98 Travel and Undercurrents
After saying goodbye to Tony, Asher flew east without stopping.
With his current flying speed, attached to Deoxys, it would basically take him less than an hour to circle the entire earth.
So it didn't take long. So much for him to get to the place he saw in the Mandarin's memories.
"...The Sacred Mountains are truly beautiful."
Looking at the magnificent mountains, which looked like they came out of a painting, Asher couldn't help but marvel, the natural and unadulterated beauty brought him a feeling of calm and peace that was almost impossible to explain in words.
Asher enjoyed the view for a while, he actually wasn't in a big hurry, it was just a stopping point, it would still take a long time for him to get to Ta-lo, and even if he did it wasn't certain that he would get what he wanted. he was looking for, that's why he decided to enjoy the view, after all, if the trip ended up fruitless, at least he would have a good memory of this place, since it would be very difficult for him to have time to come back here.
So now... He really wanted to enjoy this rare moment of leisure!
"Boom!"
After enjoying the view for a long time, Asher set off, cutting through the skies at high speed and almost instantly reaching the top of the highest mountain in the range. Upon arrival, Asher stood still for a few seconds, looking up at the snow-covered peak of this mountain, which seemed indistinguishable from any other mountain, at least on the surface.
And then...
"Buzz!"
Ashe condensed a huge amount of energy in the palm of his hand, and then aimed at a point above the mountain peak and fired a powerful Hyper Beam.
"Boom!"
The ray of energy bombarded the air, clearly hitting something or something, but, strangely, it was as if the ray hit something fickle, malleable, semi-inexistent, which resulted in an uncomfortable and shrill sound.
"Duh!" "Duh!"
In the next moment, an invisible barrier appeared in response, and through it Asher came across an ancient and elegant Chinese-style mansion, similar to an ancient palace.
This place was the mansion where Madarin lived for centuries, at least before he became the modern-day supercriminal, the entire place was completely hidden, by a mix of technology and ancient sorcery, going unnoticed even by experienced mystics.
"I have to admit, he had good taste."
Looking at the gigantic mansion, which seemed to be where ancient nobles would live, Asher muttered casually, and then his figure disappeared into the inner space of the mansion until he reached a secret room.
After opening it, Asher saw what looked like a prayer or perhaps meditation mat on the floor and a strange consecrated stone in the small shrine located in the center of the room.
That rock... That's exactly what he came here for!
According to memories extracted from the Mandarin's memory, the stone was an unknown item that he obtained by chance decades ago, which he later discovered was a kind of ''key''.
At that time, it was this stone that guided him to find Ta-lo, who was located in a pocket dimension, and it was there that he gained the knowledge of how to use his Chi, which led to his mastery over himself and the Ten. Rings to the next level, becoming much more powerful, it was also in this place where he met the Love of his life, the mother of his children and the only person he took from the path of evil, even temporarily.
Strangely, Madarin's memory was incalculable regarding the time he spent in Ta-lo, with the only things he remembers from there being the skills he acquired through training and the face of his late wife, everything else seemed to be hidden. Through a dense fog, even the memory regarding the "Keystone of Ta-lo" was blurred.
However, this didn't affect Asher's plans, no matter why the Mandarin's memories became fuzzy, he would deal with whatever be it friend or foe when he got there.
"Buzz!"
Holding the keystone in his hand, Asher began to pour his energy very slowly, fearing that he would destroy it if he exaggerated the amount of energy released.
With the energy infusion, Asher clearly felt that the keystone was reacting.
And then...
"Boom!"
With a roar that seemed to come from the void, a crack surrounded by darkness appeared right in front of Asher.
"Shit!"
Asher barely had time to scream and then his body was sucked into the dimensional rift.
That disappeared soon after Asher was sucked in, the entire tumultuous space calmed down, including the Mandarin's mansion which once again became hidden, every mountain peak seemed once again untouched by human hands.
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At the same time, on a giant planet at the center of the universe...
"Arishem, "Eason - The Explorer", Fell."
Sitting in the main hall of a large palace, ten Celestials were discussing recent events in the universe. The one who had the floor at the moment was "Jamiel – The Analyst". A powerful Celestial belonging to the upper part of the Celestial hierarchy.
"This is the thirteenth fallen Celestial, since the beginning of this cosmic era, eradicators must be dispatched."
He calmly spoke to the "Arishem - The Judge" who was sitting in the center of the great hall in the highest place, demonstrating his superior position to all others.
"I agree with this judgment, an Eradicator should be sent to investigate the Explorer's last location."
While the others discussed, Arishem, on the other hand, maintained his expression unchanged - "I feel changes in the Cosmos, Fragments of the Phoenix Force disappeared and the Phoenix itself Awoke for a few moments, evil forces began to rise in the dark and the future became hazy, Therefore, the Eradicators are allowed to begin the third phase, as required by cosmic law."
The third phase of a Celestial judgment, the final verdict. Whenever an Eradicator was sent, there was only one possible outcome, that is, the complete eradication of the planet itself, which would become nothing more than a waste of sterile rock, for the Celestials it was the maximum punishment possible.
Even for Arishem, the oldest of this group of Celestials, this verdict was only given as a last resort.
"Everyone agrees."
"Yes"
With the final decision, the discussion on this matter ended - Concise, Clear and Unified, this was how the Celestials dealt with universal matters.
Then the second topic to be discussed will be, the Analyst continued to speak, expounding on the next topic of this meeting - "The connection of the nine realms that occurs once every 10,000 years is about to appear again, should it be..."
So they continued, discussing, deliberating and judging throughout the universe, each Celestial carrying out its function.
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When Asher opened his eyes again, he discovered that the scene in front of him was completely different from the previous one.
Above him was a moonless starry sky, and as far as he could see, there were mountains, valleys, hills, and cliffs covered in all kinds of plants.
But crossing all this, right in front of him, was a road, made of cut jade stones and surrounded by ceremonial gates, on which beautiful patterns and engravings were carved, depicting the battle of humans and mythical creatures, against a serpentine monster. that seemed to devour everything in its path.
And at the end of the road, which must have been several kilometers away, it was possible to see a mountain that reached the heavens, and at its base there seemed to be some kind of village or settlement.
"I think I'm here, right?"
Despite the momentary confusion, Asher knew without a doubt that this was the destination of his trip...
The hidden dimension of Ta-lo.
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[Note: If anyone is interested, I released a second chapter for my original fanfic. As for this chapter, I made a small change, from Eason The Researcher to Eason The Explorer, and I also corrected the previous chapters, but I may have left some things uncorrected, anything please comment... and thank you very much for your support. ]
