It was close.
So, so close.
My freedom was the closest it has ever been since my first breath. My first cry. My birth.
The calls of birds resounded in the vast sky above me. Like an anthem, a promise of freedom. Beneath the loud calls echoing in the sky above the uncanny forest was the sound of cold, soft snow crunching underneath my feet as I ran frantically, desperately trying to escape my pursuers.
"Stop god damn it!" A commanding voice boomed in between the trees that seemed to be cut out of pure onyx.
I almost listened and stopped. Almost. Instead, I increased my pace since the voice was closer than I would like it to be. Of course, I knew who the voice belonged to. Whose could it be other than one of the two guards protecting Amanda? Specifically, the male one.
God, why did they have to send three people after me?
Amanda was reasonable since she was just like me, mundane. But two Awakened Artists as guards? I think that's a bit too much. It's not that they can even use ether in this hellhole of a forest, so why the fuck would the house of Oath send two Awakened Artists with fucking Amanda?
I suddenly felt a sharp pain, followed by the sensation of liquid dripping down the edge of my right ear. An arrow flew past me, hitting the forehead of one of the many uncanny, humanoid, screaming faces decorating the onyx tree ahead of me.
Without stopping for even a millisecond, I snatched the arrow from the uncanny face's forehead, coming closer to it than I would've liked. I took a sharp turn around the tree and was met with the sight of hope beyond it.
Like a flame of hope in an endless void, or the moonlight in a starless night, the great ivory tree of the uncanny forest stood tall, dwarfing its onyx kin. Unlike its leafless onyx kin, it had black leaves. It was decorated with a single face, calm, gentle, and reassuring. Underneath the face, the tree was cracked, revealing its hollow inside.
The snow moved treacherously underneath my feet, making me fall face-first onto its soft and cold surface, just in front of the Hollow Ivory. The birds' calls of freedom halted, as if losing hope. A vast shadow fell upon me, covering the sunlight.
I looked back and up at the angry male guard standing over me. I felt a sort of pressure meeting his gaze. But, instead of despair, I felt triumph, meeting his sharp gaze that seemed to be able to pierce iron.
"Idiot!" The female guard barked, unsheathing her sword and moving between the onyx tree and Amanda.
The male guard standing over me seemed to realize the weight of his mistake. His hand moved towards the side of his waist, where the sword rested, but it was far too late.
The small areas in between the uncanny faces on the onyx trees closest to the guard rippled as if they were liquid. Hands cut from pure onyx shot forward from the liquidated areas, reaching for the dumbass of a guard, grapping his hands, legs, face, torso, armor, and every part of his body they could, and started pulling him towards the trees they shot forward from.
The guard grunted, muscles straining as he tried to resist the onyx hands. But how could a mere Hunter, an Awakend Artist, resist the might of Stained Beast?
The guard's armor ripped off his body, falling onto the snow. His body fell stretched unnaturally. Eventually, it was ripped limb from limb. Blood and viscera fell on the snowy ground, staining it, and the rest of the body was absorbed into the tree's embrace, becoming one with them.
I got up on my feet and charged right at the Hollow Ivory.
I feel sorry for your newborn. Not really.
It was his fault anyway. The onyx trees did not possess senses, so they could not detect if prey was lingering around or not. But they did in fact have a way of detecting prey. They can sense ether signatures. And they were one hell of an expert at it.
So when the guard forgot to keep his ether suppressed, he set his own fate in stone.
"Grey," I heard Amanda's voice closer than I would be comfortable with.
Entering the hollow inside of the Hollow Ivory through the crack beneath the calm face. I was met with a view out of this reality, literally. Like a tear through the fabric of reality, or a flaw in the laws of existence. The Ascension Gate, The First Recording, was indescribable with human words.
I felt the edges of my vision blurring as I walked towards it. The Recording pulled me in, and I embraced it.
I embraced freedom.
***An Unknown Period of Time Later***
Darkness.
I was floating, drifting in a sea of complete black. Utter and absolute.
My senses seemed to stop working, giving me a sense of unusual and strange peace and tranquility.
Time passed. I didn't know how much. I was in a state like that of between sleep and reality, those moments were when one is not awake yet not fully asleep either. So I couldn't quite grasp the amount of time passed. It could have been an endless millennium or a mere fleeting moment.
But eventually, the once vast, impenetrable darkness began to fracture into a myriad of countless black fragments, golden light creeping through the areas in between the fragments, assaulting my vision.
A floor of liquid silver materialized under my feet. As soon as my fingertips touched it, seven great, giant, golden-framed mirrors ascended from beneath the liquid.
The light fell on them and reflected back, all falling onto me. I felt a painful yet bearable sensation along the length of my spine. It was as if someone chose my back as their canvas and started tattooing it.
Soon enough, nine dark shards came forth towards me. Protecting me from and absorbing the light. The shards transformed into mirrors, reflecting the light onto a few of the other black fragments. Only for the fragments to do the same. Until all the countless pieces of black turned into mirrors.
And suddenly, I recalled who and what I was.
I was Grey. A pathetic slave.
Not anymore, though.
Falling onto my knees on the liquid silver, I couldn't help the tears welling up behind my eyes as relief flooded my being.
"I…" I muttered through the flowing tears of joy. "I'm free."