?Like it was alive, it pulsed with his every breath. As his chest moved up and down, the palace walls did the same.
The veins felt more alive...they coursed through the entire space. They were not confined to the original space where the snake was held, but they moved out now. With each breath they glowed more, and more!
Until everything was lit up.
The walls moved in tandem, as well as the crystals littering the floor. It was as if they were not crystals...but a living being itself.
As if they were flesh. Flesh that moved with every breath of the owner. Every breath, which rejuvenated the body.
A cold, cold mist escaped Alan body through his skin, and soon from his mouth. A few more, and he opened his eyes.
Slowly, they opened, as they felt a strange, cool chill pass over them. But this chill forting.
He moved once again, his feet moved and his arms gripped the throne tightly, he began to raise his head, as he felt euphoric. As he felt...strange but perfect.
He raised his head fully, and looked at the palace, the walls, the floor, the ceiling was alive to him, and they were lit.
The teal colour had disappeared and a bright, astral blue encompassed the veins, as if they were the stars themselves, they reached out, their light pierced through the endless stretch of darkness and illuminated...everything. Everything!
The darkness, he was afraid of venturing into, was lit by the light of the stars and everything was visible. Everything...was him.
Everything, could be felt by every fibre of his being, every cell managed to grasp the entire feeling so well... Alan was drunk on it.
The chill went through his body, causing him to almost moan.
He managed to utter in his drunken stupor. Fascinated by this...phenomena.
Cold mist that would freeze mountains in seconds escaped his mouth as he muttered.
He stood up from the throne, his feet, covered in the crystal like armour, spread ice everywhere he stepped! The ice was like a carpet, to prevent his mighty feet from touching the filth of the ground, littered with his and the snake's blood.
The crystals moved, the small ones on the ground, the large ones stuck into the floor... They all moved...even the crystal spear! They all formed, like they were pieces of a puzzle, into a magnificent, giant serpent of jade. Two diamonds appeared in its eyes, more brilliant than any emerald could ever hope to be.
It was not at all inferior to the snake Alan had fought, perhaps...it was even superior to that beast. The crystal spear, which was the bane of the snake before, was now....a proud horn on this one's head. A weapon and a symbol. It went behind the throne, like the one before it. But it was not the only one. Multiple snakes emerged...from everywhere as they all gathered around the throne, the larger ones encircling it, to provide a more magnificent appearance.
The smaller ones piled up, to form better steps to reach the throne. Their round bodies became square steps as they piled up towards the throne. The others? They went into the walls, the floors and filled the empty carvings, their diamond like eyes shining throughout the throne room. Providing a more, in depth and ancient feel to the room.
But...that was not all. There was more to come! The few veins that went through the crack, expanded and pulled it open. They were fierce, and they were ambitious. They pulled the small crack open and made it into a grand doorway. Crystal emerged from the ground to form a door, as great as the doors to a Palace's throne. And then, they...formed a path.
A path towards the space, which was now, very, very different from the space Alan had previously traversed. It was not a barren, cold, and fierce land but a masterpiece to the eyes. The water that had previously flooded it was now in pools, fountains, and throughout the walls, providing a scenery unlike any other!
Gardens of blue, crystal flowers appeared, rooms filled with so many things appeared! Everything was perfection! There were snakes, some covered in armour, everywhere. Some were special, they possessed the upper body of a human and the lower body of a snake, the head was like a cobra. Some were small, barely eight feet when accounting their upper body and some part of their lower body, excluding the tail. While the others? They were more than 10 feet tall, and had more armour than the rest. The large ones were like guards, which held magnificent spears and shields, a sword on their hips.
They guarded the doors, and the smaller ones were like workers. But that didn't mean they couldn't fight. Each had two daggers and a spear on them. It seemed the palace's residents had taken the weapon of their master as a staple, a must-have. Everyone had a spear.
There were also other, larger snakes roaming the areas, but they did not exude the same presence as the one present inside the throne room, it was clear they were weaker versions.
The entire place was a city...and at the centre was a construct that seemed like out of ice, but it was not ice.
It was a palace, made of blue jade.
It was the Jade Palace itself, a Domain. A space within the body itself, a large space !
A domain that had the crystal sky, a domain that had its own army, a domain that was a city! A kingdom! A throne to command all them and everything. It was unlike anything James and Aranus ever possessed... It was!..
Alan's own, independent domain.