"Looking for me?"
Siegren's eyes widened as the roof of the structure cracked, then it burst, hitting him in the head.
The hilt of his sword detached from the broken roof, whose debris was now flying amidst the horizon.
Blood trickled from the side of his head as his grey eyes saw a cloaked individual floating above him, but then he disappeared—and in just a split second he appeared before him.
The man's palm then reached his chest. Siegren's eyes widened as it sent a huge wave of force to his body, sending him plunging back to the ground.
**
Siegren felt as if his body has received a thousand punches all at once from the force exerted by the man. The wave created a domino effect that encompassed even the building they are in.
Before Siegren could even try to think of anything else, his back slammed onto a portion of the destroyed structure that drifted to fall. His lips parted as he coughed blood from the impact, dripping from the corner of his mouth.
The cloaked man floated above him teeming with a strange aura he has never felt before.
Siegren immediately straightened up, then jumped onto the other falling concrete that was large enough to be stepped on.
However, he was attacked by Wraiths, making him lose his focus on the cloaked person who seemed to be unbothered by the monstrous entities coming from the sky.
The cloaked man then lifted his hand, with palms facing Siegren from the far distance.
Suddenly, a giant black hole appeared in the cloaked person's hands.
The black hole sent a wave of power to Siegren, and as it reached him—it rendered his senses inert. His ears began to ring, and his grey eyes grew blank until he was enveloped with pitch-black darkness.
Slowly, the darkness cleared out, creating a scene in the meadows, where spring has come and the flowers have blossomed.
In the fields of flowers, lay a young man and a small girl looking into the sky, hearing only the chirping birds, and having to smell the morning dew.
"Sieg, Sieg!"
"Hm?"
"Do you know what that is?"
"That's a bird."
"What about that?"
"That's a cloud."
"Can you take me there?"
A smile.
"Sure."
"Strange," an unknown person then walked to the scene, looking out of place with his dreary cloak and ominous smile.
"You seem more humane than I thought."
The peaceful scene then burned into the background, along with the little girl vanishing from Siegren's side.
Flashbacks from what had transpired sank to Siegren, realizing the momentary illusion of humanity that was gone many years ago.
"Who are you?" Siegren said, grey eyes narrowing to the cloaked man.
The cloaked man simply smiled as his finger pointed at Siegren's forehead.
"That's not for me to answer," the man said, "it's for you."
Another wave of power was then generated on a large scale.
Siegren's eyes shot open this time, waking up from the momentary nightmare it brought him. His pupils then gleamed red, sending an explosion to transpire down below.
The impact pushed the debris from falling, which enabled him to gather time to unsheathe his greatsword and jump back towards the cloaked man. As he leaped onto the falling debris, he landed on the broken roof once more, seeing the cloaked man standing there.
But his smile has disappeared.
The cloaked man then lifted his hand once more, but this time there was no mysterious force that pushed Siegren; rather, multiple gaps in the sky appeared simultaneously all next to each other.
And in those hollow apertures came multiple morphed mutants who were able to arrive at the broken roof of the edifice by a bridge materialized by corrupted mana.
Now, behind the man were morphed mutants, who seemed to be at his command.
"I will ask you again," Siegren said. "Who are you?" He asked, and then drew his sword, ready to strike at any moment, firming his stance.
Instead of answering, the mysterious man simply smiled. Siegren advanced towards him, with his greatsword ready to strike.
The morphed mutants charged, with their monstrous howls and large stomps echoing in the vicinity. At each step they took, the building's upper foundation began to crumble.
Siegren slashed the enemies with his greatsword cutting their arms. With swift lightning strikes, he was easily able to lunge off the monsters out of his way.
But in the distance, the cloaked man was already studying the pattern of his every move.
The cloaked man lifted his gaze to meet Siegren's eyes, which made the morphed mutants stop acting on his defense. The morphed mutants marched forward, with their heavy stomps reverberating onto the already broken building, then all of a sudden, they vanished into nothingness—as if they had become sealed again.
"You're strong; however, you cannot stop the flow of fate," the man simply said. The breeze around them grew stronger as the man slowly lifted his hand, gathering power to the tip of his finger.
"The power of the fallen god will be left untouched."
The man then shot the concentrated power straight unto Siegren.
However, Siegren has deflected the power, with the surface of the soulless absorbing it.
The cloaked man parted his lips as he stared at the sword.
Taking this as the opportunity, Siegren was gone from his sight in a split second, then appeared behind him. The cloaked man was able to anticipate the blow at the last minute, which enabled him to evade the attack by backing away as the large sword buried to where he used to stand.
"Who. Are. You?" Siegren asked once again before he withdrew his sword. Then, he charged once more at the man.
The cloaked man did not respond to Siegren's question; instead, he lifted his hand again, but this time, he only stopped Siegren's sword mid-air.
Siegren's brows furrowed as the invisible force stopped the soulless from cutting through.
"What a familiar blade," the man said. "Why do you, a mortal, have it?"
As the man leaned to touch the soulless, golden light gleamed and shot towards him, making him jumped away from the spot.
From down below, the man in a shawl saw the culprit.
A girl stood on the streets of Aclaria, with remnants of divinity still gleaming on her hand from the attack she had conjured.
"Oh?" The cloaked man smiled. "Isn't this interesting?"