Alastor’s POV

“I heard you want to talk to me. Here I am!” Zen, riding on his horse, shouted at the three representatives of the elven group who have been brought out from their cells.

“My name is Eris, priestess of Solana. I represent the voice of the people of Malatas…at least those who are still alive.” Going down her horse, the priestess prostrated herself in front of everyone.” I ask for your compassion, to lend us your help in this dire moment.”

“Help? You invaded us for no reason and now when we win, you come here and ask us for your help? Have you no shame, woman?” the Beast King preached.

“The war was forced upon us by the mad king Aldol and the court mage Astrea. We have tried to stop him but anyone who spoke against him was silenced quickly. Please believe me when I say that we don’t want this war!

I can beg for all day but none of that could undone what has happened. The people gathered here are those who were lucky enough to escape during Aldol’s absence at the capital and some join us along the way. I can assure you that none of us means any harm toward you.” Eris pled.

“Am I hearing it right? You are among the leaders of your country. It’s your fault that you let that piece of shit taking over. Not only were we the ones who had to pay for the consequences of your actions, now you have the guts to ask us for help? Don’t make me laugh!” Zen grunted.

“Please, we have nowhere else to go! Our land has been engulfed by a strange mist that kills anyone who approaches it. We elves no longer have a home to go back to.” The Solana priestess sobbed.

Black mist? They must be referring to miasma. But if what they were saying was true, then how did it happen in the first place? I needed to find out more.

“Where does it come from?” I asked Eris.

“The smoke came from the direction of the capital. However, when we left yesterday, there wasn’t anything like that. From what our soldiers said, there was some kind of explosion at the palace that released this black cloud which quickly spread to everywhere in an instant. Even now, it continues to spread across the entire land as we speak.

This is only the representative group that escorts me. However, we have made a large camp not far from here and most of our people should be there, waiting for new from us.”

“Are you the person in charge? Where is the priestess of the moon?” asked Loo.

“I lost contact with her since yesterday after she insisted to stay to get the one left behind out of there. But since then we haven’t heard anything from her. I am afraid that she couldn’t get out of there in time….

I beg of you! Please help us!” the elf woman bowed her head to the floor. Her words seemed to be sincere. Seeing her like this made me a little unconformable.

She said that miasma was coming from the capital. That was where Elemyr was heading to. Odium must also be there. I could only hope I got there in time.

“Chief Zen, I need to go for a little while so I will leave the rest to you. Commander Luvik, please send your army to find this elven camp! Take care of them for now until I come back!” I instructed.

“Wait!!! Where are you going now?” Zen shouted trying to stop me from walking out. “WAIT!!!”

…..

Things were worse than I thought it would be. I was only half way to the capital and already I have encountered miasma. If we supposed that it spread evenly in a circular area, then by now the mist would have covered half of Malatas. For something like this to happen at this kind of scale, it could only mean one thing: Odium has used one of those things she told me about, a demon lord’s core.

As I quickly sprinted through the mist, I stumbled upon several groups who didn’t manage to get out in time and were devoured by it. I could only hope they had a quick death without any suffering. I also spotted several monsters created by Odium on the way but decided to ignore them anyway. Now was not the time to fight them. I needed to get to Galahad as quick as possible. Using beast mode and heightened speed, I transformed into a four legs dark creature that quickly crossed the dense decaying forest, getting to the capital in no time.

As I came closer to the Jewel of Malatas, I could feel the change in the atmosphere. The miasma was getting thicker and denser. In the city, the air was so foul I could hardly breathe here. So it did originate from the capital like Eris suggested. Even now the cloud was still moving onward, expanding the infected zone. Judging from the flow and the constant flow of miasma pouring out from the castle, that was where it began.

That priestess said that the other one was left behind. I was afraid that with this thing everywhere, that woman might already be gone a long time ago. Was it foolishness for staying behind to save others? Or was it courage I wondered?

But even in this desolated place, I could feel the presence of two individuals in that castle. Elemyr? What was even odder was that they had exactly the same mana flow. Using Mana Sense, I could feel the presence of someone thanks to their mana. But in this case, it was like having two copies of the same person. How could it be possible? Even if two persons were at the same level, their mana flow couldn’t never be the same as it was practically unique to each individual. So how come I could feel two of the same mana flow in the castle? And more importantly, if one of them was Elemyr then who was the other? Could it be Odium? But how….

Staying here asking these questions would not help me achieve anything. I must press on. With my determination confirmed, I continued on my path to the castle through the lifeless streets of Galahad.

I found myself in front of a crystal gate, a large set of stairs situated further in, heading above to what seemed to be the castle. What awaited me beyond these stairs? I asked myself. I opened the door. All of the suddenly, a violent gale pushed out of the door, almost blowing me away. I knew it. Whatever released the miasma must be right behind this door.

Walking into the hall, I could sense that the two mana presences were very close now. If not because of this fog, the vision would be much clearer. Still, I could see some kind of light source laying further into this large hallway. This dim warm light, still shining when surrounded by darkness, what was it?

“Wel….come, demon lord….to my kingdom….*cough cough*. Though I am…afraid that…it’s not the same…as it used to be…”

“Elemyr…you…”

What I found stunned me. The Goddess of the Elves, Elemyr of Radiant Sun, was now cowering inside a luminous barrier next to what seemed to be a body. It wore thin armor with a purple veil attached to the helmet. Its elongated limbs reminded me of Mephisto but the size of the entire body was twice as big. She lied motionless on the ground with shards of a black crystal in her hands.

“Odium…..Did you kill her?” I spoke in a monotonous tone as I approached the body.

“She did it to herself when she shattered that crystal….*heavy breathing* even though I warned her that she would die. But she didn’t care.” Elemyr gasped.

I was too late. For a moment, my mind became blank. She was brought into this world because of me. She died because of me. If only I have paid more attention to her, if only I wasn’t so ignorant, things might have been different. She did all these for me and what did I do for her? Nothing, nothing but repulsion.

“Alastor, listen to me! The miasma is not meant to be in Astora or anywhere else. Its mere presence will break the barrier between worlds…”

I denied her very reason of existence. I might as well have killed her with my own hands, my own daughter, my…family.

“ALASTOR!”

“….Why?” I muttered. “Why do you keep going after me? I already killed two of you and so far I haven’t been given any answer. What does Eden want with me???” I shouted.

“I…I can’t say.” But as expected, she would not talk so easily.

“Then I will make you talk!”

Elemyr seemed to be proficient in light magic. That would make her vulnerable to dark element and very resistant against other elements. However, it seemed that she was confined in that barrier due to the miasma, which greatly restricted her movement. You could call me a cheater but I wouldn’t turn down a chance to interrogate a God, not after everything that happened.

“”

A black orb manifested in my hands, a mass made out of pure dark element, and threw itself at the Goddess. Just before it reached her, the orb was hit by a light arrow and vanished. Elemyr has taken out a great golden bow and a silver string attached to it. As she drew it, another light arrow appeared out of nowhere in her hands, pointing at me.

“Alastor, we can fight all you want but not here! The miasma must be dealt with before….” She said in a pleading voice. But it didn’t interest me.

“Get rid of it so you can move around more freely? I don’t think so.” I spoke.

“No, you don’t understand. It’s…”

“You are right! I don’t. Because none of you would tell me about your intention. So tell me!!!” I shouted loudly. My voice echoed in this darkness. Dozens of black orbs appeared around me as I aimed at Elemyr.

The moment I shot them at her, the Goddess released her bow and fired the arrow. But I underestimated her. This one wasn’t like the last one at all. After destroying one of the orb, it changed its path and targeted another in light speed and in just under one second, it has destroyed all my Dark Spheres.

But it seemed that one shot caused her to almost faint. Trapping inside her barrier, Elemyr was breathing heavily. Her hands were trembling, unable to keep the bow straight. This was probably due to her staying inside the miasma for so long. Goddess or not, every living being without Magnus’ protection would end up be swallowed by the miasma. And she was no exception. She claimed to be the Goddess of Radiant Sun and where was she now? Surrounded by darkness, unable to do anything. To be frank, it was rather disappointing to see a once powerful Goddess has fallen in such a state.

This time, much more black orbs were floating in the air, all aiming at her. With this many, even if most of them would be destroyed by her arrow, which seemed improbable with her current state, it would at least damage her barrier and let the miasma coming in. Unless she gave me what I wanted, I would torture her until she spilled it all out, or until she broke. “Final chance, Elemyr! Tell me!”

“I can’t! I will not let Fate’ sacrifice going to waste because of you!”

“Then die!” I released the orbs.

Suddenly, a shadow came out of the barrier and stood in front of her. Wielding two shadowy blades, she skillfully waved it around and wiped out all attacks coming for the Goddess. But it wasn’t this person’ skill that shocked me. It was her appearance. The shadow looked exactly like Elemyr, but with dark hair and garb, the opposite of the Goddess. Her beaming golden eyes, shining brightly compared to the rest of her body, were the only thing she shared that were the same with Elemyr’s.

Remembering the first time I met Elemyr back at the forest where she claimed to be Elemyr of Radiant Sun and the story behind the two priestesses by Loo, it struck me.

“Now I get it! It all makes sense now. I was wondering why Elemyr, Goddess of the Elves, represented both the aspect of the sun and the moon while when I met you, you only said that you represented the Sun. The two priestesses of Solana and Luna, why did they have to be twins? That’s a weird custom if you ask me but it has been so long that even the elves didn’t remember why they did it.

So this is the reason why. There are actually two Elemyr, one with the aspect with the sun while the other with the moon. And seeing how you two looked exactly the same in term of appearance, I wouldn’t be surprised if you are twins. That’s why the ancient elves only picked out twins to be candidates for the priestesses. Because they wanted to mimicked the image of their two Goddesses!” I explained.

“….Clever! I thought no one would remember that nowadays. But it seems that I was wrong. Let me make this formal: I am Luna Elemyr of Dark Moon and this is my twin sister, Solana Elemyr of Radiant Sun!

Demon lord, you may be able to kill us but I will not tolerate you to torture my sister any longer.” Said the shadow.

This was unexpected. To think that there were two Goddesses for the same position. And contrary to Solana, this woman was of the dark element. Her image kind of gave that of already. But that presented a problem. Miasma was basically darkness in its purest form. If she was a God of darkness, that would explain why she could step out of the barrier, unlike her sister. But then why?

“If you could go out of the barrier, why didn’t you help your sister to get out of this place?” I asked.

“As much as I wanted to, she insisted to stay her, waiting for you. We may not be able to reseal this much miasma on our own but with your help, we could at least mend the Veil that was broken in this place.” Luna spoke.

“The Veil? What are you talking about?”

“The Veil is the barrier that separates this world from the others. I can’t tell you why or how it was created but at the very least, I can say this. There is a reason for why it exists and if it’s broken, it’s the duty of anyone in Astora, demon, gods, or anyone else, to repair it.”

“Why? What would happen if the Veil is broken?”

“Worlds will overlap and a bridge will be created. But that’s not the worst of them. The worst thing that could happen is…..”

Suddenly, a loud noise disrupted our conversation. The room began to shake heavily. I could hear the sound of something hitting on the wall but everywhere I looked, I could see no such thing. And then I realized, it wasn’t a wall at all.

A crack opened in the middle of nowhere, as if the air itself was being torn apart. Something was trying to break through that crack. With a final tremor and space being shattered like glass, the thing finally showed itself.

A giant floating sphere passed through that hole and scanned through the hall curiously with its gigantic eye. It looked just like an eyeball with spike on its back. And it wasn’t alone. A large humanoid creature was also trying to cross the hole but its body was too large to enter through it. Both enigmatic creatures had only white and black stripes that constantly moved like a wave from one end to another.

“What the hell is this?” I uttered, dismayed by what I was seeing.

“An Augur and a Harvester? They are already here!!!” I could hear Luna speaking in disbelief as she watched these two mysterious creatures.

All of the sudden, the eye turned toward me.

“Alastor, watch out! Don’t look into it!” Solana shouted at me with all her feeble strength.

For an instant, my carelessness got ahead of me. The moment I looked into that creature’s eye, I was left paralyzed. As the eye came closer to me, keeping its sight on me, I could hear these whispering sound on the background. It became louder and louder, driving me insane.

“DIE!!!” Unexpectedly, Luna threw herself at it from behind and plunged both her swords into it. If it had a mouth, it would scream in pain but since the only thing this thing had was an eye, the creature died in silence, with its eye opened greatly because of the surprise attack. As its body fell down, the creature vanished into a luminous dust, leaving no trace behind.

“Why did you save me? I thought we were enemies.” The moment my body was released from the eye’ stare, I asked her.

“…..” she didn’t give me an answer, only averting her eyes away from with a painful expression. What did it mean?

“AAAAAAAA”

The scream came from behind Luna. Realizing what it meant, the moon goddess quickly turned back. The giant creature which couldn’t come out of the rift, its arm has passed through. Reaching toward Solana’s barrier, it melted into a black and white liquid mixture and engulfed the Goddess of the Sun inside it.

“SISTER!!!” Luna screamed as she ran toward her sister.

However, seemingly driven by an endless hunger, devouring a Goddess wasn’t enough for it. Reaching its second arm through the crack, its fingers transformed into tentacles, catching both me and Luna off guard. Then it pulled us back to it, beyond the dimensional crack as the rift closed itself.

“DAMN IT!”

…..