Chapter 19: Monochrome

Ace froze.

He couldn't move, even wanting to. His body wouldn't listen to him. His gaze was fixed on the figures wearing tattered clothes. From the corner of his eyes, he saw the bleeding knight.

He wanted to look at Cavell, but was unable to even shift his gaze. He wanted to talk, but his lips wouldn't move. He didn't understand what was going on, but he saw the world pause.

Everything was still—unmoving—and gray. It was like inside of a film; only black, white, and gray world. It was like the other colors were erased from existence.

He didn't realize it, but he could actually move. He was breathing heavily, his body was trembling, his hairs stood to end, and sweat formed on his forehead and back.

He felt cold. So cold, he wanted to wrap himself with flames or dive in a sea of magma. Without him realising it, his teeth were clenched so tight that his mouth started bleeding, but he didn't feel any pain.

Or perhaps he lost the ability to feel anything else. He didn't know what, who, or where. But he felt fear. So much fear that he felt like dying would be a better choice.

It was terrifying, terrorizing, horrifying, and scary beyond his understanding. He felt like the tiniest being in the world gazing at the endless sky. The fear was unfathomable.

It was absolute Terror.

He felt it, with every fiber of his soul. It was so intense. He couldn't move, he couldn't think. He felt gushing sweat from every part of him. He heart screamed in thumping, his body turned ice cold.

But from the corner of his eyes, he saw 'IT'.

From Cavell's shoulder, a purple mass was swirling. It was beautiful and eyecatching in this monochromatic world. The mass looked like smoke, and started condensing. Eventually, it formed a 'Figure'.

'IT' was a figure of a woman. The absolute epitome of beautiful. 'IT' danced around the knight in way so alluring and mesmerizing. So beautiful. So perfect. A craft of pure beauty.

'IT' had milky white skin, enchanting samphire irises, blood-red lips, and naked form.

It was the most beautiful creature that Ace had witnessed his whole existence. He wanted to have 'IT'. He wanted to hold 'IT'. He wanted 'IT' even if he trades his everything. He needed 'IT'.....

"DON'T LOOK AT 'IT'!!!!!!!!"

It was Cavell's voice, filled with alarm. It was not a request, but a command.

The dancing 'Figure' paused. 'IT' looked at Ace.

'IT' smiled.

Ding! [The 'Path of Horror' smiles at 'Wanderer' /Nameless/]!

What followed was like glass shattering. The monochromatic world began to crack. Colors started to flood from the crevice.

Faster than a second, the monochromatic world vanished like it didn't exist.

THUD! Cavell fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The figures also started falling to the ground lifelessly.

"... what?" A barely audible sound escaped from Ace, filled bewilderment and disbelief, then his vision started darkening.

He wanted to resist, but everything became cloudy. The world slowly dimmed, until it was completely darkened.

He lost consciousness.

***

"Run faster! Haha, don't let me catch you!" A boy with brown hair and blue irises smiled warmly while chasing another boy.

They were currently playing hide and seek, but the little boy refused to be the seeker, which led the chase of tag.

Both had merry faces as they looked at eachother with determination. One wanted to catch the other, while the other wanted to evade the other one.

The two children had the same face, and only had minor difference. The other hand a mole under his left eye while the other had none.

The two were playing in a coconut farm, and the evader used the coconut tree trunk to his advantage by hiding and circling around it to avoid being caught.

He laughed at his chaser mockingly. "You're hopeless, Raze! Hahaha,"

"Don't let me catch you, Ace! Or I'll make sure you eat dirt!" The other boy named Raze, yelled intimidatingly.

Little Ace simply laughed and hid behind the trunk. Seeing this, Raze sprinted towards the trunk Ace was hiding. He immediately circled around the trunk to catch Ace. But he found no one.

"You...?" Raze clenched his teeth in frustration. He looked ahead and saw Ace that had a mocking smile plastered on the face.

"Hehe, seriously, you still fell to my old trick?" Ace grinned.

Taking a deep breath, Raze looked at him and yelled slyly. "LOOK OUT! A COCONUT!"

"Eh!?" Ace immediately looked upward. But he saw only coconuts hanging on the tree, he was expecting a falling coconut. When he realized it, it was too late.

"Haha!" Raze immediately dashed forward and lunged at him. Surprised, Ace attempted to run but was too late. He felt arms wrapped around him tightly, and he couldn't move.

"I got you! Now, eat dirt!" Raze yelled with delight.

"You wish!... huh?" Ace paused while looking ahead.

Feeling the change, Raze also looked ahead.

"Who's he?" Raze whispered.

Standing beside a coconut trunk was a man.

The man wore a black suit with a red bowtie. He had brown hair and blue irises, and he stared at both of them intensely, especially to Raze.

"I... don't know." Ace muttered. He frowned at the man, and Raze did the same.

"He looks... familiar?" Raze voiced, uncertain. The man looked similar to their father, but had some differences. The man looked younger than their father.

"Hey! I haven't seen you before. Who are you, and how did you come in?" Ace yelled at the man.

The man simply stood there, observing them quietly. The man did not move, or made any sounds.

"T-That man's c-creeping me out..." Raze clenched his knuckles tightly while glaring at the man.

"So...?" Ace asked. The question was intended for Raze.

"We should... just kill him."

Both boys nodded. They looked at the man, and smiled.

***

The world shattered in Ace's perspective. It was like fragile glass breaking apart. It was as if the world broke apart and from the crevices, the colors would drain and only black, gray, and white remained.

He didn't understand what was going on.

He didn't know when, but he was floating in a dark space. No illumination of what so ever. It was dark, that even he couldn't see what was in front of him. It was like being blindfolded.

"Where the f*ck am I?" He asked. But unlike his bewildered state days ago, he was unusually relaxed this time. Despite the darkness, he didn't feel fear or danger.

He looked around. But no matter where he looked, it was all darkness.

"Sign... Did I die again?" He asked himself, saddened. He didn't want to die, again. But fate said otherwise, and here he was floating in the void. He felt sad for leaving the world once again, not fulfilling his mission. But atleast this time, he died epically after meeting a 'Path', and not in an alleyway.

After some thought, he used his arms as and swam in the darkness. Although he didn't know where he was going, he felt it would be better to move around than float while weeping in sadness.

After a while, he stopped moving and let his body float in the darkness. With no light, even a speck, he didn't even know if his eyes were opened, but he stared at the infinite darkness.

"Well... this is going to be boring," He chuckled lightly. Eyes closed, he muttered to himself.

"My life has been a rollercoaster... So much twist and turns, so much unexpected and surprising events. Stabbed on the side, possessing a body, seeing a 'Path' up close and personal..."

"Seeing him again."

He sighed.

"So troublesome. Can't I just live peacefully? Jezzuz." He ruffled his hair. He was made aware earlier that his body had reverted back to the one he had on Earth, and not Castileo's body. So, he ruffled his hair with force out of habit which he couldn't do in Castileo's body risking damaging the young man's hairline.

"I'm really getting annoyed with this," He muttered in irritation.

'Was I special?' He took a deep breath, he didn't even know if he was actually inhaling air at this point. But he sighed in dejection.

'Maybe I am,'

"Being the brother of you must be the reason? Haha," He laughed. But their was no happiness in his tone. His brows drew closer to one another as his face twisted in disgust.

"F*CK YOU, BASTARD!!!"

His furious voice echoed in the darkness. His knuckles were clenched so tight that he felt the blood flowing. His eyes blazed in fury, he continued to yell curses at the person he hated the most, with every fiber of his being.

As he yelled to his hearts content, he didn't realize how much he grew weaker each time he growled in anger. Even weakly, he continued to curse with scorn and hate.

"you monster... I'll send you to hell... one day..."

He lost consciousness due to exhaustion.

***

In the darkness, a feather fell from above.

The feather was completely white and glowed weakly in the darkness, it fell beside the sleeping man. Instead of floating, the feather continued to descend until being a tiny spot in the darkness.

But as the single feather descended to the bottomless abyss, like stars falling from above—uncountable number of feathers twinkled, illuminating the darkness.

The white feathers rained softly and fell to the abyss, but more fell from above. Despite the unnatural and strange event, Ace simply slept peacefully.

Suddenly, from above, a figure descended gracefully in front of Ace—a white owl.

The white owl emitted blinding white light that illuminated the dark space, making it gray. The eyes of the creature were composed of various colours that seemed to be dancing inside the irises.

While feathers continued to fall, the owl looked at the unconscious man with piercing gaze, as if wanting to uncover his deepest secrets.

"How strange. I see nothing out of ordinary, yet..." Without moving the beak, the owl spoke in a genderless voice. The voice was soft and gentle, like a caring mother, but there was doubt and suspicion when the owl spoke these words.

"How can a normal human resist that horror from her?"

The owl tilted its head to the side, as if looking at the man from a different angle would help. The owl then flapped its wing and went closer.

"Strange... His soul is incomplete, yet at the same time, complete." The owl spoke, being only a few inches from Ace's face.

"Let's see," The owl closed its eyes. And the feathers falling from above came to halt, as if time paused.

After a couple of seconds, the owl opened its rainbow eyes and looked at the man with interest.

"I see... How rare." The owl spoke with obvious interest.

The owl looked at the man from head to toe and sighed in disappointment. 'What an interesting specimen. Sadly, that guy already owns him. Tsk.'

The owl flapped its wing and created space from the man.

"I hope that guy takes care of all of you." The owl gazed at the man with dissatisfaction; obviously wanting the man for itself. With a soft flap, the owl ascended towards the gray 'sky' above.

The owl's colourful eyes glowed and the feathers falling began to dim. The owl glanced at the man one last time with pained eyes, the owl wanted the man but was unable to.

"I hope all of you survive. Such rare souls, only to be played with strings." It spoke sadly.

Behind the owl, a white rift appeared. Without looking back, the owl entered the rift, and vanished along with the rift. The gray world began to darken, until it was complete void again.