Chapter 144: Ash and Flame
The world was filled with fire. Fire and ash.
I stood among the inferno, unable to discern a thing within the gouts of fire and vast plums of smoke. Sinister shadows danced between the sheets of flames, filling the air with mocking laughter.
"We come, child." The dark voice reverberated through my mind, raised to a blistering crescendo. "You shall be avenged."
I recognized the voice, even though it hadn’t haunted my dreams for nearly a year. The flames parted, revealing a demonic creature – black scales, serrated claws, and towering thirty feet tall. But the worst were its eyes, which blazed with infernal light. With a wave of its hand, the walls of fire exploded outward, unveiling a city in ruins.
Screams pierced the air as survivors, their bodies marked by severe burns, scattered amidst the wreckage. A dragon’s roar ripped through the city, and a blast of ice and fire consumed a nearby tower.
"Behold, your tormentors." The demon strode forward and picked up the lifeless corpse of a slender, golden-haired girl. The fires had ravaged half of her face, leaving her nearly unrecognizable, but the singed Titan uniform was unmistakable.
"Elise!" I cried, taking a step toward her.
Before my foot landed, the vision shattered into ribbons of light, fading away into utter darkness. I fell to my knees on the formless ground, hand reaching out as if to touch Elise’s vanished corpse. Tears welled up in my eyes and I withdrew my hand, pressing it to the bitter ache within my heart.
"Elise. No..."
A faint murmur pierced the darkness, beckoning to me. Fyren’s voice. I reached out and held to it, clutching it like a lifeline. The words were indistinguishable, yet I cried out in the void, begging for him to free me.
The next thing I knew, I was opening my eyes. Tears blurred my vision, but I blinked them away and made out the adventurer’s face floating above mine, concern etched across features.