Chapter 12:Beneath the Castle Lies a Sin Unforgivable
Above the clouds, soaring over Velka, Noah sat atop Tenebris, the wind whipping through his hair as the vast expanse of the night sky stretched endlessly around them.
Below, nestled in the gentle glow of moonlight, lay a small and beautiful kingdom—quaint, peaceful, almost picturesque. At a glance, it looked like the kind of place found in fairy tales.
But Noah knew better.
His gaze darkened as he looked down at the quiet streets and grand castles. Velka. It was hard to believe that this seemingly charming kingdom was, in reality, the very heart of every conceivable crime in the game.
From drugs to slavery, from kidnappings to murders—nothing was beyond Velka's corruption.
"Hard to believe, isn't it?" Noah muttered, breaking the silence. "That a place like this… is rotten beyond saving"
Tenebris, flying with steady ease, responded without hesitation.
"It all depends on the ruler." His voice was deep, calm, yet carried an edge of indifference. "A kingdom reflects its king. If the roots are tainted, the tree will bear nothing but poison."
Noah exhaled, his grip tightening slightly on Tenebris' scales. "Then I suppose burning it down is mercy."
Tenebris let out a low, amused hum. "Perhaps."
The cold night wind howled around them as they descended ever closer.
Their destination was already decided—the lab hidden beneath the castle.
A place unseen by the people above, yet infamous in Velka's underworld. Beneath layers of stone and secrecy, behind enchanted steel doors and bloodstained walls, a boy was being used as nothing more than a lab rat. A failed experiment. A discarded weapon.
Noah's fingers curled into fists. Zyrex.
He had read it in the game's lore. A brief backstory, a tragic footnote to the grander plot. Yet now, flying over this kingdom, knowing he had the chance to change it—Noah couldn't ignore it.
"We're going straight for the castle," he said.
Tenebris, unfazed, simply continued his descent. "I assumed as much."
The lights of the capital city flickered below. Unaware. Unprepared.
"Don't hold back. Destroy everything."
Noah's words carried no hesitation, no second thoughts—only cold resolve.
Tenebris didn't need to be told twice. His wings tensed, the air around them distorting as he increased his speed. The capital city blurred beneath them, and in the moonlit sky, a soldier on night patrol glanced up.
A shadow.
His eyes widened in horror. The shape of a dragon, silhouetted against the full moon.
The realization struck too late.
With the force of a falling meteor, Tenebris dived—tearing through the sky like a harbinger of destruction. The soldier barely had time to react before sounding the alarm, ringing the bell with frantic urgency.
"Enemy attack! A—"
His scream was swallowed by the deafening roar of impact.
Tenebris slammed into the castle's training grounds like a calamity made flesh. The earth cracked, stone shattered, and the ground beneath them caved, revealing the hidden depths of the castle. A massive crater sprawled outward, dust and debris choking the air, and from within the swirling chaos, a single voice rang out.
"Found it."
Noah stood at the edge of destruction, his gaze locked onto the underground passage now laid bare beneath them.
As they descended deeper into the underground, a massive iron door loomed before them. Thick, reinforced, and rusted with time, it stood like a final guardian—a desperate attempt to seal away something that should never be found.
Noah's gaze darkened. He didn't hesitate.
"Destroy it," he commanded, his voice cold and absolute.
Tenebris didn't need to be told twice. Lifting his hand, black mist coiled around his fingers like living shadows. Then, with a mere flick of his wrist, an invisible force surged forward.
The iron groaned. For a split second, it resisted—decades of enchantments, reinforced steel, and desperation clinging to its form. But against Tenebris, it was meaningless.
With a deafening crack, the entire door exploded. Shards of iron shattered like glass, propelled forward at terrifying speed, embedding themselves into the walls beyond. Dust and debris clouded the air, swirling in chaotic spirals before settling.
Beyond the ruined entrance, darkness awaited. The stale air that seeped through carried the scent of blood, chemicals, and something far worse.
As they stepped through the ruined threshold, the dim torchlight flickered, casting eerie shadows along the damp, stone walls. The air was thick with rot, fear, and despair—so heavy it felt suffocating.
Then they saw them.
Rows of cages lined the underground chamber, each one filled with people—no, prisoners. Their bodies were frail, their faces gaunt, eyes sunken and lifeless. From infants barely old enough to crawl to the elderly whose wrinkled skin clung desperately to brittle bones, they all sat in eerie silence, too weak to even react to their saviors' arrival.
Noah's fists clenched at his sides, his nails digging into his palms.
Tenebris exhaled slowly, his golden eyes scanning the scene with quiet contemplation. Then, after a long pause, he spoke, his voice as cold as the grave.
"…Humans are terrifying."
Noah turned to him, but Tenebris wasn't looking at him. His gaze remained fixed on the prisoners—the innocent victims of human cruelty.
"To do this to their own kind," Tenebris murmured, "no beast, no dragon, no monster is as horrifying as a man without conscience."
A shiver ran down Noah's spine, not from fear, but from the bitter truth in those words.
Noah's gaze swept across the room, his chest tightening with an unfamiliar weight. He had seen tragedy in the game—a carefully scripted narrative designed to evoke emotion. But this… this was real.
The stench of decay, the quiet, labored breaths of those too weak to even lift their heads, the hollow, resigned eyes of people who had long abandoned hope—it was nothing like the screen he once stared at for hours.
His hands trembled slightly.
If he had never met the dragons…
If he was still just another NPC, a powerless observer bound by the game's script…
Would he have been able to do anything?
Would he have even tried?
Noah clenched his fists, his nails pressing into his palms. The thought was sickening. He had spent so long worrying about his own survival, about escaping the fate of a nameless background character. But standing here, surrounded by suffering, he realized—this wasn't just a game anymore.
It never had been.
Meanwhile, Tenebris moved like a specter of death, his expression unreadable beneath the swirling black fog that masked his face.
Soldiers rushed in, their weapons gleaming under the dim torchlight. They barely had time to register what they were up against before Tenebris moved.
A single swipe of his hand—shadows extended like claws—ripped through armor like it was made of paper. Another soldier raised his sword, but before he could swing, Tenebris grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the stone wall, cracking both with equal ease.
Screams filled the underground chambers. The soldiers weren't fighting a man. They were fighting something else entirely—something far beyond their comprehension.
Tenebris didn't even spare them a glance. His movements were efficient, precise, merciless. To him, these men were nothing more than obstacles—minor inconveniences to be erased.
With a flick of his wrist, dark tendrils slithered from the ground, impaling the remaining soldiers like spears. The struggling stopped. Silence returned.
He exhaled, shaking off the blood like one would dust from their coat.
"Humans," he muttered, stepping over the bodies. "Always so fragile."
"Take that back."
A deep, rumbling voice echoed through the chamber.
From the dim torchlight, a figure emerged—a man built like a fortress, his body twice the size of Tenebris' humanoid form. Muscles coiled beneath his armor as he gripped a longsword, its edge gleaming ominously.
Step by step, he advanced, each movement slow, deliberate—like a predator sizing up its prey.
To be continued-