Entering the ruins of the city, Ray carefully made his way towards the center. There was only a small hill there, clear of any structures. But the city was vast, the hours rushed by. He had long grown used to the eerie screams and wails of the Blothcraad that occasionally broke the unceasing, muffled murmurs, the haunting rustle as tentacles slithered by, the sickening sounds of masses of flesh wriggling around.

  The sight of unorganized blobs of flesh, tentacles, eyes, mouths, teeth, and who knows what kind of bizarre protrusions. The city, or what was left of it, was crowded with them, but the masses of Blothcraad parted before them, giving way.

  He had noticed them ever since they arrived, but the further in they went, the stronger the Blothcraad became. If they all attacked, he wasn’t even sure he could escape. The oppression he felt in this horrid land where the stagnant, fetid air stood still and twisted, ghastly enemies followed their every step was stifling.

  It was a strange place where even Night and Day did not reach. While his powers did not slumber, and he knew he could call upon them, even they felt stifled.

  His steps slowed, and he came to a halt as he made his way out of the cramped ruins, and into the empty stretch of land where a single hill stood. Up close, it looked much bigger, like a small mountain.

  “What now?” Ray whispered, barely audible.

  “Now? Now we all play our roles.”

  Hearing the way Kei had said that, all Ray’s instincts screamed at him to run. Run as far as he could, and never look back. He was mid-turn, pulling on his powers to escape far away, run and never stop.

  But it was too late. A cold sigh of a wind blew past, carrying with a whisper that no matter how Ray struggled against, he could not resist. His body disobeyed him as if following a command brought by the cold blast.

  He couldn’t even twitch a muscle, couldn’t even blink. Even his powers were frozen still. Ray couldn’t understand. Whoever or whatever it was, it was way more powerful than even the Patriarch. The Founder? But wasn’t he supposed to be long dead? Only the systems he had set up remaining, controlling the city above?

  Another whisper of a command that could not be heard, but still was. The strength it carried made Ray helpless as it slammed into him.

  Kei slid off his back as Ray turned towards the small mountain.

  He lost it. He screamed and wailed in his mind, desperately pleading to Vorm to do something, but finding no relief, only useless words of not being able to interfere. Ray could not care. All he wanted was to just take himself and Kei away from this world, no matter where. Vorm stopped answering, and Ray screamed unintelligibly in his head.

  His body was frozen still like a statue. Even tears could not escape.

  A pair of familiar eyes entered his vision, filled with sorrow and… pity. But anger flashed in them as he looked deep into Ray’s eyes, seeing the agony and madness in them.

  Colors shifted on the edge of Ray’s vision, something blurred and was thrust into him. Surprise. He could not comprehend what Kei was doing. It made no sense.

  Pain, unimaginable, excruciating pain that left as soon as it came, as a soothing sensation washed over him. He felt comfortable and at peace, floating behind Kei. It was right, as it should be, a thick, dazzling cord filled with life connecting them together. It made Ray happy.

  But in the back of his mind trepidation grew. Wasn’t he forgetting something? Looking around, the world seemed strange. There was a cursed statue in front of them. It felt familiar.

  Kei turned and looking past Ray, he said, “It’s only the Body you want, don’t you? Leave him be.” Ray noticed in alarm that Kei barely stood on his feet, he looked as someone about to collapse. Glancing at Ray he softly reassured him, “It’s fine,” and a wave of warmth and comfort lulled Ray back into quiet contentment.

  He wasn’t sure how to turn around while floating, but as soon as the thought crossed his mind, he was already turned towards where Kei was looking. Scarlet veins and a black mass twisted and turned in a strange amalgamation, as high as a small mountain. It was unnatural and wrong. Ray knew he hated it, hated more than he had hated anything else. Why? He couldn’t quite—

  A faint humming lulled him back into his daze.

  Kei hated himself for what he was doing to Ray, it was detestable and disgusting, but he couldn’t bear to watch him in agony. By the time it was all over, he wouldn’t have to see the torment he had put Ray through. Maybe he was a coward, but his humming that only Ray could hear continued, forcing him to remain at peace.

  *

  He had slept in death for a thousand years, waiting for the time to come.

  That time was finally here as he felt the Body come to him. It was so very close when it stopped. It angered him, and his presence bore down on it, claiming what was rightfully his. The Body was finally here, and he pulled it closer. Merging into it, he felt more of his awareness returning. But it was incomplete by design, only one half of the whole.

  It was time to claim the other half, reclaiming what had been gifted before.

  *

  The Patriarch stared down from the highest point of the Crimson Palace and watched as the Blood City came to life. He could feel rituals activating in patterns he did not recognize, and the whole city shook. He could hear the call and knew the end was here.

  “It’s finally over.” He sighed with a smile as his Blood exploded out of him and he knew no more.

  Blood flew, Blood gathered, Blood was called to the depths as everything collapsed.

  Silence reigned.

  No one remained.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  *

  His Blood rushed to him, filled with power nurtured through the ages. At last, he fully awoke, reclaiming what was once lost, merging with the Body and Blood. He was remade.

  There was no one to stop him. His rebirth was just the first step, now he could claim it all.

  Stretching his body, he was pleased that everything had gone according to his plans. Opening his eyes he noticed a lone human.

  *

  Kei had watched the sea of blood nurturing and completing the new body of the Founder. He had felt it brimming with power, and now the weight of his attention almost crushing him.

  The thief he had let run rampant.

  The Founder broke his musings, asking demandingly “You are?”

  He sighed. He was many things, “Just a lingering shadow, forced to forever wander these lands.”

  “How you got here?”

  “A man left his home unattended. When he returned, he found a thief in the heart of his home asking how he got in.”

  The Founder did not move, but Kei’s headless body crumpled to the ground.

  *

  A few days ago.

  Kei did not know what he was looking for, he did not understand what he wanted from the creature. There was something, the word Doakr’hal, haunting him. He did not know where he got the courage from to talk to the creature so brazenly, he provoked it until it bit down on his neck.

  He cried out, but it wasn’t pain that he felt. He couldn’t say what, but he was closer to what he wanted, he only knew that much.

  Unknowingly, he probed at the creature’s soul, searching.

  Searing pain threw him back and an unfathomable presence brushed against him.

  “Impudent.” Kei crumbled under the weight of the incomprehensible, Unknowable Being. As his mind as soul were collapsing, memories locked away long ago were freed, and understanding of who he truly was came. He finally knew what he had been looking for.

  “I apologize Mighty Being of the Unknowable. I wish for Oblivion.”

  Silence.

  The Being eventually answered. “Ray. Life Oath. Echo. Soul Blood. Oblivion.”

  Each word tore through him, barely holding onto his sanity. It was torture and agony, but it was nothing to the pain he felt when he slowly made sense of the Unknowable Being’s words that were not words, but something more.

  He knew there would be no negotiating. Those were the terms. Tears ran down his face. The Unknowable Being asked too much. The price was… everything. Everything.

  But he was tired. So tired…

  “I agree.”

  The presence of the Unknowable Being finally withdrew, and Kei was left trembling. Unfathomable. Even that lightest touch crushed his soul. He’d soon die, but he would live again as long as this world remained. Forever bound.

  Not anymore. The Unknowable Being would grant his freedom at last. He just had to betray everything…

  The Fangs of the incomplete vampire were still digging into his neck. So his name was Ray… so young. He could feel the young man’s struggle. A sudden flood of compassion for this young soul washed over him. He couldn’t fathom what he had already had to go through to contain that Unknowable Being. And even more so, the suffering and pain his future held under the ruthlessness of it. He pitied him, and also admired. He wondered what he would become one day. But he wouldn’t live to see it.

  The Life Oath… He apologized to Him deep in his heart as he set his mind to fulfilling his side of the deal. Life Oath now, then… He had to go back there for the Soul Blood…

  He gently embraced Ray, and he called for the faint trace of the power he once held. Otherworldly colors shifted in his eyes as quiet words filled with power left him in a language of old. “Drakhta alt tramahk tu lahrqaudra eeirtroqduak troákhrd Draáqon ra Traumlieh.”

  He screamed in pain as the familiar words were seared into his tattered being anew. He tiredly slumped against his Arq'hel-Drwaák, musing how he was oblivious to all that happened.

  A name he was once called came to him, but he discarded it. He did not even have the right to it anymore. Kei was his name now.

  He fell into a deep sleep.

  *

  Kei stood up, not even bothering to look as the Founder’s smugness turned into sheer terror. He was here for something else. He approached the little mountain, and placed a hand on it.

  He could feel the power that he willingly abandoned to wander the lands like a lost soul. A world created just for him, as a last wish of His for him to live.

  It was a curse. An eternal torment of loneliness. So he slept through eras while His remains nurtured a new world. A beautiful world, yet it felt hollow.

  He had tried to leave it all behind, free himself of who he was. Even if he could not remember, wandering aimlessly, he would always feel the emptiness even if he did not know why.

  Whether he did have a body or not, did not matter. This world was his.

  He hesitated as power coursed through him. He could still turn back. He could… no. It was time to end it.

  Soul Blood…

  So be it.

  Ray felt his connection to Kei shift. At first he was elated as something of Kei’s entered his soul, but soon confused as it went to the spot where Vorm resided.

  The humming ceased and Ray awoken, dismayed as he realized what was happening.

  STOP!! VORM STOP!!!!!!

  Vorm did not listen, no matter how Ray pleaded. No matter how he screamed, and struggled, no matter what he did.

  As Kei was fading, Ray’s desperate pleas stabbed straight through his’s dead heart. How cruel to unknowingly take a Life Oath just for the bond to be broken right after. He knew the feeling, that was when his heart died and he only wished for Oblivion. But even that was denied to him.

  He couldn’t fathom why that Unknowable Being would put him through that. Just for the Echo?

  For a brief second, he wanted to grant Ray’s wish. But at the end, it was impossible. He was long dead. Just a tired soul bound to this world, unable to escape. It was too late anyway.

  Kei was gone.

  The world itself shook and awoken as it lost its Purpose. Looking for what tore it away, the lingering will of the Dragon scoured the lands, and found Ray’s soul at the center of it.

  Nothing mattered anymore, but destroying what destroyed everything. Life was reclaimed, regathered, and thrown at the soul of the one who took its Purpose, to obliterate it.

  It couldn’t. The soul gave way, and something it could not comprehend grabbed it and took everything.

  Where once a small world thrived, nothing remained.

  It was of no consequence to the One the world had belonged to, but it could not comprehend where its remains disappeared. There was only the void left.

  *

  Vorm had Ray’s soul escape just in time. It was extremely pleased with its successful heist, stole the essence of a whole world, even if small, it was a young one, full of potential. At the end, it was worth all the risk. Sure, the fool’s soul was strained to the verge of splitting and collapse, seeking death, but that was something expected.

  Vorm already had a solution for it. It pulled the fool into his soul space and watched the shifting body. Just as expected, instead of settling, the shifting intensified. A part of the fool rejected who he was, and what he had done in that life, not to mention the sense of loss. No surprise there, but if it continued for much longer that would be troublesome.

  The fool needed an anchor, and Vorm had just the thing.