A circle of growth and death part 1

Doreen had brought a couple of books into her room that she had found at the market. The books were intriguing her immensely and it seemed like the books were giving her advice on how to convince the queen to help them.

"You really think reading those books is going to help? We are talking about how to influence an immensely powerful queen who leads an organization of fanatical witches, and you think the answer is in a book," Yosef noted how the notion was ridiculous.

Doreen didn't seem interested. Instead, she kept on reading. It was like the book knew exactly what she wanted to know. Like when a person just says things the other wants to hear, to control them. Every time she flipped a page, the text changed to something that kept Doreen's nose stuck between the pages.

¨¨

Rufus was walking around the queen's palace.

"Where are you taking me?" Rufus asked her.

"I will take you to a place that will make or break you."

She took her downstairs, down underground where no sunshine could reach. No tombs nor torture chambers could be seen. The queen opened a heavy iron door and lit a small torch to light up the room.

There was a small pool with some dark material. As Rufus got closer to the pool, he saw that the black material was moving around and started to hear a crawling sound.

Rufus then stepped back as he got frightened by the context of it. Tens of thousands of small insects crawling, each devouring the other in a frenzy of starving insects. Human skulls could be seen floating among them, indicating that they had devoured many people, not just each other.

"Frightening isn't it?" the queen said.

"What is this place?" Rufus asked in a panicked tone.

"Do not be afraid. I do not attend to force you to do anything unless you yourself are willing to do the sacrifice," the queen explained.

"What do you mean?"

"This is the final trial before the ceremony of becoming a locust witch. Here these cockroaches either eat the adepts or they come back stronger."

"How is that possible?"

"These are special cockroaches who only attack those who are one with their power. If one doesn't have inner harmony, they will automatically think you are an aggressor and will devore you in less than a minute. They eat and are able to consume divine power so even if one feels remorse and wants to quit as the cockroaches attack them using their power, the cockroaches will nullify the divinity and still be able to consume the adept or anyone else brave enough to enter this pool. If one is able to have full control of their powers, the cockroaches will leave you alone and your power will grow exponentially."

Rufus looked a bit confused.

"I don't understand how this is relevant to me, or how this is supposed to help my situation," Rufus asked.

"This will help you, king Rufus. As I will not be going to fight against the empire for you, I still want to help you. I see a sincere, a bit naive but good-hearted king in you. In my opinion on you, you should thank Bouzid. She wished that I should help you someway at least. I then decided to help you in being able to control your newfound powers."

Rufus knew the queen was talking about his wings that came to his rescue when needed but had a will of their own.

"How did you know?"

"Once you become strong enough, you are able to sense more than just one's divine aura, but all the imperfections of it as well. In you, I see a tremendous divinity, but it is rebellious and unruly. I am offering you to make you stronger, so you may fight the empire, without me having to sacrifice my people for it."

Rufus looked at the pool of noisy cockroaches.

"And you believe I am able to become strong enough to beat the emperor?"

"I do not know that, but during such difficult times, one must sometimes be able to sacrifice everything to achieve one's goal."

Rufus then knew what needed to be done. He took off his jacket and with just his pants on, started to walk towards the pool.

"How should I enter it?" Rufus asked.

"Just like a trust fall. You enter it in one go," Satifa said before pushing Rufus into the pool.

As Rufus plummeted in, he immediately was covered by cockroaches. They crawled over his eyes and started to enter his body through his nostril and mouth. Rufus was about to start panicking, but before he could, Satifa yelled at him.

"Find your inner peace and don't resist the cockroaches! It only takes one of the cockroaches to think you are the aggressor for all of them to attack you!"

Rufus closed his eyes and tried to calm himself down, but it was near impossible. Rufus couldn't help but squirm and feel uncomfortable. Soon one cockroach felt it as it was pushed back by Rufus's elbow and felt threatened.

The cockroach then bit Rufus, which didn't hurt much, but soon they all started to attack him. They rushed him and like a wave and Rufus tried to defend himself. Easily Rufus could have destroyed any other swarm of insects, but the cockroaches ate at his divinity and were unable to cast his divine sphere or destroy any of the cockroaches he touched.

Hundreds of cockroaches crawled all over him and when a wound opened, started to make it bigger so they could crawl inside and start eating him from the inside. Rufus yelled in pain and as he did, it just aggravated the cockroaches even more.

As it started to look hopeless for Rufus, the divine wings appeared on his back and started to bash at the cockroaches. The wings were strong enough to destroy hundreds of flesh eater cockroaches, but even they were not strong enough. The cockroaches started to devour the wings and were able to digest them as they were made from Rufus's pure destructive divine power.

Soon the wings had completely vanished and given up on trying to protect Rufus. The cockroaches started to attack him once more, and who was pretty sure he was a goner now.

"Do not resist. Calm yourself down and learn to communicate with your rebellious divine power."

Rufus tried his best but was unable to calm himself. Soon the immense pain caused Rufus's blood pressure to rise and cause him to faint completely.

As he did, Satifa was sure that Rufus was dead and was about to be eaten by the cockroaches. She started to leave the room, but as Rufus was being devoured alive, he was inside his own mind, where time flowed slower than in reality.

Rufus saw himself in the middle of a desert with abandoned buildings all over. The world was blue, with mysterious purple storm clouds moving like snakes in the sky.

"HELLO!" Rufus yelled.

No one answered.

Rufus though felt a calling and a presence nearby and started walking toward it.

After an hour of only following his instincts did he reach a crystal-like temple, with a person sitting on top of it.

Rufus didn't say a thing as the unknown person got up. Bright wings came forth from his back and he flew in the sky like an angel.

"You truly are a hopeless case," the mysterious man said.

"Who are you?!" Rufus yelled.

A red moon shined through the purple clouds, revealing the face of this mysterious person. It was a human, but a bit older than Rufus. He had a tattoo under his eye and wore a jacket, which was ripped apart.

"Do you know why you are here, Rufus?" the man asked.

Rufus didn't think much about why he knew his name. Instead, he was just listening to him, as he had the same divine powers as Rufus.

"You are here because you are an utter failure. A piece of shit that is being killed. A being that will in no way be remembered after you are gone. Someone who on their weakness let their friends die against an enemy you couldn't defeat."

Rufus was getting mad.

"Please do. Attack me. Smite me. Destroy me. Use my powers as you wish, but I am though afraid that you are not worthy."

"You do not know anything...." Rufus said back as he was forming two divine spheres in both of his hands.

The man countered by forming at least twenty divine spheres around him, outmatching Rufus's power easily. The divine spheres then like meteorites launched at Rufus, and even though Rufus tried to dodge them, he was killed instantly.

In an instant then Rufus woke up again in the same place as he had appeared, in the blue abandoned city. He had no memory but again started to walk in the same direction as before. After an hour, he again came across the mysterious man with similar powers as himself.

"Try to do better this time," the man said and launched at Rufus with his wings.

The man moved faster than Rufus could dodge and decapitated him in a flash. And again Rufus woke up in the same place, with Rufus having no memory of what had happened.

To Rufus, he had appeared in that world for the first time.

This same cycle of death was about to go on for days, weeks, months and even years, with Rufus having no idea.