Part 1 - The King Of Light (Chapter 2)

Creeaakk....

| The door opens |

| Osk points his weapon at the door |

| A man with Yellow eyes, a hunchback, and messy hair walks into the room |

Vael raises his fist "Hold thief! I am the only and only Hydrate—"

Osk puts his hand over Vaels mouth "Hes from Aurelis."

"EVERYONE!!"

Vael and Osk stare.

"DUCK!!!!!!"

Osk is unfazed.

Vael rolls quickly under the bed.

The Crazed Man laughs "What is he doing?!"

Vael scoffs "Not funny at all. Osk who is this guy?"

Osk sighs "Thats our ally, Lament. He's a drug addict."

Vael shouts "WHAT?"

Lament leans back, stretching like he owns the place "Lil' gift. Calms the nerves, smooths the edges. Thought you might need it, seein' as you just tried to fight your own shadow."

Vael grabs the bag "What's this?"

Osk and Lament say at once "Drugs." "Sugar!"

Vael throws the bag "What the hell?!"

Lament grabs it midair "Dont waste it now!!"

Osk: "Would you believe he has magic?"

Vael, Curiously asks "Really? What type??"

Osk: "Chaos. But hes too deranged to use it fully."

Vael: "And all I have is water?!"

Lament: "Sucks to suck! Maaaan, you stress too much. Just breathe... and let the universe do its thing, y'know? It's all connected, like a... like a... wait, what were about again?

Silence.

Osk stops the silence "Anyways, Here's what I wanted you to see"

Lament slides some papers

Osk: "Lament here snuck into the castle and found these files, they say that The Light King is the reason why all of this eldrot spread across Noctros."

Vael: "He snuck into the castle? How?"

Lament: "Ionno (I don't know) my duuuude!"

Vael: "Are you a goldfish?"

Osk: "We dont know how it was created but, Eldrot feeds on everything, Let it be Magic, Non-Organic and Organic Material."

Vael: "How do you get rid of it?"

Osk flips a page "Here. It says it has a main source, but it doesn't say what it is."

Vael: "We'll have to beat it out of Light King!"

Osk: "You think ur in a cartoon? They dont call him LIGHT King for no reason, Hes as fast as light, He IS Light itself."

Vael: "Blah Blah and Blah. I'll win against him!"

Osk: "Say what you want. Come with me, I need to show you this."

— Noctros, The Forgotten.

Vael: "What is... This?"

| Kids cry, It smells like rotten meat, half the people are laying on the ground being eaten alive by Eldrot |

Osk: "The people you see here are all taken by the curse of Eldrot, their lungs dont work anymore and they dont have anymore time left to roam this planet."

Vael: "What.. What the fuck??"

Osk: "They're decomposing as we speak"

Vael gags and pukes.

Vael: "I cant see this. I don't want to."

Osk: "I'll give you a choice. You can turn around and go back to your perfect little life, safe and comfortable while the bodies pile up in the streets—innocent lives lost so you can keep pretending everything is fine. Or... you can stand by your own words. You can fight. You can change this world. No more walls between rich and poor, no more lives weighed against gold. A world where no one has to suffer just so another can thrive. So tell me... will you walk away, or will you finally do something that matters?"

Vael: "I—"

A child, looks 2 - 5 in the distance cries.

"Mama...? Maamaa... wake up... Mama, please... I'm hungry... You said you'd make breakfast... Mamaa please.."

Vael: "I'll do it."

Osk: "Right. For now, you've seen enough. Pack up and I'll send you back to your house."

— Vael's House

Vael enters.

Mom: "Oh my god, where have you been?? I haven't seen you since morning."

Vael tightly hugs his Mom not letting go for solid minutes

Mom: "Are you okay?? What happened?"

Silence. Then followed by a few sobs.

Mom: "Tell me what happened. Now."

Vael: "Its nothing mom, I just... There was this guy—he was in trouble—I tried to help, but then things got out control.."

She doesn't scold him. She just smiles, soft and steady, like nothing in the world could ever go wrong.

"You're my brave boy," she whispers. "One day, you won't have to come home like this. One day, you'll live in a world where you don't have to be afraid. Where everything is safe, where no one is left behind, where families stay together, and no child has to grow up carrying the weight of things they shouldn't have to understand."

Her voice falters, but she keeps going. She has to.

"The world is kinder than you think, my love. It has to be."

She believes it. She needs to believe it.

She doesn't know about the sickness swallowing the streets whole. About the empty homes, the grieving families, the names that are never spoken again. About the way he held a stranger's cold hand today, wishing—begging—that they would wake up.

She doesn't know.

And he can't bring himself to break her heart.

— Vael's Room

Vael Sighs and looks at himself in the mirror

Even though he wants to truly help, there is a piece of him stuck just wanting to let go of what he saw.

"Am I good enough for it?"

Lament: "You talk to ghosts just like me."

Vael stumbles back "What the hell?! When did you get here?!"

Lament: "Dude why are your questions so facken (fucking) haaard man?!"

Vael: "What do you want?"

Lament: "I dont understand your lingo shakesphere."

Vael: "Ayy bruhh watcha need my dawhhgg? (What do you need?)"

Lament: "I heard you was stressed."

Lament throws him a pack of cigarettes.

Vael: "I dont need this."

Lament: "Tsk, Boooring. Why you sad?"

Vael hesitates. He could ignore Lament, stay silent until he gets bored and leaves. But something about him—the casual way he talks about sadness, like it's just another thing people carry—makes it hard to brush off.

Vael: "It's... not that simple."

Lament watches him for a second before breaking into a laugh.

Lament: "Nothing ever is, kid."

He rolls onto his back again, tossing the vial in the air and catching it.

Lament: "People think sadness is just 'oh no, I stubbed my soul' or whatever. Nah. It's a whole mess of things. Regret, fear, loss, sometimes just the crushing weight of existence, y'know? Like—" He pauses. "Actually, no, I was gonna say something deep, but I lost it. Happens."

Vael exhales, barely a laugh, but something about Lament's nonsense makes the room feel a little lighter. He stares at the floor for a moment before mumbling:

Vael: "I don't know where I belong."

Lament doesn't respond right away. When he does, it's softer than before.

Lament: "Yeah... that sucks."

No jokes. No weird metaphors. Just that.

he nudges the vial closer with his finger.

Lament: "Still not taking it?"

Vael shakes his head.

Vael: "Not my thing."

Lament shrugs.

Lament: "Fair. More for me."

He pockets the vial, then laughs.

Lament: "If you regret your decision, shout my name."

Lament phases through the wall.

Vael: "What?"

He touches the walls. Nothing.

"What the hell?!"

...

Day.

Vael gets up and washes his face in the mirror.

He does his normal routine. Eats breakfast. Leaves for school.

| Birds chirp. People laugh outside. Pens click. |

Teacher: "VAEL! ... A sphere is perfectly balanced on top of a cube. The cube has a side length of 10 cm, and the combined center of mass of both shapes is exactly 12 cm above the base of the cube. What is the radius of the sphere?"

"Do you have an answer?"

Teacher: "Vael? Do you have an answer?"

| Silence. |

Vael stands up.

Vael: You want an answer? Sure. Here's one. None of this matters. None of this stupid, pointless math, none of these stupid, clueless people sitting here, giggling, whispering, staring at me like I'm the weird one. Like I didn't just watch a family rot in their own skin.

| His grip tightens. |

Vael: You all go home to warm beds, safe streets, food you don't have to fight for. Meanwhile, out there? There are people coughing up blood, bones snapping from the inside, crying out for help that will never come. And you're worried about—what? A damn sphere on a cube?

| His breathing gets heavy. The class feels distant, like a dream. |

Vael: I should say it. I should flip this desk, and let you all know exactly how messed up this world is. Watch your little perfect bubble pop. Watch your faces drop when you realize how blind you are.

Vael: I went outside the walls. I saw the skin peeling away, the ribs pushing through, the eyes sinking into nothing. See the mother reaching out, fingers blackened, begging for her child to run—when there's nowhere left to go. When there's no one coming to save them. You wouldn't last a day out there. If you saw what I saw, you'd crumble. Cry for your parents. Beg for the guards who will never come. You'd claw at your own skin, trying to scrape the rot away before it takes you, too. You'd scream for help that isn't coming. Pray to gods that don't care. You'd run—until your legs give out, until your lungs burn, until you're nothing but a broken thing on the dirt. And then?

Then you'd beg.

You'd beg just like they did.

Vael snaps back into reality.

Teacher: "You there?"

Vael: "I don't know the answer teacher."

Teacher: "Tsk."

?: Its 3.85 centimeters.

Vael: ["What the hell? lament? is that you?"]

He quickly says the answer

Vael: "Wait! Its 3.85 centimeters"

Teacher: "Oh wow.. so theres something in there after all!" She knocks on his head

Vael scoffs.

Vael: [Lament! How did you do that?]

Lament: [No more shakesphere please.]

Vael: [Just say it!]

Lament: [Duuude if you want chaos over your opps (enemies) you gotta (got to) get in their minds yo!]

Vael: [So its chaos magic?]

Lament: [Yeah. meet me outside quickly, I really need to talk to you about something important, and I dont wanna waste my magic right now.]

The Bell Rings.

CHAPTER TWO END.