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Condemned To Death
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15th September, 1507
*Splish Splash
Seren silently washed his hands under a running stream of water as he kept his Raindrop relic activated. The gentle sound of flowing water contrasted sharply with the eerie silence surrounding him. After thoroughly washing his hands, he stopped the relic, using the loose ends of his clothing to dry them off while he slowly walked into the empty streets of the village.
A gentle breeze brushed past his face, bellowing his long white hair in the wind. The crimson glow of the moon cast a long shadow behind him, stretching out like a dark companion across the cobblestones.
Back in the alleyway, an eerie silence had fallen, not a single sound emanating from the scene. If a person happened to walk past a random cross-section of the alley, they would be confronted with a horrid scene of carnage.
Tens of bodies lay scattered across the floor, their forms mangled and butchered beyond recognition. Headless corpses were strewn about, fresh blood still dripping from their deadly wounds. The walls were stained crimson, and a scornful stench of burnt flesh and human feces permeated the air.
Only one of the bodies had its head still intact, but the rest of the body was charred black like coal. Upon closer inspection, the intact head had a giant hole in the middle, with a single gold coin inside the hole at the center. The coin glinted ominously under the crimson moonlight.
Seren, still in his buoyant mood, luxuriously walked home with a smile on his face. His mind was already racing ahead, planning his next moves. The night's gruesome work seemed to have no effect on his mood; if anything, he appeared more energized, more focused.
The contrast between the peaceful village streets and the carnage left behind in the alley was stark. Yet Seren moved between these two worlds with ease, his composure unshaken. As he planned his day ahead, the smile never left his face, a chilling reminder of the complexity and danger that lay beneath his serene exterior.
...
Seren walked into his room quietly, his footsteps barely audible on the stone floor. He saw Susie sleeping soundly on the floor, her peaceful form curled into the blanket like a small kitten.
He tiptoed to a corner of the room, careful not to make any sound as he sat down with his back against the wall. His mind immediately returned to strategizing, 'I can get the information about the war from the receptionist but I still need to figure out if there's a way for me to join the Ravens. Well, it should be fine as long as I–'.
Knock Knock
Seren's thoughts were abruptly interrupted by someone knocking on his door. A frown creased his brow. it was past midnight, and a visitor at this hour rarely boded well. He got up with a silent sigh, feeling that his thoughts were being interrupted more often than usual today.
He walked forward with weariness in his eyes. Twisting the door handle, Seren opened the door just a crack to see who was standing on the other side. His eyes met those of a man with black hair and an average face. However, it was the man's attire that immediately caught Seren's attention.
The visitor was wearing clothing that seemed out of place in Chimera Vale. He donned a tailored cassock of midnight black, its silver embroidery catching the soft candlelight in the hallway. The fabric draped with dignified elegance over his tall, lean frame, the high collar and cuffs adorned with intricate patterns that shimmered subtly as he moved. A small brown bag hung from his shoulder to his hip.
"Hello," Seren greeted with a smile on his face as he opened the door wider, the dim light from the hallway spilling into his darkened room.
The man smiled lightly at Seren, his eyes glinting with an unreadable emotion. "Seren Celestia, correct?" His voice was smooth, almost melodious.
"Yes, that's me. Do you need something from me?" Seren asked politely, his posture relaxed as he didn’t feel a threat from the man.
The man then reached into his bag, the movement slow and deliberate. He took out a plain black book with weird symbols etched on its back, the markings seeming to shimmer and shift in the low light. "I am actually a preacher that goes from village to village spreading the word of my God. I was wondering if you could spare a moment of your time?" His smile never wavered as his eyes remained fixed on Seren's face.
To say Seren was beyond confused would be an understatement. A preacher in the middle of the night knocking on people's doors to preach? The absurdity of the situation wasn't lost on him, but he kept his face carefully neutral.
He didn't say anything for a moment as he scrutinized the smiling preacher standing before him, taking in every detail from the man's perfectly pressed cassock to the way he held the strange book. He then finally spoke, his voice level, "Sorry, I'm not interested." He rejected it with a straight face as he began to close the door, the wood creaking softly.
"Ah no, wait! I'm sure you will like it!" The preacher tried to stop Seren, his hand shooting out to catch the door, but Seren didn't budge. The sudden urgency in the man's voice was at odds with his earlier calm demeanor.
Seren was about to close the door but then he paused as a thought crossed his mind. Opening the door again, Seren stared at the man with a deadpan expression. The preacher's face lit up with a joyous look at Seren reopening the door, but there was something off about his enthusiasm.
"I will listen to your preaching," Seren said expressionlessly, his eyes never leaving the man's face.
The preacher's lips curled up into a big smile when Seren said that, revealing teeth that seemed just a bit too sharp in the shadowy hallway.
"But I need you to answer me one question," Seren said as his gaze bore deep into the man, his voice taking on a steely edge.
"YES! Anything you would like," He replied excitedly, his eagerness almost palpable in the air between them.
Seren took a deep breath, the silence stretching taut like a wire about to snap. Then he asked with a solemn voice, each word carefully enunciated, "How do you know my full name?"
“...”
The preacher's smile froze on his face as he looked at Seren in silence.
Seren had never told anyone his full name, not even the Academy knows about it.
For a moment, the only sound heard was the soft breathing of Susie, still sleeping soundly in the room behind them.
"...Well, it's natural for me to know your name," He replied, still smiling, though now it seemed more like a rictus, creepy and unnatural in its fixedness.
"Why should it be natural?" Seren asked again, his voice low and serious, laden with unspoken threat.
"Oh my, how could I commit such blasphemy of not even knowing the name of Seren Celestia," The preacher's voice trailed off as he secretly observed Seren, who was now looking at him with an eerie intensity in his eyes. The air between them seemed to crackle with tension.
"Ahem," He cleared his throat, the sound unnaturally loud in the quiet hallway. He then casually placed his hand on Seren's shoulder, the touch feeling like ice even through Seren's clothing. With a smile that no longer reached his eyes, he said:
"Because... even though you look human and talk like a kind person, you are not human, you shouldn’t even be alive in the first place.”
BANG!
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The sound of Seren's fist collided with an invisible barrier before it could reach the preacher. A spray of crimson droplets hung suspended in the air for a heartbeat before splattering across the floor. The sharp, metallic scent of blood filled Seren's nostrils as pain lanced through his knuckles.
Without missing a beat, Seren leaped backward, his feet barely touching the ground. In one fluid motion, he activated his Luminar crystal, and a faint golden glow immediately came to life. A concentrated beam of light, as thin as a needle but blindingly bright, shot out from his hand, aimed precisely at the preacher's throat.
Szzzzzzz!
The air crackled and sizzled as the laser met the invisible shield. Despite the intensity of the beam, it couldn't penetrate the barrier, instead dissipating into a shower of sparks that illuminated the man's eerily calm face.
"SUSIE WAKE UP!" Seren yelled with urgency as he retreated into his room. With a quick thought, he activated the Guard talisman. An iridescent energy shield materialized before him like a shimmering curtain, covering his front.
Simultaneously, Seren focused his mind, bending the light around the man's eyes. The air seemed to ripple and distort as he manipulated the very fabric of reality.
The preacher, now blinded, let out a small chuckle, observing the alarmed state Seren was in. His footsteps echoed in the silence of the night as he strode into the room, each step measured and deliberate. The floorboards creaked ominously under his weight.
His tone was light as he said while walking closer to Seren who was backed against a wall, “You are the devil that was born in Heaven, a twisted paradox that shouldn't exist but is somehow standing right in front of me. I'm just here to do the world a small favor in advance by erasing this mistake before it makes its way into the history books."
"SUSIE!" Seren yelled again, his heart pounding in his chest. His eyes darted around the room, searching for any sign of movement, any hint of an escape route.
"SU-" The word died in Seren's throat as his gaze fell on the empty spot where Susie had been sleeping. The blanket lay crumpled and empty, still warm from her body heat.
Clap. Clap. Clap.
The sound of the preacher's slow applause seemed to echo from every corner of the room. "Your reaction time was superb. Even a rank 2 Lexarch might not have had an easy time reacting to that beam of light."
The preacher now loomed over Seren, his tall figure casting a long shadow that seemed to stretch and distort in the dim light. Seren stood rooted to the spot, his face fully calm for some reason despite the situation as he silently observed the preacher.
With a snap of the preacher’s fingers, the world around them transformed. Colors bled away, leaving everything in shades of grey. The air grew thick and heavy, as if time itself had stopped. In this frozen world, only Seren and the mysterious man remained animate.
"Tell me, where do you expect to run in this frozen world?" His voice seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere at once, reverberating in the stillness even though his body stood right in front of Seren.
Seren remained silent, seemingly looking as if he had given up.
The preacher reached into his small bag and pulled out a massive bouquet of flowers, each flower more vibrant and impossible than the last. Some pulsed with an inner light, while others seemed to shift and change shape as Seren watched.
Presenting the otherworldly bouquet, his lips curled into a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Pick one," he said in a light tone.
The scent of the flowers wafted through the air, a mix of familiar fragrances and alien aromas that made Seren's head spin.
Seren didn't move as he just stared at the preacher's calm eyes and then his gaze fell on the bouquet of flowers. After thinking for a while, Seren finally chose a red lily out of the hundreds of flowers presented in front of him.
When the preacher took out the lily, all the other flowers and the bouquet disappeared instantly into nothingness. He brought the lily close to his face and took in its fragrance with a delightful smile on his face. Then, he held the lily with one hand and with the other slowly started plucking each of the petals of the lily as he said in an uncanny voice that seemed to echo from the very walls of the room.
"Kill, not kill, kill, not kill."
The preacher continued this macabre ritual, his fingers deftly plucking one petal after another while saying the dreadful words that would decide Seren's fate. Each petal that fell to the ground seemed to dissolve into a wisp of smoke.
Seren watched in silence as his sentence drew closer by the second. The air grew thicker with each petal's fall, the very fabric of reality seeming to twist and warp around them.
"Kill, not kill, kill…." The preacher stopped. In front of him, the lily had no petals left as its green stem then started withering on its own, turning black until eventually it withered out of existence. The last remnants of the flower crumbled to dust, carried away by an unfelt breeze.
"Any last words?" The preacher asked, a smile still playing across his face. His eyes glinted with a mixture of curiosity and cruel anticipation.
Seren had stayed silent the whole time and even now he showed no fear for his life in his eyes as he peered into the eyes of the smiling preacher.
He then finally spoke, his voice carrying a distant tone, "You are the fool who does not realize the consequences of his actions."
The smiling preacher gazed at Seren, who had just mocked and berated him. A flicker of something – perhaps respect, perhaps amusement – passed across his ageless features. He then said, his voice taking on a silky, persuasive quality, "Perhaps, but think about it. Your demise would make a lot of people happy, a few people sad, and others enraged but how about this? I will make you an offer: Renounce your faith in the traitorous God you serve and swear your allegiance to any other deity of this world”.
The preacher then chuckled as he stroked his chin, “Hehe, I’m sure I don’t need to tell you, but you should already aware of which deities exist in the current era. Change your faith and I will not only spare your life but also give you the power to rule the world."
RUMBLE
The grey world shook tremendously when the preacher finished his words, the very fabric of this ethereal realm quivering. Dust and fragments of reality cascaded around them, yet the preacher paid it no mind as he eyed Seren, waiting for his response with an intensity that could pierce souls.
Seren replied, his voice carrying the weight of eons, "Why do you speak when you don't understand? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of everything, ‘His’ name is True, ‘He’ is True, and ‘He’ is the only Good". Each word seemed to resonate with an otherworldly power, causing ripples in the air around them.
The preacher's smile faded, his earlier amusement evaporating like mist under a harsh sun. A grave expression coloured his face, etching deep lines of concern as Seren continued, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade, "Tell me, why do you threaten my life when you hold no power to take it?"
The preacher didn't say anything as he gazed solemnly at Seren. The pity in Seren's eyes seemed to weigh heavily upon him.
After a while, the preacher sighed in resignation, his voice barely above a whisper yet echoing in the vast emptiness, "You are right. I cannot afford to take your life. Your destiny and the consequences of my actions are not something I can shoulder".
The earlier threat from the preacher had just been an attempt by him to change Seren’s faith.
Crack
The sound reverberated through the grey world, a deafening snap that seemed to split reality itself. The grey world cracked like a mirror, fractures spreading rapidly across its surface. It seemed as if reality no longer existed as Seren floated in an empty space, a void of nothingness with only him and the preacher who now wore a melancholic expression on his face.
The preacher then asked, his voice tinged with a mixture of hope and dread, "Did ‘He’ send you here to bring peace once again?".
Seren gazed at the preacher in front of him with a serene expression, his eyes reflecting an unfathomable depth of knowledge and purpose. He then said, each word falling like a hammer blow, "Do not assume I have come to bring peace to this world. I did not come to sow tranquility, but war”.
“Why?” The preacher asked.
Seren replied, “In the last days, the hearts of men will be consumed by self-interest, the allure of power, and evil will prosper. So, I will raze the world. When the final hour approaches, the lands, the seas, and the skies will finally be reclaimed into 'His' Heaven".
The preacher stayed silent, a sorrowful look etching deeper lines on his face. It was as if he had already expected this answer, yet hearing it be spoken aloud brought a fresh wave of anguish. He silently ruminated over Seren's words, the weight of their implications seeming to age him before Seren's eyes.
He then asked with a twinge of hopefulness, his voice barely above a whisper, "Is there really nothing this world can do?"
Seren replied, his tone final and unyielding, "No, it is too late. This world made its choice and the Lord made 'His'".
The preacher then sighed again, his expression aged from regret and tiredness. The burden of knowledge seemed to weigh heavily upon him. He snapped his fingers, the sound echoing in the emptiness, and the world around them began to dissolve.
Seren opened his eyes and found himself standing in the complete darkness of his room. The transition was jarring, from the vast emptiness to the confines of four walls. The words of the preacher ran in his head, a ghostly whisper that seemed to linger in the air, "May the Lord be with us and grant us forgiveness for our sins…" The voice trailed off until Seren stared into the darkness in silence.
A bitter smile appeared on his face as he thought, 'Sadly, that is not possible for me in this life as well...' The weight of his mission and the knowledge of what was to come seemed to press down upon him in the quiet of the night.
"Mhmmm… are you finally back?" Susie's sleepy voice cut through the heavy silence. She had woken up and was looking at the motionless figure of Seren standing next to the door, her eyes barely open in the darkness.
Seren looked over at Susie, and a soft smile crept up his face, a stark contrast to the gravity of his recent experience. He said in a gentle voice, "Yes, go back to sleep".
*yawn "..Okay" Susie replied, her voice already fading as she pulled the blanket over herself and drifted back to sleep, unaware of the emotions behind Seren’s kind smile.
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Condemned To Death
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