"This…is our answer?"
Incredulous, Kaelira turned to Vairon with a raised eyebrow.
"What even is this? A child's art project?"
"..."
Rolling her eyes at his silence, Kaelira turned back to the "mural" on the wall. Calling it a mural would be a stretch in her opinion. It looked like nothing but black ink splattered on the wall. There was no pattern to it, nor any semblance of form.
Just staring at it began to give her a headache. After several minutes of observing, her impatience began to burn through.
"Ughhh, what is this chicken scratch!? There is nothing profound about this!"
Ruffling her hair in exasperation, Kaelira gave up. Just as she was about to mock Vairon, she sensed a shift in the air around her. Whipping her head to the side, she was startled by his appearance.
His gaze was still locked onto the mural, but his eyes seemed hollow and vacant. His forehead was slick with sweat, and his countenance was significantly paler than it was moments before. It seemed as if all the life had been sucked from his body.
"VAIRON!?"
Panicked, she grabbed his arm and dashed away from the wall. Once she retreated to a safe distance, she rested his body against one of the columns within the hall and channeled her qi through his body.
His body shook violently as he vomited a mouthful of blood onto the ground. Her face paled as her worry intensified upon seeing him still in a dazed state. She did not stop channeling her qi for even a second—in fact, she redoubled her efforts, trying to use the cold qi in her body to jolt him awake. But when it didn't work, she began to despair. Her mind roiled as she tried to figure out what to do. Her breathing became quick, short rasps as she sank deeper into helplessness.
Suddenly, an idea crossed her mind. Steadying her breath, her expression became serious. A hardened resolve cemented itself on her features as she pulled her other hand up and placed it on his temple.
"Don't blame me for this, stone-face. This is gonna hurt, so you better wake up and scold me for being reckless, ya hear?"
As ice began congealing on her palm, she noticed strange movement at their feet. Looking down, her pupils constricted as she observed what was happening.
The blood on the floor was…moving. Drawn across the floor like a sickening cluster of snakes, inching its way toward the mural behind them. It was a sight filled with eerie, morbid beauty.
The blood seemed to have been given a life of its own, glowing with an ethereal vitality. As the blood climbed the wall and reached the mural, it began to submerge itself in the ink—as if disappearing beneath the surface of a pitch-black lake.
As more and more blood flowed into the strokes, drastic changes began to occur. Under Kaelira's shocked gaze, the jumbled mess of ink splotches and strokes began to rearrange themselves. Dust and mold scattered onto the floor as the new painting was revealed.
"What…the hell is this?"
On the wall, the mural revealed its hidden truth. Images appeared side by side, depicting scenes of war, death, and things she could not make sense of. The images seemed to come to life, transmitting visions she couldn't understand.
Suddenly, she was standing in a vast void. Stars and planets revolved around her as if she were the very center of the cosmos. She witnessed their lives, their deaths, and their rebirths. She experienced the birth of a burning sun, its brilliant majesty lighting up the entire sector of space around her.
Bathing in its flames, feeling the heat that threatened to burn her to ashes, she felt a profound peace she could not quite understand—as if a part of her soul was slowly becoming whole again. But before she could fully give herself to that feeling, she was ripped away into another vision.
This time she stood on a vast ocean, a thunderous storm brewing on the horizon that seemed to herald the end of the world. As she stepped back, her movement suddenly halted—her body frozen as if locked down by thousands of chains.
The smell of salt and sea became overpowered by the scent of iron and copper filling her every cell. As she looked down at her feet, she saw the sea transform into a sea of blood. The dark, stormy blue waves were replaced by a crimson tide—sticky and thick with the musk of death.
Just before a massive wave swallowed her being into its depths, she reappeared in another vision. This time there were people—or what seemed to be people—crowded around a grand city's towering walls. Soldiers and civilians, young and old, were fighting for their lives, trying to keep someone—something—out.
They were shouting, screaming something she did not understand. Their words came out like garbled static. Distant, as if time itself separated them. Kaelira tried to get closer, but her body was still locked in place, unable to move an inch.
But just as she felt a familiar tugging force on her soul, one of the figures on the wall—a soldier dressed in pristine white armor that sparkled with divine radiance—turned their head to look directly at her.
Kaelira's heart seized, a bead of cold sweat forming on her brow as she gazed back at the cold figure. Though their face was hidden by the helmet that adorned their head, she could feel their cold gray eyes staring back at her. It felt as if their gaze pierced the very veil of time to see into her soul.
Just before Kaelira's mind collapsed under the weight of that gaze, she was jettisoned from the vision into another.
She collapsed to her knees, gasping for breath as if she had been confined in a coffin. When she regained her composure, she realized she could move again and stood up on shaky legs. This time, she found herself in a lonely chamber. Pillars of silvery flame lit up the space, and on a pedestal in the center sat an egg. The egg was unassuming, spotless, without the slightest imperfection—but the sight of it made every hair on her body bristle.
Kaelira's heart shook. She could feel something…calling out to her. Beckoning her to go forward and touch the egg. To…feed it.
Before she even realized it, she was already walking toward the altar the egg rested upon. She felt as if her body was out of her control, but strangely, she felt no fear or worry. It almost felt as if this was what she was born to do.
As she drew closer, she could almost hear the faint beat of drums. The sound started as a low hum, but as she stepped closer and closer it became a dull roar in her ears. It was almost painful…but again, she felt at ease.
It was a heartbeat. She didn't know how or why she knew—but she just…knew. When she finally reached the egg, she noticed for the first time that she was crying. Tears streaked down her cheeks, leaving faint trails of warmth that lingered on her face.
A joy she could not begin to understand swelled in her chest, threatening to erase every other emotion she had ever felt. Unable to wait, she reached out to pull the egg into her warm embrace before a horrifying chill filled her very soul.
There was someone—something—else here. Something that wanted to harm the child in the egg.
It felt as if the weight of the world itself was crushing her soul, trying to grind it into powder. But instead of fear, Kaelira felt a rage she had never known.
Primal. Hungry.
Burning with a force that could light the universe aflame, leaving nothing but ash and void in its wake.
"YOU WILL NOT TOUCH HIM! YOU WILL NOT HARM MY CHILD!"
A roar tore through her throat as her eyes turned a bloody red. Her teeth gnashed together, sparks seeming to fly from them every time she breathed. Her entire body began to smoke, her hair levitating as if flowing in water.
She turned around to face the direction she'd come from—only to be met with black, inky darkness. There was no light, no sound in its endless depths. But she knew something was there. Whatever threatened her child existed in that darkness.
Her rage and panic sharpened into a pointed fury—a fury exploding from her soul as her body became ethereal, lighting up in blood-red flame that seemed to burn the very void. But before she could act, an eye appeared in the darkness.
Its orange pupil swirled with vile pestilence that could corrupt and corrode the very vitality of reality. Its dual irises gleamed in mocking light—and her vision went dark.
—-----------
"NOOOO!"
Kaelira woke with a bloodthirsty roar. Her eyes gleamed with a frantic, crazed light. Her qi began to revolve at a dizzying speed within her golden core. Just before she could vent her emotions, a voice pierced through her fractured thoughts.
"KAELIRA! IT'S ME, I'M HERE!"
Vairon appeared before her, grabbing her shoulders and trying to calm her down.
"MY BABY! HE HAS MY BABY! WE HAVE TO SAVE HIM, WE HAVE TO KILL THAT VILE CREATURE!"
"WHAT CREATURE!? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!? WAKE UP!"
Seeing her hysterical state, Vairon realized she could barely comprehend her surroundings and wasn't listening to him at all. Seeing her in such a state—with her tears falling endlessly and a broken light in her eyes—his heart bled.
He wrapped her tightly in a cloak of wind, mind racing for a way to cure her. But seeing her subconsciously holding back the qi threatening to burst from her body, he realized she was still trying to protect him. Even in this delirious state.
His thoughts cleared, and for the first time since they began this journey, he knew what to do. He removed his hands from her shoulders and gently cupped her cheeks, pulling their foreheads together.
In a voice as gentle and steady as a summer breeze, he spoke,
"I don't know what happened in your vision, nor what you experienced… But I am here. You are safe. You can let go, Kaelira. Let go."
Kaelira's body shook violently before stilling. Slowly, her hands grasped Vairon's face, trembling. Her body began emitting a violent, raging heat.
Then, with a mournful, soul-piercing wail, her qi erupted—bathing the hall in blood-red flames.
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Author Note:
Sorry for the late upload guys, had a family emergency so things were extremely hectic this past weekend. I will be posting 2 chapters a night going forward for the foreseeable future. As always thank you for reading and hope you enjoy!