Sitting on a bench outside, I put my elbow on the armrest and my chin on my palm a bit bored. Nezar stood by my side quietly, looking over towards the two horned figure approaching us quietly.
The demon king, however he got here, apparently had no problem whatsoever in finding his way in the darkness and never stumbled across a rock at all.
With his brown hair, he looked a bit like a mixture of rabbit and goat as he stepped into my garden in complete disregard for all the withered plants there.
“The saint herself in such a place?” He asked stopping a mere metre in front of me and disregarded Nezar completely.
“I can return the question right away. What are you doing here?” I asked a smiled on my lips.
“Sightseeing.” He said in his deep voice casually. Chuckling a bit, I waited a little until I replied to him.
“I see. I suppose you already have what you came here for?” I said, pointing at the bone in his right hand that looked a bit like a one from a dragon.
“Partly. I can’t help but to think that it must be fate you are here as well.” He said and conjured a blue flame into his right hand.
“You must be really unlucky then.” I commented dryly, just as he threw it at me leisurely. I didn’t even flinch at all, but rather enjoyed how Nezar stepped in and simply snipped, letting the flame disappear instantly.
“I can’t have you do that. Having her around for the time being increases my chances of getting out of this place.” He said and stepped in front of me.
“Insolent fool. I am the demon king! The strongest being alive! I am the main antagonist of every novel there is! And some puny mage will not stand in my way!” The demon king said a bit too full of himself, conjuring a multitude of blue burning balls all around him.
“And I am now the strongest mage alive! I can see … I can feel the mana in the air and manipulate it freely. You may have bested me in the past, but with this power I can call myself king of kings, the emperor of magic.” Clapping a bit to support his cause, I enjoyed how the two men drunk on power stared each other for a little while. “Nobody can defeat me at this poi-“ During one second, Nezar stood there all mighty and lively. He was truly looking quite healthy with this illusion nobody could see through at all. And in the next second, only two feet were left of him, blood flowing out of them slowly.
The demon king was far more surprised than I was as he wasn’t the cause of Nezar’s quick and inconsequential death. And then, the demon king vanished into thin air as well along with the bone in his hands.
Turning my head around, I eyed the house a little before I turned around with a smile on my lips.
“Aska! Nice job on keeping the house in a good condition.” I said, giving him a thumbs up right away.
“You … you aren’t angry for killing him?” He asked, quite stupefied because I hid my emotions so well.
“Nah. He was destined to die anyways.” I admitted and stood up from the bench slowly, my right hand on the hilt of the newly acquired katana. “So, you are finally back in purgatory after all this time? What made you change your opinion?” I asked, going on my toes to kiss his cheek.
“You know, I wanted to meet the person I lov-“ He said while the sword in my hand transformed into a dagger which I quickly rammed into his throat.
“I missed you too! Irminsul and I have been playing board games recently as well, but you didn’t show up at all.” I said happily, pulling the flaming dagger out of his throat and rammed it into his heart right away.
“We … should talk this … over.” He admitted slowly troubled by all the wounds stopping him from speaking easily.
“I fully agree!” I said with a bright smile on my lips, transformed the weapon back into a sword and swung it at his neck right away. His head flew into the air right away and red blood escaped his corpse which I kicked into the chest aggressively.
“And now I have thirty seconds to calm down.” I muttered while watching the dissolving corpse with a crazy smile on my lips. Without this weapon, I wouldn’t even have hurt him at all, but rather just damaged his vessel a little which he could repair easily. Like this though, he had to reconstruct everything on the world of gods, Elysium. That weapon merely brought me thirty seconds … but it was better than nothing.
“Look, I’m sorry.” He said, reappearing exactly thirty seconds behind me.
“For what?” I asked, turning around with a blank expression on my face.
“For everything?” He asked scratching his cheek deep in thought.
“You don’t even know what you should be sorry for?!” I shouted out angrily and grabbed the sword tightly, ready to use it once more.
“I’m sorry for sending that demon king back?” He asked oblivious that the demon king wasn’t my problem at all. That guy could try drown himself and I wouldn’t even bat an eye.
“What the actual fuck? Aska, I have forgiven you everything you did to me! Everything! From the time you tortured me, to the times you groomed me into becoming you! I HATE IT! But even that is nothing in comparison what I feel for you. Through some sickening fate, we are bound to love each other. And I accepted that a long time ago. What I cannot accept is that you want to take the only place away from me where I can be free.” I dated and stomped the ground furiously. I wanted a safe haven from him at all costs. But he apparently didn’t want to accept that anymore after all this time of sharing a single island without any issues. And that was what I called a betrayal.
“It’s not like this.” He said, holding his hand in front of his chest defensively.
“It is. With you around, I know very well I can never be free. We both are way too possessive for that. So please, stop attempting to get to Solaris.” I said and made myself ready for another fight.
“I cannot do that. For your sake.” That statement stunned me a bit, but I quickly put it off as a cheap excuse.
“So we are enemies.” I stated, pointing the katana at him angrily.
“I’m sorry.” He said, backing off slowly. He didn’t want a fight. And he also didn’t need one as well.
“You don’t look like that. And now send me and all the others back.” I demanded while glaring at him aggressively.
“I’m not doing that.” He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“What?” I asked hysterically.
“I have closed off every entrance to purgatory. I won’t let you leave until you the demon king finished the ceremony.” He said and backed off even further as I rushed towards him to slice his chest apart.
“You …” I growled angrily, but hadn’t lost any hope yet. I still had some aces up my sleeve after all.
“And I know you are betting on Irminsul to get you out of here … but that’s not happening.” He said, erasing one of the ways I had to get back to Solaris.
“And why should that stop me from reopening them? I know you cannot destroy any portal as that would cut off you and everyone else’s powers from that world, effectively destroying it instantly. Purgatory is like … a train station. Right?” I asked, knowing right away he would be surprised about my knowledge. But it was logical. Purgatory was the only place connecting all the different worlds, forcing even the gods to rely on this place. And without it, they couldn’t distribute their powers through the multiverse. If anyone would shut the door to Elysium, all the different worlds would cease to exist right away, making this place a powerful tool in negotiating with the gods as this was their Achilles heel.
“I have put a lock on Solaris. Only our powers are allowed to pass, but nobody else is.” And with that, I had enough. As fast as I could, I reignited the blade with black flames and beheaded the god who didn’t resist at all. Silence reigned supreme once more, at least if one ignored the screams resounding from my throat and my stomping onto the ground.
“You have been there before, Lucinda. There is no need to be angry … this is all part of my plan … obviously.” I consoled myself a few minutes afterwards though. I had learned nothing new that day, but at least I got rid of the necromancer and caught a glimpse of the demon king. Which were two positive developments … but I was captured in there. Well, if he really thought he could stop me from leaving, then he couldn’t gauge my abilities at all which was quite odd as he taught me some stuff.
Growling unhappily, I picked up my backpack on the bench, shouldered it and made my way back to the others who were still wandering through the darkness while shouting loudly to find the others. Hilariously though, none of them had any lights around them even though the guardians weren’t anywhere close to them.
“Lucy? Where are you?” Hannah screamed loudly, stumbling over a rock while I approached her from behind quietly.
“Lucy?” She screamed once more, this time even louder.
“I’m here.” I said calmly and watched how she jerked around and pointed her sword in my general direction.
“Whoa … how can I be so sure?” She asked, probably worried about being fooled by some other creature again. The risk for that was indeed very high though, so I don’t mind her healthy dose of doubt.
“Because I get really angry when you don’t trust me right now.”
“Okay, it’s you. Where is Nezar?” She asked out of curiosity, slowly seething her sword.
“Good question. His feet are at my old house and the rest … gone? You can make a light …” I mumbled quietly and sat down on a rather tall stone nearby. “And we are trapped here for the time being. How long can you hold out?”
“A week at most.” She said only slightly worried. Her faith in me was rather staggering considering the situation we were in.
“Great. We need half a day … hey! I got an idea. Do you remember how Albert talked about these train thingies?” I asked, already coming up with something that resembled a plan.
“Barely.” She admitted which was better than I had expected considering she understood not a single thing whenever he spoke about his inventions.
“Now that I’m back here, I think I had seen one of these in here a long time ago. It totally flattened me, but at least I know what this was now!” I explained a bit exited about experiencing a train ride for the first time.
“So?” She asked, clearly worried about my mental stability.
“I’m so exited to be in one!” I said and threw my arms into the air.
“You want to use … a train to get back?” Out of her mouth, it sounded way more insane than I thought it would be.
“Yeah. I can release the lock Aska put on Solaris pretty easily, but I can’t create a portal which allows matter to pass through. Which is why we use one of these things. Surely they can create one.” I presumed, hoping we wouldn’t smash into a rock because I was wrong.
“You are insane.” She said dryly, holding her head in her hands.
“I’m a very stable genius.” I said and patted my own shoulder proudly.
Sitting on a bench outside, I put my elbow on the armrest and my chin on my palm a bit bored. Nezar stood by my side quietly, looking over towards the two horned figure approaching us quietly.
The demon king, however he got here, apparently had no problem whatsoever in finding his way in the darkness and never stumbled across a rock at all.
With his brown hair, he looked a bit like a mixture of rabbit and goat as he stepped into my garden in complete disregard for all the withered plants there.
“The saint herself in such a place?” He asked stopping a mere metre in front of me and disregarded Nezar completely.
“I can return the question right away. What are you doing here?” I asked a smiled on my lips.
“Sightseeing.” He said in his deep voice casually. Chuckling a bit, I waited a little until I replied to him.
“I see. I suppose you already have what you came here for?” I said, pointing at the bone in his right hand that looked a bit like a one from a dragon.
“Partly. I can’t help but to think that it must be fate you are here as well.” He said and conjured a blue flame into his right hand.
“You must be really unlucky then.” I commented dryly, just as he threw it at me leisurely. I didn’t even flinch at all, but rather enjoyed how Nezar stepped in and simply snipped, letting the flame disappear instantly.
“I can’t have you do that. Having her around for the time being increases my chances of getting out of this place.” He said and stepped in front of me.
“Insolent fool. I am the demon king! The strongest being alive! I am the main antagonist of every novel there is! And some puny mage will not stand in my way!” The demon king said a bit too full of himself, conjuring a multitude of blue burning balls all around him.
“And I am now the strongest mage alive! I can see … I can feel the mana in the air and manipulate it freely. You may have bested me in the past, but with this power I can call myself king of kings, the emperor of magic.” Clapping a bit to support his cause, I enjoyed how the two men drunk on power stared each other for a little while. “Nobody can defeat me at this poi-“ During one second, Nezar stood there all mighty and lively. He was truly looking quite healthy with this illusion nobody could see through at all. And in the next second, only two feet were left of him, blood flowing out of them slowly.
The demon king was far more surprised than I was as he wasn’t the cause of Nezar’s quick and inconsequential death. And then, the demon king vanished into thin air as well along with the bone in his hands.
Turning my head around, I eyed the house a little before I turned around with a smile on my lips.
“Aska! Nice job on keeping the house in a good condition.” I said, giving him a thumbs up right away.
“You … you aren’t angry for killing him?” He asked, quite stupefied because I hid my emotions so well.
“Nah. He was destined to die anyways.” I admitted and stood up from the bench slowly, my right hand on the hilt of the newly acquired katana. “So, you are finally back in purgatory after all this time? What made you change your opinion?” I asked, going on my toes to kiss his cheek.
“You know, I wanted to meet the person I lov-“ He said while the sword in my hand transformed into a dagger which I quickly rammed into his throat.
“I missed you too! Irminsul and I have been playing board games recently as well, but you didn’t show up at all.” I said happily, pulling the flaming dagger out of his throat and rammed it into his heart right away.
“We … should talk this … over.” He admitted slowly troubled by all the wounds stopping him from speaking easily.
“I fully agree!” I said with a bright smile on my lips, transformed the weapon back into a sword and swung it at his neck right away. His head flew into the air right away and red blood escaped his corpse which I kicked into the chest aggressively.
“And now I have thirty seconds to calm down.” I muttered while watching the dissolving corpse with a crazy smile on my lips. Without this weapon, I wouldn’t even have hurt him at all, but rather just damaged his vessel a little which he could repair easily. Like this though, he had to reconstruct everything on the world of gods, Elysium. That weapon merely brought me thirty seconds … but it was better than nothing.
“Look, I’m sorry.” He said, reappearing exactly thirty seconds behind me.
“For what?” I asked, turning around with a blank expression on my face.
“For everything?” He asked scratching his cheek deep in thought.
“You don’t even know what you should be sorry for?!” I shouted out angrily and grabbed the sword tightly, ready to use it once more.
“I’m sorry for sending that demon king back?” He asked oblivious that the demon king wasn’t my problem at all. That guy could try drown himself and I wouldn’t even bat an eye.
“What the actual fuck? Aska, I have forgiven you everything you did to me! Everything! From the time you tortured me, to the times you groomed me into becoming you! I HATE IT! But even that is nothing in comparison what I feel for you. Through some sickening fate, we are bound to love each other. And I accepted that a long time ago. What I cannot accept is that you want to take the only place away from me where I can be free.” I dated and stomped the ground furiously. I wanted a safe haven from him at all costs. But he apparently didn’t want to accept that anymore after all this time of sharing a single island without any issues. And that was what I called a betrayal.
“It’s not like this.” He said, holding his hand in front of his chest defensively.
“It is. With you around, I know very well I can never be free. We both are way too possessive for that. So please, stop attempting to get to Solaris.” I said and made myself ready for another fight.
“I cannot do that. For your sake.” That statement stunned me a bit, but I quickly put it off as a cheap excuse.
“So we are enemies.” I stated, pointing the katana at him angrily.
“I’m sorry.” He said, backing off slowly. He didn’t want a fight. And he also didn’t need one as well.
“You don’t look like that. And now send me and all the others back.” I demanded while glaring at him aggressively.
“I’m not doing that.” He said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.
“What?” I asked hysterically.
“I have closed off every entrance to purgatory. I won’t let you leave until you the demon king finished the ceremony.” He said and backed off even further as I rushed towards him to slice his chest apart.
“You …” I growled angrily, but hadn’t lost any hope yet. I still had some aces up my sleeve after all.
“And I know you are betting on Irminsul to get you out of here … but that’s not happening.” He said, erasing one of the ways I had to get back to Solaris.
“And why should that stop me from reopening them? I know you cannot destroy any portal as that would cut off you and everyone else’s powers from that world, effectively destroying it instantly. Purgatory is like … a train station. Right?” I asked, knowing right away he would be surprised about my knowledge. But it was logical. Purgatory was the only place connecting all the different worlds, forcing even the gods to rely on this place. And without it, they couldn’t distribute their powers through the multiverse. If anyone would shut the door to Elysium, all the different worlds would cease to exist right away, making this place a powerful tool in negotiating with the gods as this was their Achilles heel.
“I have put a lock on Solaris. Only our powers are allowed to pass, but nobody else is.” And with that, I had enough. As fast as I could, I reignited the blade with black flames and beheaded the god who didn’t resist at all. Silence reigned supreme once more, at least if one ignored the screams resounding from my throat and my stomping onto the ground.
“You have been there before, Lucinda. There is no need to be angry … this is all part of my plan … obviously.” I consoled myself a few minutes afterwards though. I had learned nothing new that day, but at least I got rid of the necromancer and caught a glimpse of the demon king. Which were two positive developments … but I was captured in there. Well, if he really thought he could stop me from leaving, then he couldn’t gauge my abilities at all which was quite odd as he taught me some stuff.
Growling unhappily, I picked up my backpack on the bench, shouldered it and made my way back to the others who were still wandering through the darkness while shouting loudly to find the others. Hilariously though, none of them had any lights around them even though the guardians weren’t anywhere close to them.
“Lucy? Where are you?” Hannah screamed loudly, stumbling over a rock while I approached her from behind quietly.
“Lucy?” She screamed once more, this time even louder.
“I’m here.” I said calmly and watched how she jerked around and pointed her sword in my general direction.
“Whoa … how can I be so sure?” She asked, probably worried about being fooled by some other creature again. The risk for that was indeed very high though, so I don’t mind her healthy dose of doubt.
“Because I get really angry when you don’t trust me right now.”
“Okay, it’s you. Where is Nezar?” She asked out of curiosity, slowly seething her sword.
“Good question. His feet are at my old house and the rest … gone? You can make a light …” I mumbled quietly and sat down on a rather tall stone nearby. “And we are trapped here for the time being. How long can you hold out?”
“A week at most.” She said only slightly worried. Her faith in me was rather staggering considering the situation we were in.
“Great. We need half a day … hey! I got an idea. Do you remember how Albert talked about these train thingies?” I asked, already coming up with something that resembled a plan.
“Barely.” She admitted which was better than I had expected considering she understood not a single thing whenever he spoke about his inventions.
“Now that I’m back here, I think I had seen one of these in here a long time ago. It totally flattened me, but at least I know what this was now!” I explained a bit exited about experiencing a train ride for the first time.
“So?” She asked, clearly worried about my mental stability.
“I’m so exited to be in one!” I said and threw my arms into the air.
“You want to use … a train to get back?” Out of her mouth, it sounded way more insane than I thought it would be.
“Yeah. I can release the lock Aska put on Solaris pretty easily, but I can’t create a portal which allows matter to pass through. Which is why we use one of these things. Surely they can create one.” I presumed, hoping we wouldn’t smash into a rock because I was wrong.
“You are insane.” She said dryly, holding her head in her hands.
“I’m a very stable genius.” I said and patted my own shoulder proudly.
