The Arks

"She's dead."

Kris' eyes were drained of life as he heard those words. No... No... That's not possible...

"You're lying! You must be that damned Butterfly Mage! You have no idea about what you are talking about!" shouted Kris, with fury.

"Listen to yourself. You sound like a madman. A child stuck inside a grown person's body, refusing to believe the truth that is shown to you. You are a weak, spineless coward that feeds on others' happiness. Because you are jealous of what they have."

"That's not true! I am not a coward! If I was, I wouldn't have made those medical breakthroughs! Those equipment and ingredients were all created and found by me, and I braved through the elements to do so. How is that making me a coward?!" roared Kris.

"Are you sure that those 'medical breakthroughs were yours? Are you sure that you didn't claim the credit instead of doing the work? You severed hands and fired personnel to get the fame that you wanted. Are you sure that those truly belong to you?" taunted the voice.

"The people of Albion owe me their lives, I saved them with the cures I have made!"

"No. You did not. You stole the cures from the hard workers of your team. They slaved for days and nights to produce results that would be the better for mankind but you claimed it all for yourself. You selfish little coward."

"Shut up! I won't take any of your words for the truth since this is a spell. You are just here to mess with me. If I'd known I've got such troublesome Mage in my facility, I would have done you in sooner!" yelled Kris, covering his ears.

"I am not a Mage. I am you, the you that you had forgotten. Or rather, refused to believe in. Because I am your true eyes. I am the one who remembered and captured the real world that you had rejected. The truth that you failed to accept or remember."

Kris' mind began to swirl as he entered a state of panic and fear. He fell to his knees as he clutched his ċhėst. He was panting as pieces of memories flashed through his mind.

"Since you cannot remember what happened next, allow me to show you. The truth of your past. And why you would refuse to believe in it. To be honest, many would've entered into a crazed state and kill themselves or hide in a hole. But for you, you went on a journey."

"A sickening journey filled with pain for those that came close to you. A journey for something that was never worth finding in the first place. Because the person you wanted to cure was long gone."

Kris closed his eyes and opened them once more. This time, he was looking at a little boy hugging an arm from a rotting corpse. Kris flew back in disgust at the sheer smell and sight of the display. But when the man recovered, he couldn't believe what he was seeing.

It was him, as a child, hugging onto that rotten corpse. And the decaying body was wearing his mother's clothes.

"You couldn't accept that she had died. In delusion, you hugged her to sleep for an entire week before someone found you."

But... He had just spoken to his mother before leaving for work. No, this was an illusion from the enemy, to attack him mentally. To mess with his mind to win the battle. Kris yelled loudly as he ran over to the two people and tried to destroy the illusion.

"There's no use in doing that. This is just a flashback. I shall show you the remaining parts that had been blocked in your memories. Whether you like it or not."

"To hell with you!" shouted Kris, before the memory changed once more.

The next memory was of his father, who was the one who found him holding onto his dead mother. His father knew that his wife was going to commit suicide and had decided to do so by himself. But, he couldn't bring himself to as he couldn't find the reason to.

He too blamed himself for his son turning out this way. But he couldn't bring himself to kill his son either. He stood there, silent and still with a knife by his side. He managed to raise it and that's when Kris remembered the part that his father tried to kill him.

The glint of the moonlight that shined on the blade landed on the sleeping boy's eyes. This woke the boy up and the image of his father preparing to murder him was forever burned into his mind.. No matter how many layers of delusion, Kris was never able to get that out of his head.