While they were captivity by Emperor Rohan's guards Daniel dozed off and was put on a small horse to carry him as he slept he had another series of strange dreams presumably of past lives but three seemed more important than the rest. The first took place in the year 1876 C.E. during the Bulgarian rebellion against the Ottoman Empire. The Bulgarians had rebelled against Ottoman rule and as a result the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II (1842-1918 C.E.), declared a Jihad on the Orthodox-Christian Bulgarians and ordered that the Bulgarians should be crushed and learn to stay in their place. As a result the Ottoman Turks invaded Bulgaria and kill countless Bulgarians often cutting off the heads of all of the men in these Bulgarian towns which sparked outrage in the European Press in countries like Britain and France which decried the brutality of the Islamic Ottoman Turks and what they carried out against the Orthodox-Christian Bulgarians as a crime against huSekuty. This gave Russia an excuse to declare war and as a result Tsar Alexander II of Russia (1818-1881 C.E.)., declared war on the Ottoman Empire. This was the Russo-Turkish War of (1877-1878 C.E.), in his past life he was a regular Ottoman Turkish soldier in 1877 whose men were routed by the Russian forces with their RoSekuan and Bulgarian allies one of the bullets entered the young Turks' skull killing him instantly. In the second dream he was a young Japanese boy no more than 10 years old whose parents had died in the Hiroshima Bombing on August 6 th 1945 C.E. He stood there crying, his face badly burned and some of his skin peeling off in the ruins of the city of Hiroshima. Finally the third dream was of him as some woman in Victorian England dated around the year 1837 C.E. in London walking home at night and being attacked by a shadowy being that looked like a Werewolf. As the dreams faded he saw images and memories of Ebisu talking to his son the future Lord Iblis. And once again he saw the Caterpillar who simply said; "All will become clear in time." After this Daniel woke up and realized they were still being marched through the dark underground forests of the caves. The other heroes in Daniel's party traveled below into the deaths of the Mushroom Forest which was a forest that existed deep in the underground caves where only a little sunlight would trickle in from above they were of course in captivity after Ungar had argued that willingly traveling with them would help the group not get lost in the forest and they could easily escape once they were at Rohan's Fortress. Ungar had told them about the Dark Triad as the guards were bullied by Ungar into letting all of them speak. Ungar stressed that they were coming straight for them and they longed for the blood of the Gate Keeper which could help them bring back their master the Dark Lord Yakku,
Zaiyal wasn't impressed and was ready to show off his new fighting abilities that he achieved in the Spirit World with the Caterpillar. "Don't worry I'll have these Dark Triad goons shaking in their boots after they confront the great Zaiyal the greatest warrior in the known-universe." Said Zaiyal. "You need to stop with this pride Zaiyal, its going to get us all killed." Said Daniel. "I have to agree with Daniel Zaiyal. You have to be a little more humble and look at the situation realistically." Said Sarai. "I'm surprised to see you on the Elf's side Sarai. But not matter I'll just prove you both wrong when this Dark Triad arrives." Said Zaiyal. After an additional few minutes they arrived at what seemed to an encampment with a large wooden fortress. And an echidna began to read a small peace of parchment. "Introducing Emperor of the Twilight Realm, the Tsar of the Wilderness, the Sultan of the lands to the west and the east, the ruler and king of all the Echidnas, the Dwarves, the Pixies and all other beings in the Twilight Realm, and soon to be lord of the Universe, Emperor Rohan." And there he was a fat giant echidna as big as two Grizzly Bears with a crown on his head and his own suit of armor with a ridiculous cape. "Well are these the new captives. They will make for great slave labor in our diamond mines. Send them out immideatly we need to well rested when we begin our invasion of the Orc Kingdom in the morning men!" said Rohan. "Yes sir!" said his warriors. "Listen I knew your ancestor back some 500 years ago and I know you need to act tough for your men but you're all in great danger a group of three Warlocks known as the Dark Triad are headed right here and based on the increase in power I'm feeling right now they're going to be here any moment." Said Ungar. "How pathetic trying to stall your enslavement are you?" said Rohan. "We can escape at any point hurry theres not much time." Said Ungar. "I've heard enough take them to the Diamond Mines." Said Rohan. After the words left the Echnidna Emperor's mouth the room went almost completely black and then a series of omnious illuminations began to fill the caves in their place. "What's going on here?! Did the Orcs discover our plans?!" said Rohan. "You should have listened to them you royal fool!" said a voice. "Who said that?! What is that?! What is that?!" said Rohan. Some of Rohan's men began to burst into flames and the soldiers began to burst into flames this forced Rohan's men to help him to safety. Out of the darkness came three figures it was the Dark Triad; Han, Qin and Sui. "Why hello, you must be the Gate Keeper I assume your friend the Warlock has told you about us so we have no need for formalities." Said Han. The three were dressed as old Mandarian Chinese noblemen with long nails they were clearly Han-Chinese but were no longer Human in spirit as they're eyes were soulless and lifeless. Two of them the ex-Buddhist and Taoist monks were bald but both had beards and the last had long hair and a beard as well this was the ex-Confucianist Han. As they approached it became increasingly clear of their fighting power and their dark energy to the point where Daniel the Gate Keeper himself nearly fainted. Sarai exclaimed publicly; "
My god, this darkness its like nothing I've ever felt before." Said Sarai. "Oh please. So you're the Dark Triad. Well let me introduce myself since I know who you are don't worry I'll make it quick. My name Zaiyal, I am a member of the famous Solarian race from the Solarian home world our native planet and of our Diaspora. More importantly I come from a long line of Solarian minor noblemen that were quite powerful but I am stronger than all of them put together. In fact I'm the most powerful warrior in the known-universe. Strong enough to one day battle God himself." Said Zaiyal. "Wow that's some resume but you're gonna need more than self-flattery to defeat us are weakness isn't a man's ego." Said Han who was the leader of the group. "Call it whatever you want I'll fight all three of you or as many as you'd care for. I'll do it myself." Said Zaiyal. "Zaiyal you can't be serious." Said Daniel. "Don't be a fool boy these aren't just any body they're the Dark Triad you don't know what you're dealing with." Said Ungar. "Quiet Warlock. The boy is a man let him make his own decisions. If you want to fight us than I say one at a time I feel that's atleast fair even if you can best all of us. How about Sui. Sui why don't you fight Zaiyal." Said Han. "Yes Master Han anything for the viceroy of the great lord Yakuu." Said Sui. "Alright lets go then baldy." Said Zaiyal. Han used his magic to create a giant arena out of nothing and one side of the outer part of the arena were Han and Qin watching with seemingly zero emotion on the other side were Daniel, Ungar, Narcis Sarai, Sun-Wukong Jr., Whisp and Tatu. In the middle of course were Sui and Zaiyal. "Why would Zaiyal do this?! Couldn't he feel the dark energy?!" said Daniel. "Because they're the same." Said Ungar. "How can you say that Zaiyal isn't a monster." Said Daniel. "No he's not. I meant he's the same as Han in that he thinks this is all a game. The difference is Han can afford to think that way and Zaiyal can't. But Zaiyal's pride won't let him stop." Said Ungar. In the middle of the ring with a protective magic shield around to keep the fighters boxed in Sui and Zaiyal starred back at each other. Zaiyal made some prideful and deemeening comments to Sui but Sui stood there quiet and emotionless. As the fight began Zaiyal seemed to be unstoppable landing blow after blow to the point where Daniel was shocked and Sarai was confused. "He's winning! How did Zaiyal get that strong?!" said Daniel. "Sui's holding back kid!" said Ungar. "Wait... what?!" said Daniel. "He's right Sui is purposely taking the hits so Zaiyal slowly puts his guard down. Its nothing but a trap!" said Narcis. Sarai's eyes widened in terror. "Zaiyal you have to get out of there it's a trap!" said Sarai. "What are you babbling about this time Sarai?!" said Zaiyal. "You should listen to your friend fool!" said Sui. "What?!" said Zaiyal. After this Sui grabbed Zaiyal by the leg and threw him into the ground smashing his head into the dirt followed by breaking his arm and finally breaking his back. Zaiyal began to howl out in pain. Before passing out. "Congradulations Sui you defeated the former Champion of the Universe how are you feeling?!" said Han. "This isn't funny you sick bastard!" said Daniel. "I wouldn't worry about him when you're about to all be dead but we have no time to kill you ourselves so we'll leave you with our little pet." Said Han. "What are you talking about?!" said Ungar. "Oh I'll just show you." Said Han. Han pounded his staff on the ground three times and the floor of the cave cracked exposing water. "Its time you met our little pet. He's pretty famous. Sailors called him the Kraken. For now, good bye my friends!" said Han. The three members of the Dark Triad disspeared and as they did the ground and the water began to shake. "Narcis grab Zaiyal and take him to safety! Everybody else fly to dry land!" said Ungar. Narcis grabbed Zaiyal and took him further down the path through the dark caves while the other heroes landed on dry land. The rest of the ground in front of them had broken away to expose the ground water below and from the ground water appeared great tenticles. It was the Kraken. Whisp leaped into battle to defeat the Kraken telling the others to leave while he bought them time but in an instant with one swipe of the Kraken's massive tentacle Whisp was knocked back into the wall behind him falling to the ground collapsing as he was bleeding out mortially wounded. "What were you thinking you fool?! That thing was the pet of those monsters you were practically begging to get killed!" said Tatu. "Well I guess I got my wish then." Said Whisp. Everybody else looked terrified except Ungar who simply said; "I have to stop this beast." He rushed outward towards the Kraken. "What were you thinking? Why did you do this?!" said Daniel. "I did it so Tatu could absorb me!" said Whisp.
"What?!" said Sarai. "Listen I'll gladly die if it means everyone else can live. Tatu if you absorb me you can help Ungar defeat that monster and you'll become more powerful in the process brother." Said Whisp. "Forgot it and besides your only my half-brother. I'd rather die than absorb the life energy of a filthy half-breed!" Said Tatu. "Come on don't you want to defeat Lord Zeal and avenge your people Tatu. With my power you can do this. Please. We have very little time." Said Whisp. An eternity seemed to pass as Tatu stood there quietly and then eventually shaking in anger; "Fine! I'll do it! But only because we seem to be out of options!" said Tatu. "Alright just put your hand on my chest Tatu and I'll do the rest." Said Whisp. Tatu put his hand on Whisp's bleeding chest and as he did a bright light began to shine out of Whisp began to scream as the light went inside of Tatu. In no less than half a minute Whisp was gone, his life force, physical form and life energy had been absorbed into Tatu. "This power is incredible. Maybe merging with Whisp wasn't such a bad idea after all." Said Tatu. "Alright I gave him my word I'll help the Warlock kill that Leviathan." Said Tatu. Tatu flew over and explained to Ungar that he would launch an attack that would stun the beast giving Ungar enough time to destroy it. Ungar explained that he would have to sacrifice himself in the process but the plan could work. Ungar and Tatu maneuvered around the massive tenticles until Tatu finally launched his stun spell that he had acquired from Whisp and with both of their energies was now powerful enough to take on the Kraken. He used it which only stuns being for about a minute and Ungar took the opportunity knowing that every second counted powering up with firey energy and launching himself deep underwater with the stunned Kraken and him barreling towards the death as this occurred Ungar's speed steadily increased and eventually after about a minute when the Kraken broke out of its trance exposing that it was a massive giant squid about the size of a Blue Whale it was too late the beast was finished but so was Ungar. Eventually they collided into the earth at the bottom which created a great fiery portal which absorbed both the Warlock and the Beast. After Tatu landed he explained everything to them. It was clear that Ungar wasn't dead but he was trapped in the nether world; perhaps he would be stuck there for all eternity. As a result Narcis who had remained calm since his enlightenment began to break down into tears and it was only Daniel who hugged the Wood-Elf and told him if they give up now they would only let Ungar's sacrifice be in vain. Little did they know Ungar appeared in the nether world but he would soon undergo training from the great swordsman Miyamoto Musashi. Now both Ungar and Whisp were gone and the remaining six heroes were Daniel, Zaiyal, Sarai, Narcis, Jr. and Tatu. As they continued on their journey to retrieve the Spirit Blade and stop the reincarnation of the dark Lord Iblis. Meanwhile... in the skies about our seven other heroes being Sun-Wukong the Monkey King, Tripitaka, Pigsy, Sandy, Leizi, King Gilgamesh and Enkidu had reached the Cloud Desert. Monkey was concerned if they could cross it as it was known that giant sand beasts lurked beneath the wave, they could all fly but they we'ren't young anymore and they couldn't maintain flight throughout the entire desert. But King Gilgamesh had a solution for this they would ride the back of one of the giant man eating worms that was the pet of the famous Jinn warrior Selim. Selim arrived and welcomed the seven heroes on their journey to the Celestial Palace. It was sometime before they would reach the sacred city of Urak. In the meantime some else was going through their very own dilemma: it was the Warlock Ungar. He was about to encounter the famous Japanese swordsman and philosopher Miyamoto Musashi. Ungar woke up and asked what had happened. "You risked your life to save your friends and as a result have passed on to the other side. But you are only trapped here for you know as well as I do that you cannot die. That is the condition of your curse." Said Musashi. "No I kind of get that. Anyway, who are you?" said Ungar. "My name is Miyamoto Musashi but you can also call me by my Buddhist name; Niten Doraku. The choice is yours though I am quite flexible." Said Musashi. "How about Mr. Musashi that's easy to remember. Is that acceptable?" said Ungar. "It is." Said Musashi. "In any event can I leave this place? I need to help my comrades." Said Ungar. "You can but you will have to train with me first but do not worry time goes by much slower in this world. A year in this world is a day in the other." Said Musashi. "How long will the training take?" said Ungar. "It will take 7 days or 7 years in this world." Said Musashi. "Well than I better stop calling you Mr. Musashi you're a martial arts master after all. I'll call you Master Musashi." Said Ungar. "So when do we begin?" said Ungar. "We can begin now." Said Musashi. In an instant Ungar was in a dark room and it was burning hot. Though Ungar was immortal and could not die he could still fear intense pain. So the scorching heat brought him to his knees. "What is this?! Why are you doing this?!" said Ungar. "You are here to help you withstand the elements this will be your first year of training. In ancient China and Tibet Shaolin Buddhist monks would meditate in extreme heat and cold to help them with their endurance. They had to rely on slowing their heartbeat. You will have to rely on slowing down the flow of your Chi and your output into the Cosmos. I will come to see you in a year's time if you haven't given up by than you may continue with the training. If you fail I will send you back to your friends and you will be no more helpful than you were when you left. Goodluck Ungar." Said Musashi. And his presence disappeared from the room. Now Ungar was confronted with his memories of all the terrible and wonderful things he had done in his life. But one memory in particular vision appeared before him. It was the Caterpillar Maochong. "Its been a long time Ungar. You know I never lie. And I'm telling you that you've changed a lot." Said the Caterpillar. "Yeah well its not really fair I had a lot of time to change." Said Ungar. "This is true but some have had aeons to change and have hardly progressed at all you changed in no less than 1,000 years. Give yourself a little credit my friend." Said Ungar. "My friend? I thought you were an unbiased party?! That's what you told me last time we talked." Said Ungar. "And that means we can't be friends? We've known each other for 500 years that has to be enough time to become friends. And besides no one to my knowledge is completely un-biased I clearly have no sympathy for the Devil." Said Maochong. "Why are you talking to me now? Why'd you decide to show up?!" said Ungar. "Well to be completely honest I came here because you were requested by the Star People." Said Maochong. "Yes. The Star People. They are much older than I am. Let me take you to them." Said Maochong. As he said this the room became a cosmic wonderland surrounded by stars and in the distance vast galaxies and celestial beauty as if one was looking into the very soul of God. The Caterpillar was gone but in his place were a group of formless being shaped somewhat like men but who's bodies was filled with stars an almost indescribable sight. "Hello Ungar." Said one of the beings. The others continued to talk to themselves. "How do you know my name?" said Ungar. "Why because we are your creators." Said the being. "Wait, what?" said Ungar.
"Come on lets take a walk and I'll try to explain." Said the being. After this Ungar and the strange cosmic being began walking through the celestial void which seemed to have abstract life forms in it and things that seemed to be half physical and half metaphysical. After Ungar finally reminded himself of his question he came out and asked it. "So if you're my creators. Than your Gods." Said Ungar. "Not exactly. Some of us die and others do not. We understand the almost random nature of our existence. If we were all powerful Gods than surely none of us would die." Said the being. "So what do you mean. Why did you create me?" said Ungar. "We created you to become one of us." Said the being. "What?! What does that even mean?!" said Ungar. "Let me explain. The universe you came from was the universe that we designed for you to reincarnate as one of us it took countless aeons to get to this point but here you finally are. Eventually you were reborn one last time as a young boy in another universe. This is because you lived through all the lives you possibly could in your former universe countless lives and all of them were you." Said the being. "Wait what are you talking about?! I was a Turkic Magyar boy living on the Eurasian Steppe who was reborn as a Warlock. That's what you're talking about right?! I've only been reborn once?" said Ungar. "No you've been reborn countless times before that its only that this is the only life you can remember. The reason we moved your re-incarnation to another Universe is because you had out grown the old reality and needed a new one to grow in." said the being. "So I devoured the older Universe. So I'm like a Parasite." Said Ungar.
"Well no, that reality was created for you so you could grow you did not exploit it. It was designed for you in the first place you weren't a foreign alien that infiltrated it you were the core of it." Said the being. "In the next universe everyone that was born before you was past versions of you but this is no longer the case." said the being. "Wait all of those people that I killed when I was an evil tyrant that was me?! That can't be possible?!" said Ungar. "But it is. You haven't killed a single soul since you were imprisoned as Ungar the Terrible for over 1,000 years. So everyone that you ever hurt in this life or the past lives was you." Said the being. "Wait so in this new reality, everyone born before that boy in the Steppe is me but everyone born after that boy is not me." Said Ungar. "That's right yes." Said the being. "And everyone who lived in the previous universe was also me?" said Ungar. "Well yes, the former reality was your Cosmic Egg your in the final stage of development right now." Said the being. "This is so confusing. I don't know if I understand." Said Ungar. The being paused and starred at Ungar before beginning to speak once again; "I guess I should start from the beginning than... We are known as the Star People. We are an ancient race of beings that have existed longer than we actually know. We live beyond what you call time and space. And we are free of both of love and hatred or any other emotion. This is like the Christian Heaven or the Buddhist Nirvana to put it simply a land of calm endless bliss that's beyond mortal comprehension. But the way we reproduce is quite unique as far I am aware. We create what we call a Cosmic Egg. Inside the egg we form a fetus and the fetus slowly gross across countless epochs and aeons to become of us eventually. That's where I and everyone else here came from.
At the end of the cycle the fetus will outlive the old universe and be placed in a separate I guess you could call it non-Egg universe, it kind of sounds silly but its basically accurate. In that universe you live a couple more countless lives until eventually you fully develop into an infant. You are almos there right now. If you complete this Musashi's training you will have finally moved on from the status of a Celestial Fetus to a Celestial Newborn. All of the human beings that ever lived in human history were you and all the animals and plants." Said the being. Wait a minute so its kind of like what the Hindus believe. So I guess the Hindus got it right. "Weren't you listening to Laozi back at the Monkey King's Palace my friend. All of the religions are right in their own way. The fact of the matter is that the truth of the matter is that the source of our reality is so complicated you couldn't possibly hope to understand it. We Star People do not even fully understand how it all works. But we have grown accepting of that fact and have learned to go with the flow and embrace peaceful bliss." Said the being. "Wait like Nirvana so that's something the Buddhist were right about." Said Ungar. "I'll put it this way since you were all of these people perhaps it will make some sense to you. We created you and thus we installed our values in all of the religions of the world. For example, Christianity teaches forgiveness something that Christ taught and was divinely inspired through, and so was the Buddha, and the Prophet Muhammad, and the Guru Nanak, and even some of the more wild characters like Jim Jones." Said the being. "So you are like Gods." Said Ungar. "No we're more like messangers. We receive information from the Cosmos and hand that information back to mortals. Through that information all of the world's great religions were created; Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Taoism, all of them not by us but by the messages we receive through the Cosmos." Said the being. "Well who gives you the messages than is that God?" said Ungar. "Perhaps. But there are many names for God some call it Jehova, or Shén 神, or the Tao for example.
Personally I believe this presence is what you mortals call God its beyond consciousness and unconscioness and surrounds everything you know." Said the being. "So the correct religion is Univeralism. That's easy so everyone should believe everything." Said Ungar. "No different people have different life paths, different religions but also different everything. If you think the point of religion is God you're missing the point. Some religions like the Jains do not even believe in God or Deities at all and Thervada Buddhists consider things like Dieties in an Agnostic way. But all of them have one thing in common. To be apart of something that's bigger than yourself. And that is needed. Despite what some might believe this mindset never leaves mortals even if they become irreligious the religious part of there mind does not disappear they just start believing in aliens, or alternate universes, or science or politicals or countless other things. This is something that is a fundamental truth. Mortals need a purpose for their own existence or there life is devolved of all meaning. A mortal can never completely detach himself from everything in his world. It would simple be impossible." Said the being. "I have to be honest most of this stuff is going right over my head. Are you sure I'm going to end up as one of the Star People." Said Ungar. "Absolutely, you may not understand what I'm saying now but in another 500,000,000,000,000 trillion years you will when you become one of us." Said the being. "500,000,000,000,000 trillion years that's the length of my curse. Your saying that the curse was planned its part of my development into one of you people." Said Ungar. "That's right. And there's one last thing you have to know before you leave or realm." Said the being.
"And what's that?" Said Ungar. The being stopped and paused; "You need to let go of all this hatred not for others but for yourself." Said the being. Ungar was taken a back but the being continued. "You're still angry about what you did to those innocents as a tyrant but as I explained those were all incarnations of you. In fact with the exception of the last 500 years every act you committed of war or of peace was to yourself. Every act of hostility every act of kindness it was all to you. You were everybody. You were Socrates and Confucius, you were Napoleon and Hitler, you were Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great, you were Christ and you were the Buddha, you were Newton and you were Heisenberg. You were every ant or micro-organism that lived in that world. You hurt countless souls but you also helped countless more souls. You slaughtered countless souls and you saved countless people. You were both the perpetrator and victim this was all part of a plan. It was beyond your control... So stop blaming yourself, its over. Overcome your demons and carve your path towards Enlightenment." Said the being. There was a long pause. "I don't know if I can." Said Ungar. "Maybe not now but you will just give it time." Said the being. They continued to walk back to where they began and then Ungar remember a question he had almost forgotten to ask. "So how long have you known the Caterpillar? Said Ungar.
"How long. Time is nothing but a construct in this world we do not have a concept of time. But because you asked as far as mortals are concerned we've known him for a time that is practically beyond numbers. In fact I can't remember a time before I knew Maochong. He is sort of like a medium to our world to put it simply." Said the being. They appeared before a portal. The being said his good byes to Ungar and when he woke up he was in the dark box as Musashi had appeared it had been a year in that realm already. As Ungar climbed out of the box he was ready to undergo the actual training. Incredible though, he had gone to another world where time flowed slower and then stumbled into another realm that was beyond time and space. But now he knew his true purpose. And he was more determined than ever to fulfill his newly found destiny.