V3 C4 - Prelude to the End

It was night before the battle, yet David couldn’t sleep.

Ever since the signing of the Demonic-Blood Covenant, David had spent every night with Lilith. However, she was at Castle Bathory tonight, helping Lord Ruthven organise the Court’s troops for tomorrow’s battle.

From David’s bedroom window, he could see many of his followers working late into the night to get everything ready for dawn.

If everything went according to plan, Themis would fall.

He would have done as Eris asked and kept himself, and his family, alive. Then, he’d have to spend the rest of his year getting ready for Eris’s summoned heroes.

This won’t even be over after all of that.

I have to solidify my control, prepare my armies and wage war in the north after this.

He shut his eyes and took a long, deep breath.

The room grew cold.

“…I was wondering when you’d show up.” David turned to face the familiar sight of Eris floating in the air.

Eris giggled softly. “I thought I’d come and offer my most heartfelt congratulations to you, David Athelward.”

“…Thank you very much. If that’s all, do you mind going away? I have things to-”

“Aren’t you visiting your little ‘comforter’ tonight?”

David’s body tensed as he stared daggers at her.

“Your blushing bride isn’t here, so you’re all alone.” Eris licked her lips as her smile turned sadistic. “Isn’t tonight your last chance to do her?” David stared angrily at her, but Eris only purred in response. “There’s that look I love.”

“Don’t you dare speak about Kella that way.”

“Why?”

“Why?!”

“Isn’t that what she is to you?” Eris asked innocently. “Don’t you just feel so much better about yourself after sleeping with her?

“Shut up,” David growled.

“Don’t you just love the way she looks at you, calls your name sweetly? The way she lights up just from seeing you?”

“Shut. Up.”

“Don’t you just love the fact that you took advantage of an emotionally broken girl and took her virginity after killing her brother?”

“Shut up!”

David summoned his armour and swept his weapon at Eris, but the blade stopped right before her eyes.

She let me get this close-! David cursed.

“Wouldn’t your family just be so proud of you?” She whispered, her voice growing distant as her body began to transform into feathers. “Don’t worry, though. Whatever you do tonight, I won’t judge you for it.”

With one last giggle, Eris vanished, leaving David alone with his rage.

***

David teleported to the alleyway where he’d first spoken to Kella in Themis.

The city that had once been so warm and full of life was gone.

It was now a silent, eerie place that only had soldiers and adventurers wandering its streets.

The only warmth left in the city came from the fire of the torches along the street.

“It’s not like that,” David mumbled.

He and Kella hadn’t made any plans to meet since David had been busy with the Court and the Gørviligr, but he had to see her tonight.

His only plan for that, though, was just to walk around and be lucky.

Comforter.

The word that Eris had used echoed in David’s mind.

While a few guards and adventurers looked at David, none stopped him when they saw his unusual characteristics. Given the build of his body, David wondered if they mistook him for an adventurer whilst he was in disguise.

“Hey.”

A few feet behind him, with a gentle smile and red cheeks, was Kella.

…Please, make this easier for me, Kella.

David smiled weakly back. “Hi.”

Please, hate me.

***

Together, the two lay naked in bed, holding each other closely, neither able to fall asleep.

They both feared the dawn for their own reasons.

…This will be the last time, won’t it? David looked at Kella’s face and tenderly stroked her hair. David scrunched up his eyes. Is there no way I can save her? Is there anything I could come up with as a good excuse to appease Eris and not destroy anything more of Kella’s life?

“What’s wrong?” Kella asked, lovingly touching his cheek.

David forced a smile on his face. “Nothing, just…anxious.”

“About tomorrow?” David slowly nodded; Kella smiled back. “Yeah, me too.”

“You too?”

“Yeah, but I’m used to it. Adventurers are always scared that their next job will be their last one, so it’s a familiar feeling. Connor and the others probably felt the same before Black Port.”

Her lonely smile made David feel like someone was crushing his heart in a vice.

I always knew how this was going to end, and I still got involved with her.

“Why are you scared?”

“…Lots of reasons.”

“Do you think you’ll die tomorrow?”

“In a way,” he whispered with a weary smile.

“Eh?”

He shook his head and kissed her. “It’s nothing. Especially not compared to what you’ve got to worry about.”

“Allaric.” She grabbed his hand. “Don’t say that.”

“Say what?”

“Say that your worries are nothing compared to mine. If the person I love is worried about something, then of course I’m going to worry about them. Don’t dismiss your own feelings as worthless.”

…Stop…

Stop saying stuff like that.

Lilith’s face flashed into his mind.

Don’t tell me you love me.

The face of Kella’s brother from her family portrait.

The charred ruins of Black Port.

Don’t make this hurt anymore!

“…I have to go.”

David pulled away from her and started to dress.

“Allaric, please, tell me what’s wrong.” Kella tried to hold him but he pushed her arm away. “Why are you being like this? Why won’t you tell me? Why are you running from me?” She felt tears fall and yelled, “Why won’t you tell me the truth?”

David’s hands began to tremble, stopping him from buttoning his shirt.

He bit his lip hard to try and stop his entire body from shaking.

“Allaric, please…” She lightly grabbed at the hem of his shirt. “Why won’t you tell me?”

“…I don’t want you to hate me.”

“Huh?”

He spun around and shouted, “It’s because I don’t want you to hate me! If I told you everything, there’s no way you’d understand! You wouldn’t know what it’s like to have people look at you like you’re a monster beyond their worst nightmares!

“You wouldn’t know what it’s like to feel like you’re drowning just by being around other people!” David took a sharp breath and clutched his heart. “I didn’t want to live like this…I didn’t want to become a monster that has to destroy so much just to protect what I love the most.”

David whimpered. “You don’t know what it’s like with her arms around my neck…her sickening voice in my ear, her eyes that see into my soul and that scare me more than anything else in the world!

“If I’m happy, she drags me into despair.

“If I’m in despair, she drags me deeper into it.

“If I scream or cry, she enjoys it.

“What could you or anyone in the whole damn world know about something like that?!”

David collapsed onto his knees as he struggled to catch his breath, tears pouring from his eyes.

He closed his eyes. “I shouldn’t have tried to cling onto my humanity…Why did I do this? Why am I even here? You wanted me to be honest, right, Kella?” He slowly stood up as the vice entrapping his heart grew more painful. “Well, here’s the truth.”

Mana began generating around his body, forming a metal suit of armour one piece at a time.

“My name is David Athelward, I’ve been sent from another world by Eris, the Goddess of Discord and Strife, to invade and dominate your world.” His armour formed around him. “As the Demon Emperor.

“I’m responsible for the Great Disaster. I’m the one who killed your brother and friends!”

***

A second passed as slowly as a millennium.

She heard everything David had said, she had seen his armour form and every word he’d spoken had stabbed into her soul, but Kella’s mind couldn’t process it.

She wanted to deny it.

She wanted to call him a liar.

She wanted to doubt him, but she didn’t.

She knew he was telling the truth.

Another world.

Eris.

The Demon Emperor.

Responsible for the Great Disaster.

…Responsible for Connor, Alisa and Tiergan’s deaths.

Her thoughts echoed in her fragmented, heartbroken mind.

The man she loved, the man she’d given her first time to, the man who she cared about above all else, was responsible for ruining her life.

The pain she felt in that moment of realisation could never properly be described with words.

And yet, there was something else that stuck in her mind.

Why…do you look like you’re in so much pain?

For a minute, Kella didn’t say anything.

Then, she slowly stood up and put her head against the wall.

“…You…killed them?”

“…Yes.”

“…Why?”

“…Because I’d never killed before and…I could never be what Eris needed me to be if I didn’t learn to kill.”

Kella began to shake. “…Why…do you need to be like that…for her?”

“Because…if I don’t become the Demon Emperor, Eris she’ll…she’ll kill my family.”

Kella’s eyes widened and she ground her teeth.

“…You took…my family…all those people at Black Port’s family…to save yours?”

David took a deep breath; then, painfully, said, “Yes.”

“…You resurrected Karak-Harth and sent his army to Themis?”

“…Yes.”

“…Were you going to take part in the battle tomorrow?”

“I was…with a different army. We’d hit Themis at the same time as the undead on the other side of the city.”

Kella’s lips twisted into a bitter smile and she shook her head. “…How many people have you killed?”

“…I only ever personally killed Connor and his friends.”

Kella forced her eyes closed and brought her hand up to her face to dry them. “Teriscant, Black Port, the murders in Stonefall and Goddess knows what else…you ordered them all?”

“…Yes.”

Kella sobbed a little and covered her mouth with her hand, letting the tears fall freely to the floor. “Tens of thousands…for what, two, three people’s lives?” She began to laugh sadly as she hit her forehead gently against the stonewall. “I fell for a man who’s killed so many people?”

“You make it sound like I had a choice.”

“Didn’t you?” Kella glared ferociously at him. “You didn’t have to do it, did you?”

“If I didn’t act like a proper Demon Emperor, Eris would’ve killed me and my family, and made us suffer eternal torture!” David shouted back. “I didn’t want to do this! I died saving my family from a robber, then Eris snatches me up and tells me either do this or suffer. What would you have done, Kella? What would anyone have done?!”

“…You know, the worst part is that I actually agree with you on that,” Kella admitted. “I don’t know what I would’ve done if I’d been in your position. Maybe I would’ve made the same choice as you, but that’s not how things went. You.” She pointed at him. “You did this. All of this. You didn’t have to destroy Black Port, you didn’t have to kill my brother and you definitely didn’t have to fuck me!”

David dismissed his armour revealing, for the first time, his distraught, tearful face.

“Why do you look like you’re the victim?” Kella whispered.

“…I…I…I do love you.” David fell onto his knees. “I knew I shouldn’t have slept with you, but what was I meant to do? I couldn’t stand seeing you like that and I wanted to help you…” He wept. “I didn’t want you to find out. You were the first person in this world who saw the real me, not the Demon Emperor.”

David curled up onto the ground. “I wish that none of this had happened! I wish I’d been a coward and left mum to that monster! Then none of this would have ever happened!”

He began to cry profusely on the ground as Kella, dumbstruck, watched from above, a complicated expression on her face.

He’d broken her heart; he’d killed those she loved the most and lied to her for months.

But he’d also comforted her, loved her and told her everything rather than run away.

…Why…? Why don’t I want to kill him?

Even after he’s confessed, I don’t want to kill him.

I hate him, don’t I? She shook her head a little and smiled sadly. No…I can’t hate him because I know, if I had been in that same position with that same choice, I would’ve chosen the same as him.

I can’t hate him, I can’t love him…all I feel for him is…

Kella dropped onto one knee. “Run, David. Run away from everything.”

“Huh?”

“Leave this place, go to a far-off country and start another life in peace somewhere away from all of this,” she told him. “Disband your army and, come tomorrow, the Holy Empire will destroy Karak-Harth and end the Great Disaster. Just…let it end.”

“But…Eris…she’ll kill them all,” David mumbled.

“I’d say that you did what she wanted by becoming the Demon Emperor; end your reign tonight.”

David weakly looked at her. “You…believe me?”

She smiled warmly. “I do.”

“Why?”

“Because.” Her smile hurt them both. “I know when the person I love is lying to me.”

David shut his eyes and slowly stood up. He took a deep breath, nodded and said, “I’m sorry, for everything.”

“…I know.”

“I-I didn’t…I didn’t mean to, or want to kill-”

“I know.”

David walked to the door and put his hand on the handle. “…I’ll go as far north-west as I can.”

“…Good luck.”

David didn’t turn around or say another word as he left, gently closing the door behind him.

Once she heard David’s footsteps disappear, Kella fell back onto her bed and cried.

The last person who she considered precious to her had been the worst person she’d ever known.