Salvos

Disclaimer: This chapter is written in an experimental style. Images will be provided alongside the chapter to show what is meant to be conveyed. For the best reading experience, you can download the pdf of the chapter here.

I already know some of y'all are gonna complain about the experimental style. If it's too difficult for you to read, you can skip over it.

Nightsveil lay in ruin. Hordes of terrible monsters ambled about its broken streets, carving the roads open with the blood and bodies of the city’s inhabitants. There were tens of thousands— maybe even hundreds of thousands of these creatures. A pack of Gatho Mammoths stormed through a palatial structure, felling its round towers and coating their fur with the gray of dust. Mindreapers zipped over the clouds just beneath the moonlight, like moths gathering around a lamp at the dead of night.

Once, this city had been full of life. Now, it was just a shadow of its former self.

There were a few stragglers— some survivors. But they’d be dealt with soon enough. Belzu was methodical in his slaughter, but not foolish or reckless. That was why he hovered over the temple, casting his gaze down at us from the heavens above.

I saw his silhouette through the cracked stained glass windows. His morbidly corpulent figure played behind the ornate decorations surrounding the crumbling walls of the Sanctuary of Fauna. He looked like a bug— a wicked, giant bug with barbed legs poking out from his sides just beneath his invisible, flapping wings.

What was he doing? I wondered why he hadn’t just attacked us— why he hadn’t just sent a thousand curses our way. But then I evaluated him. I saw how exhausted he looked. He was soaked in black ooze. Demon’s blood. His own blood

The siege of Nightsveil had taken its toll on the Primeval Demon. Despite his ostensible victory, he was still tired and injured from the fight. That was why he waited. For his army to converge. And for something else—

My eyes flickered, turning back to the Merrysters standing behind me. Saffron and Cinne stood over Crocus, protective. The Lady held up the necklace—

“Don’t.”

Her brother stopped her. Saffron blinked.

“Why not? Father needs the Breastplate—”

“And that is what that Demon wants. Look.”

They faced Belzu, and I saw his bulbous eyes narrow ever-so-slightly. He had with him an ornate sword— a blade that exuded luminescence brighter than the moon in the dark of the night.

I wondered what that was about.

I stepped forward, creating a Primordial Scythe. I waved it at him through the broken windows of the temple, shouting.

“Hey, ugyl! Go away! We’re just about to leave, alright?”

He glared at me with recognition in his eyes, and I gulped.

“Um, I take back what I said. You don’t look that ugly. You kinda look tasty, actually.”

Belzu shook his head, descending like a slow comet falling upon the world, bringing with him calamity.

“I shall take my leave from this city.”

His voice boomed and shook the temple. The Primeval Demon’s gaze bore into me— through me. His gaze landed on the necklace Saffron had been holding.

“Not until I have what’s mine.”

Cinne snatched it from her hands, whispering quickly, and it flashed, locking it from Belzu’s use. But that didn’t allay the Primeval Demon’s approach. He brought one of his crooked arms up, pointing at us.

“Give it to me.”

Again, the world shook. When Belzu opened his mouth once more, a bright light accompanied it, swallowing me whole.

“G I V E T O M E M Y S A L V A T I O N.”

They took the time to tether together

what seemed sharp and splendor

a whip of scorn and

anger that struck me

with no visible danger

yet it aroused a clangor

within my stoic demeanor

for I found that what they abhorred

was nothing more than just my core.

And when I saw my companions

something shattered.

My time in this mortal plane

seem so fruitless— without gain.

But when I stood in the Netherworld, crying, balled, and curled. I saw a familiar face, amongst this desolate place. He smiled and laughed cheerfully, as kind as he used to be. My first ever friend was there with me, following blindly and trusting me. And I believed— I truly believed that we’d
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S H A T T E R E D