Nightblade (Darkest night)

Morgan found himself completely abd utterly consumed by a darkness so profound that for a time, it felt like he’d ceased to exist.

His mind snapped completely away from his shattered body, slipping into a formless, suffocating silence. The agony of his broken body and the burning torment of his shattered leg vanished.

After everything that had happened, the lightless abyss was a welcomevrelief.

Here there was only peace and a quiet tranquility. And while it lasted, Morgan backed in the serene tranquility. In the sound of absolute silence.

Until, the darkness bled into light driving away the boundless serene void of peace.

Above him, an impossible sea of clouds stretched out to an infinite horizon, painted in soft, pearlescent hues of amber, rose, and gold.

Strangely enough, there was no sun in the sky, yet the air hummed with a warm, tranquil luminescence that seemed to originate from everything and nowhere at once.

Massive, sprawling terraces of brilliant white stone floated motionless in the sea of clouds. Pillars as thick as ancient trees rose up, disappearing into the blinding mist above, their marble surfaces reflecting a soft, almost divine radiance.

​Far off in the distance, colossal, snow capped mountain peaks hovered upside down, suspended in the sky like silent, sleeping titans.

Morgan quietly hovered, floating through the air.

"What is this place..."

He turned, curiously observing his surroundings.

"Are this Azrael’s memories...or perhaps Nythrakar?"

Abruptly the scene changed, his perspective undergoing a nauseating shift.

"Damn—!"

Suddenly, Morgan couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak. He was an invisible trespassers, completely powerless to do anything but watch.

Then a set of soft. unhurried, measured footsteps echoed softly across the polished white marble.

​

​A figure emerged from the veil, tall and immaculately proportioned.

He wore robes of pristine white, bordered with intricate, flowing threads of spun gold that seemed to shift and writhe like liquid light.

His long, silver-gold hair cascaded down his back, carrying a faint, ethereal glow.

​The man was strikingly handsome, his face sculpted with an unearthly perfection that should have felt cold, yet emanated a deep, serene warmth.

The lower half of his face was covered byba burnished beard accentuated by gold highlights that glimmered unnaturally every time they caught the glint of the light.

Despite his regal appearance and inhuman beauty, it was his eyes that caught Morgan’s attention—twin pools of brilliant, unbearable light that seemed to burn through reality itself.

Morgan’s eyes widened in recognition.

Alsterius. The Lord of Light.

Morgan still remembered the elusive man, if he could even be called that.

Even as he walked, the golden light in the air bent subtly around his silhouette.

Alsterius stopped at the edge of the floating terrace, clasping his hands casually behind his back as he gazed out into the endless sea of clouds.

​"You’re late," Alsterius said.

His voice was like a resonant bell echoing across a quiet hall in a gentle, refined manner.

"Is he talking to me?"

Morgan thoughts, his brows furrowingvin thought.

"Can he somehow see me?"

From the shadow cast by one of the giant white pillars, the air began to distort.

Morgan froze. He’d have taken a step back but he was literally frozen in place. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak, all he could do was watch.

"This has got to stop..."

Despite the position he now found himself in, he had the deep seated feeling eavesdropping on conversations in such a fickle manner eas bound to end up blowing up in his face sooner or later.

The space behind the pillar folded in on itself, pooling into a deep, abyssal dark that bled across the white marble like dark ink dropped in clear water, slowly seeping into it, darkening it and changing it into something entirely different.

Out of the darkness stepped a second figure.

The man wore a heavy, dark coat that absorbed the surrounding luminescence, its edges fraying into wisps of eerily shifting shadow.

Ar the man’s appearance, Morgan suddenly felt vulnerable. His mind blanked for a split second, then recovered.

"What the hell is he..."

Just then, the answer to his question came in the form of a quiet whisper that echoed within his mind.

"Velagrew..."

Despite staying within the Realm Between, this ws the first time Morgan was meeting the esoteric Lord that governed it.

Velagrew was shrouded inmystery even among his loyal subjects and retainers.

His features were sharp, his dark eyes carrying the a depthless stillness.

As Velagrew walked, the environment around him flickered erratically, the space around him pulsating unnaturally with life.

For a fraction of a heartbeat, the pristine golden terrace vanished, replaced by a barren, ash-covered battlefield under a blood-red sky.

Morgan recoiled from the mental picture, feeling an overwhelming sense of dread.

A split-second later, it shifted to an endless, starless corridor, then a dead, frozen forest—before snapping back to the marble palace.

"Wow..."

The Lord of the Realm Between it seemed, was exactwhat his name implied. He carried the weight of several different realms in his wake, their essence lingering on his form even after he’d departed from them.

"I was occupied," Velagrew replied smoothly. His voice was a low, velveteen rasp that seemed to vibrate directly inside Morgan’s consciousness.

"The tides of the Realm Between are unpredictable these days, Alsterius," he said in a pensive tone and yet his expression remained chilling impassive.

"Unpredictable," Alsterius repeated, a soft, amused smile touching his lips.

He turned slowly to face the Lord of the Realm Between, his golden eyes shimmering with ethreal light.

Those eyes seemed to flare for a moment with white hot intensity even as he observed the Lord of the Realm Between.

Alsterius shrugged nonchalantly.

"Or it coukd be that they’re being manipulated by someone?"

Velagrew stopped a distance away from him, cocking his head slightly.

The shadow clinging to his boots spilled out, creating a dark circle that rejected the boundless light around him.

The light around him dimmed, voraciously devoured by the sea of inky darkness around him.