It Withers

Dark skies,

Ashen winds,

Death, all around me.

Screams of terror echo on the wind slowly dying out upon reaching my ears.

The town once full and lived in, now disintegrated to nothingness.

But what about Almza? He’s a powerful magician, surely he could have saved them from destruction. Or even Eryth, she could have made a giant barrier…

I run, for the village. Hoping anyone can still be alive. Anyone at all.

This world has returned agility to my body, each step feels as if I move a little bit faster. Faster I need to save them; please for the love of god let someone be still alive.

~ ~ ~

Reaching the town center things look bleak. The howls of terror have all silenced, leaving just the light sounds of crumbling stone and footsteps in its wake.

Footsteps of withered beings, corpses broken down and destroyed. And as I enter their view the monster's sights turn towards me.

The philosophical question of the yellow daystar returns to me “Do you think the withering monsters of this world deserve life?” Did he know this was going to happen to the village? Is this some sort of sick test? Some stupid dilemma.

I think I get it though. Since he believes the withered beasts are equal to humans or rather all living things, this act of treachery should be seen as a warped version of survival of the fittest. He’ll write this off as a canon event or something.

Because the village wasn’t strong enough… They were murdered.

I think that’s goddamn the stupidest thing ever.

The withered are nothing but demons from hell, their lives mean nothing to me. They are enemies of the world!

Brandishing my shovel, I twirl it around into my hands. Feeling the power of my Soul surging, magic power breathing through me.

I didn’t feel like this when I fought Eryth.

This– it feels like adrenaline, power beyond what I think I’m capable of. Or rather something I can become.

Electrical sparks spring from my hands through the shovel.

ZZAP—

The withered humanoids approach me. Lumbering back and forth, their bodies slowly swirling with blackened debris and the remnants of the living.

Rage.

Black electricity springs forth through the shovel as I impale its blade into the body of a withered beast. As the scoop is ripped from the ashen body it creates an explosion of electrical shocks that arc towards the monsters standing close, creating smaller chains of miniature voltaic electrical explosions.

This is my magic,

My power, it is electric.

My [Voltaic Arc] a chain of lightning that channels through me to enemy after enemy, destroying everything it shocks!

Some scattered metal debris across the ruined town begins conducting my electricity. Strings of lightning branch across the battlefield, ripping and tearing all that tread upon it.

No withered demon lives!

I’ll kill every last one of them!

They deserve to die!

SLASH–!

ZAP–!

SWIISH–!

Fzzzzz–

After tearing down the waves of withered zombies with my newfound ability I look back.

Not a single survivor…

There aren’t even any dead bodies, since the withering destroys everything it touches.

I can’t imagine Almza losing. Even though I really only just met him. He seemed like such a powerful force, time manipulation magic sounded unstoppable.

Then again, who knows maybe these withered monsters were so weak because he took on the brunt of the attack, leaving the scraps to me.

I look up, across the horizon. Ash blows around me, the world looks like back home. I thought this world was free from the desolation of earth.

Hold on now, I think back, the yellow Daystar mentioned me and the humans researching the technology that brought the withering upon the world. It was our “digging”, and my literal digging.

Did I cause this?

The town, being overrun by decay…

Did my hole that brought me back home, deliver this village to its doom…?

Oh my god…

I collapse to my knees, the shovel clattering to my side.

I caused this…

It had to have been me… right?

I created a gate…

Back at the arcade on earth.

Then again within Almza’s study.

Those gates allowed the withering to spread through them.

But then why was it when I passed through from earth to this land for the first time; at my feet was not decay but rather a patch of grass.

I brought life from my world to this one.

Did I take life from this one attempting to leave it?

Or was it the yellow Daystar’s shovel, sending the withering wasteland of earth to this one?

Two shovels.

One shovel brings life.

The other shovel brings death.

yin and yang.

Life and Death.

I turn over laying onto my back. My body is finally catching up with the spent energy. Although I’m uninjured, I definitely used up any energy I had stored up, I’m basically a sitting duck, a defenseless little kitten.

As my eyes begin to flicker with the static electricity leftover from my barrage of attacks, I see a familiar glow in the distance. A golden light, like a lighthouse overlooking the storm that took over this poor village.

I guess there was a survivor after all.

I mean who was going to bypass her [Arx, that unbreakable defense].

Using the reserves of my strength I pull myself to my feet, using the shovel as a walking stick to keep me stable. I pass through the ruined town.

There were no shops open.

No townsfolk playing music.

No children running through the streets.

There was nothing.

Except the last light of hope, far on the outskirts of town.

Where was she, I wondered. How did she get all the way over there? How did she survive?

Eryth was the only survivor, besides me.

~ ~ ~

Step

Step

Step

One foot in front of the other. The sooner I reach Eryth, the sooner I can leave these depressing ruins.

After hobbling out of the village center, past ruined structures and obstructing views she finally notices me. Her shield drops, as she comes sprinting towards me.

Slowing down a few feet from me she stares me down, then calls out…

“King? Are you still–King?” she questions, perhaps believing I could have begun to wither.

“It’s me Eryth, I’m alive.”

“Oh my god! I thought you were dead!! The study room was engulfed in darkness maybe 30 or so minutes after I left you there. Withered monsters began pouring out, attacking everything. They came in great waves. Monsters big and small.”

“Almza he–he was fighting what I can only assume was the big boss…”

Her wooden body creaks, trembling with a mixture of fear and despair.

“He was dragged away by the monster, disappearing with it… I–think n–no he must have survived… His magic, it's the strongest I’ve ever seen.”

She seems uncertain. She can’t come to terms with the thought of her father, Almza being defeated.

I decide to try to ease her thoughts…

“I think he’s okay. His magic allows him to manipulate the flow of time, so I bet he's okay. He’s probably found a way to move the monster away from here, moving it through time. To some time where he could win.”

Speculation of course. I can’t say for certain if he’s dead or still alive out there. But it looks like this attempt at calming her nerves helps.

“Thanks King, Yeah you’re probably right. He’s the strongest after all. We’ll see him soon, I know we will.”

There’s a moment of silence between us. Where we both look over the destroyed homes of those who only just recently walked these fantastical lands.

After the moment, I turn to her, relaying to her about that yellow Daystar. Although I decided to keep the fact that I’ve been jumping between worlds out of it. I still don’t know for sure if I caused this or not, but since I think that Daystar was evil I’ll pin the blame on him.

“There was a horned man, he had yellow horns. And a shovel just like mine… I think he's the one who brought the withering to this world.”

Eryth’s glossy eyes almost appear to dim, as her timber body suddenly squeaks in shock.

“A yellow devil?”

“Yeah I guess you could call him that. You heard about him?”

“Yeah I have… I’ve heard stories about a being like that, he’s what’s known to the world as the Demon Lord.”

Ah classic, the Demon Lord.

So that means I’ve gone toe to toe with the Demon Lord and survived to tell the tale. Even if he was just toying with me, I’m not dead, so that’s a plus.

“ –He’s a powerful trickster magician according to Almza. Not to be engaged with, under any circumstance. He’s like the boogie man. A scary myth to keep children in check… and you say he did this?”

Her skepticism seems to vanish as she slowly realizes how little I know about everything. How I wouldn’t have even known that this legend existed in the first place.

“Did the Demon Lord say anything to you?” She asks almost with a nervous tone.

“Yeah he did. He said he kidnapped my family and brought them to a gate; a place completely consumed by the withering decay.”

She looks at me, gears turning in her head, it seems she has an inkling of an idea as to what this place could be.

“The Pit.”

“The what?”

CHAPTER 9 END