The Death of all Hope

“That stone tablet… do you think it is the same as the one Juni mentioned- the one where the dragon’s name has been engraved?”

“Perhaps. However, we can’t truly know that until we take a look at it.” Omen sighed. “Looking at that creature- it seems hesitant to part with it.”

The figure that looked akin to a rotting corpse stared up at Omen from afar with its pale-yellow eyes. Gradually, it parted its jaw, a horrifying creaking noise filling the air. The environment began to emit a sickly-sweet stench, and the oil that dripped from the skin of the corpse stained the ground. Then, shrieking, it stood up, never breaking eye contact with Omen.

“I’ll be back.” Omen turned his head towards Aelem and nodded slightly. Then, without a moment of hesitation, he jumped off of the cliffside that overlooked the center of the ruins, landing in the soft blankets of moss below. He pulled his sword from its sheath and raised it towards the rotting creature.

The corpse let out a low, gurgling growl. Its eyes seemed filled with an inconsolable rage towards Omen.

“It’s lucky we were able to make it to these ruins in time. If given a few more months, you would have become a monstrosity- right, Half-Leviathan?” Omen lamented, his eyes filling with sadness and a sense of pity. “Are you still lurking in there somewhere- the man who was once just that- a man? Did you experience pain in your final moments- do you experience it now? I thought I wouldn’t kill any more of you, but it seems that its more of a mercy to do so.”

He lunged forward towards the corpse.

“So, would you ask me to stain my hands once more so that you may rest?”

As he grew closer to the creature, the scales on its skin gradually became more obvious. They were a pale colour, almost like the man’s skin. However, they had hardened and spread across his entire body- saving for the parts that had already rotted away. The will of the dragon had already consumed his form, and the ‘human’ aspect had begun to die. That was the curse of the Leviathan- of the monstrosities that threatened calamity.

Omen swung his sword towards the creature’s head, a fierceness settling in his gaze. The creature batted his blade away with its scale-covered hand in turn, a flurry of sparks cascading through the air. It then rushed forward, hitting Omen straight in the chest with its other hand and sending him tumbling backwards.

He crashed against a stone pillar of the arbor that sat in the center of the ruins, and looking up at the monster, he grinned.

“It’s the dragon that has taken over, I can tell that much. Your hatred for my kind is shown in the way you try to kill me without inhibition. Then, I have no qualms about killing you. I hope whatever essence left of you that remains inside that putrid form is given rest.”

Having committed itself to its anger, the Leviathan had dropped the stone tablet to the ground. The stone tablet hit the ground hard, flecks of stone cascading across the stone floor with a loud crash. Aelem’s eyes widened, and without hesitation, she began to climb down the cliffside. Her feet often got caught between rocks, but she was careful not to trip. As the battle raged on in the background, she made it to the floor of the ruins and quickly ran over to where the stone tablet had fallen.

She immediately picked it up, turning it over to glance at the text that had been written upon it. However, as soon as she eyed the name on the tablet, her vision blurred, and a sharp pain erupted on the surface of her neck. She dropped the tablet, and fell to the ground in a heap as she tried desperately to catch her breath.

A voice erupted through Aelem’s head, and the scales that festered on her skin began emitting a fierce pain. “The name! The name! Aren’t you such a fool, to bring me straight to what frees me from this cage?”

As Aelem winced from the pain, countless thoughts ran through her mind. ‘The name? That which frees him from the cage- like a key? Isn’t it the method of my own release?’

“Did you think it was the truth? You believed such a thing wholeheartedly- that the mere knowledge of a name would free you.” The monster let out a shrill laugh within Aelem’s head. “Tell me… when do you think such a thing would have been discovered? When in history has man been freed from our shackles before they were killed by a knight? This was your true, fatal oversight. If only you had realised that those Paragons were the antithesis to your hope, the very proof of its falsehood.”

“There was never any hope at all?” Aelem whispered, her voice shaky and hoarse.

“Aelem, are you okay!?” A voice called out from afar. Omen had turned his gaze away from the fight, and had inadvertently opened himself up to danger. He was hit from the side hard by the strike of the Leviathan, and a large wound had opened up on his side, spilling his blood onto the ground.

Suddenly, Aelem heard the clattering of armour against the stone floor. Her gaze shot over towards the fight, where the dark and mysterious corpse towered over the fallen form of the Butterfly Knight. Her eyes widened, yet as much as she wished to arise, her feet no longer contained the will to move forward.

As the corpse turned its gaze towards Aelem, she felt her vision darken. A cold sense of dread gradually spread throughout her body, and she felt her heart’s strength falter.

‘Was there ever any point at all? Can I never be a ‘woman’ as I have always wished? Is this where it ends- the death of my hope?’'

The corpse lunged towards Aelem. At the same time, however, the scales on her body pulsed fiercely, and she felt her vision darken.

Aelem collapsed to the ground, ceasing her breaths.