The fortress was engulfed in flames, ravaged by the disaster that I brought upon us. I thought I did everything to avoid this situation, I thought I committed myself more than enough to prevent others from suffering the consequences. Was I wrong? Was I… Too optimistic?

I speechlessly made my way across the ruins, tumbling many times on the rocky remains scattered everywhere. Whenever I looked left or right, the horror struck me again.

Bodies motionlessly lingering on the ground, drown in a puddle of their own blood. Dismembered cadavers everywhere my eyes could see, with a face full of despair. And worst of all… I knew most of those faces. I was even familiar with the whole place, because it used to be my home, the land where I was born and raised now reduced to ashes. All because of me.

Maybe if I didn’t return here… Maybe if I wasn’t so selfish, all of this could have been avoided… All those years, fighting against… For a dream. If everything I achieved truly was the cause of this disaster, then my life was indeed meaningless to begin with.

I knew there was a possibility we could fail, however this situation completely surpassed his expectations. We were prepared, but not for that.

I looked at the sky, maybe hoping to see at least one last time the monstrosity, but it was already long gone. The clear blue was now tainted with an eerie red, flowing out from a large scar where reality was sliced. I could hear the thunder roaring around me, but I couldn’t tell if the storm was natural or made by the spatial anomaly, or the thing that created that anomaly.

As there was nothing left to see, I decided to keep walking. The land was doomed, the people is dead, and yet there must be survivors. I couldn’t stop the massacre, however that didn’t mean I was late. But the more I saw, the less I was convinced.

“There must be something I can still do.” I told myself. If their corpse was still fresh, then resurrection may still be possible. It didn’t matter to me how much damage they sustained, as long as I could reach someone it was already enough for me to start the ritual.

Then I approached one of the dead and began the examination. The head had a deep cut at the top, the left arm was severed, but those wounds aside nothing major inhibited me. Nothing, except one: the soul was missing.

This thing must have devoured it while it was rampaging in the citadel, leaving the victim behind as an empty husk with no value. It was still within the scope of my capabilities, but fabricating a soul is a delicate process. One mistake, and it could leave aftermaths that I still didn’t understood how to correct, therefore making the whole process of resurrection impossible to redo.

Should I still try? But what if I fail? Even if the body became incompatible with other souls, I could construct a whole new vessel for him and gift him a fresh soul. But then the memory would be lost, and that person will never be the same as before. Would that still be fine?

It was at this time that a fragrant smell sent a chill on my spine. I knew this perfume, it was…

I ran as fast as I could. This time I won’t be late. This time I won’t be late. This time I-

There she was, standing in the middle of fire and death. I could only see her back, so I shouted as loud as I could for her to hear me. She did hear me. She turned around and looked at me, however that was not the face I wanted to see.

She was smiling at me, a joyful smile drenched in tears and despair.

She turned around again, facing whatever she was facing before my arrival. I only noticed now that she was standing at the edge of a cliff, a deadly fall was gazing back at her.

I shouted, ran, used every strength I could muster to save her, but it was to no avail.

I was too late. Again.