Somewhere far away from Lineir's adventures, another pillar crumbled. Of the One Hundred and Four Pillars which held the world together, only one hundred and two remained. Many magical beasts, and even some of the more perceptive mystics and eccentric hermits felt a strange twinge deep in their Second Hearts and cores. The natural order had become disturbed and was roiling up. They didn't know what this meant, but the strange feeling brought a tear to their eyes.

"You broke the Second. I'm amazed you got this far... but I don't have any words for you this time. When you go to kill my sisters, remember that my curse is upon you, as is the curse of my first sister. Everything you do is part of the plan, your wicked intentions are simply souring your karma. The Mistress of Fate ascertains all things, and you are still part of her plan."

This second maiden was the same as the first as she cursed the white robed man, proud and unwavering in her belief of the order of Fate. She too lay there bleeding as the first, as the misty screens behind went wild, displaying scene after scene which should not be. In the final one, a boy in the belly of a beast flying above a beautiful river showed before the screen winked out. The white robed figure, stained in even more crimson than the first, was expressionlessly standing over her body.

"The Mistress can only hold sway over what she can see. But as the pillars fall and the time of end nears, will she still be able to control us all? I don't think so." He walked out with no fanfare, he had long since grown used to these things. Great cracks rent the entire pillar as ever larger chunks began to shake and tremble and fall. Heaps of rocks crashed down, and it was as if the time of end had already drawn near to this place. All things come to an end, and this pillar which had stood for eternity had finally been subjected to the workings of time.

Rumble...Rumble....Rumble...

Falling fragments of the heavenly pillar graced the air and tumbled down to the world of mortals below. However, as they fell, they broke and skittered across an invisible barrier dividing the Heavens and earth. So they would stay until the Great Seal of Fate was unable to maintain their weight.

Scitter, scitter, scrabble, scrabble

Peice after peice of fallen pillar rained down and began to gather in piles on this invisible barrier. Below, in the world of mortals, for a second, the light of the heavens dimmed, but this was only for an imperceptible moment to most. To a chosen few however... this moment might as well have been eternity. Great figures which had slumbered for eons felt this flicker, and in the lack of the light of the Heavens, stirred. This was their time to awaken, and they were so very, very hungry...

In the darkness of the belly of the serpent, Lineir floated, painfully half aware of his surroundings. The acidic stomach juices would slowly digest him eventually. He didn't have any energy left to resist. While he didn't know it, the False Water Serpent had begun to fall back down to the river, its spectacular jump exhausted. However, at the height of its arcing flight path, it had blocked out the midday sun from below. As it fell though, for an instant, the bright rays of the sun were distorted and they dimmed though the serpent had long since past the peak of its flight.

This meant little to Lineir though, who enveloped in a lightless place suffered unimaginable pain as his skin was stripped off. He would not give though and beg Mei to stop his heart, this was his path. The path of surviving till the last moment possible, until nothing could survive anymore, and then some.

"Disciple, I cannot bear to see this, soon, the bareness of your muscles will be visible, and then your bones. Let me end your pain!" Mei cried out, helplessly, she felt no small pain at the hideousness of Lineir's skin slowly dissolving. This was a terrible death to watch even for someone as experienced as her. At least in a fair fight between cultivators, most duels would end quickly as one was instantly destroyed. This slow painful way to go was just too much. Lineir could only answer in his mind, his lungs were filled with spent air and water, he hadn't taken a breath since entering the pool of acid.

"Mei-Mei! Don't you dare let me die prematurely, if you respect your disciple at all, Mei-Mei!" At that moment, Lineir felt a great tug in his Second Heart. The attractive force increased ten fold, no a hundred fold, no a thousand! The red colored element in his body surged and began to swirl into his center at his words. However.....

His statement shocked Mei, but simultaneously something even more shocking occurred. From outside, a booming deep thunderous noise, like the cracklings of an entire storm's worth of lightning at once came.

GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

With a huge cracking noise, Lineir smashed to the bottom of the belly, the great swirling vortex inside of him stopped as he was violently cracked against the inner belly. The red elemental energy receded back into his veins as the pull went, and on his burning eyelids, a light fell. From whence he came, the neck of the beast, the glaring light of the just setting sun was seeping in, an entire chunk of armored flesh had been punched through as one might stab through a bottle to leave a gaping hole in the neck.