Galaxy's First Ruler

Tomislav stepped out of the carriage, followed by Berb and a groggy Christin.

The two Viscounts too approached them, but there was no hint of the 3 Recordless. Sharing no words, they all looked at the massive tombstone, trying to replace the sky. At its foot, just a few hundred meters away from the group, was a chasm.

A chasm so big and deep that one could hardly see its edges on left and right, or its depth.

It was like someone had dug up a grave, but forgot to stop shoveling and kept going on. For it was no doubt that what they were looking at was indeed a grave. The only question that had puzzled the historians and sages was, whose grave was it?

"So this is the famous Tomb?"

Tomislav heard Viscount Trifon's remark and nodded his head. The silence and eerie feeling that was coming out of the chasm was already loud enough.

"Will this be your first time going through a Natural Teleportation Point, My Lord?"

Yes, the entire grave under the tombstone was a means of reaching the first level of the Death Separation. The Galaxy was incredibly vast and the distances to cover were far and wide. Without the use of teleportation, one lifetime wouldn't be enough to go from one level to another.

The 4 Kingdoms and the UGF had established countless teleportation points throughout the Galaxy. And this number was increasing with every passing second. But some places couldn't be accessed through artificial teleportation.

Like the levels of Death Separation.

The mist made the technology and materials used for setting up teleportation-point worthless. In Death Separation, one could only use these graves to travel from one level to another.

"Are you trying to mock me?"

The sudden senseless question from the Viscount Trifon caught Tomislav off guard. He felt any further conversation with this degenerate of a Dreamer would be meaningless. Through the corner of his eyes, he saw Trifon approaching him and he couldn't help but sigh internally.

Tomislav and Trifon's eyes met for a moment before he saw the young Viscount looking past him with lustful eyes. He turned around and saw Christin staring at the chasm, with slight fear and sleepiness on her face that gave her an irresistible charm.

"She is riding with me."

Tomislav narrowed his eyes and found Trifon licking his lips. He looked at the red hair of the Viscount, a genetic trait of House Venomous Rose, and felt like ripping them apart from his head one by one.

"Haha! My Lord, why haven't you brought your entourage. I know these travels can be lonely for someone like you."

Tomislav tried to shrug off the topic but found Trifon looking at him with disgust. Tomislav was familiar with this look. All his life he had been seeing it in the eyes of the Kingdom's nobles. It was the look of an eagle looking at an ant.

"I like to taste local delicacies. Don't interrupt me again."

Tomislav and Trifon looked at each other. All noticed this sudden change in the situation and reluctantly turned their head away from the strange attraction of the chasm.

"No."

One word was enough for Tomislav to state his stance. Viscount Trifon didn't act out after hearing Tomislav's refusal but only laughed. The soundless laugh gave Christin and Berb a chill, but Tomislav didn't care. The young Viscount's maddening behavior was nothing compared to the truly horrifying things he had survived against.

"Let's go."

Tomislav saw the two Viscounts going back to their carriage and ordered the coachmen. As he sat in the carriage and held Christin's hands, he found them shuddering like never. Even Berb was looking at her with a strange gaze.

"Christin, don't be impulsive. Okay? We don't want a noble house chasing us to the edges of the Galaxy."

Christin nodded and lay down, going back to sleep. Tomislav and Berb couldn't help but share an inexplicable look and relaxed visibly.

*

The coachmen poked the lizards, and they dashed towards the chasm like they couldn't wait any longer. And with a giant leap they dived into the grave.

Zzzzzz!

Death! Deathh!! Deathhh!!!

Strange noises and the feeling of their ultimate demise took over the Dreamers. It was like willingly jumping from a building, knowing that the only outcome would be death and nothing else.

Tomislav and Berb clenched their teeth, the vodka numbing the slight feeling of fear. The only thought in their mind was that at any moment now they could hit the ground and die. The awareness of falling to death and yet not knowing when and how terrified them, irrespective of the fact that they had done this many times.

Contrary to them, Christin kept sleeping like a log.

Zeuppp!

Tomislav heard a sound like something getting sucked by a vacuum and knew that they must have arrived at their destination. The blackness surrounding the carriage got replaced by a strange gray mist. Tomislav looked out through the window and up towards the sky.

No matter how many times he had seen this, the sight of the first level still made him question the vastness and unseen depths of the cosmos.

*

In front of the chasm that Tomislav and his team had just left behind, a group of hooded figures and a fat man could be seen.

"Chinwendu, are you sure it was Tomislav?"

Chinwendu had a hint of hair here and there on his head. His face was beardless and his mustache reached to his chest from either side like two strings. But his ballooned-up stomach had overshadowed all these details.

"I swear on Death, and not only that, he is hired by House Venomous Rose."

"House Venomous Rose?"

The hooded figures murmured among themselves when one of them took a step forward towards the chasm.

"Haha! Isn't that the House with a stupid and arrogant Viscount as its heir? We can do with some extra fortune along with Tomislav's head then."

Hahaha!

A burst of shared laughter resounded in the dead atmosphere before they plunged into the grave. The way fatty's stomach waved around like being independent of his body was quite comical.

Thwack!

A person came bursting out from the ground just as the hooded figures had left. The dirt couldn't hide the whiteness of his cloth and the redness of the rose on his mask.

The green drops of venom on the thorns looked deadlier than ever.