted for 500 years. He was doing nothing, just flying forward, without stopping, without ever slowing down, yet there was nothing. Just the sky and the calm, lifeless ocean. Yet when he gave up and turned around, it only took him a day to reach back where he had started.

Over the years, dozens of similar mysteries drove him almost crazy. It was then that he stumbled upon a revelation. He realized something important after following the clues and researching them for centuries. They were living in a closed-off, separated realm, a plane of existence that had been cut off from the outside world, folded into one, hidden world.

Even as a God, when this revelation hit him, he had a surreal experience as his soul transcended his previous limits. He found himself in a completely foreign place, never before imaginable. He was looking beyond the Sky. He felt the infinite energy that made up the endless universe before him. It was overwhelming.

His mind could not comprehend its vastness or the wonders hidden deep within. Looking back over his shoulder, he saw a small, dim ball of light that he immediately knew was his home. It was where he was born and where he reached Godhood. Looking around, there were millions upon millions of similar worlds waiting to be explored and visited. Some even shone extremely brightly, bathing in the cosmic energies. The excitement was indescribable as he wanted to travel and visit every world he laid his eyes upon, yet when he tried to move, he immediately recognized a major problem… The cosmos was rejecting him.

As it was only his soul out there, it was not so apparent that he was not welcome, but as soon as he tried to move, the space around him turned violent and forceful. It was pushing him back immediately. A cosmic storm began to form, with red, dangerous lightning in the distance, drawn closer and closer by his presence. The cosmos rejected his company, and he quickly realized why. He was not cultivating the cosmic energy found outside, so he was unable to take it in. He was unable to interact with it in any form, and as soon as he tried, it had an adverse effect. Nature was reacting violently to his attempt, trying to expel him back to his own realm.

"I get it now… If I want to see what is out here, I need to start all over again… Good! I now finally know which road is the correct one!" He laughed loudly and heartily. "I'll open up our Sky and train disciples to be ready to travel to this place! Just wait for me to come back! You hear?!" He shouted as he looked towards the endless space, watching the red lightning closing in quickly, coming for his soul to cleanse the cosmos from his 'impurity.'

Athos's soul then slowly returned to his own realm, and he returned to his body, shaking with excitement as he looked up at the blue sky, grinning like a madman. It was the moment when he decided what he would do and started working towards it... knowing that it would end with his own death, but the birth of a whole new era.

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…..

"Master?" Ariana asked, bringing back Ren's thoughts, who shook as her disciple touched her, blinking her eyes quickly, looking around, still a bit dazed.

"S-sorry… I… had some things… that came to mind." She explained as she took a deep breath, collecting herself. "Where did you get this?" She asked Pongo, looking into her eyes, asking about the formation etched onto the floor.

"I saw it." Pongo answered calmly, "I saw it when I was a child. I had an intense vision that came back every day. The same one, over and over again; it was… maddening. This formation always came up within it. Now, I had the resources to build it, and this was the result. I immediately knew what I was seeing was what was hidden beyond our Sky."

"You are right…" Ren whispered. "You are something else, Pongo…" She looked around, and even though the scenery was not real, only a projection by the formation, the energies in the air still reacted to it. It was pure and concentrated in the room, gathering in the middle of it. Taking only a deep breath was already immensely revitalizing, without even starting to meditate.

"Thank you. I am glad you like it." Pongo smiled.

"Ariana."

"Yes, Master?"

"Stay here for a little while and start meditating. This is going to benefit you greatly." Ren said, patting her back.

"Yes." She cupped her hands, feeling a strange urge to start cultivating immediately. When they left, she just sat down in the middle of the room, falling into a trance-like state almost the moment she closed her eyes.

As they left, the bedroom was empty, since Kyu clearly wasn't interested in it. Instead, she took the chance when nobody was paying attention, and she snuck out to explore the new, interesting city by herself. Not even thinking about its consequences, Ren just walked to the window, looking out and sighing loudly.

"This is going to greatly help Ariana. Maybe even more so than the rooms back in the Sect."

"I can draw it for you, and you can send it back to that Sect of yours." Pongo offered it up without hesitation.

"Are you sure?" Ren looked back at her with surprise.

"Yes. I never intended to monopolize it… Plus… I can't make another. Making this was exhausting already; I almost went mad. I haven't stayed sober for this… Well… Since decades ago! It took me five years building it, you know… I just finished it in the previous two days. Now that you are here, my first thing to do will be to go home and take a trip like there is no tomorrow! So don't even bother trying to reach me for at least a week. I'll be unavailable." She laughed loudly before leaving, as Ren just smiled, watching her figure going down the staircase.

"She is a troubled genius." Resonated a voice beside Ren. One that she always wished to hear yet only came to her when she was alone.

"Yeah. But this is going to help Ariana the most." She answered Leinor's voice that came from her left. Yet... She did not dare to look, afraid he would be gone as soon as she laid her eyes on him.

"I am a bit sad that I won't be able to explore the cosmos with you." He said.

"You will be. I'll make sure of it."

"Ren… you can't raise the dead. Nobody can."

"Watch me!" Ren said, raising her voice, snapping her head to the side, yet there was no Leinor there, and she could hear him no more.