Lathric [Chapter 84]

I see strange things walking passed me, formless blobs with eyes. One makes a strange motion then approaches me.

"That's a little more than..... Did you have someone help you?"

I stare at the creature for a moment, baffled by it.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand."

The blob laughs strangely and grows a strange black arm. Ruffling my hair and walking away.

"Well, keep up the.....work little...."

I look around, warped bloody buildings appearing around me. I quickly walk through the town, a strange sensation running down my neck and spine.

"Do I know this place?"

I mumble to myself. A smaller blob shakes in front of me.

"Hey, Dante! Can you.....help me...a bit?"

Almost as though by respect, I nod. I follow the blob into one of the warped houses, seeing a bloody corpse lying on the ground with massive chunks missing. Instead of shock, fear, or anger, I feel confused.

"Do I know this person?"

I slowly back out of the house, strange visions of people being murdered by wolves flashing in front of my eyes. I trip over the steps and land on the ground to see several dead men around me. I stand up and see one leaned against a wall coughing up blood.

"I'm sorry, I won't be home tonight."

He whispers under his breath, a small locket firmly in his grasp. A woman speaks up behind me.

"Oh my, I feel.... I'll see your... in the news in... future."

I spin around, but instead of a woman, I see a line of corpses stretching hundreds of feet back. Moans and grunts of pain ring through my ears but again, only confusion rolls over my mind. I step back, but hit something solid.

I look back up at the pile of dead bodies. A bloody child lays at the front of the pile, and I feel my heart start racing.

"What have you done?"

I quickly spin around, seeing a man with long purple hair and muscular frame staring at me. I start to say their name, but can't think of it.

"Who...who are you?"

I ask, watching him turn to ash and blow away as a strong gust of wind blows passed me. My heart throbs painfully, but soon feels normal. I raise my hand, keeping my hair in place, and look around more. I see a man standing before me with chunks missing from his body. He holds out his hand and whimpers.

"I expected you to be better, but you let me down. You let everyone down."

For once, a full sentence with no breaks. I feel my heart throb once more, but I walk passed the figure.

"I'm sorry, I don't know you."

A light appears in front of me, slamming against me and jolting me awake. I look around to see I'm on a wood surface. I sit up and see Azeroth, Blankk, Warren, and Kain around me.

The ground seemingly vibrates as I slowly realize where I am.

"A carriage?"

I mumble to myself, everyone quickly darting their eyes to me. Azeroth speaks up.

"Vex! He's awake!"

I scratch my head, the dream I just had slowly falling out of reach and forgetting it. As Vex appears from behind me, the dream I had is completely gone. I look to him and roll onto the seat next to Kain.

"Where are we?"

I ask, confused. Vex smiles.

"We went back through Vathric and took the portal to Lathric. We've only been here a few hours, and I figured it would be best to let you rest. But since you're awake, we can go back to moving hastily. The capital of Lathric is at the far side of the continent, I just paid this carriage driver to take us until you woke up."

I look to Vex and raise an eyebrow.

"And how much did you pay him to convince him to do that?"

I ask, seeing Vex nervously scratching his cheek. Blankk chimes in, his eyes glowing brightly in the dim carriage.

"Vex used a spell on the driver, [Dominate 2] to be exact."

Warren seems distant from the conversation, but Azeroth chuckles at what Blankk says. We all quickly hop out, and look around. I see we're on a plain like area. Flatland far out, reaching several mountains around us.

Vex hops beside me, his shadow growing an arm and handing him a map. The hand retracts into his shadow as he opens the map and nods. He quickly scans the map then drops it back into his shadow.

"So south-east is the capital."

He smiles and holds out his hands.

"Let's teleport there."

I pause at Vex's words.

"If you can do that, why didn't you? You also don't like me killing, but know very well that if I'm awake I will more than likely kill someone. So why wait until I'm awake to get there?"

I stare at Vex and he stares blankly at me. He starts to answer, but Blankk speaks up first.

"He was reading the book he stole from The Nexxus."

I look to Blankk, seeing his eyes glowing as usual. I start to ask what the book is about, but instead I just sigh and nod.

"Fine, then let's go."

I look up to the sky as Vex quickly grabs us.

"[Mass Umbra Shift 3]."

I blink as darkness wraps around us, the reveals a city around us. A concerned scream catches my attention, and I see a woman staring at us, horrified.

"Magic!"

She shouts, footsteps soon rumbling from around a corner. I look to Blankk, noticing my sword on his back. I quickly move to him and grab it, latching the sheath onto my back as normal and then pulling it out of its sheath.

I ready the sword and Vex sighs.

"Dante, again, we can solve this issue peacefull-."

I don't let Vex finish, instantly jumping towards the corner and looking at who's running towards me. To my surprise, I see extremely well armored guards holding their weapons with near perfect posture. I teleport behind them, then easily kill them all. Vex rounds the corner and glares at me.

"Dant-."

Once again, I don't let him finish. I look around and notice a massive black castle on top of a hill. The castle is seemingly at the center of the city. I teleport to the castle, a massive iron gate standing in front of me with metal doors behind it. I rip it from the wall with one hand and kick the huge metal doors open.

Vex and everyone else appear behind me on the steps and stare up at me.

"Dante, what are you doing?"

Vex asks. I look over my shoulder, feeling an overwhelming hunger for killing.

"I will kill Arthur, and sooner rather than later is preferred."