Chereads / Thrones, Demons, and Swords / Chapter 3 - Accident

Chapter 3 - Accident

As dark clouds blanketed the heavens, only a faint sliver of moonlight pierced through, casting a dim, ethereal glow over the jagged mountain range below. At the highest peak, towering above the world, stood a magnificent castle. Its towering walls enclosed a single, strikingly white tower, smooth and seamless, as though not made from stone, but crafted from the finest porcelain.Within the towering structure, inside a grand chamber, a figure sat upon an enormous black throne. Behind the throne loomed a statue of a giant black serpent, its coiled body circling above the seat, with its head poised like a tyrant king, watching over anyone who dared to look upon it. Slowly, the wind swept away the clouds outside, allowing the moonlight to flood the room, revealing the figure of a woman draped in crimson, her long black hair cascading down her back. Her eyes were closed, but as they opened, they glowed with a light that contrasted the pale moon outside. In her eyes, an intricate pattern of an eight-pointed star spun endlessly, one ring turning clockwise, the other counterclockwise, like the eternal dance of life and death. She parted her lips and spoke softly, her voice a whisper against the silence. "The wind carries the scent of the Abyss. The time has come. Morgo, the Dread Lord, shall return to this world. "Her gaze shifted to the vast, empty sky beyond the window, and her eyes glimmered with the weight of ancient memories. She remembered the nightmare that unfolded four thousand years ago—when Morgo and his armies marched upon her kingdom. Once, she had ruled as a queen, inheriting the throne her father had left behind. But in a single day, her kingdom was reduced to ruin. She had been unprepared, unaware of the storm Morgo and his forces would unleash. Not just upon her realm, but upon the entire world. Five great kingdoms had fallen into his grasp, millions perished, and those who survived faced fates far worse than death, captured and tortured for the remainder of their existence.The dark, ominous night from the distant world faded away, replaced by the gentle glow of streetlights lining the quiet road. Aldir walked alongside Maya, their footsteps rhythmic as they made their way back from campus. The late evening air was cool, and the sky was clear, a stark contrast to the heavy atmosphere that lingered above the mountains in another realm.As Aldir and Maya walked down the quiet street, a strange tension filled the air. It was a feeling Aldir couldn't explain, like the calm before a storm. Maya's voice pulled him from his thoughts."You're unusually quiet today. Everything okay?"Aldir forced a smile. "Yeah, just distracted. Maybe it's the semester... or something else."The sky above them was darker than usual, clouds hanging low and oppressive. Without warning, the ground beneath their feet trembled. Aldir stopped, his instincts screaming at him that something was wrong. The air seemed to twist and warp around them, the space ahead bending in impossible ways."What the hell?" Maya whispered, her eyes wide with confusion and fear.Before either of them could process what was happening, the world itself began to collapse. A swirling vortex appeared in the middle of the street—a black hole, warping space and time around it. The air was sucked into the void, pulling everything with it."Maya, hold on!" Aldir shouted, reaching for her, but the force was too strong.The black hole expanded, swallowing them both. Aldir's vision darkened as his body was torn from the world he knew. Time became meaningless as he tumbled through the endless abyss.Suddenly, his fall stopped. He opened his eyes, but instead of the void, he was somewhere else—an alien memory, or was it a dream?Flashes of a violent battle consumed his vision. He wasn't Aldir anymore. He was someone else, standing in the middle of a fierce battlefield. The sky was blood-red, and the clash of steel echoed all around him. His body moved on its own, expertly parrying blows with a black sword that pulsed with dark energy. It felt alive in his hands, heavy yet perfectly balanced, like an extension of his arm.The ground was littered with bodies—soldiers, knights, and strange creatures that Aldir had never seen before, even giants that as high as a mountain ram. A war was raging, and he was in the thick of it. Blood dripped from the edge of his sword, and the taste of battle filled his senses.Then, he saw him—a man standing opposite him, cloaked in shadow, wielding a similar sword, its blade as black as night. There was something painfully familiar about him. "You're too Azareth," the man's voice rang out, deep and filled with malice. "This is where it ends."The man who is called Azareth heart twisted in pain. He knew this man. The bond between them ran deep, but now they stood on opposite sides of a war that would consume them both."Don't do this!" he shouted, his voice cracking with emotion, but the words felt foreign in his mouth. His brother's face remained cold, eyes filled with a dark resolve.With a roar, his brother lunged, and he met him head-on, their black swords clashing with a thunderous force. The ground shook beneath their feet as they fought, every strike heavier than the last. This wasn't just a fight. It was personal. It was the end of something once precious, now shattered.The world spun as the memory intensified, and then, just as this man's brother swung his sword for the final blow, the vision shattered.Aldir gasped, his chest heaving as he was ripped back into reality. But reality wasn't the street he'd known it was something else entirely. The ground beneath him was soft, like grass, and the air smelled different, fresher, more ancient. He was no longer in his world.He staggered to his feet, disoriented. Far in the distance, mountains loomed, their jagged peaks piercing a twilight sky. The gleaming white tower he'd seen in his dreams stood against the horizon, an impossible monument in this strange, unfamiliar world.But before he could take it all in, his mind raced back to the vision. The battlefield. The sword. A man that is unknown to him."What... was that?" Aldir whispered to himself, the memory still vivid, burning in his mind. He had never seen that battle before, yet it felt real. Too real. And the figure he had fought—it felt as if his soul recognized the man, even if Aldir didn't.A deep voice, cold and unyielding, echoed through the air around him. "There is no place for you, among the great throne"