chapter 7

Elias sat at the edge of the canyon looking at the jungle. the jungle seemed to move and from time to time, he saw flying creatures coming out of the jungle. seeing creatures fly, gave Elias an idea.

He usually didn't care that much about the words of religious folks but that didn't stop them from preaching. They sometimes said about afterlife and the way they talked meant people be it old young, disabled or not are able to be young and able to walk so shape can change in this place.

Elias first tried to take off his cloth and remembered that he wasn't wearing anything. With some focus, Elias started to grow batlike wings and a thick reptilian tail that both had the same color as his skin. The wings reached full size in a few moments.

Elias wasn't an idiot so he didn't jump off of cliff like an idiot. He first started to get a feel of his new limb. It took Elias around half an hour to get a good feel of his wings and tail, feeling them like his arms or legs.

Elias then took sometime see if he can get off of the ground. He had denser bones than a normal bird but his wings were stronger and bigger than his body. It took him a couple of tries and finally managed to create enough strength to lift himself off of the ground.

Now that he did some experiment, it was time to move. Elias walked to the edge of the canyon and with a deep breath he jumped. Elias kept his wings closed for two seconds letting himself fall, getting closer to the ground and then suddenly opened his and the air pressure under his wings sent him up a few meters and he started to glide over the jungle. He would flap his wings from time to time to keep his distance from the jungle.

The moment he jumped off and was above the jungle, he felt like he was spotted. It was more than one creature seem to be paying attention to him and Elias could feel the location of some of them. Most of these creatures felt like hungry animals looking at Elias while some were more curious. One thing was for sure, the things that felt Elias were very powerful. Wanting to avoid these creatures, Elias was forced to keep flying.

Elias didn't know how long exactly was he flying since the sun in the sky didn't move at all but he knew it was more than an hour. The weird thing about that was no matter how much he flew, he didn't feel tiered. It seemed like there was no tiredness in afterlife.

Elias flew until he felt powerful creatures couldn't feel his presence anymore. He slowly started to circle the area and start descending. He kept his mind mostly to make sure powerful creatures couldn't feel him.

Descending went mostly normal. When Elias was about to reach the trees, he felt something rapidly climb one of the trees and jumped toward him. Elias didn't have time to look at the creature as it leaped toward Elais and sank its razor sharp claws into Elias's wings.

Elias started to fall toward the trees. Falling through the trees was going to be painful and from the claws in his wings Elias knew that he could feel pain in afterlife. Not wanting to take that much damage, Elais closed his wings around him, pulling his attacker closer to him and allowed himself to fall toward a tree.

Elias did his best to feel where his attacker was and make sure the attacker was the one that hits the tree first. When he hit the tree, he felt the tree's branches go through the creature's body and pierce his wings. After a few moments of hitting different branches, he hit the ground and his attacker was forced to let go.

Elias's wings were turned to pin cushions with how many branches pierced it. Elias felt like he couldn't make his wings disappeared while they were full of branches so he had to use telekinesis to pull them out while he turned toward his attacker. In doing so he first realized his telekinesis was a lot more powerful than ever and his attacker was not a normal monster.

Elias had read of the old Doomshaper files that informed about Saurian, the humanoid lizards and now this was the first time he saw one. The creature was male humanoid but he was covered with grey scale. His head was androgynous and was between a human and a snake. The creature was completely naked and his body was covered with branches that pierced its body.

The creature slowly stood up and glared at Elias with rage. It didn't attack at first and just started to pull branches out of his body and as he did, his body rapidly healed. Seeing the powerful healing power both in his body and his attacker, Elias was reminded that there is no death in afterlife, but why did this guy attack him.

"I will eat your soul." The Saurian suddenly screamed and rushed forward toward Elias.

The Saurian tried to slash Elias with his claws. Elias rushed forward with his superior speed managed to grab the creature's wrist. As he grabbed the creature, Elias felt some form of liquid starting to be collected in the creature's mouth. Not wanting to be showered with whatever this guy was going to spit, Elias brough his strong tail up in an uppercut motion and slammed it under the creature's chin. The tail hit was powerful enough that forced the creature to spit upward. Before being showered by this thing Elias brought his wings up and as the liquid fell, he fell an acidic sensation as the liquid ate away parts of his flesh.

"You bast…" the Saurian tried to shout but he was stopped when Elias slammed his tail between the Saurian's legs and then used the Saurian's open guard to throw him toward a tree. The Saurian hit the tree and fell to the ground.

Now that Elias had a moment to breath, Elais started to change his body. He started to shrink his wings until there was nothing left. He then started to harden his skin and grow his nails to claws. Elias's claws looked like a sharpened version of his human nails but they were a lot tougher and sharper.

Elias rushed to the Saurian and before it could recover, Elias jammed his claws to its eyes. The creature screamed in pain and before he could do anything, Elias used his other hand to start shredding the creature to pieces. Elias kept his claws in the creature's eyes making sure he wouldn't heal that and kept slashing until he felt the creature lose the will to fight.

While slashing Elias thought about what this creature screamed. The creature screamed he will eat his soul how would that work? he was a soul right now. He then thought about what a soul is. A soul can't be destroyed but it can change the only other thing that has the same state is energy. Is a soul energy and if so, can he absorb it.

Elias sent his will to the creature trying to absorb it. At first their two willpowers clashed so Elias started to claw the creature more until he felt the creature's will falter and then he felt the creature's body being absorbed to his body.

"Wait, how are you doing it like this?!" The creature said with panic. "Listen, you don't have to do this. I can accept to be bound my soul to you, I will be your slave. Just please don't do this."

Elias felt bad for the creature but he wasn't going to stop. This was a jungle and he was going to survive by eating his prey.

As the creature was absorbed, his cries also died down. Elias then immediately started to see a lot of the creature's memories. He saw that eating a soul for most creatures here is the active act of eating someone's body with their mouth. He then learned that when someone is eaten, their consciousness would be sent to the deepest darkest part of purgatory and it might never be reformed to a proper soul.

The other thing Elias learned about this guy was that he too was looking to resurrect himself. He was a soul belonging to hell and he managed to escape hell. He had escaped a few days ago and he had been in hell for millions of years but since the time moves differently, Elias couldn't guess how long was he here.

The Saurian had eaten a couple of souls but nothing of those were passed to Elias. Elias only remembered that the people this guy ate were both humans and that is where the information about them ended.

Other than that Elias learned a couple of new languages, some ritualistic magic that really helped this guy and some weird history information. Elias also felt like he could change his shape to a Saurian if he concentrated enough.

Of course he didn't get a lot of information like what the last thing he said, bounding a soul was. He didn't get much information about his past before dying eighter.

Elias didn't know if he could keep these powers after being reborn. Remembering his telekinesis was a lot more powerful, Elias thought he might keep some of the powers.

Elias tried to see if he had any new senses and he did, now he had both tremorsense and heat sense. Tremore sense was the ability to feel creatures around you as long as he body connection to the ground. heat sense was what it was called the power to see heat just like a snake.

Elias wanted to see what his Saurian form looks like. He willed his body to change and he saw grey scales started to cover his body and he felt his hair start to shrink to his head. He grew claws, his teeth changed to rows of sharp teeth and he felt a new tail, the tail felt weird because the Saurian he killed didn't have a tail. He felt his eyes and vision change, he now had a weaker vision than his human form. He also felt his upper jaw extend a little and with his enhanced senses he felt two glands appear inside. With a little test Elias realized one of his glands had poison and the other acid and he himself was immune to both.

Saurians were all different, some had snakelike features others had other reptilian forms. Elias himself was nothing like any reptilian creatures he ever met. His guess was that when he shifted, his body would act as a what if he was a Saurian and changed him, so if he was born as a Saurian he would have looked like this.

Elias shifted back to his human form and started to search the area. He still had to leave this place, and even though he wanted to absorb more energy, he really didn't want an innocent be sent here because of him.

Elias kept his old and new senses sharp for any attacker. He felt creatures from time to time and he decided to avoid them as he didn't know how powerful these people were or if they deserved being attacked.

Elias started to search the area the area for any clue. Looking around physically was a waste of time so Elias started to concentrate on his senses and tried to strengthen them as hard as he could. Elias managed to keep his permanent senses in 20m (65ft) around him while he managed to also send part of his mind to travel around.

Elias stopped his search suddenly when he saw how fast some creatures around him were. His senses could detect oncoming enemies but everything was new and he didn't want to risk being taken by surprise.

Elias used his new knowledge to create Saurian sigil on the dirt around himself in a circle. He then started an incantation in Saurian language, this incantation allowed the sorcerer to open an invisible connection to a realm of energy and take energy from there. A sorcerer would need more incantation to force the energy to the sigils but Elias could just use his power to do that. When the ritual was complete, a showed appeared around Elias and made him invisible.

Now that he felt a little safer, he started to check the area. He found many monsters, aliens and humans in the area, mostly living like animals, hunting and being hunted. Elias also felt some settlements with a more civilized people in it.

Elias felt intrigued by the settlements and started to search them. He felt really drawn to one settlement that belong to earthlings. The population was mostly humans but there were others creatures like saurian, half human half demons and some human monsters. The settlement had a wooden wall and the houses were all made of wood. Citizen of this city seemed to have clothing, their clothing was a little primitive looking but it still covered them.

At the middle of the settlement, Elias found a house that was made of stone and was guarded by the strongest looking monsters. Entering the house, Elias saw that it had that this place had beautifully made wood furniture and siting on a wooden throne Elias saw a beautiful woman.

The woman had long raven colored hair pale skin and black eyes. She wore a black animal skin around her. The animal skin barely covered her body leaving her slim body and a lot of her breasts open. The woman was sitting there as if waiting for something.

"I see the intriguing new comer came to me." The woman said as she looked toward Elias's spiritual form. "Don't be afraid, most people won't be able to see you. I am different from others that is why I can see you."

"Okay, nice to meet you." Elias tried to communicate.

"Pleasure to meet you too my dear." The woman said with a laugh.

"Why did you call me intriguing?" Elias asked.

"People felt your death." The woman explained. "What made you intriguing was how fast you managed to shape the world and yourself to your will. Even the children of purgatory would need sometime to learn how to do that."

"I'm guessing you want to eat my soul." Elias said.

"At first, yes but not now." The woman said while smiling. "You are from my world so there is a good chance you have heard of me. I am Morgan Le Fey, the supreme sorceress. I offer you a choice, bind your soul to me or I will take your soul."

"I know you." Elias said. "You are that failed sorceress from king Arthur and Merlin's legend. In all of those legends you die like a bitch. I see they were mostly right."

"Watch it kid." The woman said now with a frown on her face. "Even my enemies didn't dare to anger me. You would be wise to fear me."

"Whatever you say sweetheart." Elias said and started to bring his mind back.

"NO! I won't let you go." The Le fey tried to cast a cage spell to stop Elias but this was Elias's world and his mind simply was faster than the woman's spell.

When Elias came back to his body he looked toward the direction of the woman and saw lights coming from there. That woman was very angry and was probably attacking her own people. That just made Elias laugh, he enjoyed making higher than thou assholes angry.

"Greetings child of purgatory." a loud voice came to Elias's mind. "I have waited for you to return and greet you to your home. My hope is that you can find a way to return to the land of the living."

That voice scared Elias. He looked around while searching the area and saw nothing. He then felt his head trying to move upward so he looked up and that was when he saw it.

Above his head was a massive eye. There was a ring eyes around the eye and both the ring and the eyes were flanked by eight massive wings, four wings on each side. The two wings on the top were bright as if they were made of light, the two under the light wings were grey in color, the two under the grey one were made of darkness and the last one was covered with blood or was made of blood.

"Wh…who are you?" Elias asked.

"I am an angel of purgatory." The angel answered. "Me and my kind can't converse with many creatures but your kind can hear us. I wished to welcome you and reassure you that this is not the end and

"Hey, can you help me get back?" Elias asked. He managed to get back his composure when he heard the angel was harmless

"I can." The angel said. "But I wouldn't do it. This is your task and your trial. As an angel of purgatory, I have no right to change something that would happen naturally. It is your nature as a child of purgatory to die and live depending on your own willpower."

"What if someone from the living world resurrects me?" Elias asked.

"That is natural." The angel answered. "Mortals always feared things that were different but in truth mages, mutants and meta humans are humans body trying to evolve and it is always stopped by the fearful. Using necromancy to bring back someone like you is just two evolved mortals helping each other."

"What if the necromancer sends an innocent in my place?" Elias said.

"That would be unnatural." The angel said. "Mortals have no right to judge a soul. That judgment belongs to a greater power."

"Well the necromancer is doing that. "Elias said. "The necromancer is trying to use the energy from my death to steal a soul from heaven and then when she has regained her spark of life he will take that, send her soul here and resurrect me. I want to stop that from happening."

"I felt no lie in your words." The angel said after a moment of looking at Elias. "I will bring you back but to fix that unnatural event I need you to fix other unnatural events."

"I think I can help." Elias said.

"There are those that want to change nature of humanity. In time I will inform you of their presence and I expect you to destroy them and take their souls" The angel said.

"Sure, I can do that." Elias said.

"Good, now brace yourself as my power can be overwhelming." The angel said.

"One last question." Elias said before the angel did anything. "Can I get back here without dying?"

"Yes." The angel answered without anymore explanation.

A searing light hit Elias and everything went white and then black. Elias didn't know what was happening until he felt powerful movement of energy and incantation.

Elias opened his eyes to see the trees that were around him seemed to be all broken. He saw his sister on the ground and when he checked her with his powers he realized he was just unconscious. There were more heroes than the last time he was alive and they all seemed to be hurt but still alive. Other than wonder woman and Troia the others seemed to be stuck in some form of green magical sphere and were trying to get out. Superman seemed to be unconscious in his sphere so he could do anything so other than him Virgil was the only one that probably could get out since his sphere was cracked and he was shooting more lighting at it trying to get out.

Other than that Elias saw Alaric standing in front of a young girl that was unconscious. The girl was in her late teens, she had long blond hair and blue eyes. She was completely naked and Elias could see that she had an athletic body and medium size breasts. Elias wanted to look at the girl more but Alaric was going to kill her.

"Cassandra." Wonder woman said with tears in her eyes and started to rush toward the girl but before she could reach the girl, Alaric pointed his hand at her and sent a powerful shockwave toward her, sending her flying backward.

"You bastard." Troia shouted and rushed toward Alaric. Alaric simply turned toward her, opened his mouth and let out an powerful scream that left his mouth like a shockwave and hit Troia. Troia was thrown and before eighter wonder woman or Troia could get up, Alaric casted a spell and placed both of them inside of the same sphere as the others.

"Wh… what is going on here." The naked girl said as she woke up.

"I am sorry." Alaric said as he turned to the girl. "You are all weak. I need to bring back someone powerful enough to fight them. I need your life force to bring him back.

The girl was frozen in fear as Alaric reached a skeletal hand toward her. Before the hand could reach the girl Elias ran toward him and grabbed Alaric's wrist and stopped him.

"Huh, interesting." Alaric said as he locked eyes with Elias. "I have to say, I wasn't expecting to see at all. It would have taken you days to even know how to get out and then the trials would have started. How did you do it manage to do all of that in a short time."

"I have a guardian angel." Elias said without breaking the eye contact. "I don't need your help anymore so you can now leave."

"All right, this life belongs to you." Alaric said pulled his hand away from the girl. Alaric then opened a portal and disappeared in it. with his disappearance, all of the heroes were freed of the sphere.

Elias looked at the girl to see if she was all right while he used his senses to search for his bags. The girl was all right and a little distracting and his bags were a little away from him.

"Wait." Wonder woman shouted and ran toward him. She knelt in front of Elias, holding her sword for him. "Please, she is innocent. I was the one that killed you, if you want to take anything you should take mine."

Elias really wanted to kill him but he could feel the other wounded superheroes were staring at him. He could eighter kill wonder woman right now and turn everyone to his enemy, kill everyone in cold blood and possibly turn other people to his enemy or he could leave and possibly kill this bitch another time.

Elias's teeth grinded against each other audibly as he looked at wonder woman. He grabbed wonder woman sword and started to walk away. He felt the heroes were about to rush toward him but they stopped when Elias left.

Elias walked to his sister, checked on her and then picked her up. He took Elena to her car that was still mostly intact and placed her on the front seat and fastened her seatbelt. He also placed his new sword in the back seat and walked back to his bags.

"Wait, what are you…" Wonder woman finally managed to find the words to speak. "I didn't mean… I was talking…"

Wonder woman was really at loss of words. Elias looked at her and saw that she was still on her knees and her hands were up toward Elias. Her shield was still tied to her hand so Elias walked toward her.

"Okay I take this one too." Elias said and untied the shield from her hand.

Elias walked to his bags under the stunned gaze of the others and picked his bag. He walked back to the car, placed his bag inside and got in the car himself. He made sure his sister was okay and safe then started to drive away.