Galaxy's First Ruler

"Daddy..."

Aldrich's eyes were shut. So much that it looked like he was just flashed by the most powerful laser in the world.

Thump!

Thump-…-Thump!!

The rhythm of his heart stumbled and strayed off course. The Black Mist, surrounding his heart, roiled in fear as if it had encountered the most fearful thing in existence. And the blood flow in Aldrich's veins kept speeding up and getting interrupted with a jerk.

Even Sha's constant shouts were of no use to him.

Rustleeeee!!!

Aldrich heard a rustling sound. It was like a vast region of dry, broken leaves had surrounded him and something was slithering over them. It wasn't fast, but Aldrich from his heart wished it to pass by him the sooner, the better. But the thing was, it wasn't just him who was experiencing this feeling.

It was the entire world.

The entire planet heard this sound, but most of them weren't as fortunate as Aldrich. Their mind didn't warn them of this appearance. Their consciousness didn't split and didn't warn them of the consequences. And they didn't have someone like Sha, who could have pulled them in another dimension.

Rustleeeee!!!

Another rustling sound came out of the gargantuan fissure, and the same slithering sound echoed in Aldrich's and  the ears of all beings.

Ahhhhh…

Wahhhhhhh...

Nooooo...

Roarrrrr...

Shrieks, inexorable and heart-wrenching shrieks resounded throughout the planet. The skin of all humans and beasts alike fell off like it was glued over their muscles. Their bones lost their hardness and became soft, making them dangle as if they were filled with jelly. And when it seemed this mutation would make them lose their mind, their stomach bulged.

Men, women, children, and animals were like little abominations made of red jelly. There was not an iota of skin on their body, and without skin, the bare muscles on their body were like bloody paste of meat.

Arghhhhh...

Inhumane blubber came out of their throats as their stomach kept bulging but didn't show any hint of bursting out.

Rustleeesshh!!!

Another rustle came out of the fissure, but this rustle seemed dampened. It was as if whatever was slithering inside of it had left the dry land, entering a muddy ground. Aldrich gritted his teeth, and his eyes couldn't squint anymore. There was a feeling in his heart, telling him that the moment he left the protection of this strange dimension, his fate would be much worse than death. This feeling turned to the most basic fundamental truth in his life, the same as the truth of knowing that two plus two were equal to four.

As soon as the second rustle covered all beings, the bulging stomach burst out simultaneously throughout the planet.

Bang... Bang...

Bang!

Countless small toothless and strange-slimy snakes flooded out of the mutated beings. The snakes wriggled and fed upon their kins, and the bodies they had come out of, leaving behind corpses full of pus and rotten flesh.

Hisssss-Hushh-She-Sah!

A voice, a command, and a saying came out of the fissure, making Aldrich let out a scream of agony.

"Aahhhh!!!"

Blood and snot came out of Aldrich's nose, and his muscles squirmed under his skin. His head banged as if someone was hitting it with a hammer. Every strike was more powerful than the last. Except for letting out a painful grunt and cry, he couldn't do anything. In the Shadow World, he could barely blink, much less lift his hands to hold his head.

"Daddy... I..."

Sha neared him, and her eyes were closed too. She didn't depend on sight as much as Aldrich did, to begin with.

But when it seemed Aldrich couldn't hold any longer, even with the dimensional gap between him and that fissure, all hissing and rustling stopped. All mutated beings had become nothing but food of the tiny snakes. This hissing hadn't affected the mythical snakes raining down on the planet and around it. Instead, there was a light of hope in their raging eyes. Their hissing was ever louder, and it sounded like the pitter-patter of the twisted rain.

Huff! Huff!!

Aldrich was out of breath, but even then he didn't dare to open his eyes. He was about to peek out into the real world when a howling sound originated from within the fissure.

Huuuuuu!!!

It was like someone had just taken a deep breath, sucking lungful of air in one go. But if the creature behind the crack in space was as big as the crack itself, then how humongous its lungs must have been. Aldrich's heart thumped as he too thought of the same thing, and couldn't help but let out a shout.

"Sha! Open your eyes and look outside."

"Ah..."

"Do it! We have little time."

Sha reluctantly opened her eyes, but not before putting her hands on both sides of her head. Like a submarine's periscope, her head came out of the Shadow World, and, looking away from the fissure, she shouted out.

"Daddy... It's my... food. That Bastard... eating… my food."

"Huh?! Pull me out."

One hand of the Sha reached down and grabbed Aldrich by the back of his neck before pulling him out. From Sha being alright, Aldrich had made sure that the weird things going on outside had subsided. But even then, without figuring out more about it, he dared not let out his Perception.

"Face me in the direction away from the fissure."

Sha, like holding a rag doll, turned Aldrich's head. Aldrich cracked his eyes open a little, but what he saw made his eyes snap open instantaneously. All mythical snakes that had transformed from Vritra's head were getting sucked towards the fissure. It didn't matter if that snake was a mile long or hundreds of miles long; it was as if this pull was sucking these creatures only.

"This..."

This pull was exactly like Aldrich's pushing and pulling a concept. But its scale was bigger, much bigger than Aldrich had ever cared for his Rumok to be. And when it seemed this was the only thing that could make him astonished, Aldrich's eyes landed on the two beauties some hundred meters away from him.

Boudicca's entire body was bloody, and she kept coughing out blood after blood. There was an unseen layer that kept fluctuating around her as if isolating herself from the things going on within the planet. But even more stupefying was the posture of Maya.

Her state was bloodier than Boudicca, and her injuries were also grievous than her. Even then, not caring about anything and facing the fissure, Maya was kneeling on the ground.

And her beautiful and tired face was full of respect, reverence, and recognition.