“Mmm.” Both Kenos and I droned as we stared at the naked dark being squatted next to the throne.

I stood much further away from it since being closed to it caused us immense pain.

“Heeeelllloooooo.” Kenos loudly greeted again but the dark being didn’t respond.

“What should we call it?” Kenos asked while pacing around our guest.

He also felt pain when he walked to close to the dark being but he, at some point, stopped caring.

I sat on the floor of the throne room, in my smaller form and pondered on everything that had happened.

“What do they want?” I muttered.

“Should we consider the possibility that they are just bored gods who enjoy fucking with us?” Kenos asked but I groaned in response.

“It is certainly one of many possibilities, but I’d like to imagine that beings such as them are not so… base.” I said before standing up.

“Back on the road?” Kenos asked.

“Yep. We’re pretty hungry, so we might have to go off path and look for something to eat.”

“Yeah but there’s a town just ahead.”

“And how, pray tell, do you think I could get any food from anyone? We don’t have money and stealing is out of the question. We could beg, but I fear your ego may not be able to handle it.” I chuckled.

“Whoa… being reborn made you quite the asshole.” Kenos commented as I surfaced into consciousness.

I laughed weakly believe standing up.

I had decided to spend the night in between two large bushes which bore no fruits.

I crawled out of the bush and made my way back to the muddy road which led north.

My eyes widened a little upon noticing a group of people traveling south.

They looked pretty ordinary but as they got closer and closer, my jaw clenched harder and harder.

[Hey, what’s wrong?]

Kenos asked as plumes of smoke rose from my nose and mouth.

The group stopped dead in its tracks as I clutched my aching chest.

I then tightly held my head and…

“Mmm?” I sounded as the pain rapidly faded.

[Kenos?]

Katsíki called from within.

“What?” I asked, unsure of what was going on.

I slowly stood up and faced the group.

Some of its members bravely pointed their steel weapons at me but I ignored them and instead looked myself over.

“What happened?” I softly asked.

[I… don’t know. It’s… I’m… scared.]

Katsíki said weakly.

I deeply sighed before gently placing my hand over my heart.

“OK. I’ll take care of the rest.” I whispered before walking past the petrified group.

“Stay back, Demon!” One of them yelled while pointing his small dagger at me.

I didn’t respond and simply walked ever northward all while my heart fearfully raced.

.

..

I had decided to walk all the way around the town I’d spotted earlier.

There was a chance no one in the town was a light magician, but I didn’t want to take any chances and so I went round.

I had also grown hungry as hell and that hunger brought with it a headache.

This headache grew more intense with every step I took and so I walked of path and towards a bunch of trees to the east.

I quickly arrived at the mini forest and quickly caught, using several dark spikes, a rabbit which I promptly skinned before roasting over a fire.

I ate the small animal as the sun sunk into the horizon casting my mini forest in a deep darkness.

I rested my head against a tree before letting out a deep sigh.

[You ok?]

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“Mmm? Who? Me? Yeah, I’m great. I’ve been walking for weeks, I barely eat, barely sleep and I lost Ower and Ncil but other than that, I’m fantastic!” I hissed through gnashed teeth.

Silence followed.

“I… I’m tired. But we can’t stop now. I will get us to Middlen and we will watch it all crumble.”

[What if we die afterwards?]

Katsíki asked and all I could do was drone in response.

“I… don’t know. Although, funnily enough, I don’t think I’d mind all that much so long as it’s after we do what needs doing.”

[What if I told you that I wanted us to give up and turn around?]

“I’d ask where the real Katsíki went?” I scoffed but Katsíki simply giggled.

[I’m serious. I’m scared… for both of us.]

“Hoh?” I sounded.

“And why would you be afraid for me?”

[Because we are one and the same. Your pain is my pain. Our suffering combines. I would be lying if I said that didn’t want us to go home and rest by her side and so all I can do is thank you for everything while I can.]

My mouth hung.

“Even after… everything?” I asked with trembling lips.

[I can’t and won’t forgive you for everything you did, doesn’t mean I want us to suffer. We, both you and I, have still quite a bit to live for. So, when we face Caligo, fight, not ready to die but while desperately trying to stay alive.]

“I…” I started to say but no other words left my mouth.

I eventually closed my eyes just as the flames of my small fire died.

.

..

[Kenos! We have company!]

Katsíki yelled, forcing my eyes open.

[It seems as though the people we ran into earlier ran to town and told everyone about what they saw. They managed to scare a decent amount of people into following us, I guess.]

“So what now?” I asked while standing up and dusting the sand from my cloak.

[Continue north. We don’t really have the time nor energy to deal with a mob.]

I nodded before making my way out of the mini forest.

I then returned to the path that led north and with a shiver, I walked.

.

..

Three days passed and I found myself frowning heavily as I spotted a traces of smoke rising from a small town in the distance.

I walked off the path to flank it but this made me think.

I was in Medelona.

Did it, like Aurenia, have a bandit problem?

I wondered about such things as I walked under the dimming light of the evening sky.

One thing I noticed was how healthy the crops I walked through were.

They were all green and full of life, unlike just about everything in Aurenia.

My thoughts were interrupted by a knight suddenly appearing in front of me.

She sat atop a horse that was covered in as much silver as the knight who mounted it.

“What… are you?” The knight asked while glaring at me with eyes that glowed brightly golden.

“A man… on a journey.” I said softly.

“A simple man, you are not. You carry with you a darkness that is almost palpable. I apologize, but you have to come with me for further questioning.” The knight said.

“Why? Would it not be better if we both went our separate ways?”

“No, I cannot allow such an obviously powerful magician to pass by. Actually, I would prefer if you became a knight but I am getting ahead of myself. So, will you come willingly or will I have to break your legs?” She asked.

“Who are you to mame such demands, knight?” I hissed while squeezing my fists.

“You said it yourself. I am a powerful magician. What makes you think I’d simply give myself to you without resistance?”

The knight unsheathed her sword and pointed it at my neck.

“I am Lillo, captain of the Lunarian Cavaliers and you will come with me, whether you like it or not.” She said with narrowed eyes.

I sighed before quickly sinking into the dark realm.

I then rapidly morphed into my darker self and placed my hands into Lillo’s horse before pumping an unreasonable amounts of darkness into it.

I dashed away before manifesting with all the darkness it’d put into the horse and before Lillo could react, I wildly swung my right arm, forcing the darkness to crystallize before forcing it out of the horse.

My plan was to rip both Lillo and her horse to shreds, but she teleported away just as the front of her horse was turned to mince.

“FIEND! I offered you an opportunity! Abandon the dark path you so obviously walk and join the knights of Lanceberg! Pledge your soul to Summus and find new purpose, but no!” Lillo yelled before suddenly appearing next to me while swinging her sword.

I sunk into the dark realm before she chopped my head off and just as I did, six other people, five knights and one priest, appeared.

“Ma’am, what’s going on?” One of the knights asked.

“I found a fiendish darkness magician who refuses to hand himself over.” Lillo prompting her men to draw their swords.

I wasted no time in gathering a ton of darkness between the silver fuckers-

[Wait! We don’t have to kill them!]

“What?” I exclaimed as the knights dashed away from what would have been a deathbed of spikes.

“Katsíki… don’t make this harder for me. Countless more will die when we get to Middlen, so shut up and let me handle this!” I yelled before calling down a storm of darkness from above.

It fell as pitch black smoke that covered the fields, although I made sure to avoid the town.

The knights all looked around in confusion while the sky rapidly turned black.

I then created countless dark swords and after slamming my hands together, those swords came crashing into each other, shredding two of the six knights into pieces.

“Ah!” The priest or Priestess cried as she hid behind a barrier which had been erected by Lillo and her three remaining men.

I created a dark sword and dashed towards the knights.

I then swung the sword while siphoning all of the darkness I’d brought into it.

I surfaced just as us my sword reached Lillo, but with a flash of golden light, she struck my sword with hers, shattering it into countless pieces.

She then grabbed my neck while raising her sword again but I summoned my golden sword and before I could try stabbing Lillo, her men grabbed my arms and legs.

“Now, Die!” Lillo yelled while thrusting her sword towards my neck, but I quickly sunk into the dark realm where I let out an animalistic scream.

I didn’t want to die.

I didn’t want to lose and so, as my body reached its most twisted, I surfaced, only my hands were in between the heads of two of Lillo’s men.

She watched in horror as I tore the tops of their heads off.

I then slammed the bone fragments in my hands into Lillo’s face before sinking into the dark world just as she swung her sword.

“ARRRRRRGGG!” She screamed while wildly attacking nothing.

“SHOW YOURSELF!”

I did as she asked, after wrapping my arms around her, I surfaced and her last remaining subordinate watched as I emerged from the dark world, tearing my out of Lillo in the process.

The last knight held his sword tightly before trying to attack me but, using my hardened hands, I deflected the sword away.

I then grabbed his left arm and dragging him into the dark world where I called back all of the darkness I’d used.

It now hung as a ball above me.

I dashed away and forced the ball onto the knight, crushing him into the process.

Well… I thought he was crushed.

The ball disappeared and I noticed that he was still alive and so I walked towards his bloody self all while his fearful eyes trembled.

I then grabbed him and surfaced.

My dark form was made even darker by the blackness of night.

I peered into the knight’s eyes and saw nothing but fear.

But… it wasn’t enough.

I could still push him a little further and so I opened my snout.

I then dug my many large teeth into his face making the knight scream.

A scream that awoke within me something I planned on using on Caligo.

But, in this moment, I focused on the knight beneath me as he flailed uselessly about.

His teary eyes reflected mine which burnt terribly red.