The end of Arc 2
I might not post a chapter tomorrow and the day after, since tomorrow, I'll probably get the same disappointing results from the doctor as always, after which I'll probably don't feel like writing, and the day after that I have a family birthday and have lots of stuff to prepare for college.
After that, though, I will just as regularly update as I do now.
Also, since the poll ended, please note that the title has changed.
Enjoy!
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Saying the city was large is an understatement.
It was simply massive.
The wall surrounding the city stretched hundreds of kilometres both east and west from the main gate and were almost twenty meters high.
The gate, too, was immense, spanning a width of a hundred meters to allow massive amounts of traffic to go through at once.
The city’s size was reminiscent of a city I went to once, the capital of the Heroes, build to house millions of each of their respective races.
The difference was, the city in front of me wasn’t as high-tech as that of the Heroes in the past, it was still build with stone and looked straight out of the time of early civilizations.
But, besides the massiveness of this place, there was one thing none could fail to notice about this city.
The silence.
For a city this large, with gates and roads this wide, would be bustling with activity, whether it be the sound of merchants trying to sell their wares, citizens simply walking and chatting with each other or travellers trying to enter the great city, it should definitely be heard.
But there was no sound to be heard.
Even the wind seemed to fall silent around this place.
I looked to my left and right, seeing Damien and Anna standing beside me, staring at the gate with resolve in their eyes, ready to confront whatever they were to encounter.
I gathered some Energy, transforming it into raw force and blasted the enormous gates apart, leaving only the dust flying around.
We stepped forward through the dust and entered the city.
As soon as we entered, it was clear why the city was silent.
Whether it was left or right, in the alleyways or on the roofs, they were everywhere.
Rows upon rows upon rows of men and women standing everywhere, wearing the red shirts, pants and golden masks and all with souls being slowly devoured by Energy.
Everything was covered with them, as if they were paint.
The roofs, the balconies, the windows, the gutters, the alleys, the roadside, everywhere you looked, there were rows upon rows of them.
They were simply everywhere.
Except the road itself.
Stretching from the gate, the road was a straight line towards the splendid palace in the middle of the city, kilometres away from the entrance.
It’s disgusting.
The work of a madmen.
Tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands stood alongside the road, simply staring at us without saying anything.
The Lord is insane, was my conclusion.
Not looking at the masks, I started walking towards the palace, Damien and Anna following close behind, imitating my apathy towards our surroundings.
With every step we took, the masks followed us and, every ten meters or so, they jumped down from the roofs and balconies to fill the road behind us.
I activated my Soulsense, simply out of caution, but they didn’t seem to plan anything hostile.
They merely observed.
We walked for hours, the morning soon changing to midday and then slowly began to set behind the palace, forming a beautiful scenery only seen in the works of master painters.
Of course, the palace too was gated, but before I could do anything, it was automatically opened, revealing even more gold-masks behind it.
Suddenly, from all around sounded an awe-inspiring declaration, if I hadn’t known who made it.
“The Lord has been expecting you.”
Left, right, in front, behind and above, the voices came from everywhere, perfectly simultaneous and in symphonies, sounding like the heralding of God by Angels.
This person truly thinks too highly of himself.
We walked through the gate and arrived at the courtyard.
Left and right of us stood gigantic fountains looking like they were spewing water, while, in fact, the water had been frozen solid, making sure no sound was to be made.
Even now, the only sound present was that of our footsteps.
Not even the gold-masks following behind us made a single sound.
The courtyard was as enormous and flagrant as the palace had looked, with gardens containing beautiful flowers, exotic trees and even giant hedge-mazes everywhere around us.
But again, we barely paid attention to them, focusing on the road ahead.
After a couple of minutes walking forward, we arrived at the front door, which was, just like the palace gate, immediately opened in front of us.
The first room was, of course, immediately the throne room, looking just as shameless of as the rest of the palace.
Underneath and in front of us lay a giant red carpet made out of the finest cloth.
In front of the throne were seven steps, each getting smaller than the last, all of them made out of translucent materials:
The first one was made of the reddest rubies.
The second was made of the purest orange ambers.
The third was made purely out of yellow lemon-quartz.
The fourth was made out of perfectly cut green emerald.
The fifth was made of the clearest blue sapphires.
The sixth was made of extremely beautiful purple amethysts.
The seventh was made of the finest pink tourmalines.
On top of the seven steps stood the throne, made out of a combination of all the seven colours but somehow feeling as if it were a cohesive whole, rather than a bunch of gems thrown together.
It was a throne fit for a God, or one who thought of himself as such.
Behind the throne and on every wall of the palace hung purple banners, each of them with a seven pointed star, each point a different colour with in the middle, a pure white circle.
As we stepped forth on the carpet, the gold-masks walked swiftly past us and formed up beside the walls into multiple rows.
When we stood at the bottom of the steps, me in front , Anna on my left and Damien on my right, the entirety of the room, with the exception of the red carpet, was filled with the lackeys of the Lord.
As soon as we stopped walking, the lackeys fell to one knee and Energy began to form on the throne.
Slowly but surely the figure of a man was formed and sat himself on the throne.
The man, when standing, probably around two meters tall, had golden hair and silver eyes and looked incredibly handsome.
Wearing a red-robe with golden lining, on the right and left side of his chest was the same seven-pointed stars seen on the banners.
Adorning his head was a layered crown fit for an emperor, each layer made out of the same material as the steps and the same colours as the seven-pointed stars.
He looked at us, calmly inspecting all of our faces before beginning to speak.
“Welcome to my palace, and thank you for…” He began, speaking with a naturally authorities voice, before I rudely cut him off.
“What is this farce?” I asked, a hint of anger in my voice and clearly visible in my eyes.
The man tilted his head, inspecting me with questioning eyes.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
I simply snapped my fingers and a pillar of Energy formed underneath him, shooting upwards towards his head and instantly decapitating him.
Did he really think I wouldn’t notice?
Although he didn’t have his face covered, he was clearly the same as all the other lackeys with their damaged souls.
His wasn’t even on the same level of enhancement as that of Damien and Anna.
There was simply no way he could be the Lord.
I walked up the seven-colored steps, the children following closely behind, and waved my hand to make the body and blood disappear.
I turned towards the servants, but just when I was about to ask them something, I noticed something… familiar.
Something very familiar.
It was around the time of the Sixth Era – the sixth time intelligent life ruled the world.
Ever since the Third Era, I tried to increase my knowledge regarding life, the soul and, most importantly, Energy.
Unfortunately, things had been going extremely slowly.
The Fourth and Fifth Era collapsed before they could even reach the stage of Energy-based technology and since I was learning blindly, I progressed next to nothing in research.
Fortunately, the Sixth Era did eventually reach that tier.
Unfortunately, the society was a combination of religious fanaticism and scientific optimism.
In other words, reaching God through the way of science.
Why is this unfortunate?
Simple, the way every religion has treated me so far: by proclaiming evil.
In their case, I was the supposed antithesis to God, since I could wield Energy ‘freely’, which they believed only God would be able to do.
So of course they captured me and decided to publicly execute me the same way their version of the Messiah died; impalement.
They captured me and put devices on me that sucked away the Energy in my soul.
At the time, I still didn’t know that I could freely wield the Energy of the world around me, so my power was disabled because of their devices.
Then, they grabbed me out of my cell and grabbed a strange spear.
The ‘Holy Spear’ they proclaimed it, imbuing with the power of Energy and impaling me upon it, after which they paraded me for three days and nights through their enormous capital, until they put me on a public square for me to die.
Naturally, to their surprise, I didn’t die.
They took it as a sign of me truly being the devil and left me there.
For three thousand years.
Three thousand years on a public square for executions, I was impaled and incapable.
Do you know what this means?
For three thousand years, every day I was bombarded with hundreds of rocks, shot with hundreds of guns, stabbed with hundreds of knifes and impaled with hundreds of spears, all weapons similar to the ‘Holy Spear’, imbued with Energy.
That is 1.095.750 days of being stoned, shot, stabbed and impaled
And all of the weapons were sold as ‘souvenirs’ in shops and stalls around the square, making me a disgusting tourist attraction.
Luckily, societies that reach the final tier of technology almost always collapse very quickly, only very rarely do they last for ten thousand years after discovering Energy as a source.
Theirs was no different.
And now, thousands of Eras later, I felt the same feeling.
Looking down at my chest in surprise, my eyes widened as I saw two spearheads piercing through my chest from the back, puncturing my longs and heart in the process.
“W..hat?” I said, coughing up blood afterwards and falling to my knees.
Since the spears were imbued with Energy, they pierced through my very soul, a feeling so painful I still couldn’t get used to it, even after experiencing much, much worse.
On my hands and knees, I threw up litres of blood which then regenerated and was thrown up again, this process repeating several times.
From the throne were I lay, the plateau was slowly drenched in blood, forming small rivers of blood flowing down the steps, covering up its majestic design.
While heaving up bucket after bucket of blood, I was still staring at my chest in disbelief.
How?
When?
I was sure I had covered everything in the castle, there’s no way someone snuck up on me, let alone two of them.
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I was sure.
I was so sure.
Then, a sudden concern popped up in my head: Anna and Damien.
I quickly stood up, but the first thing I saw was something I couldn’t ignore.
The thousands of lackeys gathered in the throne hall had stood up, forming a circle around the plateau and all of them carrying bows and arrows made out of Energy.
How were they able to do this?
Just today, they couldn’t even clean up their bridge and couldn’t even handle a bit of pressure?
How is this possible?
While staring at them, still completely stupefied by what was happening, they released their arrows.
Pierced, pierced, pierced, pierced, pierced pierced pierced pierced pierced pierced pierced pierced pierced again and again, the arrows piercing my body and harming my very soul.
Hundreds of them.
Thousands of them.
They were continuously shooting arrows at me, again and again.
Nothing was spared.
The eyes, the ears, the head, the knees, the hands, the elbows, the feet, the thighs and everything in between was pierced by Energy arrows, tearing me apart.
It burned!
It burned like hell!
Every single arrow aimed at me, went through my soul and send me deeper into agony, but there was one thing that kept me from writhing on the ground and crying out in pain.
The children!
Where were they!
My body a bloody mess, not even resembling a human anymore, let alone a living being, was turning and twisting around, looking for my children.
There were none.
Not behind me.
Nor besides me.
Not in front.
Nor to the sides.
“Anrgh… Dmrgh!” I tried yelling their names but everything was a complete mess and with every shot came a bout of pain, forcing me to wince.
Suddenly, they stopped firing my arrows and, within seconds, my body and soul were whole again, although not unaffected.
Because of the pain, my body shivered, my face was pale and my stomach wanted to throw up its acids and bile, but I forced it in.
There was something more important now.
I frantically looked around, seeing only masks and no children, when suddenly, for the first time since entering here, I heard a sound that wasn’t from me.
Even the arrows they fired didn’t make a sound, but now I could clearly hear it.
Footsteps.
Footsteps very slowly walking towards.
The sea of masks parted and three figures were walking towards me.
Three figures, but only one pair of footsteps.
It was her.
Of course it was her, who else could’ve done this.
Emily.
She was the despicable one.
She was the one that experimented on all these slaves.
She was the one who experimented on my children.
The rotten, spoiled and Immortal brat.
I want to harm her.
I want to destroy her.
I want to make her feel like what it was like to be pierced by thousands of arrows and then I want to make her feel what it’s like to have your soul being cut apart and altered for these disgusting experiments.
I want to make her experience hell itself, so that she’ll never do something like this again.
But…
Something stayed my hand.
Three figures.
One pair of footsteps.
Two without.
Two wearing masks.
Two being small as children.
One with horns, one with wings.
One with a violet soul, the other a golden soul.
I slowly walked down the now blood covered stairs, slipping on it and falling down right in front of them.
I forced myself up on my knees, at the same height as the small beings beside Emily, my body still shaking and trembling in pain and fear.
I lifted up their masks and saw their faces, clearly uncertainty in their eyes but a calm demeanour outwards.
“This is but a taste of what’s to come, you disgusting thing!” I heard Emily shout, her face twisted in anger and her eyes thirsting for revenge.
She snapped her fingers and pointed towards me, two masks springing into action, grabbing my by the pits of my arms and forcing me upright.
“Any last words?” she spat out.
“W..why?” I asked softly.
“Why?! You ask why?! You tormented me and my mother! You killed my father! And you ask why?! Don’t think a miserable ten million years is going to make me forget!”
She said fuming with anger.
“I shouldn’t have expected understanding from a monster. But this time, it’s your turn to suffer for all your crimes.”
My crimes?
What are my crimes?
I saved her mother from despair, and spared her when she tried to kill me.
Even her father was killed without pain, even though he deserved much, much more for what he did.
No, that’s not my crime.
It’s that.
My life, that’s my crime.
I’m simply made to be hated.
Why did I think the children would be any different?
Of course they hate me, who wouldn’t?
And Lillian?
Kindness begets kindness, my wife said.
I say, misery begets misery.
I saved her miserable life and what did I get in return?
Misery.
“Of course it’s like that, isn’t it God? It was your plan all along, am I right? When did it begin? Was it with Lillian? No, of course not. It was already with my wife, wasn’t it? Wasn’t it?! If I never met her, I wouldn’t have saved her, right?! You only gave her to me so you could take her away again, right?!”
I could see it now!
It was so clear all along!
There was no way someone could ever love me!
Not even my wife!
Not.
Even.
Her.
She came to me at a time I had simply… given up.
She showered me with love and it took me years, no, decades to accept this.
And once I did, she was quickly taken away from me.
Of course it was all a scheme.
It was all God’s plan.
To make me feel more misery, right?
To torture me even more, he send these children and then let them betray me.
To make me feel more misery, right?
All around me, a thunderous laugh resounded, laughing continuously, laughing at my expense.
I looked around me, and they had returned.
All of them stood there, all of my nightmares, all of my torturers.
Every king, every bishop, every pope, every general, every doctor, every scientist, every occult freak, every passer-by, every citizen.
All of those that tortured me stood there, laughing proudly, saying ‘so you finally figured it out’.
“Hahaha….”
A smile crept up on my face.
“Why are you laughing?!” I heard Emily shout in front of me.
“HAHAHA! Can’t you see?! Can’t you see His Grand Scheme?! You can right? Of course you can, you’re just like them! Working for God’s unfathomable plans! One of the nightmare’s right?! Ha-ha! HAHAHA! HAhhhaAHAhhAHAhaha! EvEryTHinG IS His GrEat PlaN, Isn’T it! My TormEnT is HiS PleASUrE,rIgHT?!”
She looked at me with a conflicted look, while all the others around me were laughing.
“Of CoURSe iT Is! HAHhhahAHAHhAHhAHhAHhAHA! CoME On, EveRYOnE, LaUGH! LaUGh, I tElL YOU, lEAgh! AHAHHAAHHAHAHA!”
I gathered a huge amount of Energy and threw it all around me at the laughing spectators.
They were burned, struck down, crushed, impaled, pierced, stabbed, shot, drowned, chocked and yet they continued laughing, their ranks swelling the more I killed.
“AHHhahahAHHhahAHHHAhha! LoOk EmILY! SO maNY FRienDs, So mANY allies, JusT For YoU! AlL of TheM LaUGHinG! WhY aRen’T YoU?! AHHAHAHAHA”
They came by the hundreds, storming into the castle only to be mercilessly slaughtered as soon as they entered, slowly but surely turning the palace in a sea of blood.
“AhhaAHHAHhahaAHhA! CoME ON emILY, WhY aRen’T yoU lAUGHinG?! ThiS is wHat YoU wiSH for, RiGht! THiS is WhAT GOD wants! WhAt eVerY NigHTMaRE wants! AHAHhahhahAHAH!”u
That’s right!
This is God’s will.
The reason the nightmares exist.
To laugh at my expense.
“AHahhahAHHAHhahaA! LaUGh with yoUr FriENds, EmIly! LaUgh LikE the NIGHTmare you are! AHahahHahhhAHhAHHAAHhaha!”
The flow inevitably stopped, leaving only the nightmares Emily, Damien and Anna.
“AhhahaHhAhaHhAaAHAAA! LaUgh wItH mE! LAUgh AT Me! Why ArEn’t YoU LauGHiNg?! WhY ArE you SO ShoCked, EmIly! Isn’T this whay YoU AiMED FoR?! DaMiEn, AnnA, WhY ArE yOU looking at ME wiTH pitTY?! Isn’T This whaT YoU BeTRAyed mE For?! Isn’T iT?!”
Half way through the rant, the tone changed.
Why aren’t they laughing?
Why are they looking at me like that?
“TeLL me!”
I begged.
“WhY AreN’t YoU lAughiNG! PlEasE LaUGH! PlEase….”
At this point, I was squirming on the floor in agony as the Energy began consuming me, breaking my bones, tearing my muscles, bursting my skin…
“PlEAEAEAEeaeaEAsE, lAugh…”
I sobbed, tears flowing down my cheeks in misery.
Suddenly, a feeling I hadn’t felt since long ago invaded my mind.
Comfort, warmth.
“…sleep.”
Emily said, uttering the same words I once said to her mother.
The Energy invaded my mind and I was too miserable to put up a good resistance.
I tried wildly flailing Energy around, but these waves were easily blocked by Damien and Emily.
“do..N’t… W…Hy…”
I said.
“H…El…P….Pl….EasE.”
My last words, before I lost consciousness.
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I wanted to address something here, after you read the chapter, because a thought was going through my mind while re-reading this.
You probably have already guessed I like tragedy (written ones, of course), which is absolutely true.
But - to me, at least - tragedy is never without point, and NOT simply endlessly tormenting the MC.
I've read them before, these 'tragedies' who endlessly torture the MC without taking the story anywhere, and I call those stories the writings of an insane person.
Now, I thoroughly hope I'm not insane, so don't worry.
I will not let this story grow stale.
Then again, nobody might care about this, and this postscript is absolutely unnecessary, but I thought I would still make my point.
You know, just in case =)
I hope you enjoyed the Second Arc, get ready for the third.
Have a nice weekend everybody!