CHAPTER 13: ZALCHYS
Nysia.
Under the
Naqeera, who was in Zalchys's embrace, suddenly felt him tremble.
She looked up at his face and found his facial expression a bit odd.
“Zalchys? Is anything wrong?”
She asked but didn't receive any reply.
She frowned and said,
“Don’t tell me—it’s happening again. Like last time, when you felt something off and lost your sense of self?”
Zalchys still didn't respond or move.
‘Huh? What's wrong with him? He…isn't even moving in the slightest and… What!? His heartbeat..!’
She was very close to his heart, so almost immediately noticed that his heart wasn't beating.
“Hey! Zalchys! Can you hear me!? Please respond!”
She became alarmed and left his embrace while trying to move his body. But he didn't budge an inch.
He just sat there. Like a statue.
“No...this isn't real, right? Am I under an illusion?” She couldn't believe what she was seeing and tried to spot any changes around the area but didn't find anything out of the ordinary. The tree was still isolated from the rest of Nysia. But Zalchys was neither moving nor talking.
“Just what went wrong? He was fine just a moment ago! He even asked me a question! But after his body shook…he suddenly became like this…”
She couldn't make anything out of the situation and became restless.Tears swelled up in her eyes.
She tried her best to move him and even shouted near his ear, but the results were the same as before.
She felt helpless, two drops of tears dripping down her cheeks.
“Why is this happening to me? Why? One moment I felt lost after discovering I'm no longer useful but the next moment I unknowingly felt hopeful because of And now he abandons me…? Leaving me alone? I'm alone…once again? Why?”
She complained while leaning towards Zalchys's shoulder.
“Why do I feel so cordial towards him? Before this, we had never met before. Why does my heart feel like it's being constantly shattered into pieces? For just seeing him like this?”
She clenched her fists and slammed them on his shoulder, trying to get a reaction.
“Why do I feel like I have lost something precious?”
Her tears soaked them both once again for the second time in a matter of half an hour as she cried miserably. She felt a sharp, excruciating pain tear through her head as countless fragmented memories flooded in…
She questioned herself not remembering anything else besides this very same scene.
Her voice tore through the air as she clutched him desperately, the horrifying truth sinking in—Zalchys was already gone, taken by an unnatural fate.
She questioned herself, feeling confused.
Her hands gripped Zalchys's shoulder while her nails dug deeper into his flesh.
A sudden tremor ran through her, silencing her cries. The air grew still. Before her, a hazy began to stir.
“This… What is this? A scene?”
Her vision blurred as the foggy scene began to merge with the world itself—until, from afar, it looked as though an enormous door had just opened.
There she saw—
…
A luxurious-looking room.
At one side of the room near a window, there was a man and a woman.
They clung to each other in a passionate embrace, as if they were lovers who had just met after a very long time.
Then they slowly looked at each other and called the other by their name.
Naqeera heard them clearly, her eyes widening, mouth agape.
"Zalchys and… E-E-Elestria…!? W-What!?”
Disbelief washed over her, her face frozen in shock.
And then.
Naqeera stiffened, her pupils constricted as she looked at the woman properly.
The woman before her had a strikingly similar face to her. But she had a more mature charm, long white hair and wore an elegant white robe.
She covered her mouth with her right hand trying to process what she saw just now and those memories of Zalchys's death from before.
‘No… It c-can't be, r-right? S-She is the King of Elysia..!’
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She fell on her knees.
Her dimmed gaze still locked at the couple before her.
“I… Who am I?”
Naqeera questioned herself.
“Why did things become how they are?”
Her heart clenched. Her head lowered, eyes fixed to the floor.
She couldn't hear anything anymore.
Not because she couldn't.
But because she didn't want to.
She closed her deep-blue eyes.
…
At the
“Do you know how long I've been waiting for you? Do you know how I've been all this time? Do you know how much suffering you've caused me by me?
Elestria, who was still in Zalchys's embrace, asked him with a broken voice.
“I was…lost. But now, I am…back. From today on, I shall…be with you.”
Zalchys replied in a guilty tone while tousling her silky white hair. Inwardly though, he was still feeling confused about the whole situation.
At this point, he also noticed the portrait of the newlyweds reflected in the mirror. To his own astonishment, however, the sight didn't shock him. It was as though he already understood the depth of the connection he shared, or once held— with the woman with whom he was now entwined.
‘I can't tell why but… this situation feels a bit off. Something is definitely wrong. Only if I could remember the conversation with myself that day.’
He didn't show his real feelings on his face and said,
“Now that I am here, we will leave soon. But before that, I have something to ask you.”
“What might that be?”
Elestria asked, her eyebrows perked up slightly.
Zalchys’s gaze become sharp as he asked in a serious tone,
“Do you remember Naqeera?”
Elestria simply smiled mysteriously and slowly lifted her left hand to caress his face.
But at that very moment, her left ring finger suddenly shone and something invisible yet solid shot out towards Zalchys's eyes.
A hissing sound was heard near his eyebrows before the slimy thing entered between his eyebrows.
Elestria’s eyes grew dim, her sight turning cloudy. In an instant, she sank into unconsciousness.
Zalchys groaned and let her sprawl on the floor.
“This…! What's this!?”
He grabbed his head with force, his body trembling violently.
“Argh! This pain! My head!”
He fell on his knees and reached his right chest with his left hand.
He coughed up a mouthful of thick, black blood, splattering the ground like ink spilled from his very soul.
Soon, his head spun as many fragmented memories abruptly attacked his already fragile state of mind. His body went limp as he began to lose his sense of self. Half-closed, his eyes lingered on the strangely familiar ceiling.
‘My heart…feels like… It's being squeezed… I can't control my body.’
His previously pale, flawless skin convulsed, nerves screaming as if countless hot needles were piercing every inch of his body.
By now, his entire form glowed red, the rising heat and vapor giving the horrifying impression that he was being burned from within.
Gradually, the redness blackened. His figure took on the appearance of a charred corpse.
Even his once pitch-black hair twisted into something unrecognizable.
His young, strong body lost all traces of its former vigor.
From head to toe, he became a burnt wooden effigy.
His sword-like eyes were the last to be consumed by the invisible, searing lava.
Every breath scraped his throat.
Every weak heartbeat felt like a sharp knife twisting inside his heart.
The agony crawled beneath his skin, like it was whispering with an evil grin—
His vision dimmed… into Nothingness.
The feeling crawled through his mind like an
He drew in one final breath, a desperate gasp with all he had left.
It slipped past his lips like a dying wind dissolving into the void.
…
Naqeera saw it all unfold before her, while harshly biting her lips. Her inner thoughts in a turmoil, hands clenched into tight fists, blood seeped out from the gaps between her fingers.
Just a moment ago she stretched her hands towards Zalchys, desperation visible in her eyes. But an invisible barrier rippled between them, refusing to let her through.
“I—”
With a mountain-like heavy heart, she tried to say something with all her willpower but still couldn't utter the words.
Tears of blood started to flow like a neverending sea.
“I—— I-I’m s-sorry…”
She barely managed to voice her only thoughts at that moment.
She felt hopeless and…
Guilty.
A few moments passed in silence.
Then she suddenly jolted.
Something unknown and invisible appeared out of nowhere near her right shoulder and whispered something into her ears.
Her whole body shook as she experienced—
She coughed up a mouthful of golden blood, splattering the floor beneath her.
‘What was that just now!? Did I just… hear my own voice?’
In the next moment, her eyes quickly spotted the unconscious woman beside Zalchys.
There she saw a beautifully carved wedding ring on her left ring finger.
Her gaze sharpened as she instantly stood up and went near Elestria, her eyes shining in wisdom.
Then.
Without wasting another second she removed the ring from her.
And
Wore it on her own left ring finger.
A gentle wind came from the window and enveloped her from head to toe.
A hazy fog surrounded the unconscious Elestria.
A few moments later, that particular area of that room became visible.
Now, there was only one woman.
She was standing there, beside Zalchys.
There was no other figure except the two in that room.
The woman had an clad in an elegant Her long-silky black hair was cascading down her back, her eyes closed.
She slowly opened her eyes.
It was a pair of strange eyes.
She moved to her right and saw the already dead Zalchys.
Her eyes became cold for a moment as the air around her became icy cold. Squinting her eyes, she spoke with a chilling voice,
“I do not who you are… yet.
But what you have done to me and Zalchys is unforgivable…
Today, I, Elestria Revedawr, swear—
By the end of the vow, she gnashed her teeth and closed her eyes, eyelashes trembling in fury.
She took a deep breath and barely managed to calm down. Then she opened her eyes.
Her gaze became soft, an affectionate smile blooming on her face, she approached the unsightly dead body of Zalchys and sat down.
Then she gently lifted the corpse into her lap and bit down on her right index finger.
Black blood welled and poured forth. She pressed it onto his right chest.
A unique yet beautiful hexagon pattern was drawn upon the already black heart.
Her eyes shone expectantly as she said in a confident tone with a dreamy voice—
…
Under the
Right after Naqeera and Elestria became one single person.
Both Zalchys’s statued figure and Naqeera's despairing figure disappeared from there.
And then.
The entire tree started to shake.
…
At the unknown
The three-year old the three-months old blind atop a three-meter tall and a black armored in his thirties.
All three of them had a hopeful expression on their faces.
“Things are indeed going according to our expectations by far.”
Said the warrior in a deep voice.
“Yes! I told you! THIS girl is special! Unlike the last seventeen times! I'm looking forward to the next scene!”
The child spoke in an excited tone.
“It’s the most crucial part. We have done everything we could. Now it's all up to
The kid said in a neutral tone.
Before the three of them, a new scene slowly started to form.
And locked their eyes on that scene
In the scene they saw—
…
A circular area with a thirty three kilometer radius.
Half of it was covered in black grass and the other in white grass.
At the very center of that area, there were three, nine-meter tall red pillars.
A two meter tall humanlike figure was being held with those pillars.
His head and body were tied in the middle pillar with a golden cloth.
His right hand and right leg were tied in the pillar to his right with the same thing.
His left hand and left leg were tied in the pillar to his left in a similar way.
His body had no skin covering it, leaving the flesh and bones out in the open.
The stench of decay clung to the area, the sharp and putrid smell of rotting flesh choking the air.
A closer look at the body would reveal a very disturbing sight.
Dermestid Beetles, Coffin Flies, Cloth Moths and many more carrion insects were occupying the entire copse, covering from head to toe.
They have been living on this for the last
No matter how many they were in numbers, they never seem to run out of this
Defying the laws of nature itself, the was in fact in that condition for nearly two millennia.
At this moment, suddenly a blurry figure appeared before the living corpse. An indistinct figure of a woman wearing some black. She lifted her right hand and pointed towards the corpse before her and whispered,
After that, she lifted her left and pointed it skyward. A golden light covered her entire left arm as a appeared before her left chest.
The book opened by itself and its pages stopped turning after reaching to a particular point of the
Then she started to recite a verse from the
Then.
For the first time in the last 1,741 years, the corpse trembled in a horrible manner.
And.
A hoarse, ancient voice encompassed the entire area.
After reaching the part, it stopped.
Not long after that, the entire circular area started to experience a massive earthquake.
The center part was shaking even more violently.
All the carrion insects living across the corpse fell to the ground.
All the pillars crumbled into a cloud of fine dust as the corpse hit the ground with a sickening thud.
…
At the luxurious room.
Zalchys’s corpse slowly disappeared from Elestria's lap.
Her eyes shed tears once again…
But…this time, it was tears of joy.
…
At the scene, the corpse’s body slowly regained its normal flesh color.
All the wounds healed almost instantly.
A pale but flawless skin regenerated upon a two-meter tall battle hardened body.
Pitch-black hair grew and covered the head.
A strong gust of wind lifted the sprawling human figure from the ground and placed him on a standing position.
After a while, the atmosphere became normal. The rumbling stopped.
The slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes were shining in a strange light.
This pair of eyes had—
Then.
He took a deep breath.
And.
Spoke in a sharp yet deep voice,
THE EXISTENT OF THE VOID