"Huh?" His voice faintly echoed,
Droplets of falling blood dotted the ground beneath Shoba's hazy view. A wave of nausea splashed over him and his vision started to blur, quickly accompanied by a drain of weakness suddenly turning his bones into weighted lead.
A frightening chill crawled along the nape of his neck, with what felt like the genuine sensation of death clawing closer toward his fast-beating heart. Droplets of blood continued to fall, dotting the almost ethereal floor like scarlet rain.
The sheer shock of it all had rendered the boy who couldn't remember the last time he even grazed his knee, completely speechless.
'Wh-what-what is happening to me?' Shoba could hardly process a steady thought,
He soon lifted his helm towards the fishbowl head in the distance, the being remained unmoved by him, still seated on top of his throne maintaining an air of deep regal dominance.
Shoba felt all the strength being drained away from his bones, a looming fear grappled dangerously around his heart as the dark mocking voice continued to fill his ears amidst his panic.
"The laws of time have already been set... A mortal cannot hope to survive up to 10 minutes outside the fabric of your galaxy. After all, the air you rely on is different from the air within this space. Without Mana flowing through your veins. Your body can only be poisoned by bring exposed to it in this manner To put it frankly mortal...the moment you took your first steps onto these plains..."
His gloved hand gestured towards the hourglass which had practically a small amount of granules left to filter into the bottom chamber
"This realm was already killing you. You have about a short few minutes before your body completely fails you. And so I advise you... to make peace with your God...Dear...pitiful Mortal."
"Blergh! Gyuk-h!"
An outburst of blood expelled out of Shoba's mouth as he made a frail attempt to shield it in his hands.
Blood splattered against his palms, causing his panic to worsen. Shoba heaved desperately for breath. His limbs croaked and left him staggering a few steps forward before he crumbled to the ground in a resounding heap.
The very air he had once drunk greedily without worrying, was now being sucked away from his lungs.
His bloodshot eyes rattled with dread and confusion, the corners welled with warm tears. The greatest pain he was feeling settled within his mind.Shoba couldn't understand it, how or why this was happening to him.
'N-not lke this...I cant die...I can't...Mom...Pl-please...someone he...help.'
In the fading moments of what felt like his entire life tethered to his consciousness, Shoba fought desperately against the encroaching darkness drawing nearer to his heavy eyelids.
The souring feeling of regret and loss plagued his heart bitterly, there was nothing else he could do but remember the fun days he spent with his family.
Even the fights with his sister appeared like golden fragments that flashed across his mind like warm visions against the cold darkness.
One by one, the memories he had thought were long lost were resurfacing in momentary drifting shards.
'I don't want this...I don't want to...to die
Someone...anyone...save me...please...'
He cried with the voice nestled in his thoughts, his throat ached with a closeness that rendered his speech nonexistent. Within the dimness of his eyes, Shobas vacant gaze beheld the distant hourglass looming with dread in the distance.
The very last pieces of reddish sand finally filtered into the bottom chamber.
Please...anyone..."s-s-s-a...ve... m...ee...
Mom...I'm sorry...
Darkness encroached from all sides, and he drifted into a soundless sleep. Shoba heard someone. A pleasant voice in the darkness.
"Goodnight Shoba."
****
*Thrum! Thrum! Thrum!*
The deathly sounds of bells toiled like the entrance to a funeral.
A rumble likened to a titan's groan quaked against the ground, followed by the emergence of ghostly black shadows aligned against the walls. Their faces were a mask of pale bones, with a peculiar blue fire burning within their hollow eye sockets.
They held up their gloved hands. Each one caressed a golden trumpet.
One by one they all blew a vigorously sounding horn into the dark air.
"Kuh-kukuk-he-haha-Dear Mortal! Rejoice! For I, the greatest Master, Helvetios! Shall show mercy upon you, the struggler from another realm,
Oh, pitiful mortal, who by no fault of his own, had wandered into the realms forbade to his kind,
Oh Shant I grant him grace!"
"ALL HAIL THE LORD!" The shrouds sang in unison like a choir of death
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"Such benevolent grace afforded to me by the divine? Shan't I do it?
"ALL HAIL THE LORD!"
Shan't I show him merccyyyyyy?!
"MERCIFUL GUARDIAN! SUPREME LORD! ALL-HAIL-THE GREAT LORD! HELVETIOS!!!"
*Rumble*
The entire space rumbled with a terrible scourge.
With the very faint remnants of consciousness Shoba held onto, the force vibrating across the ground sent small growls through his dying body.
Suddenly those floating bright embers casting a partially bright light across the hall ceased, and a soothing cloak of darkness enveloped the entire grand hall in its place. The ghoulish shrouds lowered their helms, before retreating into the shadows again.
A gentle bell chimed into existence, and a freckle of golden light, no bigger than a baby's fist appeared just above Shoba's sunken head.
A small golden firefly suspended on the tip of an elegantly golden staff. Holding the golden relics' end was the ethereal Helvetios. No longer was he as tall as a towering oak, but smaller in size now, no more taller than 6 feet tall.
He remained floating on an empty air just a few breaths away from Shoba's dying body.
"Dear mortal..." His tone had become soothingly solemn now "Fear not, for I come with great tidings indeed." He spoke gently
If you choose to accept, there awaits an odyssey filled with adventures across a string of cosmos.
A life far beyond the reaches of what any mortal before you has ever seen. I will make you strong. Strong enough to wrestle the things they have taken from you. Strong enough to put your foot on the neck of the Titans. The generals of dread. And all the ghastly things in between."
Another soft bell chimed through the darkness. Another golden ball of light flickered into existence.
"I come bearing an accord,...But one with an undertaking,
A vision I beheld, where the collision of worlds ushered in an age of calamity. An age that will incur a great disaster upon our glorious cosmos. Due to the laws of my kin, I myself cannot act so brashly. But...someone...unexpected perhaps? In my stead.
Kukukuku...They think I don't see their faces, they lust for dominion—deceivers, treacherous vermin!
"ALL HAIL THE LORD!" The voices in the shadows sang again
"QUIET!" Helvetios spat with venom
The hall quieted into murmurs against the shadows.
"Tsk, idiots-ahem where was I-oh-right-cough-cough
Their treachery has slithered through the cosmos', a foul stench I can no longer tolerate mortal." It said raising a single-gloved finger
" And thus...you, shall act in my name and put an end to these calamities ,
Here, I share with you great tidings indeed. To make things easier..."
He held out his gloved hand where a dark scroll unfurled out with a list of things written against it.
+) Find the whereabouts of the lost fisherman,
+) Gather the tomes of Queen Lunara's 8 ...the mighty Shinjin !
+) Obtain The Blood of the black helmed Quasi-phyton dragon,
+) A tribute from the ghost master haunting Death Valley
+) To acquire the third horn of the Great Demon King,
+) Slay Count Bloodletters Three Sons.
+) Obtain two pieces of Zalmar's ruin of death
+) Capture the Flood Dragons Heir
+) Locate and obtain Elder Roman Lyfthshwucts Wand of misery
And lastly ... kukuku... I need my subjects to be empowered. Without strength, you cannot hope to accomplish even one of these tasks. Therefore..."
The golden scepter kissed the top of Shoba's head. And an omniscient glow shone as bright as the glowing sun penetrating the darkness.
Shoba's brow slightly lifted before falling again, his stiff fingers making the most delicate of movements despite his vacant deathly gaze.
"You must become a King! In your own right. A King worthy to inherit my will, my rune...my thro-...kukuku let's see how things pan out first.
Ah but of course...you can say no and completely fall into the void less pit of darkness. Your name... lost forever amongst the billions of ghosts within this world.
So tell me, dear Mortal...Will you accept my accord or not?"
Shoba remained still, his face planted against the cold ground. The vacant look within his sight remained as cold as hollow bones.
But then...in the deepest parts of himself. He heard the choruses of his memories, their voices all converged upon him in a chaos of overlapping laughter and whispers.
In a flurry of madness where he could hear hundreds of overlapping voices layered over the other, a final defiance pulsed throughout his entire body.
A defiance against the rules of the world, against expectations, against his fears and anxieties, against the guardians, and...against the tendrils of death itself.
With the last remnants of life faintly flickering throughout his body.
His eyes flashed open with a wonderous glint.
And a verse broke free from the shackles of his dying body.
Both his heart and soul resonated with an identical voice.
YES-YES I WANT TO LIVE
A deep gasp breathed through his mouth, before his eyelids softly fell once more.
"Kukukuku... good- very good. Then I welcome you...to the beginning of a new world
Lost Mortal, you are officially by 77th son."