"L... Lucas… Why does it have to be this way?" I whispered.
With not enough strength remaining to hold my head up, my gaze descended upon the merciless sword embedded in my chest—a cruel reminder of the betrayal that had brought me to this bleak moment. Crimson blood flowed from the wound, cascading down my body, forming a macabre pool upon the cold, unforgiving ground below.
Lucas brought his hand to my chin and tilted my head up, meeting my eyes with an impassive expression. His stoic countenance soon revealed itself a facade as a solitary tear formed and trailed down his cheek.
"I apologize, Axel," he murmured, his voice bereft of its usual playfulness. "We were left with no other option… If… if only those fiends hadn't planted that damned demonic seed in your soul, all of this could have been avoided."
As my vitality ebbed away, I became a mere marionette, attached to the string that was Lucas' sword lodged in my chest. I wanted to reply, but it would have cost me the rest of my soul power and ripped away any chance I had of surviving.
Lucas withdrew the sword and, in one fluid motion, caught my falling form in his arms. He gently lowered me onto the dirt, still moist from the immense rain that had fallen hours prior. A chill wind blew over me as if nature itself were mourning my doomed fate. A fate I'd done nothing to deserve. I didn't even have the strength to change my facial expression, but on the inside, I raged.
Why did those two do it?! Why did they have to do this to me?! If you know you screwed up, then screw up alone! Why drag me down with you?! Was there really no turning back?! Why couldn't you two monsters just die once you knew you messed up?!
I noticed the presence of a man from the corner of my failing vision. A one-armed man I knew very well. The wickedness he exuded was palpable, the twisted sickle he held reflecting his twisted nature. A dark miasma radiated from every pore of his body—a dark, disgusting purple that fit him all too well.
Bastard.
"To witness the hero of humanity condemned as a monster… all because of my mistake..." The third man's voice filled the air, each syllable he spoke resonating with the weight of his malevolence. The man who just had to take me down with him. "...It's truly interesting." He began laughing while staring straight down at the ground.
BASTARD.
I had an unquenchable desire to kill him, to unleash upon him the condemnation he so rightly deserved. Yet, my vocal cords betrayed me, refusing to yield even a single sound. My lungs collapsed, my breath fading. The only thing keeping me alive was the minuscule amount of power I forced to pump my blood. But…
I wanted to, no, I needed to scream at him, to tell him how much he deserved to die. If I had been granted the power, I would have torn his throat out, murdered him ruthlessly…
Screw it.
"I... will... kill you," I said weakly, using the remnants of my waning power to help project my voice.
I succumbed to my hatred and threw my chance at life away just to curse at this wretched man one last time. A curse that was as weightless as air. A curse which had no hope of ever coming to fruition. A promise of something impossible… Yet, it was a curse I threw at him at the cost of my life.
The bastard's maniacal laughter abruptly ceased, giving way to an eerie silence. He lifted his gaze, locking eyes with me and showing me a tear-streaked face. Tears that made no sense. Tears that should have been reserved for the tormented, not the tormentor. Yet, they adorned his face. The face of the man whose refusal to accept reality and desperate clinging to a meaningless vow had tormented the entirety of humanity.
I should've let him end his own pitiful existence. If only I hadn't let him teach me that saving someone could create a memory that outweighed being saved. If only I'd never saved him. If only I'd never saved him. If only I'd never saved him…
As my consciousness ebbed away, his voice resounded throughout the air, the voice of my closest comrade turned formidable enemy reaching me one last time.
"I wish... I wish it were possible… my hero."
His soft-spoken words carried an unknowable sorrow that betrayed every action he had taken to get us to this point.
From the cold ground, I watched the two remaining men stand before each other, their gazes now fixed on each other as if I were never there in the first place.
I wanted to cling to life, even for a second longer, but my vision faded until I could see nothing but memories. The image of that psychopath crying seared into my mind. But now…
At least now I could forget. No more need for saviors. No more need to save… I could finally forget.
Following my vision, the rest of my senses faded. After all my senses were gone, it was like I was floating in nothingness, an endless void. I couldn't hear, see, feel, or taste anything—I could only think and remember. Thoughts of what had gone wrong. Thoughts of what went right.
Lost in my thoughts, time became an enigma. It was impossible to tell how much time had passed. A minute became an hour, and an hour became a minute. Time as a concept eventually no longer made sense to me. I just drifted, endlessly waiting. I had no body, no feeling. I was nothing but a collection of endless thoughts. Good thoughts and bad thoughts. But it wasn't too long before I ran out of good thoughts and surrendered to the emptiness that engulfed me. No longer reminiscing on what once was, I did nothing but question… why?
Why? Why? Why? Why, WHY! Why did people betray?! Why did I suffer?! Why couldn't I forget?! Why was I the one who died?! Why couldn't this all be a dream?! Why would nobody answer my questions?! Something had to be listening to my mind, right?! So answer me, goddamnit! Why? Why did my consciousness have to remain… If you're going to take everything from me, take everything. Don't leave me with memories. I'm dead, so let me rest… I beg. Please, just let me forget.
Everything was unfair. It was all so unfair. Why did the gods bestow hope and power upon us, only to abandon us in our greatest time of need? Why... why did those damn deities allow us to die so helplessly? Why… were we not what kept them alive? Was that not what he had said?
Shit…
It was all bullshit.
If… if only I could change it all. Stop them from ever finding that damned book, stop them from creating that damned cult, stop them from infecting me… damn it. Damn it all. If only those two had never existed, then Ruby, Ryon, Shen Xiao, Bamber, Olivia, Connor, Scarlett, Jarlock, Cali, Julia, Tevon, Valentino, Aldin …Leora… and so, so many more wouldn't have had to die.
Just…
Someone, something! Please fucking tell me—
"Why?!" I shouted. Something I had forgotten I knew how to do.
I felt my rhythmic heartbeat. The sound echoed in my head over and over as the thumping steadily increased. Before I could even begin to process the sudden return of my hearing, an onslaught of blinding light fractured the void, assaulting my eyes with its brilliance.
I recoiled and covered my eyes with hands that seemed to spawn from nowhere. When I finally adjusted to the light and opened my eyes, I instantly recognized the arm I held up to block the light. It was my own. Furthermore, I knew exactly where I was. How could I forget this place? It was where this damn shitfest had started.
"Huh?" I couldn't help but express my confusion aloud.
Looking around, I truly was back when we were first summoned to the trials. There was no mistaking it—with my perfect memory, there was no way I was wrong. I took a long inhale then a slow exhale to gather my bearings…
"Ha," I started to laugh, "heh-hehehe-ahahahahaha. I see." It seemed that my earnest desire to redo everything had prompted this dream, a false reality created by my perfect memory. Just another damned vision forced onto me by tainted memories.
I clutched at the dirt, took a clump of soil in my hand, and smushed it together, letting the grains separate and float helplessly back to the ground.
But still… even if this was just a fabricated reality, I could do it all over again. I could do what I wanted to do. I could set things right. While this reality was just an illusion, I could do things my way and create the future I wanted. I could also maybe settle my heart and finally rest in peace…
But one thing was for sure—even if fake, I could finally kill you like I promised! Yes! I could end you before you even learned of that wretched book! I could save everyone. I could save… you…
First, I needed to formulate a plan of operations, but no matter how much I tried, no intricate thoughts seeped into my mind. I could only think of finding them and convincing everyone to stay here for a little while. Though those were the only two thoughts I needed after all. I wanted to cry, I wanted to rage, but now was not the time. Finding them took priority. I didn't even know what I'd do once I found them, but I had to find them. After that, I'd create an actual, well-thought-out plan. They deserved to die, but there was a time and place for everything.
Blue lights began to rain down from the sky, and after each light cleared, a new person appeared. I searched desperately, waiting for one of the targets of all my suffering to appear. I tried to ignore the panicked faces of the freshly summoned, but some faces I caught reminded me of their gruesome deaths I had once witnessed. I pushed past these terrible memories and continued to search desperately. One after another, more and more blue lights shot down from the sky, revealing new arrivals. Then, I spotted one of the heinous bastards.
"There you are, you son of a..."
Interference in memory detected. Skill
A dazzling blue screen interrupted my thoughts. This blue screen was one that all chosen ones knew, but it was a distant memory from the time before the gods abandoned humanity. No, it was more accurate to say, a time before the gods began to weaken and fade. In truth, the screens were just mere guidelines—the powers were our own. So, even if they didn't disappear, they became useless. We didn't need them after we understood that power and what we were to do. However, in this moment, these windows were everyone's lifeline because they helped us understand a power we knew nothing about and what was being willed of us.
But... what was happening? What did it mean? Interference in memory? I had never seen this before.
Skill
Huh? Wait. No. This wasn't fair. Stop!
Why?!
This was a fake reality!? Why was my own mind rebelling against me?!
No… no it couldn't be!
Don't tell me! Was this all real?!
Stop!
I wanted to forget everything before! But not now! Now that I could do something good with my memory! Screw you, you damned false gods! Having my memories would only benefit you! So why rip them from me!? You damned beings made no sense! Just let me become the savior you wanted me to be so badly!
Tears began to stream down my face as I desperately dropped to my knees and begged, "Please, just one of you gods, goddesses, demons, or whatever, have pity on me. Don't let this tragedy happen again… why condemn me to this fate!"
It felt as if a screwdriver was being run through my skull. I wanted to double over in pain, but I needed to act now. I must not forget. If it so happened it was my fate to forget and walk the same bloodied path again, I refused it! I would refuse it by any means necessary!
I jammed my finger into the grass, but I sensed I didn't have enough time to carve out the message I needed to relay. Panicking, I picked up a nearby sharp rock and jammed it into my arm. The pain was negligible compared to the future that awaited me if I failed to send this message. Shakily, I began my engraving, but I barely managed a crude message before another window popped up, clouding my vision.
Skill
[Fragments recovered: 0/10]
No! Please! Just another second!
NOOOOOO! Noooooo... no?
Where the hell am I?