Re:Immortal

Heaven, that was the realm all cultivators yearned for. It was the goal destination of all, with the promise of immortality it was of no surprise that all earthly cultivators set it as their life goal to enter the celestial realm and ascend themselves.

It was exactly how one would imagine it, in the game Heaven was a domain set above the clouds with floating celestial mountains each different from the other. That was where all the ascended cultivators or celestials lived, each occupying a mountain for themselves. The entire realm was covered in a golden glow adding to the heavenly atmosphere...or so it should have been.

The scene facing Omis was anything but that, the beautiful golden sky was gone in its place black cracks covered the whole realm flickering in and out of existence. The once celestial sky was now blood red with rifts appearing seemingly out of thin air making him suck a deep breath as his stomach fell at the scene.

Turning his attention in front, what greeted him was a cliff, it looks like half of his mountain was missing, seemingly cut clean by a a giant sword. Turning to look behind him, It seemed as if his throne room was the only place that survived whatever hit the mountain and stayed intact, thankfully for him as that was where he spent most of his time cultivating, all his important skill books and most of his treasures were stored there.

Once again looking in-front of him, he found himself standing on the edge. Whatever cut down his mountain clearly took with it his disciples quarters, the beast gardens and the reception hall that used to stand at the foot of the mountain.

A tinge of pain and regret passed through his heart, thinking about the disciples he carefully groomed all the way to the immortal realm, the various beasts he owned. His heart full of regret he slowly walked along the small path that surrounded the palace, the usually white clouds that covered the entirety of heaven was now dyed an ominous dark red, similar yet darker them sky.

Frowning as he looked around, it truly seemed as if he was in hell instead of heaven. He slowly circled the plateau shaped peak, circling the descent sized throne palace. It looked like his mountain got shaved cleanly from all sides leaving a small path that circled the palace.

His sight wandered to the red clouds to his left, 'gasp' a chill ran down his spine as he gazed at the clouds. Something seemed to be lurking down there, and for it to make him feel nervous was anything but a good sign. As he slowly started making his way away from the cliff

ROOOOAARRR

an earth shattering roar that made the very mountain shake as small debris fell from the sides. Omis lightly tumbled to the back, his expression turned ghastly pale, full of shock and fear “That aura! It’s an Immortal Venerable!” His eyes opened wide as a giant fin broke the surface of the clouds apart, followed by the unmistakable aura of a Late stage Immortal Venerable. Omis stood deadly still as the giant fin slowly swam away from his mountain before simply disappearing once again under the clouds.

“Immortal Venerable...” he lightly muttered to himself, it was the realm that preceded the final God realm, if it was a cultivator Omis wouldn’t have been so shocked, no the reason was that it obviously was a monster! And that monster carried a small distant celestial aura!

In the game, no monsters were ever recorded in heavens, there have been three times when the developers launched a server wide event, the purpose was for Ascended cultivators to defend heaven against Demon invasions. He himself have joined all three events and in all three times they have been successful in preventing the invasion.

“Wait, how could I know that it’s realm was an Immortal Venerable?” Usually in the game one could see the cultivation level of the players and monsters one level above oneself and that of all those bellow, in the case that the person is more them one realm above you all you would see is question marks. Yet just now there clearly was no such thing when the thing appeared, he just instinctively knew it’s cultivation base.

Omis shrugged it off for now mentally noting the entire strangeness of the situation. Once again scanning his surroundings, there didn’t seem to be any sign of immediate danger nor was there any other mountain beside the one he was on, the entire place was eerily quiet after the beast appeared and took off. His back was cover in sweat after the encounter with the thing, the wind broke the silence as it howled over the peak making his hair and long white robe flutter. Omis could feel his heart threatening to jump from his chest as he took deep breaths to steady his mind, the calming sensation washed over him once more although it seemed to be less of use this time.

The sensation of the wind hitting his face, his robe dancing along with it all served to solidify the assumption that all this indeed was real. He could clearly remember the oppressing aura the monster carried with it, the fear for his life it was all too real. His stomach fell as he stood there in loss over what to do. Rooted in his place, Omis’s eyes darted left and right searching for something, anything that could explain, maybe help him! Alas there was no one but himself on the peak, behind him, the door to the throne room laid open.

Looking at it and back at the sea of red clouds surrounding the mountain, he gritted his teeth and walked over cautiously to the edge, his heart beating louder each step he took closer to the edge, when he was at an arm’s reach from the cliff he carefully laid on his stomach and crawled the rest of the way.

Bellow as expected was the ominous red clouds, flashes of thunder rumbled down between them, his mountain now akin to a pillar pierced through the clouds, gulp carefully crawling away, Omis then stood up and walked back to the throne room. Once inside he moved to close it behind him, the sound of the wind disappearing as he shut giant door.

Taking a deep breath, “What do I do?” He muttered, “There’s no way I can cross the clouds, wait even if I can why would I? Where would I go?” He anxiously paced around the hall before his eyes shone with determination, “That’s right all the books I saved are here!” In the game, books were used to learn skills, you never really got to read any, one just had to spend a certain amount of time in closed doors to comprehend the book, the so called comprehension was the player opening a book which then rendered him immobile for a period of time, depending on the level of the book the time also varied leaving him defenseless.

Over the course of his nine years in the game, Omis had gathered a ridiculous amount of books and comprehended most of them, yet he never had truly read any. “Perhaps, I may find something that can help me! Yes, I have nowhere to go anyways and the palace is still intact even when the rest of the mountain is gone so I should be safe...” he spoke trying to convince himself, yet it didn't seem to work as his eyes kept darting at the entrance full of anxiety and fear...