At the center of the hall was a large statue. It was thrice as large as the others.
Luke tried to glean it's characteristics but unlike the others, it seemed to be veiled from his perception.
The pressure it gave off was crushing, even from his distance.
At this distance into the hall, the pressure from all the statues made Luke feel like he was carrying a mountain while moving.
Sweat fell from his face as his knees buckled, threatening to be crushed into the ground. He could see the central statue but he couldn't even move a single more step talk more of getting to it.
It was a despairing situation and even stronger men might have broken.
But instead of despair, Luke got angry. It was the first emotion he felt since he broke down in hopelessness after seeing the massacre of his family.
It was a raw, feral anger.
He couldn't believe the guts of this statues, this place.
Pressuring him, forcing him into the ground, acting all high and mighty. If they were so powerful, so unrivalled, so untouchable why did they just sit around cozy in their hall while his family was massacred and killed violently.
If they were so mighty why were the corpses of his friends littered in his home?
Weren't they supposed to be the ancestors of the clan? Why couldn't they protect their own from this calamity. Instead they sat here pressuring the last member of the family.
"Fuck off!" He screamed, forcefully bringing his knees straight by an exercise of sheer will. His blood burned even hotter as he took one more step, then a few more.
It was an irrational anger. This were only statues, with all their detailing, they weren't real, this ancestors had long since died with the statues made to remember them. But he didn't care.
The overflowing rage bottled inside him like a powder keg finally found it's fuse; The pressure breaking away the last strand of restraint in him.
His bones creaked as he walked but he pushed through regardless.. tears flowed from his eyes, but whether from the pain or the grief even Luke didn't know.
He took a few more steps, getting closer to the central statue. Every step felt like torture but he pulled through. Still, he hit his limit a step away from the statue.
Even with his raging will he knew it. If he took one more step he would die. His body had become so hot that a cloud of steam surrounded him. His blood shone red through his veins and his red eyes felt piercing.
But Luke didn't care.
If he couldn't even get past this how could he become strong enough to save his sister from people who were powerful enough to annihilate his clan?
He stomped the fear rampaging in his mind from the foreign will in him and he took the last step. Luke didn't notice it, but in that moment, the aura of fire he was giving off gathered ahead of him in the shape of a spear head piercing through the aura.
But even that wasn't enough.
Instantly, the pressure increased tenfold. Luke had already felt like he was deep underwater. But now, he felt like a world was laid on him to bear.
He immediately fell head first to the floor, unconscious. Numerous blood vessels burst on his body, his muscles tearing as blood leaked from his seven orifices.
As he fell, his fingers grazed the foot of the statue at the center.
***
A red dragon the size of a continent flew across a world cold as ice.
It's red eyes sparkled with amusement as it looked down on the icy world. But the inhabitants of the world were not dismayed, looking up at the dragon with unyielding defiance.
But this only made the dragon more amused.
At this moment the champion of the world approached it with a loud screech. It was a beautiful ice blue phoenix that gave off an otherworldy light. Wherever it passed, everything down to the very air was frozen into ice.
An ice storm surrounded it and it transformed into woman with a curved katana. Her hair was an ice blue colour and feathery wings extended from her back. Her facial features were empty, like she had been forgotten by this memory, but still, Luke could tell that she was an overwhelming beauty.
"Phlego," an otherworldy voice rang.
The dragon lips curved. Flames hot enough to burn space surrounded him and when they dispersed, a tall muscular man stood in the place of the dragon. He held a long golden spear with red tassels, staring tauntingly at the woman with a battle crazed grin.
He stabbed his spear and reality split apart. Luke opened his eyes widely as he tried and failed to comprehend that spear strike.
Unfortunately, the strike also destroyed whatever it was that held the projection together.
***
"What weird place am I at again?" Luke found that he was finding himself in weird places whenever he fell unconscious this days.
"This is not a weird place, boy." He heard a voice thunder, though it seemed to carry a bit of annoyance.
Luke was in an empty space surrounded by nothing but white. Opposite him stood a golden spear with its tassels flying though there was no air in this space.
"Are you flying your tassels to look cool?" He blurted out before gaining restraining his tongue. What was wrong with him? He was the one who thought the words and spoke them, but that wasn't like him. He didn't understand what was happening to him. And it scared him.
"What did you just say?" The spear asked, aghast.
"Nothing," Luke replied, denying with a straight face.
"Hmm." The voice of the spear hummed contemplatively but Luke noticed that it's tassels laid a little lower. "My name is Zenberg. I am a spear spirit. My spear once belonged to the Lord Phlego, the one known as the red dragon. It is nice to meet you. I must say though, I reckon you might need to do something about your broken soul soon."
Luke's eyes immediately widened hearing that.
"What do you know about what's happening to me? How can I reverse it?" Luke almost screamed.
He had paid little mind to the weirdness to his soul, almost ignoring it but it wasn't because he didn't care about it. On the contrary he was scared of losing himself; Of one day waking up and no longer being Luke Phlego. But this matter was continually overtaken by more pressing things. But now that it was brought up, he couldn't help but hope that he could find the solution here.
"Reverse? That's impossible. I don't know how this is actually happening. It's a miracle. There are legends about it but I didn't think it was possible. Two separate broken souls bonding together to form one complete soul, It's unheard of," Zenberg said as the spear leaned towards Luke, giving him the impression that it was inspecting him. "The bonding of your souls is actually what's keeping both souls from dispersing. Even if you managed to find a way to reverse the bonding, you'll just die."
"What? Does that mean I should just sit and let this weird soul usurp me?" Luke asked trying to comprehend the spear spirit's words.
"No, you shouldn't just sit. You actually need to help it out as well," Zenberg said, chuckling sarcastically.