The screams echo through the land.
The sizzling sound of flesh.
The burn of the skin.
The pain of the fire—
It all echoes.
Elijah feels something.
He feels power.
"Monsters are nothing but trash to be exterminated," Elijah says to himself.
The screams start to die down, one by one, and then the fallen turn into ash—
And ash into dust.
---
Sukiro wakes up.
Sapphire was sitting beside his bed, waiting.
She wakes up too, her eyes half-closed, still sleepy.
"Are you okay now?" she asks, yawning and rubbing her eyes.
"I saw something..." he says, his tone slow and serious—not his usual self.
"You saw something?" Sapphire questions, concerned.
"I…"
"I woke up in a void… A terrifying void…"
"There was nothing… it was dark everywhere. Everything was the same…"
"I walked and I walked and walked, yet nothing changed. It was…"
"It was all the same…" he starts speaking rapidly panting and panicked
"Darkness."
Sapphire leans in, listening carefully.
Sukiro's expression changes into a terrified one.
"And then… they were behind me…"
"I felt a terrifying presence. One that made my heart stop. One that made time stop…"
"I couldn't breathe…"
"I turned around, and there it was…"
"A terrifying pair of eyes… Black as the void itself—no, it was deeper than the void itself."
"It looked at me…"
"Yet there was more.."
"I fell to my knees… There was something else…"
"Something sinister."
"EVIL."
"Its eyes—deeper than blood or any crimson known."
"Those eyes were…"
"And yet just when I thought it was over…"
"I fell down to the ground—no, to the void."
His face tenses.
"My bones started to break from the mere presence…"
"My heart collapsed into itself…"
"My skull crushed my brain…"
"I saw it…"
"Black eyes with purple worms swimming in it… swarming in it…"
"I died… yet I didn't."
"I was alive, yet dead…"
"I don't know who those three beings are, yet I can say for sure…"
He looks at her, his face sure of what he's about to say.
"Those three beings… they are something out of our comprehension…"
"Something I wish we never ever face."
Sapphire grabs his hand. A soft smile crosses her face.
Her eyes fill with empathy.
"Sukiro, I am sorry for what you felt. I don't know how painful it must have been," she says softly.
"But remember—no matter what, always remember that we are with you."
"All of us." She smiles, her grip tightening on his hand.
Sukiro exhales, letting out a sigh of relief.
"I know…" he says, smiling at her—
A real smile.
---
The barrier gradually starts to disappear.
The mana-enhanced barrier reaches the ground and shatters.
Elijah floats down to the ground—elegantly.
Suddenly, he is met by a hand slamming into his back.
Elijah nearly falls over.
His tone rises, angry and confused.
"Who the hell—"
"Should have known…" he sighs.
"Why are you still here, Sebastian?"
Sebastian smiles, arms crossed.
"Well, that was a show to watch! I couldn't miss that now, can I?"
"That spell was something else!" he chimes happily.
Elijah shrugs.
"Yeah, it was an A-rank spell, after all. That too, at its full power."
"That explains it," Sebastian says, putting his hand on his chin.
"I wonder who would win between us."
He smiles—one of curiosity and wonder.
Elijah smirks.
"Probably me."
Sirius runs into them, his breath short, his hands on his knees as he catches up.
"Guy—guys… did you clea—clear the monsters up?"
"Yeah. I did," Elijah replies.
"G-good, good. Sukiro woke up… and something is wrong."
Sebastian and Elijah look at each other with concern.
Sebastian yells,
"Get on with it! Lead the way!"
Sukiro sits on a chair, a warm cloth wrapped around him as he sips on warm water.
The memories flash before him as he sits frozen.
Those eyes...
The eyes of pure—
Sebastian kicks through the door, concern visible.
Elijah and Sirius barge in as well.
"Sukiro!!" Sebastian screams.
The water falls from his hand—he's been jump-scared while lost in thought.
He looks at them, eyes wide open.
"Sukiro, are you okay?" Elijah asks as he moves forward.
Elijah starts checking for wounds.
"Sapphire did heal you, right?"
"Yeah… yeah, she did…" he says, his face still pale.
Sebastian lets out a sigh of relief.
"That's good then. We've cleared out the monsters as well."
"That's good, kid," Sirius smiles.
Sukiro doesn't say anything he just looks at them his expression pale
all of them know…
Something is off.
They look at each other.
After a while, Sukiro goes off to sleep first, exhausted.
"Guys, I'm heading out to sleep now," Sukiro says as he slowly leaves.
"Go ahead, kid. We'll be there soon!" Sirius yells with a smile.
The door closes behind Sukiro.
Everyone looks at each other.
"I'm going to call Sapphire and ask what happened," Sebastian says in a serious tone.
"Go ahead," Elijah nods.
Sebastian leaves for the tents where injured villagers are taking refuge. He arrives just in time.
He sees Sapphire treating the last of the patients and stands there, waiting for her to finish.
Just as Sapphire finishes, she sees Sebastian standing in front of the tent.
She knows why he's here.
"We need to talk… now."
The Emeralds head towards the rooms which the village chief gave them.
No one speaks a word until they arrive.
They choose Sebastian's room—it's the farthest from where Sukiro is sleeping.
The party sits down in silence.
Sebastian finally speaks.
"What happened?" he asks.
Sapphire's face dulls.
"When he fell unconscious… he wasn't truly asleep," she mutters.
"What does that mean?" Elijah asks, confused.
"He said to me that… he woke up in the void. That there was darkness everywhere. Everything was the same. It was never-ending."
"He walked and walked, yet nothing changed—until he felt a presence behind him."
"A presence?" Klaus asks, curious.
Sapphire nods.
"A presence so terrifying… that his heart stopped beating. He couldn't move. He couldn't blink."
Elijah and Klaus look at each other.
"He turned around… and there were these eyes. Pure darkness—
Even more than the void, the abyss."
"He was terrified. And then… he fell to his knees. He felt another presence."
"He said it was evil"
"Sinister. He looked up to see what it was—
And he saw red eyes… more dark than blood."
"And it didn't even end there."
"He fell to the dark, cold ground of the void.
He felt his skull crushing his brain.
His heart collapsed.
His bones shattered."
The party looks at each other as Sapphire continues—her face pale.
"He looked up one last time… and he saw something that shouldn't exist."
"They were black eyes… with purple worms swimming in them, he said."
"And then… it all went blank.
And he woke up.
He was scared.
He was terrified when he woke up."
"What were those beings?" Klaus asks.
Sapphire looks up at him, her eyes speaking the truth.
"Something that shouldn't exist.
Something… unhuman."
The party is dead silent.
No one says a word.
The moon looms overhead as a dark cloud covers it.