Yun savored those sweet, sweet words.
This was the first time he was truly happy to hear himself speak. Even if it was the Curse's version.
He collapsed beside Scruffy's mutilated corpse. Laying on his back, he snickered slightly. A triumphant guffaw felt more appropriate, but this body just didn't have the energy for it.
All that planning and conniving for what? It's always the people who think they're smarter than everyone else that are the easiest to take down. Looks like even primordial assholes aren't an exception.
"Heh… heh…heh…"
Yun turned on his side and spit out a mixture of mucus and blood. All the damage he accrued during the First Vision had come to cash in on its debts. From his struggle against the spawn, the ascent up the mountain, and even the torture in the cave.
But that wasn't a big deal; Yun just needed some rest. All he had to do was close his eyes, and let his thoughts meander.
In the back of his mind, a hint of dread started to slowly burrow its way in.
To him, and to most people in the real world, Severin's Curse was an omnipotent force of nature. A harbinger of the Plagued terrors that came with each Vision Cycle.
Humanity used to live in constant fear of the ancient corruption that decimated the Forsaken Realm and claimed much of the real world. That was until Severin Himself descended, wielding the Law of the Divine, and cleaved a path for the future of civilization.
It wasn't a stretch to say that the Curse was the weapon of God Himself wielded against the Plague. It both warned and protected humanity for centuries. Of course, with how it played out in the history books, that protection came at the cost of the Descendants' sacrifice.
But that was a story for another day.
So…
What kind of being was beyond the purview of such a force? The Curse referred to it as
Yun couldn't even say he properly got rid of it, the Null Entity, that is. This was a Vision, meaning the real Null Entity was possibly still out there. And without Yun's intervention, it most likely achieved its mysterious goal at the Falling Sky Temple.
Vision Miri was the only other person who knew what it even was.
Ah… thinking hurts. Let me just shut my eyes for a bit.
Tiny flakes of jade clouds meandered down the mountain peak silently, blanketing Yun and turning his dark hair white. The warm snow beneath his neck darkened in crimson petals before dissipating into mist. Somewhere far off, a clash of steel rang at a detached rhythm, creating a soft lullaby.
Yun blinked slowly at the dark sky overhead, and began to drift away.
That is, until the ringing came to an abrupt stop.
His eyes shot open.
Don't you dare sleep! Sleep means death, idiot.
Yun staggered to his feet and began trudging his way to the gate.
***
Step after agonising step, the barely lucid Descendant forced his way forward, all the colour drained from his face. A red stream steadily flowed from his mouth, down his neck, staining his rags and the ground below.
He soon came upon a gigantic gate and collapsed on his knees in front of it, as if to worship its magnificence. Swaying in his hands was an aged piece of parchment: the map to the Falling Sky. The symbols etched on its skin were alien and unknown to him, but hopefully that wouldn't present any problems.
With his left hand clutching the map, the Descendant extended an open palm towards the script circle. Maybe then—
Splat!
Just then, something came flying and crashed behind him with a sickening crunch. His nose immediately recoiled at the foulness of its scent.
The Descendant slowly turned, straining his muscles so he wouldn't fall over.
Two pairs of eyes met; one was a gleaming dark amber, the other a dull grey that was once sharp like steel.
He traced the bloody corpse with his fading gaze until it landed where its lower half was supposed to be.
The Descendant remained calm. Not because he was unaffected, but because he simply lacked the ability to panic. The fear raging in his soul had no way to express itself through his shallow breaths.
Although…
Staring at Miri's bisected corpse cleared up a fuzz in his mind. A memory fragment returned to him.
"Keeva."
That was the name of his Divine sister. He hadn't even realized he'd forgotten it.
He reached out to touch the body, because to him, his failing mind might have been playing tricks on him. But before he could reach it, he heard a loud screech.
The Descendant raised his head to a truly menacing sight. The corrupted captain was taking a leisurely stroll across the snowy plateau, making its way to claim another life.
The Descendant saw its silhouette first; the ghostly light behind it cast a looming shadow and the tendrils on its face had grown into scaly serpents that coiled around its neck. More tendrils had formed, writhing beneath its skin as if they were trying to escape through its skin.
Turning back to Keeva… no, to Miri, the Descendant closed her eyes and thought… The thought faded away, melting away like a snowflake at dawn.
He placed an open palm on the script circle, and felt an abrupt, draining sensation. The script circle was drinking his vital essence. The map freed itself from his grasp and went flat on the surface of the gate, just above the circle.
Maliki's shadow drew closer.
The script under the map glowed, reflecting on the parchment. The symbols and the script rearranged into a strange, circular pattern, and soon, the Descendant heard a loud clack.
A loud tremor shook the earth below him as the gate opened up. He looked behind him to see Maliki completely unaffected by the quake.
The Descendant rose to his feet and staggered through the new opening. Five minutes later, Maliki followed right behind him.
Beyond the gate was a winding pathway that ascended up until it disappeared into the jade clouds. Despite his delirium, the Descendant made sure to step carefully — swaying too far off the path meant disappearing into the white void surrounding the lengthy path.
He checked for the Plagued one behind him, noting the distance, and marched forward.
Almost an hour had passed.
The Descendant had slowed to a crawl, and his lungs had given out. Maliki was on his trail, only a mere ten meters behind.
The only thing keeping him upright was his [Hatchling] Trait and growing proximity to the Itheon.
Move it, legs. Please.
He soon passed a stele, but didn't stop to inspect it. Then another. And another one. Unknown to him, the carvings on the stelae lit up as he walked past.
Finally, the peak of the mountain appeared in view. A large shadow stood atop the flat rock. It was the Falling Sky Temple, with its full magnificence obscured from the Descendant's view. But he didn't care for it at all. He just had to reach it… and maybe the Vision would be over.
Behind the Temple was a much larger shadow. A shadow so vast that the Descendant couldn't tell where it started or ended. But it was much more than that…
It wasn't a shadow as much as it was a presence. A force that was surrounding him, and watched him from the moment he made landfall on the island. Unlike Miri and Maliki's weight, this force wasn't invisible, it dominated the entire island so much so that the wind feared it. The Descendant couldn't fully see it because he simply had no right to.
The presence reached out to the servant, and inspected it. Except, it wasn't concerned with the servant itself. For the first time in the First Vision, the soul inside him was being witnessed.
The presence was looking directly at Yun Morrigan.
It brushed past the Itheon's Lineage, ignored the celestial core and stopped in front of the [Hatchling] Trait. It caressed it, causing Yun Morrigan's soul to shiver. Had he not awakened his vital core and evolved his Trait, that simple touch would have been instant death.
Then, the presence simply wandered away, disappearing from the island entirely.
The Descendant froze, then scoffed.
Of course.
The Itheon had left once more.
The servant's body gave out and collapsed. It had endured enough, and was ready to die. The Descendant was now staring at the sky. He turned his head to look behind him, and there it was. Maliki stood there, with its serpents licking the air and hissing.
But there was no fear in the Descendant's eyes, only fatigue.
I tried, didn't I? Maybe I deserve a long break.
Looking at Maliki's slow but deadly approach, with worms writhing beneath its skin and serpents growing larger on its face, he thought, Shit. At least I'm not going out ugly.
The corrupted captain's sword was raised high, poised for a deadly strike that would atomize the frail servant's body and banish the Descendant's soul to nothingness.
But the Descendant started talking to himself. No… that was the Curse.
[You have been touched by a Challenger of the Heavenly Court, a divine beast.]
[One of the Itheons recognises your scent.]
[The Itheon, Cloudstrider, embraces its Hatchling.]
[The Cloudstrider has bestowed upon you a gift.]
[Hatchling, receive your gift!]
The stunned Descendant watched as a host of brilliant feathers fell from the sky.
They circled the Plagued captain, trapping him inside a deadly ring. Two of the feathers suddenly flashed and cut the serpents off. They fell to the ground in a spray of blood.
Maliki slashed with his broadsword, attempting to retaliate, but he was far too slow for them. Even he was no match for the feathers of a divine beast.
The host cut through and flew into Maliki, and a second later, his body was filleted and crumbled into a myriad tiny chunks of flesh.
And just like that, the most powerful human the Descendant had seen died.
The Curse bellowed triumpantly:
[You have purged a purple-core Mortal, Maliki Maliki XIII.]
[Yun Morrigan, the Vision has concluded! You may return to your reality.]
[Prepare for evaluation…]