Other Tales 3: The Parrot and the Meat Jelly (2/2)

“So, you’re willing to go that far. Unfortunately for you, my true self has made even more preparations.” As he spoke, his hands flashed in a double-handed incantation gesture, causing the fleeing woman to suddenly stop in place. Suddenly, something sealed inside of her was released, and her blood began to boil. Moments later, the fluctuations of self-detonation began to rise up within her.

Shockingly, Allheaven was forcing her to self-detonate in order to give himself a chance to escape.

The woman looked over at him furiously. This was not part of their agreement, and the fact that he was willing to sacrifice her at this critical moment left her eyes bloodshot. However, a cold smile then twisted her lips.

Even as the two powers of self-detonation rose up, the parrot's voice rang out as cold as ever.

“What are you waiting for, Ancient-Immortal spirit? I told you this was going to happen! Do something! Don’t hold back! If you want freedom, you have to fight for it!”

The parrots words caused Allheaven’s face to flicker.

Smiling coldly, the woman took a deep breath. Back when Allheaven made his original deal with her, the parrot had secretly contacted her and had told her that things would end up this way. Now, it was without hesitation that she began to laugh.

“You were right. You can only have freedom if you fight for it. I can give up my position as Ancient-Immortal to gain eternal freedom!”

Allheaven’s face fell, and he was about to say something, but didn’t have the time. Even as the words left the woman’s mouth, she suddenly fell apart.

It was not a self-detonation, it was a complete and utter collapse. Flesh and blood poured out from her withered frame, spreading out, staining the starry sky bright red.

“Nirvanic Rebirth Curse! Life leads to death, death leads to life. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Send the will into oblivion. Destroy the mind. Everything that exists... shall now begin again!

“Henceforth, there is no Ancient Immortal....” As the woman's voice rang out, the starry sky began to shake. Then, a huge explosion occurred.

Intense pressure erupted out that crushed the parrot into dust. At the same time, it also crushed the sea of blood and caused Allheaven to let out a miserable scream. He tried to escape, but was unable, and was instantly crushed by the pressure. The woman's body exploded, and yet, she did not die. Her soul did not disperse.

The final magic she had unleashed was something that could start a new epoch. Everything was crushed, but then, from within that destruction, everything was formed again.

The seed-world that had existed near their battle was affected by the waves of power. The will of its starry sky trembled, and then was mostly wiped away. At the same time, a gaping hole was opened leading into the world.

In the moment that the hole opened, the ash, qi, and blood of the man, the woman, and the parrot, were all sucked in. In the blink of an eye, they were absorbed into the seed-world.

Many years later within the starry sky of the seed-world, a new life form came to exist among the other lives that teemed therein. It was the soul of a parrot, who looked around at the boundless world, a blank look in its eyes.

Another soul appeared, which gradually came to supercede the will of the starry sky. It forgot about its past, and acted only on instinct. It was the will of Allheaven.

Among the countless other living beings in that world, a woman appeared in the cycle of reincarnation. She wasn’t aware of her previous life, and was actually reborn over and over again, experiencing countless lives and innumerable epochs.

Later, the parrot met someone who transformed it into a magical device, a copper mirror.

One day, the woman met a person in one of the countless tinier worlds which populated the larger world she existed in. It was called the Paragon Immortal Realm.

The person she met was one of the inhabitants of that smaller world, who had come to be called... the Lightning Emperor.

The Lightning Emperor fell in love with that woman, and she became the love of his life. His wife. Later, the Lower Realms of the Paragon Immortal Realm rebelled, egged on by the influence of Allheaven. The Lightning Emperor fought for his home, and fought for the woman he loved. In the end, he died in battle.

When he died, countless lightning bolts spread out from his body, shaking the entire area.

After he was no more, the woman sat with his corpse, wracked with grief, weeping. In that moment, the memories inside of her which had been sealed away were unlocked. She looked down at the Lightning Emperor, and her tears fell onto his armor. Eventually, the tears vanished, and apparently, they took with them her feelings for the Lightning Emperor. Her eyes were now cold and blank.

“We aren’t even from the same world,” she murmured. “This is just a temporary stop on my journey through life. Now, I have awakened, and the time has come for me to depart. I... am free.” With that, she left the world, returning to her travels through the Universe.

She had no desire to ever again meet the will of Allheaven, or the parrot.

After she was gone, the corpse of the Lightning Emperor continued to float in the starry sky of the Paragon Immortal Realm. Gradually, it withered up. The armor on the corpse melted, and eventually, the corpse became translucent. All of that happened because of the tears of that woman in the moment that she awoke, tears which contained the power to fuse past and present lives.

Because of the tears, the armor became fused with his soul, with the soul of the Lightning Emperor, who should have died.

Eventually, the corpse decomposed, fully fusing with the armor. Many years later, it awoke. At that time, it knew that it was essentially undying. It also knew that it should never become armor again, and should not risk its life to protect someone.

If it did so, it could lose that undying nature.

Other than that, its memories were a blank. It began to wander the Mountain and Sea Realm, and gradually came to realize that it loved to chatter, and that it loved to civilize bullies. Eventually, it also discovered that it couldn’t count....

One day it ran into a parrot which had just flown out of a copper mirror....

“Hey there, mister armored-looking fellow. Come, come, allow Lord Fifth to have a look at you. Why don’t you have any fur or feathers?”

“Screw the hell off, you bully! I’m gonna convert you!”

----

Note from Deathblade: And that’s a wrap. It’s been a wild ride, Fellow Daoists, it’s hard to believe it’s all over. I will be posting some closing thoughts shortly....