Let Them Sing
EXP: 155,108, Level: 17
Level completed: 18%,
EXP required for next Level: 14,892
Time after time, it was the same dream.
For a moment, there would only be the darkness of oblivion. Then, he, Shinsou, would step from the frigid void onto the cold streets of Radasanth. A ceiling of cumbersome clouds hung there for what seemed like an eternity, and straight away it started to rain in sheets. The droplets bombarded the cobbles beneath his feet and kicked up spats of loose mud and grime.
As the water drenched his skin, the Telgradian looked across the road to two others who occupied the space. The giant skeleton known as Elite Optic, fighting Rayse Valentino in a brutal melee. And, beyond that...
Storm Veritas.
The rain glistened on walls of polished Radasanthian stone, and on the blade poised high over the skeleton's head. Time after time, he watched Elite Optic's bone-hilted sword fall, and Rayse Valentino set the revenant ablaze. Time after time, Shinsou watched as Storm Veritas, his friend, tried to kill him over and over with that vicious lightning. The Telgradian could only observe from a cosmic third person perspective as the electric struck him each time, burning a hole clean through his heart before the dark lances he conjured pierced Storm Veritas's flesh. As the electromancer's screams echoed without sound, clenched fists drew blood from the Telgradian's palms.
Wait...
This dream scene wasn’t the one the Telgradian remembered. The bustling streets suddenly morphed and twisted. They were devoid of life, seeming cold and numb in the drab shadows of the clouds. As with the uncertainty of this strange, ethereal place ahead of him, there was the same uncertainty again about what was happening. With one final glance from the mouth of the alleyway where he had last remembered being lay, his heart blown out, Shinsou's soul left his body .
it was only a matter of moments before he realised the road ahead was now littered with corpses.
What the fuck?
The soul suddenly snapped back to a corporeal body. Shinsou, shivering, shook his soaked brown hair as he stumbled out of the cool alleyway in which he thought he had died. A smell of burning flesh hung on the air, putrid and potent. As he sauntered into the street, his golden eyes veered through the rain and across empty, bloodstained buildings not so far away. Shinsou could see the something ahead of him, something that seemed like pieces of broken stone pillars placed in formation on an obsidian pedestal.
What is that?
As soon as the Telgradian had noticed it, the stench of rotting flesh wafted into his nostrils. It almost made him heave. Suddenly, the rain got heavier once again, but instead of water, twenty thousand droplets of blood pounded their snare patters on the roofs of the buildings around him. Second by second, new beats joined them, turning single, meaningless droplets into a never-ending cascade that washed over roads and down windows in rivulets of red.
Suddenly, a feeling crawled up Shinsou’s spine. It was the unmistakeable cold tinge of dark power. There was no creature alive in this place, so why did he feel like he was being watched?
The raindrops were now dropped by their tainted millions from the imposing tangle of clouds overhead, forming a pool of deep, thick red that covered more of the street’s floor than Shinsou’s eyes could render. The bitter odours of the blood rain mixed with the scents of rotting meat made Shinsou almost wretch.
Suddenly, with a mighty electrical crackle, a mirror image appeared before him; the negative of Shinsou Vaan Osiris, naked and salivating. This version of the Telgradian had skin that was as black as jet. The whites of its eyes were accented by fierce gold irises, and its fingers were replaced by black claws.
..The FUCK?!
"Shinsou," The being growled, turning to face his counterpart "We're not the same. Deep within us lies this instinct to dominate, and to rule, and to achieve greatness. It was what made you feared and revered in Telgradia, and in Corone. But what happened? You don’t have that anymore. You rely too much on Veritas. You rely on your emotions instead of the cold facts. You’re weak."
In a single smooth stroke, the edge of a razor sharp claw sliced through the hundreds of falling droplets and slit the Telgradian’s throat. Shinsou’s dishevelled hair tumbled about the wind in heavy, saturated strands as his physical form in this place began to dissolve. There were no words from the Telgradian, but one last glaring look of shock and dismay.
"I refuse to play horse to a king who’s weaker than me. If you aren’t willing to assert your strength and retain the crown, then I’ll destroy you. Which means…I’ll be king.
After a moment, the scenery of the nightmareish Radasanth suddenly tore back into focus, though once again askew. The cobblestone street that expanded out from the mouth of the alleyway still levitated on a thirty degree tilt. The sodden, cold stone of the passageway rested against the beast’s now blackened right cheek and the bitter odours of rotting garbage coalesced with that of the grime and rotting meat. Ribbons of dark energy lashed and tore at the stone surroundings, violent sparks of electricity smashing into the brickwork and scattering plaster shrapnel in all directions.
The only sound in that moment was that which echoed from the passageway. It was a blood curdling scream, one no longer of man but instead of beast; a beast fuelled with anger and hate.