I opened my eyes standing on a large encompassing field of corpses to see the realm of onrath ablaze consumed by cerulean, azure flames, upon looking further it wasn’t just Onrath but every realm. The prison worlds constructed by Orin, to the largest realm of them all, Ashrith. They were burning inside and out. Not just the people even the animals, nature burned screaming for a release from the pain forged from the embers. The mana and aether among so much more burned with a heat that was cold to the touch defying the nature of blue flames. They were… Ashen.

Turning from the ground of burning ashen flames I looked towards the sun in all its dying glory. The vibrant neon yellow glow of the sun faded behind a near-translucent, grey-cindered web formed from interwoven bridal veils. The dead sun didn’t do much to hide the blood-coloured sky that rained crimson from the fields of black clouds, made up of billions no trillions of beings hung by torn bloody ropes. Seeing this dark vision of hanging corpses made me catch my breath just below my throat the tangible feeling stung with an arrogant husk.

“This is the future you must avoid. Kill the masked liar. Repent and Repent!” The shouts of the faceless Voice screamed out atop a small mass grave of corpses burnt beyond recognition. My breath still caught just under my throat seeing that faceless humanoid looking down at me with an expressionless smile with weeping eyes, one lone finger outstretched pointing straight towards where my core was. “You! Who walks between life and death… REPENT!” It screamed once again its mouth sewn shut muffling the voice slightly. The disembodied feeling it gave off invaded my head worming its way into the amygdala.

Clutching my head in agony I heard it scream ‘repent’ more and more.

“Shut up!” having the strength to break rock, my fist cracked the ground sending out a shockwave of dissonating white noise. The voice stopped for a second then it travelled getting up close and whispering into my ear with its disembodied cold voice sounding awfully like Sam. “Save me Rias.” Throwing my right arm back did nothing but pass through the apparition. Trying to convince myself this was all fake I punched myself on the cheek twice then just above the sternum, the raking pain hurt as if this was… Real.

“Repent!” One final scream jerked me upright, however, I didn’t get enough time to organize my thoughts hearing a few knocks on my door waking up Talia who was sleeping next to me. ‘What the fuck did I just see? That was definitely real… what was that?’ Clutching my left eye I rewatched the events in a memory fashion over and over again. Feeling the same emotions and angst I had from it the first time, I waltzed over to the door where the knocking was coming from. In this vision, I had my left arm which was an actual biologically made arm not biomechanical.

Opening the door, I was taken by surprise as Sam stood in my doorway shaking, I didn’t know what from maybe a nightmare or worse. Her appearance was haggard, her nightgown was off one shoulder showing off that single her scarred shoulder, not hidden well by her rose gold hair. Through her constant shaking eyes, I knew this was worse than a simple nightmare which wasn’t helped by the feeling of something watching me. As I stared in surprise her shaking got worse until Sam reached forward placing her arms around me.

Talia helped me sit Sam on the edge of my bed, from what I could actually tell she was in shock like she either saw something or heard something.

“Rias… sa-save me. Please! I-I do-don’t want to die.” Sam stuttering through her shaking breath and dry tears, she asked me to save her just like in my nightmare. The added part of her not wanting to die was something else that I’ll have to address.

“Sam. It’s okay. Explain… slowly.”

Sam began to explain the last few hours in condensed details so that things wouldn’t get mixed. She started by talking about various minute things such as dresses and whatnot but it took a turn when she described what she dreamed about, it was dark, to say the least like my nightmare but for Sam at first, it took on the form of a dream. From my understanding of this was because of her lineage in being a siren of a far-off land in a realm now forgotten. Sirens can’t dream people say more like they can't have nightmares as they create them through song.

The dream started with Samantha as a child playing hide and seek with her mother who was smiling the entire time, Sam spoke in a way that made the dream feel like a harmonized memory. Over the time of this dream, she became aware something wasn’t quite right venturing towards a large tree in the centre of the leveri estate. After this, she entered said tree, however, that off feeling got worse. It felt more real, things changed when she remembered her actual childhood. From what she was willing to share the memories were quite painful.

Continuing on she explained that when she entered the tree, she entered an entirely ‘nother area in time. The place she found herself in was a time when everything was turned to ash and two beings alone in the vast emptiness of ashen flames. Corpses left in their wake, strung about from the clouds, tied to poles even being ravished by young demonic spirits in the shape of children ate at the very same corpses. In this dream-turned nightmare, she walked for miles barefoot, bloodying her feet and causing the skin to tear and open wounds.

After a while of walking in that vast corpse wasteland she happened to see two cities trodden, worn in ruins beyond recognition to those of untrained eyes. The two cities that remained were important in one or another to Sam, however one of them she didn’t quite remember. It reminded her of the technologically enhanced race of themis narmora not as advanced, a city from another world perhaps? Maybe one from the original world of the old gods. The other world was no doubt Eventide from how she described the citadel to the ruined remains of the sororitias keep still flying their torn banners.

However, this wasn’t the main subject of this part at the very least. Two beings stood opposite each other forever locked in battle one with something to protect whereas the other wanting just death. A girl wearing black armour with protruding horns protected something from the depths of hell. Another female clad in a black shadow with no visible features all Sam could hear were disembodied voices and screams every time the being swung their blade. These screams were in perfect sync with a wave of grey shadow following the blade’s edge, the being could only be described as a ‘nightmare beast’.

The beast she described was more human than I first imagined. Sam started by saying that the entire figure was covered in something shadow-like, dark not black though. Aside from that the figure had two curved horns protruding from the sides of her forehead with long sharp nails on their left hand. old runic inscription marked into them both arms and back potentially the entire body. The horns also had markings etched into them which wasn’t the strangest part according to Sam.

“Can I get some paper and a quill or something to draw with?” Allowing Sam to sit at my windowsill seat giving her a board, paper and pen she began to draw. Sam spoke as she drew several runic symbols and spell forms in the shape of druid summoning circles. Drawing everything she could remember, I slowly read the broken scripts piecing them together. Some meant absolutely nothing. A few were broken these were written in Ascensionism. On the A2 sheet of paper, Sam kept drawing as if she was in a world of her own.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

“This was scarred into her flesh like it was cut into her back or made to look that way.” Sam drew several circles conjoining into one singular big symbol adorned with etched runes and the logographic script of Ascensionism. From what I could make out the symbol itself was one large spell that caused great pain, having in this life I was confident in its effectiveness, but I still knew its name. ‘Iron Maiden’. It was quite literally a spell that caused great amounts of pain but unlike the torture device, this didn’t penetrate the skin from the outside.

Iron maiden is a divine spell that if performed has dire consequences, it cannot be reserved, nor can a soul remain if hit by it. Iron maiden if spoken will have hundreds potentially even thousands of spikes just rupture outwards from the heart expanding until the target’s soul is gone or body disappears. In its basic form that’s all it does on the other hand if conjoined even attached to ‘nother spell it becomes far worse. I had used Iron Maiden in the past with fire mana to create an explosive spiked mine, using someone’s heart as the charger. Even being able to delay the spell to around twenty seconds.

If this spell was marked into that monster’s flesh either meant she was soon going to die or she was using it for an entirely different purpose.

“Rias that wasn’t the last thing I saw…” she paused thinking and stringing her words into sentences that she wanted to speak. “The last thing I saw was my corpse. My corpse was holding you both of us dead and one being stood above the rest… A being who looked like you who I can only assume is Malphent.” The description that Sam gave was somewhat vague but she wasn’t exactly wrong, the figure did look like me well how I imagined she would anyway. From the times I spoke to my past incarnations I gathered pretty quickly that malphent wasn’t this amazing figure people thought her to be, she cared for no one but herself.

“There is something I need to tell both.” Bracing myself for the oncoming storm of questions, with some sitting distance between us I began to talk. I had no clear outline for where my words would eventually end up. Then again what I was about to talk about was important to what could happen at the summit with so many important figures there. No doubt the eldritch would turn up at some point even a few Valkyries yet with those figures there was one I wanted to show his face.

“As Sif, I formulated a plan with Orin to make it look like he betrayed the eldritch. Our plan went to shit… nevertheless, Orin and I stayed to our original plan…” My words got caught in my throat hunched sitting on the oak chair with my hands clasped together and placing them over my knees, I began to speak slowly. “In the end, I died of my wounds caused by Six who was never on our side, just a spy for Oryan. There was an eldritch god I once knew who was respected, if it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t have caught onto Six’s lies.”

My words weighed on Talia’s and Sam’s minds. The eldritch god in question once was a high-ranking one yet after the war in heaven he left his duties becoming a merchant. This did fit his whole thing of being the eldritch god of coins and merchants. No one knows his face aside from me and Orin, his true face was the form of a handsome young eastern merchant with a pendant wrapped around his neck. This eldritch god once told me that he was once nothing more than a merchant’s son from themis narmora, how hard that was to believe.

“However, that’s not why I wanted to talk… against many arguments, I'll be fighting in the coliseum when that goes on.”

“We’ll stay around each other. Nothing could go wr--.” Talia smiled holding her hands over mine as she kneeled before still in her white nightgown that didn’t do much to cover her chest from this angle.

“Your Majesty sorry for the interruption but we have a problem.” One of the many guards on the night shift who was probably ending his shift knocked on my door gently probably thinking either Talia or I was sleeping as the knights and guardsmen knew I don’t sleep well. I wasted no time in going to the door and greeting the knight who was from Bedivere’s band of misfits as he called them. The knight was no longer in armour but still stood as if he was on patrol around the citadel, waiting for him to speak I raised a brow in question.

“Two guards brought a girl into the citadel. This happened to be on her person, the only thing that wasn’t strapped to her or placed around her neck. I should mention she is badly wounded… currently, she is with Grand Commander Hollow being examined.”

“What do you mean badly wounded?”

“Well from what the guards who are currently with this girl that brought her here have said.” He paused looking as if someone was watching him, I felt it too. someone watching from afar but no one of danger at least. In response my hand was raised showing him that I allowed him to take his time to formulate the words, from how he was acting I could tell from what he saw it was making him feel sick. No doubt having to imagine it now to explain didn’t help that. “Her feet are ripped up with open wounds everywhere several layers of skin removed, her body covered in open wounds also. Bandages covered her legs from thigh to ankles, wrist to elbow. All she wore was a cloak that hid her naked exterior well nevertheless she has been bleeding constantly.” He paused again, his words now caught by Talia and Sam.

“Her neck is also covered in scars, bandages that cover the markings that flow all over her upper body. Her right eye seems to of been cut out, some wounds have been closed up by a rough sewing. Grand Commander Hollow has also said that her mouth has been sewn up with no tongue instead. That’s all I know.” After the guard outlined the description of how the woman turned up at the citadel, he was shaken to the point his face became pale. He might have left out details to save his own sanity. I couldn’t blame him after all things like this this ain’t seen every day unless you were at war or a nurse who has lived a long time like Hollow has.

“Get some rest, you look like you need it.” Patting the guard on the shoulder I took the envelope that he was holding onto firmly. After taking the envelope the guard bowed still a bit shaken and pale, he walked towards the guard's quarter to get the rest he needs. ‘Why is this happening now just before the summit is about to begin?’ It was quite odd that this was happening now of all times nevertheless I couldn’t dwell or think on it for long as I had something else to address. The girl and the envelope.

…

Hollow examined the girl that the guard described not noticing my presence. In a world of her own Hollow just carried on, even if she noticed me she wouldn’t stop that was one thing I liked about the gunmetal grey-haired firewatcher. Even before her queen or anyone for that matter, she put her profession first above all else well aside from protecting Nox or the orphans she looked after. Hollow had a bit of a soft spot even for Jasmine who is a bit hot-headed and would cause drama because to her it's fun.

“Rias. I've been running tests while she’s been asleep with her consent of course. I’ve found several things that we should address right away when she wakes up…” Hollow with some difficulty carefully moved the young girl onto her side. Hollow trying her best not to wake up the young girl placed several fingers on some open wounds around the shoulder plate area. Not being able to quite tell what they were I turned my head to see from another angle. Two raised areas sprouted from her back that once held two large bone structures.

“This was the first thing that was brought to my attention… they don’t seem to have been cut like the two knights outside had originally thought. They seem…”

“Torn out.” I butted in voicing the words that came to mind. To the untrained eye or just someone with not a keen eye in the anatomy of races would say these two raised areas were nothing more than a disease or genetic miscreation. However, to me and Hollow even Alex if she was here at this moment could say otherwise, these two areas once had wings attached to them. The wounds indicate the wings her torn out on purpose with some force to the tugging.

However, in this context with the other wounds considered that haven’t healed fully, which are years old, it seems she can’t heal them in any way. With her wings removed its as if her entire self has just been ripped from her body even her mana core wasn’t taking in or letting out any mana. Not even marrow in her bones had any mana left. The best way to describe it was in fact spiritual death.

“May I?”

“Sure… be careful she might wake up and well who knows what she could do.” Hollow moved the girl onto her back in a sleeping position on the medical bed so she would feel undisturbed. Being as careful as possible I moved my mechanical hand up her body from her waist all the way toward her dead mana core. Feeling the aged yet perfect skin of her body reminded me of a species radiant like the elves and virtuous with a profound knowledge of the arts.

“Hollow… don’t let anyone enter, especially not Sam.” Hollow nodded at my words knowing what I had to do which was expel a large amount of Divinity and fire mana into the young girl's body. Just like I had done once with Hollow nine months ago, this was to give life to the body and fix all the fractals in the core itself. Just like when I did it with Hollow, I would enter the mind of the person so to speak.

The Realm-wound I entered inside the mind of the young girl was vastly different from the large elven city of Athena, which was made inside Hollow’s mind as a safety mechanism for her mind to be safe in. This realm-wound wasn’t like that one, this one was closer to home for me. somewhere I spent a lot of time in the eldritch war. It was heaven… The ruined silver city of the angels.