Chapter 42: The Madness Stemming from Him
As soon as I returned, I regained the check and tranquility over my emotions. Right there, I understood that what I felt wasn't calmness nor apathy—it was a desensitization.
Per every death, I would lose sensitivity towards the matters that normally caused people to stumble and fail under their fears, allowing me to go further beyond, beyond the chains of human emotions.
"But aren't you too young to—you know, risk your life by fighting that thing?" he asked.
"Yeah. You're right." I sighed.
He craned his neck and peeked at me for a brief moment before returning to the chatter I've heard from my revelation.
"The creature you've fought seemed to be stronger than you—why did you keep fighting a losing battle?"
I then spoke.
"I do not know myself." I sighed. "While fighting it, I had seen memories of a glorious past, glorious days where we did not rule—days of an ancient city, the dawn of a marvelous civilization."
"It was utterly beautiful—so beautiful that I would want it to return."
"Look at the world outside. While billionaires live wealthy lifestyles, the so-called scum of society suffers. Homeless people, prostitutes, immigrants—they are the object of blame, they are the object of scorn. They call them druggies—they call them lazy, when really, their outcome isn't their fault."
"They have been abandoned by society. While the plebeians are in pain, the rich profits off their sufferings."
He turned around to face me, his expression indecipherable.
"Do you know how I feel, seeing the downfall of this world?" I asked, clenching my fist.
This was a gamble.
If I could make him lower his guard by acting as one with his own ideas and beliefs, it would mean my victory.
"It disgusts me."
"Our rulers do not care about us. We might as well throw our fates in the hands of someone else—someone superior, someone possessing vast knowledge—vast understandings that will bring us towards a new world, towards a new future."
"I see." he slowly nodded before gazing at the moon, his lips curling into a blank smile.
"His wisdom knows no bounds…" he muttered, staring at the satellite.
Ivan glanced at me, thin, dangly tentacles sprouting from his eyes.
"There's no point in hiding it—you can foresee the future."
'So He knew…!'
"And you've seen this already, haven't you?" he pointed at me, his index finger becoming thinner and thinner, his skin gradually turning translucent.
"You truly are an interesting specimen…You aren't a Patron Bearer, yet you can gain future revelations inside the physical plane… Even my insignificant mind can start to comprehend the reasons of His curiosity towards you…"
"I can't shake this question from my mind, however," he narrowed his eyes. "What are you…?"
As he talked, I thought of how to get out from this situation.
Even in the best of circumstances, I only had two revelations left.
While the agony I felt upon my Fragment was greatly reduced, I didn't acquire other prophecies. Once I lost them, it would mean game over.
I had to incapacitate him first, then interrogate him thoroughly, which would allow me to find the means to return inside the real-world.
And if I arrived right in time, I could try to stop the ritual of descent from there.
Ivan—or rather, the Sult'Hurni, said that He hadn't descended upon reality.
Since I stayed inside the dimension for quite a while, I thought that time passed differently here.
Therefore, He hadn't brought me there so I couldn't try to stop his ritual, but instead for other reasons bound by His curiosity.
I scoffed at his questions.
"Ask your god."
His face twisted as tentacle after tentacle emerged from his face, head and neck, all undulating towards me in what I figured to be a threatening manner.
His façade of humanity was slowly crumbling before my eyes, revealing more and more of the Sult'Hurni he was inside.
Taking a deep breath, I recalled that connection I felt between me and Selene's movements, my mind buzzing from the vast amount of visual information.
I rushed at him and swung my blade right for his throat, but just as I was about to slash it, the scepter from before manifested in his hand, allowing him to block my attack.
As we clashed, the tentacles on his face tried to pierce me, but aided by the memoir of Selene's graceful movements, I could dodge the attacks just by nimbly moving my neck.
Every movement pained me—awfully so.
I regained some of my energies when I entered inside this dimension and stopped engaging in fights, but it wasn't enough.
I still had to remove the glass shards from my body, and I needed urgent care for the wound on my face, as it might turn infected soon.
Most importantly, I wanted to sleep.
I wanted to lay down, to just close my eyes even for only two minutes; that's all I wanted and and needed.
But I couldn't.
If I did so, I would die.
And with it, the hopes of meeting Kathy—the vow I made with my mother would never come to be fulfilled.
I had to keep on fighting.
For Kathy, for Mother, and for everyone else.
We both pushed forward, trying to make the other stumble backwards, but we completely were inside an headlock.
My arms trembled and screamed with agony, but I kept on pushing, gritting my teeth with force.
He kicked me right in my stomach, breaking our clash. Immediately after, he tried to follow with a bludgeoning of his scepter.
With a quick movement of my blade, however, I parried his attack, using my blade to lead his scepter to be away from his vital organs.
If my replica of Selene's movements was poor, this was even worse compared to them.
Since I never saw her parry an attack before, I had to do what I 'thought' she would do in such a situation based upon my connection.
I was just right about to thrust my sword into his heart—or into whatever organs the Sult'Hurni had when I felt danger, an incredible amount of danger!
I stepped back, and not even a second later, that dust-like, golden lustered powder showered on the place where I was supposed to be!
Wooosh!
A tall flame emerged from where the powder was located, the immense heat soon spreading even right where I was standing. The ravaging flame brightened the darkened the world, casting its orange-dark light over our fierce expressions.
He emerged from the fire and pointed his scepter right at my throat, which caused me to step to the side, a flame rushing soon after, burning my clothes—narrowly avoiding my hair.
The scepter's flame didn't stop however.
As he nimbly twisted his arm towards my new position, the flames gathered together and acted like a whip in his hands. I rolled down, glass shards injecting even deeper inside my body, leading me to wince in pain.
I stood up as quick as I could, the view of his enraged eyes reflecting right inside my silvery ones.
He stared at me, his whip-like flame resting on the ground, burning the grass below.
"Let's see if you can come back from this." his tentacles curled upwards, forming an uncanny, uncomfortable smile.
I panted, awfully tired, holding my hip.
There, blood poured out, staining my already half-burnt, half-torn clothes.
'After this one… I will have…I only will have one revelation left.'
He turned his head, gazing at the vast landscape beyond, prompting me to do the same.
Slowly, the grass changed color, turning a bright-blue. The abandoned buildings near us also had conch-like structures overlap on them momentarily. Not even a second later, the buildings disappeared, making way for the alien constructs.
The rabbits, the owls flying, and the wolves who carefully stared at us shifted in form, becoming wrinkled, scaly skinned creatures.
The trees also altered in size and in shape, becoming thinner and sharper, resembling spears of dried-up, black bamboos.
"This is how our world looked like." the Sult'Hurni said.
"It's beautiful, isn't it?"
He then raised his scepter, and with a swing of his arm, the flame cut right through half of my body, ending me.
…
I looked around, and after seeing that the landscape hadn't changed yet, and the wall of flames in front of me, I quickly understood where the revelation started, allowing me to recall his future moves.
I knew I couldn't fail anymore, for one use was all I had left. After that, I would turn into a completely normal human, losing the power of Genesis.
I didn't know if my desensitization or my replication of Selene's movement would remain, and that made things even harder.
Since I knew the road ahead, I had to pursue it, doing the same actions and movements, only changing the mistakes I'd made.
I couldn't differ from my past itineration much, for it would mean creating a brand new future with branches of new possibilities of which I was completely unaware of.
The wall of flames in front of me swayed delicately, an hypocritical sight compared to the destructive force of the fire possessed by the Sult'Hurni.
That scepter of his seemed very durable—I doubted I could slash it in half. I also hypothesized it was a technological weapon created by his alien race, but that idea wasn't really important towards my goal.
His tentacles weren't too fast, yet I couldn't lower my guard near them. At my present condition, I could barely dodge attacks anymore—I was just right about to expend my last energies.
The glass shard injury worsening reduced them even more on my past itineration—I was at the point where I couldn't move anymore, much less avoid his attacks.
…
Franz Kaldiri ran inside the quiet, empty streets. The moonlight filled air had an ethereal-like quality to it; near him, birds, lizards, cats, and even dogs slept peacefully on the side-walks and on the middle of the road.
Creating a drowsy air, capable of even making humans fall asleep—this was the power of the Sewn One.
However, the Nephilim with enough quintessence in their systems could avoid this lethargic effect, not feeling even the slightest of sleepiness.
The moon shone bright in the sky.
Around the world, the tides rose immensely, waves crashing against each-other before dispersing and continuing their cycle of destruction and rebirth.
The news soon became viral.
Oceanographers and Meteorologists said it was an effect of global warming. Religious groups around the world said that the world was about to end. Others said it was a punishment from god.
Many came closer to the truth, yet they nobody was close enough to grasp it.
Franz Kaldiri finally reached the location where a god would descend.
He silently opened the door, fearful of what might stare back at him.
The reason of why he wore his blindfold was that his sight allowed him to see beyond what no other could; and since the world was full of mysteries not meant to be gazed at, he couldn't roam around without any protections.
His special blindfold would greatly weaken his power, but not fully. Because of this, if Sin had truly descended, he would die upon gazing at him.
However, this was a necessary step to take!
If mistaken, he simply couldn't let Him awaken because of his fears!
Taking a deep breath, he entered Mnemosyne's Antiques.
Many vintage furnitures, libraries, and jewelry were cluttered all around the wooden floor, sharp glass shard sticking out with them.
Moonlight filled the air, rows of torches shining bright.
The walls were covered by crescent-shapes holes.
Inside them, unknown colors, unnatural hues forgotten by human conception vibrated with their uncanny lights, becoming portals to the realms beyond our own.
In front of him, the multi-faced avatar was kneeling down, his back-muscles twisting and turning—a muscular arm sticking right out of it, its wrinkly hand placed into a claw-like position.
Heek!
Blood spurted from Franz Kaldiri's eyes, mouth and nose, thick surges of liquid streaming across his face.
He looked at Selene's unconscious body, his face darkening.
'Selene…I thought you wouldn't go to such lengths. Gray is now dead—are you happy because of it?'
'You've killed him at the cost of possibly forsaking every single human belonging to this world!'
Slowly, he raised his cotton, flower patterned shirt, exposing a syringe pouch attached to his leather pants.
Six were empty while only three were filled. Inside the syringes, a thick, black liquid flowed through them.
'The only means for his descent to fail…' Franz thought. 'We had to fight the One Eyed One at full power, yet this measly amount was all we could gain without dying.'
'Most of the multi-headed avatar's power is focused on summoning Him, yet, will this work?'
'Years ago, she almost caused Him to descend. Fortunately, I could disrupt it, but it was only because I there with her, having the means of disruption ready in hand…!'
In the First Decline, the stages of Descent, the multi-headed avatar would get summoned by Selene, even without her knowledge.
In this first stage, the multi-headed avatar would protect her from external harm, so He would come.
In the Second Decline, small parts of reality started to over-lap with The Eternal Landscape of the Begotten Self.
In the Third Decline, the multi-headed avatar would focus every single ounce of his power to let Him pass through. In this phase, catastrophical amounts of reality, spanning kilometers wide, would get replaced by the dream dimension itself, bringing the moon god Sin inside the real world!
Since the multi-headed being had stopped its defensive actions over Selene, this meant that right now, they were one step inside the Third Decline!
He grabbed one syringe and slowly walked towards the multi-faced avatar, his body trembling with pain.
Every step and every breath was atrocious, weakening his body even further.
Raising his arm, syringe in hand, he strenuously pierced the Multi-Headed's back with it, the oozing liquid entering inside his body.
Normally, it would retract inside Selene, but now, only silence was present inside Mnemosyne's Antiques.
Franz's face darkened even further.
To think that humanity had been doomed at the cost of one minor, insignificant life.
…
As the Sult-Hurni emerged from the flames, his body being unharmed by them, he raised his scepter and pointed it towards my throat, waves of flames pouring right out of it.
I dodged it by moving my body sideways like before, and as he used the flames as a whip, I slid on my knees, the flames above me cracking, almost burning my face.
I turned around and stood up, readying myself for one of his attacks.
Like before, he stared at me with a fierce expression. This time however, he didn't utter any single word, unlike my past itineration.
Near me, the world morphed, returning to the ancient city I'd seen in the memoirs of Sin. He didn't even bother on looking at his old, dead world, but instead raised his scepter and in a horizontal, slashing motion, the flames shooting right at me.
I leaped out of his attack's reach and ran towards him. Since his scepter was in his whip-like mode, where his flames remained stagnant, it caused his moves to become slower at the cost of more maneuverability.
And since it just wasn't meant to be a close ranged-weapon, by decreasing the distance between us, I would gain the upper-hand!
Now, he was at a crossroad!
If he remained with his whip-like ability, he would die—the flames would follow soon, attacking me just right after I cut him down.
The other choice was just to give up the flames altogether, returning to his normal scepter form, allowing him to fare off by using its sheer durability!
Just as I expected, the flames on the scepter suddenly cascaded on the bluish-grass below, scorching it completely. As I swung with my blade, he raised his scepter, intending to parry my attack.
What he couldn't expect was that, instead of attacking him, I feinted and aimed for the arm holding the scepter, cutting through it completely, a stream of blood flowing from his wound!
As he wailed in pain, clutching his stumped wound, I kicked his stomach, causing him to stumble and fall to the floor, right next to his arm.
I pointed my weapon right for his throat and asked, stifling my weary breaths to keep an all-powerful persona,
"Tell me how to get out!"
Just then, tentacles upon tentacles flashed from his face.
Expecting it, however, I simply back pedaled, slashing right through very single tentacle of his, making him emit one of his wails.
"I won't tell you again!" I roared. "Tell me how to escape from here."
As his cries weakened, he stared at the moon.
"You cannot leave this place!" he laughed maniacally. "And even if you did, what would you see? Do you really think that the world on the other side will be like you expect?"
"Everything you know—everyone you ever loved will die!"
He looked at me and grinned.
"You have someone there, don't you? You desperately want to go back for their safety, don't you?!"
At his words, my eyes twitched.
Earlier, I was worried to become someone who would destroy human lives egoistically, only for my benefits.
But now…
I now had the confirmation that he wasn't an human—he completely lacked any human qualities.
Emotions such as fear, happiness, love—they all were beyond him.
Deep down, I was glad.
This allowed me to treat him as someone below me, lower than even the most pitiful of animals.
As I stared at his zealous face, I wanted to destroy it fully.
As I stared at his inhumanity, I wanted him to feel the most humane emotion a being could feel.
It was fear.
Silently, I allowed the urge I felt to take ahold of me.
…
The bluish grass was filled with blood, body parts scattered all across the place.
I firstly started with his fingers, carefully slicing them for every time he hadn't answered to my questions.
Yet, he didn't waver, he only shrieked in pain.
After hearing his screams and wailing, even the alien animals ran away in fear.
Truthfully, such silence was commendable.
I then started with his only remaining arm, but he still didn't budge.
Had I known methods capable of evoking even more pain from him, I would've pursued them without a second thought.
When I cut off both of his legs, he had no tears left.
I stared at his stumped body; his head was the only thing that remained, but for obvious reasons, I couldn't ruin it.
For every moment of his torture, his gaze was fixed upon the full-moon.
As I figured it was the only thing keeping him sane, I decided to get rid of his only object of solace.
As I sat on his torso, I couldn't help but recall of how Selene had done the same with me.
I quickly shook my head.
'We are completely different.' I said to myself.
My actions had a purpose; this was the only method I had to make him talk, this was the only method that would allow me to save lives.
He tried to move his limb-less body, to forbid me from removing his only means of salvation, but I simply held him down.
As I brought my hand towards his right eye, he stared at me, his eyes blood-shot, begging and pleading for me to stop.
Yet I still ignored him.
He never felt compassion in his life, why would I so merciful in his regard?
As Casanova once did, I gouged his eye with the same method I had seen him use.
He wailed and wailed, and since I couldn't cut his vocal cords—I had to deal with it.
"Talk, or the other goes." I gazed right inside his other eye.
He however, didn't utter a word.
My brows furrowed.
"I see."
Not much after, I went for the other eye too.
Maybe, after dying inside my revelations so many times, I'd lost something inside of me. Since Desensitization had a countless amount of pros, I figured this would be the price to pay.
Deep down, however, I hoped that Mother hadn't seen my actions.
…
As he silently laid on the ground, broken; I was unsure of what to do.
Although time flew differently here, if I couldn't escape, the descent would happen regardless.
I was about to question him again, when the Sult'Hurni suddenly muttered with a reverent voice.
"He spoke to me…"
'What?' I thought, afraid what would happen.
He smiled in solace. "He said that you are at your limits…"
I held my blade firmly, again, unsure of what to do.
He slowly raised his head to look at me, his empty eye sockets staring back at me.
"Do you know what happens when a being sleeps…?" he asked.
'What is he talking about?' I asked myself.
"Do you know what stands between mirrors and reality…?"
"Do you know where the veil of reality and dreams ends?"
"Where are you trying to get with this?" I demanded to know.
He smiled softly.
"Do you know that His real name is Hodesh?"
SCREECH!
I stepped backwards, gripping my hands against my head.
My head spun, my vision turned hazy, and my ears rang.
Ravings and old, forgotten deliriums instantly shattered my eardrums, yet I could still hear them inside my head, leading me to go even further into madness, further into hysteria.
They spoke of things I couldn't understand—unfathomable knowledge unraveling inside the confines of my mind.
A primal, terrified scream tore out from the pits of my vocal cords.
A resonant, illusory cracking noise came from beyond, from the heavens above, splitting the moon's face in two.
Slowly, the crack gaped, revealing rows on top of rows of jagged, fragmented teeth; there, even reality started to distort, creating non-euclidian shapes, non linear patterns and lines, infinite yet non-existent distances where light itself couldn't pass, instead getting trapped right inside.
His voice then whispered to me, his words biting at my brain like a lion front of a carcass, destroying my sanity with his vibrating voice.
"You are more 'fitting.'"
As the chaos ravaged inside my mind, I stood up, stumbling, falling back on the alien world.
Cacophony upon cacophony of noises, hums, and resonances, ravaged against my mind, shattering the walls of my Ego, causing me to turn slower, and slower, and slower…
As the last bits of my sanity weakened, I grabbed my sword with my trembling hands and thrust it inside my heart…!
"Fear not." Hodesh spoke, yet my consciousness had already faded.
"With your power, death is not the end."
…
I wailed in pain, grasping my head as I fell unto the floor.
The 'noise' had stopped.
As I slowly raised my head, I found the Sult'Hurni stare back at me, his mutilated, disfigured body still as it was before.
"Do you know where the veil of reality and dreams ends?"
As he smiled, my eyes widened, turning bloodshot.
"Do you know that His name is—"
As I shrieked with pure terror, I grabbed my golden sword with my trembling hands, thrusting it right inside his throat, interrupting the Sult'Hurni's words.
As he choked on his own blood, he suddenly laughed, gurgles of blood rising from his mouth. With one of his stumped arms, he wrote with his blood.
"By staring at Him, by listening to His soothing Voice, He was able to mark you."
I gazed at the sky, afraid—utterly, impossibly afraid.
When Genesis showed me a revelation, the outcome of it would reverse, allowing my consciousness to return seconds, or even a minute before the events I'd seen.
His mark hadn't reversed, however.
With His unfathomable powers, He could mark me from a future that hadn't fulfilled yet, allowing Him to influence the past.
Was this the power of a divinity?
The full moon extended from one corner of the sky to the other. I could see every crater where eons ago, meteorites had crashed into it; ancient basalt lakes where molten lava streamed; and old valleys where the Sult'Hurni lived.
As I stared at it, I knew He was staring back at me; panic soon washed over me, causing every fiber of my being to tremble uncontrollably.
I had no more prophecies left.
I was going to die.
But that wasn't the outcome I feared the most.
It was what would happen before my eventual demise.
Casanova's words resounded in my head.
"In the Nephilim World, Death is a fate that many cannot hope to obtain."
In front of omnipotence, I was utterly powerless.
My movements soon began to be dictated by His will, my fingers intertwining in mudra-like hand signs of which I myself was completely unaware of their meanings.
Although my eyes were wide-open, my vision started to fade.
Although my ears were working, I found every sound weaken.
Although my body was warm, everything gradually turned colder and colder, as if the arms of death were grabbing me. Although my body was injured—and I had to fight off waves of pain for the slightest movement, my pain slowly faded.
I felt my Ego slowly wash away from my body, as if being discarded by Him, regarded as a useless.
I was about to take my last breath, the last breath I could do inside a body that didn't belong to me anymore, when a cowl made by shadowy amalgamations, where existence itself didn't exist, encompassed the entire moon wholly.
It disappeared just as soon as it manifested, an unintelligible, deafening roar being the only remainder of His presence.
The sky was now empty.
There were no satellites, no planets in the night sky, no stars nor galaxies.
Only the darkness 'He' brought was present.