Uriel watched as Daeron descended. His will was crushing as a mountain, surpassing the will of the Tyrant himself.
Finally, Uriel watched as Daeron landed a few meters in front of him. Behind him, a few hundred meters away, Cronos observed everything.
"Outsider," Daeron spoke at last. "Which world do you come from?" he asked seriously.
"The Realm of War. The only divine world that still stands and has not been consumed by the Realm of Dreams."
Daeron looked at him, searching for any trace of a lie, but seeing none, he nodded.
"I see you are telling the truth. Then you must have crossed the Endless Hell of Ariel to come to this tomb."
"Not exactly," he replied. "I arrived here more involuntarily than voluntarily."
"Explain."
"Well, to make a long story short: currently, the Realm of War is being besieged by the Nightmare Gates, slowly being consumed. After an accident while defending a continent, numerous Nightmare Gates opened. To avoid death, I traveled to the Realm of Dreams to escape; however, due to interference from the gates, I fell directly on top of the tomb and entered through one of its cracks. Oh, and I also killed a few hundred large monsters in the process, but those are minor details."
Daeron blinked.
"You entered through the cracks and killed hundreds of large abominations?"
"Yes."
"Is this a joke? You're just a transcendent."
"Then believe me, old serpent. Isn't this Supreme Tyrant proof enough that I'm not lying?"
"You were able to kill him while injured and obtain his echo; that proves nothing," he replied shrewdly.
"He has a point," said Shade in his mind.
Shut up, Shade, and let me talk.
"Believe me or not, I don't care. I have traveled upstream to offer you something you cannot refuse, Supreme of the Storm Realm. I offer you the chance for all your people to be free from this cursed place and to live in a better place than this hell."
Daeron narrowed his eyes slightly; his will crushed Uriel, who struggled against it, refusing to be subdued.
"What makes you think I even have any interest in listening to you?"
"You're desperate," said Uriel. "So am I. You can try and fail, or you can listen to me and manage to escape from this cursed tomb."
Daeron fell silent, contemplating his options. After a few moments, he finally spoke.
"I will listen to you."
Uriel smiled.
"First of all, let me introduce myself. I am Lord of Darkness, or you can call me Uriel. I am the bearer of the Nightmare Spell, and currently, I am a transcendent," he expressed.
Daeron nodded.
Daeron looked at Uriel.
"I will listen to you in my realm. Order your echo to follow me," he said as he jumped into the water, transforming again into a colossal serpent several kilometers long.
Uriel sighed deeply.
"Damn, that was difficult. Truly, the difference between a transcendent and a supreme is immense."
Ordering his dark creature, it began to advance, following Daeron at high speed through the Ancient War Cemetery.
...
Quickly, they followed Daeron — or rather, the Supreme Tyrant followed the titanic serpent — across hundreds of kilometers.
For a few minutes, the journey continued until finally they saw it. There were three enormous floating fortresses joined by titanic chains that reminded him of the chains of the islands in chains.
The chains emerged above and below the water. The three fortresses had thousands of awakened and common people who watched over the great river; they prepared their weapons upon seeing a titanic abomination approaching, but upon seeing their ruler, they quickly realized it was not a threat. So they allowed it to pass, lowering the chains countless meters underwater, allowing the abomination to enter.
Once inside, Uriel opened his eyes at what he saw. There was an astonishing number of floating islands that remained elevated above the great river.
The floating islands were connected to each other, forming enormous cities tens of kilometers in diameter in all directions. Even on the very surface of the water, enormous cities rose, made from skulls, hides, wood, and materials they had brought from the Realm of Dreams.
During his journey, Uriel felt how countless eyes watched him. He could feel from awakened to transcendents — there were hundreds of them, even thousands of transcendents, and hundreds of thousands of awakened, and it was only a small fraction of how vast Daeron's domain was.
And this would only grow once the great river stopped, allowing everyone to move freely along the great river.
Uriel set aside those thoughts, turned around, and walked across the mass of tentacular flesh until he returned to the Time Killer, where Cronos waited for him.
"And now what?" he asked, looking at Cronos.
"We have to convince him to help us. It shouldn't be difficult, although there is a small problem."
"And what would that be?"
"Well, there is a strange culture. To earn Daeron's trust, you must defeat one of his subjects in battle. Only then will the king listen to you and decide whether to help you or not."
"Are you kidding me?"
"No, master," said Cronos. His voice lacked its usual amusement.
Uriel sighed.
"Why do I feel like something strange will happen again?"
The journey continued to the center, where a titanic city hundreds of kilometers in size rose, constantly expanding.
Uriel easily sensed the millions of souls inside, as well as the thousands of awakened scattered throughout the enormous city.
Dismissing his dark creature, the journey on the Time Killer continued until they reached the city's dock, where they moored beneath a small, expectant crowd.
"Cronos, Ananke, follow me. The rest wait here," said Uriel.
The two mentioned nodded, following Uriel, who followed Daeron as he walked toward the imposing castle built of ancient stone.
Uriel noticed that the ground was not made of wood but of a different surface.
It must be a cursed-rank abomination that he used to raise his city, he thought as he followed Daeron toward the castle.
The inhabitants looked with devotion at their supreme, the one who had guided them through the desert many generations ago in the past.
"You seem surprised, Lord of Darkness," said Daeron, starting a conversation.
"Yes, I am. I am surprised by what you have achieved, Serpent King. Raising a civilization using the corpse of an abomination of this size and surviving the Nightmare Desert was quite a feat in itself."
"The Nightmare Hell? That's what they call it where you come from."
"Yes, in fact, believe it or not, I was the one who discovered it when I was just awakened. I survived its horrors, and I survived."
Daeron let out a low laugh.
"You are quite amusing, boy. You would make a good jester."
Uriel wrinkled his nose.
"I don't like the role of jester, although if the pay is good, I might consider it."
"You mentioned that you would have something that would interest me. And what would that be?"
"If I say it now, it won't be interesting anymore. I can only say it is something valuable enough to make it worth it."
The conversation stopped there as they arrived further into the city.
The three continued following Daeron toward his palace. The journey was calm for a while, until finally they reached the palace.
The palace was majestic and impressive; it was also practical, perfectly defensible as a fortress, and of course, it was enormous.
Seriously, why does everything have to be so enormous? he thought with some annoyance.
Walking through the wide hallways, they arrived at the throne room in an immense hall.
Light filtered through enormous windows, illuminating the immense hall.
In the hall were several figures, each of transcendent rank, who had lived for hundreds of years, possessing vast combat experience.
Uriel looked at the throne. It was crudely carved from stone — more specifically, it had been carved from a single slab of matte black stone.
Daeron walked to the throne, where he sat down, finally setting his eyes on Uriel and his companions.
The atmosphere in the hall was tense. All eyes were on Uriel, who outwardly remained calm, but mentally was nervous.
"Well, now, Lord of Darkness, son of war. I am listening."