Chapter Twenty-Seven: Him

Ayra stared at the imposing, dilapidated structure looming ahead of her. 

This was the Ruins. The Ruins of the First Gate. 

Grey walled and broken, this structure was damned for eternity. It housed the crevice between their realm and the demons'. And for Ayra, having this in front of her eyes, was nightmarish.

She never thought she'd be standing here, before one of the vile reasons that kissed the world with death.

Her feet felt heavy and her heart, constricted with a detestable feeling that she had no control over.

Fear. It was fear. 

A fear like no other suffocated her. It wasn't the crippling or the incapacitating sort of fear. This fear was almost caressing, as though it was cajoling her to yield in and lose herself for eternity.

And that kind of fear was the worst.

She folded her arms over herself and took a deep breath.

You can do this, Ayra Sylvahhna. You can do this, for this is another mission.

Just another mission.

With her head slightly raised, she slowly made her way towards the massive, forced open doors of the Ruins. 

ווונ

Neslyn felt like she was dying. 

She gripped her eyes shut and zeroed in on the man in her lap, battling to remain alive.

Ryo held a recuperated but unconscious Rydan in his arm, staring at Neslyn with a worried look. It's nearly been an hour since they found these two on the ground, passed out and in pain.

She didn't have time to ponder about the kind of misery that befell these two.

Neslyn quickly began healing them with her powers as soon as she laid her eyes on the unmoving Guardians but the wounds were deep and fatal. She had nearly utilized all of her energy in healing Rydan.

The warmth of her magic surged, demanding her to stop as she forcefully pressed out the remaining power breathing inside her. It thrashed against her requests but Neslyn had no choice.

A healer must always put others lives above hers. 

It is a promise. An order. And a duty. 

Neslyn is a healer, and she will not fail her duty as one. 

She gritted her teeth and splayed her fingers wider on Aslan's unmoving chest. Her fingers grew numb with the magic consistently streaming within. The pale green glow of her magic now breathed in a dull, milky white glow. She was reaching her limit but Neslyn refused to give up.

She will make the Guardian open his eyes, no matter what happens. 

She inhaled sharply before squeezing out another kernel of her healing power. The pale glow embracing her hand flared up in response but soon dimmed a moment later. 

Her eyelids grew heavy and she began to sway a little. Please, not yet.

"Neslyn! Are you okay?" Ryo reached for her but Neslyn sent a small, reassuring smile to him. 

"I'm fine." 

Ryo didn't believe her but he couldn't ask her to stop too. He sat back, worried. 

Neslyn hastily wiped the sweat coating her forehead before splaying her fingers again above his chest, desperately hoping it would succeed this time. She sent a prayer to the Celestials above as she did so. 

And they smiled down at her. Because the next moment, Aslan's eyes fluttered open and his chest moved as he inhaled lungfuls of oxygen. 

"Aslan." Ryo cried. 

Aslan clenched his eyes shut and moaned in discomfort. 

Neslyn sighed in relief before shifting Aslan onto the ground. She quickly stood up, slightly wobbling on her feet. 

"Neslyn, where are you going?" Ryo inquired, frowning. 

"I'm going to find Ayra and Valda."

A sickening feeling had settled inside her heart ever since that vicious quake had occurred. A foreboding had etched into her mind, sending an uneasy feeling to her mind and soul. 

Something wasn't right.

Something wrong was going to take place. 

Neslyn dreaded for the life of her companions.

"You are going to go alone?" 

Neslyn nodded her head. 

"Please stay here and take care of them.." She gestured towards Rydan and Aslan. 

"But--" 

"I can take care of myself, Ryo." She smiled at him. 

Ryo glanced at Rydan and Aslan before sliding his solemn eyes towards her.

"Alright. I will stay here and protect them." 

Neslyn smiled in gratitude. 

"Come back alive, all three of you." Ryo said, eyes serious. 

 Neslyn simply smiled and nodded. 

After checking for her weapons, with a heavy heart, Neslyn left in search of Ayra and Valda.

Please be safe.

Please.

ווו×

Valda and Cressa lay on the ground, side by side, amidst a pool of weapons. 

"Well, that was easy," Cressa remarked, gazing at the night sky. 

"I told you it would work, viper." Valda quietly retorted. 

Cressa rolled her eyes. "How modest you are." 

"Well, I apologise for expecting a little appreciation. And a simple fucking 'thank you'." Valda growled lowly. 

"Well, I apologize for thinking your idea of putting the weapons under a hypnosis spell was stupid!" 

"It fucking worked so save it!"

"I didn't know it would work, okay?" 

Valda attempted to put a tight leash on her anger. "Whatever."

"Whatever, indeed." 

Silence ensued for two long minutes.

"How did you do it?" Cressa questioned softly.

Valda held back a grin before sighing.

"It's a spell that sucks out magic from materialistic objects. I thought it was pretty useless since I never battled foes that use magic to create materialistic things. But guess useless things are of help sometimes too."

Like me, she didn't add. 

Valda was suddenly and unconsciously taken back to the time when her sister had taught her this spell.

Her sister...

She immediately shook her head.

Let's not fucking go there now, she ordered her mind.

Cressa hummed. When silence ensued again, she groaned. 

"Okay, fine. Thanks for that." 

Valda snickered. "That wasn't too hard, yeah?" 

The viper just grumbled. 

A few minutes pass by in silence before Valda straightened up to her feet. 

"We have to go now."

Cressa stood up, nodding. 

"Yes. Whatever tremor that happened before couldn't have been a good sign."

Valda was slanted to concur. Something felt strange but she decided not to contemplate any further. It made her uneasy and felt rather nauseating.

She shook that feeling off and stood up. Cressa was looking forward with a dazed look in her eyes. She was deep in thinking and Valda immediately knew what she was thinking about. Or rather, what she was feeling.

Because Valda felt the same. 

They were concerned. And perturbed. And frightened. 

Valda wanted to see her friends, similarly how Cressa wanted to see hers. With that urgency grasping them firmly, they moved.

They ran through the labyrinth, seemingly in the direction of the Ruins but they halted in their tracks when they rounded a corner and reached a wall. 

A wall that had a massive hole in it. Remnants of a familiar scent of magic filled the air. 

Ayra. 

Valda wanted to cry. 

After sharing a knowing look with Cressa, they ran through the hole and a series of other massive openings that appeared later on, unknowingly leading them to something far worse than any nightmare. 

ווו×

Ayra carefully walked through the dark hallways of the Ruins. 

The disturbing feeling in her chest spread its claws out and clutched her heart with every step she took. She despised this feeling. Scorned this awful feeling that hauled her body into an ocean of hopelessness and dread. 

It made her weak. And Ayra abhorred being weak.

The wind softly whistled as she entered a small, faint lit chamber. The torchlights gracing the walls delivered a pale, orangish glow to her surroundings. It almost emitted a haunting feeling. 

Three paths opened before her. She stood in the middle of the room, staring at the opening of every path. It was pitch dark and Ayra couldn't see anything. 

As she stood there, contemplating which path to take, the same fear--that gentle, siren-like one engulfed her entirely. Again.

Phantom hands softly gripped her shoulders and unearthly voices whispered in her ears. 

Come, it seemed to say. 

Ayra, in a daze, dragged her eyes towards the path in the middle. 

Something was inside there. Something was calling for her. Something was demanding her to choose this path. 

And so, she did. 

Ayra strode towards the path in the middle. Darkness swallowed her as soon as she entered it. She couldn't see anything and the slight flood of anxiety she felt in response didn't help by any means.

Ayra released a blanket of her wind, trying to detect any present around her. But she felt nothing but the solid forms of the silent walls around her. 

No torchlights burned here. No light illuminated this path. But Ayra, investing all her trust in her wind, blindly moved forward. 

The voices in her head grew louder but Ayra knew it was just her fear doing this.

Just her fear. 

Another feeling settled in her chest. A sickening feeling. A morbid feeling of...familiarity.

Something deep within her swirled at this feeling. Ayra couldn't explain it either. 

Ayra decided she despised this place. Despised it for trapping her in her head and making her suffer. 

Ayra wanted all of this to end. 

She fastened her steps and before she knew it, she was running in the darkness. Running towards what, she didn't know. But she mentally prepared herself to face whatever lay beyond this forlorn darkness. 

A small light burned somewhere ahead of her. An exit. Or another entrance. Ayra didn't know but she continued running. 

When she reached the other side, Ayra quickly shut her eyes when bright light striked at her vision and blinded her momentarily. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the abrupt light that showered her. 

When she opened her eyes, her heart stopped. 

The First Gate lay before her. 

Ayra, with her heart in her throat, simply stared at the enormous circle on the ground. Otherworldly, archaic runes graced the circumference of it.

She felt it in the air, the ancient power that swallowed this chamber. A shudder ripped through her. 

The voices in her head grew louder but Ayra didn't know if those vicious voices were just in her head or--

It was coming from the Gate.

She was so close, so fucking close to the stitched mouth of the other world. Of the other dark, malicious world. It breathed before her and Ayra wanted to run away.

Timeworn inscriptions and symbols of the old language graced the layers of the circle, depicting hoary and haunting words that spoke tales of condemning the vicious demons and exterminating them from our lands.

Ayra gaze flickered.

In the middle of the massive Gate, lay a coffin. An empty, open coffin with its lid by its side.

Ayra recognised the golden insignia on the dark lid immediately. 

A faded aegis.

It was the Sentinel of the First Gate's body. The body of Orlaith, the woman who sacrificed her soul and revolutionized into the First Gate to protect our world from the demons. 

And the Sentinel's body wasn't there inside the coffin. 

"My, my, seems like we have a visitor." A familiar voice hauled her to reality. 

The Deminus from earlier leaned against a pillar. The torchlight burning above illuminated his features, bringing his vicious smirk to light. Ayra recalled this ashen haired man. The creator of that hideous labyrinth. 

Ayra realised that there were more people inside this deadly chamber with her. And for some reason, her eyes involuntarily settled on the man standing right in the middle of them all.

Ayra grew deadly still.

All the worlds came crashing down on her.

Her face paled tremendously, her heart stilled to a dead stop behind her ribs and her hands shook. 

"Ah, here we go.." The ashen haired man's soft voice drifted towards her but she disregarded him.

Ayra's soul flinched at the sight of the man standing before her. A man who was clad in a long, black cloak with his hood pulled over his head.

But she would recognise those silver eyes everywhere. 

Ayra couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe it at all. 

A mixture of unspoken yet loud emotions clouded her senses as she deeply stared at the man before her. 

Stared at the tall, raven-haired and silver-eyed creature that was breathing in front of her. 

Stared and stared and stared at the little boy who was the reason for her happiness in the past. 

Stared and stared and stared at the being that was her entire life in the past before he left her alone. 

Ayra's heart ached with disbelief. Pain. And something else.

"Ruhnn.." She whispered. 

The man in front of her was Ruhnn. But he was also not Ruhnn. 

The Ruhnn she knew was a small boy, not this tall, broad...man.

The Ruhnn she knew had bright and light silver eyes, not the dark and icy cold ones that stared back at her without any emotions. 

The Ruhnn she knew was...just Ruhnn. 

But the Ruhnn she knew was also dead. And the Ruhnn standing before her was very much..alive. And breathing. 

And again, alive. 

Her Ruhnn stood before her.

Ayra didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything. She didn't care about the demons. She didn't care about the Gates. She didn't care about the mission. 

She only saw him and him only. And now, she cared for him and him only. 

With a silent cry, she dropped Arcadius on the ground and ran towards him. 

Ruhnn. 

Ruhnn. 

Ruhnn. 

Ruhnn. 

Ruhnn. 

That's all her mind and soul screamed to her. She threw her arms out when she was a few feet away from him. She needed to feel his skin. She needed to realize he was alive. And safe. And breathing. 

But she couldn't. 

Ayra abruptly stopped midway, her body jerking forward. The harsh impact pushed her forward and Ayra, in the last moment, managed to fall to her knees. 

Time stilled. Her ears started ringing and she could only listen to the fading thumps of her bleeding heart. 

She slowly, very slowly dragged her eyes towards her torso and saw the tip of a sword peeking out from her flesh. Blood painted the cruel blade and flowed down to the cold ground with a silent cry. Drops of her tears fell onto the pool of blood below her, mixing her despair with her anguish.

She slowly lifted her eyes to Ruhnn, finally noticing the cold look marring his face.

"Ruh--" Ayra coughed out blood but didn't remove her eyes from him. Tears streamed down her cheeks and she slowly but painfully raised her shaking arms forward, trying to reach for him.

Trying to reach out for her best friend. 

But he only gazed back with an icy lack of concern. Those beautiful, electrifying silver eyes indicated nothing. As though he didn't care that she was dying in front of his eyes.

The raw pain engulfed her moments later. With a muffled cry, Ayra fell onto her side with a cruel thud. The piercing pain was inhumane. It demanded her life and soul. It demanded her to give in to the never-ending darkness. 

"Well, we are done here, I guess." A woman walked from behind her, dragging the now blood coated blade. Ayra couldn't see her face but she knew it was this bitch who had stabbed her in the back.

Ruhnn slowly began walking towards her. Hope lit in her throbbing heart but the pain intensified when he simply passed by her, without looking behind. 

It ached. It ached all over. But her heart seemed to suffer the most. 

The ashen haired man from earlier leisurely strode forward and squatted down in front of her writhing body. With a solemn look, he said, 

"Well, I guess this is the end. Nice meeting you, wizard." With a snarky smile, he left. 

The footsteps grew softer and milder. They were leaving. 

Ayra's eyes began to flutter. Black spots clouded her vision and she would give in to the darkness any time now. 

But she didn't want that. If she gave up now, then he would leave her. 

Again. 

No. 

No. 

No. 

No. No. No. No. No. 

Ayra didn't want to lose him again. She already lost him once. She wouldn't make that same mistake twice.

With a silent groan, she lifted herself up on her knees. She slowly reached behind her, whimpering when her stomach slightly stretched in response. More blood gushed out but she didn't pay any heed to it. 

Her fingers wrapped itself around the hilt of the sword and with an ear-piercing howl, she pulled the blade out of her body. 

And threw it behind her. 

The metal clanked against the cold ground and the footsteps halted. 

Ayra pressed her hand against her injury and slowly turned around to face them. Her body screamed in agony and her legs gave up when she tried to stand. But she remained upright, on her knees.

Everyone turned to face her, except Ruhnn. 

Ayra's glazed eyes drifted from one face to another. Her eyes stopped a second longer on a small girl but she disregarded that. Demons come in all shapes, sizes and ages, after all.

She clenched her teeth and said, 

"Stop, you... bastards. I'm..not done..with you yet." 

Stop, Ruhnn. 

They stilled. The ashen haired man whistled lowly.

"I won't.. let..you..leave."

Don't go, Ruhnn.

Don't leave me again.

Please.

Ayra said none of that.

The laughter of pure mockery filled the air. Ayra immediately recognized that voice. It was the voice from minutes ago. The voice that belonged to the nasty bitch who stabbed her. 

A woman with short blonde hair was smirking at her.

"How brave. And stupid. I've never seen someone more foolish than you, wizard. Then again, all of you lot are the same." She snorted.

Ayra parted her lips but the pain stopped her from speaking. 

"Enough." A deep, commanding voice embraced the chamber. A voice that would now haunt her in her sleep. 

The bitch immediately stopped laughing. 

Ruhnn slightly turned his face to the side and stared at the woman next to him. They were completely silent but still, somehow managed to look as though they were communicating with each other. The woman, with the long, braided hair, blinked at Ruhnn and drifted her gaze towards Ayra's slumping form. 

The woman dipped her head in response and Ayra, with morbid fascination, witnessed her remove a mace out of her chest. 

With purposeful strides, she walked over towards Ayra with the deadly weapon in her hand.

Without any backward glance at her, Ruhnn left.

Ayra pressed her hand over her injury and remained gazing at Ruhnn's retreating figure. She didn't remove her eyes from his back when the mace came storming down on her.

And then, the entire world went black.