Journal Entry: Final

Date : 53 RE. Year Of The Elephant.

Horned pigeons filled the air, their siren-like screams echoing through the night. Their bright red fur stood out against the grey sky. As I stared into that vibrant night, surrounded by panicked screams and cries for help, I stood frozen, my hands shaking and heart pounding. The message was clear: war had arrived.

A masked figure rode a giant stingray, with floating containers surrounding him. He stretched out his hand to the sky, halting the birds mid-flight. With a clench of his fist, they exploded.

We scattered as bloody pulp rained down. The containers burst open, releasing half-beasts that quickly surrounded us. As the first beast leaped to attack, an iron rod struck and pinned it.

The ground shook, forming a protective dome around us.

"Royal Guards Unit 4 has arrived at the metro. Evacuation commencing soon," a man announced through his speaker.

His subordinate extended her arms, transforming the dome into a long tunnel.

"At the end is the safe zone. Move it!" she yelled.

Upon reaching the safe zone, I rushed home to inform you and Merid, knowing you should both be back from your mission. When I arrived at our once serene home, it was completely transformed, littered with the corpses of mutated beings.

Numerous combinations of man and animal lay on the ground, some more horrid than others. The inconsistent decay of their bodies, accompanied by the god-awful stench of rotten flesh, proved their beastification was well underway.

As I stared at the haunting scene, my heart dropped at the realization that those dismembered bodies belonged to our friends and comrades from other squads. I gagged, then frantically started moving, screaming, "Nadia! Merid!"

In that reckless night, I saw it—the floating journal, glimmering in the darkness.

The book appeared before me with its pen. It opened itself and wrote, "Maria is now the sole owner of this journal, as the heir to Nadia."

"This is a mistake. Nadia isn't gone," I whispered.

Then the wailing sound of Merid shook me from my frozen state.

"Merid," I called. I ran towards the sound and saw him hunched over on the ground.

"Something is wrong. The journal keeps saying Nadia is gone, but..." I stopped. The words stuck in my throat as I faced the hard-hitting truth.

You were really gone. And worst of all, I didn't lose you to the beasts that attacked our home, nor the ones marching towards us. I lost you to Merid, the man you held dearest in your heart.

He didn't just kill you—he cannibalized you. Even writing this now, the image of him eating through your skin remains vivid in my mind.

Blood-stained tears streamed down his sickly face as your lifeless body flailed under him. The dark red hue of blood pooled over the ground, a stark contrast to his dark skin, as his agonizing screams filled the air.

"Get away from her!" I yelled, running towards him. My hands and feet were shaky as I approached, my courage nothing but false bravado. With a single glance at me, a red aqueous light engulfed me, stopping me dead in my tracks.

"Go home, Maria. This is no place for you," he said with a callous voice.

I bit my lip and yelled back, "Then why? Why are you doing this?" He didn't even glance at me, yet I continued. "They were family. And she was everything to you. And you just murdered them."

His words still ring in my ears. "I have never once considered any of you my comrades or family," he said.

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My eyes widened as I struggled hopelessly to free myself.

"Then what about me? Are you going to kill me too?" I said through gritted teeth.

"Don't be a fool, Maria. With Nadia gone, you're now the custodian of that journal," he said, walking up to me and clearing my face of scattered hair. "And as per my agreement with her, you're now under my care and ownership."

I spat in his face. "She would never leave me with someone like you."

He chuckled, wiped his face, and replied, "Believe what you want, princess. Hell, it's not like you can say no to me."

I hated how arrogant he sounded, but he was right—there was nothing I or anyone else could do to oppose him. I watched as he gazed at the ground beneath him.

"It's time," he sighed.

With a snap of his fingers, I found myself transported to the nexus belt, no longer engulfed by the aqueous light. Before me stood an army of unimaginable size, marching relentlessly toward us.

The army stopped marching as two family heads appeared in front of them. They too looked confused as to how they got there. Merid appeared shortly, seated on a throne with one for me as well, but I declined, choosing to stand. He sat without a care in the world, almost arrogantly. The sight was both awe-inspiring and terrifying.

As the family heads became aware of the grave situation, they confronted us. One of them, his voice dripping with conceit, bellowed, "We know you're dying, Merid. Your illness has weakened you. You're no longer a weapon we fear."

I looked at Merid, who paid me no attention. To my surprise, his sickly face was gone, his skin back to its dark rich tones, as if he had never been ill to begin with.

"You're nothing but an abomination of this world, a mistake we made," the family head continued, signaling to the army behind him. "You see this?" He pointed to the abominations of beastly men they had created. "These are our perfect creations. Just as Elysium fell, you will fall, and everything behind you will as well," he declared with arrogance and disdain.

With a wave of his hand, the armies started sprinting toward us, the ground shaking with each step the beastly men took.

Merid, undeterred by the family head's taunts, remained resolute, his gaze fixed on the ground, lost in thought. "I really am sorry, you know," he said, catching me by surprise.

"What for?" I quickly asked.

"You're about to become a witness to a tragedy you played no part in," he sighed heavily.

"You dragged me here to begin with."

"Yes, yes I did."

Then, red aqueous light began oozing from everything and everyone around me—the sky, the air, the beasts, and the ground they marched on. The suddenness of it all caused the army to panic and hesitate, halting their advance. Shockingly, the throne he had brought for me earlier was slowly dissolving, almost evaporating.

I looked around and saw fear reflected in the eyes of the monsters bred for war. The family heads, who had stood proudly moments before, now found themselves on their knees. I watched as one trembled and begged for forgiveness, while the other took his own life on the spot. Who could blame them? The aqueous red light had merged into a massive sphere, fully eclipsing both moons. The once-white light of the moons was now tainted a deep shade of crimson.

In that moment, Merid's dreaded voice resonated, echoing throughout Plict and the seven realms below, as he recited his chant: "Through blood we rise, through blood we fall, a dance of power, for the soul of every sort of flesh is its blood. Anyone consuming it will be severed, except me, the accursed. Impose my will and let my soul bleed."

The sphere exploded into countless raindrops. "The color of the rain was red" is the only way I can describe it. The raindrops pierced everything and everyone. The screams lasted only minutes. Yet Merid continued his onslaught, decimating the land and the lifeless bodies scattered upon it.

The remaining family heads and deities from other realms converged outside the storm Merid unleashed, all attempting to halt his rampage. Yet nothing prevailed. No one could even take a step into the hellish storm he had released.

Three days passed. The hellish rain showed no sign of stopping, and the once-desert grounds of the nexus belt became a crimson sea, large enough for the biggest sea creatures to live in.

The guardian of the nexus belt appeared—a colossal snake with an elephant's head and tusks. Its intention was clear: to stop the madness. But the guardian fell like the army that had once stood before Merid days ago.

Its dismembered body collapsed in front of Merid and me. In its dying breath, it spoke to us. "They made a grave mistake creating you. Your existence is a transgression against the laws of this world. You are the sin of Plict, and I curse you as such." It paused, drawing deep breaths. "I promise you, your end will not be a peaceful one." It laughed slowly, almost gloating in assurance of what it said until the light from its eyes faded.

By the seventh day, the neutral land that connected three continents had vanished. The nexus belt was replaced by a vast sea of red. The lands of Plict were known for their resilience and healing factor, but this time, I doubted if our land would ever recover from such destruction.

Throughout the ordeal, I watched as the red rain fell while I stood by Merid's side, completely untouched, pondering where it all went wrong for me. Finally, it ceased. Merid turned to me, weariness etched on his face. "I'm tired," he confessed.

I thought deeply, wondering what to say. What could I have said to him at that point? His next words brought me out of my thoughts.

"I'm going to turn myself in. You'll have the house to yourself and everything you'll need to live well."

What he said completely caught me off guard. After everything he's done, why is he doing this? I kept asking myself why. Why would he turn himself in, knowing he’ll be executed?

He continued, "While I'm gone, you'll have enough time to make sense of Nadia's research. She left it for you, after all."

I didn't know what to feel at that moment. I didn't know if I should be angry, sad, or frustrated. I didn't know. I still don't know. I should be happy he's walking into his own grave. But I wasn't, and that hurt a lot more. You trusted this person. Did you make a mistake? Were you wrong? Those questions crossed my mind. Finally, I asked, "Why are you doing this?"

"Things weren't supposed to go this way," was his only reply.

I stood, disgusted by his response, clenching my fists before I spoke. "Then I hope you die as painfully as she did."

The rain stopped. Various units moved in to capture Merid, and like he said, without a fight, he turned himself in. What happened afterward, sadly, I can't say. Information about his trial and case wasn't given to me. So, like everyone else in Plict, I learned of his execution from the public announcement.

In the aftermath of Merid's execution, the world government was formed, along with the Council of Gods. These establishments, according to them, were designed to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again. They named the catastrophe Terminus.

I've also now been appointed as the caretaker of Squad 97, our home. We don't have any students yet, and I don't think we will for quite some time, until they assign a captain here. Daniel comes by and helps as much as he can, but he's busy climbing the ranks to General. He makes sure I have what I need.

So in the meantime, I have your research on nexus weapons to keep me busy. I will be honest. I'm writing this four cycles after it all happened. I just needed some time to process it all. I still haven't even read the parts of the journal you wrote. Don't worry, I'm getting to it.

Over the last few cycles, I've tried getting some answers, and as you've guessed, no one is able or willing to give me any. I'm a lot older now, but I still find myself always angry, almost hating, I should say. Merid, you—especially you—for putting your hopes on someone like him. Fortunately for you, I find it very hard to hate my own mother. But in return, I'm angry at a dead man. If not him, I don't know who else to put all that anger on. I wish you were here to tell me what to do.

Yours sincerely,

Maria.