《Set Ablaze》


 Steps to Redemption

    Slowly, as if time stood still, they fell. Uncaring as to what was happening in the realm they were in, they fell. The tiny, smoldering remnants of the world were falling. Just as burnt as the ones residing in this realm, the ashes fell down.


    In the midst of this tenebrous realm, there stood a mighty tower. Built by the gods, and hated by the dead.


    It stood still, marking the fate of those who were unfortunate enough to be in the same lands. Unmoving, unbreakable and unpassable, it robbed them their tiny sliver of hope because of its mere presence.


    Amidst the falling ashes, a lone figure emerged from the boundary of these lands, stepping into the realm from nowhere. It was confused, the lone figure found itself inside of this new place, without any knowledge of what was before and without the slightest hunch of what may just be coming.


    As it looked around, its gaze moved unconsciously towards the center of this place filled with the vast gray mass of the accumulated ashes. Then its gaze found the object it was searching for: a building that reached into the skies, its tip just barely touching the dimming, red sun.


    This was what it was here for. There it could find the answers to all the things unknown. It knew that reaching the top of this tower would lead to its salvation, the freedom it sought after.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.


    The realm shook, halting the figures thoughts completely. Voices could be heard, announcing recurring doom anew for the unfortunate newcomer: "Another one has joined the Lost Kingdom. You, who is forsaken, shall be remaining here, going through challenge after challenge, for the sole purpose of reaching the top."


    The voices sounded like the embodiment of all the suffering and lost hope the others inside of this realm possessed, sending shivers down the spine of the lone figure. ¡°Only when all the trials have been completed and the favor of the gods has been gained, shall you leave this place.¡±


    The figure fell down the moment when the voices ceased talking and the trembling of the realm was the strongest. As fast as these tremors came, they stopped as well. The figure now understood why it had the urge to get there. In order to break from the shackles that bound it to this realm, it needed to reach the top of this tower and touch the sun.


    Suddenly, it felt a burning sensation coming from its right palm. Raising its hand it observed what was happening. A red circle was embedding itself on its charred, gray skin, seemingly pulsating as time went on while the figure observed the palm.


    The mark on its palm was the key to freedom, the burning sensation telling him that it longed for the warmth of the sun. Closing the palm, the figure stood up and once again fixated its gaze on the Tower. Not watching longer than mere moments it started walking towards it, not minding anything in its surroundings. Barefoot it walked through these lands, not feeling any pain even though the surface was rough and uneven. With nothing more on than rags on its burnt skin, it took its first steps towards the Tower of Gods.

 1.1 Lost Ambition

    The path was not clear, it knew where the destination would be, but how it was supposed to go there it did not know.


    For days its journey went on, its path going straight to the Tower, but the distance did not once decrease, no, the Tower only seemed to go further and further away. Its legs did not grow tired, for the Tower was the only thing in its mind. Minutes, hours and days went on, without the slightest chance other than the bigger growing distance. At last, the Tower was nothing more but one small dot on the end of the horizon, which was when the lone figure realized that walking towards the Tower was not the real path to reach it.


    The figure halted its steps to finally take a real look at its surroundings, feeling curiosity for the first time after the mindless endeavor. The sky looked hollow as if something was missing, but it could not put a finger on what it was. The red sun that remained on top of the Tower had also moved away, taking whatever little light was on the lands with it. The realm got colder.


    Now there only reigned dark, with the occasional bit of burning ash that was floating towards the ground lighting up this place. There were massive mountains covered in ash, taking away whatever additional path there may have been. Seeing that the only other way led away from the Tower, going westwards, it saw no other choice but to follow it.


    There may have been another choice, another way out, which would contain the trespassing of the mountain range, so this was obviously something the figure did not consider. It moved once again, taking one step after another, walking into the unknown, with nothing but one wish.


    It did not manage to go far until it felt that something was wrong. It knew that even though the realm was empty, it should not be void of beings like it. It wondered where they may be. Did they walk aimlessly like he did for the time it had been there, or did they meet, trying to work together so that their chances of succeeding would be higher?


    Just as he went on wondering, the ground moved. The ashes, they moved.


    Two hands slowly went up, fighting against the ashes that imprisoned them.


    A faint feeling of dread came up, the figure knew that this, whatever it may be, was going to be its first trial, the first of many more to come. It readied itself, flexing its charred muscles that made crackling sounds whenever the figure made the slightest bit of movement. It had not known that its body was in such dire state, the longing for its goal preventing it from noticing a thing of such great importance.


    The arms that emerged from the ground soon went on to be a full body, a being so grotesque that even the lone figure could not help but wonder as to what circumstance could have caused it.


    The being in front of him was nothing more than an empty shell, a body devoid of what once may have been a glorious former self. It was equipped with the hilt of a broken sword, rendering the intended usage of the weapon useless, only allowing the bearer of it to stab deep wounds to his foes.This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.


    The lone figure felt restless, it did not possess any kind of weapon to harm the hollow corpse. The only thing that was special about it was the red mark on its palm, the circle that must touch the red sun.


    It did not have any additional time to prepare and think of any way to fight it, for it heard the growl that came from the hollow corpse. It had lifted its arm that held the sword hilt and was about to strike the figure.


    The lone figure saw the strike incoming but hat no real way to defend itself, its charred flesh was already a wound on itself. The only thing remaining was dodging, and so it did.


    The strike came from left, directly aiming for the figures head, forcing the figure to duck and evade the attack. It felt that without retaliating it would lose its chance to climb the Tower, which made it anxious. It did not want to lose the opportunity, it did not want to go back to the ever sleeping dead.


    And so it struck the hollow corpse, a few strikes with its left fist and another few with its right fist.


    The hollow corpse let out another guttural sound, but this time because it was in pain. The corpse lost its footing and the sword hilt slipped from its grip.


    The lone figure felt its head go light, and it tried its damndest to grasp the opportunity that presented itself. It ran to the sword hilt and grabbed it with its left hand, feeling that this weapon should be held with it. Whatever may happen, the palm with the red circle should not be the one holding a weapon.


    The hollow corpse watched the lone figure, it did not stand up, the empty eye sockets were now filled with a dim, gray light.


    "You will fall just like the others," it said slowly as if just talking alone took a great toll on its wasted vocal chords, "Aeons of suffering await you, and you will live in continuous misery..", a low laugh escaped its throat, "until the moment where you end up in madness, awaiting the moment the gods call you back to the dead."


    The laughter increased in volume and the lone figure stood there, observing its foe. The burning sensation of its palm grew bigger and bigger until it saw that it glowed strongly, just like charcoal in an evening fire. It knew what it needed to do. It needed to free this poor creature from its suffering.


    Not longer minding the crazy laughter, it moved forward, letting the hilt fall to the ashes.


    "You can''t kill me, extinguished one, for you are just like me. A worm inside of this mess what we call the Lost Kingdom!", the corpse taunted the figure, not even knowing the fate that was awaiting it.


    The lone figure moved on putting its right palm with the glowing, red circle on top of the corpse''s face.


    What was once a crazed laughter turned into a loud cry that intensified as time went on. The spark that caused it to have a consciousness was being robbed from it. The corpse shook and tried to weakly flail with its arms, but to no avail.


    The struggle ended with the corpse finally turning into ash as it was embraced by the lands, taking refuge in that which is feared by the lost ones.


    The glowing stopped, the circle was satisfied. It was dim once again, pulsing faintly like a heartbeat.


    The lone figure felt power surging through its bones, the black, burnt skin lightening its color by a bit.


    And then it finally remembered.


    It remembered the warmth of an embrace and a soothing voice talking into his left ear: "Welcome to the family, little Fath."

 1.2 Lost Ambition

    "Fath", the lone figure used its voice for the first time. Talking was hard for it, as its vocal chords were basically unusable since its whole body was burnt. It was finally aware that it was not just a lone figure anymore, but rather him. It was now known as Fath, a lost soul, a wandering corpse and finally an extinguished one.


    Fath did not know what the hollow corpse meant with its dying words. Fath certainly was not extinguished as he felt the tiny bit of consciousness he possessed burning with the longing feeling of setting himself free. He bowed down, running his fingers through the ashes that were once an enemy just mere moments ago.


    The feeling of loneliness overcame him once more, filling him with a sense of apathy as he went through the ashes to take the sword hilt he dropped. After a bit of going through the ashes, he found it and took it into his left hand. He did not have a scabbard for carrying the bit of the blade that was attached to the sword hilt, so he was forced to have a weight rest on his left arm.


    Not wanting to remain any longer, Fath moved on. He noticed that there was something on the horizon what seemed like a cluster of buildings. These buildings were different than the Tower of Gods, for one, they were coming closer instead of remaining on the horizon and second, the were far smaller than the Tower. It looked like a small village of some sorts.


    Now Fath knew the first thing he needed to reach in order to get one step closer to his goal, and so he continued. Increasing his speed over time as he felt excited to be able to meet new faces. He wondered if the other beings were like him, burnt to a crisp and without any kind of worldly belongings. Or if they even resembled him. What if that place was full of malicious hollow corpses, bent on taking his soul and sending him back to the unknown?


    He halted momentarily, a nagging feeling of discomfort creeping up his consciousness. What if this place was but a mere illusion made by the evil intent this realm harbored?


    But he could not help himself not to continue, he had no other choice. Going back would only mean to mindlessly walk towards the Tower without accomplishing anything at all.


    The hike went on for more than a few hours, but the results could be seen. The village was nowhere as far away as it used to be, Fath thought that he would reach it in less than another hour. What he could see from where he was now was that the buildings were all run down, made out of gray things. He wondered if it was solid stone or something else.


    The closer he got, the more cautious he became, readying himself in case something might be happening. His left palm clutched the sword hilt stronger than ever before, the anticipation making him feel worried.


    He could now see that the buildings were made from some kind of burnt wood, they looked that they could break apart with just the smallest force. The windows of these buildings were all open and he could see that the majority of the buildings were illuminated, making the village feel like a safe haven for lost souls.


    Amidst these dark lands, only light may make those like Fath feel anything that could be close to safety.


    Taking the first step into the village lifted something from his mind, he did not know what but he suddenly felt more relaxed, as if the ominous atmosphere from the realm could not break through the light that came out of the buildings. He went into the middle of the village, where something akin to a market was built. Stalls of different size were placed there, not a single thing was placed on top of them.Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    He waited there, unmoving, waiting for something to happen.


    And then he heard something. The slight creaking sound of an opening door could be heard to his right.


    Fath turned around and looked into two gray eyes that were observing him. Those eyes belonged to a being like himself. Charred skin, though of fainter, gray color. It looked certainly healthier than the skin he had. And what were only rags as clothes on his own flesh, she was wearing clothes of some sort of sturdier material.


    They looked at each other until the being in front of him motioned him over to her.


    He unconsciously followed her directions and went up to her.


    Now they stood just a few inches apart.


    "So, who are you then?", she asked clapping in her hands at the same time. As soon as the sound ceased, the doors of every building opened. New figures come out of the buildings, making Fath feel threatened. He wanted to lift his sword hilt in defense but was immediately stopped by the woman who now stood beside him.


    "No need to worry, they won''t attack you. We aren''t like the ones drowned by the ashes." She touched his shoulder, a gesture to make him feel more relaxed.


    Fath understood her seemingly kind intentions, but he could not help but flinch as he saw her come even closer to him, "Who are you?", he asked while making sure to distance himself from her.


    "We are just like you, newcomer", another one answered, a rather burly fellow. He looked just like the others, with his ash gray hair and burnt skin. The only thing that set him apart from the others was the fact that he had a weapon equipped to his hip. A real sword that was not broken.


    "We heard them. The spirits." The woman continued, "They announce every newcomer inside of the Lost Kingdom. It has been around ten years since the last one came. So not a long time passed until you came by. There are only about one or two newcomers every century or so. We weren''t prepared to receive and help you, as we do with all newcomers."


    "Why would you stay here? Don''t you want to go to the Tower?"


    Fath did not understand why they would remain there. Why would they not want to get closer to the Tower?


    "We are too weak for it, we gave up long ago. Life in here is not that great but we manage to get by," the woman replied.


    "We are all Ablaze", the burly man said, "but there are still some differences between all of us. There are the ones like us, who aren''t powerful enough to take on the trials to reach the Tower, much less challenging the Tower itself. So we decided to remain here, without going through needless risks."


    "Whether you want to remain here or leave is your choice, we just want to show you an alternative." The woman said, raising her hand and showing Fath the buildings they lived in, "Not everyone has the ambition to return the world anymore. The feeling of hopelessness since the start of our struggle has left us no other choice but to live here."


    Fath was astonished, "So that''s what awaits us when we reach the top? A world in which we can live in?"


    His question caused quite an unexpected reaction. Some of the residents gasped and withdrew immediately. The woman and the burly man did the same.


    "What are you asking, of course, we all want to return. Don''t you know what you are here for?", the burly man asked, slowly drawing his weapon. It was a short, rusty sword.


    Fath felt the pressure of the multiple gazes directed at him, forcing him to raise his broken sword as well.


    "What are you doing?", he asked.


    The man did not respond but took a small step closer, now that he had drawn his weapon.


    It was the woman who answered his question, "Tell me, are you extinguished?"

 1.3 Lost Ambition

    Extinguished One,Extinguished...


    What was this term that came out of the first beings he met?


    Fath had been thrilled to meet others like him, only to find out that he was different nonetheless...


    But they were clearly the same. They came from the same place, they had the same burnt skin, they were robbed of their worldly possessions and they once had the same aspirations as he had now. They were clearly the same as him, were they not?


    So how was it that these beings like him had the gall to call him different, to retreat from him with wary gazes,to lift their weapons against him?


    How dare they to challenge his ambitions,to question his consciousness, his right to go up against the Tower of Gods?


    "Aren''t we the same?" Fath asked them while he prepared himself to attack those who opposed him. "Aren''t you the ones who areextinguished rather than me? You creatures, who are content with the fact that they will never reach greatness, never go to the place that calls for them?"


    The ones in front of him must have felt that conflict was now not to be avoided, for the one they themselves determined as anExtinguished Onewas steeling himself for battle.


    The smaller ones, barely half as big as the others were already running away into the biggest of the buildings in this small village, seeking refuge inside behind the walls. The remaining ones, though, they were standing behind the burly one, forming an impassable line between them and the little ones.


    "You can''t be the one to break the peace we established!" The burly man roared. "We lost everything already and you won''t take us even more than that!"


    With a battle cryhe dashed towards Fath, his weapon raised high.


    It must be said that overconfidence is the doom of an inexperienced fighter, for Fath felt that the burly man, though menacing in form, knew nothing about combat. His palm was pulsating once again, calling for a meal to fill its insatiable hunger for more.


    More of what, though?


    What was it that drove him to attack innocent souls, what was it that drove him ever so closer to the tower?


    The red circle gave no answer, only a command. He threw the broken blade toward the charging manso that it could distract him, for even the slightest of seconds.


    As he was full of anger, the burly man took no notice of the blade that flew up to him, which let him stagger in a violent manner as the weight of the blade threw him off balance. This was the thing Fath hoped for.This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    His opponent fell against him, face first. What he needed to do was to simply stretch his right palm to the man''s face and as with the hollow corpse, the cycle continued. What little life began with entering the realm, the inevitable death comes with being forced to leave it.


    The man had no time to contemplate or to react, for all remaining action would be for naught, The burly man returned into the sweet embrace of the ashes, to his last calling of the gods.


    The palm sucked whatever was left of him, filling Fath with new vigor. As it was for the first time, he felt how his body underwent changes, his crackling muscles gained flexibility, his charred skin softened and gained a hardly noticeable lighter color.


    Full of horror the villagers watched what was unfolding before their eyes. Their savior and pillar of strength were taken away from them, the only thing defending them from the malice of this realm.


    Some let out a weak gasp, and others went to their knees, losing their will to remain in this godforsaken place. Only the woman who had spoken to him was capable of running away. She ran to the building where the little ones were hiding, the illusion of light having long since taken away her ability to make calm decisions.


    His palm was still not satisfied, it wanted to continue and it would not rest until its thirst was quenched. One by one he drowned them in the ashes and each time the feeling of vigor would drive him to more. Mindlessly he continued on, searching for the remaining creatures, having long since forgotten where the woman and the little ones were.


    He went through the village, not minding that the buildings could harbor other beings inside of them.


    Not until he heard it. The cry of a child.


    It came from the biggest one. From the biggest building.


    So he went on and opened the door, which creaked with the tiniest bit of movement. He stood under the door frame and looked at them. They were seven. Seven little creatures, not a bit different than children.


    And he felt it. Rather his palm did. The energy inside them, the luscious feeling that was going to fill him.


    The little ones cried out, the woman stood in front of them. "Take me but not them! They are damaged and not as developed as we are, have mercy on them!"


    Fath, though, he did not care. Just like he did with the ones before, he took them and let them connect with the neverending. Not minding their wails, and not minding the woman''s attempts to stop him.


    At last, only the both of them stood in front of each other. "What have you done? What have we done to be visited by one such as you?" She asked.


    "You are nothing more than mere shells, only awaiting what would come sooner or later. You may call meExtinguished but with how you''re behaving this term seems to be fitting you the most." He accused her. "Never mind worms, your existence is far more worthless than that. If not for reaching the top what are you doing here? If not for reaching that which you desire, why would be here to struggle?"


    "You mindless beast!" She hissed. "As if taking us our Ember away wasn''t good enough, now anExtinguished Oneis being all righteous."


    She went on her knees and clasped her hands. "Oh gods, for how merciful you are, take my Ember and let it fade away in eternity rather than let it be eaten and used to strengthen this beast."


    Then, as if somebody was listening to her, the light that shone in here eyes faded away. Her petite body made of charred flesh crumbled and turned into the lifeless ash that filled the Lost Kingdom.


    His palm burned, it was unbearable. Fath howled, as the pain seeped through his lifeless bones and he grieved. Grieved for the potential feeling of vigor he lost and for those poor souls that lost the way they were supposed to follow. He felt exhaustion for the first time since entering this realm.


    Fath dragged his body outside of the building, took the rusty sword together with the hilt and left the village.


    He continued.


    Fath moved on to the unknown that awaited him westwards.

 1.4 Lost Ambition

    For days and months, Fath continued to walk westwards, fighting against the occasional hollow corpse here and there. The march seemed to be endless, the scenery did not change once. The length did not bother him as much, but the desire to meet more beings grew with every step he took.


    He wanted to meet new faces. Faces he could appreciate, not like thosethings he met back at the village. The ones he wanted to see should be filled with the same kind of ambition he felt because climbing the Tower was the most important thing to do in this realm.


    That was the whole purpose of them being there. The Tower was the place for them to gain what they wanted, be it power, knowledge, freedom or regaining what was once lost. At least Fath thought that it was like that. If this Tower was built by the Gods, getting to the top should certainly result in them gaining anything imaginable.


    With these thoughts in his mind, he walked. It went for as long that he forgot how much time had passed since he entered the Lost Kingdom from its borders by the lands beyond. The never changing ash Fath was surrounded by was something he expected to accompany until the very end.


    This was the reason why it was even more surprising for him when he finally noticed some change in the environment. The amount of the ash that had flooded the lands was reducing the more he continued his pathway and the most important change of all was the mountains.


    The mountains were getting smaller!


    The mountains that trapped him for so long inside of this pathway were losing their might!


    One step after another, each of them filling him with newfound power carried him through the passage, while the heightof the mountains was getting visibly smaller. Soon, what wereonce imposing mountains, were now small hills. Fath wondered what he could find when he crossed those hills but he shuddered at the mere thought of this action. Something inside of him told him that doing so would be a most unfortunate mistake.


    Fath did not concern himself much with what lay behind these hills, he was instead fascinated with a new sight that greeted him immediately after everything around him had turned to even, flat ground.


    It was bigger than what he had seen all those months ago. If the buildings made out of burnt wood were considered to form a village together, then what would he call the insanely high wall and the big buildings in front of him?


    Was it just a bigger village, or was it a town? Perhaps it was even a city?


    He was excited, a new city would mean a lot of new faces he could meet!


    The buildings he saw were massive when compared to the burnt ones in the village. The more he looked at them, the more he pitied the poor souls of those creatures. They must have been focused on just the tree when they had the whole forest in front of them.You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    Seeing these changes with his own eyes showed him that the way he thought was correct. Only by getting closer and then finally climbing the Tower may one achieve greatness. Reducing yourself to nothing more than a waste of space was only calling for trouble. He felt better with justifying his actions, while he went towards the huge entrance gates of the settlement that he decided to call a big town.


    There was an eerie silence and no one came to greet him. Not that he expected it anyways but he thought that there might be a chance of that happening. Bigger settlements meant more beings, right?


    He placed left hand on the gate and what little he could feel on his skin told him that the wood that this door was made of had a smooth surface, it seemed so...full of life.


    Fath knew that for opening the gate his mark on the right palm was necessary but even so he wanted to know what the gate felt like. After rubbing the surface for a bit longer, he decided that he had done this for long enough so he nonchalantly placed his mark on it.


    For a short moment nothing happened, but then he felt his mark emit a single, strong pulse to which the gate reacted. Even though Fath knew that his mark was the key to the town he had not known what it was going to do. Whatever this pulse was, it was different than what the mark had done thus far.


    This single pulse sucked out energy out of him, instead of filling it with him like it would normally do.


    He got anxious as soon as he felt it happening. In order to not lose any more of his energy, he tried to remove his palm but it would not budge at all. So he could only helplessly continue to watch on and hope that this was not something that would last for a long time.


    The gate, after a certain point, stopped to suck him dry. He removed his palm as soon as he was able to and stepped back a bit to fully see the gate without needing to look up anymore.


    Veins started to pop out near the place his mark was on and they continued to expand until they reached the outmost reaches. The gate was black in color and the veins emitted an orange glow. Then the ground started to shake as those massive gates swung back just enough to let him pass through.


    Fath passed through and the gate closed behind him.


    The big town was had buildings made out of stone inside of it.


    "Ah, a newcomer." A rumbling voice came from above him.


    Fath got scared by the sudden appearance of a new being and this time it was truly different than what he had seen so far: It was completely made out of stone, it had the beak of a bird, the mane of a lion, the muscular arms of man, legs that could have well been the ones of a goat and finally the wings and a tail that were actually only considered the possession of dragons.


    "Your appearance is not something we had awaited but it is sure a welcome one,ExtinguishedOne." Its rumbling voice was so deep that he felt his bones shake.


    The being left him no time to talk back and continued: "Though a welcome surprise, I must unfortunately tell you that your arrival is quite untimely. You see, the time of pilgrimage has not arrived yet, the gates to this town are currently closed."


    The atmosphere suddenly got colder, there was menace in the tone of the stone creature''s voice.


    "We would love to be your hosts during your stay but we need to prepare for the pilgrimage. So be a goodextinguished and stay still for a moment, it won''t hurt. I promise you."


    Fath, who was already alerted did not need any more than that. He turned around and tried to run away, only to find himself getting punched on his neck. He heard a loud crack and soon lost consciousness.


    The only thing he felt during this short moment was that it had fucking hurt.