Chapter 23: Heavenly Games (Part 4)

Year 11, Day 27

Amidst the Trees, Shining Bright

Lumin has a secret. 

Try as they might, they can't hide it completely from Father that they have a deep rooted desire to destroy and kill everything around them. Maybe it's because of the nature of Light Qi that was corrupted when the sun started to produce and emanate Yin Qi to the world, but Lumin has these certain moments of the day that their only desire is to destroy and kill as many beings as they can. Father usually helps by distracting them from their murderous desires by repeatedly making Lumin's mind focus on something else. Recently Lumin has taken in the art of weaving Qi and converting Qi. They've only recently learned how to begin the process of changing one Qi to another type of Qi! Father makes it seem so easy when in fact it took a lot of effort to even begin the process of making a Qi become another Qi.

Why? 

Because, in a way, Qi is alive. And it doesn't like when someone tries to make it become something else by force. Which is weird because whenever Father does it, the Qi doesn't even resist like it does when they try it… Lumin has spent a lot of time trying to convert Light Qi into Fire Qi, which is - according to Father - the easiest one to do. The closer it gets to midday, the angrier and more murderous Lumin becomes, so they have spent all their frustration and murderous tendencies into the single goal of turning Light Qi into Fire Qi. Now that Lumin is connected to their siblings, they can't hide it anymore. At each passing moment, the murderous rage builds higher and higher and they glow brighter and brighter. They are afraid of what they can do when they aren't in control of their own body- What will they do? How many will they kill? How much destruction will they create? 

"Child." Father's voice broke through their inner monologue, making Lumin snap out of their mind and notice- They were completely surrounded by ants, ants that were burning alive at the touch of their radiance. "Be not afraid… Shine bright, and let loose." Hesitant, Lumin began to channel their Light Qi through their body, the radiance grew as the sun moved, time passing and the midday coming closer and closer. "Focus now." Father's voice guided them as they did what Father told them to do: "You're going to convert your Light Qi into Fire Qi, I know you can do it Lumin, and even if you can't do it… It's okay." Lumin never wants to disappoint Father, for Father has only been the best thing that has ever happened to them. 'I will try, Father.' Sending that thought alongside the feeling of nervousness, anxiety, and excitement (as well as the ever constant fury that never leaves), Lumin began what Father taught them- 

Converting Qi is hard. Not only does Qi fully resist the attempt, you also have to find which type of Qi can be converted into which. For reasons Lumin does not know, some types of Qis resist less if you turn them into a specific other type. Like how Water Qi resists less if you try to convert it into Ice Qi, and how Light Qi resists with less intensity and force if you try to turn it into Fire Qi. According to Leaf, Nature Qi doesn't resist much when it is transformed into Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind Qi, but then it begins to strongly oppose transformation if you try to turn it into other Qi types like Ice, Yin, Yang, Dark, Death, Light, and other Qis. Lumin has tried to do what the Lesser Nature Spirits are all able to: Qi Photosynthesis. 

The ability to turn Sun Qi into Nature Qi and nutrients. 

Lumin failed miserably. It seems that one's ability to Convert Qi is deeply tied to their own Cultivation Root or even Species, because Father has no problem turning one type of Qi into any other type of Qi, even if that Qi completely opposes the process. 

As Lumin's radiance glowed around their floating body, the very light around their body began to slowly change from a pale yellow-gold glow into a scarlet red light. Like a supernova, Light and Fire Qi exploded from Lumin's body in a shockwave that extended in a radius of 50 feet around them (or 15 meters in normal people measures), burning and destroying a large amount of the ants. Now, floating before the rest of the ant army, was the red glowing ethereal Lumin, a being of light and heat, a true burning star. 

Beneath the Ground, Tunnels Aplenty

The never-ending amount of ants had to have an origin, they had to have some sort of base right? This was what Chaos was tasked with taking care of! The little ball of chaotic Qi jumped around, their body shifting and changing every single second to resemble one of their siblings while Lilith followed them with her eyes closed- Oh, she was tasked with finding the closest nest of the Ants so Chaos could get rid of it! How? Well, silly, they're going to eat them all! "Have you found them yet, Lili~" Chaos' body slowly turned and imitated Leaf's physical appearance, their demeanor also changed alongside their physical change, making an almost perfect copy of Leaf's body and being. The only flaw in Chaos' mystical transformation is that their voice was still the same: "To the right." Lilith was afraid of being down here, Chaos could sense it through the bond they shared now thanks to Father. 

Father… 

Chaos remembers when Father birthed them. They were just a spec of gathered chaotic forces, no cohesive thought other than the need to move and the desire to be whole. When they were inside that white space, everything felt whole but also fake, which was why they started breaking and wrecking the place! How did they end up there? Oh, that white thing passed through Chaos' home, the place where Chaos was whole with the many, they were taken from the many by the white thing and found themselves inside that white thing, which they hated and wanted to leave and come back to the whole. Then they felt the whole, they felt these long white tendrils that felt like the many Chaos was once part of, so they accepted when it pulled them out of the darkened and broken soul of the child, their form was compressed and stored into a small bead, making Chaos feel… single, individual, alone. 

When the seed fell, suddenly Chaos was whole but also not- They were alone and together with the whole at the same time at the same moment. They shared a connection with Father, and Father shared a connection with all of his children, which made Chaos also technically share a connection to all their siblings! That same day their siblings received these small humanoids made out of roots and bark, they were apparently a new form of life Father could make! Chaos sadly did not receive one, not that they cared, but they could still see and feel how Father saw his failure at creating a suitable playmate for Chaos. It was not his fault, it's just… 

To become Chaos, one must become part of a lonely whole that was once alone. One has to be whole and alone at the same time, like Father! Father is alone and part of a whole, like all of Chaos' siblings are alone and part of a whole. The same day Chaos was born, so was Lumin, which would've made them twins born only minutes apart! But Lumin had that never-ending desire to destroy, like Chaos also had when they were trapped inside that once-white soul now broken and darkened. 

"-found it." Lilith's voice made Chaos snap out of their thousands thoughts, their walking down the tunnels was not peaceful and easy, they simply were completely ignored by the ants because of Lilith. Father had made her from the Demonic Qi gathered from these ants, she could be considered one of them as well, so why would they be aggressive to her? Chaos, however, wanted to have a taste at the ants. They tasted funny, but Chaos liked the tingly sensation on their many tongues. Right now they were on one of the many (at least Father has felt so) "bases" of these ants. According to Father's thoughts, these ants will take whatever food they find for their possible Queen Ant, but because the distance between their home and the forest might be great, they might need some time to get there. 

Which is why there are these rest points! 

A large place where many, many ants gathered. "I feel… about forty-five thousand, three hundred and twenty seven ants down there." Lilith's eyes widened, there were way too many ants! She tried to make some calculations with the knowledge of mathematics that she received from her father… This large chamber was where the ants stored the food they got from their forest and other places, they would place the food here, rest, then take the food back to their home. According to Father, he could feel about 50 of these, about the same amount of Demonic Qi gathered there… Assuming each "resting point" has the capacity to house 50 thousand ants and it has said ants, there would be about… "2,500,000 million ants." 

Holy shit.

"So much food…" Chaos softly sighed, their form shifting slightly. Lilith couldn't help but agree a little bit- These ants were going to become fuel for their family, for their sect. 

And it will start now.

???

Long golden clouds swirled, moving with each cycle of Qi that flowed in and out of a humanoid shadowed figure. Breathing softly, the cultivator released a large breath of fresh air, with their breath the golden clouds dispersed and thunder rolled out. "Greetings, Heavenly Gold God." A voice greeted the cultivator, making him turn to look at his fellow Divine Cultivator: "Greetings, Heavenly Demonic Goddess." Greeting back his fellow Divine Cultivator, the Heavenly Gold God puffed out a cloud of Gold Qi, making his surroundings glow for a simple moment: "Why have you come to greet me?" The Heavenly Demonic Goddess let out a simple chuckle as the gold clouds pulled back into the Heavenly Gold God's body: "Why, can't I, a fellow Cultivator, come to visit you in your golden realm?" The Gold God rolled his eyes at the long red haired woman, his golden irises slowly shifting to a darker color-

"Fine…" She sighed softly: "You know the next Heavenly Games?" 

How could he not know? The Heavenly Games is one of the only forms of entertainment that the Gods have! While they try and spend most of their time to increase their cultivation and understand their own Dao, they have their own forms of fun, and the Heavenly Games is one of the few that all Gods share their liking to. 

"Of course I do." He rolled his eyes- What is this vixen getting to? 

"Well, it seems that our fellow little Heavenly Spirit God has found himself a little… seedling, in that cursed world." She rolled her eyes, the very premise of someone from a death world participating in the Heavenly Games was a ridiculous notion.

"Which one?" Seriously, there were a lot of them! He himself has cursed a few worlds because those who lived inside it pissed him off. 

"THAT one, you know, the one cursed by the High Heavenly Goddess of Curses…?" 

"Wait, that one? Hasn't it been destroyed already?" 

"No, because the petty bitch had also allowed the High Heavenly God of Blessings to bless that world too, because they had a dumb bet about someone from that world being able to ascend to Godhood even though the rules are all fucked up." 

"Backtrack- the Heavenly Spirit God is getting someone of that world to participate in the Heavenly Games?" 

"Yeah, I also thought it was ridiculous, but he even used his own resources to guide the little protégé of his." 

The Gold God couldn't help but sigh… Well, this will be, at least, somewhat interesting. 

[author] Yes, in my lore, Earth is also a cursed world. Cursed to not have any Qi, which sounds more like a blessing to be honest. Also, is it all just a game, or is there a hidden plot beneath all of this... 

Well, it is for me to know and you to find out.[/author]