Fire

Fire.

Not just any fire.

A blinding, raging inferno bent on searing everything in its path.

Da Siming narrowed his eyes at the blinding flames, only to make out a seal of an ancient insignia.

Da Siming staggered back at the insignia as the flames roared back within the faint energy wave which formed the seventh binder of Alex's soul.

Seven components. Normal for six. The seventh energy wave was familiar. Da Siming gasped, astonished at what he found.

It still can't be, Da Siming repeated to himself. The signature was too alike Chongli's.

All the powers of Chongli sealed into a human soul. Impossible. Why would Chongli do such a thing? Stumped by the seal, he thought of using the Four Pillars of Destiny to yield the information sought.

The Four Pillars of Destiny never failed to identify odd spots in the seven soul waves.

With a wave of his hand, five large scrolls the height of Da Siming appeared, swirling around him, awaiting his pick.

"The Four Pillars of Destiny."

No sooner did Da Siming uttered the commands, the other four vanished, while the scroll unfurled itself into a holographic screen.

[Soul realm entry detected]

[Confirm the analysis by the Four Pillars of the Soul within the realm]

"Analyze for the Supreme Fire," he said.

The scroll glowed yellow as Da Siming read the information scrolling rapidly across the screen. Unremarkable, like a typical soul. First energy wave was just a normal readout, followed by the second and subsequent sixth.

Suddenly, it stopped at a vertical line at the seventh energy wave and highlighted the words in the ancient script.

"Hidden Seal within the seven wave: 'Did Nothing. Addicted to Nothing. Desired Nothing. Punishment was Nothing'," Da Siming read aloud.

"Origin of the Seal?" He asked the scroll.

"Chongli, Supreme Zhurong, Supreme Elemental Fire. Old rank: Primordial. New rank: Not applicable."

Punishment was nothing, either nothing itself was a punishment or it really meant no punishment at all - the riddle mystified his logic. Nothing could also mean the Great Void of Nothingness beyond the hidden dimension - the ultimate punishment for all primeval beings to guard the cosmos of the vacuous space in loneliness.

But no new rank?

The holographic screen vanished before him as he looked around within Alex's soul. Nothingness was not within a human. What did Chongli do and why did he seal this energy wave in this insignificant soul, only for Chongli's own device to find this wave?

"Chongli, you were and are a mystery back then and even now," Da Siming muttered as his hand waved the scroll away.

The four other scrolls reappeared in front of him, rotating slowly, awaiting his orders.

"Book of Lesser Fates," he pointed at the thickest scroll.

The other scrolls disappeared as the thickest scroll floated placidly in mid air. Unlike the scroll of the Four Pillars of Destiny, no holographic screen appeared.

"Initiate overwrite bypass: Da Siming," He said.

A holographic screen appeared.

[Accessed limited by Shao Siming]

"Within Soul question. Ancestry."

[Accessed limited by Shao Siming]

"Damnit, sister, why restrict me?" Da Siming hollered in frustration.

"Now, now brother. You are a death bringer. I am a life bringer," Shao Siming's voice echoed back.

"This human soul has Chongli's seal," he replied.

"Let me look up the book. Next time, DON'T TOUCH MY THINGS WITHOUT MY PERMISSION!"

"Fine, fine, you win," Da Siming replied, unwilling to test his short tempered twin sister.

"You said Chongli's seal. Did I hear, right?" Her tone sounded quizzical.

"Yes. Four Pillars of Destiny confirmed the seal is his."

Then there was silence. The behaviour was unlike his talkative sister, who would talk his ears off.

"Shao-er?" Da Siming called out.

"Uh, hang on, there's a problem with my scroll."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"It's burning off words…" she trailed off in panic. "What the heck is going on? Wait… BROTHER, GET OUT OF HIS SOUL!"

The warning came too late. A bright burst of flames engulfed Da Siming before he could withdraw, searing his form so painfully that he cried out.

Swirling blackish waters rushed in, quenching his burning energy waves and forcing the fires back.

"Kanghui?" He uttered, now drenched to the core of his being.

A blink and a few familiar faces glanced at him. Kanghui, Arahabaki and his mischievous twin sister, Shao Siming, who looked sorrier than usual.

Da Siming turned his face to watch the form of Alex lying by his side.

"Don't play with fire," Arahabaki said and gestured to Kanghui, "when you don't have an extinguisher."

"Thanks, Kanghui."

"Thank her? What about me?" Arahabaki pointed to himself.

"He pulled you out of the soul realm. Kanghui can't penetrate it earlier," Shao Siming said.

"How? You aren't the…"

"Jeez, it's always about Takamagahara, right? They don't rank me and you assume I am a good for nothing?" Arahabaki huffed in frustration.

"He is very strong," Shao Siming giggled as she threw a furtive glance at Arahabaki, who grimaced at her reaction.

"Only the old…"

"Why do you think Takechitchai calls me Jomon?" Arahabaki cut him off. "I am an older fart than their pantheon of beings. And you went to play with Homusubi."

"Homusubi?" Da Siming asked as Kanghui glanced at Arahabaki.

"Homusubi," Arahabaki said, "Your Chongli came to us as Homusubi before the Takamagahara pantheon came over. They actually offered to let Kagatsuchi take over his place, a sign that they liked him."

Da Siming shook his head in disbelief. It sounded like what Chongli would do, but he needed to hear it for himself.

"What do you mean by offer to take over?"

A wry smile appeared on Arahabaki's face. "Homusubi, or Chongli, never wanted the role of a fire god, so he offered to dump the title conveniently on anyone willing to take his place and went on as a Suzaku, the divine bird of fire and the south. And then…"

"… he dumped it on the phoenix." Da Siming palmed his face, completing the words of expectation.

"He said he wanted nothing to do with anything," Arahabaki chuckled and gestured at Alex. "I smelled him in that soul. It inherited the 'I don't want to even fight' attitude of his."

"So he was hiding out in Japan?"

"Beats me, but the others don't really care much about him, since he doesn't challenge any title or status quo. Ask anyone, including Kagatsuchi. They have nothing nasty to say about him," Arahabaki added.

"Unlike you," Kanghui pipped in.

"Talk about yourself first, you damn magatsukami," Arahabaki snapped. "They have nothing nice to say about you."

"Neither do the ones in Xitian," Kanghui shrugged.

Da Siming raised his hand. "Except for me."

"Because you are the cause," she interjected.

"What about this one?" Arahabaki glanced at the form of Alex, who seemed to be in some peaceful sleep.

"The Seal has activated around him fully. Do you think you can gate crash into the core of his soul realm, which binds the energy waves?" Kanghui asked Arahabaki, who peered at Alex's body lying on the ground.

His eyes glowed red as he studied the body.

Then he shook his head. "Whatever Chongli left in him, if I gatecrash now when the Seal is in defensive mode, I burn and your new pretty boy burns."

***

A towering mushroom cloud bloomed towards the skies, forming a shadowy obstacle between the sun and those on the ground, plunging the surroundings around Alex into a dark gloom.

Another rumble and rocks flew out of the erupting volcano's cavernous mouth, illuminated by the bubbling thick raging mix of yellowish and reddish magma near him.

People were scattering like ants, frantic for shelter and escape from this living nightmarish hell. Oddly, their clothing was reminiscent of the time when neanderthals roamed with furs covering their body.

Screams echoed in the valley, and silenced by the even louder explosions from the ferocity of the eruption. Grey dust particles bobbed up and down in the air, covering the once green plains and pristine blue lake with gloomy grey ashes.

"Shit, why aren't I getting burnt?" Alex examined himself.

He couldn't feel the heat even as the great sea of raging fire emerged from the chaotic nightmarish scene, adding a reddish-orange gradient to the greyish background.

"Because these are my memories," a voice spoke within him. "You have a part of me."

Alex frowned. Why was his own voice talking back to him?

"Who are you?" Alex asked as he looked around the fiery scene to see if anyone suspicious was around.

A young man with a familiar face manifested out of thin air in front of him. His eyes are green with blonde reddish long hair neatly combed. He wore flowing gowns that reminded Alex of an ancient Chinese, or maybe of Sogdian origin from the Silk Road.

"Find my face familiar?" The young man asked.

"Well…" Alex racked his head on where he had seen the face before.

"It's yours. We are a splitting mirror image of each other."

Alex slowly turned his head to stare at the young man. "W-who are you again?"

"Chongli. That's my personal name."

"So, is this a possession or something?" Alex muttered with caution while eyeing Chongli. "You know, like, take over my body."

"How can the dead have a body? Remember, you just died. But you have a form," Chongli replied.