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Chapter 154 - Truths Forgotten

Chapter 154

Truths Forgotten

Valen could fly, the Prince realized. From Sylas’ back, it was as though he grew wings and they fluttered--and he took to the grand skies, slowly descending toward the sight that took his breath away. The one-eyed man stood rooted in place, the world round him dancing and flowing. And Valen was flying.

He could not reconcile the feeling, and tears began to stream down his sunken, still pale cheeks. He was overwhelmed, from the...

Chapter 153 - The Prince Foretold

Chapter 153

The Prince Foretold

The winds were blowing cold and harsh, their touch akin to a knife’s scrape against the skin. They were relentless, void of emotion, cutting through the world at their own pace. Valen had heard the winds often, but always from the comfort of the castle’s walls--especially recently. To him, the winds were a soothing melody deep at night that chased the demons away and allowed him to catch a few hours of sleep. That melody, howev...

Chapter 152 - Gifts of Blood

Chapter 152

Gifts of Blood

The sky was always starless, Sylas reckoned, misted in thick, gray clouds. The feeling of looking at it from down below was suffocating, as though he was stuck within a framed cage that had no world beyond it. Rather than the sight, however, it was his thoughts that were drowning his lungs. Derrek's 'confessional' had illuminated a great deal of reality, and wove seemingly the last few pieces of the puzzle he was seeking.

It all m...

Chapter 151 - Of Godly Means and Prophecies

Chapter 151

Of Godly Means and Prophecies

Sylas pulled back the bow and closed one of his eyes, his fingers itching to let loose, aiming toward a thing he couldn’t see. In front of him stood a stone wall, and beyond it a scarecrow-like target, and he wanted to pierce its head. Taking a deep breath, he stilled his heartbeat and quickly turned to unclench his fingers. The sound of an arrow wasn’t a normal one--it wasn’t that of a simple whistle, but almost of...

Chapter 150 - Beneath the Armor

Chapter 150

Beneath the Armor

Sylas sat on a cold, rough rock, snow careening from the high sky and covering the surrounding landscape in thick layers of white. There was a gourd of ale in his hand, half-drank already, and innumerable thoughts swimming in his mind. Stories were weaving, and a myriad of scenarios was being concocted by his mind every second. So, oh-so-many possibilities existed... yet only one truth.

Independent from the story of the dead wa...

Chapter 149 - Exorcising the Demons

Chapter 149

Exorcising the Demons

As soon as the new loop started, well within the first hour of the tragedy, Sylas left the castle with hurried steps, deciding to train on the Way along the journey. Though he cleansed a good chunk of his anger, the side-effect of it was that the lid he'd put on it was lifted, and it all came pouring out. There was a frothing lake of rage raving within his soul, and there was no preventing its explosion any longer.

Tho...

Chapter 148 - Day Colored in Red

Chapter 148

Day Colored in Red

What followed Sylas' proclamation was violence. Pure, raw, unadulterated, primal violence that knew neither humanity nor empathy. It was a battle of no civility, no acceptance, no tolerance, no high-strung ideas that tied mankind into a loose group of like-minded souls. All Sylas saw were creatures that had to die, and all the others saw was a monster from their gravest nightmares come alive to hunt them down like animals.

He ...

Chapter 147 - Vile, Evil, and Inhumane

Chapter 147

Vile, Evil, and Inhumane

A shadow moved swiftly and silently, creeping between the simplistic houses unheard and unseen. It was like a knife searing through the pounds of flesh effortlessly, gliding through the many soft throats and ending lives as unsuspectingly. There was something dastardly and bedeviled about Sylas as he shadowed life in the hidden mountains and made it undone. His face was expressionless, eyes void of guilt and hesitation.

...

Chapter 146 - Hymns of Shadows

Chapter 146

Hymns of Shadow

Sylas hardly fancied a blizzard that nigh buried him alive, but a blizzard that nigh buried him alive was what he got. Halfway through the night on top of the tiny protrusion he was using to rest, he was woken to the sounds of hissing winds that ripped through the mountainways, carrying with them snow adrift. The winds belted in the high hundreds, and soon snow began to fall. Add on to it the snow of the mountain, it had quickly turned...

Chapter 145 - It Stood Hidden

Chapter 145

It Stood Hidden

Trek through the snow was fairly easy, but it was the night that made it difficult. Still, Sylas persisted, belting his boots into the snow and imprinting the path from the castle southward. The lonesome moon in the sky reflected his own being, as for the first time in a while, he was alone. A rugged, leather backpack hung over his shoulder, packed with essentials--more so than usual since he didn’t have Asha to rain supplies from th...

Chapter 144 - Anger Unblemished

Chapter 144

Anger Unblemished

What once was a central chamber that forked into numerous corridors and hallways of the castle was now a makeshift arena with stands framing it circularly. The usually silent walls were alight with cheers, and just outside the stands, in the room over, a massive feast was slowly being laid out onto countless tables. Soon, the first round of the tournament would end—after nearly five hours of competition, though appearing tired, the...

Chapter 143 - Two Stories

Chapter 143

Two Stories

The castle as a whole was afire with excitement, with everyone in a great rush to prepare for the impromptu tournament that the Prince was throwing. Most excited were those keen on participating, especially after learning about the rewards--every participant will get a full gourd of ale regardless if they win or not, and every winner will get one extra gourd for each victory. Furthermore, there were special rewards for all those who place ...

Chapter 142 - King Wyvenul

Chapter 142

King Wyvenul

“Where to begin?” Valen mumbled, taking a sip of wine and having a hard think for a moment before continuing. “Truth be told, most of what I know of my father before my time are stories--legends and myths, even, that the servants and guards would whisper when they thought I wasn’t listening. How he fought off a herd of bandits all by himself, how he defeated an evil beast the size of a castle tower with his bare hands, how he can ...

Chapter 141 - Calm Between the Walls

Chapter 141

Calm Between the Walls

Sylas slowly opened his eyes to the sound of the morning barks; it’s been a while, he realized, since he last had a good, uninterrupted night’s rest. Beyond that, he had no worries, no new things he had to do today, no plans for potentially dying to something insurmountable. It was an ordinary day, he realized, one where he could just relax and do nothing. As such, he elected to do something he hasn’t done in a wh...

Chapter 140 - Chasms of the Mind

Chapter 140

Chasms of Mind

Sylas was sitting in the wide-open plain, snow falling relentlessly on him, his legs hung off the ledge of the boulder he'd taken as his 'spot', gourds upon gourds of wine--over half already empty--strewn about. There was a dazed look on his face, his lips faintly parted, eyes misty and thoughtless. He was 'looking' at the sky, or at least something beyond it, thousands of thoughts swirling in his head. The King knew--it sounde...

Chapter 139 - Cairn of Immortality

Chapter 139

Cairn of Immortality

Sylas was told to follow--and the 'old man Lukas' as he'd gotten to call the man leading him left the room, took a sharp right, and began descending the stairs. That descent led into the hallway at the end of which another set of stairs leading downstairs existed. And another. Then they walked up for a bit, it felt, before, once again, descending further. All the while, neither spoke. Sylas was too busy inspecting the many decorat...

Chapter 138 - Winterwoven

Chapter 138

Winterwoven

Strange silence reigned over a spacious, round, and lavishly decorated room. Gold-woven drapes covered arched, stained glass windows, with the wall spilling into a blend of marble and rug-covered stone. Beautiful, hand-carved chairs with ornamental backs surrounded equally decorative tables, four of them, spaced evenly in a circle around the center of the room.

The center itself was dominated by a statue of a masked man looking up to...

Chapter 137 - Songs of the Capital

Chapter 137

Songs of the Capital

Frayer had lived a long life--this was especially impressive considering he'd been entangled with the wrong side of the law from when he was a little boy thieving away around the Perfumed District. Most boys and men like him die very young or get caught and tossed into grunt work at mines and other camps, but he somehow managed to evade it all and grow from hollow roots into a fairly respectable middleman.

His primary role w...

Chapter 136 - The Wheels Turn

Chapter 136

The Wheels Turn

Asha and Sylas sat on a small wall gating a tall, thick tree. It resided in a park-like enclosure, surrounded by several fountains and garden-like flowery bushes. Both were still reeling from the shock of where they landed and what they'd discovered, Sylas actually more so than her.

After all, the capital of the Kingdom was his ultimate goal--this place was where he was designed to go, Valen by his side, and conquer it. ...

Chapter 135 - Cathia

Chapter 135

Cathia

While Asha smiled excitedly and gestured with her hands and arms toward the sky, Sylas stood silenced, staring at the vortex that appeared out of nowhere. He’d witnessed many-a-strange thing in his life here on this world, and this one might be the strangest one yet. Wiping his eyes as though there was an audience watching, he sighed and glanced at Asha suddenly.

“You said you can hear the gods?”

“Yeah!! Isn’t it amazing?!...

Chapter 134 - Bolts Strike in Twos

Chapter 134

Bolts Strike in Twos

Sylas exhaled a rancid breath and shuddered for a moment as he opened his eyes. He sat topless by the lake, basking in the faintly lukewarm rays of the sun, sweat dripping down off of him. Scooping up a handful of water from the lake, he washed his face before drinking a few mouthfuls to wet his parched throat. He’d been hard at training for half a day now, but the progress was still frustratingly minimal.

Sighing, he glan...

Chapter 133 - Ruins of H'vel

Chapter 133

Ruins of H’vel

Sylas sat by one of the ruins--one of the better-preserved ones, with one wall even standing almost whole, etched in it a squared hole where a window used to be. He’d cleaned up most of the interior, removing the far-reaching vines and grass that had taken over it, revealing beneath a very simple decor--if it could even be called that.

From what he could tell, there were two rooms--likely a bedroom, and something akin to a com...

Chapter 132 - Heaven's Hung in Silver

Chapter 132

Heaven’s Hung in Silver

The town, city, settlement, whatever it used to be, circled the lake in a crescent, sticking mostly to the flatland, with only a few shoddy-looking, building-like formations protruding on the steep mountain ‘paths’. Agnes and Sylas did a quick run-through of the entire place without looking too deeply into it, wanting to have a whole picture before the night settled, and outside of the markings they found at the entrance,...

Chapter 131 - Buried in the Sands of Time

Chapter 131

Buried in the Sands of Time

Sylas fell out of it for but a moment before coming to. Agnes, however, continued to stare, her jaw slacked, forcing Sylas to grab her by the arm and pull her away and behind one of the jagged spires protruding from the mountain’s summit, hiding behind the cover. Though she yelped in shock for a brief breath, she came to immediately after, realizing the weight of what they had just discovered.

“Did you see anyone?...

Chapter 130 - Past the Summit Untouched

Chapter 130

Past the Summit Untouched

They moved slowly, their pace strikingly decrepit. For every ten minutes that they walked, they spent hours huddled in a shelter waiting for the weather to get better--namely for the wind to slow down to the ‘barely not blown off the side of the mountain’ speed. Still, though snail-like, the progress was there--even if it wasn’t particularly evident. After all, day and night, all they could see was the white of the snow...

Chapter 129 - Heralding the Unconquerable

Chapter 129

Heralding the Unconquerable

Under the cover of a remarkably dark night, one where the moon elected to hide behind the thick clouds and the sky decided to be starless, Agnes and Sylas snuck out of the castle and headed westward. Both knew that leaving during the day would likely elicit the kind of sendoff that neither was particularly comfortable with, so they decided to simply... go, as it were.

Unlike the last time, however, they were far bette...

Chapter 128 - Everyone Changed

Chapter 128

Everyone Changed

Ryne hummed a low beat while slowly going through everything Sylas and Agnes brought forward in the preparation period for the creation of talismans. Even though Sylas wasn’t shabby either, it has been quite some time, years even for him, since he last crafted a talisman. He was rusty and decided to just observe for the time being before jumping in himself. Agnes, on the other hand, sat on the nearby chair and drank slowly,...

Chapter 127 - Buried in the Mountains

Chapter 127

Buried in the Mountains

“Yeah, this was a shit idea,” Sylas mumbled and closed his eyes. Soon after, darkness descended and the boiling burn won.

You have died.

Save point ‘Death’ has been initialized.

“AAAAGGHHHHH!!!”

Sylas was looming over a table--specifically, a leather map laid out on the said table, his eyes laser-focused on the rugged and mountainous west. There were no indications of any tr...

Chapter 126 - Hills To Climb, Mountains To Conquer

Chapter 126

Hills To Climb, Mountains To Conquer

It was a first, Sylas realized--they were cold. In fact, even hiding in a makeshift cave, as close to the fire as they could get without getting burnt... the chill still lingered. Though it made sense for him since, in the end, he simply had greater resistance to cold, it was far stranger for Agnes to feel the cold. And yet... she did.

She was clutching her knees abreast and rubbing her palms and seemingly dr...

Chapter 125 - No Truth To Beckon

Chapter 125

No Truth To Beckon

Sylas slashed his blade horizontally, easily cutting through yet another Ghoul. Within just fifteen minutes that he had been back, he'd already killed over thirty Ghouls, saving nearly a dozen people in the process. Agnes followed behind, strictly when he cleared the area, though, as they made their way toward the castle's center.

Unfortunately, they didn’t encounter anyone who could talk--it was just Ghouls. Not even specia...