"The storm screams loudly outside.
Immeasurable, yet submerged in a silence that is both tranquil and devastating. The calm sound of raindrops crushing the earth—devastating, purifying, and giving life to the soil. Meanwhile, the thunder dances aggressively, tearing through the atmosphere. After all, what would the lightning bolts of the storm be without the drops of rain?"
Within the dark rooms of that vast dwelling resided the immeasurable and uninterrupted, dense weight of a tragic emptiness. Solitude.
"The true storm dwells within your heart. You act and treat yourself like the lightning that cuts through the heavens. But even so, you cannot stop staring at the calm raindrops that wet and give life to the soil. Perhaps, deep in your heart, you wish to be like that. Perhaps, deep in your tempestuous heart, the lack of a calm and serene rain either strips or grants meaning to your storm."
In that immense and vast dwelling, completely overtaken and swallowed by the shadows of the void, filled with oblivion amidst the ancient tragedies of its past, firm steps echoed. But, alongside the falling rain outside, they were trembling.
An analogy came to his mind.
With every thunderclap that fell, his feet glued themselves to the floor once more. Motionless.
"YOU CAN NEVER STOP."
THROVOSHHH!!!!
Thus, once again, the lightning had touched the ground outside. And those eyes did not reflect the glow of the burning atmosphere. They reflected nothing. For, like that vast mansion, his eyes were completely empty.
"The book is trembling so much in your hands now. Unlike before, you aren't so sure anymore, are you? Noble Khaelis."
The steps continued. His eardrums ignored the thunder. Only the rain resided in his mind. Each drop engraved like a separate memory. The thunderclaps, however, were ignored as merely a phenomenon without meaning.
— What... what should I do now?... Vilos...
The book was trembling so much in his hand that soon that shaking spread through every fragment of his body, his soul, his being. The void grew immeasurably in his heart. The phenomenon previously seen in his soul was nearly extinct. His flame, once so hot—his Shadow Determination—was about to go out in an insignificant spark.
— What should I be now, brother?... Please... tell me... should I continue?...
His steps led him through corridors; after that, more corridors. Tirelessly, each step led to the next, as if there were no certain destination.
— Even... with... with all of this at stake, with everything that... you believed in... should I question the path I follow? Should I...
But then...
Fwah...
The soft sound of wood opening. A room amidst the vast, endless corridors of that mansion. An open door, and there, before his vision, a doorway.
— Just tell me... one last time.
He stared into the void of the room, a pit of darkness so great it seemed to have no end.
Hypnotizing, as if voices echoed infinitely in his ears. Ancient memories took over his mind and tried to drag his consciousness like countless infinite hands—cold, sticky tentacles that, with their maximum effort, tried to pull him into the deepest darkness.
— Gulp...
He swallowed hard. Not out of fear, but because there, in front of him, for the first time in years, he was visiting something long forgotten in his mind... no... not forgotten, but something he would forget if he could.
— So... tell me... please...
Tap. Tap. Tap...
His steps echoed amidst the wood and concrete of the old, forgotten place. His eyes locked onto a single point ahead of him. He began to see.
The Void looked back at him.
A reflection formed before his eyes. So clear and, at the same time, so dark. Staring at himself, right in front of his eyes, was an aged and dusty mirror.
— Yes... I understand now...
Staring at his reflection, the purest part of his soul, something burned him from within. Leaning his hands on the counter upon which the mirror rested, the old wood did not fail to creak. His eyes fixed on a single point.
THROVOSSHHHHH!!!!!
And, for the first time since that storm had begun, in that very place, he truly heard the scream of the thunder. And, once more, he felt its meaning.
— I understand... you won't answer me, Vilos... no matter how much I sink into my reveries.
The thunder illuminated and split the darkness. The windows and the night burned with a radiant glow that soon vanished. But perhaps the lightning illuminated something beyond just darkness. Something beyond the void.
— Yes... I must answer this question myself...
His eyes, still fixed, became sharp as blades whose edge was granted by the explosion of a beautiful supernova. His fists tightened on the counter. He could have crushed it, but he did not.
— Yes... I must continue my Crusade.
"Perhaps... you are only trying to deceive yourself now... or perhaps not..."
— Yes... I remember... they said...
Voices from hours ago came to his mind. Like flashes that seemed forgotten. But no; if they truly were flashes, they should be clear as lightning.
— Executives, right?... the Elite of Powermagi... and their... boss...
The first piece of a complete seven-part puzzle was finally so close to its rightful place.
— Yes... Reixys, isn't it... there... we shall... guide our wagons.
One of the seven structures that would sustain the end of the world was almost ready. The four paths of a destiny about to collide. The first piece before it becomes complete. Everything leads to the Reixys territory!
— "Truly, brother... I am sorry, Khaelis, but you are truly lying to yourself."
— NO!!!!...
Silence came once more. An ecstatic sensation that pressed against his throat and chest. But the air escaped as if there were a wall of flesh guiding his path and ventilation.
— This answer is mine now, Vilos... entirely mine... I choose if I am lying or not... I...
Vsh... vsh... vsh...
Something had begun to pulse inside the mansion... like a formerly dying star that returned to burn. As if it were about to explode. The energy returned to its peak, with maximum determination.
— I will follow the final plans he gave us... The Grand Counselor has a different vision of all this...
That glow comes with a cold wave, which soon heated up, releasing a heatwave that spread for miles and miles. Energy signature waves similar to thin blades dissipated in a radius greater than ten kilometers in all directions.
— If this is what is desired for me to fulfill my objective... and erase that stain on our name... your name...
That wave was a pure and refined surge of power from a Relic that had just awakened from its forced slumber. The light of its hottest flame finally ignited completely.
VOSSHHH!!!!
— The day after tomorrow... we will go to the Reixys territory... to meet the Trash Wolves...
There it was clear, like those waves that screamed with the purest Shadow Determination. The ShadowStorm was now alive, fully awake.
VUSSSSHH!!!!!
THROVOSSHH!!!!
And like a thunderbolt that had just fallen from the sky toward the ground, that immeasurable silver glow spread further and further: twenty kilometers, then thirty to forty kilometers. The purest and most refined power, burning in the purest and finest Shadow Determination to shroud his objectives and murderous intent.
— The Grand Counselor said they would directly attack the Reixys territory, didn't he?... I really don't know... and, honestly, it doesn't matter to me now how he knows so much... and I am sure that, at this moment, my current mental state was completely premeditated by him... but that doesn't matter...
Finally. The gear turned. The steps toward the end of the world are being taken.
— Honestly, to me now... it's just... annoying... hah... they are bold, aren't they?
Burning now truly, without the slightest intention of going out.
— Mana Reixys... Naxel Heavens Xplorer... and the cursed one... Igyris...
Only two days remained until the moment that would finally turn this world upside down.
— You three are very bold, aren't you? YOU WILL DIE!!!
For at that moment, Khaelis Kaiwen and his inherited Pure Relic, the ShadowStorm, were burning and, with that, about to explode. Like a supernova.
— Only one more day left, then... we shall see what and who will decide the future of this world.