After a moment of silence, Forus sighed as he kept caressing Ocelia's face as she leaned onto him. Although the Witch was dead, he and Ocelia had no time to sit and mourn for her dead. If they did not receive the ultimate rewards and get out from the Fleeting Emotions Ruin, they would be risking with their life as the outside forces came rushing in to take a look at the supposed emergence of the treasure.
Like light after darkness, the chamber lit up as the misty wall in the distance began clearing up, showing the way towards the end of the tunnel. The glowing orbs of light on the ceiling continued to release the mild light to illuminate the corridor. Although the final destination nevertheless remained obscure within the darkness, Forus and Ocelia could feel the intense beckoning inviting them to move closer and closer.
After facing the mystical battle against the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, a strange string of events unfolded before the couple as they experienced ups and downs. In the end, through a series of struggles, they ended up accepting an inheritance from the Witch, helping Ocelia advanced towards the middle-stage as well as gaining the Icy Scorpion Bloodline.
The intense life-and-death moments, as well as the bizarre incident, had tempered with Forus and Ocelia's mind and soul, compressing their quantity and improving their quality, indirectly helping with their sorcery mastery.
Without their awareness, they had gained a particular understanding of the second-ranked sorcery mastery, feeling its boundary and presence more clearly. By learning from a valuable experience, Forus and Ocelia gradually became more accumulated to the suppression of their aura. Now, Forus and Ocelia had a comfortable time thinking and breathing despite moving across the chamber full of the statues of the legendary figures.
Time passed slowly as the couple moved across the chamber, experiencing all of the statues' imposing aura, gaining a little bit of enlightenment every time they passed through the thin layer that dictated the area of the suppression. Although they did not undergo a rise in sorcery mastery, their power became more profound and condensed in every passing second.
After walking for some times, Ocelia started to notice that the numbers of the statues became lesser and lesser as they move forward, increasing in scarcity as well as power. If not for the gradual increase in strength that the Tower of Succession had arranged, Forus and Ocelia would never last more than a moment in front of these mythical figures.
As she lost in her thoughts, Ocelia accidentally bumped into Forus as he came to a sudden halt, causing her body to bounced onto him. Although they had held their hands for the entire journey, this unexpected accident had caused Ocelia's heart to beat faster for a while.
However, before Ocelia could say anything, she frowned as she suddenly detected an enigmatic presence permeating the air in front of her. If not for her standing in a certain radius around the figure, she could never be able to detect their appearance. With just one step forward or backwards, Ocelia would either lose its location or get suppressed by its overwhelming influence.
The aura from the mythical statues became like a speck of dust in front of this boundless ocean of power, getting dwelled into insignificant. Although the person did not possess a hill-like body like a titan, its mental pressure was like a vast mountain, threatening to suppress all things.
The golden robe fluttered as the figure stood peacefully alone and tranquil. Countless black runes resembling hourglasses, butterflies, and swans shone faintly on it, exuding a spiritual divinity that urged all mortals to worship in awe.
Although the robe did not sufficiently conceal its face, due to the distortion in time and space, Ocelia were not able to see past the changing reality and peer upon its facial appearance. All she could see was a vague silhouette that seemed to erase itself every time she took her eyes off of him. The only thing that enacted itself onto her memory was the pair of golden eyes that could gaze deep into her soul and see into her past.
As the golden pupils landed onto Forus, he felt an ever-increasing pressure all over his body as he stumbled backwards and crashed onto Ocelia, toppling onto the ground as he fell head-first into her soft body. Ocelia did not expect such a thing and did not prepare herself, letting Forus submerge onto her.
However, before Forus could take advantage of this accident, an all-reaching pain assaulted his body as he vomited out blood, feeling his body ripping itself apart as his grey soul struggled to hold them together. The greyish tentacles exploded outwards as they twisted rapidly, moving to every part of his body and held it together.
Inside his realm of consciousness, Forus' soul trembled as it pulsated in a fixed rhythm, moving according to some mysterious rules. The unknown yet familiar waves of aura came from the figure, weaving through space and time before bypassing all defence and landed onto his soul. Although the pulsating did no direct harm, the source of the tempo was too powerful for Forus to handle and indirectly exhausted his soul and mind.
Ocelia's heart sank as she grabbed onto Forus and tried to drag him away from the figure, getting out of the area where its pressure was assaulting him. However, before she could do anything, she felt a looming threat directing onto her as she suddenly lost her control over her body, falling onto the floor like a stringless puppet.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Just like that, Ocelia fell onto the floor once more, lying next to her husband as she watched his struggling body tried to get up. Alas, he could not suppress his internal wounds and would tremble in pain for a fix duration before falling onto the ground, losing his strength once again.
In a span of an instant, the couple became heavily injured and weakened, turning from their peak condition to their near-death state, and all it took was a casual gaze from the shadowy figure.
In the chamber, everything had gone silent as all were afraid of the figure's might, not wishing to attract its all-encompassing gaze. The faint music had fled the room, leaving absolute silence other than the subtle, tranquil sounds of footsteps. Even the cracking noise from the lanterns that hang above the ceiling quietened themselves down.
As the figure stood in front of the collapsed couple, he looked down with its golden eyes, showing a hint of emotion that it had never expressed before. Naturally, Ocelia could capture such fluctuation with her eyes, which caused her to frown. Although she knew her situation, she still felt resentful about the figure's expression.
In the golden gaze, it contained only one emotion, an unpretentious, explicit, utter disappointment.
It was pure, and stale, not containing any unnecessary disdain or sneer. Such emotion did not come from the figure's arrogance or confidence. Instead, it was personal.
As he reached his hand outwards, many sparks emerged from nothing as they formed into a clock-like formation, revealing many dead languages and mystical signs, showing ancient wisdom and knowledge no modern sorcerers could grasp. Although Ocelia had the information from the Mask of Sun and Moon, she could not understand anything.
Many revolving sparks of multi-coloured orbs jumped in and out of existence, moving in a pattern that created an afterimage, detailing something from a faraway land deep within the boundary of history. In the vision, Ocelia could see the rise of kingdoms as well as the falls of many organizations.
After a moment of manipulating the formation, the figure let out a sigh, filling the surrounding with melancholy and depression. Accompanied by it, the golden pupils dimmed down and faded into the grey void as the lighting of the chamber followed suit.
Empty and blank, the atmosphere came to a halt as all things ceased to move. The statues retraced their aura, becoming ordinary stones. The lanterns cooled down and extinguished into ashes, showering the hallway with eternal darkness.
In an instant of eternity, the light merged with the darkness, becoming lively yet stagnant. Time halted as space froze, capturing this moment of vague sentimental sensation with its perfect explication.
"In the end, fate still had its way." A defeated sigh came out as the figure exuded wariness of the world and a resigned aura. His majestic demeanour degraded into a depressing air of nature, becoming nothing more than a warm breeze that did no harm or good.
As he lamented, the figure extended his hand towards Forus, aiming at his chest, directing his force onto the gateway between Forus' heart and soul. The distorting grip closed in as it encompassed Forus' mental vision, enveloping his mind with its deadly pale surface. With every passing moment, the trembling of his grey soul became more violent, causing even more internal damages to his body.
However, before the hand could touch Forus, Ocelia exerted herself and weakly raised her hand, forcing her way in front of Forus and using her delicate fingers to block the path of the grip. With her other hand, she held the blood-soaked body of her husband onto her chest, letting rest upon her body as she tried her best to protect him.
As the dominant power invaded her body, the Mask of Sun and Moon trembled as it rotated endlessly, sending out rays of blue and red light, altering the temperature of the surrounding between melting-hot and freezing-cold. Not only that but above Ocelia's soul, a looming shadow quietly manifested in the form of a searing chain, binding her soul with something deep within the complex layers of the void.
The figure became stunned at the sudden turn of the event before quickly withdrew its hand, sparing the couple from their painless and quick death. Although the all-consuming power only came in contact with Ocelia for a mere instant, she had sustained a severe injury just by being near it.
With more than half of her sorcery energy drained, Ocelia heavily panted as dizziness flooded her mind, feeling her eyelids becoming heavier as she drifted into an unexpected sleep. Even for her, a sudden depletion of sorcery energy was still lethal for a sorcerer.
Upon withdrawal, Forus' soul also stopped pulsating as the greyish tentacles moved back into his realm of consciousness, leaving his fragmented body in the physical world. Fortunately, as his constitution was extraordinary, he could endure the pain and recover after a long recuperation.
By guessing that Ocelia had saved him and fainted afterwards, it became Forus' turn to hold her in his arm as he struggled to stand up. If Forus could see, he would know that the golden eyes that had been fixing themselves onto him started to diverse towards Ocelia.
As he stood still, Ocelia's red and blue threads of hair fluttered with the breezes, intertwined with Forus' as well as hers. The soft fragrance from her body spread into the surrounding, immersing Forus in a tranquil-like atmosphere.
"What do you want?" The gentle air suddenly broke as Forus asked a question that demanded an answer. Although he knew that if he angered the figure, both Ocelia and Forus would die a terrible death, he believed that the man did not wish to kill them.
The situation had reminded him of the previous encounter with the Witch of the Scarlet Snow, facing a matchless sorcerer that had other goals that could benefit both parties. If Forus could achieve the same result as before, they would receive another inheritance that at least would be as good as the Witch.
As Forus waited for the answer, the golden eyes flickered again as colour returned into them, dispelling the depressing and wary aura around the figure, regaining the previous noble bearing.
"I only want freedom, away from the restain of this world. Alas, fate is cruel and cunning, leaving no chance to obtain true independence as well as punishing ones who tried to reach it." Although Forus could not see, he could easily discern the subtle hint of pity as the figure spoke.
However, he could not know that the figure did not direct its pity at himself, but it was aiming at Ocelia, whose soul got bind with the cruellest curse originated from fate itself.