Ch 25 The Void of Sorrow

I had breakfast with Luv. Estheria brought Inu with her early in the morning to fill an empty post.

"Lake, Thank you for last night. It means the world to us that you understand our... situation and are willing to keep it secret."

"That reminds me. Sophie probably won't be back for lunch right?"

"Yes, that's right."

Luv had a curious look.

"Since it will be just you and me all day, I have a request. If you want me to keep your secret, you should fulfill this request for me. Just this once."

"Wha... so, you aren't a good man after all."

She had a downtrodden look now.

"What will you do with me?"

"Oh, I think you will change your mind after you hear my request."

After I explained my request, She reluctantly began following instructions. I had high hopes for this. Around lunchtime, Luv was covered in sweat. She could not move from where she was.

"Vish ish shoooo go...."

"What, Lake? I cant... Oh, gross. You got some on my face."

She was still breathing heavily from all the heat of the situation. I lifted my head for a moment to speak.

"Tastes soooo goood."

I lowered my head again to continue my assault on the senses. I must have made some loud slurping sounds. Luv was reacting to it.

"Oh! I can't believe what you are doing to me."

Luv had finished before me. She had laid her head down on the table to rest. When I finished, I leaned back in my chair and slapped my belly with both hands a couple of times.

"Damn. That was good. I haven't had spaghetti since I came to Eyse."

"I normally don't make hot foods in the middle of the day. It gets so hot out. Especially when it's a new food that I have to experiment with cooking methods. And after I made it for us, you kept slurping, getting the sauce all over my face."

"Sorry. It was too good not to slurp those noodles up."

I got a cloth and dipped it in some water to get the sauce spots off of her face.

"Do you want me to help you over to your bed?"

She grunted and closed her eyes.

"Just let me sit here for a while."

I found something that resembled a hand fan and began to use it on her. She said nothing. Later, Estheria returned with Inu.

"Esther! Lake was mean to me today!"

Estheria had a concerned look on her face.

"What happened?"

I spoke up before Luv could make it worse.

"All I did was get her hot and bothered. She liked it and she knows it."

That was probably worse. I couldn't resist. Estheria grabbed my shoulder hard and pinned me against the same wall she had the night before. With a mischievous grin on my face, I gave my explanation.

"Haha. Relax. We were teasing. I convinced her to make food from my world. She didn't like the process but she liked the result."

Luv casually walked over and leaned her shoulder against the wall next to me. I'm sure she was enjoying the sight of Estheria being rough with me.

"Is this true, Luv?"

She stood there. She was just looking at me with victory in her eyes. She was savoring her win over my commanding cruelty in the kitchen. It felt like we sat there for a full minute before Luv spoke.

"Okay, that's enough Esther. Yeah, we were just having fun."

Estheria let go of me.

"I convinced her to save some portions for the rest of you. It won't be fresh but it's still good."

Luv and I had mostly fruits for dinner while Estheria and Inu scarfed the remaining spaghetti down.

"What is this?! It's so good!"

As Estheria spoke, some sauce launched from her mouth and landed on Luv.

"No! Stop it! No more! I had enough of sauce from other people's mouths on my face, from lunch."

The girls all laughed.

"Hello? I'm back. Is there company?"

I knew that voice. It's been almost a year since I've heard it but, I know it's her.

"Sophie?!"

I heard something drop to the ground. That wasn't her, was it?

I stood up to go check. I couldn't even turn the corner before she ran into me full speed. She nearly knocked me over. Her arms squeezed me as hard as they could. She was crying her eyes out in my chest. I wrapped one arm around her and began to caress her hair with the other.

Estheria was smiling and Luv was covering most of her face while she was also crying.

Estheria noticed something. She stood up with a concerned look on her face. She gently pulled Sophie away from me.

There was blood on Sophie's clothes.

"Is this your blood? Are you okay? What happened?"

I couldn't help but see Estheria as a mother figure, in this situation.

"It's not mine. Our caravan was attacked on the way back. The troll I was sitting next to was hit with a spear. If he wasn't there, I would have been hit instead. I tried to help him, but I didn't know how. Someone else took me away. I'm sure he died, the troll that was next to me."

I pulled her close to me again.

"As long as you are okay. Was it mermaids?"

She nodded into my chest. I looked at Estheria.

"Do you think the coastal village has fallen?"

Just then, before she could answer there was a sound. A horn. A battle horn from the enemy or a warning from allies?

"That's not good. The enemy is coming. Luv, You should take them and go. That horn is a call to warriors. The enemy is not here yet, they might be at our door by morning."

"I can help."

I tried to throw my hat in the ring.

"No. Out of anyone in this world, you should not participate in war."

"I don't mean I want to use my power. I learned sword-fighting skills. My immortality could come in handy. If they can't kill me, how can they push me back? I've been stabbed, cut, smashed, broken and dismembered. That's not enough to bring out any of my rage."

She looked me dead in the eyes. I did not waver in the slightest. I pulled out my pen sword and made it transform in front of her.

"I've had this since I first got to Lak'Tambu. I know how to use it."

Inu spoke up.

"You still have Gleamour!"

"Gleamour?"

I asked.

"That's the name of the sword my father gave to you. It has been a treasure of my people for many generations. It is said that calling its name at the right time can destroy all of the enemies surrounding the wielder."

That would have helped in a few situations.

"Fine. Lake, promise me. If you feel any anger at all. Run away. Do not fight with anger."

"I promise, Estheria."

"You can just call me Esther. Come. Let's enter the fray."

"Oaky, Esther."

Luv took Sophie and Inu to a safer spot in the back of the village. If things start going south, they can escape easily from there.

The trolls wanted to take the fight to the mermaids. They set up a counteroffensive group early in the night. By midnight, the trolls were moving out toward the overrun coastal village. They brought transportable barricades on carriages and catapults. They made a wide line across the forest. If anyone was attacked, it would be known right away and the barricades would be deployed instantly.

Trolls from a larger nearby village joined in. We had roughly 600 soldiers to fight. Commanders called out to the troops every so often with morale-boosting cheers. 'AHLY AHNN!' they cried out over the forest. 'DOHJAN FOHD!' the troops would respond. We marched for over two hours.

"We are close to the village that was overrun. The torches will be put out until contact is made. Once the fighting starts, arrows and catapult ammo will be lit."

Esther informed me.

The cheering had stopped too. Everyone was as quiet as can be. The carriages and catapults were the exceptions.

Maybe ten minutes later, far down the line to my right, someone called out.

A death cry?

The forest sounds were muffled out over the yelling and roaring of the trolls.

The barricade carriages deployed, transforming with loud creaking and a slam onto the ground. Our forces now had cover to hide behind.

Arrows lit across the line and fired into the distance. I could see movement ahead. Winding slithering movement.

I heard something land near me. I found it. It was a trident. They were hurling spears.

I picked it up and hurled it back with all my force. If I hit anything, I could not tell from sound alone.

Some trolls down the line were impaled by spears already. I saw some of our arrows hit their mark as the movement from bodies swayed before they hit the ground.

My sight was blinded in an instant. Something incredibly bright was used on the enemy side. As my vision came back, I could see the enemy. They had some sort of light crystals that lit up their area and a moving spotlight, blinding the trolls across the line.

These were mermaids? From the videogames I've played in my world, they were picture-perfect naga. Snake-like scales with slithering lower bodies. Fins across their arms and backs. Huge gnashing jaws. They had large behemoth-sized naga behind them too.

Before I could charge, something caught my eye. To my right, I saw lights. Familiar green lights. Did someone over in that direction have my bracelet? Maybe not. That rock was rare, not unique.

I was stopped too long to think. I had to move.

I began my charge toward the aquatic snake-like people. I was hit in the right shoulder with a trident. It hit me hard. I landed on my back and it was embedded in the ground. I pried it out and removed it from my shoulder. I brought it with me on my charge.

My shoulder was healed before I got to my first enemy. These naga had been trained well and they were strong.

I tried a piercing strike with my newfound trident. It was easily grabbed and tossed. I received retaliation to the left side of my stomach. As he attempted to retrieve his weapon from my still standing body, I moved up with the weapon and I pulled out Gleamour. I transformed the blade directly in front of the naga's face. His body fell backward, off of my blade.

"Catch that, dumbass."

I moved on to the next warrior, then the next and the next. It seemed like many hours had passed. I stopped counting my kills after fifteen.

I realized the sun was beginning to rise. It could not have been more than three hours since we started the battle. I was tired mentally but my body kept moving without problems. I had been stabbed many times. I lost my left arm twice. My right knee and ankle were broken at separate times. I even had one of the behemoths crush my back and throw me behind the front line. I was back at it in less than five minutes.

I swear the more I regenerate, the faster it gets. The more I get wounded, the less it hurts.

I went back and sliced the tendon on the foot of that behemoth and gouged its eyes out before slitting its throat. As I finished it off, several trolls saw my achievement and cheered.

"Who will be the next moron to try and injure me?"

Esther and I worked side by side and back to back some of the time. She trusted me to keep her safe and I trusted her to keep herself safe.

If that makes sense.

I used my body to block attacks against her several times. I don't know that she would have made it without me. Not to brag. I just wanted her to be able to go back to Luv.

The line was pushing the naga back. This is the result I wanted to see.

By the time the morning sun was fully out, we had pushed the naga back beyond the abandoned coastal village. The naga began to push hard at that point. It was becoming a stalemate just beyond the now friendly occupied village.

Trolls were taking a breather just inside the walls of the village while archers and surviving catapults bombarded the enemy.

A medic was going around patching up the wounded. He came to me.

"You are drenched in blood. How are you still alive?"

I showed him all the skin just beyond the holes in my clothes.

"Do you see any wounds, though? No? Go patch someone up who needs it."

I was not trying to be rude but, someone could die while he is investigating my body. No need for that.

A soldier was handing out rations. I got one and found Esther.

"Here. Get some energy."

She gladly took it and ate up.

"Thanks, Lake."

I gave her my ration of water to wash it down.

"What about you?"

I shook my head.

"Not needed. Save it for those who do need it."

She looked at me slightly concerned.

"Have you felt any anger at all, so far?"

"No. I simply see them as an objective. They don't anger me no matter what they do to me. I just get back up."

I smiled. I could see some relief on her face.

We both knew that this was not over yet, though.

I charged out from behind the wall. I was used to the movements of the naga and their spear tactics by now. It was easy to dodge and retaliate with a single slash of my Gleamour.

Before I had realized it, I was surrounded.

"Best chance to try out the ability of my sword. I hope the WoM still works, besides the transformation."

I raised the point of the sword up into the air and yelled out,

"GLEAMOUR!"

... Nothing.

My body became a ragdoll pincushion.

I had to have been hit by at least twelve tridents and spears, all at roughly the same moment.

The naga began to close in to retrieve their weapons. I was playing dead to allow them to get closer. I would at least take out a couple before this group got wise to my trick.

One was close. I could run him through clean from here.

I had a random thought.

I ran him through like I had planned to.

"Gleamour!"

The sword quickly lit up.

Many intricate runes were discovered lighting up on the blade of the sword, from the hilt to the tip. A loud clap deafened me and a bright light blinded me at the same time. When my vision came back, the sword was no longer lit up and the runes were no longer visible. My hearing was back now, too.

I could hear the throughs of battle in the distance. It was strangely quiet around me. I began removing the elongated weapons that I was riddled with. I noticed that I was no longer an immediate target for anything and the only movement was far from me.

I could smell burning and the group of enemies that had surrounded me were burned to a crisp. Upon further realization, an area of roughly 50 or 60 feet was charred and anything in the area was charred along with it.

By calling its name in the body of an enemy, It used lighting in some form to instantly kill my enemies in a large area. If only I had known that before. The question is, is there a limit or a recharge time?

How about a test?

I ran up behind the nearest naga and plunged the sword into its arm.

"Gleamour!"

Lighting struck. I saw it this time without being totally blinded. It was enough to kill that naga but the power was severely diminished. I think it requires a recharge time before It is at is strongest again.

For now, I'll just do what I was doing before. I began my assault on the mermaid army once more.

After I had finished off many more enemies, I heard a sound not too far away that I was not expecting.

It was the sound of an angry large cat, a roar. I looked around.

Is that Inu? Why is she here?

I began to make my way over to her.

"What are you doing here? You should be back..."

I couldn't believe what my eyes had just witnessed.

I had distracted her.

A spear landed a hit right in her midsection.

"NO! IN..."

I felt a massive force hit me from the side.

A behemoth had backhanded me. I flew far enough to hit the wall of the village where many trolls were taking refuge.

I was more stunned at the sight I had witnessed, than the hit I just took.

"No... Inu..."

I stood up and walked behind the wall and sat down. This was terrible. I felt a strange sensation on my skin. It was tingling. All over.

"LAKE!"

My ears could still hear her voice.

"Lake, What are you doing? I came to help. Lake?"

I looked up. The voice was unmistakable. It was Inu in front of me. What did I just see then? I slowly stood up.

"Lake?"

I subconsciously knew what had just happened.

I didn't want to believe it.

I began to move.

"Lake? What's wrong? Talk to me!"

Esther heard Inu's distressed voice.

"Inu? Why are you here?"

"I came to help. I just found Lake sitting here and he won't talk to me."

Estheria looked up.

She must have seen something frightening.

She convinced Inu to come with her. They both left the area.

I began walking. My only thought was to reach my destination. The sounds of the battle had faded. I could hear nothing but the sound of my footsteps. I turned the corner I was hiding behind.

I saw it. The body I had witnessed. It was still there. The spear, sticking straight up.

I kept walking. I felt something hit my shoulder and another hit my leg. I felt for what it was that had hit me, without letting the body leave my eyesight.

Please let this be some, cruel illusion.

I could not find anything with my hands. If it was a spear, it was gone.

Ever closer, I came to the black fur-covered body.

The motionless body.

I continued to stare at it. I hoped I could see it move, at least breathing.

I began to hear something. A "pat pat" sound. I felt wet on my cheeks. Was that sound my tears, hitting the sand?

I was a mere five feet away from the body. I stepped up to her. I lifted the trident out of her.

I tried to throw it away but for some reason, it was already gone from my hand.

I got down on my knees. I could feel the fur on my skin. I lifted her head.

This was not Inu.

"Mery..."

I could hear my own voice tremble. I saw my tears fall onto her.

I witnessed an event that I can not explain.

My tears were... melting? Her?

I looked up to observe my surroundings. In a large area around me, I could see that particles were... floating?

What was happening?

I looked at Mery's lifeless body again.

I heard myself sob.

"Mery. No... Mery."

I pulled her close to my face so I could feel her fur.

There were patches of fur missing, now.

I looked up again. I saw a tree fall nearby. It was not fire, or damage from a weapon. It was deteriorating.

Disintegrating?

Everything around me was disintegrating.

The bodies of the fallen. Weapons. The sand itself. Flora and fauna. Even my own clothes were disintegrating.

My skin.

That tingling sensation I felt, was my skin being destroyed and instantaneously rebuilt from my immortality.

I looked at Mery again.

Her fur was gone. Her skin and muscle were disappearing before my eyes.

"No, stop. I d... I don't want this. Mery. Come back."

All at once, it hit me.

The memories of my time with her. The pain.

The love we began to cultivate. The suffering I will endure.

The nights we kept each other warm. The nights I will be cold and alone.

The simple promises we made to each other. The promises I can no longer keep.

The kisses we shared. And the ones we will never share again.

I cried out in so much pain.

This was ten... no 100 times worse than when I landed in this world.

My hands felt light. I looked down.

Mery was gone.

The ground below me was now a crater. I was floating. I didn't care about that though.

What I wanted, was to feel her again. I want her back in my arms. At this point, I wanted her back, even if she was dead.

I wanted to stroke her fur and hug her.

I can't even do that. She was gone.

I cried out in pain again. I curled up into the fetal position.

I couldn't think of anything but, the pain of losing my... my wife.

I let out a roar of bestial woe.

I wanted to end it.

"KILL ME"

I began to feel the tingling sensation even more so now. I looked at my hand. The skin and muscle tissue were like an ebbing tide.

I felt the sensation as my flesh deteriorated. I lost that same sensation as my flesh regenerated. It began to deteriorate again and repeated the process several times before my eyes.

My vision was in a constant state of flux at this point, too. My eyes must have been under the same influence of my hands.

In seeing this, I realized the folly of attempted suicide.

I am immortal now.

My mistakes are mine to hold.

Forever...

I looked out on the horizon I saw land slowly disintegrating in the distance. This bubble I was in, was getting bigger. Anything inside it fades into nothingness.

A void.

An image of Mery crossed my mind again. As another wave of painful sorrow hit my head, I saw something in the distance.

It was a black shape. It was... running?

My eyes went wide. I can't let her die, too. One person I care about Is too much already.

I closed my eyes.

Mery was there.

My lips trembled again. I forced the image out of my mind.

I began to slow my breathing.

I remembered the sensation of her hand in mine. I had to ignore the feeling on my skin.

I recalled a smell from when I cooked her a meal that she loved. I stopped breathing through my nose.

I heard echoes of her voice in my ears. I drowned it out with the sound of silence.

I sobbed again.

I felt and tasted her lips on mine. I felt my tears begin and fade before they could reach my chin.

"Oh god..."

I placed my hand up to my mouth.

I almost let my emotions go...

I remembered something.

Not of Mery.

The boy, in the darkness.

He 'wanted' me to let my emotions go. This is what he meant. He wants me to cause destruction?

This gave me resolve. I cleared my mind and focused on breathing. My body went numb.

I felt... Unfeeling. I began to drop. I did not lose composure. I landed far down. I think one of my legs broke.

I don't think I floated up with the bubble.

This was now a depression in the ground where I was. I caused a bowl-shaped void in this beach.

I felt water around my feet. I felt something small, cylindrical and metallic under my right foot. I opened my eyes and saw that I had just barely destroyed enough land to allow for seawater to slowly fill this... massive pit.

The coastal village I came to protect... It was completely gone. This crater was easily 500 or 600 yards in all directions from the center of where I was.

Mery.

I took a knee and refreshed my resolve. I can't let this happen again. I may have killed many enemies. I may have also killed many allies. This is the worst disaster I have caused yet.

I felt for what was under my foot. It was Gleamour. It had survived the void. I stood up with it in my hand.

I began walking toward the edge of the crater I created. My feet were sloshing in the almost foot-high water already.

It took me longer to get out of the crater than to cross the bottom of it. I was almost out.

Mery.

"NO. I can't do that again. Stop it."

I lost my grip and slid back down into the pit. I had to slowly make my way up all over again.

I reached the top and took some pants and a belt off of a corpse nearby. I began to make my way back toward Juiyo.

I turned around to make sure I had not missed anything.

A single naga was behind me, close to the edge where I had just climbed out of.

He was more decorated than any of the others I had fought.

He was not armed, nor looking for a fight.

"What...Are...You?"

I stared at him for a moment before answering.

"You 'have' heard of the potion of Rage, right?"

...

"Don't fuck with me."

...

"Don't fuck with any race on this continent again."

...

"I will hunt you down if you do."

...

"All of you."

I turned around and left him there.