Meh. I'm no professional map designer, or professional artist. I didn't even take Geography classes. But for the borders, just assume that there ARE natural lines; e.g. for the border between the Forest of Life and Kingdom of Light, the border is where the trees end.
This post is reserved.
Immediately after entering the other world, Sol felt as though his entire being was immersed in a heavy, viscous ooze. As a Deity, a spiritual being without the need for a physical body, Sol had spent his life feeling weightless and free; but in another world, he was forced to don a suit of flesh, making him feel clumsy and tethered. If not for the fact that he lived eighteen years of his life as a mortal, Sol doubted that he could stand wearing this meat jacket for long.
Sol looked at hand, spreading his fingers wide. My body is mortal now, he thought. I am flesh and blood; if I am cut, I will bleed. And my power is but a mere shadow of its former self...
You want more power? Came a dark, sinister voice in the depths of Sol's mind. I can easily grant you power, enough power that even in this suit of flesh, you will be able to match your Divine self.
Silence, demon, Sol frowned in irritation. Do not think that I will allow you to possess me again. You shall not have your way, even if the Sun blackens with an eclipse.
Hmph, the dark voice snorted. We shall see about that. Sooner or later, you will show a weakness, an opening. And when you do, Sol Invictus, I'll be there...
Sol simply brushed his inner demon aside. Mortal body or not, he was still a Deity; he would not allow his demon Eclipsis to take control ever again. But the words of his inner demon did jog his memory. Before I make contact with the highest powers of this world, I probably should not let its mortal inhabitants know that I am a Deity. I shouldn't go around calling myself Sol Invictus; perhaps I should call myself by my mortal name, Jonathan Solaris. Yes, that would be fitting.
Jonathan looked around at his surroundings. The air was unusually hot and dry, and it would have been quite unbearable for a normal human; it was also filled with ash and soot, enough to make a human violently cough. Jonathan could understand why the rift in space spat fire now, because a river of red-hot molten lava was flowing not far from where he was standing. The ground was purely composed of dark volcanic rocks, with not a trace of vegetation; occasional cracks and crannies in the black stones gushed fire and magma. This place was blazing with Fire elemental energy, so much that Jonathan could taste it. Mars would certainly love this place, he mused.
Suddenly, Jonathan sensed a burst of energy behind him. He abruptly leaped to the side, an instant before a torrent of scorching flames seared the space he occupied a second ago. Jonathan turned around, to see a gigantic insectoid creature standing before him. The creature was at least five meters long and two meters wide, covered with a thick layer of obsidian carapace; its body shape resembled that of a pill bug, except for its abnormally long legs, and the flames that gushed from under the pieces of its shell. The shell of the creature was studded with what seemed like pieces of iridescent turquoise crystal, translucent and ethereal as though they came from another plane of existence.
Darn it, Jonathan thought. That creature must have absorbed the ether that leaked from Galactea through the Multiversal fracture. The luminiferous ether, or "star stuff", was the "air" breathed by the Star Gods, and the "seawater" of the Astral Sea. Despite it filling the atmosphere of Galactea, the ether was highly volatile and contained rather large amounts of energy, too large for most mortal creatures to fully contain. If a mortal creature absorbed ether into its body, it would gain great power, but its mind would most likely be driven insane; in some worse cases, the creature might simply explode, its mortal body unable to hold together the energy breathed by the Gods.
The giant fire-bug creature hissed viciously, and spat another torrent of fire at Jonathan. Jonathan swiftly dodged, but he couldn't help but to notice the rocks that were melted to liquid by the creature's fiery breath. If he had been struck by the jet of flames in his current form, he would be burned into cinders. The creature, seeing the failure of its previous attacks, opened its insect mouth. It spew forth its stomach juice, which was, not surprisingly, molten red-hot lava. The lava rained upon Jonathan in burning droplets, too many of them to dodge; Jonathan was forced to erect a force field, a barrier of Light, to prevent the scalding bits of molten rock from touching his face.
Jonathan groaned. He was somewhat of a pacifist, and he hated needless slaughter. If he really tried, he could smite this fiery creature into oblivion in an instant, even with his powers restrained; but that creature was innocent, and it certainly did not deserve to die. Jonathan reached out with his mind, trying to sooth the raging fire beast and prevent it from attacking again. I. Come. In. Peace, Jonathan said into the creature's psyche, slowly and carefully, while trying to telepathically send it an image of itself bathing lazily in a pool of lava, calm and relaxed. But it didn't work, and Jonathan's mental probe only met a confused maelstrom of senseless thoughts and urges. Jonathan realized that the creature had already been driven insane by the ether it imbibed, and it would probably attack anything it saw. I'll have to kill it to put it out of its misery, Jonathan sighed with regret.
The creature hissed again, and belched fireballs at Jonathan. Jonathan simply flicked the fireballs aside with a wave of his left hand, sending a burst of telekinetic energy through the air. Then he snapped his fingers, and conjured a shower of brilliant white sparks, which then solidified into the shape of a longsword. With a flick of his right hand, Jonathan sent the sword made of concentrated white Light flying at the creature, intent on ending it with one single merciful blow. However, with amazing speed, the giant fire-bug rolled itself up into a tight sphere of obsidian carapace, and the turquoise shards of crystal on its shell glowed. An instant before the light-sword connected with the creature's shell, an ethereal turquoise force field was erected around the creature. The light-sword slammed into the membrane of energy but was unable to pierce it, and it dissipated into white sparks.
As soon as Jonathan's attack dissipated, the fiery bug creature uncurled itself. The turquoise shards of ether were glowing brightly now, almost brighter than the flames that gushed from the monster's body. The creature opened its mouth, and Jonathan prepared to block the jet of flames or lava that was sure to come. However, instead of fire, the creature breathed forth a bolt of potent turquoise lightning, bright as the stars and as thick as Jonathan's arm. The lightning traveled twice as fast as fire, and Jonathan barely raised his force field soon enough before the thunderbolt caught him straight in the chest. Electricity crackled, pushing Jonathan a good five meters back.
Jonathan growled. The monster was more powerful than he imagined, and he must not allow it to rampage around its world. "I'm sorry," Jonathan whispered, a look of sadness and regret in his golden eyes. "May your soul rest in peace." Then, he began to murmur an incantation, in an obscure language that was all but lost to the mortals.
"剑光残影!"
A dozen or so swords, made of condensed white Light, materialized in mid-air. Spreading his arms wide, Jonathan directed the swords upon the giant fiery insect. The creature curled into a ball again and erected its ethereal barrier, but this time it was unable to prevent the floating light-swords from penetrating it and sinking into the creature's body. From inside its shell, the insect screeched in agony. The shards of ether glowed even brighter, now a blinding shade of blue-white. And then, the black carapace simply burst apart; or rather, the space that the shell occupied broke apart, as the fabric of reality was torn open at the seams.
Jonathan gaped. Out of the warp in reality crawled out about a dozen or so insectoid creatures, each one approximately a miniature copy of the original creature. They were smaller in size and without the turquoise shards of ether, but their shells were glowing red-hot like burning coals. The entire process strangely reminded Jonathan of a fractal, a geometrical object that could be broken into smaller pieces that roughly resembled the whole. The creature seemed to have fractured the fabric of reality, creating smaller versions of itself like making miniature projections on pieces of broken glass. However, it appeared that the creature had used up the ether it absorbed from Galactea, and Jonathan was sure that it wouldn't be doing any more of this fractal-esque self-replication anytime soon. The smaller fire-bugs rolled themselves into tight spheres of burning, red-hot magma, and hurled themselves at Jonathan.
Jonathan sighed. It seemed that he had no choice but to completely obliterate the creature, since its mind became even more fractured after splitting itself to a dozen parts. Holding out his right hand, Jonathan focused his powers into a sphere of brilliant golden light. "May the Creator have mercy on your soul," he whispered again.
"Solar Flare!"
The space between the fire-bugs and Jonathan was filled with blinding golden light. Like a localized sunburst, the golden energy spread outward, consuming the fiery insects in an instant. After about two seconds, the light subsided, leaving only pieces of charred obsidian shell on the ground. "Peace..." Jonathan prayed.
After reluctantly slaying the fire monster, Jonathan finally had a chance to observe his surroundings. Past the river of lava, he could see mountain ranges, composed purely of volcanic rocks and gushing with magma and flames. Am I in some sort of Hell realm? Jonathan thought. He knew that some Hell-worlds were rather fiery, but they always contained elemental energies of Darkness. However, he could not sense the element of Darkness at all in his current location. All he could feel was Fire, almost pure Fire. Looking west, Jonathan could see flashes of brilliant white Light, indicating that this world might not be completely Fire-aligned after all.
Hmm... Jonathan thought, a land of Light should be a bit more civilized than this wasteland of Fire. If I want to find the supreme powers of this world, might as well start there. Focusing his powers, Jonathan spawned a pair of magnificent, white, Angelic wings on his back. He rose gracefully into the air, and flew toward the land of Light.
