Chapter 3: The Beginning of the End (2)

As they both walk out from the main building, Ai Lie asks Hei She about anything she doesn't understand.

"Mr. Snake...? Hei She is your name, yes?"

"Yes, but that is definitely not my real name. That name was given by His Majesty. I myself can't remember my real name."

"Ah... I see..."

"You must have lot of things to be asked."

"Oh, Okay... Umm...", Ai Lie is actually interested in his past life story, but her main focus here is not the snake, "I want to know more about His Majesty, is he the demon king?"

"Hmm... Sort of. We called him 'Asura', not 'demon'. The 'demon' is just a name represents the whole creatures in this realm."

"Asura? What's that?"

"In this world, there are 6 realms, my child. The lowest is 'Hell', this realm doesn't count in the demon realm. The second is the animal realm, this realm doesn't count in the demon realm too. The third is the hungry ghosts, we called them 'Pretas'. The fourth is the highest rank of the demon realm, we called them 'Asuras'. The fifth is the mortal realm. If one person's path keeps going up, he will become a god after his death, but if his path keeps going down and chooses to hold on his hatred, they will fall to the lower ranks after his death. This realm is the selection part. The last, and the highest realm, is the heavenly realm, where the gods live. But the 3 crucial realms are the demon realm, mortal realm, and the heavenly realm. Are you following me?"

The explanation is long, but Ai Lie understands everything he said. She has ever read about this in a history book anyway.

"Ah, I see. Hmm, the lowest realm...?"

"Ah, that realm is where the souls receive their karmas. One soul will be banished to this realm if his sin is unforgiveable. It's a punishment realm. After redempt their sins, the souls can go to the one of the higher realm."

She hasn't even ask anything yet, but the snake already answer her curiosity. This snake must be a smart person in his past life.

Then, she asks, "What about Asura? and how can His Majesty can become Asura King?"

"Asura, is the strongest creature of the demon realm. Asuras have god-like power. Their spiritual powers are strong, and each of them has their own special abilities. They can grant human wishes too if it's possible. They are the rivals of gods."

"Then, His Majesty must be the strongest of this realm."

"Correct. He is the strongest. He has the power to massacre the mortal realm. Even the gods are terrified with him. But he is a wise man who believes that the world needs to be balanced, so he chose not to use his power that way."

"Ah, I see...", Ai Lie become more curious about His Majesty's past life, but she thought that it will be impolite to ask any further of it, so she changes the focus of the topic back to Hei She.

"And you, what about you and the other people in that manor? Are you all asuras, or...?"

"Sadly, we are only pretas. There are only 10 of asuras nowadays. The rest of them have been slained long ago."

"Okay, then... Umm... Will it be okay if I ask questions about you?", She is hesitate to ask, but her curiosity is grow stronger everytime he answers her questions.

"As you wish, my child."

"Um... if there is an animal realm.. U-um... why do you look like a snake?", she is actually hesitate to ask.

"Hmm...", the snake stops moving.

'Oh, darn, I should've just shut it!', Shout Ai Lie in her mind. She starts to regret her action.

"According to what His Majesty said to me, about 1000 years ago, I was a prince. In order to protect my homeland, I joined my hands in the battlefields. But after one big endless war, my homeland was at a great lost. I was caught by the enemies, and being punished. The death was my punishment. They tied my each of my limbs and my neck to 5 horses, and pull them in different directions. They ordered those horses to run, and practically I was torn into pieces."

'Gasp!?', Ai gasped loudly, "No way! That... That'so cruel!!"

"Indeed. Actually, I can't remember anything about my past. But I remember the time when I regained my consiousness back as a preta, my body was already formless, I lost all of my legs and hands, and my stomach was torn apart. I couldn't move at all, I was desperately crying for a help. Then, His Majesty heard me. He came to me, he gave me this form, so that I could move freely. Since then, I dedicated my whole life to him.", They both starting to walk again, passing the bridge.

"....", Ai Lie couldn't reply anything after hearing his stories.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't ask such question... I should think before I speak...", Her voice trembling, full of regret, as if she wants to cry.

"Hahaha don't worry, my child, you're very kind, aren't you? The past is already left behind. Beside, I don't remember anything about that. His Majesty is the one who looked into my past."

"His Majesty can see our pasts?"

"Yes, it's his special spiritual ability. After we reincarnated, it's only natural for one forgetting his own past life.", They have reach the front gate, and the gate is already opened.

They walk out from that gate, "Are you ready to go back?"

Ai Lie heavily exhales the air, "Yes!", she answers readily.

'SWOOSH' Her whole body thrown to the sky, she flies away through the hole where she fell. But after she reaches the surface, she realize that it isn't Stone Hill. She is teleported to a small alley, and after she walks out, beside that alley is a jewelry store. Then she realize that the tray carries golden bars that she has been holding on is gone from her hands. Hei She is also nowhere to be found.

"Mr. Hei she! Where are you!?", As she scanning her surrounding, "Holy crap, where did I drop those ery expensive things?? Oh no, that man is going to kill me for sure!"

"Don't worry, my child.", a voice coming out from nowhere to be found. Then, Ai Lie realized that the voice was actually coming from her mind. Maybe Hei She uses some telephaty spell on her.

"The gold bars that you brought, I moved them to your.... bag."

Suddenly, the small bag that she carries on her back feels so heavy, until her neck and shoulder feel terribly aching.

'Ugh, I need to sell these things quickly, it's so heavy!' , She walks in to the jewelry store.

"Welcome, miss. How can I help you?", A beautiful woman that wears a uniform greeting her happily.

"I want to sell this....", She is taking out those 8 gold bars.

"Let me see...", the woman double checks those gold using a special machine, "This!? This is an ancient gold! One of these gold bars worth 100.000$! Where did you get this gold, miss? This type of gold is very rare!"

"WHAT!?!?", She widened her eyes. That would be 800.000$, she only needs one gold bar to pay her family's debt, so why would that man gives her 8 of them? 'No, no, no, this is wrong!'

"Are you sure, this one gold worth that much!?"

"Yes! Are you going to sell all of them, miss?", that woman seems to readily buy all of those gold.

"Uhhh... uhhh...", she is confused. 'What should I do? What should I do??' Her mind is hazy.

'Ah!', She had an idea, she will sell all of them and give the rest back to that man after paying her family debt.

"I will sell all of them."

Finally, a transaction has been made. She brought 800.000$ in her bag, until her bag was full of money. She prays so hard that no one will notice and try to rob her.

Uses a taxi, she goes to the bank where her family takes the loan, and after that she goes to the moneylender's house. Finally she has fulfiled her duty, and from this day, her family finally breaks the circle of loan. The last place to go is her house.

"I'm home!"

No one answered. She knows that nobody will be at home when she arrives. Even if there is someone in this house, that someone won't reply too. She goes into her room, packing her things, clothes, soap, shampoo, some books and pencils, everything she has. She has no idea why she should do this, it's useless because she will die soon after she goes back. When she wants to leave her house, she stares at her family photograph. Then she remembers that she still have much money left. it's about 725.000$ left. She puts 100.000$ in the desks, in her parents's bedroom, after that she takes her leave.

"Mr. Hei She?", She is calling through her mind.

"I'm down here.", a voice coming from the ground.

"Let's get back", She smile brightly.

The snake is amazed by her beautiful smile, he has never seen that child smiling before, she was always sad.

"Are you ready? Nothing left behind, yes?"

"Everything has ready.", Actually, she forgot to double check her things, but she lied.

"Then, let's go."

A wide black hole, once again opens on the ground where she stands. She falls into a dark pit, but this time, she has prepared for this. She is patiently waiting for her feet landing on a steady ground, in front of His Majesty manor.

After she arrives to the front gate, she is ready to come in. She feels her something that weighing her heart has released. She feels happy, readily to pay her own debt to that man, who waited for her inside that manor.

"An old journey has done. The past is already left behind. Everything is fine now." , She said. She smiles brightly, as she step her foot in, walking through that opened gate in front of her.