Zack almost regretted leaving the capital without getting their stuff from the inn. After three weeks of traveling with only their emergency supplies to sustain them, Zack wanted nothing more than to sleep in his own soft bed under nice warm blankets.
The days after escaping the castle were hard. Zack heard from a traveling merchant that the first prince Belphore Mes Seloria had taken the throne so the panic in the capital would be quelled, and while he was glad that a new ruler had already made, he didn't like the fact that his first proclamation as the new king was to hunt down the new Devil King before he could leave the kingdom. Since then Zack couldn't enter any towns or villages and getting supplies was nearly impossible, not only that but the royal knights were at his heels at every turn. He'd tried to practice his magic but his grimoire refused to respond to him.
But finally, he was home in his home village on the outskirts of the kingdom. News of him hadn't reached that far yet, and likely wouldn't for another couple of weeks. Sighing Zack enter his house, the village was still asleep so no one came to greet him, Zack made his way upstairs and to his room. He laid Aria, who had fallen asleep on his back again, on the bed, and flopped down next to her. "Im so tired," he said closing his eyes.
Zack woke in the weird boys' twisted world again. "I warned you, stupid man." he heard the boys' voice say. "You had to leave the kingdom before twelve-days were up, i told you but you didn't listen." Turning around Zack faced the boy.
"It's fine, its been over twelve days and nothing happened. your just paranoid," he said smiling. "If anything was gonna happen it would have already." the look on the boys face made Zack want to eat those words. The boy had never shown any real anger towards Zack's choices, but Zack could tell that at that very moment the boy was angry beyond words.
The boy stepped towards him and instinctively Zack stepped back. "Don't be so foolish," the boy said to Zack in a calm voice not fitting the look on his face. "I never said that it would happen immediately only that something tragic would happen, because of your impudence so many will now die, I hope you're happy."
Zack felt his heart skip a beat. His mistake began to don on him, slowly he realized just what he'd done. "I'll leave then that should fix things right, if I go then no one dies right, right?" Zack said almost begging.
Sadly the boy shook his head. "Sorry but there's no fixing this, the wheels of fate are already spinning, things will play out as it was foretold because you were too foolish to heed my warning." the boy looked at the sky then closed his eyes. Zack suddenly heard a scream, followed by a loud crash. "It has started," the boy said looking back at Zack. "You will now lose everything you hold dear, I hope you've prepared." Zack heard another scream then another crash, he heard fire crackling and crying. Closing his eyes Zack begged not to hear it anymore. Then all at once, it stopped.
Zack opened his eyes and found that he was no longer in the boy's world but in a cramped dark place, moving the place shifted and fell over. Standing Zack touched his face and found tears still freshly falling from his eyes, looking around he found that his house roof had been burned and that he'd been spared only thanks to the trunk for which he'd been shoved inside. He wiped his face and rushed outside. The sight he found made him want to puke, all around him was destruction and death.
Zack walked through his home village and found that every home had been burned, not one was spared. Zack found blood everywhere he looked, splattered on walls, on the ground, even on trees and toys.
Zack remembered Aria and rushed back to his home. "ARIA! ARIA WHERE ARE YOU!" he yelled, no answer came. Rushing he grabbed his grimoire which was under the bed then ran out of the house, he ran through the village shouting Arias's name as loud as he could. When no answer came from inside the village he ran into the woods surrounding it.
Zack shouted with all his might then he finally heard something. Stopping he waited holding his breath in anticipation. he heard a faint voice calling his name and ran towards it. When he reached it he stopped dead unable to keep from throwing up.
Every person in the village was nailed up to trees by their arms devil worshiper was carved into all their chest even the women and children, some of the women had more wounds than the men, and Zack could guess why. But the only one he cared about was Aria. Looking he didn't see her among the people nailed to trees.
He called her name again, but he couldn't bring himself to shout it anymore, his voice barely reached above a whisper as he called her name. "Please," he begged as he fell to his knees. "Please answer me, Please Aria, say something anything." Zack could no longer keep himself from crying.
His throat felt like he'd drank poison, his eye stung and he swore he heard screaming but realized it was only his own. His chest hurt worst than when the dream man stabbed him, it felt as if his heart had been torn out and replaced with fire and acid. Zack truly wished for death but knew no such mercy would be granted to him. Falling onto his side Zack wrapped himself into a ball and silently cried while begging the gods for death.
Zack heard laughter but it sounded distant. Opening his eyes Zack looked up at the man standing before him. He was a tall curly-haired man but Zack didn't care to remember anything else about him. "This is the mighty Devil King," the man said. Zack looked back at the man but couldn't raise his voice beyond a whisper.
"Are you the one who did this?" Zack asked. He did notice but he'd stopped crying, although his throat still burned and his eyes still stung, but the pain in his chest didn't seem to diminish even a little.
The curly-haired man laughed again. "Yeah," he said proudly as if the event was a gold medal he had polished. "Do ya like my work, I think these people enjoyed it I mean look at then hanging out here." the man let out another laugh that seemed to resonate with the air.
Zack knew he should feel angry or sad but he couldn't manage any emotion other than an intense numbness. "And Aria, what about her, do you know where she is I got to find her."
"Who," the man asked. "You gotta be more specific we killed a lotta lady today, maybe she hanging here. But then again the guys wanted some entertainment, but I'm pretty sure they all are dead now." the man laughed again.
"Shes a little girl with brown eyes and long hair zack said." Despite himself, he wanted to hold a little hope she was alive, just a little even if it was a pipe dream, anything to give him a reason to live.
"Oh, wait here," the man said laughing again. Zack's heart skipped a beat when he heard the man say this but he didn't have the strength to stand or even sit. Laying there Zack waited with bated breath for the man to come back.