Vol.1.C7 - A Lullaby of The Lost

V1c7 -A Lullaby of the Lost

☆ The Altar Of The Pure Light☆

But the universe of Elysvereth Was far too cruel for him.

The ceiling was slowly crumbling in small rocks that fell on the ground, as gentle as droplets.

This was NOT a good sign, but very shady.

Something was bad. Real bad. It was so bad, he felt dread looming on him instantly. 

He had to figure out what it was before getting eaten.

“Shit! Something’s coming up! I can't even breathe for a minute, arrgh!”

He groaned to himself, steadying Himself for another round of some beating.

He frantically glanced around, the panic in his eyes obvious. His pupils were diluting, he began sweating profusely.

One rock almost fell on his head, but he escaped narrowly, ducking his head on time as the rock had fallen on the ground.

He heaved, it was so sudden for him he barely got any time to breath. Again.

The universe truly hated him.

A few seconds later, after scurrying through the gently falling rocks and stones, as the soil crumbled beneath him, he managed to find a safe place behind an altar.

The altar was made of light; like everything else in this chamber, while the roof, the air he breathed and the floor was all dark.

Not a speck of light other than the materials made of light.

This place was new within the chamber so far, he never had seen this before.

The open space where the altar is, was a little deeper in the chamber than the pedestal of Dēvi Samāya, almost a ten kilometer deeper, far further in the chamber.

He could no longer see the pedestal where Dēvi Samāya was kept on.

It was just pitch black darkness, with the light altar shining brightly in the middle.

“Now What… is this?” Ryker gawked at it, he was flabbergasted to see such a peculiar thing he was not familiar with, which is The Altar.

He stepped closer, to take a better look at it.

As he came a bit close, he was awestruck. The light from the altar was pure; it glowed in strange, warped rays that brought some light in the otherwise darker part of the chamber.

It was very new for him.

The altar was pretty large, it was of almost seven feet in length, depth of nearly nine feet, and width about 2 third of the nave.

He was stunned, he had never seen one THIS large.

Just what is an altar this big in size doing here?

He thought, his lips trembled, his guts told him something was not right; he had a bad feeling about this. 

From a distance, he could see these words embossed in large silver letters that shone ominously on the Shooshepo, something was written there: ‘The Altar Of The Light.’

The massive embossed letters made him shiver, but not from cold, nor from fear.

It was from uneasiness. The big letters did not sit well with him. They bothered him to no end.

“Shit, I better stay alert; anything can happen at any time.”

He mumbled, his peripheral vision of his eyes glancing everywhere.

As his peripheral vision moved to eighty degrees, his pupils halted, and so did his body and soul.

There was something that sent a chill down his hairs.

It was another Gleamlord.

The Gleamlord smiled uncannily like the Gleamlord of The Past.

That sight sent another shiver in his spine.

This was bad. This was really bad.

He wanted to make a run for it, but he then remembered; his aunt. The person he has to overcome his anxiety and fears for. His only family. The person that took care of him so delicately after the death of his parents.

He closed his eyes and turned to the Gleamlord. 

“Why bring me here? Were the rocks falling as gently as raindrops your plan to get me here all along?”

He presumed in an accusatory tone that made this Gleamlord chuckle dryly, devoid of any emotion.

It was a cold harsh chuckle that made the otherwise silent room reverberate roughly with its twisted laugh, the waves of his sound rippling through the void.

Ryker clutches his ears from the loud, unpleasant sound, a bizarre feeling of his throat being cut.

And it was.

A sick torrent of blood flew down his throat, his eyes were widened.

He wanted to cough, but he could not. 

The crimson flood was so brutal, he had to use his t-shirt to wipe it all, he might have even been bathed by the crimson fluid by now.

“W-what..a-a-re you t-trying to do… k-kill m-me?”

Ryker managed to utter, stuttering.

He had to constantly wipe the blood with his shirt, to keep things clean.

The Gleamlord just stared at him, his white eyes coldly watching Ryker’s every move.

☆The Gleam of The Present☆

The Gleamlord sent him a chilling smile.

“Just enjoying your show. I hope you know that I am the Gleamlord of The Present”

He said, his voice echoed through the chamber.

He stepped forward towards Ryker.

Ryker’s forehead sweatdropped, his breathing heavier.

“What do you think you're doing by drawing In blood from me?”

He snarled.

The Gleamlord just laughed; it was an unsettling one. The one that gave Ryker’s nerves goosebumps, but he ignored it.

He focused on the Gleamlord itself in front of him, not on his laugh.

“Hahaha, I'm testing your resilience in the harsh reality of the present.”

The Gleamlord said, chillingly pulling its tongue, which was a little 150cm in length, and white, as it was made of light just like the rest of the Gleamlord. He pulled the tongue out and pointed at the altar.

Ryker wanted to throw up at the disgusting sight, but he preserved, for the sake of his own sanity.

Ryker’s face was nauseous at the sight of the Gleamlord's tongue, his throat filled with a bitter taste of thick goo.

“You're a disgusting, selfish piece Of shit.”

Ryker managed to say, in his nauseous state.

The Gleamlord once again Chuckled darkly.

“Why do you care? The present is always harsh Like this. It's a bitter pill to swallow.”

Ryker couldn’t handle it anymore.

He didn't know why, but he wanted to Throw up real bad right now, this instant. He luckily found a place behind a rock, and spewed out whatever he had all this time.

It was truly revolting.

Was it a test of time? More like, the test of Present.

Once Ryker was done, he came outside from behind the huge rock, his still nauseating face green. His eyes were droopy and tired, and his head was heavy, it was like someone was smashing stones on his head.

The headache was painful to the most, it was throbbing terribly.

This was a hurtful experience. He wanted to quit. 

But this was all about saving his precious aunt’s life, and all this pain will be worth it, and he just knows it.

He won't let some arrogant Gleamlord be a thorn in the path of getting a soul fragment of his aunt back.

“Tell me… what I have to do to kill you?”

Ryker managed to cough.. the droplets of his saliva suspended in the air like water bubbles.

Ryker once again was astounded.

“How did … this happen?”

He asked, uncertainty and unease etched on his face. He could feel his heart getting heavier with anxiety every passing second as he sees the miracles happening in front of him, even if it isn't his first time.

“Why, I thought you'd be a smart kid.”

The Gleamlord said, his words dripping with sarcasm.

He was not at all impressed by Ryker’s naivety.

“Listen kid, if you want to survive the harsh reality of the real world outside, you need to be alarmed at all times, or else you won't survive.”

The Gleamlord explained in an eerie cold and calm voice that sent chills down Ryker’s hairs.

Ryker Flinched. 

“Don't talk shit as if I don't know a thing about surviving the harsh reality!”

Ryker screamed, getting defensive all of a sudden.

He knew that the Gleamlord was right; he was little to not at all being aware of staying consistent in this tough reality we face. 

He always needed some sort of a reality check in the cruelest way possible; and he did this to himself. He closed his eyes, and he thought for a moment; what if all of this was just a nightmare? 

Little did he know that this indeed was.

It was surely a tough pill to swallow, like what the Gleamlord said earlier.

Ryker sighed. He knew what to do.

“So, would you do well in harsh reality without a backup line?”

The Gleamlord asked in an oddly gentle tone, as if to mock Ryker’s pathetic existence.

☆ Test of Time☆

Ryker now had enough of the Gleamlord's mockery.

“ENOUGH, YOU FILTHY PIECE OF A-”

He yelled, his patience finally chipping off to the boiling point.

With that outburst, he aimed his glass shard at the Gleamlord's body, and lunged at him.

But the second the glass shard reached the Gleamlord's central body, it stopped.

It was suspended in mid air, Ryker paused in his tracks too.

The Gleamlord had an unnerving grin on his face, the one that made Ryker irk.

With a flick of the Gleamlord's finger, the glass shard took a U-turn, and began flying backwards to Ryker, who, again, was momentarily stunned.

But he realized that the glass shard was flying towards him.

It was bad news, and his body immediately went into flight or fight mode, his adrenaline increased, and he came back to the reality of the situation. 

His brain wasn't helping him at all, he was in a dilemma; whether to run or to fight. 

Like how the adrenal gland releases adrenaline which forces the human body, in tricky situations like these, to fight or flight, just like what he was in, a dire one.

He had to act as quickly as possible, before his own glass shard hit him, thanks to the arrogant Gleamlord. 

Meanwhile, the Gleamlord looked like he was enjoying the show, like he said earlier, which he actually was.

He laughed like a maniac, intending to mock Ryker relentlessly and test his patience in situations like this.

“Seems like someone is a little too exasperated.”

The Gleamlord said in an overly annoying tone, which made Ryker throw that finger at him.

The Gleamlord was simply wearing his signature uncanny grin that made Ryker unconsciously shiver.

“W-hy do you care -”

Ryker stammered, but was interrupted halfway.

Even before he could make an informed decision whether to choose flight or fight in this tough test of reality, the glass shard hit him. 

It went right through his left arm which he used for defense hastily with no prior decision, and pierced it halfway.