Advent of the Three Calamities - Chapter 728: Outer Beings [4]

Chapter 728: Outer Beings [4]

[Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to make it quick.]

A certain voice hung in the air. It was gentle, yet carried a gravity that brought my attention away from the darkness that clung to me from all directions.

…I gradually opened my eyes.

Two lackluster gray eyes appeared before me.

Or… felt like it. I knew that it wasn’t possible since the one talking was inside the TV screen.

TV screen…

TV screen?

’Huh?’

[This is the last step, right? …The last step before my hell is finally over?]

Hearing the familiar words, the haze in my mind cleared up.

The world around me became clear, and so did the TV.

That’s when I also finally managed to see the figure within it.

He stood solitary, amidst the wreckage. The landscape lay strewn with debris and shattered structures. The world around him seemed to have halted, frozen in a moment in time.

In that instant, the dullness in his gaze faltered, and what appeared to replace it was something akin to… anguish.

Grief?

[…Hah]

The man clutched his shirt, slowly wrinkling it as his lips slowly curled into a hazy smile.

[I’ll do it.]

His head lowered to meet another gaze.

[…]

With black hair, this person knelt on the ground with their back faced against the screen, gazing up at the gray-eyed man. No words escaped their lips; they simply stared.

Perhaps he wanted to say something, but couldn’t. After all, a large gaping wound was present on his back.

[Ah, yes… I shouldn’t drag this out.]

The gray-eyed man lifted his hand, unveiling the cold gleam of a sword. His lackluster gray eyes quivered ever so slightly as the blade descended in one fluid motion.

SHIIING—!

[I’ve waited far too long for this.]

The screen turned black.

A reflection met my gaze, but it wasn’t the one I expected. Staring back was a face I had long forgotten, framed by black hair and illuminated by a pair of green eyes I hadn’t seen in years.

That appearance…

It was that of the old me.

The room around me was exactly as I remembered. The sharp, lingering scent of alcohol filled the air, while a lamp flickered weakly above, casting restless shadows around me.

I wanted to speak. I wanted to move.

However…

I was trapped.

I couldn’t move at all.

This feeling…

’It feels so much like a vision.’

How long had it been since I last had one? Ever since I had lost the blood, I hadn’t experienced any vision.

Then—

“Each of the four artifacts holds its own purpose. Forged in the flames of Veltrus, each carries a distinct role in the unfolding scene on the TV.”

My mouth opened on its own.

The TV flashed, and the scene from before replayed again.

[Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to make it quick.]

“This is a simple matter of causality and effect. Everything will unfold exactly as it must, whether we like it or not. Yet, it is necessary for this to happen. This is the beginning.”

My hand slowly raised to point at the TV.

Towards Leon.

“…Our memories will soon return. Not fast, but gradually.”

I listened quietly.

I had long understood that this was a message.

A… message that I had left behind for myself.

“What I’ve seen… no, what we’ve seen… is not something a human should ever witness. Already, I can feel the madness beginning to take hold.”

The face reflected in the mirror paused, and I felt the hands of my body begin to shake.

My eyes slowly blinked, and the moment I caught sight of the reflection again, my mind paused.

Thats…!?

It was me.

But… I was completely different.

The figure in the TV’s reflection was bald, its cheeks hollowed and lifeless. I looked less like a person and more like the empty shell of one.

I recognized instantly what was reflected before me.

This was me during the time I had cancer.

But it was the eyes reflected that caught my attention. The wild, fraying madness in them, made all the more evident by the tremor running through my hand.

My lips parted once more.

“I’ve seen too much, too quickly. It won’t be long before the madness consumes me and I die. That is why I erased everything I knew about the past. To protect myself. These memories, these visions… they are things I should never have witnessed.”

Pausing, I saw my eyes turn even more bloodshot.

“And yet… These memories are also the key to defeating ’them’.”

Slowly, I felt my head rise on its own, as the ceiling appeared before me. My teeth clenched tightly as the room trembled faintly around me. But the moment passed quickly, and the madness that had once filled my eyes faded.

In its place was a chilling calm.

One that even left me… chilled.

“I know you’re seeing this. I know that you’re aware of the fact that this is a message for you. In that case, I’ll make things quick.”

Darkness covere my vision as I felt my eyelids close.

Light poured in shortly after.

“…Our memories will slowly return. I saw too much and too quickly, but once the memories return to us, they’ll be gradual and more digestible. They may come randomly, and when they do, they may hurt, but they are the key.”

My hand slowly raised as I tapped my head on the temple.

“They are the key to… e… everything.”

I could feel my breathing growing rougher. My body also started to become weaker.

I… didn’t have much time.

“…I can probably live a little bit longer if I stop using my powers and stop seeing, but I can’t do that.”

My head moved again.

This time, it faced the reflection on the TV.

While we were the same person, it almost felt as though the two of us were standing on opposite ends, staring at each other.

“I can go mad. I can die. If it means that, when the time comes, I won’t lose myself to madness, then I’m willing to pay the price. And… I can see that everything is going as I envisioned so far.”

A smile graced the figure in the reflection.

It was a gratifying smile. One that seemed to be filled with relief.

I could feel my hand shaking.

The same was for my breathing.

I… could feel it more than ever. The death that was starting to take over my body.

“H-ha.”

My chest rose weakly.

“…I-t looks like it’s almost time for me.”

My lips trembled.

Staring at my reflection, I could see it.

The uncertainty. The fear that lingered in my face as we stared at each other.

In that moment, I could see the rare weakness that I wouldn’t show to anyone but myself.

“We’re… going to make it right?”

I wanted to answer, but I couldn’t.

I wasn’t in control of the body.

And yet…

As if the me of the past could see myself directly, another smile graced my lips.

With a weak motion, he reached for the drink beside him and, seemingly out of nowhere, produced a small vial. One contained a strange red liquid.

The sight made me pause.

’Isn’t that…?!’

And then—

Drip!

The droplet fell on the drink.

The vial’s contents dissolved into the drink, and with a shaky hand, I reached for it and took a sip. Instantly, a bitter and powerful burn reached the back of my throat.

I felt it all.

The sensation didn’t last long, and as my hand slowly lowered and set the glass down, my eyes locked onto the reflection in the dark screen of the TV.

’I…’

The eyes reflected in the mirror were different from before.

They were muffled. Unclear.

The sharp clarity that had once filled my vision was gone, replaced by a steady, hazy confusion.

“I… I…”

Word stammered from out of my mouth.

It looked like I was trying hard to remember something. Like something was at the tip of my tongue, but before that could happen, the door of the room opened and a young figure with auburn hair and familiar green eyes appeared.

“Brother!”

His voice was cheerful as he entered.

However, the cheerfulness lasted for just a brief moment as his gaze paused on me. In that moment, I saw a subtle flicker in his gaze as he looked at me.

However, that flicker merely lasted a few seconds before he walked towards me.

“Hehe.”

He laughed while stopping before me and grabbing my hand.

“Brother, how are you feeling?”

“F-eeling?”

The confusion that lingered in my mind was still present.

I could tell that I was totally out of it.

“Yes. How are you feeling? I know you’ve stopped chemo. You should be feeling better now that you don’t have to be injected with all those chemicals.”

“Chemo?”

“Yes, chemo! You have cancer. Stage four cancer…”

“Ah, oh…”

My voice grew steadier as if I were suddenly reminded of something. I stared at the scene in silence, recalling these very moments.

“…I’m doing fine.”

This moment.

This moment right here was the moment when everything started for me.

“I… see.”

Noel forced a smile before turning his attention towards the TV.

“In that case, how about we play the game that you promised me that you’d play? It’s a very popular game. How about it?”

“Game…?”

“What?”

Noel made a face.

“You promised that you’d try it. Com—”

“Oh, right.”

I could recall this moment, too. Indeed, I remembered the confusion that I felt as he asked me to play the game. Thinking about it now, a lot of things were off back then.

“Nice!”

Noel reached for the remote and turned the TV on.

Immediately, a familiar scene popped up before me.

“This is the prologue of the game. Let me load it up.”

Noel fiddled with the remote controller as he tried to load up the ’game’. I also remembered this part. However, what I didn’t remember was the subtle trembling of his hands. The hesitation in his fingers as he ’fake’ pressed several of the buttons on the controllers. Almost as if he was trying to drag as much time as possible.

…And most importantly, the strain in his voice.

“It’s…”

Why was it that I only noticed it now?

“…It’s ready.”

And as the game loaded up, his head turned to face my direction.

I could see his smile.

…That sad smile of his.

And then—

[Don’t worry. I’ll make sure to make it quick.]

The familiar words echoed.

My surroundings turned black right after that.

By the time I regained consciousness, a pair of gray eyes met my vision as Leon stared at me with a worried look.

“Are you okay…? What did you do? You passed out of nowhere. Is…”

A constant ringing sound echoed in my mind as his words went from one ear to the other. I really wanted to focus on his words.

However, I couldn’t.

Not when…

Ding!

A massive notification panel was before me.

***

We reached 300GT so as promised 2 chaps every weekday and 1 ever weekend from this monday.