I Slept Through The Apocalypse

" You?" Victor exclaimed in shock. "I thought you were dead!"

"It's a long story" Clover sighed. He looked over to Pringles who had appeared next to Victor with a curious expression.

"Amazing! I never thought I'd meet someone with the Golden Crow's Bloodline so soon!" Pringles shouted excitedly. He took Clover's consciousness and dragged it into Victor's.

Clover looked around the small area they were in within Victor's consciousness. Golden wisps floated around slowly. A large body of golden flames manifested from behind Victor. The body was in the shape of a large golden bird covered in flames. The bird's expression was fierce as it looked to the white chicken.

Pringles closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them. His pupils grew darker and black wisps seeped from his eyes. A large body of darkness gathered behind Pringles in the shape of a similar bird. This bird's face showed excitement, and a bit of anxiousness.

" Shadow Bro… " The golden bird spoke. It's thunderous voice resounded throughout the golden world. "It's been countless millenniums since we last heard word about you. Do you know what Mother's been like? She nags me every single day about finding you. Why did you disappear like that on me bro?"

The dark bird sighed, he ruffled his feathers guiltily. "Sorry Golden Bro, I've been dealing with something of my own in the Shadow Realm." He retold the story that he told Pringles previously about his dealings in the Shadow Realm. The rest silently listened to Shadow Bro's story as well.

Golden Crow Kind went silent, trying to make sense of Shadow Bro's words. Finally he spoke, " It must have been hard on you Shadow Bro… Don't worry, I'll ask Mother to send her troops back into the Shadow Realm to find you. Let me know your coordinates. We'll send support to guard that gate soon so you can finally come home."

"My Coordinates are XXX,XXX. I'll see you soon Golden Bro I have to go now. Tell Mother I miss her..." The Shadow Crow King's projection dissipated.

Golden Crow King looked at the scattered dark wisps in silence. Clover, Pringles and Victor were all silent bystanders throughout the exchange.

"..."

The Golden Crow King looked at Pringles after a while. He nodded towards him. "Thank you for finding a wisp of my brother's bloodline. Without it, we would never have been able to contact him. I remember you from long ago, the Renaak. Why are you on Earth?"

Pringles looked at him in sorrow. "Our Renaak race has been overtaken by the Shakuls. I was captured and sealed in a talisman and launched out into space. Our princess has been kidnapped and taken hostage! I'm currently trying to find a way to return and save the princess."

The Golden Crow King frowned. "The Shakul?" He shook his head, "That's impossible… They couldn't have possibly overtaken the Renaak Planet."

"Why is that so?"

"I just had tea with the Renaak King a few years ago. The Princess's royal bloodline coronation is set to be in two years!"

"WHAT!?!" Pringles trembled uncontrollably. He fell to his knees, "I-Impossible. I-I saw her being coronated millenniums ago!"

He was silent, trying to figure out what was going on. "Golden Bro! What's the date over there in the Heavenly Realms?"

"XX-XXXXX. Why?" The golden bird and everyone else had weird expressions. What was Pringles talking about?

Boom! Pringles's mind was blown. "That's 4 years before I was thrown out into space! I went back in time!"

"What!" Everyone exclaimed in shock.

Golden Crow King's expression became even stranger. "If that's true then your younger self is still on Planet Renaak. And the princess hasn't been attacked yet. You have approximately 4 years to reach Planet Renaak and prevent it from being overtaken. I owe you for locating Shadow Bro, so I will send some intelligence to find out about Renaak's current situation. King Warut of Renaak is also one of my old friends, if I can, I'll try and warn him of it before it happens."

"Wait!" Clover interjected. "If you warn them now, you could risk many threats hidden within the Renaak race escaping. Especially if the king entrusts this information to a close advisor or general who turns out to be a traitor!

There's one more concerning thing. I'm not sure how time travel works. But if Pringles prevents his own being thrown out into space, his past self would not be able to return here! Your brother the Shadow Crow King would not have been found then! None of this would have been possible!

If you wait until after Pringles is launched into space, you won't risk shifting anything in time, just in case. And you'd be able to weed all of Renaak's traitors out all at once!"

"He's right!" Golden Crow King exclaimed. "I can't believe I overlooked this... Who is this kid?"

"He's my partner, Clover. We have a soul contract. So I brought him along to take a look." Pringles introduced Clover simply.

"He's a student back at the school I worked at, Master." Victor finally spoke.

"Hmm very good, Clover. The young ones have truly opened my eyes today hahahah! Perhaps this is fate. I've decided. I'll gift you this wisp of my Golden Soul Flame! Maybe it'll help you out someday.

I will hold off on telling the Renaak King. But I'll send intelligence in secretly. If things work out like they should, I'll see you in four years. I'll let you know if I hear anything else. " Golden Crow King laughed, his deep voice bellowed through the little golden world. "I need to deal with the business of my missing brother now, he's waited long enough. Until we meet again." His figure disappeared into a myriad of golden flames.

They were back in the real world inside the golden dome of flames. Victor spoke up first. "Let me take you to a less crowded place first." He flicked his sleeves and everyone in the golden dome floated up into the sky and headed for the roof of a tall building in the distance. It was an open roof, with a small bonsai garden in one corner.

"Please excuse the mess."

Clover looked around to find the room completely spotless. Books were neatly held in bookshelves. The pillows on the couch were even placed strategically. The carpet was completely without a speck of dust and completely matched the rest of the house's spacing. He rolled his eyes. Could it be there's an invisible pile of dirty laundry that I've missed? If this place is messy, then what house is clean?

"Since we're already all aware of the existence of the Heavenly Realms at this point, I won't talk about that. Where did you disappear to for two years, kid? You know your sister almost died in a fight with that ex-girlfriend of yours?" Victor shook his head.

"What? Where did you hear about this?" Clover asked as his eyes reddened. How did I not hear about this?

"She hasn't told you yet? When did you get back? She and Lillian have always had tension ever since you went missing. Your sister goes and challenges to fight her almost every other week. Usually they end up with being stopped by one of the teachers but two days ago, something strange happened. The teachers were out dealing with another situation and a fight broke out again. Your sister was heavily wounded on her side. She would have been left disabled if another one of the students nearby didn't step in to help her. "

Clover's body trembled in rage. His knuckles cracked as he clenched his hands into fists. "Lillian! You dare injure my sister!" His eyes were bloodshot. "I will redress this grievance myself!"

BOOM! His energy condensed suddenly from his spike of emotions. Energy from his surroundings instantly were swallowed by an intense suction. His body cultivation level instantly broke through to Gathering Force advanced level and touched the bottleneck for Energy Solidification.

Victor and Pringles both stepped back in shock. Good Heavens he broke through just like that? Could it be that breaking through was as common as cabbages nowadays? What a monster!

In amidst of the happy and shocking breakthrough, an energy storm began brewing. A bunch of clouds gathered around Victor's residence. The sound of thunder echoed throughout the city.

Pringles and Victor were hugging each other in fear. What the heck is going on!

"Hey Clover! Is this your doing? Can you turn it off please before we get struck by lightning?" Pringles screamed. His voice was barely heard over the wailing of the energy storm's gusts.

Victor cried as he looked at his surroundings which were a complete mess, "Woo...my bonsai trees… my beautiful house... Woo…" I was just trying to be a good host, I didn't know I invited a bull into my china shop!

"I can't! I don't know what's going on!" Clover shouted. The energy vortex surrounded him and prevented him from escaping or seeing anything around him. He was helplessly trapped in the center.

Rainbow colored clouds rumbled above Victor's residence. Both Pringles's and Victor's faces darkened. Heavenly Tribulation Clouds!

Pringles screamed into the energy vortex, "Clover! You need to get out of there! Those are Heavenly Tribulation clouds! They contain Heavenly Tribulation Lightning! They're supposed to only appear when one is attempting to break through to Soul Extraction. At your level, they'll turn you into ashes!"

Clover's eyes reddened. He ripped off his shirt and decisively bit his finger until it bled.

Within all the chaos, Pringles and Victor saw Clover, momentarily, attempting to draw something on his c.h.e.s.t with blood.

"W-What is he doing?"

Pringles trembled, "Those runes... He's summoning a demon!"

The chicken screamed into the vortex. "Kid you're crazy! Stop! You're really going to die at this rate!"

Clover laughed uproariously as he almost finished the rune of blood that Pringles had nonchalantly taught him. "If I'm going to die, I'm going to drag a demon down with me!" Dark red blood seeped from his bitten finger.

"Pringles! Victor! If I die, I need to know that you two will look after my sister!"

"...you have my word kid." Victor said.

"Pringles?"

Pringles was silent. He had just begun to know this boy, yet now, he had to part with him. Even though he was a brat, he wasn't too bad. It was the first friend he ever had in millenniums.

"Pringles!"

"No! We will protect your sister! Together!" A darkness seeped out of seemingly nowhere. It surrounded Pringles, staining his snow white feathers black and making his pupils into a an empty void of blackness. Pringles shook as he tossed out a blood droplet. It flew through the energy vortex and merged into Clover's skin. He activated his bloodline as he teleported through the darkness and into the center of the vortex to where Clover was. He appeared in Clover's consciousness with a determined expression.

Clover smiled. Looks like they were in it together now, he thought as he drew the last stroke. The blood rune on his c.h.e.s.t trembled as a red pillar of light shot from his body and into the thundercloud filled sky. His surroundings turned bright red. Drops of his blood from his c.h.e.s.t floated up to the sky.

Thump-thump... thump-thump... thump-thump...

The rune began beating like a heart. Clover twisted in pain as the rune glowed brightly. As if something was about to leap out of his c.h.e.s.t. A small blood colored crystal slowly floated down from the sky. The glow of the jewel matched with the heartbeats which slowly became faster.

Thump-thump,thump-thump,thump-thump.

A portal opened behind the red jewel. Nothing could be seen on the other side, it was pitch black.

The jewel shot towards the portal. It was caught by a hand with bright crimson claws. An evil laugh could be heard. The voice was strange and gave Clover and Pringles chills. Two red glowing eyes shone through the dark portal.

"So it was you who summoned this Prince?" From the darkness Clover could feel a tremendous pressure fall on him. An evil aura seeped through the portal. "Your strength is not even worth mentioning. Not even a cultivator yet and you dare challenge me? How laughable."

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Elise had been eating lunch at school when she noticed rainbow clouds with lightning flashing in the distance. Remembering how her brother had gone out today, her heart was full of worry. Please be safe Big Brother… She clasped her pretty hands together and looked into the sky, "Heaven's please protect my big brother."

Her worries were focused on the lightning flashing in the distance. She failed to notice that after her prayer, the clouds above her glowed for a moment, as if responding to her pleading.