Minutes before Lue's death, Mytri fought tooth and nail against the humanoid being. Its body was dark in shade, and its face was a canvas of misdirection, three sets of eyes, one on its forehead, one where its nose should be, and one gaping from its mouth, all angled inward to fix their gaze on a single point.
A choking dust cloud hung high in the air within a dense forest, obscuring everything in view. The rotting stench overlapped with the dust, spreading itself everywhere.
No matter what happened, Mytri wore a grin across his face. "That's what I like!" he shouted, splintering through countless trees with the creature right on his heels. It leapt from tree to tree, chasing him relentlessly.
"Are you strong enough to withstand this?" Mytri said. He let the monster close the distance. At the last second, he spun, driving his fist into its face and using the impact to halt his momentum instantly as he pinned it to the earth.
Mytri stood over it and watched closely, observing and waiting. Seconds later the creature's arm twitched, "You can withstand it! What a discovery!"
Mytri turned and slowly walked away, his attention slowly shifted to the clearing. As he watched, the dust parted, just as a massive, fiery red explosion engulfed everything not far from him.
"What…"
Seconds later, a thunderous bang rang in Mytri's ear. Sweat poured in buckets down his face as an inescapable feeling of doom clamped down on his chest.
He stared blankly in that direction and muttered, "Lue…"
Behind him, the creature stood up and darted toward him. Its eyes locked onto Mytri.
Just as the creature's hands came inches from his back, Mytri moved. He didn't hesitate for even a second. In a blur of motion, he spun and slashed, tearing the monster into thousands of small cubes before it could touch him.
Mytri swallowed down his saliva and ran forward.
With everything he had, every ounce of strength within, heedless of his body, he ran. He ran and ran, tree after tree blurred past, until he lost count of them all. The world smeared into motion, a wash of color and wind. He focused only on what lay ahead, running and running, desperately toward Lue.
Any sound went silent, Mytri ignored, or rather wasn't able to hear anything. He couldn't get distracted by anything, he could not afford to.
Seconds, minutes, It felt like forever as he ran out of the dense, dark forest to a dim and dust engulfed crater.
Lava cascaded down the crater's walls, like a river flowing down a mountainside. Within the basin, nothing lived. A reddish hue lay over everything, casting its light upon the massive stones that punched through the ground like monuments in some hellish field.
There he saw Lue, lying against a tree. The cloaked man was wrapped from head to toe in pitch-black material and slowly walked up to Lue.
An ever sinking feeling struck Mytri's chest as he darted forward without thinking. "No…no…no…no"
"Please… wait" Lue muttered as the cloaked man slowly got closer to him
Mytri thrashed his arms forward and back, legs pounding the earth like a horde of animals running from a predator. His breaths came in ragged gasps, but his voice thundered across the field.
"Don't you dare! Lay one finger on him and you're dead!" Mytri shouted
The cloaked man turned, watching the Mytri with calm curiosity. "Is that so?"
No… no no no no no please no, just wait, Mytri gripped the sword tightly strapped to his belt and unsheathed it, Just …. wait more, please!
Lue slowly looked up, gaze warm and kind, like he always had. A warmth flickered in his eyes, fragile and fleeting "Dad…" He muttered as the cloaked figure placed its sword against Lue's neck
No… don't you dare! Faster, Fucking legs go faster please why why why why why… WHY! WHY ARE YOU NOT WORKING LIKE I WANT WHEN I WANT PLEASE… PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!
The sword flashed. A line of red appeared at Lue's throat. Then, a fountain. His head, a confused expression frozen on its face, tumbled lazily through the air.
Mytris' eyes shrank to pinpoints as he watched, corners of his mouth shaking, his eyebrows twitched up and down, his arms trembled violently.
Lue, with confusion creeping into his voice, muttered "Why are you… upside down?" and his head hit the ground, rolling towards Mytri.
Mytri stared, his face frozen in terror, as he watched Lue's head roll toward him. The helmet had exploded under pressure, fragments scattering in every direction. Now his face was revealed.
His long, disheveled black hair was tied into a bun at the back of his head, with white strands running through it. His beard, neatly kept, also bore flecks of white.
Tears poured down Mytri's cheeks, weaving through his beard before dripping onto his armor.
Lue's head rolled to a stop at Mytri's feet. He looked down at it. Then he bent slowly and picked it up. He caressed his cheek. The body was still warm.
He stroked Lue's hair as those dead, dull green eyes stared directly at him. Tears fell onto the forehead below. Gently, Mytri placed his palm over Lue's eyes and closed them.
Mytri hugged Lue's head against his chest, tears falling warm and fast onto his son's still face. His voice cracked when it finally came. "W-why?"
"You are an obstacle to our problem," the cloaked man said. "That's all."
Mytri felt something inside him pull taut, a wire strung tightly, ready to snap. He held everything in, but his voice still came out raw, guttural, scraped clean of anything human. "That's it? That's all you needed? To kill my son?"
"You are too much of a danger. They need to disappear. And you, you would surely give them a helping hand. So you will die."
Mytri exhaled. The sound was hollow, emptied of everything but resolve. He walked toward Lue's body, stepping past the cloaked man as if he weren't there. Kneeling, he lifted Lue's head and placed it gently on his lap. For a moment, he didn't move. Then he rose.
His sword came free of its sheath in one clean motion. He gripped it tight, knuckles white, arm steady, and turned to face the man.
"I will kill you."