“… When my sisters betrayed me, I swore to take revenge. I will not pretend to be a pure lady who preserves herself from all evil. I will still climb into my father's palaces and tear out their hearts. I have no chains that bind me to the morality of this world. But you—you accompanied me. You helped me. I know that, deep down, you hate me like everyone else—but also that you love me more than usual. Who wouldn't, as beautiful as I am?”

  She laughs, then pulls me close and hugs me. “You, the worst person in the world, decided not to fall even though you had every reason to. You are better than I. Regardless of the visions that command you to kill and destroy, you became a hero and the hope of Dufae. You gave the women reason to smile, and their children reason to fight. If you're wrong—if the whole cosmos conspires for the ultimate evil to win—then wouldn't it be better to walk that path anyway?”

  Why?

  After all the pain I have endured. After all the sleepless nights, the monsters that I screamed against, the demons that I have endlessly fought.

  Why not annihilate reality and take its thrones to make Chaos the new Order?

  Why fight so much? Why resist so much? What did make me take this path?

  “I'm not sure.”

  I run my hand through the water. Chaos surrounds the aura that manifests itself and makes it turn to ice, then evaporate. The reaction flows through the blue, my vision blurs as the memories take my eyes away.

  In the beginning, I walked to the edge of the village and fought against Aldwyn. I was four, and I did not know who he was, much less the humans. I saw their suffering, but following the Chaos demands, I should have killed them. But I did not. For a long time, I thought It could have been an accident. But the more I thought about It, the less sense It made to me.

  I saw their faces. Screaming. Crying. Fear and anger, impotence and shame. I saw blood and steel, and an impossible foe to overcome. A desire within my heart told me to kill them all and aid the devious fairy that ate their flesh. They were the same as the ones who tortured me. Mundane. Wretched. The visions of those people never fade away from the mind of the Dark Lord, but they were never complete in my own memory.

  I could still hear their voices, but they were nothing more than echoes. I could feel the burn in my skin, but my flesh was already healed. Dazed by the destruction, I observed. Enchanted by the flames, I pondered. Amidst the shadows of my mind, I wondered why they did not have surrendered yet. Why they did not decide to destroy everything. Then, I realized that they could not.

  They could not win. They could not flee. They could not fight.

  But even then, one was still standing. A boy, about my age. His hair was golden, and his eyes were blue. He carried a broken sword to fight against the monstrosity, with tears under his eyes and blood in his hands. At that time, I did not know, but his name was Elron.

  He would not win. He could not. Even then, he faced the beast, who barely looked to him.

  There was vengeance in his eyes. There was justice. But there was also something simpler. Inevitability. Causality. Humanity. Frail creatures, who could not dream of conquering the world. Still, using the broken blade was the only thing he could do.

  He was the same as me, locked within a situation where all of his options were taken away. At the same time, he was the complete contrary, choosing an option that I did not.

  It was the reason I did not took over the world for the second time. For the innocent like him would suffer. For people like me would have the same fate as me, by my own hands. In my vengeance, I stopped caring about right and wrong. To rebel was the only thing that pushed my forward. To transcend the limits of morality and mortality, to destroy the heavens above that cursed me to far, far below.

  The reason was simple.

  For he did It, beyond utter motivation, beyond what his fate as a murdered child was, because It was the right thing to do.

  Certainty. I was never one to care about It.

  “Certainty.” She said. “Someone who begs for certainty would not be my Sieghart. It would not do the things that you have done. No answer I give you will make you certain. Even so, you have fought—and you will fight again, because you are you. And if you didn't fight yourself, you wouldn't be Sieghart.”

  “… How can I keep going? After all that?”

  “You may have destroyed the world once, but you can do it differently now. You have one shot. Make it count.”

  On the horizon, a small glow opens up behind the Gates and lights up like a lamp above my head. A different path, away from Aldwyn and the Lion; the undescovered path of Sieghart.

  “Gaze upon It. This is the same that you shall take, the one you should have pursued from the start. You can thank me later, boy.” The fairy says, then wipes away the tears I didn't know I had let fall.

  I smile, then spit out a laugh.

  “A try, eh?” I say, then stand up. My reflection is fixed, and the water pulses pure blue and shines like sapphire.

  This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

  “… Right.”

  Last time, a figure dressed in white with a bloody jaw smiled at me in infinity.

  “I think I understand.”

  Once again, I walk over the water to get to the other side.

  “Thank you, Morgana.”

  She said to do It later. I am not quite sure there will be a later.

  The fairy smiles, then nods. “Good luck, Sieghart.”

  And just like in the past, I walk through infinity.

  "Thank you, Morgana."

  The fairy smiles, then nods. "Good luck, Sieghart."

  Just like in the past, I walk through infinity.

  I walk past the black trees stretching out in front of me. The silver moonlight illuminates the wood on the surface, but is unable to reach the ground. Around me, a dull light hangs calmly in the air as the night darkness of the forest envelops me.

  Aldwyn's illusion is his use of Chaos. With his knowledge, he sent me into a distorted vision of the Unknown. Now, his control is lost over the chaotic void of the nightmare world and he returns to his master and prisoner. The whispers of the past scream once more, their demons surround as illusion becomes dream and, in turn, dream is now reality.

  Demonic blood gave me exaggerated mana and a certain talent for the arcane. However, it was the culmination of hatred that made me awaken Metamagic. When I awakened Chaos, the Lion stole my eyes to make me doubt what was in front of me, and made me see my doomed fate as a prophecy of the Unknown to make me despair of my hope.

  As I wandered aimlessly, we acted as one to grant Aldwyn a fraction of Chaos in exchange for his loyalty. It was these same prophecies and visions of the past that the fairy had shown the soldiers -- that made them so desperate to ignore her and attack me.

  Fear. Demons act on fear.

  I'm tired of being afraid.

  The sun shines golden at the edge of the horizon and gives me breath with every step. I chase it as I did every night I came to the Unknown. This time, however, my steps are not false.

  The arcane surrounds my body, a red aura protects me from the surprise attacks of insects and worms. Fire pulses through my hands and a giant spider explodes along with the trees. I pull the shadows that hide behind the forest and pierce an eagle. I dance among the creatures while the red rises over the emerald and is pierced by the glare of the sun.

  Over the emerald field from which I was left to die, I awaken. It burns, previously contained by Aldwyn's illusion. Elron remains fallen - his body doesn't respond to the wind or the mist. I feel the mana rising in the depths of my soul, but still unused.

  It doesn't matter. I stagger over to the collapsed boy, pick up Lugnir, grab his body and drag him along with me. My legs throb with pain, but I charge into the forest just as I do in the Unknown.

  Simultaneous actions give each other strength. I feel my legs throbbing, the power that allows me to destroy the demons declines and, at the same time, my body grows stronger.

  Using the power of change without authority will only cause your body to be used as fuel. Although a minority can do this naturally, the years of enduring my own magic have unconsciously trained me for the pain of feeling your body collapse.

  The Demiurge's big mistake was not just chasing himself, but trying to force me to do the same. By injecting mana into a cracked anchor, he only made it break. With no alternatives left, he gave up on helping me, considering me dead weight. After all, he can't raise the limit to which I can endure, nor how much I can master.

  But I can.

  At the bottom of the horizon, the Gates of Despair move in front of me and tremble, their doors locked.

  I push the trees of the forest away from my face and walk along the black beaches surrounded by the storm. I enter the ocean of blood and force myself to step on its rules in order to cross it. I watch the demons who once knelt watch each other from the storm-scarred skies.

  Big, their black shapes change. Insects and chimeras, men and abominations that shouldn't exist -- that have decided for themselves that they shouldn't. I ignore them. I ignore them. I walk through the ruddy redness towards the Gate that stretches below the sun. Its glow is so strong that it blinds me, and then sets my eyes on fire.

  Everything is clear. The Demiurge can't master my magic for me, only take advantage of our connection to force me to acquire more. His power strengthens me, but it also destroys me. The only way to gain power - to overcome Aldwyn - is to--

  I touch the gates. I locked them last time - stability for power. It was the right decision then, even if the next ones were wrong. I press my hands against it and shout for it to break. Illuminated by the glow of the golden sun, the impossible becomes reality, and its doors open by a single centimeter.

  I vomit blood. I lean against a tree and inhale the toxic mist. Then I spit out a laugh. I've never been good at healing magic - but I don't need to be. I manipulate the shadow and solidify it so that it wraps around my limbs like a prosthesis, even if they aren't broken.

  I breathe in and out. I feel the mist spreading through my lungs, but it wouldn't affect an intensified lung. Mana overflows around me, a red aura kills the plants and collapses the trees around me. My eyes stare at the horizon. I intensify my strength and speed and manipulate the wind to propel me through the Black Forest. Without the fairy to strengthen the forest, it collapses against my footsteps.

  A line of randomness stands out amidst the static material world like a flame in a world of darkness. Aldwyn heads towards the village, hidden by the shadows of the night.

  By the time I reached the end of the forest, under the midnight moon, Aldwyn was already approaching Dufae. I'd have to trust that the barrier would slow him down long enough. I look around for anything that might help me, then I see the only survivors of the group of soldiers.

  The "cowards".

  The fearful young men watched the night, apathetic. The youngsters stroked the frightened horses that refused to get off the ground, tied to trees in the field. Tears streamed down their faces, paralyzed with fear at having seen the fairy's shadow heading towards the village.

  I think they are under some kind of spell, but what strikes their hearts is pure, potent fear.

  I don't have time for that.

  I approach and conjure an illusion on a horse. Affected by magic, he rises against his will, thinking that I am Arlong, his captain. I encourage his mind and jump into his cell while taking care that Chaos doesn't kill them.

  The young people stare at me, frightened.

  "I'll borrow this." I say.

  Affecting others with my magic was something I could never control. With Morgana's training and control of Chaos, that has changed. I lash out at the beast and charm it with all the magic I can muster. It outpaces me, hurtling across the field and leaving a trail of dust behind it.

  I remove Lugnir from its sheath and point the weapon in Aldwyn's direction, then whip out the crossbow and use magic to make it as fast as I can. Thunder and lightning punish the dark fields and illuminate my path as much as they provoke the disorder I feel flowing through my veins...

  And I hear Dufae's barrier break.