Omnipotency

But without paying any attention to Ariadne's despair, the monsters began to move. They would swallow them all, and the princess was powerless to stop this horrible swallowing. She easily guessed that she would be forced to watch this terrible and repulsive scene, without strength or soul. She will be condemned to life, to remember this nightmare and this bloody wreck, these innocent victims tragically devoured by dirty beings, in the unspeakable coldness of this unknown place and disappearing under the black fate of the hated, insensitive, rotten wizard, and who had been banished as his empire was, from all light. No, Ariadne was abominably sure that she would never smile again. She would have liked to be far away, or to detach her mind from her body.

"I want to be saved, I want to be released and go home safe and sound.

"Someone! Please, please save us. Please!"

- Help! Help!

- Please, SAVE US! We beg you, please!

- PITTY! ANYONE!

- GRANDMA!

- WE DON'T WANT TO DIE!

- I DON'T WANT TO DIE!

- SAVE US, PRINCESS!

- SAVE US!

The cries of the convicted victims tore the princess' delicate ears to blood and dragged her mind into endless torture.

- Do you hear those creams, beautiful princess? Do you hear this despair, this tragedy? A terrible act and the guilt of your ignorance and powerlessness, forever locked in your memory and wealth. But as my last words of comfort, I sincerely sympathize.

His words were hateful, as hateful as the traces of murder he had become accustomed to on his life's path. Ariadne couldn't help throwing up. An unhealable sadness filled her.

"What an irony, simply because I was unable to renounce reaching again the highest world that this particular person made me know, this despair and these choices threw me into darkness."

Ariadne smiled in sorrow, thinking that she had ridiculously tried to grab the unchanging shores through a heartless person who had surely already forgotten her. In fact, she also had to acknowledge the truthfulness of her jailer's words, that she was ignorant of the world and especially of its sordid side, and as he had so well noticed, she was a pathetic being.

The price to pay for knowing and desiring this unforgettable and implacable man was too great and tore her apart forever.

Soon giving up fighting against her tormentor, Ariadne closed her eyes. She let herself go to her suffering and wished that a heavy burden would bury her alive.

This reality, which she had wanted to know for so long, was ultimately far too abominable.

- What exactly is going on here?

In spite of herself, at the sound of that voice that she would recognize even in a thousand years, she opened her eyes again. Even at the risk of seeing blood and despair flow before her, just to see the owner of that detached voice again. Even his dirty jailer, so proud of his atrocious power, could only tremble, listening to the inflexible voice of his enemy. Ariadne looked up again, her heart capsized, to reality where he decided to appear a second time, but this time, without wearing any mask, even more arrogant, more imposing than in his memory. And he didn't come alone.

The titanic monsters were also stunned by the newcomer, who gave them a terrible look. The prisoners condemned to the feast, stiffened and then fell into a fortunate unconsciousness. Panicked, the Black Magician did not know how to react. Everything was plunged into a strange and terrifying silence.

- I'm not sorry to have bothered you, I'm so interested in what I see.

- You'd pass through anyway.

The arrival shrugged his shoulders.

- That's right! Ah! I hope you have prepared Mertillo because what you intended to do deserves the ultimate punishment.

Like the monsters of the ocean, he had emerged from this agitated and anguished water, mounted on a giant beast as colossal as those of the Mertillo.

- Would you like to say something in your defense, Mertillo?

The latter, furious, tried to pull himself together and retorted.

- What do you think I can say now, Your Majesty? I know I will never be able to justify myself or anything to you. But I had absolutely nothing to do with it.

- Yes, you said it.

The stranger turned to the friend who was accompanying him, and who was standing a few meters behind him.

- Did you hear him, master, Seurus? That's a rude admission from our enemy. He is guilty and proud to be so.

- Good for us then. But I expected nothing less from you, Your Majesty.

Then the master plunged into the dark water.

- What do you intend to do now, boss? Asked one of the henchmen frightenedly to the magician. We do not have the power to challenge "that".

- Yes, I know exactly who he is, you idiot. He's very strong.

Without dismantling himself, the sovereign alien ordered a creature to approach the jailer, as if to challenge him to brave him.

- I have long neglected your filthy and dubious Mertillo business," Ariadne's lover calmly declared. I did it despite my conscience.

He took a deep breath, looked up, and carried them to the horizons as if to witness the entire lost empire.

- But this time, you've gone too far.

Then his golden eyes became so cold that they made them all shiver like simple autumn dead leaves.

- The time has come for you to pay, and believe me, you will. The balance of justice will weigh your actions in the present without forgetting all that you and your lamentable minions had committed before, and will decide for the price you should pay whether with your bodies or with your magic.

Mertillo laughed, trembling fearfully and rageously.

- How very ironic to hear the word justice from someone who has been expelled forever from his own empire, rightly so for having committed an irreparable abjection, and whom you probably consider less profound than mine, do you not, Your Majesty?

- Ah Mertillo, isn't that even fairer? So, with such a state, I have even more right to punish you and send you to an underground prison as long as justice, if not me, would consider it necessary.

- Majesty, are you sure you don't want to hurry? You really need to leave or you will inevitably expose yourself to the light of day, and we all know, at last, apart from the princess and the victims here present, what will happen if ever this light that has forgotten you for so long touches you...

- That goes without saying. That is why we must stop your activities as soon as possible. I think we have at most an hour. These last few minutes will mean everything to you, Mertillo. Top time.

The stranger immediately pulled out a huge magic sword and pointed it relentlessly at the petrified sea monsters.

- Out of my sight, I'll close my eyes this time, but be sure it won't happen again. Act again as you just did, and be sure I will come back to kill you with my own hands.

The titans all looked at him with anger, but strangely without hatred, which should have been impossible since this being from nowhere had ordered them to leave with such arrogance, depriving them of a royal feast, Ariadne was fortunately whole enough not to feel sorry.

- I forbid you to leave! My children, kill this man for me. Mertillo ordered, totally unleashed.

- Master, I don't think you should..... One of the minions tried to intervene.

- Quiet! Come on, babies, kill him! Kill him and I'll force-feed you with a fresh mage's pulpit until you're full.

But the target in question only gave a sardonic laugh before standing up like an emperor, invoking his excessive power. His eyes became like glass reflecting a world of storms and irrevocable outbursts of natural elements.

***

Thus, all around them, no matter where their eyes were, became a place of storm and chaos. The clear sky darkened and became a blackish and noisy canvas. The clouds accumulated above them and the wind rose, unleashing itself everywhere like a wandering witch. He surrounded the poor prisoners with countless pillars of dark light, the purpose being to protect them from his immeasurable power.

Lightning struck on all sides and fell on the water, burning it abominably. Faced with such a demonstration of power, the master of darkness had no choice but to release the princess.

As for the ship on which they were standing, it was nothing more than a fragile pitiful toy, thundering again and again, lost in a hellish and delirious world.

But in this indescribable chaos, as Ariadne tried not to lose sight of her lover, worried for him despite his spectacular power, a huge raptor appeared, appeared from the sails of the storm and rushed straight towards her. It was a magical creature, sparkling as night and as dark as its master.

The princess contemplated it, so fascinated and strangely touched.