Chapter 40: "Madness Unleashed"

"We meet again, Zera. Do not think I will forgive your betrayal: I have forsaken my benevolence." I said, as I advanced across the floating islands Xeroth had scattered throughout Aurethys.

"This is why you should have died before, Darek. You have committed an irreparable mistake: you chose the wrong path. You allied yourself with the wrong Gods, and now Aurethys pays the price." she replied with a cold voice.

"There has never existed a human whose greedy, infamous nature dared to manipulate the laws of the world as you did. It is unprecedented." Added Jix, impatient. The leaves within him rustled restlessly, craving my blood.

I unsheathed my sword. I did not look at her with suspicion or hatred, only with the satisfaction of knowing that soon only her corpse would remain, the last vestige of her existence.

Zera, nothing can save you now. You have committed the most atrocious of sins. That is why, let me redeem you before my court.

Both gods flew in the distance, swirling around each other. The Immutable Matriarch tried to subdue him with her will, breaking his arms one by one. Meanwhile, the Lord of the Flagellum unleashed seas of Plague that slowly overwhelmed the goddess.

"I tried to kill you, to prevent this end." She continued, putting on her gloves. "You broke our pact. You killed Lodric and Corin, the only people who, without knowing it, offered me a light in this ruthless world."

"Is that why you want to kill me? For vengeance? Then how are you different from a murderer like me?"

The islands trembled, the earth cracked and twisted under the clash of Xeroth and Zenith. They fought in a cosmic, relentless duel.

"You killed blinded by your emotions, by the anger, rage, and helplessness that corrode you. That is your nature." She affirmed, adjusting her gloves.

"I warned you that your journey was a delusion, a deception of The Primordial Eclipse. Yet, you did not care: your hatred buried your reason." Shrieked Jix, filling the island with a mixture of plants and insects.

"That is why I did not give you a second chance. Sooner or later, you would succumb to the Silence, to the souls you carry within." Said Zera.

The red sun that accompanied Xeroth’s arrival stained the atmosphere, fusing its colors with Zenith’s golden will into a unique canvas. The sky tore open, and from it fell a rain of burning ash and fragments of solid light.

The twilight of a new dawn, the gravestone that will bear our names. It is… magnificent.

The Wound of Consummated Penance on my forehead began to throb, collapsing me under the torture: it had reached its limit. Zenith demanded my life for having defied her.

"That is why I am here, Darek. I will take the Feather from you and make sure to erase your existence from history. I will rewrite it so that you were never born." Sentenced Zera, manifesting around her the will the Immutable Matriarch had granted her.

Now she is a Knight, she possesses the Sacrum element.

"Then let madness decide the victor." I said, tearing open my stomach with my sword.

******************

The Feather reverberated on her arm like a cursed, perverse artifact.

"Then let madness decide the victor." Said Darek, tearing open his stomach with the serpent.

An immeasurable amount of blood gushed from his chest. He bent over, unable to endure his suffering, darkening his face.

Darek has turned macabre, just like all the beings that surrounded him during these years.

“What is he doing?" I whispered to Jix, who was on my shoulder.

“The same happened when he killed Corin: he suffered so much that he lost consciousness, only now he is inviting the souls to take over his body once more.”

The Wound on his skull, he has had it since we left Eryndor. How strange… it has engulfed his face without stopping. It is his punishment, an omen that this would happen.

The Knights of my Order could barely continue the battle. The scars of Punishment and Penance had weakened them, and now that the Plague struck the city: hope for them had dwindled.

Then Darek stopped bleeding and glared at me, wishing to take my life. He gave a twisted, monstrous grin that revealed his true nature.

That is the creature I wished to prevent from appearing.

He pulled the sword from his intestines and lunged at me with unsuspected speed. Every time he attacked, he withdrew and returned from another angle, seeking another point to weaken my defense.

His strikes are bloody, merciless: they seek to dismember me at all costs. The compassion he had shown with the Plague Knight or the Sentinel had disappeared.

Jix tried to hold his sword in a tangle of branches, but it was in vain: Darek appeared and disappeared in an instant, like a shadow, a ghost.

I used the Sacrum, the will Zenith had imparted to me. However, I could barely contain him.

I do not yet master this power: it is very fragile. Unlike Zenith, my will manifests in yellowish threads that reveal my intentions.

I counterattacked, breaking his assaults with devastating blows. It seemed to work, but I could not reach his defense: he repositioned before I could strike him.

His speed is a problem. If I do not move like him, I will not be up to the fight.

Xeroth moved his arms like a whirlwind, destroying everything in his path. One of them fell upon our island, shattering it, sinking it into the sea of Plague. The debris flew through the air.

I jumped to another nearby. However, Darek did not quiet his bloodlust. As soon as I stood up, taking my guard, he launched a storm of cuts that massacred my arms.

Jix trapped his feet in wolf jaws that devoured them mercilessly, while sharp thorns rose from the ground and lacerated his abdomen.

No human could withstand that, and yet, he is still standing. He is a nightmare, a vile being.

I struck him hard in the stomach, where his deepest wounds were lodged. With an unsettling calm, he only gave me a maniacal smile.

Pain is alien to him: he has stripped away the only tie that held his humanity.

Jix created branches that rose from the ground as piercing spikes. In response, Darek freed himself from the beasts, decapitating them. He locked his gaze on mine and, without averting it, dodged Jix’s attacks, moving as if he perceived the environment beyond his senses.

He immediately charged without stopping. Assault after assault, sword strike after another. I ran, jumped between islands, used the will, but nothing worked.

He is no longer the Darek I know: he has transformed into a monster, consumed by the desire to inflict harm without fear for his own life.

Both in the sky and the earth, abysmal cracks were torn. Through them could be seen an unholy void, a forgotten space outside the confines of the world, where what fell into it was consumed by desolation.

"The battle between Zenith and Xeroth is collapsing reality. If they continue like this, a catastrophe would fall short to describe the disaster they would cause." Explained Jix while trying to drown Darek in a tangle of fungi.

"How can we prevent that from happening?" I asked worried, catching my breath.

"You must tear off his arm and use the Feather to plunge Xeroth into his eternal sleep. Thus, the Plague will abandon the Order of the Infected and Zenith will recover. You could even restore the lives of those citizens who have died.”

Zenith channeled her will to subdue Xeroth, slamming him into the ground with a brutal impact. His arms shook violently, churning the Plague tide into colossal waves.

Darek took advantage of the roar to appear in front of me, not giving me time to react. I gestured with my hands, using the will to push him out of my way.

No, it is useless. I see it in his expression: he foresees my movements, he can read the future.

He delighted in my despair. Joy rejuvenated his face as he realized I was defenseless before him, before the voracity of his assaults.

He read me like an open book.

My will split the island, but he managed to remain steady. Jix grew a shield of logs around me, though it was useless: Darek, with a single sword strike, threw me into the void.

My consciousness clouded as I fell into a fissure.

Once there, there will be no return. But… my body does not respond.