That night, after returning to his room with Geoffrey and listening to Geoffrey’s loud snoring—who was asleep from exhaustion—Ard glanced at his black and white Garuda perched on the side railing of his bed. His hand reached up to stroke the underside of the Garuda’s beak, which seed pleased but remained silent, the reason being that Geoffrey’s Behemoth was also snoring next to its master.
"You can’t sleep either, huh," Ard whispered.
The Garuda nodded and spread its wings as if saying yes to Ard’s whisper.
Ard lay back down and stared at the ceiling. "A lot happened today... it was really exhausting, but I learned a lot. Irwin turns out to be Princess Eva’s servant and guard, and he’s apparently half-demon who has the Dark elent... plus, I can’t forget Irwin’s words asking to protect Eva from her older brother... I know her brother Edmund is a jerk... but what exactly does he want with Eva? That’s what makes curious," Ard thought.
Ard closed his eyes, trying to sleep and enjoying the sound of Geoffrey’s snoring below him. Then he opened his eyes and turned to look at his Garuda. The Garuda was also closing its eyes and seed ready to sleep while perched. Ard smiled and then started thinking again.
"What na should I give him?" Ard thought, smiling.
Ard closed his eyes again, and finally, his consciousness began to fade, and he fell fast asleep. A mont later, the Garuda suddenly opened its eyes. It turned to look out the window, then turned to observe Ard’s face and kept staring because Ard’s eyes were moving and he started to groan. His body was sweating, and his hands began to clutch the blanket.
***
["Huh," Ard’s consciousness uttered.]
He looked around. "Kill... kill... kill," he saw himself standing on an execution stage set up in the city square. The townsfolk were screaming, cheering toward the stage. "Kill him," one resident yelled, throwing a rotten tomato, and the tomato passed right through Ard’s body.
["W-what is this," Ard’s consciousness said.]
Ard turned and looked back, his eyes wide. He saw Ashton, heavily wounded and with a bruised face, kneeling on the stage, and Esralda, who looked heavily pregnant, next to him in the sa state, looking down. Ashton, whose face was covered in tomatoes and eggs, slowly turned to look at Esralda, who also looked at Ashton while holding her belly, although both of her hands were chained.
A handso prince wearing lavish clothes stepped onto the stage. He walked past Esralda and Ashton with a condescending look, then backed up, stopping in front of Ashton. "Wham," he kicked Ashton’s face, then imdiately wiped his boot with a piece of cloth. Ashton lifted his head. He glared at the noble, his teeth gritting and his lip bleeding.
"If you had just given Esralda to , you wouldn’t be dying, but instead, you ran away with Esralda and got her pregnant... you bastard," the prince said, kicking Ashton’s face again until Ashton stumbled and fell backward.
"Ashton!" Esralda scread, "Clink," but she couldn’t move because she was chained.
"Looks like you still care about him too... you both deserve to die together," the prince said.
"You bastard, Jourell... Esralda and I just wanted to live in peace. I won’t accept you, as the young king of the Soranus Kingdom, treating us like this. You took your father’s throne by murdering him, didn’t you," Ashton yelled. "Phooey," Ashton spat on Jourell’s shoe.
"Wham," Jourell kicked Ashton in the stomach again until Ashton spit up liquid from his mouth and bent over in pain. Jourell imdiately crouched down and grabbed Ashton’s hair, forcing his head up to look at his furious face.
"I absolutely hate your tone, I don’t care at all whether you’re a hero or not, I don’t care at all whether you saved humanity or not... all I care about is that you took the woman I wanted, and if I can’t have her... neither can you," Jourell said.
"Phooey," Ashton spat on Jourell’s face again. Jourell gasped and imdiately cleaned his face with a handkerchief. Jourell released Ashton’s head and stood up, then he faced his subjects gathered in the square.
"Oh, my people, right now we will execute the traitors of humanity who conspired with the demon god and terrorized us! They were only pretending to be heroes, and one day they would have consud us. Let us celebrate our victory by executing them!" Jourell shouted.
"Long live King Jourell!" the residents cheered.
Jourell imdiately turned to look at the executioner, who was ready on the side. The executioner nodded, imdiately stepping forward to Esralda while dragging a large axe, then kicking a wooden block in front of her. He imdiately pushed Esralda’s head down onto the block.
"Hey... don’t do that... hey... no... don’t... Esralda!" Ashton yelled. "Clink... clink... clink," Ashton kept moving and struggling, but he was chained tightly and couldn’t move.
Esralda turned to look at Ashton and smiled. "Goodbye, I’ll go ahead with our child, but I will definitely co back," Esralda said.
"No... no... don’t... please don’t... Esralda... Esralda... no!" Ashton yelled, crying and struggling.
Jourell imdiately walked back toward Ashton and deliberately held Ashton’s head so that Ashton couldn’t look away.
"Like I said, if I can’t have her, neither can you. [He turned to look at the executioner] do it," Jourell said.
"No... don’t... please don’t," Ashton replied.
The executioner nodded. He imdiately raised his axe high. Ashton’s eyes kept watching because his head was being held by Jourell, the young king of the Soranus Kingdom. Esralda turned to look at Ashton and kept her desperate smile with tears streaming down her face, then she said, "I love you, Ash..." Before Esralda could finish speaking, "Sssshhwing," "Crack," the axe ca down, separating Esralda’s head from her body with a single swing.
Seeing his wife’s head fall into the basin, Ashton couldn’t utter another word. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. Slowly, he glanced at Esralda’s large, still stomach. "Thump... thump... thump," his heart pounded loudly. Tears stread down his face. His wife and unborn child were executed right in front of him, accompanied by the cheers of the very humans he had saved from the demon god.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Ashton roared loudly, like a wounded animal.
Ashton scread, "Clang... clang," he broke his chains. Black smoke began swirling, gathering above him. Black clouds imdiately rolled across the sky, accompanied by lightning strikes and instant heavy rain. "Blugh," Jourell, seeing this, imdiately fell backward into a sitting position. He saw Ashton’s eyes turn red, his skin turn black, and his body grow more muscular, plus two horns erged from his head.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,"
["Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Ard’s consciousness, now crying and feeling all of Ashton’s suffering, also scread, clutching his head with both hands.]
Then, everything went dark. "Crack," the world beca fractured, and "Smash," the world shattered like a collapsing mirror. Ard, still feeling everything, fell into the darkness toward a white point that was rapidly approaching, utterly helpless.
Reviews
All reviews (0)