There was no pressure on his mental sphere but Noah had instinctively closed his eyes.

When he opened them, he found himself in a dark world illuminated only by the soft light of distant stars and by figures on the ground.

There were tens of thousands of white glowing shapes that resembled humans wielding weapons and they were fighting in an immense barren plain with a mountain at its center.

The mountain was incredibly tall with paths along its sides.

The paths were s.h.i.+ning as the glowing figures were fighting on them too.

On the summit of the mountain, the brightest of all the figures was sitting on a black throne.

It seemed that it was looking at the ma.s.sive battle below but since it had no face, Noah could not be sure of that.

However, the throne felt irresistible to Noah and he instinctively took a step toward the battlefield.

He noticed that he hadn't a body either but that he was made of the same brilliant substance of the others in the plain.

Two glowing sabers were wielded by him as he began to battle.

His thoughts were confused and he could not think of anything except reaching the top of the mountain.

He began to battle in the crowded plain, every time he defeated a figure, a bit of its light was absorbed by Noah.

He didn't notice that once a shape was killed, a skull would fell on the ground behind him.

He had random moments of clarity in which he could think about his situation.

'It seems that this world forces me to follow my instincts, I believe that this is all a metaphor for my search of power.'

He realized the intention of the test but he could not stop fighting.

He felt his strength increase every time he defeated an opponent and he slowly neared the base of the mountain.

However, there were only more figures on his path and Noah continued to defeat them one by one.

He lost the perception of time, there was only the next opponent in his mind.

Days pa.s.sed fighting and then months.

Noah had completely lost himself in the search of power but his spa.r.s.e moments of clarity allowed him to always move toward the mountain.

The light he was exuding started to surpa.s.s those around him as he was becoming far stronger than them.

In the end, he reached the mountain.

He found out that the 'paths' were in reality only one road that coiled all the mountain linking its bottom with its peak.

Noah didn't waste any time an began his climb.

Even more battles happened and more skulls acc.u.mulated on the terrain.

He continued his solitary march toward the power that he had always desired.

He was becoming increasingly s.h.i.+ning, he clearly felt that his strength had long surpa.s.sed the limits of a human of his new world.

Then, he reached the summit.

The most s.h.i.+ning figure rose from his throne and launched itself at Noah.

The battle was incredibly hard but Noah felt satisfied when he won.

There was no one else in front of him, only the throne remained on his path.

He slowly neared it, it felt irresistible as if everything he had always desired were to be found there.

He sat on the throne and the scene changed in front of his eyes.

The throne wasn't black anymore but it was white and made of countless human skulls.

The mountain had changed too: instead of terrain, the ground was composed of b.l.o.o.d.y corpses and countless weapons.

The plain disappeared and, in its place, a red sea occupied the whole world.

Noah could clearly feel some familiarity with all the environment.

The skulls and corpses belonged to those that he had killed to reach the summit while the sea was the blood that he had made them shed.

He was alone, the last living being, king of a dead world.

Time pa.s.sed, Noah felt that he hadn't left the throne for centuries.

He had no reason move, he had reached the peak, the pinnacle of the world.

Then, the level of the sea began to lower until it was completely absorbed in the ground below it.

Slowly, life forms appeared.

They were small shapes made of light that ran freely on the naked terrain.

More and more lights formed until the first human was born.

A second human appeared and then a third.

The world repopulated at a fast pace until the humans were again the main figures of the world.

The s.h.i.+ning figures then looked at the mountain and at Noah's brilliance.

One by one, they fell on their knees and prostrated toward the white throne and the mountain of corpses.

'Heaven and Earth gave me a throne, even if it's made of skulls. The Earth revives every time, doesn't matter how much blood you pour on it.'

He raised his gaze to look at the distant stars.

'The vastness of the sky stands uncaring upon me.'

He looked again at the prostrated figures, he was the king of an entire world, there was only wors.h.i.+p exuded from its inhabitants.

'I don't want any of this.'

He understood that the throne was just a mean to obtain strength but he had no intention of being a ruler.

'I have no interest in ruling upon the undying Earth, nor on being deluded by the endless Heaven.'

He looked again at the sky, the light of the stars felt familiar, they resembled a bigger version of the s.h.i.+ning shape that was previously occupying the mountain.

He stood up from the throne and placed a foot in the air.

A step materialized and Noah proceeded on placing his other foot on the empty air in front of it.

Another step appeared on a higher alt.i.tude than the one before.

Noah didn't stop nor did he look at the figures below him, only the s.h.i.+ning stars occupied his field of view.

A stairway leading to the firmament formed and Noah continued to climb it until he disappeared in the dark sky.