The sky is filled with an uncountable number of clouds, so numerous that it seems like the crests of white waves against the blue sky. This spread out into the horizon as far as the eyes can see.

Two figures floated on the clouds, as white tendrils swirled around their feet. One cloth in splendid white, while the other in blue.

The white figure held a saber, while his opponent in blue a sword. These weapons were not ordinary and had magnificent auras. Auras that easily froze and even killed lesser beings without as much as a blink of an eye.

Above them a vortex was already forming, the energies from this two pugilists created havoc in the atmosphere, too terrible and defying for mere mortals to comprehend.

Their Qi was so tremendous, it circumnavigated the entire world as it spread a million leagues and beyond. The ground shook in response to the oppressiveness.

This world had since lost its inhabitants ages past, nothing lived here, not even insects or vegetation, and all that was left were empty dried out husks.

Over tens of millenniums, it was the survival of the strongest and only these two beings left were the epitome of their own empire. It had been millenniums in the making for them to finally face each other. The world could no longer bear with even each step they make. Hence the time has come to see who shall be the final victor.

“Brother Long,” The man in splendid white finally spoke to the other, “You are the victor, I could never imagine our levels to be vastly different even though you are my junior by more than a millennium.”

With this said the man in splendid white collapsed on his knees, there was no visible injuries nor even blood.

“Brother Hu,” the blue cloth man called Long replied, “It is unfortunate that our society has dictated this ending, victory is but hollow in this dead world.”

“Brother Long, it is unfortunate that I will not even see the other plane, where our ancestors have gone. It would have been a pleasure to enter the halls of Asura. However my soul is no longer whole, there is no means for me to enter the next plane.”

Long looked with a questioning look, even as Hu continued, “Your prowess is overwhelming, and given no choice my soul force was used to counter it. Now there is insufficient soul energy left, recovery is impossible in the Qi-less world.”

Long did not speak further, fully understanding the implications. If he himself had suffered sufficient damaged to his soul, there was no means to recover in this Qi-less world. It would mean being unable to move on into the next plane.

Long was not about to insult Hu, but imparting Qi for his soul to recover. The lines between victor and defeated were very clear, utter destruction would be preferred, over having your opponent show kindness.

A moment later, Hu’s body started to fade, his body was dimming, and soon it became translucent. The surreal image of him flickered a few times before vanishing.

Long sighed regrettably at this, and turned around. With just a thought, he arrive at a blink in his Clan Hall.

There he moved to his garden at the plateau, which overlooked the wide expanse of the Dragon Kingdom.

There he look with sorrowful eyes at the land which bore no semblance to its former glory.

To the east, the edges of a hyper caldera could be seen, lined with volcanoes that constantly spew forth lava and magma in an endless stream. Geysers sprouted and thermal springs boiled endlessly as the aquifer layer surprisingly has not dried up, but made poisonous by the sulfur and other toxic gases in it.

To the west, Tsunamis over a few hundred feet raced over the ocean and crash ceaselessly onto the land, as a result of constant earthquakes that ruptured and split the ocean bed. These Tsunamis gouge out the ocean floor and brought reefs and corals the size of mountains onto the shoreline.

To the north, a Hyper Hurricane system constantly swept the earth bringing lightning and thunder the made a spectacle of light and sound. The endless rains flooded the once fertile plains of this region forming raging rivers. The unstable pressure system cause massive tornadoes a few leagues wide that plunge through the water logged land, digging up debris and leaving a path of destruction behind, coupled with the unbelievable wind speeds of the Hurricane, the tornadoes raced throughout like a bat out of hell.

To the south, laid the burnt out land of ashes. The environment was grey everywhere, not even a piece of charred remains of the once magnificent forest could be found. Everything that could be burned was burnt, river streams were dried and the surface long since cracked becoming sandstone, legacy of the massive drought which last for centuries absorbing all the moisture and bringing raging temperatures which could incinerate any living being.

This planet is dying, and has been so since the early footings of beings with the ability to absorb Qi. With each new generation the surrounding Qi has been absorb endlessly.

What once was the world’s ability to auto-replenish its Qi, from the soil to the vegetation to the microorganisms that lived in the surroundings became totally destroyed, as the power of the Qi absorbing beings became immense, the land could not even recuperate itself. The continuous absorption created patches of dead zone, and with each generation, duels to claim new living land increased.

Genocides were widespread across the stars where clans fought to gain new Qi zones, until the entirety of the world and its colonies had not a single source of Qi left.

In its dying breathe, only two were left, the final legacy of two clans, the Tiger and Dragon clan. All former glory gone in ages past, even now only one reigned supreme, but it was a tasteless victory.

Long entered the clan seclusion zone, and started to meditate. Soon in no less than two centuries this world and its colonies will end. Its ending will create a chain of events and lead to a hyper-nova in the galaxy.

This was not a small world, it was huge in comparison to its colonies which only span 5,000-10,000 leagues, and this world is 1 million leagues in circumference. Its sun was only 10 times its size.

It was the capital of the known system, which encompasses a network of other colonies within various solar systems that has long since been exhausted of Qi.

With the collapse of this world, the impact in its system will gouge out a substantial portion of its own sun and create a chain event leading to an enormous after effect that will destroy a massive part of the galaxy it was in.

Long needed time in seclusion to gain a new form of awareness, in order to avoid perishing with the world.

Even with unparalleled abilities, this was the only way to ensure his soul survived and moved on.

For no less than a millennium Long never went overboard in all his duels, and allowed his opponents a fair passage to the afterlife.

Hu’s soul destruction, was extremely regrettable. Even if his soul was not excessively damaged, there was simply insufficient Qi repair it.

If it was ten centuries earlier, it could have been avoided due to lingering Qi, which could repair it.

Now Long was all that is left, and he thought of stories told since his youth. It was of a myth passed down through the ages.

He was not even sure, if this was true. It spoke of how the last person standing in the world, will receive a special gift.

It was the gift from an entity called ‘The Creator’, and it made the last individual attain soul-deity.

The super-natural law of the world, did not allow souls who have moved on, to re-enter this plane of existence.

However ‘The Creator’s’ gift supersedes this law. It allowed one who have attained soul-deity to be reborn.

With this in mind, Long entered seclusion.

Copyright © 2015 Loke Weng Tuck. All rights reserved.