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Magica Manifest
Posthumous

Posthumous

“So, the reason that these crossovers are happening is because originally all the worlds were supposed to be together? Why did you talk about Lycanthrope’s like you personally experienced them before?” Valentine asked. While he had listened to the story from Zylphia in near silence, when she finished, he could no longer hold onto his questions.

“The layers the different worlds reside on are stacked on top of each other, so while your world only started crossing over recently, that isn’t the case for all worlds. Humanity is the fifth of the middle races to cross over. Like the crossover between this world and yours, the time between the entire collision of worlds only gets shorter.” Zylphia showed a slightly worried expression at the mention of shortening time span, making Valentine curious of the timespan between crossovers.

“So, if the time between entire collisions is shortening then how much has it shortened?” Valentine asked.

“Well the first complete collision was between the Lesser Dragon world and the Dwarves. This happened thousands of years ago, the next was between this world and the combined world of Lesser Dragons and Dwarves, nearly a thousand years ago. When that collision happened, us three races decided to call this world the ‘Host World’ as it seemed to be the start of everything. The next was the addition of the Lycanthropes, only happening a couple hundred years ago. Finally, the start of this collision was 7 years ago, we predict it will finish 3 years from now.” Zylphia answered.

Upon finishing the answer to Valentine’s question Zylphia almost began speaking again, however she stopped. Looking at the grand wall that surrounded the library, Valentine suddenly realized how odd it must look to an outsider. A wall over 30 feet tall and 5 feet thick, with a seriously strong magic defense spell was enough to make anyone impressed.

“Well, here we are, the library is just inside the wall.” Valentine spoke up before anyone in the group had a chance to comment on the wall, wanting to start any conversations inside. Feeling his hand along the wall Valentine searched for the divot that told him where to find the entrance. Upon finding the entrance he found the key stone to the tunnels and opened the doorway.

“Cool magic, does it work through those magic circles we talked about before?” Zylphia once again caught up to Valentine and led the way with him. While he enjoyed her presence, he felt that the questions she asked would only grow more numerous as the got inside the wall.

“Yeah, something like that. I didn’t design the mechanism behind it, I just helped build the wall and maintain the spells.” Valentine felt slightly disappointed that he couldn’t claim the ‘cool magic’ as his own, but quickly pushed that thought aside.

“You didn’t design that yourself? No offense but the rest of your group don’t seem like the types come up with this.” Zylphia was slightly surprised at hearing Valentine was not the designer of the entrance technique.

“You’ll meet the creator soon, he also designed the tunnels and the walls, even the protective magic on the outer wall was cast by him.” Valentine this time took pride in explaining the situation, not knowing why though. As Valentine finished his explanation he began to see the sunlight peek through the exit of the tunnels. Realizing that his sudden entrance with an unknown person behind him might cause confusion he looked back at the rest of the group, including Zylphia. “All the Elves should stay here for a moment, the rest of us will enter first so we can explain before you come up.

Zylphia pouted slightly at having to wait before getting to see the library she had heard so much about. Qunizel however was understanding and nodded as the humans in the group walked forward.

Exiting the tunnel, Valentine looked around at the courtyard in front of the library, no signs of damage or fights put his beating heart at ease. Looking at the library he saw the characteristic light of a fireplace in a window, smoke billowing from the chimney. Fully at ease now knowing at least there were people present, Valentine began walking towards the library.

“Hey everybody! We're home! Come outside we have guests!” As Valentine walked, he began shouting.

However, as Valentine continued walking, he became increasingly worried. While the smoke and light made him think there were people inside, it did not confirm it. The fact that no one had been on the lookout for their arrival and greeted them also concerned Valentine. Finally, as he reached the door Valentine’s concern was magnified. Not noticing until he was at the door, Valentine realized that it was slightly open, the light from the fire peeking through a gap in the door.

Reaching for the handle Valentine’s heartbeat rapidly increased, his mind was unusually calm however, not daring to think about what he might find on the other side. Pulling the door open, Valentine peered inside, nothing out of the ordinary at the entrance of the library. Looking back at the group following him Valentine saw nothing. Suddenly Valentine was alone, neither the library residents nor the group following him were to be found. Only now realizing that there were no sounds around him, not the wind, nor the crickets, not even the fire crackling inside.

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Rushing into the building Valentine desperately looked for any sign of life, however none appeared before him. Bounding up the stairs he half expected a group of surprised faces to greet him, instead it was only an empty table. Back down the stairs Valentine rushed to the room that held the sick Terren. Opening the door only to find an empty bed.

Now aware of the danger that he was in Valentine rushed back towards where his group used to be, grabbing his sword from its hilt and reading it against anything that might appear. Reaching the entrance of the tunnel, however, he stopped suddenly. The look on his face contorting into a pained and disgusted expression at the view before him.

At the entrance of the tunnel was Dorred, a large hole punched through his chest, his hand holding his sword, fear stuck to his face. Just behind him was Gunther, a mangled corpse riddled with holes and bones bent in the wrong direction. Seeing just these two Valentine felt the hot vomit surging from his stomach, violently leaving his mouth as he kneeled to the floor. Remembering only now that he could not hear, smell, nor taste anything. However, with the sight before him the shock brought all three back to him. The stench of the bile and blood mixing to create a horrible concoction. The taste of vomit that had freshly left his mouth and blood from biting his lip invertedly. Finally, his hearing returned, however there was nothing to hear. No screams of help, or battle sounds, not even labored breathing from injured allies.

Continuing down the tunnel, the next was Professor Roxanne, tears stained on her face and blood leaking from her mouth. She had put up more of a fight compared to Dorred and Gunther, apparent by the half-finished magic circle next to her and the closed bulkhead behind her. Her body was mangled in a similar state to Gunther as well as a large bloody indent in her chest. Seeing the corpse of the teacher who he had thought so highly of left Valentine in a worse state than that of Dorred and Gunther. Hot tears streaming down his face and kneeling on the floor again, retching from his stomach the little spit that would leave his mouth.

Standing up again Valentine slowly began walking again. While Professor Roxanne had closed the bulkhead in her death, it did not stop whatever killed her. The bulkhead was ripped open, with chunks of wall and ceiling missing leading Valentine down the path towards whatever killed everyone. Running now Valentine hurried down the Tunnel, passing bulkhead after bulkhead that had been closed then destroyed. The path leading towards the exit of the walls.

As Valentine exited the tunnel he found what was left of Kaedric. Ripped roughly in two through his stomach. He had conjured several layers of rock between the exit and the forest. His sword rested in his grip like Dorred, though it did as much help as his. Valentine still in shock did not react to his friend’s death as he did the others. He only hesitated for a moment on his corpse, walking past it while looking into the lifeless eyes.

The path of destruction led into the forest, while the sky had grown dark with nighttime it was clear where Valentine should walk as the destruction left a clear path even at night. Along the way Valentine passed several rock walls that had been used to slow the pursuit, though only by a little. Finally, Valentine stumbled into a cave, the same cave that had once housed the first goblin he had killed, instinctually knowing where to go he walked to the goblin’s room.

Reaching the room Valentine found a fight riddled room, fire still burning in some parts, scorch marks along the walls and floors. Indents from rocks being thrown around and deep long gashes from something sharp similarly adorned the room. Blood marking the floor and walls, the source of which was obvious by the clothing adorning the limbs detached from Quinzel. His torso, head, and left leg were all that was left attached, thrown against the wall to the right of the goblin’s hidden body room. Walking into the room, air filled Valentine’s nostrils with an oddly familiar scent not like the blood of the Elves or his friends. The source of the blood was obvious the moment he laid his eyes on his own bloodied and battered corpse.

Suddenly Valentine was flooded with the pent up emotions that had been held back since his sight of Professor Roxanne. It was obvious now that he wouldn’t have survived this, how could he. “Dorred died, Professor Roxanne died, Kaedric died, even Quinzel died, did you really think you could survive?” Valentine’s own voice asked him.

His own corpse laid beneath him, clutching his sword, while his other arm ripped off at the shoulder. His face was only filled with hate and regret, tears still wet in his eyes. Next to his own corpse Valentine found Zylphia’s in the corner, even more tears in her fearful eyes. Her body had given the least amount of resistance, cleanly stabbed through the heart.

As Valentine looked at his own dead body the memories began flowing into his head, replaying the events that led him to this point. When he yelled at the courtyard what greeted him was not his friends, but instead a pitch-black creature that held in its hands Michael’s head. As Valentine immediately leapt back to the group behind him the creature ran at them.

The creature in his memories was more than just pure darkness, however, it had form. Its body was humanoid, however where there would have been ears there was instead long protruding horns. Its shape was fuzzy however, as a layer of black fog covered much of its body, only revealing its horns, human figure, and deep red pupils.

As the group continued backwards the creature followed. Dorred and Gunther tried and failed to stop it at the entrance. Professor Roxanne stalled it at the bulkhead, Kaedric slowed it at the tunnel exit, and Quinzel fought it for the longest at the Goblin cave. Finally, Valentine tried his hardest to protect Zylphia, ultimately failing.

With the return of his memories, so did his exhaustion and pain. The sudden return of the feeling of missing limbs brought labored breath to him. Suddenly he was no longer looking at his corpse, instead he was back in his soon to be dead body. The last moments he spent seeminly just a figment of his dying imagination. Regaining some strength in his last moments Valentine let go of his sword and pushed himself up with his remaining arm. Leaning his body against the wall behind him, the wall Zylphia also died on.

Suddenly Valentine began remembering some of his past. The time he ‘courted’ Zylphia, the time he promised to return safely to Terran. Further back he remembered the first lesson at the academy, that first conversation with Kaedric. Valentine remembered everyday he struggled to survive and learn in the 7 years after the magical beast invasion, the 7 long years after his parents' death. Valentine remembered the fight with the Lycanthrope, and as his body slowly slid from its rest on the wall, he began remembering his parents. Falling over, without the strength to right himself, Valentine’s head rests in the lap of Zylphia.

Closing his eyes, Valentine decided he wanted to use his final moments to remember his parents. He never got the chance to avenge them, never go the chance to kill that Lycanthrope, never got the chance to live after. He spent his entire life getting stronger for revenge, never letting himself rest long enough to enjoy the simple things. Even his trip to the library that led to arriving in the new world was just a momentary break in his training.

“So... this is it huh... sorry... that you had to die too...” Valentine looked up, locking eyes with the lifeless Zylphia. If he had gotten the chance, he would have loved to talk to her more. As Valentine closed his eyes, he remembered the smile on his face when his parents took him to that restaurant at the top of the tower. The convincing it took to get his mom to go there paid off well, the final meal with them still his favorite memory.