The Mansion of Night

When Richard said he would be here in the morning, he meant it. He came just when the sun rose in the sky. "Dude," I complained while yawning, " why so early?"

"We have a lot to cover on this day, so try to be more awake," he scolded me. "Now, close your eyes so you don't get nauseous, and make sure to hold my hand tightly.

I did as he told me to do, and I could feel something shifting inside me for an instant. Even with my eyes closed, I had to fight the urge to vomit. "You can open your eyes," Richard told me.

I opened them to see the same mansion that appeared in my dream. But the actual scene was way more majestic than the one in the dream. I realized that I was kneeling on the ground, so I struggled to stand up while saying, "Was that teleportation?"

"Yes," he confirmed, "and welcome to the Mansion of Night."

Since it was daytime, I could see more of it now than I could before. The mansion was surrounded by an ancient forest, a lake, and of course the maze. Flowers and several plants were everywhere. A broad plain was at a corner, a place for martial arts classes, an archery region, and other places I didn't know anything about. But I saw something I didn't see in the vision, there were soldier statues all around the mansion holding swords and shields as if they were guards.

"It's beautiful," I admired. Richard nodded and gave me a small tour of the mansion. While we were walking, Richard talked a lot about wizards and magic, how he created ways to harness it, and how he took many disciples and taught them how to use this magic.

"You may recognize many of the disciples from the various mythologies that exist within the mortal world," he explained.

"Those that are held as gods or whatnot?" I asked.

"Yes, they were believed to be gods. But, actually, there is only one God and no other, all of those that claimed godhood were nothing but arrogant fools."

"So you're telling me that the Greeks, the Norse, the Egyptians, and the Chinese all existed?"

"Of course, did you expect the mortals had such a wild imagination to be able to create all these civilizations?"

"Who are you exactly? The 'Lord of Chaos' title is not new to my ears."

"This title means that I am the ruler of the entire universe, known as Yggdrasil," he explained, to my surprise. He only looked slightly older than me, and that was it.

"Oh don't be too surprised. I am currently over a hundred years old. That is if we are speaking biologically."

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion. Biologically? Is there any other way to count one's age?

"I am not bound by time, Orion. I spent a lot of my years in the past, so technically I am trillions of years old."

The two of us remained silent for a while after this interaction. What he said held a lot of significance. Time travel is actually real...?

"You said also something about being a phoenix?" I finally asked, cutting the uncomfortable silence.

"Yes," he said, "I am known as the Dark Phoenix because, well, I am a phoenix."

"Obviously..."

"I wasn't born a phoenix. I was originally a human with some of the phoenix blood that was passed from my mother's side. Later on, a transformation happened that made me into a dark phoenix."

"So that's how it is," I said, then asked about something different, "How did you become immortal? Well, other than being a phoenix."

"Why, by cultivation of course," Richard answered.

"Cultivation? What's that?"

"It means growing your strength, whether physical or spiritual. As you cultivate it over time, you will notice that it is divided into different ranks."

"And what are those ranks?"

"First you have the 'Warrior' or 'Wizard' rank which consists of 9 levels. Second, the 'Saint' rank consists of 3 levels: early, mid, and peak. Third, the 'Divinity' rank also has three levels as the ones before; some arrogant ones call themselves the respective way: Demigod, Midgod, and Highgod."

"That explains why most of the civilizations had 'gods'," I smirked.

Richard smiled and continued, "The fourth one is the 'Sovereign' rank consisting of lesser, intermediate, and high Sovereign. The fifth is the 'World' level. The sixth is the 'Dao-lord ' level and finally the 'Emperor' rank."

"That's it?"

"Sort of. Right now, you need to know about these only."

"Okay," I said rolling my eyes. Whatever he was hiding, I would naturally know after some time passes.

-----------------

Author note: Updated on 18/4/2024