Chapter 13: Lost oneself

When you kill monsters like the abyssal or creatures from dungeons, there’s no regret, there monsters born of darkness with the only purpose of conquering and killing, but when you kill another human, you feel wrong, like guilt over takes you as you’re taken aback by what you’ve done, it lingers on your mind for days or even weeks. And yet I felt nothing, no remorse. No guilt, and clearly no hesitation as I kept going. Each disciple that came at me would lose their life- I mean maybe they should’ve been prepared for it instead of looking at me like IM the one in the wrong, no that's not- that can't be they worship some evil dark god who seems to be hellbent on eating worlds I’m simply defending the Kingdom and myself!

Caelus would lose himself in this idea. He cut down anything that got close, consumed by the dark energy. When the number of disciples had dropped down by 10 Henry made a gesture with his hand. The battle shifted the second the elders stepped in, far more experienced than the disciples, one hit from one of them shattered Caeluss armor, blasting him backward and splintering the wooden wall into pieces. He got back up, the pain almost nonexistent to his mind but to his body, it would soon take effect. Like a wild animal, he lunges at the one who threw the hit tossing the spear into his left arm and immobilizing it before exchanging fatal blows. Caelus’s output of darkness was far greater than what he assumed he could do, his hand was lined in the malice, forcing them to take shape into weapons, he had punctured the elder's left lung before he and the elder were shot through the stomach by the collective effort of the remaining two elders, they had sacrificed their own if it meant taking out the enemy, honestly to them he was no more like a deranged monster who bore its fangs at them for simply disagreeing with what they do than fighting another human, but of course, it wasn’t enough. Caelus staggered to his feet, the gaping hole was, to the disciple’s horror, regenerating. A dark mass filled in the hole before it gained colour to match his body, his shirt in tatters. His eyes were dark red, much like the spearhead, the once white metal purged red. Henry watched in utter shock and amazement as his entire group was cut down, Caelus had lunged for his spear only to get knocked, his wrist blown off, losing the spear and getting hit with the same blast multiple times, the elders believed that his dark energy had limits as they did, they were once again mistaken. " This can't be, we blessed by the one true god of darkness cannot possibly lose to someone like you!” yelled one of the elders, unfortunate last words. The three renowned Elders were reduced to one, " Please I’m begging you let me go! I’ll do anything you ask ANYTHING! “ The man begs for his life on his knees, there was no life behind Caelus’s eyes, the red was bland with no light, he simply stared down at the man. By the end of this, the feared group of robbers who turned out to be a branch of disciples of an unknown god was nearly wiped out by one person, Henry and the remaining members had gotten away during the fight with the elders. Caelus dragged his battered body up the stairs, dragging the spear behind him, metal scraping against the wood echoed through the building, bashing down the hidden wall and the boards that kept the run down cafe sealed away, and onto the streets, the damp smell of rain lingered. The dark red in Caelus’s eyes melt away into his normal blue as what had transpired finally sets onto his mind and body… the spear hit the cobble road. He had killed many people. He can feel raindrops roll down his face, although it wasn't raining, or it was he couldn’t really tell. Aurum and the minister were here, they were running toward him as the rain poured lightly, yelling something, the words would not reach him, all he could hear was the patter of the rain hitting the stone paved path. They were shocked to see the state he was in, covered in cuts and bruises. Before they could reach him his body gave way to exhaustion from the power and his injuries, and his eyes began to dim, it might’ve been because of the fatigue but Caelus swears he saw a child wearing a raincoat standing in the distance, smiling. And then his mind gave in.

Blank. Nothing comes to mind, I float under a sea of black. I blink once and I find myself standing in a vast area, empty with nothing but a single tree. I blink again and I’m staring at a strange rune floating in a court that has no walls, I blink again to see a man standing facing off against someone, a kingdom in the distance. This time it's a kingdom in ruin, another stranger I don't know standing in front of me, speaking like last time, only now a few words are audible, those being “ kingdom” and “ freed” which doesn’t help in understanding it just adds to the confusion. My eyes open to the ceiling, and it comes back to me. I was still in the Treasure Kingdom, pain unravels throughout my body as I force myself to sit up. I examine my body to see it covered in bandages, it seems not every cut was healed. The clothes I had been wearing at the time were stitched and cleaned, my armour completely gone, aside from the gauntlet of the emperor, somehow it withstood all of that, it was still attached, as if they weren’t able to remove it.. I chang into the fixed clothes and I make my way to the throne room to see the Aurum and the Minster talking, until they notice my arrival that is. " You should be resting for another few days your body needs more time to recover!” The minister says trying to push me back to the room, I felt fine. " A few more days? How long was I resting?” The minister hadn’t answered immediately, "Two weeks, you were out for two weeks and I think you need a few more days to fully recover,” The minister says trying to push me again. Two weeks, what had happened with Onyx, has he still not made a move this entire time? " If your wondering about the Abyss king, he hasn’t made a move in the two weeks you were out. Your lucky we had found you then, any later and you would’ve succumbed to the fatigue from your power, or worse,” Aurum says punching my arm, reigniting the pain from the wound, “ head back to your kingdom and wait for my call, theres something I need to confirm first,” Aurum says pushing me back the way I had come. Once I had everything I needed to launch my assault on Onyx, of course I took a little detour with the whole thing here but at least I got something out of it, a weapon and info that could be vital in the future. " fine, I’ll drop by the Light kingdom,” relaying my partly put together plan to Aurum, “ what about the cult, I killed them, supposedly people of this kingdom,” I ask, in return Aurum simply frowns, “ those people were members of a cult that worshiped an entity of darkness, not citizens of my kingdom, when it comes to protecting a kingdom you must be willing to make hard decisions,” she leaves it off on that, without saying anything else Aurum walks back to the grand hall, I thank the minister for their help and head back to the cave, if it can send me here surely it can send me back. Send me back it did, I found my ship where I had left it, it was around midday when I arrived at the kingdom, nothing had changed in my room, aside from dust having collected on the desk and shelves. Onyx can wait, and while I waited for Aurum to send word about whatever it was she wanted me to do, removing the cult from the kingdom would solve many problems that would take rise in the future if left unattended now, If I recall the disciple mentioned something about how the main hq entry would be similar to that branch, perhaps I can out one of their disciples into bringing me instead. The spear has some value to them, I can use it as leverage, fortunately there seems to be just the place for it, stashed away in one of the desks drawers I grab and dust off a red envelope, sealed with red wax, the shape of a broken circle with the letter A in the center. It was an invite to the Auction house.