Destined To Fail

Summer was still in shock, be it from the terrible hole in her chest, or the fact she had watched her allies and friends get completely overwhelmed by an unforeseeable force.

As she lie with her head propped up against the burning wall of the place they had planned to make their temporary home, regrets flashed through her pained mind.

A few meters away, Chase stumbled into the burning building.

He looked terrible, blood was violently rushing down his temple, and the entirety of his armor had been completely incinerated or shattered.

But his face when he saw the lifeless body of the Hellhound that had appeared out of nowhere and tried to protect Task Force Unity, would haunt her for however much longer she had to live, and probably long into the afterlife. 

She cleared her throat, or at least tried to. The buildup of blood in her lungs was far too much; however, she refused to die without giving their leader some sense of hope, or at least for him to know that it wasn't his fault.

There was no way to know that Sazir had been following them from the very beginning, Chase had even made preparations, and constantly set traps behind them as there journey continued, but it was all for naught.

"I- I'm sor- Sorry..."

She croaked. 

Chase turned toward her, and when their eyes met it was like looking into a shattered catalyst.

Summer had seen very few, and had even attempted at mending a boy named Reinhart's broken core, but it was truly impossible. 

His eyes were void of life, just like a broken catalyst.

Yet he pushed himself forward, stumbling over piles of debris to reach Summer.

A vein had popped on his forehead as blood continued to rush down his face. 

She was worried that he would die from blood loss before he could even reach her, not that it mattered much.

She was thankful that he at least tried.

As her vision started to go black, Chase spoke, but not in any normal goodbye.

"Get up!"

He demanded with a sense of power in his tone.

As if his very words were enough to empower an entire army...

Her eyes shot open, even if only for a minute.

There had always been a strange curiosity that she had toward their leader, ever since the day they had all met within the outskirts of Rider's kingdom.

"You will get up!"

Chase screamed, as his eyes became crowded with an unseeable energy.

Darkness submerged the once emerald gemstones that rested inside of his skull.

'Wha- What are you...'

She thought, putting a hand on the hole in her chest.

"I- cant... Cha- I can't stay awake any longer."

Chase punched the ground, so hard in fact that the entire building shook.

Debris fell from the ceiling, and the walls creaked with an eerie amount of sway.

"Why!"

He screamed, hesitating as he put a hand on his own face.

"Because of mortal wounds! You are still breathing! SO WHY JUST GIVE UP!"

His voice sounded completely broken, yet more powerful than anything Summer had ever been in contact with before.

Then she saw it, as her vision blurred...

Orange flames shrouded the room, but they were kind and yet vicious in a terribly beautiful way.

She could have been hallucinating, but she could have sworn that she seen a flaming bird within the haze of fire.

Or maybe it was the green hue that would sometimes burn at the corners of her eyes.

But she gazed into their leader's eyes, something had changed.

A terrible ache ran through her body, as she seemed to be standing in a completely different room.

A war-torn room with terrible lighting, and bathed in crimson light.

And far in the distance of the long hallway, a terrible creature sat upon a crimson throne.

It had rotting flesh for skin, and large emerald orbs for eyes.

Its joints had been completely rearranged, and its body had warping tendrils of flesh wrapped around it like an automatic protection system.

But on its back, resting a large neon green blade with black engravings marked onto the strange metal of the great sword. 

'Who...?'

Then a powerful gust of wind shot through the room, lifting even the strongest of crimson bricks into the air.

She quickly turned, and that is when she saw it.

Something so beautiful, and yet so wrong.

Something that you would find in the ancient legends of the gods.

An infinite crimson hallway, with thousands of statues lining the paths.

And one of the first statues was her, with her staff outstretched and mighty.

The next was of a man with black locks, and a mighty bow drawn to his cheek.

The third was of a man with the helmet of a panda, and the fourth was the Everfrost boy with a mighty dire wolf at his side.

And it continued on, it would have taken her centuries to memorize each perfectly structured statue, with amazing architecture in each of the mighty engravings. 

Then a girl with Ivory hair casually walked down the infinite hall, her crimson eyes were sharp, but her face spoke a sad amount of sorrow.

"You should not be here..."

She spoke sadly, but also with a strange amount of fire in her tone, as if this was truly the wrong place for them to meet.

She shook her head.

"No, I am sorry but we are never destined to meet."

Summer hadn't even realized she had fallen to her knees until the girl outstretched a hand.

Summer took her hand, and smiled.

"I am Poppy of House Nether... Although, none of this is real... And I do not technically exist yet, or at least this version of me..."

Summer raised an eyebrow.

"Then why am I here?"

Poppy looked onward at the man on the throne, and for the first time Summer finally seen the terrible resemblance, the mighty power of the crimson king, and the dread of realizing the meaning of each statue.

"I suppose you have gazed into the eyes of The King of Chaos for far longer then any should..."

"That is Chase..."

Poppy nodded, although it was not a question. She knew it, the way the emerald gemstones sat behind the corroded flesh, or maybe it was the crimson dragon and neon green Hellhound that slept silently by his throne.

"Not yet though, and that is not technically Chase."

Summer shook her head.

"This doesn't make any sense."

Poppy smiled.

"It never does."

"That is simply destiny, and Eternity the elder god of time once held the strings of destiny within his grasp, but with the birth of the next generation of sacred souls, the queen of hell seemed to have taken a bit of destiny and bestowed it upon her own son..."

Poppy smiled, although with a somber expression.

Then spoke in a soft tone, with a strange amount of reassurance.

"It's alright, you were always destined to fail. There was no way around it, this moment in time that you are currently bleeding out in the ruined halls of the king's refuge... It is meant to be the first turning point, and the pivotal gearshift that brings forth the reckoning of Vallmora, and all that lies beyond.

"Lies beyond...?"

Poppy smiled.

"Your time runs short, but you still have a couple of important lives to save before you can earn your statue of vitality within the halls of Tartarus." 

Then she shot upward with a start, she quickly put a hand to her chest, only to feel that the hole was gone, and flames had taken its place.

"How...?"

Chase was kneeling next to her, with a shroud of mighty green flames wrapped around his body, and all of the surviving members of Task Force Unity had found there way to them within the ruins of King's Refuge.

"Impossible..."