CHAPTER 438

THE PRINCE FORGOTTEN

“… he really is headed for the Isles…” a melodic voice warmly enveloped the gazebo floating in the sky, currently occupied by over a dozen souls sitting in a circle around a rotating table stacked with foods and drinks.

“… let him,” Erebus scoffed coldly. “If he wants to kill himself, who are we to stop him?”

“We can’t be too sure he will die,” Seven said. “While not brimming with intelligence, he’s not an idiot.”

“… I’ll go.” Two said coldly, startling everyone around. Y’nn glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, sighing inwardly.

“While I admire your crusade,” Jade said calmly. “Your repeated attempts to probe the Mist have all failed, as have One’s. Us marching over won’t amount to anything.”

"… did I ask for your permission?" Two glanced at Jade emptily, her piercing eyes void of emotion. "I've merely made a statement."

“…” awkward atmosphere descended upon the small group as everyone fell silent right after. Two didn’t stay for too long, merely glancing along the line of faces that all looked away before vanishing. After tepid farewells, most souls present there slowly disappeared, until only Jade, Erebus, Seven and Y’nn were left.

“—I’ll accompany her,” Jade said, glancing at Seven. “Don’t worry.”

“… she’ll recover,” Seven said, sighing. “She just needs time.”

“She needs vindication,” Erebus said, his expression growing slightly distorted. “We all do…”

“I’ll join you as well,” Y’nn added after a brief moment of silence. “I’ll also send out the Calling.”

"Thank you." Jade said, smiling faintly, as silence once more fell over them, everyone besides her leaving shortly after, leaving her in a tepid expression of nothingness as she turned her eyes toward the infinite horizon, her gaze dulling.

**

Colors beyond description swirled around a singular point at speeds beyond comprehension, creating gassy trails of smoke and ash, pulsating around in spirals like strands of hair under the gushing wind. The infinitesimally small point was orbited by seemingly all of everything in its vicinity, prominent crimson bleeding over at the edges, gushing, looping strands glistening in bright-twilight.

Though in apparent chaos, there was order to it all, however; it all unfolded within the concentric layers growing smaller and smaller toward the center. The phenomenon itself spanned beyond measure, a small dot of its existence more than large enough to fit Noterra a hundred times over.

At a safe distance, inside the void expanse of nothingness surrounding the phenomenon, a singular figure hovered stationary, his silver-cast eyes focused on the phenomenon in front of him. ‘1’ bled over his forehead in black, eerily blending by the surrounding reality. He remained expressionless in spite of invisible winds bearing the soul of death itself blasting against his seemingly fragile body.

“… was this really it?” though he spoke, his voice remained unheard, forever contained within his lips. “What in god’s name could have caused… this?” he continued, his expression growing somewhat worried. “No wonder… so that is your origin… all your origins…” he added, sighing faintly. “But… what are your purposes? Just what is it… that you want?”

**

Though he was in a freefall, Lino couldn't explicitly figure out where he was falling or how fast he was falling or even whether he was falling in the first place. His body, despite its beyond-sharp senses, couldn't recognize itself within the reality. It was there yet not. Surrounded by perpetual shadows that folded over his body as it left a swirling trail through the ocean of darkness, he heard nothing but the beat of his own heart. Swimming in the darkness was… eerie. Uncomfortable. Ethereal. He knew… he didn't belong here.

**

A black-haired, black-eyed, handsome youth stared at the darkness, his thin lips curling up into a fanatical, dogmatic smile. His whole body shook and trembled seemingly under the weight of the emotional turmoil he was undergoing. He fell to his knees, plastering the thin satin against corrupted earth, his arms slumping against his sides.

From his back, like thunder, eighteen pairs of wings burst, dripping with black magma, its feathers melting yet being reborn repeatedly. Spanning miles on each side, they covered the horizon behind him, blanketing even the colorless darkness around him. He began laughing, his voice shaking the reality. Thousands of chains suddenly shot up from the earth beneath, wrapping around his seemingly fragile body, yet he remained laughing. Louder and louder.

“No!” his grin turned beyond distorted, his face losing its human proportions. “No more… He is here… His Majesty… is here…” he spoke with a strange, devout crackle. Suddenly, in-between the wings, a concentric halo draped in black flames arose, spinning repeatedly unto itself, creating the sort of enigmatic scene as, at its very center, a crescent circle with a diagonal line piercing through its heart appeared. “I… I am His Prince! His Chosen! His Other! We shall be liberated!!” the chains broke as black flames surged from beneath him into an all-consuming pillar. He arose, levitating in an upward trajectory, slowly and steadily, his arms spread wide, body heaved slightly back as though he was giving himself over to the feeling of eternal liberation. “We Are One…”

**

Ella tried to look for them, but she was alone. In the ever-growing expanse of darkness, there was nothing and no one besides her. It stretched into the seeming infinity, with no beginning or the end. She frowned, scouting with her eyes and senses repeatedly. A glimmer of light burst from her forehead, spat out into a halo of light, yet she still remained as blind as she was before it. It was eerie. Silent. Uncomfortable.

“… be safe, everyone.” she whispered a silent prayer before giving over to the solitary feeling.

**

Lino landed squarely, stirring faint storm of dust around him and causing a few cracks to spread out like spiderwebs around him. Gathering his bearings, he took a quick look around. As far as he could tell, he stood on top of a slight elevation, yet, beyond that, it was difficult to discern anything. As above so below mist covered his horizon, swirling around like gaping arms of the ghosts. Dirt beneath his feet was ashen gray, wholly dead beyond salvation.

His heart suddenly stirred as his eyes unconsciously faced left; he couldn’t discern what, or perhaps who, but he sensed something beyond the mist. A primal calling, coming from the depths of his soul. The longer he looked, the more captivated he became.

“Awake!!” a robotic voice sounded alarmed for a moment as Lino’s dull gaze sharpened suddenly as he quickly looked away, covered in sweating, breathing rapidly.

“… what… what the fuck was that?” he mumbled, still too wary to look left again.

“We need to leave,” Ataxia’s voice retained a sense of urgency as it spoke out once more. “Right now.”

“Why? What is that?”

“This was a mistake… I miscalculated… why is it here?” Ataxia, in an episode Lino had never witnessed before, rambled on. For the first time in Lino’s life, the invisible creature within him seemed disturbed by something. “It can’t happen… no… it should be asleep…”

“What it?! Who’s ‘it’?! Answer me!” Lino quickly cried out.

“—no, no. We need to leave. Right now. Do you hear me, Lyonel? We need to leave!!”

“Not until you tell me why—”

“LEAVE!!!!”

“Leave?” a minute voice froze Lino’s heart for a moment as his gaze strayed left once more. “Why would you leave-Leave? Leave? without me? Why?”

“---” Lino couldn’t move. Before him, a dark-winged creature hovered, yet he didn’t feel fear. From the depths of his soul, he felt a strange ilk of elation, jovial love, extreme desire and acceptance. He was… home.

**

A pillar of colorless light broke out into the sky and beyond, captured by every living soul on Noterra. It was visible from every corner, from every elevation, from every angle. It shot up above and beyond, well beyond what even the greatest of sights could capture. It was a haunting, harrowing sight, the kind that froze the eyes that gazed upon it. It was silent… save for a persistent, grating hum that soon enveloped every corner of the world. It was low, hollow, empty. Eternal.

Hannah frowned, covering Aaria’s ears quickly, though the little girl still continued crying ceaselessly.

Eggor covered Cae’s ears similarly, but to no avail. The boy, though already almost four, cried as though he was a newborn.

Y’nn frowned deeply, an uneasy feeling penetrating his chest.

Erebus collapsed onto his knees, his heart ceasing to beat.

Red threads collapsed in a swirling mass, as though cut by a pair of scissors. A weak, anguished cry of pain echoed out into the empty infinity, never to be heard.

Jade sat frozen in the gazebo, her body shaking out of control. It was that same hum, the one she didn't hear since the day she was 'born'… low, grating, persistent. Never ceasing. She was wrong. She was wrong. She knew it now. She was wrong.

Two came to a screeching halt midflight, spinning rapidly around and focusing on the distant pillar, her eyebrows creasing into a frown. There was steady uneasiness slowly permeating her heart, the sort that stirred her basic instincts, all collectively telling her to turn around and find a hole to hide in.

**

“Wake up! Lino, wake up!! Wake up!!” Ataxia’s repeated calls seemed to fall on deaf ears as Lino stared at the hovering creature with distinct devotion. “No… not like this… wake up!”

“Your Majesty… Your Majesty… Your Prince… Your Princess is Here… I am here…”

“….”

“You didn’t visit…”

“…”

“You forgot…”

“…”

“I… forgive you…”

“Wake up!”

“He is awake… the boy is awake. You should wake, too. Awake.”

“--,” as Lino sensed the weakening defenses of the strange creature, he rapidly took out the [Edge of Immortality], causing a blinding sheen of light to blast out in the ever-expanding darkness. “Salvation!”

Light shot out of the Edge, crying out in a billowing explosion, shooting right through the strange creature as it cried out in destitute. The wail was beyond primal, piercing, loud. Lino fought with himself yet again to ignore it, gnashing his teeth together till his gums bled. The moment he sensed the light dimming, he unfurled his wings and shot backward, quickly vanishing from the spot, disappearing in the distance.

“Noooooooooooo!!!” a screeching wail followed him, nearly catching up to his soul. He barely persisted, shooting out of the reality of space on the unknown part of the Isles, rolling through the ashen dirt and hitting an erect set of rocks, crying out in pain. His body was still quivering as was his heart and soul; an inch, after all, separated him from having his entire existence erased just then. A mere inch between living… and beyond dead.