The grey skies combined with the damp ground filled with puddles mixed with mud and blood. This morning was particularly cold, with an arctic breeze sending shivers into the spine.
"Ah…"
A young man's grey eyes darted into the sky.
"It's snowing."
Though it was freezing cold, the young man wasn't wrapped in thick clothing. Amid that grey morning, he stood in the barracks wearing only his black pants, barefooted and without a tunic to cover his fresh scars.
Though his arms were bandaged, he was still looking beaten with his full torso bombarded with slashes from many years of combat.
"He isn't coming today."
The young man's grey eyes darted to the one who spoke.
Another young man, who was a little younger than he was, ambled his way towards the barracks.
"You can probably go back to your room, Sieg."
Siegren met that person's eyes.
"Uriel."
In contrast to him—the other young man, Uriel, was dressed nicely; his clothes were of the finest linen, with delicate markings that symbolized the authority he held. Uriel's cerulean eyes, along with his platinum blond hair looked like he was the sun in the grey winter.
"Why are you barely dressed? It's winter." Uriel remarked as he noticed that Siegren wasn't wearing anything but his long, black pants which even had bandages wrapped around the leg. "Hey. Your leg's also bleeding… I think your wound—"
"What are you doing here?" Siegren asked, cutting the young man mid-sentence.
Siegren's voice was dry, and his gaze was cold. In the midst of winter, his presence blended into the background.
He felt empty.
Uriel only gave him a stare. Though the two of them were the same age of 15, Siegren looked different. He was already filled with scars and his expression wasn't that of a young man. He looked at everything with a blank stare, and did what he was told without any resistance.
'He changed.'
Uriel clenched his fist.
"Listen, Sieg." He started, "you can't lose hope."
Siegren didn't respond. He wasn't even looking at him.
"Don't let it break you, Sieg. You have to fight it. You don't have to listen to anyone's words."
But the young man in front of him wasn't replying anymore. He wasn't even shivering from the cold; his expression was like that of an unbreakable ice, and his body stood still as he stood into the ground where he has killed hundreds… no, thousands.
"Siegren!"
Uriel held both of his shoulders, forcing Siegren to finally meet his gaze.
"Remember what I said to you when we were children. You have to FIGHT. Just three more years. You have to fight it. You can't give in, Sieg."
However, the words were just mere inaudible sounds to Siegren. He wasn't hearing anything—but the voices of those he had to slaughter just because he couldn't control his own body.
"…is this because of her?"
In just a flash of a second, Siegren's hands grabbed Uriel's collar, slamming him to the ground as he knelt, eyes fuming with rage.
Uriel was silent.
"It's not your fault," Uriel stares into the sky. "This is why I told you to fight."
Siegren's grip loosened.
"I killed her," Siegren fell to the ground, covering his ears. "I'm a murderer. I might have to kill you, too. Don't you know that?"
"Calm down."
Uriel said, kneeling down to him.
"In three years," he said. "You will escape this place. I guarantee it. When you leave, you have to acquire the twelve pieces of the fallen god's power. That's the only way you can be free, Sieg."
Uriel then stood up, ambling away from the feral-looking young man. He then halted, looking sideways to give him a glance.
"Even if you lose your humanity, you have to remember my words…" Uriel said, before walking away. "Brother."
**
As the piece of the fallen god's power amalgamated into the young man's body, Uriel's words sank into his mind. Images of the ancient power's fragments came to his vision, with memories that aren't his mixed with his own.
Then, he fell into the darkness of his own mind.
In that darkness, Siegren stood.
'You.'
In the blink of an eye, the darkness vanished and was replaced with skulls and the remains of the dead piled into the ground. And on top of the carcasses was a large throne fashioned from skulls and obsidian adorned with unknown markings.
Sitting on that throne was a behemoth-like being with large horns, a body darkened and covered in black dragon scales. The creature emanated with an aura of malevolence, as seen in the purple mist surrounding its body. Its eyes exuded a mauve glow, glowering down at Siegren as it sat on its throne with a giant greatsword on his side.
The vicinity was void of light, but it overflowed with a purple tinge emanating from below, like that of the Aclarian territory when the corrupted saint has been unsealed. Behind the throne was an eclipse radiating a purple gleam, lighting the abyss with its ominous glow.
"Who are you?" Siegren asked. "Are you the fallen god?"
The creature then locked eyes with Siegren as he looked down at him. 'I am the Spectator, a formed consciousness of the fragment of the dark guardian's power.'
'Vessel of the Darkness,' The monster had spoken, even without opening its mouth; its voice rumbled, ringing from every corner possible in the hollow pit.
'You have consumed a piece of this ancient power. Now, you must find a way to devour the rest.'
The monster then lifted its hand, which was equipped with an obsidian gauntlet with pointed ends.
An hourglass then appeared before Siegren, and as it rotated, the sands poured down, oozing a lilac spark as the sands flowed downwards.
'That is the time you have left before the [Wave of Insanity] consumes you.'
Siegren scowled. "Wave of… insanity?"
'Vessel, you are still a mortal.' It spoke. 'Though your body has accepted a piece of the fallen god's power, the imbalance incurred by the lost remnants leaves your body unfulfilled.'
Another image then projected to Siegren, showing the twelve numen of the fallen god drifting.
'To appease the imbalance of the missing remnants, a [wave of insanity] will transpire at every full moon to compensate for the lack of malevolence,' The being exclaimed, 'This hourglass will be full at the start of the full moon and will restart at the end of it.'
Siegren stared.
"What would happen when the wave of insanity consumes me?"
'Your rationality will be lost, and you shall go feral. Your bloodlust will be like that of an insatiable beast. To quell the missing malevolence…'
The monster then projected another image.
Siegren blinked.
The image of Lumi hanging into an edifice, daring to fall, was now in front of him.
'Use her,' said the creature. 'And your death will be averted.'