Peaceful darkness enveloped Eis' home, unbroken by the distant, faint lights of the stars. Inside, his sleep was anything but soothing. Nightmares fed by pain and regret twisted through his mind, dragging him deeper into haunted memories.
Yet, outside, something far more alarming was unfolding. A phenomenon beyond the reach of ordinary senses.
Patches of blackness darker even than the night swirled and hurled on a nearby roof. The power hidden behind this strange activity was staggering, but not even a ripple affected reality.
The awakened in the city never noticed the disturbance in mana and remained ignorant. Not that any of them in their wildest dreams expected something like that to happen inside The Belows of all places.
Minutes passed, and the swirling darkness coalesced, forming a small crack in the fabric of space. After that, a sound like that of a shattering glass echoed, and the crack widened. A portal was soon formed, and from it, a man with a withered face and sharp eyes walked out. On his skin, numerous tattoos and runic symbols were almost entirely covered by his flowing black robes, which moved as though alive, absorbing the surrounding darkness.
The man took a moment to survey his surroundings. The portal behind him slowly sealed itself shut, the sound of its closure like a distant whisper, leaving no trace of its existence.
The stranger raised his hand and removed the hood, revealing a face that could be considered attractive if not for the numerous small scars that looked like a silver spider web. His black eyes focused on Eis' home, and he smiled as if recalling memories from long ago.
"A boy filled with anger and regret backed by a huge dose of ignorance. His moral code is so full of holes that he doesn't even bother justifying himself anymore. What do you think, Hope? How did he even survive this long?" The man asked seemingly no one, yet was almost immediately answered by a voice without any emotion.
"Asking me questions you very well know the answer to? How shameless. Yet I'm baffled by the lack of will to live in his soul. His body right now seems almost like an empty husk."
"Indeed." The man nodded. "What is about to happen in the next few days is going to break him over and over again."
"Isn't that precisely what you were looking for? After so many experiments, we finally arrived at the right spot in time, yet you don't seem happy. Why is that?"
The man didn't answer immediately. Slowly, he reached up toward his shoulder, where his hand seemed to disappear into the shadows clinging to his form. As his fingers drew close, they brushed against a creature hidden from view, its presence undetectable until that very instant.
The creature was a marvel, its black fur blending seamlessly with the darkness, making it nearly invisible even without the cloak of invisibility that had concealed it. Only the faintest outline of its tiny, leathery wings and the glint of its sharp, needle-like teeth hinted at its true nature—a dragon.
Yet its form radiated an unsettling quietness, as if it was a shadow given life, lacking the overwhelming aura typically associated with its kind.
The man's hand moved gently across the creature's fur. The dragon, for its part, did not stir or react with the ferocity one might expect. Hope, as the creature was named, settled comfortably against the man's shoulder. It remained still, its tiny chest rising and falling with rhythmic breaths.
The man let the silence linger a moment longer and then continued.
"I'm prepared for the consequences. But I'm not ready for you to sacrifice yourself here."
"Listen, kid. We've had this conversation several times now. Once you do it, I'll be gone anyway. You are always such an obnoxious brat." Hope said, but there was no malice in his voice. Only worry that he could not hide.
"Kid?" The man raised his brows. "We've been together for so long now. What's with the high and mighty attitude?"
"I'm still far older than you, so shut up. What are you waiting for anyway and getting sentimental all of a sudden? Are you the same man who flatted an entire continent because someone stole his lunch?" Hope smiled mockingly.
"Oh, come on! You were there! Stop spitting bulshit rumors just to annoy me! Besides, you've done worse in your time. What was that with you and that horse?"
"Hey! We don't talk about that!" Hope looked at the man offended, but in the next moment, they both burst out laughing.
"I'm trying to say my goodbyes, you little dragon wannabe." The man smiled.
"You were always terrible at that." Hope sighed. "So, are you waiting for them?"
"No, they are already here." The man looked at the darkness surrounding him, and on his face appeared a sinister smile. "Are you going to hide all day? Who could guess that the sentinels can be so cowardly?"
The space around him didn't move, yet four figures appeared as if they were always there. Black cloaks covered their entire bodies, not leaving any of them exposed. In their hands, long ancient scythes reflected the moonlight with sinister light. The man could feel it. These weapons could kill even gods.
"You have breached the universal law and used the time river for your own gains," one of them said in a monotone voice. "No matter how impressive your exploits are, the punishment is dead."
"Exploits?" The man laughed. "I'm the only one who managed to do it in all of existence. It should be categorized as more than a simple exploit, don't you think so?"
"Finding pride in the most hideous crime. We've been tasked to stop you, and we shall do so. However, our lord is merciful and offers you a way out. You will have the honor to serve him until all of your secrets are passed to the next generation and then allowed a painless death." The cloaked figure stated with pride.
"So slavery until his cowardness is satisfied with everything I know? What a tempting offer." The man spat on the roof. "I have a better suggestion. How about you go f*uck yourselves in front of your lord?"
The four figures moved immediately instead of answering, yet the man was ready for them.
With a flick of his finger, several magic pentagrams full of runes appeared out of nowhere, pushing all of the sentinels back and propelling him like lightning forward. He navigated through the shifting layers of space with the fluid grace of a fish swimming upstream, his focus locked on the distant structure where Eis was.
The sentinels recovered almost instantly. In unison, they raised their scythes high, chanting in a language that grated against reality. Their voices wove together, and a colossal pentagram shimmered into existence in the sky above. Its power was pulling at the fabric of space, and with a violent lurch, the man was ejected from his path, spat out of the space layers with brutal force. Blood sprayed from his mouth as he staggered in the air, his vision swimming.
Before he could fully recover, he caught the gleam of a scythe descending rapidly, its edge aimed directly at his throat. Time seemed to slow as the blade drew nearer, the moment stretched thin by the certainty of death.
"Go!" Hope's voice thundered in his mind before unleashing a breath of darkness that coiled like a solid pillar. It met the scythe with a resounding clash. The darkness collided with the scythe, stopping it in its tracks but not managing to push it back.
The man twisted his body in the air in a way that defied human anatomy, and the sickening crack of breaking ribs echoed through the night. The pain was immediate and excruciating, but it saved his life.
The deadly arcs of two scythes whistled past him, slicing through nothing but air.
Ignoring the pain in his chest, the man flew toward his goal again. The pained cry of his long-time companion reached his ears, but he didn't look back, only biting his lips until blood filled his mouth.
Arriving at the entrance of Eis' humble home, the man felt the hairs on his neck rising, his danger sense screaming. One of the rings on his fingers immediately shattered, and a barrier enveloped him just in time to stop the four scythes trying to slice him from all sides. The force of the impact was so massive that it damaged his inner organs. Sparks flew from the barrier, but it would hold a few more seconds.
Despite the fierce battle unfolding in the Belows, the chaos seemed trapped in a bubble of silence. No sound echoed beyond a few meters, and not a single stone or brick of the crumbling district was disturbed. The forces clashing there were far beyond the understanding of ordinary men, and if any of the city's so-called awakened had caught even a fleeting glimpse, their minds would have been shattered by the sheer magnitude of what was transpiring.
The last rings on the man's fingers broke, enforcing his barrier to the max. With a final surge of will, he invoked a silent spell. His form flickered and phased, becoming incorporeal as he slipped through the crumbling walls of the building like a ghost. He materialized directly above Eis' sleeping form, his hand outstretched, fingers trembling as they reached for the boy. This was it—his final act.
But fate was cruel.
At that moment, a scythe pierced his chest and found his heart. The magic in his body shut down as the ancient runes of the blade glowed once. His carefully woven spells, the intricate layers of protection, the very essence of his being—unraveling, collapsing in on themselves.
"It's over, Eissen Thalmon. You have failed as our lord predicted. Do you think it is so easy to change fate? So many before you tried and failed, just like you. You should have taken the deal and lived a little longer. As we all did." The cloaked figure said. As he spoke, he pulled back his hood, revealing a man with piercing blue eyes and a face that looked as if it had been chiseled from stone by an ancient sculptor. Though he appeared to be in his thirties, the depth in his eyes betrayed the weight of centuries.
"Old friend, the war is long over." The sentinel continued. "You should have remained hidden. We lost. We didn't stand a chance to begin with." The figure's voice held a note of regret. He stepped closer, his gaze never leaving the dying man.
"Lost?" Eissen Thalmon raised his head defiantly and looked the man in the eyes. His heart was pierced, his body was turning cold, and yet he refused to die. "Nothing is lost until I say so, old friend. Until the day I unburden you all!" He grinned, revealing his bloody teeth. At the top of his finger, a drop of blood covered in dark magic fell down.
The cloaked figure, sensing something amiss, snapped his head towards Eissen's hand, his eyes widening as he felt the unfamiliar magic. But it was too late.
The drop of blood fell, descending in slow motion toward Eis' forehead, where it vanished upon contact, disappearing into the boy's very being.
At the same instant, all sentinels vanished like they never existed.
With the last of his will, the man looked at his young self, sleeping, ignorant of everything happening. 'I couldn't give you much, but it should be enough to keep you on the track to a better future. Don't follow my mistakes and save everyone I couldn't.'
With that final thought, Eissen Thalmon disappeared from existence, leaving behind only the echoes of a battle that would never be known or remembered.
In a realm beyond the comprehension of mortals, where the concepts of time and space had no meaning, a being of pure energy stood upon the deck of an impossibly vast ship. The vessel sailed through the void, traversing both nothingness and infinity simultaneously, its course unaltered by the passage of time—or the absence thereof.
The being, a godly entity whose essence radiated with a power that defied any understanding, gazed at the ship's wheel. This wheel, ancient beyond reckoning, had never wavered in its direction, maintaining a course as immutable as the laws of existence itself. Yet now, for the first time in eternity, the wheel had moved.
It was a minuscule shift, a mere few millimeters, but such a change was unprecedented. It was an impossibility within a place where possibilities were endless, and yet, it had occurred.
The being's form, an ever-shifting silhouette of radiant energy, flickered with interest. They gazed into the distance, a look of amusement and curiosity crossing their inscrutable features, as though they could perceive all of creation in that one glance.
"Such an interesting child," the being mused, their voice a harmonious blend of countless tones, resonating with the fabric of existence itself. "Many have fought against fate, yet you are the first to stir it from its direction. Perhaps... perhaps you can show me something even I cannot see."
A smile, ethereal and ancient, spread across the being's face as they contemplated the ripple that had just disturbed the cosmic order. The ship continued its journey, unchanged yet subtly altered, carrying the weight of a new and unpredictable future that even this godly entity could not fully determine.