Valcroy sat by Alyssa's bedside. He thought about what he should do. Alyssa's strained eyebrows just added fuel to the fire of guilt that was burning ever so brightly. The guilt was making him squirm, his thoughts jumbled.
"Little sweeting."
A soothing voice resounded in his ears, brought him out of his thoughts. His head turned slowly, and he saw a young woman? Radiating a strange blue gas, making her an otherworldly being, at least from Valcroy's perspective, her sapphire eyes slightly crinkled, forming crow's feet at the outer corners of the eyes.
He couldn't see the rest of her face. A veil snatched that chance from him while appreciating her beauty.Her robe and bluish gas covered her body. All his mind could suggest was that she would be a heavenly beauty if she ever decided to show her full face.
Valcroy's eyes were fixated on her, leaving himself in trance, like a magnet of opposite direction. He couldn't help but look into those eyes and just from doing that, the weight he felt on his chest loosened a bit.
"Who?" He asked but the lady before him gave no answer as she just smiled and moved toward Alyssa, her eyes rippled a little before going serene once more, then she turned toward Val and said, her voice like calming winds brushing against his cheeks, "Hush, Little Culver."
And with a blink, she vanished, the blue world alongside her. Val stood there, stunned. What occurred before him was nothing less than a dream. His eyes slowly moved toward Alyssa, his opened jaw dropped further, as he looked at the sleeping beauty nuzzling in her bed. No blemishes on her face, no burn marks, her hair good as new or same as old.
Took him a while, but he got out of this daze as well. After giving Alyssa another look, seeing that she was alright, Valcroy heaved a sigh of relief. He really felt a little light now. But that place had been taken by curiosity now.
"I'll be back soon."
He promised to come back to check on her and rushed to the bald guy he met before. He asked about the woman he met a moment before.
"There's someone like that here?"
The bald guy's eyebrows rose, which conveyed to Valcroy that he didn't know about her. This further added confusion to his already confused life. Still, he thanked him and left, his thoughts still stuck on her.
And in that confused state, he walked out of the infirmary and passed by several guards as they shook their heads, sighing, courtesy of one guard. He had become famous now. Everyone was giving him a sad look, but he was oblivious. That mysterious figure was the only thing on his mind right now.
He strolled aimlessly. The once bustling street, that didn't even let the night sleep, was engulfed in silence. Fire and magic lamps in the houses, snuffed out, everyone deep in sleep, hoping to wake up from the nightmare that was standing at their gate.
Val, in a world of his own, just wandered, a phrase echoing in his mind, 'Hush, Little Culver.' His mouth corners slightly moved up, lifting other face muscles along with them, his eyes squinted a little from the corner, a smile that was missing for a while now, appeared. He forgot about his revenge plans for a moment
Just as he was indulging himself in this delight….
Thump* Thump*
Footstep voices registered in his ears, making him stop. The sound turned faint, walking away from him. He believed they were just guards patrolling. Judging from the condition of the streets, he figured out that a curfew was implemented and he was walking around during it.
"Let's not create trouble for the young master." He said to himself and turned around, preparing to go back.
Thump* Shatter*
He stopped, as this time he heard more than footsteps, of something shattering. He walked toward the voice source. Soon, he could hear the footsteps once more, in an alley dimly lit by the moonlight. He walked into the alley where that sound was coming from.
Thump* Thump*
The footsteps stopped, making him stop for a moment, thinking that it might really be guards, and he walked toward them. Just as he was about to turn a corner, he stopped, as he could hear a conversation. He stopped because he heard something unique.
"…Alliance let us be stationed here?"
'Spies?' The question appeared in his mind, his back against the wall, his breathing quickened.
'I should run and inform the guards.'
He didn't want to get caught by them and was about to inform the guards when he heard one spy say, "It's not as easy as you think."
Val stopped trying to listen into their conversation.
"How is it difficult, boss? They just need to siege, with that enormous army, they can stampede through this city." A person amongst them spoke, clearly holding the Free Alliance in high regard. Well, he was not wrong. With an army of that size, they can stampede through the city.
"Did you find it?" The boss asked, not explaining why the army didn't do that.
There was a silence for a moment, maybe his lackeys were not happy with him not answering his question or maybe something else, he didn't know. Just as Valcroy was thinking it was over, one of them spoke, "We haven't found a single strange thing, boss."
"Yeah boss, nothing strange happened on my side as well."
"Same here, boss."
"Same."
"Hmmm…" the boss contemplated, as he put his hand over his beard, straightening it while thinking. His lackeys kept quiet while he was doing so.
Valcroy, meanwhile, was thinking about what they were saying. Before his thoughts could wander off, the conversation continued.
"Keep looking. Something is bound to happen sooner or later."
"Yes, boss." The lackeys replied in union.
"Dismiss." The boss said, making Valcroy think he messed up. By not calling the guards, the spies would be getting away.
'I should at least see their faces.' The thought was getting more and more votes in his mind, but before the council in his mind concluded, it shut down because it heard something.
"Boss, what are you going to do about the Frostbourne bastard? Even his maid survived and I heard the squire is alive and well. The Alliance will not be happy if they hear you miss---"
He couldn't continue, as the Boss had his hand over his neck. The other spies scurried back when they saw that. Clearly, that guy had crossed his limits.
"Remember who is the…."
Cling*
...........
In a place that stretched far beyond what anyone could possibly grasp, a void so deep that even the idea of existing seemed to slip away, a place without light, sound, or matter—a place where time had stopped in its tracks and space had lost any sense of direction. There was no up, no down, no sense of where things began or ended. It was as if reality itself had come undone, leaving nothing but an endless, silent emptiness that went beyond what any mind could imagine.
There was no warmth or cold, no feeling to cling to—just an endless, unchanging state where even the concept of "nothing" felt too real. It was a place where presence and absence blurred together, where the lack of anything was so absolute that it swallowed up the very idea of being. It wasn't just darkness or emptiness—those things still have some substance. This was a void that couldn't be filled or understood, a perfect and terrifying nothingness.
And in the middle of this vast nothingness, there was someone—a solitary figure, floating, somehow suspended in a place where nothing should exist, let alone survive. The prisoner hovered, his body held in place by some unseen force, arms outstretched as if they were being pulled back by invisible hands, as though preparing for something terrible.
Alongside him or her, his figure obscured, there was something else in that void with him—broken fragments, sharp and jagged pieces of something unknown, maybe pieces of reality itself. They floated around his wrists and ankles, their edges faintly glowing with a forgotten power. These fragments orbited his body slowly, holding him in place without any visible chains while obscuring everything about him.
His head hung low, chin resting against his chest, long, white hair cascading down like a waterfall of silver. It was carefully styled, half tied up in a bun, half left to flow freely, as if someone had once cared for this man, taking the time to groom him even in this desolate place. His hair gleamed softly in the nonexistent light, perhaps illuminated by those glowing fragments—the only hint of life in this lifeless void.
Then,
Tremble*
A tremor.
His muscles twitched for a brief moment, as though he was on the verge of waking, his eyelids fluttering, almost resisting the urge to open.
Tremble*
Another tremor.
The entire void seemed to shudder, like something, or someone was trying to rouse him, waking him from his long slumber. But just as it seemed he might awaken, everything stopped. The void returned to its usual state of nothingness, but there was something different now. A tension, a change in the fragments around him—they moved with a new energy. This wasn't the end; it was just the beginning.
"It has begun."
The words echoed briefly before being swallowed by the endless void. No one knew who had spoken, and no one was there to answer.
.........
"..who is there!?" the boss said, as he threw the guy away, and was looking toward the corner of the alley. That clinging voice grabbed everyone's attention, and they turned toward Valcroy.
Meanwhile, Valcroy's mind became disconnected, causing him to be oblivious to what was happening. He found himself trapped in a loop, constantly replaying everything in his mind. Not knowing that his body started moving on its own like it had a mind of its own, it did though, but this time Valcroy was not in control. He came out of the shadows and staggered toward them.
Upon seeing the staggering Valcroy and bandages over his chest. Everyone's tightened eyebrows slowly loosened.
Cough* Cough*
The person who had his neck grabbed coughed hard. After some time, he stabilized himself and saw everyone looking at Valcroy with intrigue. Even his boss was looking at this drunkard with a raised eyebrow.
Feeling like this was his chance to right his wrong. He stood up before taking long strides toward him. He said with a demanding tone, grabbing his robe with both hands, his feet leave the ground for a moment, "What are you doing here, bastard?"
"Cut the little guy some slack. He must have lost someone precious to him in the bombing."
"Yeah, we were pretty good with that."
They snickered and laughed.
"But these bastards deserve it."
"Yeah, they do."
"Billy, get it over with."
But there was no answer. Billy, the guy who held Valcroy by his robes, did not move one bit, as if he was frozen in place. The same was true for Valcroy, which confused everyone. Before they could understand what happened.
Tip* Tip*
Slish*
Blood dripped down from the body, unknown to whom it belonged. Their eyes followed the stream of blood that was forming a puddle around Valcroy. They looked at Billy, who started trembling. His body leaned against Valcroy's and words, broken, came from it, "P-ple...se do..n't."
Ba-dump* Ba-dump*
A blood pumping voice sounded in the alley, making everyone place their hand over their chest unconsciously. They didn't know what was happening, but it soon became clear as they saw the horrific sight of a hand filled with blood moving up, along with it came the source of that voice, a still beating heart that thumped loudly for a moment before it stopped as the holder moved his hand further up and the arteries and veins tied to it snapped, blood painting the holder, red.
Everyone looked at this, their eyes bulging out of their socket as they looked at the heart and then at Billy who slowly slid down against Valcroy's body, as he said his last words.
"My heart."