Ep. A Demons Mask Part 6

I opened my eyes to a world painted in stillness. The familiar cobblestone streets of Eldor stretched before me, bathed in an unnatural quiet that pressed against my eardrums like a physical thing. The rage that had followed me from whatever nightmare I'd just escaped still coursed through my veins, hot and demanding—a living entity sharing my body.

Next to me stood Rowan and Maya now frozen like statues caught mid-motion. Rowan's hand was half-raised, his eyes fixed on some distant point, while Maya's lips were parted in what might have been the beginning of a warning. The sight of them—alive, whole, unharmed—sent a brief surge of relief washing through me, but it couldn't overwhelm the anger that burned at my core.

I flexed my fingers, testing my own movement against the unnatural stillness around us. The moon light bathed the street, but nothing stirred—not a leaf, not a banner, not a single breath from any living soul.

This isn't an illusion, I don't know how or why I'm so sure, but I'm certain I'm truly awake now.

And I knew, with that same bone-deep certainty, what waited for me in the town square. The monster—the architect of this frozen moment—was there. Until I destroyed it, everyone would remain trapped in this timeless prison. Until I tore it apart with my own hands, this terrible rage consuming me would never find release.

My hand found the leather-wrapped hilt of my sword, fingers closing around it with familiar pressure. The weight of the blade against my hip was reassuring—a promise of violence to come.

"I'll be back," I whispered to my motionless friends, though I knew they couldn't hear me. The words dissipated into the still air, swallowed by the unnatural silence.

I moved with purpose down the empty street, past the bakers shop with its display of fresh bread that was beginning to grow stale, past the blacksmith's forge where the hammered metal was still and cool. My footsteps echoed against the cobblestones, the only sound in this suspended world.

There was no hesitation in my stride, no tremor in my hands. Unlike before, I felt no creeping dread, no paralyzing fear of what awaited me. My mind was crystalline in its singular focus, a mantra repeating with each beat of my heart: I'm going to fucking kill that thing.

I reached the corner that led to the town square and paused, drawing my sword in one fluid motion. The metal sang as it cleared the scabbard, catching the light with a hungry gleam. Taking a deep breath, I stepped around the corner.

The town square opened before me, a broad expanse of cobblestones surrounding a dry fountain. Market stalls stood abandoned, their colorful awnings frozen mid-flutter. And there, at the center of it all, lay the source of my hatred.

I narrowed my eyes, studying the creature with cold assessment. Gone was the towering monstrosity with razor teeth and glowing red eyes that had torn through my companions like they were made of paper.

Instead, what awaited me was... pathetic.

The creature sprawled in the square was nothing like the demon of my dreams. It resembled an oversized slug, its bloated body glistening with a sickly sheen. No limbs, no claws, no fearsome jaws—just a mass of decaying, pulsating flesh. Its skin was mottled with patches of gray and sickly yellow, like rotting fruit left too long in the sun.

Despite its unimpressive appearance, I knew this was the entity responsible for the nightmare I'd been trapped in, for the frozen state of Eldor, for the deaths of my friends I was forced to witness in its despicable illusions. This pitiful thing had somehow wielded power enough to trap this entire town.

Disgust rose in my throat, mingling with the rage that still burned hot.

"So," I said, voice carrying across the empty square, "you're what's been hiding behind all those illusions."

The creature gave no sign that it heard me, but I felt a subtle shift in the air, a tightening of the unnatural silence.

I stepped forward, sword held at the ready, its weight an extension of my arm.

"Whatever you really are," I continued, advancing steadily across the square, "whatever power you think you have over this place—over me—it ends now."

As I drew closer, I could see faint pulsations rippling across the creature's bloated form, could smell the sickly-sweet odor of decay emanating from it. Perhaps, in another life, I might have felt pity for such a wretched thing.

But not today. Not after what it had shown me. Not after what I'd witnessed, the endless horror it had forced me to endure.

Today, there was only one thought in my mind as I made my way to the quivering mass before me: I'm going to fucking end you.