CHAPTER 11

  "Trash"

  After buying coffee at a nearby open café, Dan and Theo walked a little more before parting ways. After a warm goodbye, each headed towards their own home.

  "Dan, it was great to see you! Text more often and... don't overthink it, everything will be fine! I'm sure of it!" the cheerful, though slightly sleepy, voice of his friend sparkled, as always, with hope and confidence.

  Dan only nodded silently. He turned and walked away, sipping the freshly brewed, strong coffee.

  The meeting with his friend briefly returned him to his usual life. Although Theo's questions had thrown the Lord off balance, he had still managed to relax and cool his mind.

  He walked along the deserted streets. The deep night held dominion over the city. Occasional passersby were merely background, as were the few cars that disrupted the silence of the sleeping city. The Lord's steps were calm but echoed off the walls of the alleys. And then, passing another archway, Dan suddenly felt a painfully familiar sensation.

  "Hm?!" He stopped sharply, peering into the darkness between two tall buildings.

  He sensed a flow of mana. Barely perceptible.

  Dan took a sip and placed the unfinished cup of coffee on the curb.

  "Can't be..." Dan muttered quietly and headed towards the source of magical energy. "In the city...?"

  Turning the corner, he saw something he never expected to see in this place.

  A Rift.

  A Rift that had formed right in the center of the empty alley sparkled with dark purple shards of mana, emitting a faint crackling sound. Magical energy seeping from another dimension spread over the walls of the houses, searching for a vessel. Long tongues of mana, bright at the source and almost transparent at the ends, faded in the air, unable to find a host.

  "Very strange..." Dan analyzed thoughtfully. "The Rift hasn't been here long... an hour at most... and judging by the traces, the mana hasn't found a 'victim'."

  Dan scanned the alley again. No one.

  "Better not delay, morning will come soon and people might appear," thought the Lord, checking the time on his phone screen.

  "3:45 AM"

  His fists clenched, he exhaled and opened his palms; thin streams of Darkness scattered from his hands—the barrier containing his power was lifted. Darkness began to spread around its master. The already dark alley plunged into even greater gloom.

  Dan took a step towards the Rift. His darkness seeped into the crack, like black threads weaving into the blue-violet glow of the rift. The air trembled, space warped, and in the next instant, he was standing on the other side. The calm night sky of the city dissolved, giving way to a foreign world—a crimson-red sky shrouded in billows of black smoke, from which blue lightning bolts of pure mana erupted. A lifeless landscape of a scorched forest unfolded before the Lord's eyes. Charred stones cracked under Dan's feet, crumbling like burnt-out coals under the heavy, yet calm, steps of the Dark Lord.

  "Everything as usual..." thought Dan, treading on the dead earth. "But..."

  Dan suddenly realized he was alone. No hordes of Primitives, no clang of rusty blades, no growling — nothing inherent to a classic greeting for an uninvited guest. He was met by a deathly silence, broken only by claps of thunder.

  "This is strange..." the Lord's eyes darted across the space, searching for the Rift's inhabitants.

  ?Aaarrrgghhh… khrrrrkhhhhh…?

  A piercing roar sounded not far behind Dan.

  Dan exhaled with relief, understanding that everything was as it should be. He turned towards the roar and froze for a second.

  "And what are you supposed to be...?" raising an eyebrow, the Dark Lord asked the something standing before him.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  ?Aaaa-rrrrrrhhh!.. Ghrrrrhhhhh!..?

  A monster, more resembling a carelessly crumpled pile of clay, was approaching Dan. But within this mass, shreds of bodily forms could be discerned. Bones protruded from twisted, seemingly molten limbs; a thick green slime oozed from within, leaving trails on the stony ground. The rib cage opened and closed like a maw, and flickering violet lights of mana showed through the gaps between the ribs. Eyes carelessly scattered across its face stared intently at the intruder. A crooked semblance of a mouth with rows of sharp, uneven teeth emitted a hoarse roar.

  "Interesting..." thought Dan, continuing to watch the shapeless mass slowly approaching him.

  He thrust his hand to the side, and his fingers slowly unclenched. Mana gushed from his palm, swirling with black tongues of flame; the Darkness began to condense. It swirled, intertwined, stretched into a form, until it transformed into a sword. A long, sharp, black blade, as if woven from the very night, fell into the Lord's palm.

  Dan gripped the sword by the hilt. Darkness enveloped his body and flowed in black streams around him.

  "Alright, down to business," the Lord whispered quietly and in the same second found himself before the giant.

  The black sword whistled through the air, and a long, ugly limb, with a disgusting crunch and crack, crashed to the ground. A viscous dark green substance, resembling liquid clay, gushed from the stump.

  The monster roared. Its body shuddered, and in the place where the limb had just been, the severed flesh began to move chaotically, restoring what Dan had severed moments ago.

  Dan jumped aside.

  "Regeneration?!" Dan's eyes widened.

  Without waiting, Dan surged forward. His movements were swift and precise, like a predator's; behind each swing lay power sufficient to tear mountains apart. The sword flashed with black sparks, severing ugly growths.

  But the creature had no intention of dying. It only regrew its severed limbs.

  "So, ordinary strikes won't take it down... something's wrong here... can it regrow its head too...?" analyzing the situation, thought the Lord, and pressure began to condense around his body, causing the air to vibrate.

  Dan stepped forward, intending to finish the fight, but at that very moment the creature roared and lunged to meet him, swinging several ugly limbs at once.

  Dan sharply raised his hand. The shadow beneath his feet shuddered, stretched across the ground as if coming to life, and in the next second, dark chains erupted from it. They coiled around the monster's legs and torso, binding it in iron embraces. The monster was immobilized.

  "Well, that's all," the Lord said coldly.

  He surged forward, swinging the blade, and the point of Darkness rushed towards the creature's neck with a light whistle. But at the last moment, the ugly maw gaped open, and a bright impulse burst forth from it. A clot of mana.

  Dan didn't have time to raise a defense and was thrown aside, but he immediately got up, his black eyes flashing in bewilderment.

  "What... Mana?!" his voice sounded uncharacteristically bewildered. "How is that possible? Primitives can't use it..."

  ?Aaaa-rrrrrrhhh!.. Ghrrrrhhhhh!..?

  The monster, writhing, tore apart the chains holding it. A pulsating glow emanated from the creature's chest, as if a source of power was hidden inside.

  Dan concentrated. His perception allowed him to see the flows of mana. He found the source of magical energy pulsating in the heart of the ugly being.

  He stepped forward.

  With each step he took, the earth darkened, the air grew colder. Moving with incredible speed, Dan directed the blade towards the area resembling the rib cage. The Blade of Darkness met unexpected resistance—the flesh around the glowing node thickened, becoming hard as stone. Dan felt it.

  "Enough!" he growled, and channeled more magical energy into the sword. The blade flared with a dazzling blackness and with a crunch broke through the defense, piercing precisely into the heart, right into the node of mana.

  The creature roared, fell to its knees, and its body began to melt. Chunks of flesh fell to the ground and dissolved, vanishing in the magical glow.

  Dan stood over the dying monster, the sword still pulsating with Darkness. Liquid green substance dripped from the blade and sizzled, like oil on a hot skillet, as it hit the ground.

  "This is no ordinary Primitive... Something is happening..." he said quietly, and his voice, though calm, carried a note of puzzlement.

  The sky split open with thunder. Cracks covered the sky. The crimson firmament began to crumble. The world began to collapse.

  Dan looked up at the diverging cracks in the sky and its falling pieces.

  "So it was the only one..." muttered the Lord and glanced at the closing Rift—the door home. "Time to leave."

  Dan approached the portal and took one more look at the crumbling dead world.

  "Something is definitely wrong with this reality..." with these words, he stepped out of the Rift.

  A second later, he was standing in the alley, watching the closing "wound" in the air.

  He scanned the alley. No one. Suddenly he realized it was still dark outside.

  "What the... it should be morning already... I was definitely there for more than two hours..." thought Dan, looking at the starry sky. He pulled out his phone. The Lord's eyes filled with bewilderment.

  "3:45 AM"

  "What... not even a minute passed on Earth... I don't understand anything... usually time flows the same... sometimes faster and much more passes on Earth... but for it to stop... what kind of nonsense..." thought Dan, simultaneously sealing the Darkness within himself. He walked away from the alley.

  The Rift had almost closed, and from the narrow slit, a crystal silently fell to the ground. Its yellowish glow, breaking through the faceted surface, slowly dimmed until it finally went out. A shard, resembling a piece of glass, remained lying on the dusty asphalt—inconspicuous, like random trash.