Suddenly, everywhere felt dark and empty. Voidless was the perfect term to explain it. Lucien’s body fell deeper into what felt like a suffocating abyss.
It wasn’t how he felt whenever Wrath communicated with him.
It felt different... almost sinister.
Lucien looked around him, a strange black energy wrapping itself around him. It had a deep red outline, with tentacles that wrapped around his body.
’Isn’t this Wrath’s Mana?’
[What is Mana?]
A voice called out.
It was young and calm like the voice of a child, but it didn’t feel human. It had abnormal stops, an awkward modulation, and it wasn’t even English. But somehow, Lucien could understand every word of it.
[Haha! What’s he doing, Papa?]
The voice echoed again, this time accompanied by a bright flash. Lucien had never seen a drop of light in the abyss within him. It was truly a baffling occurrence.
All Lucien could do was float endlessly as a smile spread across his face.
"Is this my end?" He paused, the bright light settling into distinct colors that formed images. "Oddly enough, I no longer feel the urge to live."
The images before him began conveying a message. Each image told a story, and eventually, the moving images turned into a live video playback.
Memories. That was what they were.
In the memories, a completely dark figure stood in a field of swaying grasses. Children filled the entire plains, but the entity simply floated above them.
"Wanna play?" The figure requested, but the children didn’t respond. They phased right through him as though nothing was there.
The entity looked up, and another figure stood. It turned its head and a smile formed. It was just a white line spreading across the faceless being, but Lucien could feel everything.
The initial dark being echoed a wholesome chuckle, and they both descended to the children playing. Suddenly, a child grew pale, her body exuding a strange burning smell.
"What’s wrong, Aya?" One of the other kids asked, rushing over to the girl and wrapping their arms around her.
"We’ll call your mom. Hop on my back," a bit suggested.
The entities felt concerned and reached out to the children in need, but what happened next was what they least expected.
One by one, they all dropped to the floor.
Dead.
Every last one of them.
Lucien could hear the despair beyond the screen that displayed it all.
"Are these Wrath’s memories?"
"No, it can’t be. That sinister creature could never have experienced emotions like this."
Lucien wriggled his legs, but the tentacles had gripped them so tightly that he was completely unable to move.
Lucien was tired of it all. He didn’t want to see a random person’s memories, and he didn’t want to be tied up by disgusting tentacles either.
"Time’s up, Wrath! I’m already dead in the real world, so let me go already!" Lucien voiced out, expecting a response from Wrath.
"He’s probably taking his precious time like he always does. I wonder where he’ll end up after I die."
With a sigh of relief, Lucien closed his eyes as the unwavering feeling of death approached with each passing moment.
Boom!
Lucien was startled, immediately opening his eyes to understand what had just happened. The displayed images weren’t there, leaving the entire space pitch-black.
It’s probably Wrath
Lucien entertained that thought and let himself move closer to death’s call.
[It’s not over yet! It’s not over when I say it is!]
The strange boy’s voice resounded, its pitch slowly transitioning into something more ominous and deeper.
"Huh?" Lucien twisted to his side as the loosened tentacles gradually fell.
"Isn’t that Wrath?
No response.
The strange tentacles emerged once more and encapsulated him, leaving him immobilized. Lucien was getting irritated and uncomfortable quickly, but there was nothing about it that he could do.
He screamed, pushed, pressed- everything he could think of, but it was like he was trying to push down a concrete wall.
Suddenly, a strange surge of emotions shot through him.
Despair, hatred, envy, and wrath.
He could feel everything at once. He didn’t know why he despaired, hated, or envied.
But Wrath was different. He could feel the deep burning anger welling up from within him. The tentacles tightened their grip on Lucien, wrapping around him like an impenetrable cocoon.
"Damn, why the hell did they do this to me? I’ll show them true wrath!" Lucien screamed, but deep down he didn’t understand why he said those words.
The tentacles suddenly burst out, and standing before Lucien was an enormous version of Wrath. This time, Wrath had some color to him.
His nose was evident, his pointed, bent ears pierced through the thick darkness around him, and the flowing red energy bathed his entire body like a soothing wave.
"Get out of my way, Wrath! They must atone for what they did."
Wrath looked at him, his eyes slowly closing. His deep laughter reverberated from within his body and eventually echoed all around.
[You truly don’t understand it yet, do you? However, I have no reason to stop you from having your wish. It is beneficial to both of us in the end.]
Lucien was too angry to care. He squeezed his face, his irritation evident through his twisted lips. Suddenly, Lucien phased out of reality.
The abyss faded away, and Lucien immediately stopped himself from falling to the ground.
"Oh? You resilient imp," Vaelion stated, staring down on him with his sword resting on his left shoulder.
In an instant, Lucien appeared directly before him. Vaelion flinched and stepped back, wondering where his sudden increase in speed had come from.
"Just because you’ve gotten a bit faster means nothing when you’re matched against me."
Vaelion swung his sword again, his golden hair flowing in the same direction due to the sword’s sheer speed and power.
"Is that all you can do?"
"Boy?"
The blade immediately shattered mid-swing, and Vaelion quickly launched himself away from Lucien.
"Things are finally getting more interesting," Vaelion stated, but his shaky lips and wondering eyes told a different story.
Lucien gave him a deep stare. A stare that felt piercing and ferocious. Vaelion kept up his tough act and eventually regained his composure.
He had lost his sword, and with no way of acquiring a new one, he fell back to hand-to-hand combat.
"Big mistake, boy. You don’t bring your fists to a sword fight."
"Verbotene Klinge" A sudden quiet breeze blew past them for a moment; it felt like time had frozen for Vaelion.
As if nature itself was giving him a chance to escape.