Chapter VII: The Beginning of Nightmares
Khalid welcomed the golden rays of the sunrise that lit up the scene, casting a rosy, blinding hue across the morning sky.
He was standing on the shore, where he was hypnotically listening to the murmuring of the ocean as it hit the rocks every time the waves crashed against them, creating an enthralling, peaceful music in his ears while giving off the earthy smell of fresh saltwater.
"Commander, the water has changed!"
Exclaimed by the young man in a tunic.
Reinhardt looked at it as they drank the water that splashed on the shore. Their faces lit up as they looked at each other and ran towards Khalid, who was watching beside them.
"We praise our mighty Lord!"
The two knights both knelt as they bowed their heads to the ground in front of the child who was standing in their sight, wearing a weird expression on his face.
"For what?"
He asked confusedly.
"The water of the island has changed after you've defeated the rebellious knight of the sea monster of Pesadilla!"
Khalid sighed as he slapped his forehead.
What nonsense is this guy spouting again? Making me look like the hero when all I did was act like a depressed villain.
Khalid thought, rolling his eyes.
They enjoyed the warmth of the water as they bathed while Reinhardt caught plenty of fish for them to feast on.
"Milord, we just need to wait for another carriage to arrive."
Erwin spoke while changing his clothes, as did Khalid and Reinhardt, who were buttoning their vests.
They were even smiling while waiting for a carriage they could ride in without expecting that their smile would fade as soon as the carriage arrived.
"Shit!."
He cursed.
"Is something happen?"
Erwin asked.
"I amusingly lost my pouch."
Khalid directly responded sarcastically while the carriage was patiently waiting in front of them.
Just then, he suddenly remembers how his pouch of gold was eaten by the gravis after it had fallen into its mouth.
The two knights just give him a galad smile as they both rummage their pockets, expecting that something will be found, but then their smiles turn into awkward laughter as they can't seem to look at the coachman.
"THAT DAMN ASSASSIN!"
Reinhardt screamed at the top of his lungs as he watched the carriage drive away from them.
Seeing the situation, both of them seemed to have also lost their pouch of gold when it got stolen by the assassin who'd been eaten by the Serpere.
Their eyes crinkled as Reinhardt noisily exhaled through one of his pursed lips.
He sighed before he started to speak.
"We don't have another choice, the imperial knights must have been making their move to kill us."
They both look at him as he continues to speak.
The sun was already setting while giving a peaceful sense of silence when Reinhardt suddenly burned the map to ashes before they continued to embark on their journey.
"There is a small kingdom around here. We would be safe there!"
He suggested as they continued to walk straight to the path where they passed through trees, noxious plants, and beasts before they reached the town that seemed to have been abandoned.
The place was dark and looked like a slum, the buildings and houses were also crumbled and destroyed, making it look terrifying enough to be called haunted. But still, many people could be seen walking around, looking suspiciously at them, while others were sleeping on the street.
They all looked dry and malnourished, and the town seemed to lack sufficient vigilance, as worms, dirt, and vines could be seen all over it.
What the hell happened in this place?!
Khalid couldn't help but ask himself about it when Reinhardt suddenly spoke after they stopped in front of the crumbled building.
"You must have been surprised."
"But all of this is the aftermath of the war."
Reinhardt added.
Khalid looked around as he heard them groan in pain while the children looked so unwell, with nothing but skin and bones.
The two followed him as he walked straight towards the well. Even though there was no emotion on his face, he was surely shocked to see that the well was all parched with molds wrapping all over it.
"ACK!"
Khalid was busy sorting through his thoughts when a child bumped into him, causing people to gasp in surprise as his hood slipped off his shoulder.
"A goddess!"
The child exclaimed.
All the people who had seemed to be dying earlier slowly walked in Khalid's direction, kneeling and bowing their heads to the filthy ground. Even his two knights tried to pull him away from the scene, confused and surprised by the people's behavior.
"What just happened?"
He wonders as the wind sways his silvery-ash hair that lit up in the moonlight.
He then holds his eyes, thinking that it was the cause of the curse, Mummie, but then he realizes that he is still wearing the eyepatch that Reinhardt has given, so what made the people bow their heads on the traitor of the Ammyrs empire? Even Khalid was clueless and left confused.
"We welcomed the Goddess Iris for returning the hope of this kingdom!"
People yell that he left him unspoken.
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Winter had already reached the Ammyrs Empire, but it hadn't affected the other lands. It rained, bringing a warm shine from the sun, while the others remained shrouded in darkness.
Some say it was the Goddess's curse, but others believe that it was the work of the devil.
"So, tell me, how can your words make me believe you?"
The man sitting on his throne crossed his legs, resting his chin on his hands as he looked at the sibyl wearing the skin of the La Lechuza.
It held the ball as it shone in front of him before the sibyl started to speak.
"A lost soul that will come like a hurricane without everyone's notice will take everything away for his greed. He will rise from above as they grit from envy."
He stopped when he heard the servants mumble.
"What?-"
"Did I tell you to stop?"
His voice was calm—calm enough to make the people inside the hall to quiver, daring not even to look into his eyes.
"He who bears resemblance to death will become the light for people."
The place was covered in silence as the sibyl paused, and a man wearing a full suit of armor entered the hall without knocking.
He walked past the sibyl, while the others shook their heads in disappointment.
"Your Highness! The Pesadilla Sea has been fully restored to its original state, which proves that the gravis guarding it has been killed!"
The knight reported, but it only made the man sigh, slowly rise from his seat before walking in his direction, where the knight remained kneeling on the ground.
He held the knight's shoulder and whispered in his ear with a calm yet nerve-racking tone of his voice.
"Peasant, don't you know how to knock?"
He calmly spoke as he formed a smirk on his lips that left the guy trembling on his knees, holding his face.
"AH....!!!!!!!!"
He panicked as the veins in his face bulged, blood starting to seep from his eyes while he groaned in pain and screamed in agony.
He then took the knight's heart and ate it like a demon that was famished.
Just then, as soon as he turned his back, the knight's body exploded, and his inner organs and blood splattered all over the hall. The two hideous-looking beasts with spiky thorns covering their bodies, sitting beside him on the throne like hyenas, devoured the knight while he simply wiped his hands with a handkerchief.
Before the maids could even scream, he then swung his hands in their direction, and their bodies turned parched and stiff as they blew up like a balloon that had exploded in the sky.
"Oh my, what a pity another loyal knight of mine has died again."
He sighed as he formed a mischievous grin on his face.
"Continue..."
He added that it made the sibyl tremble on its feet.
All the corpses of the servants and knight were eaten by his beast while the sky gave a roaring thunder on the Caelum night, laying his back comfortably on the throne while his shadow forms a hideous picture of a monster that makes no one dare to speak or even dare to move from their assigned position.
"And there is this person who, once eaten by the nightmare, will come for his salvation, and in that dream, no one fails or succeeds. They'll be both eaten with their desires. No! There is only the other half that will va-vanish forever!"
The sibyl stuttered.
Hmm?... Who will that be?
He thought as he kept listening to the prophet's words while still maintaining his elegant sitting position.
"A crow that once lost its wings will return completely."
The sibyl looked up, almost left unspoken after seeing his ethereal beauty. He could not help but admire and watch its golden, thin curtain hair that was glistening in the dark, but still, there was something in his look that made the sibyl frightened. An intense look in his amber eyes that could kill anyone in his sight.
The sibyl then shook his head to remember the state he was in before he continued to speak.
"But if that day comes, then that crow has already reached its place to rest."
The sibyl stopped after being left paralyzed on the floor as words uncontrollably came out of his mouth.
"He who feared would never succeed!"
After that, the sibyl came back to his senses and tried to escape the palace, doing his best to get out—even if it meant crawling on the ground. When suddenly, a shadow moved swiftly in front of him without his notice, causing his body to crumble in pieces, as if a gust of wind had just passed by.
"What a shame you could have at least guessed who I would kill next."
"Pffft-Ha-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
He chuckled, and the room that was filled with silence earlier was covered with his ominous laughter, leaving the others shuddering as they felt the chills crawling in their bodies.
It seemed that darkness had swallowed the entire palace as the nightmares and hideous beasts he created began to crawl out of his body.
Once again, the demon seemed to awaken, hunting for the people's souls to be his precious meal.