Chapter 04- Flames of Eternity
In the sky above the Cramantra, long flames of fire burning, smoke slowly covering the green night.
Avatar froze where he stood, unable to move, unable to move his gaze, as he watched the masked man pull out his from Karan's chest and retreat a few steps.
Avatar saw the eyes of the karna feel with shock and fear, coughing the blood out of his mouth, Karna fell on the ground unmoving.
As if the world had come to a stop, avatar continued looking at the fallen body of the Karna.
But the masked man didn't give him the chance to fook at the karna forever, he rushed towards the avatar striking his sword.
Avatar blocked the slash but there was no power remained in his hand and got pushed back multiple attacks,
Avatar rushed at the masked man and slashed his broken blade but the masked man struck with his own sword and sent Avatar rolling backward.
He could not focus on his strength, his stikes became less and less powerful.
He continued getting up and rushed toward the masked men but every time he was sent back rolling on the ground.
His mind overflowing with thoughts,
The thoughts that were questioning his very existence,
Questioning his efforts, his life, his past.
Why am I fighting
What could I achieve
Who could I save
But where could he find the answers to those questions?
And now he lost the grip over the broken blade and it fell onto the ground.
Why should I fight more
Who should I fight for
I have lost everything
Why should I walk any further now
Why should I keep living?
The masked man rushed toward the avatar, again thrusting his red hot sword towards the avatar, who just stood there watching him, not moving an inch.
The sword reached near the chest, its sharp point threatening to pierce through it the next moment,
But the moment the tip of the sword reached the chest, it stopped just,
The masked man felt like he could not move any further, he could not thrust his sword any further, he felt like an invisible force had stopped him from moving any further.
Next, a flying dagger came toward him aiming for his head, the masked man stepped backward and he dodged the attack by an inch of the distance from the flying dagger but he felt as if a great force attacked him, which sent him flying backward.
At this moment of surprise, the avatar looked in the direction of where the dagger came from.
It was the Karna that attacked, he was still alive.
Avatar saw him lifting his head and then Karna said
"Do not give up, please
Live your life for yourself,
Let's go on an adventure together"
Karna saying these words collapsed again, unconscious.
But Avatar stood there silent, words echoing into his mind again and again,
Yes, I can live for myself,
But who I am?
What is myself?
Avatar again strengthened himself and picked up the broken blade from the ground.
There was a little smile on his face and looked where the mysterious figure Rudra was standing.
Now Rudra was looking at him with the smile on his face continuously growing,
He lifted his one hand and said,
"Oh slave of curiosity, now is the moment, wake up,
A curious soul cannot exist with fear of knowledge"
Avatar closed his eyes, focused on himself,
What is he, what he wanted all his life, what was his dream,
What was his past,
For the first time in his life, he focused on understanding himself,
And finally, he understood.
I never truly required emotions to understand myself,
My death was far longer have been concluded
But I will not die with a smile
I will not face it griefing
Let fate gaze upon me once again
Let the cruelty of this world befall me,
It will not see me in despair
It will not find me devoid of purpose
Now it will see my determination
I shall preserve until the word crumbles to dust
I shall preserve until my soul weather away
Until my demise crumbles beneath me
This determination did not stem from the sea of emotions
But arising from the clarity of my mind.
My indomitable determination.
With a broken blade in his right hand, crimson cloth fluttering,
He walked towards the masked man.
But now he cannot win against the masked man in this fight, the masked man has grown stronger than him, more skillful than him.
A direct clash with him will only result in defeat, but he continues walking toward him.
The masked man also stood up and started walking towards the Avatar.
Both walked toward each other slowly with the swords in their hand and reached in front of each other.
The masked man lifted his hands and thrust his sword directly towards the Avatars chest,
Avatar did not move, nor did he lift his hand to block the incoming attack,
If I cannot win this fight, then so be it
My victory will not be decided by a clash of swords but with my perseverance.
The sword of the masked man pierced through his chest,
"I lost"
But his grip around the broken blade tightened because this was the moment he was waiting for,
The moment when the masked man thinks he has won, the moment when the sword of his is not only in his hands.
The broken blade glowed immediately, and with every ounce of strength in his body, he thrust his sword into the chest of the masked man, The broken blade penetrated his chest.
Both took steps backward, with swords penetrating each other's chests,
Both let go of the swords from their hands.
Avatar glared at the masked man, this was the moment the victor would be decided, the one who fell would be the loser.
Both glared at each other refusing to fall first,
But the smile on his face of Rudra grew even brighter as if the victor had already decided.
The masked man fell onto the ground.
Avatar also fell on his knees, blood flowed out of his mouth, his vision blurring.
His breathing became rough as if he was unable to inhale the air.
At this moment he turned his head and looked towards Karna but now near the unconscious body of Karna, Rudra was standing looking at Karna.
With a heavy voice, avatar said
"Save him"
Rudra after hearing the words looked at the avatar and said
"He is an interesting child"
And then grabbed his own left hand with his right hand and pulled.
His left hand detached from the shoulder immediately, and the blood flowed out of the wound like a fountain, covering his white hair and robe with crimson color.
The expression on the face of the Rudra did not change even for a single moment, and then he tossed his left hand toward the dead body of the tiger lying near.
The moment the torn-apart hand of Rudra touched the body of Asha, it disappeared completely with the dead body itself.
Both the hand and body of Asha disappeared.
At this moment avatar noticed a change and he focused on the sword that had penetrated his chest which was now replaced with his own broken blade with crimson cloth tied on it.
He looked towards the masked men and saw in his chest there was a sword of his own, confused Avatar looked towards the Rudra but there was one present there.
He has disappeared with the Karna.
Now besides him and the body of the masked man, there was no one present.
The cold breeze in the air touched the face of the avatar, fluttering his long hair.
But the wound on his back did not give him the time to think what had just happened.
He stood up once again and looked towards the direction of the village but now there was no fire burning or any smoke rising.
Without any delay, he started walking toward the village slowly, without pulling out the sword from his chest.
But after some walking, he heard someone coming out from the green ash forest, he stopped and looked back and then he saw,
The very same-looking masked man is emerging from the forest border with a sword stabbed into his shoulder.
Avatar's pupil constricted and next, he saw another masked man emerging from the behind with same type of sword pierced into his shoulder.
And then again third masked man emerged
Then fourth
And then the fifth masked man with two swords pierced into both shoulders.
The masked men continued emerging from the edge of the forest
Hundreds, thousands until Avatar could not even count.
He continued walking towards the village faster and faster and way behind him the masked legion followed.
He could not fight such an enormous count, he would be dead before he could know how many swords pierced into him.
He walked faster and faster, village was not far from where he was so did not lose any hope, once he entered the village he would gain a chance to survive both, from the penetrating wound on his chest as well as the legion of masked men.
Once he entered the village through the large gap between boulders, he saw nothing there, no houses and no tribe of Neanderthals,
All that was present was the ash lying on the ground covering the whole area.
But he did not stop and continued walking until he reached the center.
He stopped and remained stood for a long time as if waiting for something,
The legion of masked men started to enter the village,
But Avatar stood in the center unmoving.
And then beneath the ash on the ground, he saw something rising,
and after some time a humanoid figure emerged from the ground,
The figure had skin of ash, from head to feet he looked like ash had covered his all body white.
Except his one palm where crimson colored liquid flowed out.
The figure approached in front of the Avatar and lifted his hand with crimson liquid flowing out the palm and produced the sound from his mouth,
"What do you wish for"
Avatar stood there silent not saying anything, then the figure approached near him and rubbed his crimson palm on the forehead of the avatar clouring it crimson as well.
And then it took a few steps backward and again produced a sound
"The fire will burn for eternity"
As soon as the sound came out of his mouth, a fire caught his whole body, flames started rising from him going into the sky.
The next moment the pillar of flames formed where the figure stood penetrating the clouds it reached into the heavens, casting an eerie glow across the night sky, and the figure disappeared into it.
At this moment Avatar grabbed the broken sword where the crimson cloth was tied and pulled it out of his chest, blood flowed out rapidly but Avatar did not panic.
He turned back and saw the legion had come almost near him,
He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and then opened his eyes again
And the next moment he disappeared from where he stood.