God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

\'A gentle breeze and an earth-rending gale are one and the same...\'

Somehow, those words seemed to play in his head over and over again. He could feel the power he currently held in his hands. Should he lose control, his unprotected body would be torn to shreds by the winds he had summoned.

These winds had a sharp edge that carved out deep gorges on the surface of the earth below as he fell.

There was no need for any physical action. With a mental command, the winds wrapped around him. The air before him caved in and collapsed to form a vacuum that sucked him in at the moment just before he hit the ground, reducing the force greatly and changing the direction of his falling body.

BOOM!

A deep crater was gouged on the ground as Cain slid further and further away from ground zero.

"Brilliant! Hahaha! Just brilliant!" Azazel laughed as he shifted right before Cain who was bleeding from every exposed part of his body. Most likely due to some spell the demon had cast on him, upon opening his status window, he found out that all his stats, apart from his magic and spirit stat, were greatly reduced.

\'To leave my fate for another to decide doesn\'t sit well with me.\' Cain spat out a mouthful of blood as he proceeded to shakily stand on his feet.

***

{Congratulations to the Host. The skill, {Air Whips} has evolved into the external skill, Windweaver...}

{Windweaver}: By controlling the force of a gale, a gentle path formed from the air splitting open is created, pushing the surrounding air backward to create a vacuum tunnel, greatly increasing the host\'s speed and ability to perform aerial maneuvers. Movement speed increases by 100%.

Cost: 1500MP every three minutes.

Cool down: 1 hour.

***

"And to think I would have had to put you back together on the first attempt. You truly are a wonderful specimen!" Eyes shining like distant stars, the demon looked like it was only a second away from pouncing upon Cain to explore his secrets.

A shiver running down his spine, Cain moved away from the demon...

"How did I do?"

"Not bad. However, the true fun starts now." With a wave of his hand, the scenery surrounding them changed.

Cain looked around and his heart skipped a beat at the grandeur of the scenery surrounding him. There was a tall, huge active volcano just before him. To his left was an ocean of water greater than any he had ever seen on his home planet. He could only wonder what sort of creatures lurked beneath its surface.

To his right, was a valley. However, even from how high of a vantage point he was, he still wasn\'t able to see what was within the valley.

"Where are we?" Cain looked to Azazel for answers.

However the demon didn\'t give him a direct answer,

"If you survive these series of challenges, we will be able to move on to the next stage quicker, meaning you will be one step closer to escaping from my hands. That is if the angel of death doesn\'t come to take you first..."

Seemingly foreseeing this, Cain had a neutral expression on his face, "And how do you expect me to survive in an active volcano?"

"You don\'t need to survive in it. You just have to get me an object that is located at its center." Azazel said with a cunning look.

"An object?" Cain said with a frown.

"Don\'t worry. You\'ll know what it is when you see it. Once you are done with this challenge, I will detect it automatically and will come to take you to the next stage." With those words, the demon disappeared, leaving Cain alone on the edge of the volcano.

Staring at the mouth of the behemoth of death, Cain could see a huge cloud of ash and volcanic residue rising up and into the clouds. He could also see the lake of fire boiling within the depths of the volcano.

"I\'d have to be completely insane to five in there," Cain said out loud.

Sitting down at the edge of the volcano, Cain did the most sensible thing he could at the moment...

Resting his head on the hard ground beneath him, he started at the black cloud of ashes for a few seconds before closing his eyes...

He fell asleep...

***

Staring down at the human test subject below, Azazel had an intrigued expression on his face.

"My Lord..."

Suddenly, a voice called out to him...

"Can\'t you see that I am busy?" Azazel said without taking his eyes away from Cain.

"Well, this is a little bit urgent, my Lord."

"It can wait..." Azazel said again, waving his hand to dismiss his harasser.

However, his harasser was very persistent...

"My lord, I can assure you that you will want to hear this..." The voice said calmly.

"Ha... Can a demon just have some alone time in peace?!" Azazel said, transforming into his true form as he glared forward.

Standing before him was a gigantic serpentine creature that was almost as huge as the colossal volcano that Cain was lying on.

She was covered in green scales, and the aura she released was enough to make a star seem dim in comparison.

She wore clothes that barely covered her, just slightly hiding her privates from view. At her back were a pair of jet-black scimitars covered in a multitude of runes.

A sea of raven black hair hung down her back, and her pure white eyes appeared as though they could see everything. Despite all these, she knelt before Azazel, her entire being showing absolute submission.

"What is it, Alveera?" Azazel said with a grunt as he turned his face away from the behemoth beauty.

"My Lord, a rumor has begun to spread in the heaven and hell planes." The creature began...

"Just get to the point... What rumor, and how does it affect me?"

The creature seemed a bit hesitant, but the annoyed look in Azazel\'s eyes seemed to spur it on...

"Apparently, some have begun to believe that the old Celestial dragon god, the Calamity bringer, Skyrim, has escaped from the Black Dungeon..."

"Sorry, I couldn\'t quite hear you. For a second, I thought you said the old dragon Skyrim has escaped from the Black Dungeon." Azazel said, his lips twitching as he tried to maintain his expression.

"You heard me correctly, my Lord. While it hasn\'t been confirmed, some seem to think so. Not only that, but some underground forces in all the planes have begun to feel restless." Alveera said with a strange expression on her face.

"Shit! Well, this isn\'t good. This isn\'t good for anybody. Only the Nomad knows what sort of hell the old dragon will bring to the planes if he truly is free." Azazel said, a panicked look appearing on his face. It was obvious he was very concerned about the matter.

"Well, no one will blame him, my Lord. After all, who would be happy that his entire race was mostly wiped out?" Alveera said with a sad expression.

"Damn! This is all that bastard Tian\'s fault! All because of some damn prophesy?!" The elements around the demon became unstable as he yelled out in anger.

"My Lord!" The serpentine behemoth, Alveera had a pale expression as she was forced to bear the brunt of Azazel\'s momentary anger.

"Sorry..." Taking a deep breath to calm down, Azazel turned toward Cain once again.

"Could this be fate?" Azazel said to himself in a near whisper.

"What is, my Lord?" Alveera asked curiously.

"Take a look at that human over there," Azazel said, pointing at Cain who was still asleep.

"A Human? Where?" Alveera said, her eyes scanning all over the place.

"Ha... You... Why the hell are you so big?" Azazel couldn\'t but complain.

"My sincerest apologies, but this is just the nature of my race." The giant bowed her head toward the ground, causing the earth to quake and rumble.

"Ha... Don\'t worry about it. The human is right there." Azazel said, pointing straight at Cain.

"How does any of this involve that human, my lord? I couldn\'t sense it before because of how weak it is." Alveera said with a sneer.

"Look closer..." Azazel said with a flat expression.

"Look closer?" Obeying her lord\'s command, the behemoth looked harder at Cain, her paper-white eyes suddenly lit up with the light of over a hundred runes that floated and jumbled within it.

"Now that you mention it, I can sense a tiny bit of celestial aura from that human. A god remnant perhaps?" Alveera said with a frown.

"Not quite. While I do not know exactly what the human\'s relationship is with the fallen celestial, I can tell it isn\'t a contract borne of a god remnant. I can also tell it was a dragon. A dragon that might have ties with the Calamity Bringer." Azazel said tapping his fingers against his temple.

"My Lord, do you think the Calamity bringer escaped from his eternal prison? It is said that it is impossible to escape that place. It even has an abyssal dragon as a guardian!" Alveera said with a hint of doubt.

"Even if it isn\'t so, I believe it was about time a few things began to change. The heavens have been far too peaceful these days. I\'ve been bored, you know..." A smile crept onto Azazel\'s face as he kept his stare leveled.

"My Lord!" Alveera exclaimed in surprise.

"Don\'t worry about it too much, Alveera. Just keep observing. If there are any changes, inform me immediately."

"Yes, my lord." The snake woman said. Even though she was incredibly huge, Cain didn\'t seem to notice her. He was still calmly asleep as though nothing had happened.

"My Lord, what is so interesting about this mortal?" Alveera couldn\'t help but stare at this human that had piqued her lord\'s interest so...

"While he might have a rare god remnant, that shouldn\'t be enough to make him special in your eyes, right?"

"HEHEHE!" The demon let out a chuckle.

"Alveera, do you know where the greatest secrets of the magical arts lie?" Azazel asked after he was done laughing

"My lord, I do not possess that great of knowledge in the magical arts, so I doubt I would be able to answer this correctly. But if I had to guess, I\'d say the soul." Alveera said with an embarrassed blush on her face.

"Spot on!" Azazel yelled with a smile, causing the huge snake woman to put on a smile that revealed her incredibly pointy, razor-sharp canines.

"The soul houses a few secrets that even the celestials don\'t seem to understand. However, who am I?! I am the most exalted intellectual in the infinite universe. With so much time on my hands as a near-immortal being, it would be a disappointment if I didn\'t grasp these secrets already." Azazel said, his pride gushing out like a fountain.

"The Secrets of the Soul?" Alveera said, completely astonished.

"Yes, and so has he..." Azazel had a wide smile that stretched from ear to ear as he pointed at Cain.