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Chapter 4 - As Quickly As It Was Strange

No matter how irrelevant his tears may have seemed to him, Mark wasn't sure what to make of it at that moment. He seldom lets up and with this show of vulnerability, he began to question himself. "Why did you cry? You weren't the person with the slaughtered crew, were you? you were not the person on the sandy floors that witnessed what seems to be the shock of a lifetime. To top it all off, you weren't even affected by the Halos Curse so why?" with each venture down memory lane, his thoughts became fumbled up he picked up a few scenes of reminiscence from the realm of his subconscious. He suddenly felt numb and couldn't make of what was transpiring at the moment. As he sat on the table, his thoughts spiraling out of control as all light died, He began to lose his sense of balance. Well, so he thought. His vision became so fuzzy that he could only see clouds of thick brown dust around him, which was followed by a mild headache. At that point in time, Mark knew only one thing to do to avoid all this disturbances happening in his head. He decides to stand up and walk towards the door in an attempt to cool off outside but stumbles and falls. For Centuries had past and millennials unend to him as he fell into a pit with no bottom. The fall seemed to last eternity until it disappears. Everything disappears. With a tiny bit of classical music, He comes through and sees himself seating in a room on the side of a long rectangular table with a woman sitting right across. On the table stood a rather large scented candle. She was so tall for a woman that she made Mark look like a baby with his mother. Her face, covered in a black transparent veil with bright red lips piercing through, had a stench of authority, pride, remorse and most of all, pure evil. Mark couldn't really make up what her eyes looked liked, because she was wearing a rather large purple witch hat. Her clothes flowing in purple regalia and her legs crossed as she read a large book. The book was about the size of an average man. With every thirty seconds that passed, she would turn a page. The room was full of books. In every corner were books piled up so high that it easily pierced the ceiling and kept going. Mark, still on his seat, stared an awful lot at her legs, who would blame him? Considering the fact that there was so much exposure of her legs and the regalia did little to nothing as to cover them up, and the fact her thighs were so tanned and gave off a perversive sense of satisfaction. An hour or so had passed and it was only then Mark had noticed. He tried calling out to the woman but lost touch with his voice. He tried once more but an attempt that proved Null. With all this, he starts trying to move from his chair, but realized he is stuck. He tried to, but his Body wasn't responding to him. After mumbling but no words came out, it was then he decided to look the woman at the face and at that moment he noticed something about the book. He realized she was at the end of the Large book. She decided to look at him and their eyes eventually meet. What Mark saw at that moment was not as any he has ever seen before. A face so humble that it made the prettiest dove pale in comparison. Eyes red as Molten magma, as dark as The veil was, it couldn't hide he volume of dark laying in her steep arched eyebrows that made her stare authoritative and precise. With a gentle throat clear, she began "Hello, Markandeya. What a pleasant surprise that you'd come to visit. Well, It's not often you see company from someone as yourself. A once in a lifetime encounter I believe?" she asked as she paused, closing the book and putting it right on the table with a touch of rhetoric. " Entirety as we know it is about to change. There's so much to be done yet so little time to get going. However, don't you worry, although time is of the essence and we lack that currently, there's always room for hastened circumstances, don't you think?". As soon as she finished her statement, she stood up, to reveal her full height. It was only then Mark noticed the difference in size between both their seats. She stood sixteen feet high with a hair length exactly the same as her entire body length. She turns to leave and waves one hand around in the air in an attempt to draw a circle. After that, she stopped, turned back towards Mark, bowed in a respectful manner and vanished as what seemed like the circle drawn swallowed her from behind. It was at this moment, Mark recognized how huge the room actually was. He looked on both ends and realized the stretched out to what seemed like infinity? He looks at the candle on the table and the begin to sparkle, as in an attempt to go off. With each sparkle of light, Mark had flashes of memories and inept voyages to unknown places and back in an instant until finally, the lights went off.

"Mark. Mark! talk to me. Are you okay?" A voice from outside Mark's mind screamed out in intense suspense. He immediately noticed the voice and tried opening his eyes. There stood Milana, looking intensely at him. "What happened? You were on the floor when I came through. You're burning up as well! Best you stay down for a while." Milana suggested, as she stretched her hands for the table in an attempt to grab her book, 'Words Of The Murabak'. Aria was still on the bed, her hair pale white had pretty much tangled from so much bed rest. Her face was sore from all the weeping she had gone through. Her eyes still watery with tears. She paid little to no attention to Mark on the floor. Who would blame her? She had just been hit with a devastating news that would come to haunt her for the rest of her life. Everytime she tries to remember the incident, it would cause her unimaginable pain and the pain aches even more when she realizes she was tasked as the leader of the squad that was wiped out. A squad that was like family to her. She knew there was no way to get back what was lost, but there's always room for vengeance. "Hey, Aria. You okay?" Milana asked, as she stood up from the floor to comfort Aria once more who was still sitting on the bed with her legs nicely tucked into a wool bedsheet. "I'm fine. Better than I was a little while ago." Said Aria.

"That's good to hear. Always stay positive."

Aria snaps out of staring into space. She looked around in search of Mark. It was at that moment she saw Mark laying face upwards on the floor.

"Is he?" asked Aria in a surprisingly concerned tone.

"No. He'll be fine. It happens once every few days or so. By the night, he'll be on his feet." Milana replied.

"Oh, I see. Why do you stay with him? are you perhaps, his betrothed?"

"Good heavens no! I would never think of him that way. I mean, I get why you would suggest such but it's not the case."

"Alright then."

A brief silence ensured until Milana broke it with a short story.

"Mark and I weren't always like this you no. We never knew each other. I met him in the best time possible and since then, he would always come in to save me from time to time. He's a wonderful fellow deep down. Ignore his toxic masculinity persona."

"I honestly wondered how you guys survived for so long outside the walls. I think it's now I see why. Mark isn't like we normal humans is he? I mean, in my memory of the incidents that happened during the massacre of my squad, the bits I could remember, He cut the Halo in two with the slash of a sword. This isn't normal. Or is it normal life outside the walls?"

Aria asked, out of pure curiosity. She has never been outside the walls up until now. Hell, no one from Tenebrae had stepped feet outside the walls. It was thought to be a suicidal act. No one whoever went out made it back alive.

"Well, Mark is one hell of a guy I'll give him that. For one thing though, he possesses immense durability. A short story, I've seen him go up against a flock of Halos and single handedly wipe them out, saving the villagers and the entire town at that moment. From all my ventures, I have heard some say he has been around for as long as their grandfathers were alive. In some areas of the world, his statue stands tall for all to see and admire. A great hero of humanity, they say. He's been called so many great names, ranging from The Black-haired Swordsman, The Knight Of Nyx, The Flowing Red Robe and many more names I am yet to find out the meaning though."

Aria watched as Milanas' eyes lit up in excitement as she told her all the tales of Mark. She was truly a fan of this man named Mark. Well, anyone would be. Considering the achievement of this mortal has by far surpassed the realm of the mundane, trespassing even into the realm of gods. Well, that is a story, for another day.