Ascension of the Immortal Asura

Darkness enveloped Lilian, and she drifted within that darkness for an unknown amount of time.

"So this is where you've been? Sleeping in this forest when you should be training?" a voice sounded out within the darkness, stirring her awake.

Lilian's heavy eyes slowly opened, and she was almost too tired to open them. Her body ached terribly, her previous actions of pushing her powers to the limits finally catching up with her. There wasn't an inch of her body that was not crying out in pain.

Through the pain, she opened her eyes and looked towards the source of the voice. Her heavy eyes widened as she saw who it was, and then tears began to fall. At first it was just a few, but in almost no time at all, a waterfall seemed to crash from both eyes as tears streamed down ceaselessly.

"Big brother Zeras!" Lilian said hoarsely as she mustered her last bit of power to lean forward and fall towards him.

"Woah there," Zeras exclaimed as he bent down and caught Lilian before she crashed into his knees. His arms braced her shoulders, and he frowned when he saw her condition. She looked miserable, and a quick inspection of her revealed even more internal damage, to her meridians, muscles, and bones.

"What happened to you?" Zeras asked with great concern as he lifted Lilian up from the dirty ground and held her in his arms, cradling her like a baby. He could tell she was too exhausted to stand on her own. Lilian's tears continued to fall, and her lips quivered as she tried to speak, but was unable to control herself to say a few words.

"Who did this to you? I'll have them flayed alive!" Zeras asked coldly, but received no reply. Lilian buried her head in her brother's chest, as if trying to find solace and safety in his embrace. A complicated look appeared on his face, and he ceased asking questions. He slowly took to the sky and flew into the distance, saving the questions for later.

…

Lilian's eyes opened slowly again, and found herself to be in her bedroom. She had fallen asleep in her brothers embrace, too tired, exhausted, and drained from her harrowing ordeal. She blinked a few times, collecting her thoughts, and then sat up in her bed, resting her back against the headrest behind her.

"You're awake? How are you feeling?" Zeras' soft voice sounded out next to her.

Lilian gazed to the side, and saw him sitting on a chair nearby, staring at her. A wave of emotions flooded into her once more, but she forced that wave back as best she could. After a brief struggle, she finally managed to compose herself.

"Big brother Zeras…" Lilian said and then stopped, unsure of what to say next.

"What happened to you?" Zeras asked, concern in his voice. "Your body was in a completely miserable state. If you did not have your Dao of Life aspect naturally healing your body, it would have been weeks before you were healed," he added, indicating the gravity of her injuries.

She truly had pushed herself to the limits by holding her spatial cocoon for so long, as well as teleporting to safety at the last moment.

"I…" Lilian said, still trying to collect her thoughts through the chaos that swirled in her mind. Her life had been so simple recently, but had crashed and burned in a fiery explosion before her eyes. She stared at her brother for some time, debating if she should explain what had happened or not.

She thought her father had been on her side, and had loved him dearly all her life. While he had been hard on her many times, she never doubted his intentions for her. Her harsh training was for her benefit after all, to make her a great cultivator like her father. But that had all been a lie.

Her life had been a lie!

Who could she even trust anymore, if even her father was willing to sell her off to a demon like that? Only her brother Zeras! If there was one person in her life she could trust, it was her big brother, who had been there for her since she was a little girl. He had been more of a father to her than her real father had been, and was the closest person to her. If she could trust anyone, it was him.

But she wasn't dumb. She knew that if even someone like her father could betray her, then there was no certainty that her brother wouldn't as well.

'I must believe in him. I must believe my big brother will help me,' she thought, making up her mind.

This harrowing ordeal she found herself in was not something she could solve alone, and she needed someone powerful like her brother to help her. Even leaving the empire on her own was impossible, and so there was only one last option for survival.

Making up her mind, beads of tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she thought back to the palace, but she steeled her mind as best she could and wiped them away. Zeras' raised an eyebrow as he noticed the changed demeanor on his sister's face, as if she had just made a big decision. He remained silent, waiting for her to speak.

"Big brother…" Lilian said, trying to think of how to explain her chaotic thoughts. She breathed out and then deeply, and calmed her mind as best as she could. Her hardened gaze locked onto her brother's eyes, and she resolved herself.

"Father has betrayed me," she said.

"What?" Zeras exclaimed, surprise in his voice and face. "What do you mean?"

Lilian saw true surprise in her brother's expression, and breathed a sigh of relief. If he had remained calm, then he had already known about the truth.

"I…earlier. Earlier I saw father…speaking to a demon…or something even more sinister. It was the most terrifying monster I have ever seen in my life!"