Re: Timeless Apocalypse

Upon the ridiculously tall walls of the city, it was silent.

Winds howled, strong yet refreshing, and the hues of the sky seemed particularly bright, the radiance of the moon almost blinding up so high.

On an inconspicuous spot along the wall, near its edge, two small dots could be seen—two boys who’d laid camp and sprawled a feast around them.

"Are you sure we’re not gonna get in trouble for this?" Samael asked mid-bite, already on his fourth bowl.

Before, he’d be full after a single bowl, but for some reason, his awakening had turned him into a bottomless black hole.

He was hungry. Really hungry.

"..."

Uriel sat facing away from the city, staring at the green plain that stretched far into the distance and connected to a thick forest, dark and full of life.

He ate slowly, his mind empty. His hair danced with the wind, and the hidden ebbs of his heart seemed to echo across the world.

Atmospheric aether wrapped around him, as if trying to comfort him in light of the strange mood he was in.

Samael couldn’t feel aether deeply yet, but he could sense his core reacting strangely to something happening around Uriel.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked, a bit worried.

Something felt off.

"Hm?" Uriel was pulled away from his thoughts. "Yeah, I’m fine. Sorry, I was lost in my mind."

"You were saying?"

Samael studied Uriel’s expression and light smile. He wanted to press on, but in the end, he decided not to.

Everyone had their secrets.

"I was asking if we wouldn’t get in trouble for this?" he asked again. "We’re so close to freedom, it’d be dumb to let it all go to waste for this."

Uriel chuckled. "Don’t worry. No one will find us. And even if they do, they won’t be able to catch us."

"I attacked the core ring with my face uncovered, yet they still couldn’t find me. Plus, we have Korynth’s protection."

"It’ll be fine."

Samael wasn’t convinced. "I—..." But he decided to trust Uriel and let it go.

"The place where you and your brother are from... is it nice?"

The question shook Samael much more than it should have. His gaze narrowed, and his heart skipped a beat.

Uriel noticed and shook his head. "You know what, never mind."

He refocused on the forest in the distance and took a couple more bites from his bowl. He couldn’t help but smile as he chewed.

"This stuff’s really good. I wonder what their methodology is like..."

"..." Samael remained quiet.

He stared down at his bowl, refusing to let it out of his sight, as if afraid to look up. Across his orange eyes, memories of a distant time flashed.

Memories of war. Memories of death.

His fists tightened, and he bit his lip hard—so hard that blood trickled down the edge of his lips and along his chin.

Finally, he looked up, his gaze blazing. "Uriel."

Uriel turned to him. "Hm?"

"Please help me control my Spark. I want to be able to at least defend myself before we go and free my brother."

"I... I don’t want to be a burden." he said, wiping the blood from his chin.

"..." Uriel hadn’t expected those words, and he found them more telling than anything the boy could’ve said.

For some reason, when he looked at Samael, he saw aspects of Enoch. It was strange.

’A gaze fueled by hate. Well, if that isn’t familiar.’ He chuckled, then shook his head.

He sighed. "Sure."

...

In the depths of the forest stretching far into Kael’s distant horizon, a small arena-like area had been cleared out.

The ground was muddy and littered with tree stumps, tall canopies hanging overhead through which thin strips of moonlight poured.

Beyond the small arena, all that stood was darkness—infested with beasts of all kinds—and thick, ancient tree trunks that whined like primordial accordions under the howls of the wind.

Samael stood alone in the arena, a simple steel sword in his grasp. His palms were sweaty, and his heart was racing as his pupils darted from side to side.

’...!’

Whenever he peered into the darkness, he felt like he could see moving shadows, of beasts faster and more powerful than the last.

He could hear rustling, but he wasn’t sure if it was just the swaying branches above or the sign of an approaching predator.

But the worst of it all was the trees. The way they whined alongside the howling wind sounded akin to the bellow of a slowly awakening primordial beast.

It sent shivers down his spine, making his knees buckle and his arms falter.

’I’ll be fine. I’ll be fine. This is just training. I need this.’ He swallowed hard and forced himself to focus.

But just as he finally managed to breathe normally—

BANG!

The ground shook, and from seemingly thin air, a large creature appeared in the arena, only a dozen meters away.

It was a large red-furred wolf, with claws of ivory steel and blue eyes that oozed hate and hunger. Around its body, thick waves of ice aether danced.

Samael’s eyes widened, and fear froze him in place. As if sensing his reaction, the creature instantly locked onto him and—

"NO!"

—lunged.

Samael could barely blink before a massive shadow loomed in front of him, a paw swiping down toward his face.

He reacted on pure instinct.

CLANK!

At the last second, he raised his sword and blocked. Still, the force of the blow sent him tumbling back, his arms screaming in pain and his guard blown open.

The wolf landed, then immediately pursued, unwilling to waste such an opportunity. Its muscles bulged as it pushed off the ground, sending mud flying into the air.

Ice aether gathered within the creature’s body, and it howled at Samael. A wave of energy slammed into him—

SHOO

—and he froze in place. Literally.

He couldn’t move as the beast’s maw clamped shut around his waist.

"ARGH!"

Pain tore across his mind.