4. Inside a Madman's mind

Makima was currently standing at the entrance of an unknown cave. Scrutinizing around, she found that she was transported to a world of gray, the land of fog and gigantic trees that pierced the cloud layer. Makima knew that she was inside Veilhem's mind.

She was awed by how primitive this world is. There was no sign of any creature in her sight. 

Suddenly, she heard the sound of something crawling inside the cave. She turned around and saw in the dark, a frail and feeble creature was struggling to stand up. 

She approached the creature and the said creature stood up on his two legs. His golden eyes seemed to pierce through the veil of time and gazed at her in curiosity. 

And then came the flame, something profound and ancient than even her. Then she caught a sign of it, the Fire Flame. That primordial flame lit up and shone from the dim light, she noticed that there were more creatures like the one standing in front of her. They all had the same purpose, to crawl toward the flame like fireflies. 

She observed the scene displayed in front of her with a spark of interest. 

Because she was reading Veilhem's memory, she knew what was about to happen and what this world would play out. 

The four lucky creatures claimed the Lord Soul and became Gods, except the Furtive Pygmy. 

He shared his Lord Soul to the others and made the human lineage. Veilhem was one of the first that Pygmy gave a portion of his soul to. 

The Gods waged war against the Everlasting Dragons and emerged victorious, with the blood of the human lineage as a price. 

While the ones who followed Gwyn had been bestowed with silver armor and lightning incarnation to effectively peeled off the scale of Dragons, the humanity were equipped with armament forged in the Abyss and fire incarnation which do little to no damage to the Dragons. 

They were promised with honor and glory by Gwyn to fight with them in the battle. But that was just a lie to keep them in check.

The lowly humans seeked the recognition and acceptance from the Gods and bleed for them but in return, all they got was empty honor and lies. In a way, they were much like her, seeking for those things and even claimed herself as a necessary evil, all for someone's acknowledgement and approval. 

The Devil saw herself in them. It made her feel in turmoil watching the scene. 

Makima even considered being eaten by the Chainsaw Devil an honor. 

[Honor? What do you know about honor?] The mysterious voice sounded.

Her eyes froze and she stood there in a daze when she heard the voice so calm that she mistook that for ridiculing her. 

The landscape changed again and Makima saw herself standing in the midst of the battle. The black knight kneeled on his knees as he plunged his sword down to support his exhausted figure. Around him were piles of corpses stretched to the end of the horizon. Blood flowed into rivers and from those corpses, the knight that looked like him rose again. 

For an undead, they were used like meat shields, charging forefront into the battle with Dragons. Undead like they were, they could neither die nor rest. But after each death, they would bleed out what made them as a human, their Dark Soul and eventually became the mindless hollow once more time.

They were tasked with the mission of stalling as much time as they could before the Gods and their army took down the enemies. They were used and yet they didn't resent the very Gods who made them like this. 

[Before you know what honor is, look around you.]

Their path was covered with the corpse of their comrade. Each battle they fought, their humanity slowly faded away. Their will was resolved and hardened through the numerous battles of struggling in hope that there would be a place for them in this new era.

'But at least they get what they were offered.' She thought.

[You will never see the truth. Undead wretch, bound to the cause by an exquisite lie no matter how fleeting they were, throwing themselves at a slightest glimmer of hope. But in the end, a lie remained as a lie.]

The promise was an empty lie created by Gwyn, Lord of Sunlight. For he feared the dark within them. He knew that one day he would fall and the control of this world would fall into their hand, HIS world. 

So he made a promise to grant them the city at the end of the world and had his daughter protect that place. On the bright side, it seemed that he did keep the promise at his end but it was just a way to banish them and make them forgotten throughout history. 

Their glory was just a path forged by their own people's corpses, their honor was yet a lie. 

But that was not the end of Gwyn's trick. He made another white lie to use the Dark Soul of humanity as fuel to keep the flame burning, extending his era.

From that moment, the seal of light was formed on their souls, the Dark Sigil. It was the beginning of the much tragic future for humanity. Veilhem was just another victim to Gwyn and his petty trick.

[For honor… look at what that honor got them.]

The scenery changed yet again and now, Makima saw the man at the end of the world gazing at the flickering flame in front of him. The figure was Veilhem, the knight who she met at the 'House without time'. 

He looked broken...

Veilhem struggled to rise from the ashes, a fatigue silhouette carried the weight of the burden of the vicious lie that had been going on for eons. He linked the fire, over and over and over again. But that was not just him, there were many others. 

[Do you know the definition of insanity?] The voice mocked her but it more like ridiculed the whole ordeal.

(A/N: Ayo, I want to say that line too!!)

Kingdoms rose and fell, many undead failed on their journey, until… only he still upheld his duty to offer himself to the fire. For even the Gods had fallen, the indomitable humanity's will remained. But even he couldn't win against time. 

His soul had been burned over and over again, leaving him only but a husk of a man in his former self. 

Death and painful story of those who he had met. 

A petty thief with his noble idea had died trying to live up his idea. 

A coward knight who wouldn't abandon his shield like his brother in the legion and finally deserted from his own home. Even though he was just a human, a despicable one at that, wanted to be like the dragon of old.

A giant who only wanted his people to recognize him as their leader. He even went as far as to give them the storm caller, the one weakness to him as a token.

….

All of those weight Makima's mind down as she watched the story of a pitiful man trying to navigate his way through a dying world in front of her. She couldn't see the man as lowly and despicable as the people she had met until now. 

All the sadness and grief poured down her mind, she could see herself in these people. They wanted their recognition yet never received it.

She just wanted to be loved by someone that could accept her as herself, not through the power of control and conquest. She curled up while hugging her knees, her eyes never left the black knight.

[In the end, you are just a pawn in the grand scheme of things. A knight who lives in a lie, weaved by the Gods. Such a purposeless and powerless man he was.]

At the last moment, she caught the glimpse of the Dark Sigil in the sky replacing the sun itself.

Billions of souls wailed in agony, all because they were denied their true form and died in vain. Their lamenting howlings combined with each other, entwining to make a cacophony. They were singing, a song of the fallen and the dead. Through it, their images of their terrible life made its way and crawled into her mind like a flood. All suffering, guilt and desperation made her feel hard to bear and eventually, she was pushed out of his mind. 

_____________

On the other side, Veilhem was currently watching the Control Devil standing there in a daze with a chain still connecting to his chest. He tried to do something about it but it wouldn't come off no matter what he did and it connected directly to the Dark Sigil. 

He sighed in defeat. Previously, he tried to play with her and let her read his mind. It would be weird if she could do that instant given that his life started when the First Flame came into existence. 

So he did what every NORMAL and SANE person would do. He waited for her to be done with reading his memory. 

After a while, Veilhem saw that a teardrop fell from her face. He sighed, feeling a bit apologetic knowing that she must have seen something in his memory. He should have stopped her from seeing that part.

He extended his hand and wiped her tears away. Unknowingly, a smile formed behind his helmet. 

However, she still didn't have a sign of waking up soon so he hugged her, hoping to soothe her somehow. He didn't have any experience in this sh*t! Or perhaps he did but couldn't remember. He chose to resort to following his random bullsh*t he could think of. 

Suddenly, Makima woke up from his memory and was quite surprised that she was being hugged by Veilhem, the said knight that she had intended to control. 

She panicked and recoiled to get out of his embrace but then came his voice.

"It's alright, you can rest there for a bit." 

His calm and relaxed voice immediately eased her panic. She didn't even notice a line of tear had fallen from her eyes and probably a slight blush. 

His hand brushed through her red hair and tucked her hair behind her ears. The feeling of his rough hand and coldness of his gauntlet slowly brushed through her hair. 

Strangely enough, it was somewhat comfortable and warm so she let him do it for some more time. Perhaps this was what she seeked for so long? He held her head closer to his chest and comforted her through and through. 

There was no verbal exchange between them, just silence. This peaceful moment made her huddled even deeper into his chest and slowly dozed off in his embrace. She subconsciously hugged him back in return. There would be no way Makima could think that she would fall asleep in his tight embrace. 

Seeing that she finally fell asleep, the knight chuckled lightly and used her coat which she had taken off earlier to cover her, all the while still patting her head with his other hand.

"Devil my ass. She is just a kid that lacks some love." 

(A/N: I need some suggestions about the world I would throw this couple in.)