A son's resolve

When he laid his eyes on the arch previously, he felt the familiar strange pull towards it. thinking back to then he felt this pull, like when he was drawn to that wall he used to escape the colossal reptilian beast. He had begun to wonder what it was during his journey through the dark paths.

But that wasn't of any concern to him right now.

If what he thought of the predicament was right, any moment now he should be... Suddenly, he felt another tremor. This one was more powerful that any to come before it. And with it, there was a strange hum. Turning his head towards the strange sound, he was instantly, but momentarily blinded by a ray of light shining from above. 

The light pierced the darkness. To Mathew, It was like a divine being had just put a star in a starless sky. The bright light radiated with ethereal brilliance and made him feel like a ray of hope descended from the heavens above.

The nothingness surrounding the light seemed to pulse in response. He wasn't sure if he was either hallucinating once again, or if he had just lost his mind. The nothingness seemed to writhe in agony as if recoiling from its touch, creating a path forward. Mathew continued to feel the tremors more and more, and following them, was the strange hum.

But now it was cleared. In the haze of the strange um, he could hear a voice. A strangely familiar voice. It was a woman's voice. A soft, beautiful and alluring voice. The voice brought him the comfort he only ever found in one place.

Taking a tentative step forward, his eyes widened, and through a cracking voice, he said.

"Mom?"

Step, step, another step. With every step, tears welled up and dropped down his cheeks. His voice continued to waver as he continued to call out to his mother.

"Mom, is that you?"

The voice echoed again, this time clearer.

"Don.. .et .. .ake ..er. .y ..n"

A wide smile appeared on Mathew's face.

"It is! Mom! I thought you were..."

Interrupting him, his mother's voice echoed once again.

"Don't let it....."

"Mom, what are you saying?"

"Don't let...."

His expression shifted.

Something was wrong. Very wrong. The voice he was hearing was undeniably his mother's, but, there was something wrong with it at the same time. It was almost as if it carried an unsettling quality that gave him an eerie feeling. Was it the emotion that the voice was currently conveying that caused this shift? He could not be sure, at least not without hearing everything she had to say.

Steeling his determination, he ran forward. The ray of light glowed brighter, and brighter as he ran faster and faster. The closer he got, the stronger the veil of darkness resisted the light. Trembling violently as it tried to regain its foothold. Mathew's eyes widened in horror. 

'What the hell!?'

The darkness moved as if it were alive. And fought against the light as if it was trying to steal its prey. The sight of it shifting and contorting made his stomach churn in disgust. it was like he was witnessing some sort of eldrich abomination rise from the depths of hell. Moving even faster now, he sprinted toward the radiant light. 

"Don't let it take...."

He was now close enough that he could nearly hear what it was his mother desperately tried to tell him. Suddenly, in the corner of his eye. He saw something. Something that he just couldn't explain with words. Within the shifting darkness, he saw a face. It was a disgusting, and grotesque visge, but it was a face. It emerged from the shadows with an evil smile plastered across it. Like a nightmare made flesh its eyes felt like they peered through him, filled with a desperate hunger.

He couldn't explain why, but the sight of that face welled up an anger in him that he could not control.

"Don't let it..."

Ringing out once more, his mother's voice brought him out of whatever trance he nearly found himself in. His heart threatened to leap from his chest as he turned his head sharply and continued towards the light. He was almost there now. He was only a few steps away.

"Mom!"

He called out. Reaching his hand out to touch the source of the light, the entity in the darkness leapt forward with incredible speed, reaching for Mathew with a fit of desperation raging in its eyes. But it was too late.

Mathew's palm grasped the source, and he heard his mother's voice once more.

"Don't let it take you, my son."

Time seemed to slow as the sound of his mother's serene, and beautiful voice sent a wave of emotions flooding through him. He was simultaneously elated, hopeful, regretful and in grief. He was right. The voice he thought to be his mother's was actually hers. The image of her severed head flashed in his mind, and he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He felt as if in that brief moment, his heart would stop. The nauseating wave of emotions was too much for the young Herald candidate to bear.

"Mom,"

He wanted nothing but to speak to his mother, but the reality of fate, didn't allow that. The source of the light, and his mother's voice trembled in his grasp. Then almost in an instant, Mathew's vision was assaulted by a wave of light that engulfed the darkness. Turning back, he saw the figure he within it writhe in pain, and I the next instant it was reduced to ash. Then even that ash burned to a crisp till nothing was left.

Yet again, he was left stunned and speechless. But this time he didn't have the luxury to contemplate what it was he had seen. The light radiated, glowing even brighter with every passing second. Mathew stared into what he held tight in his hand, desperate not to let go. It was as if everything he ever wanted was finally in his grasp, and he held on for dear life.

Suddenly, in the wave of panic, the voice of the codex resounded in his mind.

[You have slain a lesser devil, Unknown's avatar.]

[You have received...]

As much as he would have liked to listen to the voice of the codex. Which he really didn't, Mathew's attention was fixed on the mass of ethereal light swirling in his grasp. The light raged, pulsated and continued to expand, but none of that deterred Mathew from his goal. 

He was never going to let go of that orb. Not as long as he lived. Soon, the tranquil light of the orb became violent and pulsed with a strange energy. His eyes and palm began burning. He groaned, and screamed in pain, but still he persisted.

'Mom!'

The smell of searing flesh and pain that followed, still weren't enough to stop him.

'I'm never letting go!'

The power surged through his body, ravaging his body from the inside out. From his eyes, his nose, his mouth, even his ears. From every pore every pore in his body he began bleeding profusely. He felt as if he were on the verge of oblivion, but still, the stubborn cynic persisted. He already knew what was coming. In only a few moments, just like whatever it was that was in the darkness, he was going to be reduced to nothing but ash. Then even that would be burned to nothing. 

And then, just as suddenly as it began, the raging energy, subsided.