7 The Blood Tide.

Vincent found himself stranded in the deep and endless void. Specks of violet light danced and revolved around with him at the centre.

Starlight flashed across the vast expanse, resembling the constellations of celestial bodies. They joined and formed bigger ones, while others disintegrated into nothingness, paralleling the creation and the destruction of the universe itself.

Billions of lives were snuffed out and reborn anew in the scenes reflected in his deep azure eyes.

Vincent focused on his front; shadowy beings of cosmic scale floated before him at a distance. They gazed at him with their planetary eyes and opened their mouths, but no voice trailed out; instead, a low hum pierced his ears and rammed into his head, almost shattering his weave of consciousness.

He clasped his head and gritted his teeth in pain; the low humming bombarded him on the verge of collapse, but he still refused to scream.

He glared at them in indignation until violet symbols projected out of his eyes and floated above his head. Then, following the rhythm of the distant humming, they arranged themselves in a nexus and merged back inside his azure eyes. Finally, the humming turned into deep familiar voices which caressed his ears.

"Em..b..."

"Em..b...ace..."

"Embrace...…"

"Embrace the blood ...….."

"Embrace the blood tide...."

The shadowy beings repeated these words over and over.

"So it's finally time?" Vincent muttered under his breath.

"P...ap..a," a feeble cry rang out behind him.

He turned his head and saw the bloodied figure of Celeste, enshrouded in her long silver hair that stretched to the stars. She floated in the void with her eyes closed.

Her face contorted in pain; she bled from all orifices as her skin peeled off with each passing beat. A small nebula made out of her blood droplets spiralled out of her body and sailed towards him.

He stretched out his hands, but the droplets sprinkled into dust before it could reach him.

"P...a….p...a," she gave one last cry.

Vincent turned to the shadowy beings and declared, "I ACCEPT!"

Blood streamed out beneath them and converged around him in the form of a river. Illusory chains tunnelled through them and wrapped around his own body.

Countless memories of the ancient past resonated inside him; the beings in front of him were no longer shrouded within the dark abyss.

Some were humanoid, some resembled worms, some were just assortments of countless limbs stitched together, while others were straight-up burning suns in a cosmic storm.

The humanoid figure in the middle grinned at Vincent and flicked a finger at the illusory chains bound to its own neck. They too were bound in chains just like him, which stretched out as far as the eye could see, as though the blood tide was endless in the vast expanse of the time continuum.

A small stream of blood gushed out beneath him and funnelled in through Celeste's mutilated body. Her peeled off skin was sewen back together, just like a ceramic doll with no blemishes left on the surface.

The nebula of blood revolving around her blossomed like countless blood roses in mid-spring.

Multiple chains burrowed out of his own body and approached Celeste. She outstretched her hands and wrapped the chains around herself like a blanket.

Vincent picked her up in his arms and caressed her silver hair; a content smile hung on her angelic face as she curled herself within his embrace.

"Devour the World, Blood Ancestor," an ancient command echoed deep inside his soul before his vision went blank.

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