Every begining has its end

In a realm once teeming with beauty and life, a young man hovered over the remnants of a castle, enveloped in desolation. His obsidian eyes, void of life, mirrored the fiery destruction that had ravaged the land. Clad in unblemished white robes, he stood untouched amidst the chaos. Yet, the blood seeping from his clenched fists betrayed his inner turmoil.

All around this young man was an invisible-to-the-eye cage. A cage made of qi, an energy form in this world. This young man was the prince of this world. A respected and admired figure, his family reigned as the sole rulers of this world for thousands of years, surviving calamity after calamity. In fact, they survived EVERY calamity that was thrown at them with minimal damage to their clan or their people. So apparent, that it was suspicious. 

This suspicion birthed a seed of gloom in this young man's heart. Was his family protected by the heavens? Many citizens thought so, but he did not believe it. He had uncovered old records from a distant time in his family's royal library. It was the oldest book in the library, yet it was in pristine condition, as if it could not…no…must not be destroyed. The book could hardly be called one, having only one page.

His efforts of years of research into translating the ancient script written in the page led to his discovery a few days ago. He was part of the Serious bloodline. Depicted in the book along with words was an eye in the sky peering down on what must have been a distant relative of his, all alone in the world, with flames seen everywhere. The message that went along with it was as follows: 'On the 10000th calendar year since the beginning of the last great calamity. The gods would return to take back what they had given. This cycle will never be broken.'

It was those ominous words that left him sleepless these last few nights. When was the 10000 th calendar year? The current calendar only had two thousand years on it. He had kept the news to himself. What would this piece of information do except cause widespread concern and fear. Even more so, is it even real? Is this just some folklore of the past? His mind told him it must be a legend of the past. But his heart told him it was a prophecy for the near future.

That all happened three days ago. Today was the judgment day of the Jossflame planet and all its people. 

A few minutes ago…

"Light! Hurry, you're going to miss the sunrise!" In a beautiful palace of marble and quartz a young woman ran with light steps towards the balcony terrace. Her voice, as if made of honey, left a sweet sensation in the mind of anyone lucky enough to hear it.

"Amelia, the sun will go nowhere, it will be here today, tomorrow and everyday beyond that. What are you in a hurry for?" The young man responded, following after her with slow and steady steps, his hands relaxed behind his back.

The woman reached the beautiful white quartz railings of the balcony. As she gazed at a large rising orange sun in the distance. The young woman had sun kissed skin with a beautiful set of crystal blue eyes, and a dainty little nose. She was the epitome of a young beauty. The young man soon reached her side, his handsome and dashing face equally as captivating. They were like an immortal couple.

"Isn't it beautiful!" She spoke as she smiled in awe at the beautiful sight. It was not as if she had not seen it many times before, but it always left her awed at nature.

"It is. Remember my promise?" Light spoke as he smiled.

"How could I ever forget. When you breakthrough your cultivation you will take me to see the sun amidst the starry sky." She spoke with words filled with tender feelings of love.

"Soon." Light spoke, though he never displayed it, feelings of anxiety were hidden deep beneath the layers of his strong front.

Reaching his level, the peak of cultivation, he could feel a restriction amongst the world. As if it wouldn't let him reach any higher. This coupled with what he had discovered a few days ago, had increased the feeling of vigilance in his heart. What did it all mean? What was coming? Exactly what is this beautiful world of theirs?

RIIIIIIP

An ear piercing sound bore through the entire world. Light and Amelia held their heads. Though both were respectively at and near the peaks of this world in terms of cultivation, they felt their souls shake.

As they looked towards the sky their eyes widened with Light's hands leaving his back as they lay still to his side. There it was, exactly like the image depicted it. A large eye seen through a vicious crack in the sky. Runes covered the multi ringed black and white pupil. Just looking at it gave him a sense of crisis through his heart. 

Amelia coughed up blood as she staggered, holding onto the railing, her eyes dimming noticeably. Light strangely felt no pain. Only a strong sense of foreboding of what was to come. 

Thousands of individuals entered through the crack like flies in the sky. Each covered in black robes with a single yin and yang symbol on the back of their black robes.

Shortly after what looked like thousands of them entered through the crack, the eye disappeared leaving only a black gash in the morning sky, and thousands of what could be thought of as cultivators from upper realms lined up in a terrifying formation.

Amelia had recovered herself as she gazed once again up at the sky. "What are they?"

"Amelia stay clo-" As Light reached towards her he saw her turn to look into his eyes. Those blue gems for eyes filled with worry and confusion.

BOOOOM.

Everything in front of him exploded. Yet he was not sent flying nor was he hurt. He remained in the same place floating in the air untouched. Yes he was now floating. Everything around him had been destroyed, turning instantly into a ruin. The thousands of years old castle was ruined in a moment.

"-se". His soul seemed to still. Unable to process what happened. The image of confusion and fear of his lover ingrained into his vision like a painting. All around the world similar scenes played out. Though the first moment was silent. Screams of agony and grief filled the entire world.

"No…" He softly whispered as if he was afraid of speaking. As he rushed towards the ruins he was met by an invisible barrier.

"What is this?" He poured his entire cultivation into a punch as he met the barrier, the entirety of his strength being gently absorbed and nullified. As he tried to collect his panicking heart he caught sight of a severed arm. On the arm was a sapphire blue ring. He had bought this ring because it matched her eyes…

BUMP BUMP BUMP

Light could feel the blood pumping through this head. His heart was beating faster and faster as he could no longer control his breathing. His hands clenched so hard that blood flowed out.

Present time…

Still in a state of shock, he heard the voice of a middle aged man. "You must be the inheritor of grief." The calm and amused voice indifferent to the horrible destruction the world was currently facing.

Light stayed looking at that severed arm, hearing but not reacting to the man's words. His mind which always operated at lightning fast speeds, was coming to a screeching halt. 

"You must have a lot of questions. Since you are such a pitiful existence I'll explain to you your situation." The middle aged man spoke with a smile as if watching Lights state brought him great joy. He was a handsome middle aged man with slick black long black hair, his black robes different from the rest of the warriors in the sky. His cuffs were white, with silver linings. On the back of his robe under the yin yang symbol was a single line as if to symbolize the number one.

"You are the current generation's inheritor of grief. Though you cannot feel it there is a seal hidden deep in your body." The man continued as wails rang throughout the world, smoke filling the sky.

"Your world is simply an experiment, a training ground. A training ground for what you ask? A world to collect negative emotions. All the feelings of fear, the grief, the anxiety, the horror, all of it to be collected every 10000 years. Why? Even though I don't know, I only follow orders."

"As for why I tell you this. Because it doesn't matter. You cannot escape, and you cannot die, not until you birth a child to inherit the mark of grief inside your soul. You cannot do anything. You are a powerless, worthless ant. The more grief you feel, the stronger the mark of grief gets. Though even if you know this, it's not like you can change anything."

The man glanced at the severed arm on the ground.

"A lover perhaps? Tragic." The man sighed.

"Hey buddy, she isn't coming back." The middle aged man spoke moving in the air to face Light, blocking his line of sight.

In Light's dim eyes he gained a bit of clarity. This was the calamity. He was right, everything he feared came true and far worse. He raised his hand to his neck and slashed a frightening wave of energy heading towards his jugular. The energy dissipated as it came in contact with his skin.

"Hey buddy, didn't I tell you you cannot die? You have a mission to carry forward."

"Kill me."

"Are you stupid or something? You cannot die, you won't die. Any attempt against your life by you or someone else will be deflected by the energy of this entire world. Not until you have a child, in fact until then you can remain immortal in this world. Though if you birth a child you can commit suicide and nothing will happen, it is good in fact, it will give your child more grief to cultivate the seal further. Didn't you ever find it weird that your family only ever died of natural causes? Also don't worry about not being able to find another lover, we will leave a tenth of the population alive leaving only mortals so you can rebuild your clan."

"Speaking of that, it looks like we are done here." The man clapped his hands a single time and left towards the sky where thousands of figures were gathering and leaving through the sky. Some of them had hands covered in blood, their eyes blood thirsty as if they didn't have enough enjoyment. Others simply looked carefree as if it was just another task to be completed. Before they left, the middle aged man formed a seal with his hands.

Dark strands of energy began to leave the souls of every live and dead inhabitant of the planet and rush towards Light and into his body. An invisible seal in his consciousness showed itself for the first time greedily absorbing the negative energy. The seal looked like a smaller copy of the eye in the sky, only covered in less runes, it was faintly transparent as if it was not in its final form growing ever so slightly more opaque as it completely absorbed all the energy. 

With this final act, all the invaders left as quickly as they came, the crack in the sky sealing up, returning to how it was before. However before the crack was completely sealed, a stream of light that no one was paying attention to, flew into the world heading towards Light and silently disappearing. Was it a faint glimmer of hope—or perhaps another curse, time would tell.

Many citizens, even Light, asked themselves if the events of today were a dream. But the ruins that covered the planet and the dead bodies that scattered the world showed that what happened was indeed not a nightmare.

With a pop, the invisible barrier disappeared from around Light as he slowly flew down towards the arm. He held it with trembling hands. The entire castle was leveled. From the middle aged man's words…no…even without it just by the damage he could tell not only Amelia, but his entire family, all the maids, everyone in the castle must have died instantly.

He closed his eyes as he held onto the hand. The slight feeling of warmth in the hand showing its owner was alive not long ago. He made a silent prayer in his heart as two streams of tears flowed from his closed eyes. Hoping their deaths were at least as painless as could be.