Courting Death System-Chapter 33: Cult

This was Lucius’s first space travel trip and he was very excited, he looked at everything in sight with awe and admiration.

’So this is outer space.’ he thought.

While travelling in outer space, Lucius was shocked to see other people doing the same thing. Some moved from one planet to the next while others flew on different directions with their beasts.

’Amazing. An advanced civilization is truly not to be underestimated.’ thought Lucius was travelling. He saw real gaseous stars, passed by massive planets, making him feel small and insignificant when looking at them but overall, everything in space was beautiful. Lucius’s bird kept flying until he could no longer see other space travellers.

Five days later, Lucius was shocked when he looked at the spiral of dust, stars, planets and other heavenly bodies behind him. It was unlike anything he’d ever seen, so natural, so beautiful and so enormous. The further they flew, the smaller it became.

’Did we leave the galaxy?!’ inwardly exclaimed Lucius in shock and wonder.

...

They flew for another five days and entered another galaxy but didn’t take stops. The bird just kept following behind the Dragonfly like it was chasing after prey.

Now, Lucius was curious and scared about the Cult. People who could travel from one galaxy to another without any troubles were definitely not simple people.

...

After a thirty days trip, they finally reached their destination. They flew towards the dark green coloured galaxy, everything about this galaxy screamed danger, the complete opposite of the first three galaxies they’d flown past.

The Dragonfly led the puppet bird deep into the green galaxy and flew towards the biggest planet the galaxy had. This planet didn’t look any better than the galaxy itself, it had green coloured oceans and black clouds, a dark and eerie planet. They entered the planet which had a single but enormous continent.

In just minutes, the Dragonfly and bird landed on the ground on what seemed to be a massive cave entrance, big enough for dozens of dragonflies to enter at the same time. The cave entrance was covered in vines and was also dark inside.

[You’re early.] said an old voice from inside the dark cave. The three elders and Kaal’s group knelt when they heard the old voice.

"We greet the Gatekeeper and Cult Guardian, Rombolos."

An old man wearing black robes came out of the dark cave, wrinkles covered his face, sparse grey hair on his head and vertical slit pupils. The hunched back Rombolos looked at the group with slight displeasure.

[Why did you return earlier than scheduled. And these kids don’t seem to have contracted any poisonous insects.] asked Rombolos.

"I-It’s because of him that we returned earlier than the others Guardian." said elder Luka while pointing at Lucius who stood alone. From a hundred meters away, Lucius was looking at the old man whom apart for his creepy appearance, didn’t seem scary at all.

Rombolos followed the direction of where Luka was pointing and there, he saw someone standing alone. Lucius blinked once and Rombolos was already in front of him.

"Argh!" screamed Lucius in shock.

[Don’t be afraid little one.] said Rombolos while extending his hand to comfort Lucius.

CROAK!

SWOOSH!

A not so loud croaking of s frog sounded out and Rombolos retreated inside the dark cave at his fastest speed. Only an afterimage was left behind by Rombolos.

[I... see. You did well by bringing him here. You can all go to the treasury and anything you like according to your rank.] said Rombolos while walking out of the cave like nothing happened.

"We thank the Guardian for the generous reward!" said the group in genuine happiness as they disappeared into the cave.

[As for you boy, follow me. I want you to tell me everything that happened between you and the frog while we go meet some people.] said Rombolos as he disappeared into the cave.

Lucius quickly ran after Rombolos but once he was inside the cave, he couldn’t see anything.

[Boy, stop wasting time and follow me.] sounded Rombolos’s voice and something on the ground glowed. It looked like a snake tail, Lucius then followed the tail. What surprised him was the fact that the cave led them underground.

...

Lucius didn’t know how many twists and turns he’d taken while chasing after the snake tail, he didn’t how much distance he’d covered or how deep underground he was. All he thought about was chasing after the tail or else he’d get lost. The whole trip felt like a catacombic maze with no end.

...

[Boy, we’re here.] said Rombolos.

By the way, Lucius didn’t even get the chance to tell Rombolos the story he’d cooked up because Rombolos was just too fast. The snake tail disappeared and in its place was the old man with snake eyes. Rombolos was standing at the entrance of a dark place and once he stepped inside the dark place, it began to glow in a not so bright light, the place was still dim.

Lucius slowly approached the entrance and saw exactly what was inside this place. One could call it a mound or one could call it a small mountain, whatever the case may be. Around this small mountain were figures sitting cross legged, one sitting above the other all the way to the peak where only one figure sat there alone.

These figures wore old and tattered clothes, their bodies were extremely skinny that they were no different from skeletons using flesh as clothes.

Rombolos looked at these figures with nostalgia. He then transformed into a big black cobra that coiled around the small mountain and became an umbrella for the figure on the peak. Each of the figures on the small mountain began to wake up, starting with the person closest to the ground.

He or she or it suddenly opened its eyes, beautiful emerald eyes like two gems glowing in the dark. Then followed the next person with the same eye colour but brighter. Soon, everyone around the small mountain had woken up except for the figure at the very top. The higher the person sat, the brighter their emerald eyes would be.

CROAK!

In this silent place, the frog’s croak reverberated throughout the small cave and as if on cue, the figure on the peak also opened his eyes which where unexpectedly scarlet instead of enerable like the rest. Now, with everyone awake and looking down at Lucius, Lucius felt the need to kneel to these figures, worship them like the gods they were.

CROOOAAAK!!!

An extremely loud croak brought Lucius back to his senses, stopping him from kneeling.

CROAK!

’Why do I want to kneel to people who look down on me? I just fee like I should kneel to them. I feel inferior to these people, like they could kill me... with a thought. Wait a minute, I’m not afraid of death, why exactly am I kneeling?’ said Lucius inwardly.

CROAK!

’If I kneel to them then I don’t deserve to be your master? What the fuck, even a frog looks down on me then let me teach all of you a lesson you’ll never forget!’ said Lucius inwardly as his emotions of anger got amplified and exploded.

[YOU BASTARDS! ARE YOU TRYING TO EMBARRASS ME IN FRONT OF MY PET, FUCK YOU!] said an enraged Lucius as he released his Aura that spread throughout the entire underground cavern. Every living thing inside the underground cavern stopped whatever they were doing and just froze in place. A heavy presence fell on them, a presence that was as vast as space and deep like the ocean.