"Why are you here, Death?"
Inside a candle-lit cabin, a man wearing white robes asked the woman sitting across from him. The woman was clad in a pitch black gown, with a hood, hiding her entire head. Were it not for her womanly physique and dark hair slipping through the outer edges of her hood, it would've been impossible to tell if she was a woman or not.
"Is it really so hard to believe for me to visit my favorite being in this universe?"
"It is, Death. For not once have you given me a casual visit before. In fact, I would argue that the sun falling from the sky is a far more believable event than whatever nonsense you're spouting."
Death smirked, amused.
"I must say, I'm rather hurt that you think of me that way. Is that really how you should talk to the person you've been with since this whole farce started?"
"Farce?"
"Yes, Terron. A farce."
Death learned into him and continued.
"This whole universe, this galaxy specifically. All of it is a farce. A farce created by the master you oh so dearly love and serve."
Hearing the blasphemous words coming out of Death's mouth, Terron's blood immediately began to boil as the Divine Energy—a unique type of energy that only Angels possessed—within him, erupted into a fiery blaze that formed around his body.
"Say another word and I promise you, you will not be seeing the light of day for millions of years, Death."
Terron's chilling voice echoed across the entire cabin. Anyone who heard this would have probably shivered in fear and dropped to their knees, but Death, being a Rider of the Apocalypse, merely giggled, like a child who found her pet dog amusing.
"You know you can't kill me, Terron."
Death uttered.
"And you know that I can simply seal you inside the depths of the Earth."
Terron replied, seething, as he unsheathed the sword strapped on his waist.
"You can't do that either~"
The light surrounding Terron suddenly dimmed as the darkness around them deepened and slowly devoured Terron's flames.
"And why is that, if I may ask?"
Feeling the soothing darkness wrap around him, Terron managed to calmly ask the primordial being in front of him, to which Death simply leaned on the back of her seat and replied,
"Simple, really. It's because you wouldn't have the time."
"I'm immortal, time is all I have."
"Trust me, my dear Terron, the time you have now is no longer as infinite as it was before."
Confused by Death's words, Terron's head tilted to the side as he asked,
"What do you—"
But before Terron could ask what Death was talking about, the sound of a door opening rang out and a thin young boy, carrying an unconscious little girl on his back, stepped inside, catching Terron's attention for a single second.
Terron gave the young boy a quick look, before turning his gaze back to Death, only to find that she was no longer there, leaving not even a single trace of her existence behind. Irritated, Terron looked at the two people that just walked into his cabin and interrupted his conversation with Death.
It was a young boy, malnourished and weak, carrying an unconscious little girl that was in the same state as him. The only difference was that the young girl's arm was blackened by a strange, black miasma, while her veins, as dark as coal, protruded on the surface of her skin.
Terron didn't look too kindly at the children. In fact, he was a bit upset that his conversation with Death was interrupted. He did wonder though about why he couldn't feel their approaching presence much earlier, but he simply threw the thought onto the back of his head and reasoned that it was simply because he was too focused on his conservation with Death.
"Who are you?" Terron asked.
"A-Are you the priest..?"
"Priest?"
"The one who's been healing travelers for free..."
It was then that Terron realized what this was about. It was true that he had been casually healing injured travelers that happened to make their way to his cabin, but he didn't think that those he healed would actually go out of their way and tell people about his existence.
Terron clicked his tongue, annoyed.
If he knew his random whims would result in something like this from happening, he wouldn't have done them at all in the first place. Seeing the pitiful appearance of the children in front of him, Terron snorted in dissatisfaction. He didn't even wait for what the young boy was going to say next, he simply stretched his hand out, and the girl on the boy's back was suddenly lifted up into the air and was placed gently onto a nearby wooden table.
Without wasting a single second, Terron roused his Divine Energy, causing his hand to glow softly with golden light, and like a miracle, the black miasma on the girl's arm was instantly purged, returning her arm back to its original state. Not only that, the young girl's malnourished body began to bulk up and increase in size. Her skin also got cleansed, together with hair, eyes, and while the young boy may not be able to see it, her internal organs as well.
However, while the young boy's eyes were sparkling in amazement and fascination, Terron's eyes were impassive and cold as he watched the girl's healing process. He wanted nothing more than to finish this as soon as possible so he could just kick both of the kids out and relocate his cabin.
Terron looked over to the boy who was watching him, wondering just how a frail looking boy managed to get to his cabin, which was located at one of the continent's most dangerous mountains. Probably feeling Terron's gaze on him, the boy turned to Terron and locked eyes with him, it was then that Terron noticed a peculiar energy within the boy's body. It carried a subtle but nasty stench that would make anyone who smelled it vomit everything inside their stomach. Terron's eyes then became sharper as he glared at the young boy and asked,
"I'll ask you again boy, who are you?"
The boy didn't say anything in response, however, and simply smiled brightly at Terron. Terron then felt a sudden shift of energy from the young boy, but instead of moving to stop him, Terron let it be, curious as to what was about to happen.
Time seemed to slow down for Terron as he saw the young boy's figure slowly change into that of a bearded and golden haired man, equipped with silvery plated armor, with gold engravings attached on its surface, but what really caught Terron's attention though was wrapped around the man's neck, a golden necklace, with a pendant that had three set of wings on it, and a blue gem in the middle. But even with the man's drastic and sudden change, Terron's eyes remained impassive as he waited for what the man was going to do next.
Still perceiving everything in slowed down time, Terron watched amusingly as the man before him brought out a lasso hidden inside his pocket, and in what seemed like an instant, Terron suddenly found himself tightly bound by a magical piece of rope, which was glowing with a pale, purple light.
He could feel his movements being restricted, but it wasn't exactly enough to actually prevent him from breaking out of the binds. Terron chose to stay still though, as this was the first time something interesting was happening to him in hundreds of years, and he was really interested as to where this would all lead.
Seeing bound Terron silently sitting there, the unknown man grabbed a chair for himself and took a seat, while the girl—who was previously being treated by Terron—stood up from where she laid and stood right behind the unknown man.
"I know about you, oh great Lord of Calamity." The man said to him.
The space around them suddenly blurred and became dyed in darkness, after a short while though, it was replaced by a scene of destruction. The land was uprooted, lava flowed through the ground, a vicious rain of fire sieged the earth below, and during all of this, humans, whether they were young or old, man or woman, burned to their deaths, leaving nothing but their ashes behind.
"I know about the things you've done…"
The scene around them then changed, this time, it showed an entire Kingdom being reduced to rubble by an endless storm of golden lighting.
"…and for how long you've been doing them."
The scene changed again, this time, showing a grand procession of thousands of refugees being drowned by gigantic waves of water…
"I've been curious for a while now, but do you even feel guilty for what you've done?"
The scenery around them kept changing again and again, showing Terron hundreds of views that he was all too familiar with…
"You probably don't, do you? After all, us humans are probably no different from bugs for someone like you."
And in those scenes, there was one thing that always stayed consistent…
"But that changes today, old man. Because today, this bug in front of you will put an end to your tyranny."
It was Terron, looking down on the world as all of humanity perished.
Behind the man, Terron could see a bright, golden light suddenly bathing the girl's entire body as her form gradually changed into that of a Greatsword with a shiny, silvery blade, and like it had a mind of its own, the sword quickly flew towards the man's hands…
"Any last words?"
Terron sighed, hearing the man's question. Did he feel guilty for all the things he'd done? If someone asked him this question in his first thousands of years of living, then he would have definitely told him that he was, that he felt guilty, but now that millions of years have passed, Terron had no doubt in his heart that whatever love he had left for humanity was already on the verge of being extinguished.
Clicking his tongue, Terron sighed once more and stared at the man in front of him, but instead of answering the man's question though, Terron asked a question of his own.
"That necklace, the relic you're using. The one you used to completely change your physical vessel."
"What about it?" The man replied, wondering where Terron was going with this.
"Do you know who made that thing?"
A chilling smile emerged on Terron's face, and the man, seeing this smile, came to a terrible realization when he suddenly remembered just how long Terron has existed on this planet…
Overcome with immense fear from this realization, the man moved with a burst of speed and quickly swung his sword towards Terron's neck, but just as the blade of his sword was about to make contact with Terron's flesh, he instantly felt a solid, metal object constricting his neck. Suddenly feeling his own flesh and bones being crushed in a short instant, the man's movement came to an abrupt pause, inadvertently causing him to drop the sword he was holding onto the cold, wooden floor.
Terron snorted softly before shaking his shoulders, causing the binds around him to shatter into tiny particles of light, and then after seeing the man's six foot Greatsword on the ground, Terron crouched down and picked it up, before observing it with keen interest in his eyes.
"What an interesting weapon… It's probably been thousands of years since the last time I've seen a soul bound weapon like this…"
Terron's gaze then shifted towards the man—who was now kneeling—struggling to take a breath. Feeling a bit disgusted by this pitiful sight, Terron clicked his tongue and eased the necklace's hold onto the man's neck.
"Did you know? Well, of course you wouldn't…"
Terron grabbed the man by the scruff of his neck with one arm and lifted him up from the floor before throwing his body onto the table the girl was previously lying on. The sound of bones breaking could be heard as the man's back impacted the mana-reinforced table that Terron personally made.
"....but I was originally planning on letting you continue with this little play of yours, but then you said something quite interesting…"
With eyes completely devoid of emotion, Terron gazed coldy at the man lying on his table as he firmly gripped onto the Greatsword's hilt before stabbing it directly onto the man's stomach, causing the man to let out a wailing scream of pure pain and agony as he felt his organs getting crushed.
"How exactly did you know about me?" Terron asked calmly.
Gritting his teeth, the man endured the terrible pain he was feeling before yelling in response,
"I'll never tell you, you bastard!"
Seeing the resolute and determined eyes of the man before him, Terron could already tell that he had absolutely no intention of giving him the information he wanted, no matter how badly he tortured him…
That's when he heard it.
A soft, barely audible cry, coming from the sword in his hand. Hearing the pitiful weeping of the young sword-woman, a cruel thought emerged from his mind…
Holding the edge of the blade of the sword with his other hand, Terron dug his fingers deep into the blade, causing small cracks to form on its surface. Seeing these cracks, the man—who was under excruciating pain—bellowed, letting out an enraged, animalistic yell..!
Terron ignored the beastial cry of the man before him though, and instead, calmy continue talking,
"I have another question though. Who planned all this out? Disguising yourself and your sword, acting like injured little children…"
Saying so, Terron increased the pressure on the sword, causing the cracks to spread all over the blade…
"It's distasteful."
The man struggled, he roused up his own mana and gathered all of his strength, trying everything he could possibly do to stop Terron from destroying his sword, but Terron was merciless, and siphoned all the Mana inside the man's body, robbing him of his power…
"And stupid."
And then, the cracks deepened even further, causing the soul of the woman in the sword to let out a deafening wail that would have burst the ears of any mortal who heard it…
"No, stop!"
The man's eyes shook in rage as he screamed, almost begging Terron to stop torturing his companion, but Terron continued to be indifferent to their suffering and simply continued talking…
"I have to applaud you though. You really had her go through Demonization, all in an effort to fool me."
The inside of the cabin suddenly caught aflame, turning the entire area into one, giant furnace, burning the man's flesh, and boiling the blood inside him…
"But that's not it. Not all of it, at least."
Terron leaned forward, making close, direct eye contact with the man in front of him.
"You didn't just fool my eyes, you fooled my senses as well, and I find it hard to believe for a human to be capable of doing that by himself."
Grabbing the man by the neck and the sword by its blade, golden flames erupted around Terron's body as he growled and asked…
"So I shall ask you once again, how exactly did you know about me?"
Seeing the man's tightly sealed mouth, Terron's eyes narrowed as genuine rage started to blossom from his heart…
"You still won't tell me? Then I guess it's time to say goodbye to this little lover of yours…"
Increasing the intensity of his flames, Terron prepared to bathe the entire sword in fire, when—
"It was Azmodan!"
—the man finally gave in to the pressure, exposing the name of his benefactor. Hearing a familiar name come out of the man's mouth, Terron released him and the sword from his grasp and quickly extinguished his flames.
"The Demon King… he's... he's the one that told me…"
Finally able to breath properly, the man continued his explanation.
"Azmodan? Leviathan's lackey?" Terron asked.
"L-Lackey..?" The man asked back, this time with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Yes, his lackey. The weakest of Leviathan's subordinates."
"N-No… it can't be.. he was the toughest enemy I've ever faced…"
A hollow look appeared on the man's face once he heard this, he looked like someone who was seeing his entire world crumbling down…
"It makes sense that you'd think that way, with you being so weak and all."
….but Terron was once again indifferent to his suffering and continued planting more stakes into the man's ego.
"B-But I'm the strongest in all of humanity!"
"And you were being choked by a piece of jewelry."
The man fell silent, hearing this, unable to cope with the fact that he was not actually as strong as he thought he was. Terron, too, went silent, as he sat down on a nearby chair delved into his thoughts.
Terron finally had a decent understanding of what was happening here, but there were still a few questions that were left unanswered, questions that this man in front of him definitely didn't know the answers to. It was strange. Azmodan wasn't the brightest tool in the shed, but the same couldn't be said for Leviathan, The Lord of Envy. Why would he send this numbskull in front of him here?
To kill me?
Terron asked himself, doubtful. There was absolutely no way Leviathan thought that this pathetic worm was enough to kill someone like Terron, which meant…
"You were just a distraction."
Right after saying that, Terron suddenly felt a familiar presence in the sky. He left the cabin immediately, leaving the man behind and raised his head, observing the vast sky of Earth quickly being devoured by a surging storm of darkness…
A chilling breeze swept pass Terron, when he suddenly heard a familiar voice from behind him.
"They've been planning this for millions of years now. The only hindrance to their plan was you. They didn't want to risk having you close the gate just as it was about to open."
Turning around, he saw the blurry figure of Death, walking up to him.
"They knew they couldn't kill you, they knew that they lacked the power to do so."
"So they waited. They waited for millions of years, when your boredom had reached its peak, and your vigilance had reached its lowest, when a simple charade of a hero coming to kill you was enough to not only entertain you, but hold your attention for a couple of minutes as well…"
"A couple of minutes. It was all they needed."
Crimson, swirling clouds were now littering the sky, and from within them, red-skinned Demons, all with different forms and sizes, poured out like heavy rain on a stormy day.
"Earlier, you asked me why I was here."
Terron gazed at Death, his heart pounding.
"The reason is simple, really…"
And from within the chilling darkness of souls that veiled Death's face, her eyes stared deeply into Terron's, watching, amused at the sight of his quivering soul.
"The Age of Apocalypse has come."