That night, after returning to his room with Geoffrey and listening to Geoffrey's loud snoring—who was asleep from exhaustion—Ard glanced at his black and white Garuda perched on the side railing of his bed. His hand reached up to stroke the underside of the Garuda's beak, which seemed pleased but remained silent, the reason being that Geoffrey's Behemoth was also snoring next to its master.
"You can't sleep either, huh," Ard whispered.
The Garuda nodded and spread its wings as if saying yes to Ard's whisper.
Ard lay back down and stared at the ceiling. "A lot happened today... it was really exhausting, but I learned a lot. Irwin turns out to be Princess Eva's servant and guard, and he's apparently half-demon who has the Dark element... plus, I can't forget Irwin's words asking me to protect Eva from her older brother... I know her brother Edmund is a jerk... but what exactly does he want with Eva? That's what makes me curious," Ard thought.
Ard closed his eyes, trying to sleep and enjoying the sound of Geoffrey's snoring below him. Then he opened his eyes and turned to look at his Garuda. The Garuda was also closing its eyes and seemed ready to sleep while perched. Ard smiled and then started thinking again.
"What name should I give him?" Ard thought, smiling.
Ard closed his eyes again, and finally, his consciousness began to fade, and he fell fast asleep. A moment later, the Garuda suddenly opened its eyes. It turned to look out the window, then turned to observe Ard's face and kept staring because Ard's eyes were moving and he started to groan. His body was sweating, and his hands began to clutch the blanket.
***
["Huh," Ard's consciousness uttered.]
He looked around. "Kill... kill... kill," he saw himself standing on an execution stage set up in the city square. The townsfolk were screaming, cheering toward the stage. "Kill him," one resident yelled, throwing a rotten tomato, and the tomato passed right through Ard's body.
["W-what is this," Ard's consciousness said.]
Ard turned and looked back, his eyes wide. He saw Ashton, heavily wounded and with a bruised face, kneeling on the stage, and Esmeralda, who looked heavily pregnant, next to him in the same state, looking down. Ashton, whose face was covered in tomatoes and eggs, slowly turned to look at Esmeralda, who also looked at Ashton while holding her belly, although both of her hands were chained.
A handsome prince wearing lavish clothes stepped onto the stage. He walked past Esmeralda and Ashton with a condescending look, then backed up, stopping in front of Ashton. "Wham," he kicked Ashton's face, then immediately wiped his boot with a piece of cloth. Ashton lifted his head. He glared at the noble, his teeth gritting and his lip bleeding.
"If you had just given Esmeralda to me, you wouldn't be dying, but instead, you ran away with Esmeralda and got her pregnant... you bastard," the prince said, kicking Ashton's face again until Ashton stumbled and fell backward.
"Ashton!" Esmeralda screamed, "Clink," but she couldn't move because she was chained.
"Looks like you still care about him too... you both deserve to die together," the prince said.
"You bastard, Jourell... Esmeralda and I just wanted to live in peace. I won't accept you, as the young king of the Soranus Kingdom, treating us like this. You took your father's throne by murdering him, didn't you," Ashton yelled. "Phooey," Ashton spat on Jourell's shoe.
"Wham," Jourell kicked Ashton in the stomach again until Ashton spit up liquid from his mouth and bent over in pain. Jourell immediately crouched down and grabbed Ashton's hair, forcing his head up to look at his furious face.
"I absolutely hate your tone, I don't care at all whether you're a hero or not, I don't care at all whether you saved humanity or not... all I care about is that you took the woman I wanted, and if I can't have her... neither can you," Jourell said.
"Phooey," Ashton spat on Jourell's face again. Jourell gasped and immediately cleaned his face with a handkerchief. Jourell released Ashton's head and stood up, then he faced his subjects gathered in the square.
"Oh, my people, right now we will execute the traitors of humanity who conspired with the demon god and terrorized us! They were only pretending to be heroes, and one day they would have consumed us. Let us celebrate our victory by executing them!" Jourell shouted.
"Long live King Jourell!" the residents cheered.
Jourell immediately turned to look at the executioner, who was ready on the side. The executioner nodded, immediately stepping forward to Esmeralda while dragging a large axe, then kicking a wooden block in front of her. He immediately pushed Esmeralda's head down onto the block.
"Hey... don't do that... hey... no... don't... Esmeralda!" Ashton yelled. "Clink... clink... clink," Ashton kept moving and struggling, but he was chained tightly and couldn't move.
Esmeralda turned to look at Ashton and smiled. "Goodbye, I'll go ahead with our child, but I will definitely come back," Esmeralda said.
"No... no... don't... please don't... Esmeralda... Esmeralda... no!" Ashton yelled, crying and struggling.
Jourell immediately walked back toward Ashton and deliberately held Ashton's head so that Ashton couldn't look away.
"Like I said, if I can't have her, neither can you. [He turned to look at the executioner] do it," Jourell said.
"No... don't... please don't," Ashton replied.
The executioner nodded. He immediately raised his axe high. Ashton's eyes kept watching because his head was being held by Jourell, the young king of the Soranus Kingdom. Esmeralda turned to look at Ashton and kept her desperate smile with tears streaming down her face, then she said, "I love you, Ash..." Before Esmeralda could finish speaking, "Sssshhwing," "Crack," the axe came down, separating Esmeralda's head from her body with a single swing.
Seeing his wife's head fall into the basin, Ashton couldn't utter another word. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung open. Slowly, he glanced at Esmeralda's large, still stomach. "Thump... thump... thump," his heart pounded loudly. Tears streamed down his face. His wife and unborn child were executed right in front of him, accompanied by the cheers of the very humans he had saved from the demon god.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Ashton roared loudly, like a wounded animal.
Ashton screamed, "Clang... clang," he broke his chains. Black smoke began swirling, gathering above him. Black clouds immediately rolled across the sky, accompanied by lightning strikes and instant heavy rain. "Blugh," Jourell, seeing this, immediately fell backward into a sitting position. He saw Ashton's eyes turn red, his skin turn black, and his body grow more muscular, plus two horns emerged from his head.
"Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah,"
["Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah," Ard's consciousness, now crying and feeling all of Ashton's suffering, also screamed, clutching his head with both hands.]
Then, everything went dark. "Crack," the world became fractured, and "Smash," the world shattered like a collapsing mirror. Ard, still feeling everything, fell into the darkness toward a white point that was rapidly approaching, utterly helpless.