A near-naked man ran through a humid jungle while soaked with blood. Behind him were battered remnants of a power armor he had discarded due to the weight.
On his body were several long slashes that were so deep the white of his bones could be seen and most of his wounds were charred, as if he had been afflicted using blade and fire, but what was especially strange was that as the man's heavy breathing streamed out of his body in an agonizing burst, what escaped from his battered lips was ice cold air, in fact, his nose was black and frozen solid, the same with his left eye.
The only functioning eye he had was filled with anger, hate, and resolve, and it was this negative emotion that fed into his Spirit, pushing his half-frozen body to endure far past the limits where he should have long collapsed and passed away.
It was surprising that for a Dominator at the Pyre Lord Level, he would be traveling so slowly through the forest, but this only goes to show how grievous his injuries must be.
The minor injuries on his body should have been easily healed by his Constitution, their continual presence and his tired state must mean he must be truly injured, his essence bled dry and he must be near death.
In a short while, he saw lights through the thick foliage of the forest and quickened his steps, and he soon escaped from the gloom and suddenly it was as if he was transferred to another world.
Vast industrialized complexes dotted his field of sight down to the horizon, and in between these buildings were numerous people going about their various tasks with clear efficiency and purpose.
The sight of the man caused a slight commotion but he was soon ignored, everyone here was busy with their tasks and the relevant authorities would sort out these problems in no time.
The bloodied man grinned and took a few steps before he collapsed before an electrified fence. 'He had made it.' this was his last thought.
He woke up when he felt a series of light taps on the side of his face and found himself on a rather comfortable bed. The first thing he noticed was that he was delightfully free from pain and immediately his Spirit entered his Territory and he groaned in anger and despair.
His Territory had been ravaged as if a war had been fought inside. Massive mounds of destruction filled it and his Pyre Flame was hardly burning on the verge of being put out. Someone must have filled him with a vast amount of essence to stoke his Pyre flame, and even still he could barely cling to life. He estimated that it would take a long time to recover to his previous peak, perhaps centuries at the least.
His attention was drawn away by another series of taps on his face, this time they were harder and snapped him away from his inward contemplation.
He opened his eyes to see the irritated face of an old man, and behind him were three stout men and from the air of power rippling amongst their bodies, he quickly realized that these were all Dominators at the Earth God level.
Hurriedly pushing himself to his feet, he shook away the sudden burst of dizziness that overtook him and bowed towards them. Even though he was just a step away from being an Earth god, that step was so vast it would take a miracle to reach it.
A single Dominator at the Earth god level could crush countless Pyre Lords and the respect that was their due must be given.
The old man who woke him up was wearing the robes of a healer and was also a Pyre Lord. He bowed towards the three Earth gods and silently left.
One of the Earth gods stepped forward and spoke to the awakened man, "Guardsman, introduce yourself and the reason for your injuries."
He opened his mouth to answer and suddenly panicked because he could not recall anything, it was as if his comprehension was just enough to bring him to this place, and after that, there was nothing more. He strained to recall anything, even his name was far from his tongue.
However, he suddenly felt a chill in his Spirit when he noticed that he had been speaking all this while but he was not aware of it.
Like a passenger in his own body, he saw himself answering questions and elaborating on matters that he could not recall or understand.
'What is happening? Let me out! I'm not the one speaking, I'm not in control here!'
He screamed inside but his cries fell on deaf ears. His body was even cracking a joke with these Earth gods while he was here screaming. He was reprimanded by the Earth god and his body apologized but his charisma must be great because none of the Earth gods seemed to be very offended and their body language even loosened a bit.
Suddenly his body asked a question and when one of the Earth gods answered him, he felt something inside himself change, and a realization came to him that whatever the person that was controlling his body wanted they had just received it.
Fear suddenly filled his Spirit, and it was so potent he nearly passed out.
That intuition of wrongness turned out to be correct when he felt his Territory beginning to vibrate. his Spirit rushed back to his Territory and he gasped in shock as he noticed that his Territory that had been ravaged was glowing with a bright white light.
Brief flashes of memory returned to him, he remembered pain and many other excruciating experiences, and he suddenly understood what was about to happen.
"By the gods, all of you are about to die… flee!!!"
It was a shame that he could not make a sound.
The destruction inside his Territory was not random, someone had planted massive stacks of metal he could not recognize and they were agitating the energy inside his Territory.
The entirety of his Pyre Flame that was most likely strengthened by the healer was being channeled into those metals and they were glowing, the light they emitted was so intense his Territory began to literally melt away into smoke.
The pain was indescribable but he could not scream. Although his body was still smiling and answering the questions from the Earth god, it was beginning to sweat, and before long the Earth gods noticed this peculiarity.
They began to query his body who still laughed and talked as if nothing was wrong, even when he began to bleed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth. His body was still grinning and talking aloud.
