CHAP.0-12: The last day of the DarknessDays (12)

Suddenly, the wind stopped.

Myrren began to smile. A twisted, unhealthy smile. In her eyes, we could read a sadistic excitement, as if she was waiting for a show... a bloody show.

And at that precise moment, reality screamed.

The sky cracked like glass under an unbearable pressure, letting out a shrill rumble.

The world began to tremble, and a violent wave swept the air, making the trees bend like simple twigs.

The mountains, the flames, the corpses... all were swallowed up by something invisible. An abyss of horror.

Then, brutal tremors shook the earth.

The ground beneath their feet cracked, crunching like an empty shell.

The surface of the world became unstable, and deformed. Pieces of land rose slowly, while others sank, engulfed by the burning bowels of this world.

Streams of red lava began to meander through the faults, drawing incandescent veins, as if the ground itself was bleeding.

The atmosphere became suffocating. The burning breath of sulfur, mixed with a thick smell of blood, infiltrated the nostrils, oppressing every living being.

And then, emerging from the lava veins, several human silhouettes appeared.

Mummified bodies, petrified in an eternal agony. Their flesh was cracked, their skin black and frozen. But their faces... their expressions were still talking.

"NO! "

"PLEASE I DON'T WANT TO DIE"

"MOM! "

"BIG BROTHER, IS THAT YOU? "

"AAARRGGHHH! "

Their voices, distorted by suffering, resounded endlessly. A song of eternal horror, as if these corpses were still conscious, trapped in a loop of torture.

Then the air became even heavier, saturated with supernatural heat.

Pulsations, similar to the beats of a heart, resounded in the air.

The sky vibrated, and he looked.

Two titanic stars, similar to eyes, appeared in the black sky.

Two colossal eyes, with disproportionate irises, one abyssal red, and the other of an almost infinite deep blue.

It was Myrren's eyes.

At the top of a mountain of mummified corpses, sitting on a throne made of dried arms frozen in supplication, was enthroned Myrren.

His gaze slowly descended on his world, sweeping all the knights like a hungry entity watching a banquet.

His smile widens, revealing an unhealthy joy.

She didn't move. She was contemplating.

And his world did the rest.

A sinister crack resounded... Then visions began in the minds.

A young knight fell to his knees, his eyes wide open, frozen.

"No... no... please don't do that... NOT THAT!!! "

He saw his mother hanging from the ceiling. His father, beheaded. And himself, a big smile on his face, skinning his living sister slowly.

He screamed.

Blood flows from his eyes, then from his ears.

He hit his skull, scratching himself until his skin opened.

But the vision did not leave.

Another, older, stood up, tears flowing endlessly.

He looked at his fists, and he saw blood in them.

At his feet were the bruised and deformed corpses of his children, bathing in a lake of blood.

" No... I don't want to... stop... I'VE NEVER DONE THAT!!! "

He tried to close his eyes, but Myrren's eyes were everywhere.

They were watching. They were forcing.

He began to scratch his arms, then his neck until he opened his throat.

The younger ones... didn't have a chance.

Several of them fell sobbing, blood flowing from their empty orbits.

One of them got up slowly, looking happy... and in absolute silence, drew his own blade.

"Mom... I'm coming..."

And he cut his throat, under Myrren's impassive gaze.

Another knight let out a nervous laugh.

The face deformed by fear.

" It's a dream... just a dream... huh? Hahahaha..."

He began to run straight towards a vein of lava, arms apart.

And his figure disappeared into the flames, without a cry coming out.

Kael fell to his knees, his hands on his face.

"What is..."

He saw his father taking him to an isolated room, before beating him with a horse saddle.

"No... No... please stop... I changed... I changed I swear! "

He screamed this sentence over and over again, while trying to tear the skin off his face.

Nesha, yet the calmest, collapsed screaming in pain.

" No! No! I want to live! " She screamed while pulling her hair

She saw the villagers of her village slaughtering her, cutting up her body with pleasure.

They weren't the only ones with visions. Everyone had them: magicians, knights, soldiers... all were struck by terrible hallucinations.

They all collapsed, blood gushing from their eyes, noses, mouths, ears.

Some could not stand the visions and committed suicide, while others skinned themselves alive.

Mages exploded, overwhelmed by their mana.

But during this moment of suffering and trauma, a golden aura came to envelop Kael, Nesha, Liora, Althéas, Maelis, Evans and Jason, protecting them from visions.

This immediately made them lose consciousness.

It was Aryna who had just come to her senses and who had decided to immediately protect her friends. Thanks to the rules of Myrren's world, she was forced to leave the void zone.

She was panting.

Her sword planted on the ground, she held the guard with both hands, one knee on the ground. His body was shaking. His veins had burst.

Blood flowed slowly from her nose: she suffered the repercussions of the void area.

His body burned, constantly regenerating.

She felt a new power, and unknown flames running through her body. She felt intense pain, but she clenched her teeth, refusing to scream.

The expression of pain on his face was unbearable.

She then quickly tried to maintain and control this power.

Despite her immense talent, while she tried to control the latter, she felt her heart tighten abruptly, and she spat blood.

Anger rose in her, born of her impotence, her incompetence.

She tried again to force control of this power.

But she failed.

And she spat blood again.

" Aahh... aahh... to tell myself that I saw you as a threat " said a voice that was both tender and mocking.

Listening to Myrren's chilling laughter, Aryna felt a few things break in her.

His breath cut off, and his hands trembled on the guard of his sword.

She didn't see Myrren anymore. Nor the field of ruin.

His mind sank.

And in the shadow of this mental abyss... a familiar voice resounded.

{ You know my daughter, even if you want to take care of the flames around you, never forget to protect your own flame. It is only by doing this that you will become stronger }

These were her father's words that she had kept in a corner of her memory.

Aryna opened her eyes again and looked up.

What she saw... was unbearable.

Soldiers slit their throats.

Others screamed on their knees, fingers buried in their eyes, their ears, trying to escape the visions.

Some, in silence, had committed suicide.

Others had collapsed, their guts in the air, as if they had exploded from the inside.

Women, men, young people... all burned alive by a land that was no longer real.

A world shaped by the power of Myrren.

Aryna lowered her head.

His hair, stuck by blood, masked his eyes.

And then... the anger went up.

Not an explosive anger, nor a vengeance.

But an inner storm, cold, silent.

An anger that had a name: guilt.

" It's me... all this... it's my fault. "

She knew it, she knew that all her men had remained by her side because of the trust they placed in her.

But she had let her heart guide her gestures and had not been impartial in her choices.

She had lost consciousness, letting herself be carried away by her personal feelings.

And in that short moment... she had lost many men and also brothers in arms.

His fists were shaking.

His breath was getting heavier.

But then... in this inner chaos... she felt a little warmth inside her.

She closed her eyes, while inhaling slowly.

And, for the first time, she did not try to dominate it, nor to control it by force.

She accepted the pain, fear, anger, letting this heat invade her.

She welcomed this inner fire, the one who wanted to consume everything... but who, deep down, was only waiting for one thing: to be understood.

But as soon as she tried to guide him, a sudden derailment took place.

Part of the flames devoured his flank.

An explosion sprang from his left shoulder, his armor exploded and his flesh cracked under the infernal pressure.

She screamed, and a jet of burning blood escaped from her throat, immediately evaporating into the air, turned into ash under the intensity of the fire.

His left arm necrotic, and his heart was beating at full speed, each pulsation sending him a new wave of pain.

But she did not lose consciousness.

She clenched her teeth, her knees trembling, her sword planted in the ground to prevent it from collapsing.

" Not now... not yet..." she whispered between two gasps.

And again... she concentrated.

She closed her eyes.

Controlling his heart, his breathing. The heat as well as the pain.

Everything became... one thing.

And then, a small part of the flames, like a trail of gold and purple, rolled around her, in a slow and harmonious movement.

His charred arm tried to regenerate, as well as he had. His aura vibrated in an unstable way.

His body managed to find a slight balance, even if the weight was still unbearable.

She had succeeded.

Some of the flames obeyed him.

She straightened up slowly.

His aura was imperfect, and his breath irregular.

But she stood, staggering, breathless, but standing.

She straightened her head, her gaze crossing Myrren's.

But this time, there was neither anger nor hatred in his eyes.

Just the determination of a woman who refused to fall a second time.

SOMEWHERE IN THE FOREST *30 MINUTES EARLIER*:

Several mountain ranges had been razed.

Over tens of kilometers, only a devastated landscape remained, burned by cosmic power.

Ashes fell from the sky like dead snow, carried by a wind loaded with blue electricity.

In the heart of a gaping crater... lay Rhazak.

His left flank had disappeared. Literally torn off by the explosion.

His charred flesh was still smoking, and his black blood, burning like acid, traced furrows in the dust.

His priest's outfit had been reduced to shreds, burned.

It had been projected with such violence that the side of a mountain still bore the imprint of its impact.

And in the sky, Valen's figure levitated.

His body was straight, stable, suspended in the heavens like a star judging the earth.

His coat floated behind him, swept by the magical currents he gave off.

Around him levated dozens of stellar spears, long, bright, each loaded with enough power to reduce a city to ashes.

They vibrated... alive and impatient.

The space around Valen seemed to be deformed by his mere presence.

His gaze, loaded with a cosmic blue, dominated the scene with a calm brutality.

He tilted his head slightly, his gaze focused on Rhazak, still lying in the dust.

" Stop making your chichi... And give everything you have. "

He said these words... in a calm but firm tone.

A breath of stars escaped from his back, and the spears around him began to crackle and turn quickly.

" Do you really think we don't know anything about you? "

" The dragon mother told us everything. "

Valen slowly lowered his right hand.

The spears stopped... then all pointed at the same time towards Rhazak.

The sky vibrated.

" We know... that you, the disciples of Yshvar..."

He took a step into the void. Each step created a circular wave in the air, as if he were walking on the surface of a celestial lake.

Then, without raising your voice:

"...You are actually the Apocalypses. "

And there... an invisible shiver shook the world.

Rhazak still had his face half hidden under his split mask.

He slowly opened one eye, with a slight smile on his lips.

TO FOLLOW...