Dragon Gods Reign Chapter 249: Judge of the dead

[Cehlya’s kingdom]

As Darganth let out his roar, the sound of his voice swept across the flat grasslands that surrounded him. Only loosely dotted with small hills and lone trees, the terrain gave a clear view for miles on end, though this only allowed an observer to see more of the sa.

Row after row of souls marched along winding paths that cut through the fields, their numbers easily adding up to millions just in the area Darganth could see. Moving as if guided by an invisible hand, each one headed in the sa direction, with the rging paths gradually pooling more and more of the souls together the further one went into that direction.

Among these masses, few souls were alike. Everything from humans, and other humanoid species like giants or dwarves, over beasts and animals, to even a few mbers of legendary species, and an awakened legend being among the crowd. Aquatic life-forms were similarly included, with wide rivers cutting through the landscape ever so often, splitting the branching network of paths into multiple segnts to allow fish and similar creatures to also head in the sa direction.

But the variety wasn’t rely in appearance. So hurried along the path while others dragged out their march. So stayed in large groups while others walked on their own.

Yet no matter how different they had been in life or how they made their way toward it, in Cehlya’s realm, all of these individuals walked toward the sa city on the horizon. There, their fate for the afterlife will be determined, with each soul being subjected to karmic repercussions based on their lives while it slowly deteriorates and fades over ti. The energy released during this will then be captured and channeled into Vunreon itself so that the multiverse will can use it to feed its growth.

However, Darganth had no intention of following even just the first step of this system. Whereas even those souls that possess wings at least kept low to the ground as they flew over the crowd, he soared upward shortly after his arrival. Drawing the attention of almost every soul around as he did so, Darganth was followed by envious looks when he accelerated toward the distant city.

As he flew toward it, he soon also dropped his protective spells to conserve mana. Unlike before, where the realm of death would’ve pierced his scales and eaten through his flesh, even if marginally slower than it had done to his humanoid form, the environnt in and around Cehlya’s kingdom was far more forgiving to living creatures.

Called elental plain, this space was to the elental realms what the astral was to universes. Just like the latter, it serves as a connection between the realms of its elents in each universe while simultaneously serving as a mirror to the astral, just as elental realms do to the physical world. Though unlike the astral, it was far less deadly than its smaller cousins, with only localized spikes of elental energy.

Despite this, the elental plains were rarely inhabited. While they weren't an environnt particularly hostile to life, they also didn't have anything to offer. Resources like and other physical materials were entirely nonexistent without outside intervention, while the magical energies were too thin to be useful. All in all, the elental plains had little to offer to inhabitants, with their most useful aspect being the fact that they enable the existence of elental realms in the different universes.

There were, of course, exceptions to this. For one, elental plains allowed travel without being affected by obstacles in the astral. Even the void wasn’t exempt from this, with its influence in the elental plains being a shadow of the power it had in the astral.

Additionally, as the plains of space and ti were just extensions of their counterparts in universes, users of these elents traveled into them with a similar regularity.

However, these were rely two outliers among the sixteen elental plains. Compared to them, the elental plain of death was closer to the norm that the others presented. However, while it too was in large parts empty, near the center of the multiverse, Vunreon had carved out a piece of it and rged a universe into it to create what has since then beco Cehlya’s realm.

Through this, Vunreon managed to circumvent the limited authority it had over the elental plains. This greater control allowed it to funnel the souls of the dead into this one part of the plain of death instead of having them wander the entire plain, establishing one central afterlife for all of its inhabitants.

For Darganth, this feat would remain a marvelous work no matter how often he laid eyes on the interwoven strands of reality and elental plain that made up the realm around Cehlya’s kingdom. This fascination didn’t end when the city then slowly beca clearer on the horizon, its majesty and beauty still bringing a smile to his face even after having witnessed its splendor thousands of tis before.

Between it and the fields of the dead towered a pitch-black wall. Its smooth tal surface caused reflections to appear alongside its surface, showing approaching souls the invisible creatures of death that prowled the patches of grass in between the paths.

Ford from Cehlya’s power and thus unavailable in her realm, these bestial creatures were both a first line of defense and keepers of order. Whenever a soul is foolish enough to try and flee its fate, these creatures are already there to pounce on it. Striking unseen and unavoidable, they drag the offender to the gates of the city so that they can be judged for their attempt, with the attempt alone negating potentially hundreds of good karmic deeds.

However, while they are the most active enforcers, these creatures are far from the only thing ensuring order before the wall. Precisely every four thousand five hundred and fourteen ters stood a hexagonal tower. Each one was a perfectly identical structure whose height dwarfed even the already massive wall. Along their sides, small windows were found, one per side for every floor. From them, scouts kept an eye on the entire field, with either their own magic or artifacts allowing them to see for kiloters on end while magical machinery allowed them to precisely fire spells at individual souls over similarly great distances.

The construction at the top of the towers, on the other hand, was more for indiscriminate devastation. There, a glowing white crystal floated in the center. Carved as smoothly as the walls of the structure were, it emitted constant beams of light from the dozen or so flat surfaces that shaped its form.

Though unassuming, these not even two ters tall objects each had the power to wipe out tens of thousands of souls a second. Even in their idle state, their beams would reach for dozens of ters and annihilate anything but the strongest of souls the mont they hit. Simultaneously, they left physical matter entirely unhard, with the souls of living creatures being similarly safe as the physical body prevented the beam from reaching them.

But when actively supplied with vitality or death elental energy, these beams could be focused through just one surface. Not only did this widen the beam, it also allowed it to reach for kiloters if not stopped. Through this, each crystal can be turned into an even more devastating weapon that the mages atop the towers can wield freely.

And in the worst case, the crystal can be overcharged and dropped from the tower. In such a state, a single crack in its surface would release all of the stored energy in a blast that had the potential to clear dozens of square kiloters of souls, sothing that combined well with the almost completely flat terrain in front of the walls.

However, even with that, the defenses along the wall didn’t end. Massive chains were connected to the top of each corner of these towers, anchoring floating islands to the wall. Floating wall segnts then further solidified aerial control, with their positions constantly shifting as the commander of the tower they surrounded moved them to where they were needed or used them to transport troops.

And in addition to these soldiers on the walls and in the towers, flying beasts and legendary creatures inhabited caves in the floating islands. Making their presence known by having so of their numbers swarm around the tower on their island, they further darkened the already dim light that shone down from sowhere far toward the top of the realm.

As Darganth approached the outer edges of this defensive network so ti later, these flying creatures were the first to react. Souls instinctively knew that flying too high drew the attention of the beast prowling in between the paths, aning few even tried, and fewer made it far. So for them to see soone flying toward them without any alarms having been raised wasn’t sothing they expected.

Darganth, on the other hand, had no intention of interacting with them. While it would be an easy task for him to explain himself, doing so would be an unnecessary waste of ti.

As such, he leaned into a dive when he saw parts of the swarm peel off toward him. Using gravity to accelerate further, he flung himself forward when he transitioned back into level flight monts later, shooting past below the approaching swarm just as it dove after him.

When he then ca within a few kiloters of the wall, Darganth started searching for the closest gate. Knowing roughly where to expect it, he swept his gaze across the wall sections imdiately to the left and right of the tower ahead of him. There, about a hundred ters to the left and right of the tower, he found two open gates. Long lines of souls stretched across the paths before both, though the clustered crowd before the gate on the right made the assumption which one would get him to his destination faster an easy one, prompting Darganth to shift his course to the left.

From then, it would take him barely a minute to reach the gate. Keeping an eye on both the swarm of flying beasts and the soldiers on the wall during this, he made sure they wouldn’t try to stop him. But with the forr not catching up fast enough and the latter likely not even noticing him, nothing of the sort happened.

Thus, Darganth reached the gate without trouble. Spreading his wings and coming to an abrupt stop, he gave the souls beneath him a few seconds to scatter before letting himself drop. Throwing up a gust of wind with his landing, he inadvertently sent most of these souls stumbling back even further, speeding up the process of clearing himself a path.

Striding forward, he then entered the gate. Consisting of two double doors and a hallway through the entire depth of the wall in between, its colossal structure allowed even his gigantic fra to fit through, even if only barely.

Once on the other side, Darganth found himself stepping into a wide-open plaza. Stretching along the wall as far as his eyes could see in both directions, it gave approaching souls a good look at the hall of judges that towered on its other side.

Standing at double the height of even the gate and thus coming close to the wall itself in height, the building lood over the plaza. Endless numbers of doors, so opened and so closed, of various sizes stretched along its width, with two shadowy figures flanking each one as guards.

As souls approached it, the building itself warped to fit them. Doors grew or shrank in size to perfectly accommodate a soul, the texture and even shape of the outer wall of parts of the building morphed to fit the approaching individual’s idea of the afterlife, while the guard’s appearance shifted to that of the individual’s species.

And though he wasn’t dead, the sa was true for Darganth. Black walls gave way to the grayish-white, almost marble-like stone that his palace had been made of. Pillars grew out of the ground as the upper portions of the wall curved forward to form a canopy above a small pathway in front of the building. All the while, the entire structure grew so large that the door surpassed even the gates in the wall, allowing Darganth to easily stride past the two dragons that by then flanked it and into the building.

Inside, he was greeted by a corridor that spanned the entire width of the building. To his left and right, a transparent barrier that was only noticeable through the slight shimr it left in the air separated him from the adjacent doors, leaving him only the option to head straight forward.

Standing there was a lone humanoid figure. Clad in gray robes that reached all the way to the ground, the man leaned against a door behind him, his eyes studying an open book in his hands. However, the small twitch of his fingers even as he kept his arms crossed before his chest told Darganth that his arrival had been registered.

To the man’s left and right, walls bridged the last few ters between the barrier and the wall on the back end. A small, rectangular area was built in the left corner of this, with a large table and stack upon stacks of papers visible behind the barely over a ter tall wall that separated it from the rest of the room.

As Darganth fully stepped into this, the door behind him fell shut. Only then did the man at the other end finally move. Noticeably annoyed that he had to pause whatever he was reading, he pushed himself off the wall without raising his gaze from the book, slowly making his way toward the work area on his left while beckoning Darganth to step closer.

“Imdiate judgnt or do you wish to request a delay until a reunion with friends or family can be arranged?” The man asked, his back facing Darganth as he switched the book for a piece of paper from one of the shelves.

This question took Darganth by surprise. Not having noticed that the man had never looked up at him and thus expecting the usual procedure dragons were privy to, he briefly paused before answering.

“Neither.”

At his defiance, a sigh escaped the man’s lips. Turning around and pointing at Darganth with the quill he had been writing with, he launched into a frustrated tirade.

“There are no special treatnts, at least not here. And believe , it's in your best interest not to be judged by soone who has the authority to ignore the rules. So either you pick or I’ll get the guards to-” The judge said, freezing as he finally looked up to Darganth.

“I stand corrected. I apologize for the mistake, it's been an exhausting shift.” The man said, tossing away the paper in his hand and briefly scanning the shelves before reaching for a new one.

Placing it before himself onto the table, he then sat down and raised his gaze to et Darganth’s as he prepared to write, “I will need your na, exact species, and an imprint of your mana signature, then you can already be on your way. Soone from the branch responsible for handling matters of your kind will then check in with you in the coming week to finalize everything.”

Hearing this, Darganth wasn’t sure how to tell the man before him that he wasn’t dead and thus didn’t require any of the standardized forms. Especially because he himself wasn’t entirely sure what the process for getting an audience with Cehlya might be. In the past, he had never bothered with the usual entrance and just directly made his way to the palace, so just the question of whether he even could get an audience the way he was trying was pure guesswork.

“The problem with that is that I’m not trying to get into the afterlife. Rather, I’m here for an audience with Cehlya.” Darganth said after a few monts.

“What? I know your kind gets quite a few privileges, but I don’t think that is one of them. Though I can go and check if you want?”

Shaking his head, Darganth spared the man the effort, “It isn’t. And I’m not asking you to directly get an audience, just to get into contact with soone who can.”

Raising an eyebrow, the man was visibly unsure what to do with such a request. Glancing between Darganth and the stack of papers strewn around his desk, he leaned his head to the side as he weighed the options.

In doing so, it quickly beca apparent to him that the risk in turning Darganth away was greater. While getting him into contact with soone higher ranking might result in so stern words from that soone, it was still far better than the punishnt for turning down a valid request, especially from a dragon. Besides, making it the problem of soone else would be far quicker for him.

“Fine, I’ll try to get soone down here by requesting an ergency intervention. You seem to know the contract. Any preferences on what the ergency should be?” The man asked.

“Article three, request to extend partial privileges to a non-draconic soul should be fine.” Darganth said.

Nodding, the man reached for one of the stacks of empty papers he had on his desk. Quickly scribbling a few sentences onto it, he then grabbed one of the seal stamps next to him and pressed it onto the paper. The mont he did, the paper vanished, teleported sowhere by the spell circle integrated into the stamp's pattern.

To Darganth’s surprise, he only had to wait in the uncomfortable silence that followed for a minute at most. Just as he had lain down in anticipation for a much longer wait, the door next to the judge’s workspace opened, revealing a gray maelstrom behind it.

“It worked?” The man said in astonishnt.

“Faster than I expected.” Darganth comnted in response.

Pushing himself back to his feet, he turned toward the worker as he slowly started making his way toward the portal, “Well, that just leaves to say thank you and goodbye. While we started on the wrong foot, you did well for how unexpected of a situation this must have been, so I’ll put a good word in for you.”

“Thanks?” Initially surprised by the praise and still unsure whether Darganth’s recomndation would actually bring sothing, the man only managed to answer with a single hesitant word before Darganth vanished into the portal a mont later.