Cerila's POV.
I didn't understand what was happening. Everything was moving too fast. And I didn't even know where to begin.
I felt a sickness creeping through me when that creature arrived. And despite not being able to hear, I could understand its words as if it spoke directly into my mind. It was nothing short of revolting; it was a sickness that seemed to seep through my entire being. Yet… it also helped me.
The voice called to me. It was as if I were a long-lost part of it. I had to return to its golden embrace. But that grotesque feeling washing over me was stronger. It made me angry, sharpened my senses enough to ignore the call. It didn't dispel the overwhelming fear the creature brought upon me, but it just kept me sane.
Sane enough to realize that something had changed.
I felt it, but didn't understand it. The world itself had changed. The why and how eluded me, but I knew that it had. It was like a fleeting memory, just at the tip of my mind, but I couldn't recall it no matter how hard I tried. But that feeling was secondary because it wasn't just the world that had changed.
It was Kaladin as well.
Everything about him, his scent, his presence, all of it seemed different yet oddly familiar. The cold steel of his bloodlust choked the air from my body. Yet despite knowing it was nothing more than a trick of the mind, I still felt the fear of death when I looked at him. But that trick was also meaningless in the end.
Because I could sense his intention. I knew he moved and acted to protect us, not harm us. That was who he was, and nothing would change that. So even when his lifeless eyes stared through me, I still knew that everything was well. The world could change all it wanted, but Kaladin would refuse to.I would reject the world itself if it were otherwise.
Yet, everything that happened after the change happened in a blur. A fight of proportions that defied reality transpired. Kaladin wielded new powers beyond the norm. Even a Grandmaster mage such as the old headmaster paled in comparison. His speed and power were leagues ahead of the strongest War Gods.
Beyond the barrier of blood, the world trembled from their fight. When the barrier was cast away with a single strike, we all thought it would probably be the end. Still, I held hope. I knew Kaladin could do it. If not him, then who else? He was the man who made the impossible possible many times before.
This time was no different.
So when Kaladin cut down the deity, no, what we thought was a deity, and reaped its life before our eyes, even taking its powers for his own, I only felt that I was justified. Maybe I was mad to have such thoughts. But so what?
It was only after the creature seemed to try and make a deal that it finally vanished. But in its wake was an enormous well of power. The blinding light wasn't just light, it was something else entirely. I felt the power well up inside of me in an instant. My tired and battered body repaired itself.
But that was only for a moment. The power exploded within me; it felt like my soul was being torn from the inside out, as if it were a small vase trying to contain the infinite power of the ocean. What was once felt uncontrolled began to stabilize. I felt the power leave my body as Hubris channeled it away from me and into itself. What the sword was doing and why it had suddenly done such a thing eluded me. But I was thankful nonetheless because a new task opened its way before me.
In the blinding light of the storm, a lone figure stood alone. I knew I had to reach it. Even if it ripped me apart, even if I lost my life, I had to. Because I knew if it were me, he would have done the same.
So I stepped forward.
Every step felt like an impossible task. The pain was unbearable, but I pushed through. I passed Sylvia in the storm, and I thought she would be angry, perhaps even annoyed at the notion. But the only thing I saw in her crimson eyes as I passed by was a silent plea. So I would answer it for her sake, for myself, and more importantly, for Kaladin. So I reached out to touch him and the world changed again.
The pain in my soul vanished, and the world became black. I blinked my eyes a few times to clear the radiance that had stained my vision, and for a moment, there was nothing. But when I blinked again, I found myself in an entirely new place.
Around me, I could feel a low hum that reverberated in my chest. Hubris was gone as I stood in a hallway that could only be considered alien. Pure, black metal surrounded me. When I ran a finger across it, it was cold to the touch and pristine, not a single imperfection in its construction.
For a moment, I thought it was Mythril, but no, it was something entirely different. It was dark, yet beautiful. And when I looked up to see what was lighting the hallway, I squinted my eyes. Light from a glass housing gave off a pure, soft white light. There were no flames, no heat—just light.
The more I looked around, the stranger things seemed to become. The architecture was so foreign to me, the materials and apparatus alien. Nothing in the world could come close to such a place.
Where am I? What…is all of this?
I started to walk down the hallway in search of Kaladin. If I had entered this place, wherever it was, then he had to be here too. I only needed to walk for a few steps when a cutout broke up the smooth metal. Thick black metal framed a circular entrance, like a door. But there were no handles, no knobs or anything to push on—just the same black metal in a circular pattern.
A small cutout on the frame was there, but it was empty. I reached out to it and pressed a finger to its smooth surface, and when I did, the metal opened up like an eye to reveal a large open room. The ceiling was high but not so much that I couldn't see it.
The same soft white light illuminated the entire room, which was filled with… weird things. Some kind of machine sat at the center of the room, but off to the side was something at least familiar to me, yet woefully out of place.
An old couch?
I walked over to the piece of furniture. Its light brown color had faded from what must have been years of wear and tear. Small holes were on the cushions, patched together with a random assortment of materials. To its side were steel crates that housed something that I didn't care to know. A table with a weird-looking chair was also there, but there was no paper, scrolls, or books—just an empty, old wooden table. It was as if someone had transported random items from a home and placed them here for storage, but that was clearly not the case.
They were being used. Someone, or something, was living here.
I ignored the oddity and walked around the large machine at its center. It had large wings, huge…wind pipes? It was all made of the same black metal. I didn't know what I was looking at. The corpse of some metallic flying monster? Was something like that even possible?
Regardless, my attention was immediately taken away by more moving metal. A large gate that took up the entire side of the room slid open. My eyes widened and I walked with mesmerized steps toward the opening, for it was something beyond understanding.
Behind a shimmering, faint blue barrier was utter darkness like the night sky. An endless sea of stars twinkled in the expanse and they seemed far closer than they ever had before. Their radiance was majestic beyond words. And seemingly floating in the expanse was a storm of blue pocked with those same stars.
The colors were fantastical, almost impossible. The hues went from the deepest dark of indigo to the brightest of blue, so that it was almost white. At its center, a pocket of brilliant white spread out as if mixing the storm with its sheer presence.
It was beautiful…
I snapped my head to the side. The words reached deep into my mind. And in an instant, I felt that I was no longer alone in this place. It seemed to meld out of the shadows as it took the form of a towering man. He wore a skin-tight black bodysuit, his muscles bulged from beneath it as if trying to free themselves.
I was tall, and had met many people far taller than me. I had been in the midst of men who could be considered giants. And yet the figure that loomed over me looked down at me, I barely reached his mid chest. His skin was tanned, his hands so large that a single one looked like it could grasp my entire skull and crush it.
He was bald, and not in the sense of age. But simply lacked any hair, not even eyebrows. The man's rugged face was sharp, devoid of all fat, just like the rest of him. And his cold, dark eyes observed me silently, and yet, I did not feel afraid. It also felt… familiar.
I narrowed my eyes in confusion. I didn't even really know what to say. How was he Kaladin…yet…he clearly wasn't. Then it hit me.
The man's eyes narrowed.
I looked around.
I looked away for a moment and rubbed my head. I didn't really fully understand it, but…that was fine. I didn't need to. I only needed to know a few things.
I swore his eyes softened slightly as his deep voice rumbled in my head,
The man turned to face the void and asked,
A billion people…I don't even know what a billion people would look like in truth. Perhaps there are billions of grains of sand on a beach, but people…
The void shifted and flew past at blinding speed. Yet, there was no movement; instead, it was the outside. The darkness shifted to a single, floating ball suspended in the void. Sleek black figures of metal floated in the darkness above the sphere as it burned with an all-consuming fire.
The void shifted and splintered. Countless worlds were shown, all of them, burning. The black ships cut across the sky, some empty, some filled with a graveyard of floating parts.
The void warped, and the imagery changed. It was like looking through a mirror, and on the other side was a battlefield on which the likes I could not even fathom.
Great metallic beasts drove over a sea of blood. Corpses from many races were stacked on top of each other like morbid mountains. And at the center, a single, lone figure in black armor, stained with blood, effortlessly ended more lives. Every swing of its arm, a giant knife reaped lives. Every fireball that left its weird handheld slab of metal removed a piece of an entire person, leaving their lifeless corpses to join the carnage.
< We have killed everyone from all walks of life. The innocent. The guilty. The confused. The determined. Tyrants and the humble. Women, children, mothers, fathers, and all in between. No one was spared in our crusade. There was only victory to be had, at any cost, as nothing was too great for our right to exist.> he said as he slowly turned to look down at me.
I grit my teeth and let the mana flow from my body. Hubris suddenly appeared in my hands, and I slashed at the image. My blade seemed to cut the fabric of existence as I turned and pointed a finger at him.
I shouted in my head.
I let Hubris fall to the ground as I stepped up to him.
His dark eyes widened, and his lips turned up into an awkward smile. It looked unnatural on his face as if it were the first time he had ever done so.
He closed his eyes and shook his head.
He reached out and put a single finger to my forehead.
I felt a rush of power to my head, but that was it. It was over in a flash. As he took a step back, I rubbed my head in confusion and looked up at the man.
He smiled softly again, and his lips moved for the first time, but I didn't understand the words. I tilted my head, and his smile grew slightly bigger.