Book 7, Chapter 54 - Source

Figures began to emerge from the crystals . Where the Source was hard as diamonds for Cloudhawk’s people, to these spirits they were as malleable as water .

Once they exited the crystals their spectral bodies began to give off light . It was the condensation of powerful energy, enough to harm physical matter . Like swords they lashed out at the intruders . No fancy skills, no special abilities – just pure and brutal energy delivered with incredible speed .

Crack-crack-crack! Cloudhawk’s s.h.i.+eld was subjected to a flurry of blows . Thankfully these monsters had no intelligence to speak of . They threw themselves at Cloudhawk without any tricks, but their attacks came quickly almost one on top of the other . It was becoming troublesome .

What were these things? Cloudhawk glanced into the crystals, narrowing his eyes for a better look and then suddenly freezing in place . Whatever was locked in those crystals was humanoid . Some of them were so blurry he could only make out the outlines, but others he could almost make out clothing and for a handful even features were visible .

People . They were people . More specifically, demonhunters .

They stared with empty eyes and slack expressions . Judging by their clothes, they came from various eras and Elysian lands . The only similarity was that they were all demonhunters, and capable ones at that .

“These are spirits!” 

Cloudhawk hardly believed he was saying it . Could these be the same sort of spirits he first say on the spore planet? Spirits – ghosts – were a special sort of ent.i.ty that were created with the help of circ.u.mstance and environment . They were exceedingly rare to be created naturally, and those that did emerge lasted only a short time .

“Look at their clothes . Demonhunters from the Elysian lands . ” As Autumn spoke she was able to make out family crests emblazoned on their clothes . There were even a few Cloude and Polaris family members . “They didn’t come from this area, they were brought here and locked in the crystals . ”

Demonhunters from all across the world… how could this happen to them? 

Surely it would have garnered attention if all these demonhunters went missing . Someone would have demanded a search . Of course they would come home empty-handed, but to appear all the way out here as spirits in a cursed desert? It seemed unlikely .

Stranger still, there had never been news of demonhunter disappearances . There had to be thousands of bodies in the crystals and that’s just what they saw now . What else would they find as they pushed further in?

Demonhunters were heroes of their realms, warriors of awakened psychic power . Thousands of them – whatever the realm – were of huge worth . It stood to reason that so many being stolen and turned to spirits would leave some sort of trace .

A troubling thought leaped to the front of Cloudhawk’s mind . It fixed its hooks into him and he couldn’t shake it . “They’re corpses . ” 

Frost and Autumn weren’t sure what he was getting at . Yet before he could elaborate, Cloudhawk’s mind was wracked with stabbing pain . His defenses faltered and several of the spirits managed to slip through .

Autumn reacted quickly, las.h.i.+ng out with an incisive light . The spirits were cut apart and she raced to Cloudhawk’s side to help him fall back .

“Cover us!”

Abaddon raised his arm and summoned sand from thin air . They coalesced into a barrier, replacing Cloudhawk’s protections . From the moment the spirits couldn’t break through .

Meanwhile, Cloudhawk felt like someone was driving a knife into his brain . Flashes of visions, memories, flooded his mind . Were this from the Demon King? In the s.p.a.ce of a moment he understood .

“I get it . Over a thousand years there are more dead than living . More perished demonhunters than breathing ones . ” He stopped for a minute to get his bearings . “In every Elysian land there is one common thing they always say . When you die, your spirit is given to Mount Sumeru!” [1]

He was right . Elysian lands could be very different, but in death all were said to serve the G.o.ds eternally . So long as their faith was strong and their abilities recognized, death just represented shedding one’s mortal body and ascending to the G.o.ds’ side .

This wasn’t just some plat.i.tude . These were real souls!

Spirits were a special kind of energy that made up one’s essence . The soul is what allowed humans to cultivate and improve their mental power . As one's spirit strengthened, so did their psychic abilities .  

At birth that spirit was weak, undetectable by any instrument, and gone when the body failed . One’s soul dissipated out into the universe, only to be gathered again in the formation of a new soul when a new life took shape .

What the G.o.ds did was create a place for these souls to live in so that they never dissipated . But that home wasn’t Mount Sumeru . It was Source . The question as to why these crystals existed was closely tied to the human denizens of the planet!

G.o.ds destroyed planets . Tilled the soil to create Elysian lands . Cultivated humans . How was this any different from planting, say, an orchard of apple trees? When seedlings grew into mighty trees they bore fruit until eventually they stopped . But even without its apples the tree is valuable . At the very least, its wood is fuel .

The six Elysian lands were nothing but huge energy factories . When people died their spirits were captured and brought here . For those of a certain strength, their mental prowess joined with their spirit . Condensed psychic energy, over time, crystallized to form Source .

Over so many years billions of human souls were collected . The spiritual energy of millions of mighty demonhunters was gathered . This was the result . This was the fruit of their labor .

“Are you ok?” Autumn asked .

The pain had subsided, but Cloudhawk’s expression was dismal . “I understand everything . I know why the G.o.ds came here . I know why the population withers and eventually dies . ”

Human spirits were a recyclable but non-renewable resource . The G.o.ds were after not just this spiritual energy, but psychic energy as well . The former allowed them to replenish their race while mental energy gave them a huge source of power .

Converting lowly creatures like G.o.ds was no easy feat . When a human died, their spirit still retained a measure of the thoughts and feelings it had in life . If there was any resistance to G.o.dly dominance then the crystals never formed . It required unfaltering obeisance .

What, then, was the most effective way to maximize production? Simple, establish a religion and get these stupid monkeys to wors.h.i.+p you . Once that foundation of belief was settled then humans would happily give themselves up as fuel . As of today, untold millions had done just that – potentially billions of souls robbed and millions of demonhunters transformed .

That’s what this giant crystal represented . And it would have continued until the entire species faded away if no one had stood up .

In a few thousand years people would begin to find reproduction rates quickly declining . [2] Those children that were born would have weaker wills so that, even though their bodies were strong, their minds would not grow .

As fertility rates decreased, populations would collapse until the species became extinct . G.o.ds would take all the billions of souls they siphoned and use it to build more G.o.ds . After their memories were formatted, the G.o.ds would move on to the next planet to continue the cycle of eternal consumption .

“They keep coming . I cannot hold . ”

Cracks were forming in Abaddon’s sand s.h.i.+eld . Angry spirits were attacking from all directions .

Frost brandished Ashfall and cut down the shadows that slipped through . “They don’t seem to think, just attack anything that gets nearby . There should be a way to avoid them . ”

Cloudhawk brought his mind back to the present . With a flick of the wrist he cast out the Cube and reality was split into boxes . Like interspatial building blocks they created a barrier around Cloudhawk’s crew .  

Mindlessly the spirits flung themselves into the pocket dimension . Trapped within, they were no longer a threat . [3] Dealing with the things were easy, it was like opening a bag and just letting flys wander in on their own .  

“Let’s go!”

Cloudhawk gathered up his power, extended it around the others and teleported them through the tunnel . He ignored the countless spirits that emerge to thwart them in a headlong rush to the crystal’s heart . His goal was already achieved – this place would prove what future the G.o.ds had in store for mankind, but it wasn’t enough .

He had to stop Belial .

1 . Tipsy indeed hinted at this a long, long, long time ago with an offhand comment about spirits and Mount Sumeru . Unfortunately I can’t remember the chapter, but if someone finds it you win a virtual cookie .  

2 .  Want to see something interesting? 

3 . h.e.l.lflower entered the cube for a day of study . She was looking forward to spending as much time as she needed with her books and experiments . Yes, as she stepped inside a sea of soulless black eyes turned her way .  

“What the f- . . . ” 

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