As I fell, everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Eldrek went ahead of Grimmor, unleashing his earth ability. Stone pillars shot up from the ground with force, aiming to crush Grimmor, who barely managed to dodge, laughing loudly.
"That's for leaving me in such bad shape, you brat!" he shouted with disdain as he slipped away into the shadows.
I didn't bother to follow him. Grimmor had already escaped, and the only thing that mattered now was Lyris.
I landed awkwardly on the ground, and my gaze immediately turned to where she lay. I ran to her, kneeling down as her body trembled in pain. I held her in my arms, her breathing heavy and her face pale. Eldrek also approached quickly, his eyes full of worry.
"Hold on, Lyris. Please… hold on," I said, trying to keep the desperation creeping over me at bay.
Lyris whimpered, her body convulsing in pain. Grimmor's damned magic sword hadn't just pierced her; it was also poisoned. The same poison that had ended Nymira's life was now coursing through her body, spreading rapidly and marking her skin with violet streaks.
Aelira, exhausted from keeping the mist at bay, approached unsteadily. "We have to get rid of the mist before it's too late," she said, gasping.
My desperation became uncontrollable. "Dispel the mist already, damn it!" I shouted at the dark figure, who still hadn't done anything to ease our situation.
Eldrek, observing everything, suggested gravely, "We have to remove the sword, but when we do, the bleeding will be uncontrollable."
"Don't do it yet!" Aelira interrupted urgently. But at that moment, I noticed the mist starting to dissipate slowly. However, Lyris was beginning to lose consciousness, her breathing growing weaker with each passing second.
"Don't fall asleep, Lyris!" I pleaded, holding her tighter in my arms. Panic gnawed at me.
Aelira, now able to catch her breath after lowering her shield, leaned over Lyris. "Eldrek… now. Pull out the sword with all your strength."
Eldrek nodded silently. His large hands gripped the sword's hilt, and I braced myself for the inevitable. "Here we go, Lyris… Hold on," I said, my voice breaking. She was pale, the venom's marks spreading across her skin like an unstoppable disease.
With a violent pull, Eldrek yanked out the sword, and the sound of tearing flesh made me shudder. Lyris let out a muffled scream, and blood began to pour out from both her abdomen and back. Without wasting a second, Aelira placed a hand on each side of the wound, her healing magic casting a faint glow over the scene.
"Come on, Aelira, you can do it," I encouraged her, though my voice shook with fear. But the wound was deep. Too deep. It had pierced vital organs, and the bleeding was severe.
I began to tremble. I could feel Lyris's body growing cold in my arms as I held her close. "Please… don't leave," I whispered, tears starting to fall onto her still face.
"I'm stopping the bleeding, but the poison is too widespread," Aelira said, her face contorted with effort.
Eldrek knelt beside us, visibly disturbed but silent. I took Lyris's pulse, but it was barely there. I felt her slipping away from us.
"We're losing her…" I murmured, my voice broken. Tears ran down my cheeks as reality hit me hard.
"No, no… I won't let it happen!" I shouted in fury. I had grown so attached to her, especially after learning she was my descendant. Then, the chaos began to flow around me, surging from the depths of my being. Power swirled, and I started to feel something familiar as the surroundings began to distort. Aelira looked up, alarmed.
"Darius! What are you doing? You'll lose control if you keep this up!" she warned, still focused on healing Lyris.
Desperate, I instinctively searched my pockets with trembling hands, feeling something in one of them—the mana potion I'd gotten from Lythara, the herbalist from the last era. I had completely forgotten I still had it.
Without knowing if it would work, I quickly opened it and gave it to Lyris, hoping it might somehow save her. I waited a moment to see if anything happened, but all I saw was the same as with Nymira: her breathing grew weaker, and her body, heavier, began to sink down with greater finality.
Aelira and Eldrek were shouting at me, I think, but I couldn't hear them—my mind was frozen on the image of Lyris dying in my arms.
I felt a surge… everything started to move around me, carrying me along with it. To my surprise, time began to reverse, but I had no control over what was happening.
An unbearable pain spread through my body, as if chaos itself were trying to tear me apart from the inside. The scenery changed, and suddenly I found myself in the middle of a previous battle, creatures fighting around me. This was before Ticaros appeared.
My face burned, and the pain didn't subside. I couldn't stop it. And just like that, in the midst of that scene, the flow began to change again, this time pulling me further back. It was a torturous, desperate sensation.
When it calmed, I saw Grimmor right before he struck Nymira, and I tried with all my strength to run toward her, but chaos's corruption held me back. I watched him deliver the fatal blow, and I screamed in frustration as my body gave in to the pain.
I drew my sword, intent on killing Grimmor, but my hand shook so badly that I dropped it. I sank to my knees, overwhelmed, as time continued to move around me, showing me fragments of a chaotic past.
"Stop, please!" I begged, but the flow of chaos kept devouring me. Then, suddenly, within that distorted chaos, the presence of the dark figure stirred me. Somehow, he had synchronized his own chaos with mine.
"I don't know how to stop it!" I shouted at him, gasping in pain.
The dark figure looked at me coldly. "You have to take control. If you lose yourself now, forget about Selene."
His words hit me like a punch to the mind. I remembered Selene, her face, and the desire to see her again gave me the strength to open my eyes.
But the chaos still distorted everything around me. I glanced sideways at my surroundings and didn't recognize them; it was a vast, endless meadow, with a sky shifting colors. The tall grass swayed gently, but the air was filled with an unnatural stillness. I didn't know what time I was in, or if time even existed in this place.
"Kill me," I said, my lips trembling.
The dark figure looked at me incredulously. "What are you saying?"
"Kill me now! It's the only way to stop this. Then… then I'll come back."
There was a tense pause before the dark figure nodded and drew his sword. "Try not to forget. It'll be hard to find me again, but if you find the way, you'll reach me once more…" he warned. I nodded, trembling. Then, without further hesitation, the dark figure made a clean cut that took my head off, and everything went dark in an instant.
It felt like my consciousness was transported through a void, and when I opened my eyes again, I was back in the same place where it had all started. I was lying down, my body heavy as lead, but I slowly began to regain awareness.
I struggled to sit up, recognizing the place: the same dark hall with three massive entrances directly ahead of me. I tried to stand fully, and as I did, a deep pain started to invade my head.
I fell to my knees in pain. My screams echoed through the empty space as I clutched my head with both hands. I could feel fragments of my memories slipping away, crumbling. It was agonizing.
Through the pain, I remembered that the last time I died, the same thing had happened. Despair overwhelmed me. I closed my eyes, gritting my teeth, begging for it to stop.
Suddenly, the pain began to subside. I stayed there, breathless, hands on my knees, breathing heavily, staring at the ground, unable to think clearly. I tried to remember what had happened to bring me here, but my mind was blank. The memory was slipping beyond my reach.
As I tried to calm myself, I realized there was a pendant hanging around my neck, over my clothes. I looked at it closely, adjusting my position to sit up straight.
I took the pendant in my hand, examining it carefully, and murmured, "Is this mine?" Fleeting images flashed through my mind: Selene. Her name came to me instantly, her face a blur, a familiar feeling. "Who is she? I know her… I know I know her," I said to myself, still looking at the pendant.
I turned it over in my fingers and, on the back, saw an inscription. We will meet again… The words echoed in my mind with a force that almost made me collapse once more. The memory of Selene returned like a wave, crashing into me without mercy.
I remembered her, but the only image that came to my mind was the moment I saw her die in my world.
The fear of the side effects of dying and trying to jump through time was becoming evident. I knew this was taking a high toll on me. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to steady myself. I told myself that, somehow, I would recover the rest of my memories eventually.
This time, I looked toward the three entrances. Only the first one was still active; the other two were dark, devoid of any light. "I have a feeling I was in the era of the third entrance… but I'm not sure," I murmured, uncertainty hitting my already tired mind.
I patted my face to clear my head, to give myself courage. I tucked the pendant back under my clothes and looked at the first entrance, where I could see a vast meadow with a few tents and rustic houses, nothing too developed.
I took a deep breath and, with determination, moved toward the entrance, ready to face whatever came next. I crossed the threshold without looking back.
Instantly, the scenery changed, and I found myself in the middle of that meadow. I looked around; it was daytime, the weather pleasant, with a gentle breeze brushing against my face and the soft, tall grass under my feet. There was nothing but a vast green land stretching as far as the eye could see.
"Where the hell am I?" I asked softly, trying to orient myself. I felt lost for a moment until a fleeting image crossed my mind: a similar terrain, but instead of green, it was barren, desolate, and lifeless.
I stood still for a moment, murmuring to myself, "Where could that have been?" I was sure it was a fragment of some memory, but I didn't know where it came from.
In the distance, I saw a tent and decided to walk toward it, hoping to find out where I was. I started across the meadow, my steps echoing in the stillness of the place. Everything seemed too quiet. As I got closer, I saw a figure sitting by a campfire. A middle-aged man was cooking something, the smoke from the fire rising slowly into the sky.
The man noticed me when I was close enough. He looked up and greeted me with a friendly expression, "Are you alright, boy? You don't look so good."
I sighed before answering, "Yeah, I know… I've apparently been through a lot."
"I see," the man said, observing me with curiosity. "You can sit down and regain your strength if you'd like; I'm just cooking up some stew."
The man's hospitality surprised me, but I was exhausted and hungry, so I accepted. I sat across from him, separated only by the fire. The warmth of the flames was comforting, and the aroma of the stew reminded me of how long it had been since I'd had a decent meal.
"Thank you for your hospitality," I said cautiously. "Sorry, but I'm a bit confused… Could you tell me where we are and what era this is?"
The man frowned, clearly puzzled by my question, his expression mirroring his confusion. "Well, boy, whatever you've been through, it's definitely affected you." I laughed softly, a bit nervously.
The man continued, "We're in the Era of the Lost Star. As for this place… well, it doesn't really have a name. But a bit further on is the land of the giants. They're known for their work as blacksmiths."
I felt a sudden shift inside me, as if something clicked when I heard those words. "Giant blacksmiths, you say?" I asked, straightening up, feeling a connection to the idea.
"Yes," the man replied, looking at me with interest. "But if you decide to go there, I warn you, you'll need money. They don't take too kindly to outsiders unless you're there to buy something."
I looked toward the place he had pointed out, feeling a strong intuition that I needed to go there. Something told me it was my next destination, as if an invisible force was guiding me.
I remained silent, staring at the horizon. Something inside me knew I had to follow that path, no matter the difficulties. I was determined to move forward, no matter how many questions remained unanswered.