Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 29 – A necessary force of will

[Eternum Calendar 1971]

"Ugh... wha?"

With pain writhing throughout his entire body, Ren’s darkened vision slowly returned to him. Although he wasn’t able to properly register what was happening around him, he could feel the movements of a turbulent maelstrom gushing past him violently. Fear slowly gripped over his heart as the darkness combined with the confusion overtook his mind. The thought that perhaps he might have been killed by the distorted crystal goblins loomed over him but the pain he felt had fortunately convinced him otherwise.

“…Ugh.”

He tried to regain his composure by standing up but the pains quickly ensure that that wasn’t a current possibility. He could feel all manner of bruises and cuts all over with blood steadily trickling out, even breathing became more difficult as his consciousness fluctuated in and out.

The only reasonable option left was for him to wait until he could truly start to see, but being confused and shrouded in menacing shadows, any seven year old would have lost their wits. Yet Ren endured, not because he was particularly strong or had such courage but simply because that was what Morgant would have done in his position. To him Morgant wasn’t just his best friend but a role model that he took inspiration from and a figure to strive to become like.

Shortly after he had succumbed to the pain and darkness the sounds of violent storms crackling across the floor could be heard. He also thought he could hear the heavily pained screams from the distance but due to the obstruction of the wind he wasn’t so sure. The situation took a nose dive for the worst when the smells of burnt trees and soil were mixed in with everything else, yet he found it odd that he himself remained relatively unscathed.

He forced his eyes open but was quickly met with heavy dust which prompted him to shut them just as fast. However, even if he had successfully maintained vision they were obscured by a raging sandstorm of black sands making them useless. He raised his hands in front of him to shield his eyes and tried steadily opening them once more, at the very least he wanted to have stable footing. He had been so gripped by fear that he didn’t notice it before, but the first thing he had realized upon regaining vision was the fact that the crystal goblin pinning him down wasn’t there anymore.

"Uh! Alice! Celina!"

Memories of the moments just prior to waking up came flooding back to him as he desperately called for his comrades. Surrounding him was an impenetrable veil of black winds and lightning that surged fiercely.

“A- Alice! Celina!”

He rose up and called for them once more but as expected no reply ever came. He felt as though thousands of needles were being simultaneously stabbed into his heart; guilt and anxiety had now replaced his fear. After all he was the one who forced those girls into following him and now whatever their fates, were now on his hands. Distracted by the rampage in front of him he couldn’t feel it, but tears trickled down his face as he fell to his knees.

"Alice, Celina... Morgant."

Scared, tired and alone, under these unreasonable conditions Ren felt an immense surge of powerlessness. However, as much as he would’ve liked to simply lay back down until everything was over he couldn’t bear to let that happen; something had to be done. Giving up was the one thing Morgant wouldn’t have done, so there was no way Ren should either.

Steeling his heart Ren mustered the last ounces of his strength and determination and put everything to face the crisis before him. Through tears, dirt and blood he managed to form even a false smirk in defiance but that was all he could do. He was unable to take the first step towards the chaos.

“Eh…?”

His legs refused to obey him; no matter how much he wished for it he couldn’t take that step. ‘Why…? Why can’t I do it? Why can’t I move?’ he asked himself but deep down there was only one answer, ‘fear’. His friends waited for him, dead or alive, so he had a duty to find them but his body would not listen, instead he fell back in helplessness. He didn’t want to know of Alice’s or Celina’s fates, it would be too much to find out if they had cruelly been killed off. He would never be able to face Morgant again if he came to know this.

“N- no… dammit, why?”

His entire body started to grow cold and the world before him disorienting into the distance.

The sounds of slashing winds and black storms started to fade away into his mind and soon the world outside of his mind became completely mute. The darkness that he once thought was banished soon returned to him and engulfed him whole. Yet Ren could not determine if the sweltering feeling in his heart was that of relief or of dread. He was freed of the burdens of responsibility within this darkness but at the same time this meant he had abandoned everything.

“Are you sure you want to give up like this?”

A voice appeared in his mind from within the darkness, a familiar and soothing voice that he had known for many years. It was the voice of…

“M- Morgant?! Are you there?!”

Ren rose up in the darkness and met with a shining but astral figure of his dear friend. As though he were a ghost he appeared cold and distant but at the same time Ren could not be any more relieved to see him once more. This astral Morgant was neither delighted nor disappointed, simply an objective expression that Morgant would usually take. To Ren Morgant was never the type to outright judge, he would merely take the situation and make it somehow work in his favor regardless how the odds were stacked.

“If this is to be your choice then you must learn to live with the consequences of it. Giving up or standing once more, neither is truly the wrong answer… there is never a wrong answer, all there is are the consequences to your decision. So then let me ask you once again: Are you sure you want to give up like this?”

From those words Ren had realized; though they might have been something Morgant was likely to say, the astral figure in front of him definitely wasn’t him. It was just the manifestation of his own desperate psyche trying to justify his cowardice. Or so it was supposed to have been but this strangely objective reprimand came to be from Ren’s desires not to tarnish his friend’s memory, thus a realistic portrayal of Morgant. In doing so, he no longer found justification but a crossroads to even harsher paths.

“I… I don’t know. What happened to Alice, Celina or even Morgant… I want to see them but I’m scared. What if I cross the winds and all I’m met with are more of those wretched monsters? What if Alice and Celina didn’t make it? What if something even worse lies beyond? I could never live with myself if that were the case, because it’s all my fault that they’ve been dragged into this mess…”

The astral Morgant gave him a moment to compose himself before continuing his ultimatum.

“Do not be fooled, giving up is also a valid choice; it is by no means the coward’s way out.”

“Eh?”

Ren started into the astral figure’s eyes as those words sank into his heart. ‘Giving up is okay? There’s no way…’ In a world where stories of valiant triumph and heroes were abundant there was no way giving up could be an acceptable path. Not only for society at large, but by his own admission, giving up meant to lose everything and only misery would remain afterwards.

Yet as though the astral Morgant had read his mind he shook his head.

“Give up, cry, then move on and become a stronger person. Use that experience so as to never repeat such tragedy. The world is not so kind as to let you always have your way; there will be many times when you fail and many times when you’re beaten to the ground. Frustration and desperation, often times giving up is the hardest path to walk, but it is only through those failures that an individual can grow.”

Ren tightly clenched his fists, ‘is this really okay?’

Before even giving Ren a moment to contemplate the astral Morgant continued speaking.

“Or will you choose to stand? To struggle until you can no longer feel even the flesh on your bones? This world may not be kind but that does not mean that you have to always submit to its cruelty. Fight until the bitter end, stand your ground and push back everything that gets in your way.”

‘Fight…? Alice, Celina… Morgant, they’re all waiting for me, aren’t they?’ Once more Ren renewed his resolve and lowered his head with a pained expression. He was frustrated at his own inability to choose either path as they both carried equal amounts of pain and misery. But even as the fear of being pulverized by those grotesque goblins overwhelmed him another fear also loomed closely to his heart, perhaps one even more potent. The fear of losing everything, losing those who he had held dear to his heart, he wouldn’t be able to bear it even more than confronting his own death.

“The choice is yours to make; neither are wrong, but you will have to face the consequences of either decision. Do make them wisely.”

The astral Morgant finished presenting his ultimatum and stood waiting for Ren’s reply. Ren took in a deep breath and gazed back at the figure in front of him once more, this time with greater determination. Yet there was one thing that he wanted to ask, even if this person wasn’t the real Morgant, even if he was just a figment of his imagination. He wanted to know…

“What… if you were in my position , what would you do?”

The astral Morgant grinned back with an expression that suggest that ‘obviously I would…’

“You already know the answer to that question, do you not?”

Ren gave off a small defeated and pitied laugh towards himself. Indeed, he looked down at his own small hands and realized just how pathetic this entire farce had been. He was scared and choosing to stand would most likely result in his own death, but he couldn’t help but scoff at those inhibiting emotions of his. ‘Morgant would stand… even if it meant death.’

His courage was neither a product of strength nor a great will, but one born of fear and pride. To fight against an impossible odd, to try your best and struggle forward because ultimately that was the best anyone could ever do in his position.

“Yes, I’ve made my decision. Please take me back.”

In an instant after making his decision the darkness was banished and once more he found himself contesting the chaotic veil of black storms.

He was now able to take the first step forward to whatever fate awaited him.

“RAHGHHHH!!”

An ungodly scream came from beyond the wall of black storms. Unknown as to what kind of horrific massacre was taking place beyond it, Ren reacted with a flinch but it was not enough to stop him.

He took the second step.

“GAHHH!!”

More bloodcurdling wails came. Perhaps they were the shouts of pain or perhaps they were brutal shouts of war. Either way Ren could no longer afford to turn back anymore.

He took the third step.

“RAAGHH!”

Ignoring the dreadful howls Ren started to pick up his pace.

He took the forth step.

“AHHHHHH!”

The fifth step.

“ARRRGGHHHH!!”

The sixth step.

Finally as he approached he found it exceedingly more difficult to breathe with the turbulent winds. He was now one step away from the impenetrable wind with his face just a few inches off. One more step and he will be met with the truth. His heart started to pound faster, almost as though they would jump out this very moment, but he needed to know.

Were his friends alive? … or dead?

“GAAAHHHHHHAA!!!”

“Alice, Celina, Morgant. Just wait for me.”

With now unbreakable determination Ren plunged himself through the maelstrom.

…

"Hmm? This is... the connection has been severed? No, impossible; to be able to slaughter all of my goblins en masse before I was even able to sense the perpetrator... something isn't right."

Shifting through the darkness of the forest, one that even the day sky's Sovereign had difficulty penetrating was an Elven male of a moderate build. Hidden by his shadow cloaked garbs his identity had been obstructed but this man was the Adventurer Association's branch leader, Gerald. The only identifiable feature were his decorated bow and ornate quiver slung onto his back, were it not for those it would really have been difficult to tell him apart from actual shadows.

Returning to his original thoughts he frowned. All of the crystalline goblins scattered about the forest were under his watchful eye. What they saw and experienced he too would see them in turn, yet despite this a small but sizable portion of his goblins had suddenly been annihilated. The worst part of it all was the fact that he didn't even have the chance to register who or what it was.

It irked him that this was happening right as he was finished with his Blood Ritual preparations. All that was required was for him to amass his crystalline goblin army and unleash them upon the small town as the ritual becomes active. The ritual required sacrifice and obviously the townspeople were unlikely to get slaughtered willingly, hence the need for the goblins. Once that was over the only thing left was to return to the monolith and turn himself immortal with Morgant's technique.

However he was getting anxious now that the dawn of his new form was just about to rise; this was the most sensitive part of the plan. To make sure that absolutely everything was going accordingly he decided to visit the place where he had hidden the monolith then towards the place the goblins had disappeared. He could only hope that it wasn’t anything major.

…

A large blood colored magic circle appeared in the sky of Vertloch Snowdown.

Gerald’s Blood Ritual was now in effect. All those who died within the effective range of the circle would have their remaining life force converted into usable reserves of mana for the caster. Slowly the pure white of the tranquil was dyed a blood red as mass panic soon descended upon the residents.

Just beyond the borders of the town was a massive army of Crystalline Goblins waiting to be unleashed upon the city. Yet they did not initiate their attack as their master did not give the orders to do so. Gerald had temporarily become preoccupied by a small but noteworthy event in the forest and abandoned his post.

“Morgant…”

Francisco Longmoore called out to the small child standing before him just on the edge of the town. They could hear the screams of panic coming from behind but they did not let it get to heart, they couldn’t afford to. They spent the last few days in preparation and in letting Gerald prepare everything; this was now the most critical phase and one wrong move meant the annihilation of their entire town.

“It’s fine… it’s fine… As long as no one dies the ritual won’t amount to anything. Este, Sipher, please go around destroying the Blood Ritual’s shrines, but do take your time, else Gerald will notice.”

To prepare something on the massive scale as a ‘blood ritual’ it was necessary to set up various preparations and check points around the town. Small shrines were erected in order to maintain the ritual but they also served as the weaknesses of the ritual since if they were all destroyed the ritual would also come to an end.

“Eh? I don’t mind but as long as we don’t know where the ritual shrines are we won’t be able to deactivate the ritual.”

Este commented.

“That shouldn’t be a problem; if everything went according to plan then Yvonne would’ve left hints as to where those shrines will be. Francisco, please accompany them as you’re the one who knows Yvonne the best and you’ll be able to identify her hints.”

“Mmm, yes that’s fine, but what about you? Don’t tell me you’re going to go to him directly?”

Morgant flashed a confident grin.

“Of course, I need to be there to make sure that everything goes according to plan. Since I don’t usually go along with these types of strategies I want to see for myself how well it proceeds.”

Francisco stared long and hard at the devious young boy who made a malicious grin, but it was Enrich who spoke up. They both had the same thoughts about this plan and wanted to ask the mastermind behind it his true thoughts.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, but I do believe you were the one who told me that the ‘unknown’ should never be underestimated. So then what was your true reason you went along with this plan that’s full of such elements? To even go so far as to act before you even truly understood who the real enemy was… why?”

“No, I always knew the culprit was Gerald, that much I’m certain. As to why I decided to go along with this plan despite the possible unknown variables, well that’s also an easy to answer question.”

“And that is?”

Morgant chuckled behind his grin, though not one of innocence but one of complete malice and hatred towards the enemy. The enemy who dared step foot in his home and endangered everyone he loved, to such a foe even complete annihilation was too good of an outcome. The only way to settle this was complete self-destruction.

“It’s because the enemy is a completely and utterly brain-dead fool, with not an ounce of intelligence residing in that small, primitive brain of his. No matter how the situation plays forward, even if we were to fail in this endeavor I’m certain that he will ruin himself one day. However I have no intentions of giving him the satisfaction of success, not even a single bit… [Komplette Selbstzerstörung].”