Deleyna's entire body seemed to convulse, and as she roared, she opened her maw wide, releasing a flood of toxic liquid. The toxic substance sprayed across the room, sizzling against the stone, burning holes wherever it touched.
Dune dodged, barely managing to evade the dangerous spray, his body moving with frenzied urgency. Elijah rolled aside, barely avoiding the deadly splash. The air around them grew thick with the smell of poison, and Dune knew they didn't have much time before it consumed them.
But he didn't hesitate. His next move came instinctively. He launched forward once more, and with all his might, he struck Deleyna's skull again.
Dune's hand was ruined. The skin was completely peeled off, revealing only red, mangled flesh and exposed bonebeneath.
He gritted his teeth through the agony. He
wasn't done and neither was Elijah.
The moment Deleyna reeled back from Dune's hit, Elijah also jumped onto her head. And he stabbed. Again. And again. And again.
She screeched, her body thrashing, smashing into walls, into the rising water, trying desperately to shake them off. But they held on.
Dune, his destroyed hands trembling, lifted his other arm. He shoved his fist straight into Deleyna's skull.
"DIE!"
Four Nebastep inside her brain. Her head exploded. A spray of blood, bone, and pulped flesh rained down as her massive body convulsed. Her monstrous face was now nothing more than a mess of exposed bone, flesh, and blood. Deleyna's body spasmed, and with a final, desperate roar, she collapsed.
Blood and gore rained down as the once mighty Leviathan's form crumpled to the ground, her body breaking apart.
Dune hit the platform with a brutal thud, his body aching, his hands utterly ruined. Blood dripped down from his arms, leaving him barely able to stand. He could feel the weight of the battle pressing on him, his muscles screaming in protest.
Elijah, soaked in blood, fell next to him, panting heavily, his body just as broken. Both of them lay there for a long moment, gasping for breath, trying to gather what little strength they had left.
Finally, it was Elijah who spoke, breaking the heavy silence.
"Memory."
Dune turned his head toward him, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
Elijah's grin was weak, but triumphant.
"The more you have of me, the less you are. If you lose me, you will never know."
"The answer to Deleyna's question," he said, his voice a raspy whisper. "Memory."
Dune stared at him, his exhaustion giving way to disbelief. "Don't tell me…"
Elijah chuckled weakly. "I knew it from the start… but I've never fought a Leviathan before. No way I was gonna miss this opportunity."
Dune blinked, his brain still reeling from the battle. And then, as the realization set in, he let out a bitter, ragged laugh. It was maniacal, broken, and desperate.
Elijah joined in, the sound of their laughter rising above the sounds of the crumbling battlefield. They were battered, bloodied, and nearly broken, but still alive.
Suddenly, the exhaustion in Dune's body was gone. The pain in his hands, his wounds, his aching bones, all of it had vanished. And yet, when he looked down at himself, he was still the same. Same bloodstained clothes, same battered hands.
But the battlefield was gone. Instead, he stood in a vast hall, stretching endlessly in both directions. The ceiling arched high above him, held up by towering white pillars carved with symbols he couldn't recognize.
The walls shimmered with intricate paintings, golden lines forming images too complex for him to understand. And in the center of it all stood a girl.
She stood hunched over a motionless body, her dark clothes and hair flowing around her like liquid shadow. Her shoulders trembled, and though her face was hidden from him, Dune could hear it, the uneven gasps of someone trying and failing to hold back tears.
He stepped forward instinctively. His boots barely made a sound against the marble floor.
Before he could say anything, the scene around him changed.
Suddenly, the girl was glowing, her entire body pulsing with a violent green neba. The same girl, but different. Her sorrow had twisted into rage, and she was fighting, throwing herself against a group of figures cloaked in shadow.
They struck her down again and again, blades piercing, fists crushing, bones breaking. Blood painted the floor beneath her feet, but she didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Dune watched as she kept getting up, only to be knocked down once more.
Then, another shift.
Now, she stood alone. The bodies of her enemies lay around her in ruin. Her own body trembled uncontrollably, her breath coming in ragged, uneven gasps. Her eyes, once a deep, piercing blue, were red now. Blood-red.
She was dying. And yet, she was still standing.
Suddenly dune heard a voice and turned around, just to see her again. But this time she was normal. Not wounded and destroyed. Her expression was unreadable at first. But when she spoke, her voice was quiet.
"You saw everything, didn't you?"
Dune's hands clenched at his sides. He didn't know what he'd just witnessed, was it a memory? A vision? Her past?
The girl exhaled, stepping closer. Now that she was in front of him, he could see her more clearly.
She was beautiful in a sharp, almost haunting way. Her face was thin, her cheekbones pronounced, her jawline crisp and defined. Her nose wasn't perfectly straight, it had a subtle, natural curve at the tip that somehow made her features even more striking. Even in stillness, there was something fierce about her, something untamed beneath the exhaustion weighing her down.
"My name is Delayna," she said.
Dune's eyes widened… "what?"
"I know, i'm sorry for the pain you had to go through, Dune." she whispered, a faint, tired smile tugging at her lips.
There was a long silence before she spoke again. Her fingers curled into fists. " you know, that power… Neba… it doesn't work the way most people think it does."
Delayna sighed, pressing a hand to her temple. "Many doesn't know this but, you can't just run out from your own neba. They think that they hit their limit, and that's it. But that's not true. There's more." She glanced at him.
Dune narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
"There's a part of Neba in your core that no one touches. A reserve buried so deep. that it only surfaces when you're at your breaking point. When you're desperate enough… or angry enough… or afraid enough to reach for something you were never meant to use."
She looked down, her voice quieter now.
"And when that happens…" she continued, her fingers trembling slightly, "you stop being you."
Dune's chest tightened.
Delayna lifted her head, meeting his gaze. "It turns you into something else. Something wrong. And once it takes you, there's almost no coming back."
Dune knew what she was saying. He understood her explanation.
*So this is what happened to her…*
Silence stretched between them. Delayna inhaled shakily, her gaze flickering downward.
"…You killed me, didn't you?"
Her lips pressed into a thin line, and she let out a hollow laugh. "Good." She swallowed hard. "I'm… I'm glad. I should thank you."
Something about the way she said it made Dune's stomach twist. Then, before he could answer her, her voice cracked.
"But I don't want to die."
She was trembling now, her hands gripping the fabric of her sleeves so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her shoulders shook, her breath uneven.
"I don't want to die," she repeated, barely above a whisper.
Delayna inhaled shakily, looking at him with something raw in her expression, something vulnerable. "You don't understand," she murmured. "I don't have a soul"
She lifted her hand, and in her palm, a small, silver ring formed. It shimmered faintly, pulsing with an energy Dune had never seen before.
"When I die," she said, voice trembling, "I won't go anywhere. There's no afterlife or a heaven waiting for me. No peace. No return. I will simply… cease."
She looked up at him.
"Take me with you," she pleaded.
Dune felt his fingers twitch.
"What?"
She extended the ring toward him.
"I can put whatever is left of me in here," she explained. "If you keep me with you, if you give me even a little Neba from time to time… I'll still exist. I'll be able to hear. To feel. I won't truly be alive, but… I won't be gone either."
Dune stared at the ring, suspicion creeping into his expression.
"There has to be a catch, what exactly is your plan?" he muttered.
Delayna swallowed. "There's no trick, Dune." She exhaled. "I just… want to exist. I'm scared. I don't want to disappear. Please."
For a long moment, Dune said nothing. His mind screamed at him to walk away. This wasn't his problem. He didn't owe her anything. "What's the point of life like that?"
"Would you rather die… Dune?"
Dune sighed, he looked into her eyes again. He remembered Nely, and her words… was he truly a heartless person?
I'm making a mistake… He took the ring. Delayna let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Dune frowned, stuffing the ring into his pocket. "Tch. You're annoying."
When he opened his eyes again, he was back in the real world. Did i make a wrong decision? He sighed… whatever it's too late now.
Elijah sat nearby, arms crossed, watching him warily. "Why did you just froze?"
Dune blinked, his body feeling heavier than before. He glanced at his new blue ring. Hmph
"What happened?" Elijah asked.
Dune hesitated. Then, quietly, he muttered, "Nothing. Just a weird vision."
Elijah scoffed, leaning back. "Hah. Whatever."
Dune exhaled, his fingers tightening around his blade.
Deep inside the metal, he could almost feel Delayna's presence.