Chapter 3: The Forsaken
Dax extended his hand slowly, fingers splayed against the crimson soaked air. The black hole that had devoured the blood rain obeyed his silent command, compressing with a low, ominous hum. It shrank, folding in on itself until it was no larger than a dark marble, pulsing obediently in his palm.
"I'm not sure your world truly understands this concept…" A cruel, edged smile curled at the corners of his lips, eyes glinting with predatory delight. "Let me show you."
Without hesitation, he pressed the condensed sphere directly into his chest.
"Synthesis."
His fist struck his own sternum hard deliberate power erupted, raw and unrestrained.
It surged through every and cell, a flood that threatened to tear him apart from within his muscles seize and his bones creaked under the strain.
Master… you are insane.
Even Inerous, who was unflinching, could not hide the tremor behind her voice.
Crack.
Crack.
Crack.
×900.
The sound echoed across the plains like the breaking of a thousand chains forged in the deepest abyss.
{Congratulations. You have broken 1000 layers of your shackles}
{Commencing trait completion.}
{Insatiable Hunger → Origin Eater.}
[Race change commencing.}
"Ahhhhhh!"
Dax's scream ripped through the Plain Vabos,a guttural wail that carried the agony of a star collapsing into itself. It shook the earth, and made the very air tremble.
—
In a temple carved from sacred white marble and gilded with the light of a thousand eternal flames, the Church of Light's First Ancestor an old man clad in heavy golden armor knelling before an alter of fire he wept openly before it.
Tears carved silent paths down his weathered face, yet his posture remained unbroken knees pressed to cold stone, back straight beneath the crushing weight of golden armor that had once been a badge of divine favor.
He had been everything humanity aspired to be invincible, righteous and loved by many.
Now he was reduced to begging.
"Please… my Lord," he whispered, voice hoarse from hours of supplication. "I've served you all my life… do not abandon me now."
He lifted his head but was blasted the divine radiance of the flame sudden and merciless he was hurled out of the temple. Beating on the floor like a pebble cast upon a lake. His mouth was filed up with blood but he refused to taint the temple with his blood so he gulp forcing the iron thick blood back in.
"One thing… I begged for one thing. And you strip me of your presence."
"When I needed you, you are leaving me did I not serve you well, I gave you my soul and brought honor to your name, I even razed kingdoms that dared offend your shadow... I thought i was something?"
A bitter laugh escaped him, hollow and broken.
"So this is the truth…."
Tears welled again, but he whipped them, his jaw clenched in regret.
"All I asked… was for you to heal my granddaughter, why punish a child for something that was out of her control."
instantly a terrible rift tore open above the temple, an angel descended radiant with terrible, wings of pure light that resembled judgment itself.
"Micah," the angel intoned, voice resonant with celestial authority. "My old friend, do not waste your life I do not wish to kill you."
Their golden eyes met.
"Aron my friend that child is all I have left i cannot let her die.if I cant heal her how will I ever face that child?" Micah replied softly, rising slowly to his feet
The angel sighed, sorrow flickering across its perfect face.
"I see you've made up your mind."
With a subtle gesture, four more figures materialized golden bodies cloaked in blinding radiance they all surrounded the old man in an instant, forming a perfect circle.
Aron, the leader, drew forth a white bell inscribed with ancient sacred runes.
Bang.
The sound reverberated through reality itself.
The four angels raised their spears, channeling the raw laws of Light that condensed at the tips pure, world shaking power.
"Darkness," Aron commanded.
Half of their golden auras dimmed, turning black, heavy and suffocating, the air grew thick with corruption.
"All this for an old man," Micah chuckled, voice laced with dark amusement. "You honor me… but my god must rely be disgusted by me that he uses this to end me."
Micah looked up at the sky that poured heavily, such sad day I've lost it all. Wallowing in self pity he heard n oddly familiar voice.
"Move forward, darling."
Ahhh I must be about to die, that is why I hear your voice. don't worry Helga I'll soon be with you, I sorry Dmitri I couldn't save your daughter. I thought I could but, I have fallen short.
'My shining blade." This time the voice was clear but it was like a dream to him. A gentle voice that suited his soul
"Helga…" his eyes widened in shock.
A beautiful, translucent woman materialized behind him, arms wrapping around his shoulders in a tender embrace.
Sob.
Sob.
"Helga… I'm sorry," Micah whispered, voice breaking.
His grief was evident but at his vulnerable moment e wasn't alone.
Crack!
The ground within a fifty-meter radius shattered like glass beneath an invisible hammer.
Micah vanished moving faster than sound itself. His heavy armor clanked comically as he stepped through the air, each footfall a resounded like thunder.
Aron froze mid-strike.
He saw her the woman holding Micah, guiding his movements with spectral grace.
Impossible the dead can not cross into the world of the living, especially not in this holy grounds
"How…?"
Aron lifted his hand. Scarlet droplets stained his flawless palm.
"is I because of this strange rain."
"Excalibur." micahs voice was love but audible ,like a ripple a blade of ocean blue steel materialized radiating with overwhelming, ancient glory. Its edge hummed with power that made the very air seize.
"If you stay with your master, you will fall and become a demonic sword," Aron warned, voice tight.
The rain intensified.
Silence stretched like a drawn bowstring.
"Excalibur… he is right," Micah murmured, still moving with purpose
"Even if I am destroyed… I will stay with Master. He saved me from my loneliness." The sword answered with the pure, innocent voice of a child.
It hummed softly, its aura swelling with an acient preasure a relic that remembered its master's soul across.
Even the gods remembered it. Yet now it didn't mind being tainted. "Good, Micah you are truly loved."
Micah inhaled deeply. Helga's embrace steadied him, her ethereal warmth seeping into his bones. Righteous fury and bottomless grief intertwined, sharpening his will into something unbreakable.
He advanced.
Each footstep cracked the earth. The four angels now shrouded in darkness braced their spears.
"Excalibur… let this old man show them."
The blade ignited.
Bang!
A torrent of radiant light exploded outward, tearing through the blackened auras like dawn piercing night. Two angels were hurled backward, their divine forms scorched and fracturing but they where not dead.
"Impossible…" Aron gasped, stepping forward to shield the others.
Micah moved like a storm given form his movement where fluid and relentless. Every swing of Excalibur cleaved deeper than flesh: it shattered the binding, holding the angels together. He was ready to commit an abomination against the world.
Helga remained at his back like a silent guardian, her spectral hands weaving faint barriers that turned aside lethal strikes.
"Micah you shall experience darkness and never experience rebirth, I can not forgive your defiance against God."
He blurred forward.
Crack!
He punched into Micah who moved an insane speed. The punched didn't stop him.
"Falma," Micah commanded, voice ringing with ancient authority.
Helga's presence flared and the air thickened, swirling into a vortex of holy and corrupted energy. Like a surge micha move stepping on the air his only goal being to get past the angel.
But every move was utterly blocked. Which increased his struggle. Now he was moving like trails of gunshots concentrated at a spot.
What are you fighting for? Aron's tone was calm but his gaze was filled with complex emotions.
"Isn't that stupid to ask… I'm fighting for what I've lost!" Micah eyes blazed with something new .Anger
I blame you all. What did we do wrong one mistake and he punishes us.
The rain fell harder.
A low, resonant hum built within the blade. Its aura rippled outward in concentric waves, bent space trees splintered, rocks exploded, the ground fractured into a maze of destruction…..
Under the heavy blood rain the angels hair flowed in silence, Micah you are suffering…. Let me end it for you friend. Tears trailed down Aron's face.