A fair way out, Merika hands closed to her chest nervously prancing about as she's hoping for Yel to emerge any moment now.
This time, it was her turn to wait up
And just like before, the one being expected, showed.
Yel showed up, despite all his bruises, he tried his best to let out a positive smile
"I... no, we made it, Merika" he murmured
Merika's eyes grew watery but this time, not from sadness, but huge relief.
She wipes off her building tears and rushed to assist Yel, lending him a shoulder to lean on.
"You, you look terrible Yel" she said with a small smile but Yel could tell she had been extremely worried
"Heh, yeah, you could say I took a real beating back there" he replied borrowing a page from Klein's book, in an attempt to lighten the mood
"But I'm sure it's child's play compared to what he should be going through right now" he continued
"Just desserts if you ask me" Merika said, proudly
With a smile they reveled in the victory they've worked so hard to achieve
Having traversed a good way without incident, Yel was able to manage on his own now
"Thanks Merika"
she shakes her head. "Don't mention it." she replied and looks ahead
"How long till we make it to the outside?" she asked
"Not far now, once we get through the narrow crossing ahead, we'll come in view of Lukemia bridge, across that, is the Kingdom of Lukemia, through which we can make it to the chapel" Yel responded
she sighed in relief
"I still can't believe we're almost there...after everything we've been through" she said
"Yea..."
"I...I just hope Leon and Stella were able to deal with the brute...and your friends are safe"
"..." Yel smiled. "I won't worry about them that much If I were you."
"huh? why's that?"
"The fact Al had to tell a lie in an attempt to destabilize our chemistry before, is prove they're a nuisance for him, and even more so, they're 5th in the revered 10 afterall"
"well...that was until we learned they had a traitor in their midst"
"True, but somehow I doubt he did much fighting anyways, considering I could stand up to him without losing my head for a brief spell" Yel said with a cheeky smile
"hoh...fancy yourself an equal to a revered adventurer now do you?" she asked lightheartedly
"heh, maybe"
They shared this small talk, in an attempt to put all that has happened, and is happening behind them
But,
It just couldn't stay that way for long
As suddenly, they both heard rustling in the bushes nearby
"hm?" Yel halted for a brief, Merika belated stopped as well
"Yel? what's the matter?" she asked
"...(am I going paranoid or did something...)"
Before Yel could finish constructing his thought, a heavy force connected on his chest and sends him flying as he crashed on the trees, falling to the ground
It was fast, it was thunderous, it was a knockout.
Merika at the side paralyzed in utter shock, her voice lost
"Y-Yel..." As soon as she recovered her lost voice-
"YEEELLLL!!!!!!!" Her scream tore through the forest, as she assumed the very worst
Then from the shadows, emerged a heavily injured Al.
He had lost an eye and had claw marks with blood dripping from every corner of his chest
He looked terrifying and could be argued isn't supposed to be alive based on that alone
However, there he was, with a menacing grin, having delivered a presumably long overdue retribution on the one that has given him so much headache in the past hour
Merika turned around to face him, extremely horrified by the sight of him
"How...how are you still" she said with watery eyes
"Alive? heh, did you think those nuisances were enough to stop me from fulfilling my mission, not a chance, little princess!"
He said gathering what was left of his strength to approach Merika who was taking a step backwards for every step forward he made.
"I slaughtered the all like the pigs they are! and I'll be doing that to you next! if you don't cough up the true scripture like the little tool you are?"
"ah-a-AAAHHHH" Merika screamed as she gathered her fragile courage to blindly attempt an attack on the injured Al
But,
WHAM!
As if swatting a fly, Al's landed a backhand blow on her face as she falls to the ground, trembling in pain
"argh" she's hardly used to the rough treatment as she cries in pain
"stay down insect! Your duty here is simple, it's straightforward. You only exist to give me the true scripture"
Al walked up to the helpless girl and using his leg gave her a solid kick on the stomach as she coughs out blood in pain
"urk!"
"You insects have caused me so much trouble! I won't have you, defy me, anymore!!" he kicked and kicked and kicked.
She couldn't fight back, and her weak body was already giving up on her
The now semi-unconscious Yel could hear the cries of Merika in the distance
"(tsk...move...move damn it...she's in pain...she's in trouble...move...MOVE!)" he's willing to do something, but the body is not reacting
"(Damn it... move...don't let her die...don't...let her...die...please)"
Al goes down and held her head up by pulling her hair.
She's closing her eyes to avoid showing any weakness, but the pain she was going through was clear to see
"This could all end in a second you know. All you have to do, is pull out the scripture, and I assure you, I'll let it end. Now, can I have it?" Al said softly
"rrgh..." but Merika was not buying it, and besides-
"I...will...never let you...get your hands on it-"
Before she could finish her statement, Al smashed her head in on the ground
"Aargh!"
"Wrong answer, let's take 5 and try that again" he said, clearly enjoying the dominance he was exerting in the situation
And again, Yel hearing sounds of her torture, and visualizing the worse, was hopelessly struggling to react, but added to the injuries he suffered in the skirmish and the suprise attack, he was struggling in vain.
"(urgh...Be useful for once damn it...I...I can't...let it end like this...)" he's beckoning, but in vain
Then, a familiar voice, was heard in his mind.
"[Ah, this feeling, this sensation, I know it all too well]"
"[huh?]"
Yel discovered in his semi-unconscious state he could hear the voice clearly
"[The pain of being helpless, the eagerness to become someone to somebody, having been no one to anybody your entire life]"
"[The willingness to give anything, cast all aside, even throw away your life; just to prove for one single moment, that it all can change. That you can be someone else...if only for this brief moment in time]"
The voice was eerily and poetically, refering to the situation he finds himself in, Yel thought.
And, if he could hear the voice so clearly this time, then perhaps he could communicate with it
A long shot, he thought, but he had no choice. He needed an outlet, and if this voice truly belonged to the one in his dreams as he thought, then maybe, just maybe it could help him.
"[And...did you ever, overcome this weakness?]"
Yel asked the voice, hoping from his words, he shared the same situation before and could relate to what he needed now
"[hmph that desperate I see, however, I don't come cheap]" the voice said sharply
"[So you can help me?]" Yel asked the voice hopeful.
"[That depends]" it replied
"[Help me! and I give you my word, I shall do anything to repay the favor]" Yel demanded
"[hm-hm-hm, your word you say? how much weight exactly does your word carry?]" the voice responded with a light chuckle
"[tsk...]"
"[Words tossed aside so readily can hardly be worth much, so I'll advise you choose the next ones carefully, if you intend to keep this discussion going]" the voice continued
"(Damn it, I can't keep wasting time here, Merika...Merika is in trouble and I can't keep playing with a voice in my head)"
Al had a needle on Merika's neck, as he was running out of patience
"Last chance, little princess! The scripture...or your life, your choice"
Merika remaining defiant, uttered not a single word, she was too weak, too pained to bother at this point
"[You don't have much time left, the girl will soon meet the sharp end of a needle and your indecisveness would've costed a life...a very valuable life]" said the voice
"[urgh...]"
"[But it doesn't have to come to that, this is one situation I can flip in a split second, you just need to prove to me, your worth, my cocoon]" the voice said with a sharp voice.
It was teasing Yel to act, it needed Yel to act
"[F-fine! the weight of my voice, is ____ [1]]" Yel said to the voice - the last part only he could hear - as he was prepared to do whatever it takes for its promise of power
"[hm-hm-hm-hm, good. You've made the right choice. Now rest, I shall take it from here]" The voice said and faded away
Meanwhile,
Merika out of chances had a needle dangerously close to her neck.
"A pity, dead or alive, we will still retrieve the scripture. Sure, one way will take longer than the other, but at this point, it doesn't matter"
Al smiled. Then, goes down to her ear, and whispered
"After you're done, Demira will be next"
Upon hearing those words, Merika's eyes expanded in shock as her face twitches in anger
"DON'T YOU DARE-" trying to voice a threat was futile when Al had all the power in this situation as she was immediately shot down by another head crush
she coughs out blood and laid on the ground helpless
Then Al gets up and concentrated a sinister dark force, similar to the one that he got Yel with
"It's time to die now, little princess"
That said, he was about to unleash the force
But before he could, the ground around them trembled, slightly shook, he takes a step back
Then he looks up to see a large pillar of dark magical aura emerged from Yel's body into the very skies, turning it onyx, as the moon itself turns to deep crimson
"What is that!?" he said, shaken.
The force was extremely terrifying as it felt ghastly, overwhelming, otherwordly, god-like.
All the corners of the world took notice of this large pillar of aura emanating in the distance.
- Leon, Stella and Jugo who were on a standstill, Leon suspiciously missing an arm, were among the first to take notice as they suspended their fierce battle
- Nia'a took notice, by watching from her obsidian fortune ball in Reinvelle
- In Nature's boon Superior Faction, the chief of the beastkin factions also took notice, as he stared at the skies
- In the depths of the Deilons' Circle, their Deilon Empresse watched on from her bedroom chamber
- Finally, Saint Commander Demira, atop the Watchtower of Malecia, saw the dreaded dark pillar in the distance.
But there was one more person, who took notice, and donned an attire of old, face covered in cloak.
"hm? ..." she was missing an arm, and was carrying lumber with the only one left, back to her small hut in a secluded mountain
"...I see, so the time has finally come"
She dropped the lumber immediately and then stretched her hand forward.
A white spear rose from within the earth in front of her hut and gravitated to her grasp
She caught hold of it, and stylishly hung it behind her back, turning around in the process.
She then confidently made her way towards the direction of the dark pillar
Back at the origin of this pillar
As it subsided, the area around it had turned to complete ruin and decay.
It expanded all the way towards the marshlands area, past the lifeless bodies of the slained sleepers
Merika looked ahead but couldn't find Yel
"Yel..." she murmured softly
Then, forced herself to look up to the skies, at a figure donning a black mystical robe, with embroided strange ancient patterns that she could barely recognize.
The sheer pressure of the aura this person carried, caused his silky dark long hair to waver about spontaneously and effortlessly.
A cold demeanor, skin as pale as the dead, with bright amethyst eyes that could fill even the undead with dread as they stared down on everyone and everything beneath them with the perception of insignificance.
With a deep and cold voice to match his dominating and foreboding presence, he spoke outside Yel's mind for the very first time
"So, Yu Lin... This is the world you fought so hard, killed me to protect"
He said and then looked on, seeing a roughed up girl, and a bloodstained ruffian by her side.
Then looked at the rest of the forest around him and lets out an ironic smile
"hm, It's as filthy as ever. What a pity, your efforts were all for nothing"
Then he descended, but his feet didn't touch the ground he just called filthy, he didn't find it worthy.
Merika and Al felt they were in the presence of something akin to the divine, and were too stunned to speak; they could only watch.
"No matter. Now that I'm here, it makes no difference"
He raised his right hand up gently as dark clouds gathered in the skies overhead, overshadowing even the crimson moon he appeared with
"Let the world know - Rute Zenva, the Shepherd of the end has come and brings oblivion with him"
A mysterious figure reveals, calling himself the Shepherd of the end.
Who is this Rute Zenva, why did he appear now, and what does he intend to do; now that he is here
With no Yel in sight, Merika couldn't help but wonder if their situation could get any worse
[1] This was intentional readers, let's keep you guessing right?