The air was still when Jacob emerged from the cave, yet the world no longer felt familiar. Morning mist curled lazily over the trees, untouched by the chaos that had once surged through these woods. But to Jacob—whose bones now pulsed with cosmic rhythm—it wasn't silence he heard. It was reverence.
Birdsong quieted as he passed. The forest, once indifferent, seemed to part gently before him.
At his side padded Raijin, now transformed into an obsidian-furred hound, his body taut with latent energy. His crimson eyes momentarily met Jacob's, revealing a mix of obedience and recollection.
Jacob took a deep breath.
After two months confined in that cave, it felt liberating to fill his lungs with fresh air. He was anxious to reunite with his parents after such a long separation, fully realizing they may have dreaded the worst since the stampede.
At least this time he was not alone when everything happened, allowing him to be sure that the events that unfolded were undeniably real and not specific to him alone, and he would not return to grazing sheep post-traumatic event. Jacob began sprinting in the direction of the village, employing the techniques of movement and stealth he had learned, seizing this moment as an opportunity for practice.
As the silhouette of Kline Village emerged on the horizon, Jacob faltered. The last time he had traversed this path, he had been a boy armed with a borrowed dagger and a mind brimming with wonder. Now, he was the very embodiment of a blade that lay dormant like an ancient deity, with the earth itself bowing to his essence.
He wondered—not with fear, but with quiet hope—if they would still recognize him.
Then he stepped forward.
Jacob waltzed through the front gate with surreal familiarity and a sleek black-furred hound at his side that looked like a German Shepherd.
As Jacob walked through the village on that fateful day, all the villagers who saw him abruptly halted, their eyes wide with disbelief. Their expressions were akin to those who had just encountered a ghostly apparition. Jacob, acutely aware of their stares and the murmurs swirling around him—thanks to his enhanced hearing—initially ignored the commotion.
However, his composure shattered when a villager mentioned his parents in conjunction with a "tragedy." In that haunting moment, Jacob stopped dead in his tracks… then he vanished without a trace.
In the next instant, Jacob reappeared almost thirty-five feet away, standing directly before the villager who had sorrowfully remarked on the unfortunate circumstances that had befallen his parents. Jacob opened his mouth to speak, but his voice cracked, leaving him momentarily speechless.
The villagers who had been watching felt a shiver run down their spines, convinced they were witnessing a spectral phenomenon; otherwise, how could he have possibly vanished and reemerged right in front of that poor villager? As apprehension consumed them, an eerie silence descended upon the area, and fear gripped the hearts of all present. No one dared to utter a word, let alone move a muscle, frozen in shock.
And then they heard it.
"What happened to my parents?"
Jacob inquired, his head bowed, concealing his visage; his voice barely above a whisper, but everybody heard it. His fists were tightly clenched, and an unsettling pressure began to envelop the surroundings. The villagers struggled to draw breath, and at that moment, none could muster the will to move, even if they had so desired.
The villager, a man recognized by everyone as Pharmacist Randy, in his late thirties, felt the weight of pressure more acutely than anyone else. This was not a burden intentionally imposed by Jacob, but rather an emanation resulting from Jacob's berserker lineage, which reacted to his emotions and exerted its influence subconsciously.
Poor Pharmacist Randy nearly suffocated under the oppressive aura, his complexion nearing a purplish hue as he struggled to draw breath. Terrified beyond reason, he was convinced that he had unwittingly invoked the wrath of a vengeful spirit. In his disorientation, he simply succumbed to unconsciousness, unable to provide an answer.
Jacob, witnessing the man collapse without responding, only grew increasingly agitated. His blood berserker bloodline amplified his emotional turmoil and fluctuations, rendering him susceptible to further fits of rage and aggression; clarity of thought eluded him.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to all, Death lingered in a shadowy corner, clad in the attire of a humble farmer and grasping a pitchfork, observing the unfolding drama with a satisfied grin. "Character Development," he mused with a chuckle.
Jacob felt himself relinquishing his grasp on sanity and vanished once more from the sight of the villagers, yet this time he materialized far removed from their presence, at the threshold of his home. What he discovered brought him to his knees as something within his mind fractured. He gazed, wide-eyed, his thoughts rendered utterly vacant.
The core in Jacob's body which he had forged only months ago began to spin and thump violently as his bloodline pumped power into it excessively. A bloody aura began to permeate the area and slowly expanded to cover the entirety of Kline Village.
Death observed with keen interest, pondering whether it would reveal itself. What "it" was, only Death himself knew.
Raijin lingered not far behind Jacob, his trepidation escalating as he sensed the blood coursing through his veins becoming increasingly tumultuous. The people of Kline Village began to succumb one after another, their lifeblood destabilizing at an alarming rate.
DESTROY
This singular word began to reverberate in Jacob's ears, and his body instinctively responded, while his mind succumbed to what could be described as a lucid dream. Time appeared to lose its significance as he languished in sorrow within his thoughts, and he began to see visions that made no discernible sense.
Raijin lamented his misfortune at being selected to accompany Jacob, while Sonnie remained at Death's side in the cave, honing his strength until he was summoned for a more momentous journey alongside Jacob.
Jacob began to emit a low growl as his breaths intensified and his aura transformed from erratic to feral. Thebloody aura enveloping the village began to take on a physical form, lashing out indiscriminately at everything in its vicinity.
At that moment, Death gestured with a flick of his hand, and regardless of the aura's intent, it was rendered powerless against the unconscious villagers. In retaliation, the aura began to lash out at its surroundings, wreaking havoc upon everything in its path. Structures were reduced to mere rubble, and thoroughfares became unrecognizable.
Raijin, summoning every ounce of speed he could muster, surged forth from the village and approached the very periphery of the malevolent aura. Death waved his hand once more, and Jacob, who had begun to stir, found himself ensnared within a cubic confinement, thrashing futilely against invisible barriers.
Suddenly, Death frowned.
"Why have you come?" Death inquired.
"After all these years of tranquility, do you comprehend the implications of your actions?" the enigmatic presence responded, disregarding Death's question.
The presence had no form and was entirely invisible; it simply existed.
"Do I answer to you?
"Do not presume that you are invulnerable merely because you have dispatched a fleeting thought here; should you fail to depart of your own volition, I shall obliterate your very universe." Death proclaimed with an air of calm detachment and minimal emotion.
"You are conjuring a monstrosity that even you, the illustrious Death, will find impossible to govern; you are unleashing a force that can be harnessed, yet never subdued. Very well, I shall take my leave. I can only hope that we do not all bear the consequences of your reckless antics," the presence declared before vanishing.
Death observed Jacob for a brief moment, then a wide smile spread across his face. "A being that even I cannot command, is it? I am eager to behold it," Death contemplated with immense delight.