Sun Fire.

That was, in a way, what Alex had been waiting for all this time to make it his Creation. He was willing to use any strong fire, and what fire was there stronger than this one?

Alex felt a sense of relief come over him momentarily as he realized that he now knew 7 of his 8 Creations. As long as the crow was willing to help, this flame was already his.

That feeling lasted no more than a few seconds as reality washed it all away, leaving him before the fire barrier. And he was ready to take the next step.

Alex tightened his grip around Shumi, who did the same, and together they took the next step, walking into the flaming barrier.

The fire moved around them, not even touching them, as the two of them walked in. As soon as they did, it all went silent.

Alex and Shumi stepped into a plateau with the flame barrier blocking away all sights and sound on all sides. No grass existed within the place, only soft dirt along with two more corpses.

Shumi gasped almost immediately when she saw the two corpses. Alex was equally surprised as well, not having expected them up here.

When the Sun God had told him about this place and called it his grave, he had wondered if he would find his corpse here. Would his corpse even be there at all, or would it have rotted away to time?

Both the presence or absence of his corpse was up to Alex's expectation. But what lay before him was not.

What lay before him wasn't the corpse of the Sun God or the Moon Goddess, but rather two massive beasts.

To Alex's right was the corpse of a massive bird, with feathers colored black, red, and white. It had the shape of a pheasant, with a silver beak. Three bright red tail feathers extended out from its end.

To Alex's left was the corpse of a massive draconic beast with its body closer to a lizard than a serpent. Two wings lay nestled on its back, like ones that would be on a bat. Its body was covered in golden scales that almost looked metallic to Alex.

Alex's breathing grew heavy. He understood what he was looking at.

These were the corpses of the Dragon Father and the Phoenix Mother. So It was just like he thought, wasn't it?

"This is where we died," the Sun God walked out from behind him, moving closer to the corpse of the dragon. He stood before it, an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Is that the Dragon Father?" Alex asked, just to confirm.

The Sun God nodded. "That is what I was called."

"You?" Alex narrowed his eyes, looking confused. "You are the Dragon Father? Are you not the Sun God?"

"I am the Sun God. But I am also the Dragon Father."

Alex was taken aback. "So I understood it wrong?" he asked.

"What did you think was going on?" the Sun God asked.

Alex crossed his arms and began explaining. "I was under the assumption that there exists a power born of the Sun and Moon, and whoever holds that power is a god. When the holder of that power dies, it moves on to the next thing it can find."

"The plants had your powers at the start. Then when they died, that power moved on to the Dragon Father and Phoenix Mother. The Dragon Father and Phoenix Mother held onto it for some time before it moved on to you two."

The Sun God took a moment to answer. "You are somehow both correct and yet not. I did not gain power. I am the power," he explained. "I've always been the same power, or rather had been before I died. That power transformed from one being to another."

Alex frowned. "So what are you saying? You were the Dragon Father, but then you became the Sun God? Why make that sort of change?"

"I am not in charge of the change. While I am the power, the power itself does not have a form it requires. It is those who perceive us that do."

Alex gave a confused look. "What do you mean?"

"To the humans, I was the Sun God," the Sun God said, gesturing to himself. Then he gestured to the corpse next to him. "To the beasts, I was the Dragon Father."

Alex's eyes were as wide as they could be.

"And to the plants…"

"You were the Nine Yang God Tree," Alex finished for him, his jaw slackened open. "Why does that happen? What's the need for you to change for each person?"

"It's really less about who needs what and more about who exists alongside us," the Sun God said.

"What do you mean?"

"I was the Nine Yang God Tree when only trees lived in this world," the Sun God explained. "Then when the beasts came, I became the Dragon Father to accommodate them. And finally, when humans came to rise, I became the Sun God."

"So you were the Sun God at the end," Alex said. "Then how come your corpse is that of the Dragon Father? Did you not change by then?"

"Despite the changes, we are—we were still all the other ones that came before us," the Sun God explained. "So when it was time for us to die, we knew we had to rely on the beast that had reached the God realm. Thus, we appeared before them in our beast form, and when we died, our corpse remained in that form as well."

Alex nodded, finally understanding it after so long. "I see," he said. "So while physically this corpse does not look like you, it is still very much you."

The Sun God nodded.

Alex took a deep breath and stepped toward it, but the Sun God stopped him.

"Why are you stopping me?" Alex asked. "Didn't you bring me here to get some sort of power that remains in your corpse?"

"In a way, yes," the Sun God said. "But it is not time yet. You aren't strong enough."

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