*Ting*

‘Huh?’

*Ting*Ting*

A bell-like sound echoes within my dream.

*Ting*Ting*Ting*Ting*

‘Open your eyes’ A voice softly said near my ear.

Strangely, I did not even feel the slightest danger from the voice and did what it instructed.

I opened my eyes to the voice in front of me.

Darkness as far as the eye could see was the world I am in.

The only distinguishable figure was the dark one in front of me emanating a cold air.

A man, chained by heavens knows how many. Overlapping chains of both big and small, all made from different materials. Ancient glowing symbols, demonic aura emitting runes, and archaic scriptures from who knows where were written upon those chains. But their purposes remains the same. It was to bind and to hold the man in front of me down.

‘Why so serious? Not like I’m going to bite…’ The voice spoke warmly like a small fire in the midst of a winter storm that could not be put out.

My eye concentrated on the figure. ‘Who are you?’

‘Awww that’s cold. Well… This is the first time we are meeting Jin.’ He smiled in the darkness.

‘You are another past me aren’t you?’ I instinctively said.

He chuckled at my answer. ‘*Bzzzt* WRONG! Well… You aren’t completely wrong. Ha ha!’

Although he bears a young voice, it did not feel young. It feels old and carries the experience the ancients.

‘Hey! I am not that old! Just a few thousand years old…’ The man sadly mutters.

I do not know how he knows what is on my mind… But this is ridiculous.

‘Mind asking for your name since you already know mine?’

‘Ah! Sorry about that. I guess it was pretty rude ha ha… My name? Uh….’ He paused for a moment.

‘You don’t remember your name?’

‘Give me a minute. Has been a few thousand years since I was called by a single name. It also been a good few hundred years since I was called anything at all’ He grumbles as he tries to recall his name.

‘Uhh… I was called Aster a millennium ago… before that, I was called Dai… and before that…..’ He continues to ramble.

‘…. What if I give you a name that I can remember?’

‘Oh really? That would be great. Can’t remember my very first name sadly hehe…’ He sticks his tongue out like an innocent child.

‘Hmm… Cyril would be a good name wouldn’t it?’ I suggested.

The man in front of me had a shocked look in his eyes. ‘Ha ha! An old name that I have not heard in a long time!’

‘Hm? Good or bad? Cyril means lord’

‘Hmm… It is good. But not as good as the world I lived in and the name I was called back then. Why don’t you let me show you’ He said. He snapped his two fingers and a blue ring bursted forth from his body using himself as the origin.

I looked to the blue ring to see that it was slowly expanding and swallowing the darkness; repainting the darkness with a breath taking kingdom with a sun shining down directly above us.

A large town built within a semicircle mountain range blanketed in snow that was slowly melting, ice flowers blooming nearing the beginning of a spring like season, and those that lived in the town in that mountain range had houses made out of pure white marble that shone from the rays of the sun.

Outside of the mountain range was a tundra. Just like how the snow was melting within the mountain range, the tundra was slowly transforming into a lush plain. Small patches of red and green started to sprout all over the land and many melted lakes surrounded the mountain range from both inside and outside the mountain range so there was no shortages of water.

But the most amazing place was on top of the mountain range. Everything above the mountain range looked pure cyan. Even the snow that fell upon the land on the top of the mountain could not help but to turn into a bluish hue. The main reason being was what lies upon the peak of the mountain. There on the peak stood a castle made of crystal and ice. The castle itself could be called an ice palace. This was where we stood. Both the man and I stood on the rooftop of the upper most floor of the castle.

When the blue ring finally stopped expanding, it came rushing back to us at high speed and a great cold wind crashed into our bodies the moment the ring bypasses our bodies returning to its origin. At the very origin was no longer a dark figure. But a man dressed in colors of winter sitting on a throne made of frost and ice.

‘Heh… Like it? This was my kingdom before I died.’ He smiled.

‘Wow… This could be called a fantasy land! You must’ve been a great ruler!’ I exclaimed.

‘Conqueror’ He said to me.

‘Huh?’ I didn’t think I heard right. Conqueror?

‘My name was Cyan in my youngest years. I am the Cyan Conqueror which was my full name and title... But I am not a ruler.’ He bitterly said.

‘Why is that?’ I asked.

He shook off the chains, hopped off his seat to walk to the east on the very edge of the rooftop. ‘Take a look around. What do you see?’ Cyril then waved his hand and arm along the horizon all around us.

My eyes scanned the land to find what he was trying to imply. I didn’t understand what he meant for a minute. Only after some time passed did I realized what he meant. ‘A desolate land. No matter how beautiful it is, it is like a painting of the beginning of spring without the breath of life.’

He nodded and sighed because what I said was right. There was no life in the land as far as the eye could see.

‘Did you know Jin? This land was once ravaged by barbarians. It was just purely grotesque because there was nothing but scenes of hell no matter where one looks.’ He said to me while circling around me. ‘I… became a conqueror in hopes of reclaiming the land’s beauty and peace. I’d succeeded. But that path had no meaning for there was no one for me to share it with.’

‘…’

Time quickly skips forward to dusk where the sun became a red evening star almost vanishing from sight.

‘*Sigh* It was not that I didn’t want to share it Jin. But there was no one who would like to share in my ideal. The ideal of everyone living in peace. The ideal of living in a world where everyone wins. The ideal of where everyone is happy…’ He paused stopping directly behind me. Cyril tilts his head looking upward at the red sky with gloomy eyes. Once the sun sets, the red sky turned dark and stars began to unveil itself to the world. ‘Not everyone can be happy… Not everyone can be prosperous… Why? It is because we are human. We have our desires just like the next person. But those desires cannot be shared because we are humans. As humans, we are sometimes selfish and only want to keep things to ourselves. It is not wrong. But…’

‘It takes one person to cry for another person to be happy right?’ I said it plainly. As straightforward as possible. It was also because I once held that ideal that I had to throw it away. How I grew up, happiness is a luxury that only those who had money and power could afford. Pain and sorrow was the miracle soup we had to drink for people like me to grow. Those who saw the suffered could only laugh or say that they were lucky not to be poor. This was their happiness and for that reason it was our sorrow.

Cyril sadly nods. ‘I really… didn’t want to put it that way… But yes. That is the case in most situations… I sometimes wonder if my ideals were really…’

‘There isn’t anything wrong with wishing for everyone’s happiness. It is wrong that selfish people wants to hog that happiness to themselves. For that reason, we change our ideals slowly to be a bit more selfish because we ourselves also wishes for our own happiness’ I said to him. ‘The only time that selfishness is allowed is in love. You cannot share the feelings of love other than the person you truly love. That would be immoral in itself. Even family are not an exception…’

‘… Sounds like you’ve fought over a person with a sibling once.’ He smirked.

‘… I actually did once. But what I had chosen that time… I chose family over the feeling of love and gave up on the girl I liked. I had some regrets. But… at the very least, I did not lose a brother or a sister. Heh heh’ I had to laugh at my own choice at the time. It was… both selfish and selfless. I didn’t want to lose my elder brother over a girl. Strangely enough… my elder sister was a les… you know… and I had to let go of the other girl as well. But… I knew that my older siblings had something I didn’t and so I chose to let the girls go.

‘… You had… to fight with your sister? A les? …. Heh heh. That’s kinda funny if you think about it…’ Cyril chuckled. ‘But to fight over a girl with your brother… assuming it is an elder one… kind of… sad…’

‘Yeah… Life as an underworld ruler and a brother. You eventually know your limits…’ I shrugged.

‘Well… At least… you didn’t pork girls to the fourth digits’ he said with a smile.

‘HUH!? Fourth digits? You sure you don’t have any decimals in there?’ My eyes widen.

‘Eh… Okay… It was the fifth digit if you counted the hermaphrodites who I turned into my slaves. Funny, I didn’t die. I satisfied all few hundred thousands of the girls. Oh! Forgot to tell you, I am a conqueror in every sense of the word. Ah ha ha ha!’ He laughed. The guy was practically a living sex machine! Fifth digit!? Why didn’t he die from over use?

‘I have no comment on that Cyril. But if you did do that many girls, why is it that there is no one in the kingdom?’ I asked.

This got Cyril to stiffen up and his lips quibbled. ‘… I had to let them go. I conquered at least two thirds of the world by myself. But I could never have children because the heavens placed a curse on me. They also killed all the women I had because they wanted to “Test our Love” with their trials and tribulations… So… no children… no wives… no nothing… *Sigh*’

‘Why would heaven do that Cyril? I thought that heaven was a nice place.’

‘You are so naïve Jin. Heaven... The true heaven is a nice place. But those heavens below… not so nice. Religion is an amazing thing and can bullsh*t a lot. I do mean a lot.’ Cyril grumbled.

‘HUH? … Not this complicated heavens again…’ I now sighed.

‘Yeah… Tell me about it. Have you ever heard of the bloody god with a penis head who enforces and encourages sex among all living creatures and ask for money every second? He even has testicles as arms and legs but have no real power. Only reinforces through words…’

‘… No way…’

‘Yeah… Those so called gods exists… Ridiculous right? Religion can sure make up a ton of sh*t and all one has to do is to have enough power to impersonate some of those false religions to create a false heaven… Really scary if you think about it. Which is why… heavens made the messengers and those above messengers of light handle such religion. There is no such heaven with a god like that….’

‘Cyril… Did you destroy such heavens like those?’

‘Of course I did! It was absolutely ridiculous! Something like that should not be reinforced because all it will lead to is regular corrupt tyranny! I've destroyed those types of false heavens on a bi-yearly basis! Which also burned me out in the process…’

‘Why is that Cyril?’

‘… Because I eventually destroyed one of the messenger of light’s child who was trying to be a prick. So then I had to face the father. When I beat down the father, the whole family got together and so I had to beat many more people along the way. Eventually, it led to a whole community versus one. Just so you know, I won but still died…’

‘What happened after you died Cyril?’

‘Sent to hell… Forced my way back up… Destroyed sectors of heavens through-out the many planes all the way up to the fifth plane to make sure it they would forever remember never to do such a bull crap thing for a long time to come… But they still did it after a few thousand years… So I guess I didn’t do it hard enough and spared too much mercy.’

‘Okay… new topic. Cyril. Who are you really? I mean, past me wise.’

‘Uh… Not really past life… but I am a few thousand year old… So I guess I would be counted as a few reincarnations away… But I also have to factor in the fact that I was in another dimension and time flows differently…’

‘!!! …. Getting too complicated… Never mind. Just tell me whatever you can about yourself Cyril.’

‘Uhh… Cyan conqueror… Did over a multitude of girls… maybe one hundred thousand and something girls? I am also a saint… Conquered 2/3 of the globe… and died a tragic death and now bound to many seals. Not that I care. I just chose to be bounded. If I wanted, I could just burst out and rampage again.’

‘Okay… anything else?’

‘Oh right! Time for you to wake up Jin. Remember, you are me. So you can do a few more than the normal person ^.^ so go on and…. We’ll meet again in… a few months?? Ha ha!’ Cyril said and pulled me over to the original spot from where we were standing. He sat back down, re-tied the chains and then slapped my face with a long chain. The slap hurts so much that I did wake up in cold sweat.

‘… Why does it hurt like hell? I thought it was a dream! … Now I want to be a saint. So I can slap those who are asleep in their dreams so they can feel the pain…’ I rubbed my cheek and walked to the bathroom to see that there was a long chain imprint on my face. ‘… definitely want to be a saint…’

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A.N.: Time for a marathon! Hopefully gets up to six parts (two whole chapters) by the end of today.