Conrad stared at Regius in quiet shock.
" This man... or should I say boy.. .what the hell?"
Conrad witnessed the events that took place on the snowy plain almost like he’d been there in person.
He could feel Regius’ pain, almost like it was his own.
He was familiar with the pain of losing a loved one, when Jace had been murdered, his image overlapped with the one in Conrad’s mories of his family.
He’d almost cried then, steeling himself to the emotions that threatened to swallow him up.
He hadn’t known the man, Alec, but the Captain of the small cohort had undoubtedly been a maestro.
The unlucky youths had stood no chance the mont he’d fallen.
Regius writhed in the tallic chair he was strapped to, his eyes darting feverishly back and forth behind his eyelids.
" Co on," Conrad muttered under his breath, " what else happened?"
****
"Lord Samael, it’s a pleasure to et you in person," Damien said warmly.
Rebecca had led the guardian and his entourage to the Thane’s banquet hall.
Samael offered Damien a smile, rising to his feet.
Damien shook the man’s hand, taking a seat across from him.
"Lord Damien, I’d like to get straight to the point. Could you show this man that you managed to capture?"
"Well, that’s certainly frank, " Damien inwardly thought.
" But of course, Lord Samael," he said, rising to his feet.
" Right this way..."
****
In Regius’ mind, the masked man roughly dragged him to his feet, tossing him over his shoulder.
Regius saw stars, a wave of searing, white hot pain flaring through his mangled leg.
The man nonchalantly strode forward, then effortlessly jumped, soaring into the air.
In that single leap, clearing over one hundred tres, ascending into the sky.
Regius subconsciously registered the feat through the haze of blinding agony plaguing his mind.
He gritted his teeth, fighting back a scream from the agony of the sudden movent.
The monster, now an old man, followed closely behind.
The masked figure landed soundlessly on one of the wide battlents of the ruin, strolling to the very edge before stopping
The Terian ruins sprawled before them, forming concentric rings.
The dark walls where they stood ford an impenetrable outer rim, sealing off the lost civilization.
In his daze, Regius vaguely glimpsed the thddle rim, comprising a large tenebrous wall, rising almost endlessly into the sky.
"Let’s move," the mysterious man ordered.
" The ruins are about to shift and he won’t want us to get left behind."
Zagrul nodded curtly, bending his knees a bit.
In the next mont, everything turned into a blur.
The buildings around them rged into one long blur, zooming past them faster than Regius could process.
Monts later, the two n stood in front of the vast wall that made up the inner rim.
Rgius gasped in shock, greedily breathing in lungfuls of air.
"What the hell?! How is this even possible?"
His eyes widened slightly at the phenonon unfolding around him.
Regius felt a massive wave of umbralis gather.
In the next mont, the flood of umbralis surged forward, slamming into the wall.
The ground quaked, trembling tremulously beneath their feet.
A mont later, the gargantuan wall lit up.
Strange sigils inscribed in the walls’ surface in an unknown tongue ca to life, pulsating rhythmically, with bewitching intensity.
Regius stared at the runes in awe and disbelief, his pain and anguish montarily forgotten.
The wall pulsated with increasing intensity.
In the next instant, sothing that would have been otherwise impossible happened.
The entire plain groaned, the sound echoing for miles, and then the gigantic wall began to move.
Regius’ mouth fell open, watching the anomaly in shock.
The great wall cycled, slowly revolving through the ground.
The revolution slowly picked up speed, becoming faster and faster.
A massive fissure appeared in the revolving wall, forming an entrance to the inner part of the middle rim.
The two n darted inside, swiftly making their way deeper in.
" The whole city, it’s moving..." Regius groggily thought, realizing the rhythmic tremors for what they truly were.
The masked figure abruptly stopped in front of an inconspicuous structure, a small building of sorts, and entered it at a asured pace.
Within the structure, a long corridor stretched into the distance, with strange floating electric lights adorning its walls.
The two n walked through the long tunnel, taking asured steps through it.
Outside, the concentric circles constituting the inner, middle and outer rims glowed, revolving at frenetic speeds.
The snow lted, seething and frothing from the heat of the revolutions.
Rivers of water flowed into the plain, the lted snow, sweeping large swathes of ice away, creating an instant avalanche.
The entire city pulsated with brilliant light, mirroring the ghostly aurora lights in the sky.
Then, a split second later, the entire city, Teria, vanished, leaving a silent plain behind.
Within the ruins, the masked figure and Zagrul arrived at their destination.
The long corridor ended in a massive gilded hall.
The hall had a peculiar aura of regality to it, demanding reverence.
Dim lights shone, floating near the hall’s dod ceiling but not quite touching it.
At its end, a throne sat on a raised platform.
On the throne, a figure shrouded in shadow, with his chin resting on his fist.
Regius’ entire body froze in the presence of the stranger.
The man emanated waves of umbralis.
"What kind of monster is this?" Regius thought in shock.
His body trembled uncontrollably, spasming erratically.
The other two n paled in comparison to the monster seated on the throne.
The two n silently walked to the centre of the hall, stopping a short distance away from the throne.
The masked figure placed Regius down, then genuflected with the old man following suit.
Regius fought the urge to instinctively raise his gaze and stare at the man on the throne.
His instincts scread at him to remain still and flee at the sa ti.
" You took your ti getting here," a soft voice spoke, echoing throughout the hall.
The temperature within the hall plumted considerably at the sound of the man’s voice.
A ghostly mist rolled through the hall, turning Regius’ every breath frigid.
" I apologize, Lord Asterix," the masked figure said, lowering his head further.
Asterix sighed, shifting slightly.
Behind him, a dark-horned beast stepped forward from the darkness of the shadow, snaling nacingly.
"From what I could tell, Zagrul enjoyed himself quite a bit... no?"
Regius furtively glanced at the figure of the old man, kneeling a short distance away.
He could almost see the man tremble.
" It was just a bit of fun, my Lord..."
" A bit of fun..." the voice echoed.
The whisper was as silent as it was chilling.
Regius’ heart thudded frantically in his chest, almost as though it wanted to break out of his ribcage.
In that mmonthe almost prayed the ground could swallow him.
A mont later, the voice spoke from right in front of him.
" Did I hear that correctly, Zagrul? It was fun..."
Regius’ body completely froze.
His lungs failed to take in any breath.
The man’s presence was overwhelming, suffocating, gunlike, anything he’d ever experienced.
Regius’ mind went blank.
A short distance away, he faintly made out the sound of Zagrul screaming, a long and agonizing scream.
The man abruptly fell silent.
A mont later, a resounding thud echoed through the hall.
The sound of a body hitting the floor.
" Let that be a lesson to you. Test my patience again and you’ll pay with your life."
The figure moved to stand beside Regius’s prone form.
" And who is this?"
" He’s the only survivor, my Lord."
" Is that right?" the man murmured, squatting down in front of Regius.
" Look at ."
The man’s voice brooked no denial. Against his will, Regius found his head rise on its own.
The man before him was clad in dark apparel seemingly woven out of the darkness itself.
Pale dark gauntlets adorned his fists, absorbing the light around him.
And yet, the most striking thing about the man was his eyes; his eyes were a bewitching crimson.
Suddenly, the man cocked his head, staring at Regius, seemingly staring at sothing, only he could see.
A cruel smile spread across his face.
" I see you, little spy."
Conrad stared back, his mouth falling slightly open in shock.
A wave of blinding pain flared through his subconscious, nearly wrenching a scream from his lips.
He gasped, staggering back in shock and pain.
In the next mont, Re gius broke free of his bindings.
With a roar, he leapt through the air.
He arrived in front of Conrad in a heartbeat.
His fist flashed through the air, landing squarely in the dazed maestro’s solar plexus.
Conrad gasped, grimacing in pain and confusion.
His body slamd through the reinforced alloy door, hurtling into the wall of the reinforced cell outside.
Damien’s eyes widened in surprise at the sight of Conrad flying out of the containnt cell, instantly becoming wary.
A mont later, Regius darted out, slipping beneath him.
The man twisted his body at an almost impossible angle, delivering a brutal kick that Damien barely blocked, flying back into the wall.
The underground bunker groaned from the force unleashed, but held.
Regius grinned triumphantly, darting towards the exit.
A mont, a black gloved hand grabbed him, slamming him into the ground.
Samael chuckled lightly, watching Regius’ attempts to rise.
For all his prodigious strength, Regius failed to budge the man an inch.
" You never ntioned the prisoner would be feisty, Damien?"
" You don’t understand," Regius snarled, spitting violently.
" None of you can stop him."
Samael smiled, his dark eyes gleaming eerily.
"I’ve stopped you. You’ve clearly realized the difference in our strength. So tell , who can’t I stop?"
" Asterix," onrad whispered.
Samael frowned slightly, his expression turning grim.
****
Epilogue:
A body lay motionless on an examination table covered with a white cloth.
The man’s body had a grotesque hole in its torso, where the heart should have been.
The man’s heart had been haphazardly placed back in the chest.
As though activated by a phantom entity, strange sigils flared to life.
The damaged aorta of the corpse reattached itself, growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.
Small blood vessels blood, spreading throughout the man’s chest cavity.
The now functioning heart pumped rhythmically, sending pulses of blood and umbralis throughout the man’s body.
The gaping hole in the man’s chest swiftly closed, his lungs rapidly nding themselves.
Monts later, the man’s eyelids fluttered open, revealing the strange, glowing crimson irises underneath.
He inhaled deeply, a faint smile appearing on his face.
"It’s certainly good to be back."
End of first volu.
What a ride it’s been... I’ll be starting on vol 2 imdiately.
Do comnt, thanks for reading up to this point.
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