As the blinding light covered Sierra's figure, her eyes widened.
Her hair fluttered as her entire life flashed before her eyes.
"Mama!" Suddenly, she heard the sound of a young girl.
It was a familiar sound. Her sound.
Turning sharply, Sierra found the girl. It was her younger self. She seemed to be around five or six years old. Her skin was white, her features were soft, and joy was displayed all over her young and tender face. She wore a sleeveless white gown that fitted her perfectly, hanging from her shoulders.
Turning to the woman whom the girl called her mama, Sierra's breath hitched. It was her mother.
How long had it been since she had last seen her mother? The answer was obvious. A thousand years. She had long since forgotten the woman's face.
And now, she could see her mother's long black hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and white complexion. A tender smile was plastered on her face as she looked down at the young girl.
"Look, mama! I found this!" She showed a flower. It was a black rose with petals absorbing all light and reflecting none.
Her mother laughed softly. "Wow, such a beautiful flower. Just like my darling Sierra."
The young girl giggled softly as she gazed at her mother's eyes when the woman knelt to her level, her ocean-blue eyes shining. A wide smile was etched on the girl's face.
"My cute little daughter seems to be especially happy today." Sierra's eyes widened at the sight as she turned.
There, she found her father. She had long since forgotten his face as well, yet was remembering it at this moment. The father approached the mother from behind with a carefree smile.
The family was standing near their house. What surrounded them was an expanse of greenery that stretched beyond the horizon, giving a dazzling view that made Sierra's heart flutter.
She was standing not too far from the family. The breeze was swaying her hair, her eyes wet and glossy as she focused on how the young girl—her younger self—seemed to be having the best time of her life.
That was the last time I was smiling so brightly, right?
Sierra blinked, and then she stiffened. What surrounded her was no longer the greenery. The morning sun was replaced by a moon that gave a cold light, not doing much to illuminate the black sky the way the sun did.
The breeze had died out. There was a stillness so profound, she felt slight pressure in her heart. She saw that the ground was burnt to ash. The entire expanse had been turned into a dead zone of corrupted Vyr and demonic oathweight.
Sierra's first thought was whether a demon had entered here. Of course, that was a reasonable conclusion, considering the sheer pressure and nature of the oathweight she felt.
But then, her eyes landed on the house, or what was left of it, and her mind clicked. This was the day everything was ruined. The day that had removed the joy from the young girl entirely.
The house couldn't even be called one. The infrastructure was nowhere to be seen. It was merely a pile of wood and stone. What stood among it all was a pile of meat and flesh.
They weren't corpses, not exactly. The organs, bones, flesh, muscles, and blood—everything was scattered throughout the ruins of the house. A puddle of blood was formed, covering the entire area where the house once stood.
Her eyes widened till her pupils and irises turned to pinpricks. She immediately rushed to the ruins, her boots eventually meeting the puddle of blood and creating tiny ripples. Of course, the ripples were truly formed from her imagination, for this was merely a memory.
Squelch! A wet sound was heard as a man exploded into a pile of meat paste, pieces of organs, and thick, sickening blood.
"NOOO!!!"
Her breath caught as she heard a loud, feral scream. She immediately halted her pace, finding the young girl before her.
Her white gown was tattered and stained red from the man's blood. Pieces of his internal organs were stuck on the girl's skin and hair. Her eyes were widened in horror till her irises were nearly consumed by the white.
"Papa! PAPA!!" The girl screamed, trembling after seeing her father just explode into meat paste right in front of her. Her skin was bruised and burned, her skin sickly pale as her lips quivered.
There were wounds on her body that drained her blood.
"Sierra!" The girl's mother exclaimed and rushed to the young girl's side.
"Oh, how heartwarming." Sierra's breath hitched as she recognised that familiar voice.
She turned her gaze to the source of that deep, masculine, traumatic voice that seemed to ring in her mind for a thousand years. There, a man stood.
He had a short stature, a bald head, and pale skin. His eyes, as dark as the abyss, shone coldly as he chuckled darkly. He was wearing a pristine black robe, holding a silver blade in his hands.
"If you have anyone to blame for this, child, blame fate. Or rather, blame your grandfather for siding with my loathsome adversary," the man said in a calm, almost ethereal voice as he addressed the young girl.
The woman hugged her daughter protectively, yet her own figure shook with pure, unadulterated fear. She looked up at the bald man, the man who made her husband explode into meat paste and blood, with wide eyes, her lips quivering as she tightened her grip over the young girl.
"P-Please! I'm sorry! I apologise for everything our family did to you! Just please, spare my daughter. She is merely a child, and the youngest in the entire bloodline. Please, I beg you!" The woman's voice was hoarse as she seemed to scream. Tears escaped her eyes like a stream that never ended.
Sierra's fists were clenched tightly as she witnessed the scene, powerless to do anything to change it. But then, she felt a change in the air. A new presence had arrived.
The bald man smirked, as if expecting this presence to arrive. He turned to his right, tilting his head back.
"Took you long enough, Augustus," he remarked with a dark chuckle.
At the next moment, Sierra turned and saw a black blur rushing at the bald man. The blur stopped as the bald man raised his sword in response, and a loud clash was heard.
What stood in the place of the blur was a man wearing all black, his gaze sharp and without warmth. "I didn't think you'd stoop to this level, Athyma."
The bald man, identified as Athyma, laughed heartily. "You think too highly of me, it seems."
His oathweight flared as he pushed Augustus back. "You only have yourself to blame. After all, had you not befriended Darrow Loran and made him my enemy, this wouldn't be happening."
"Bullshit!" Augustus roared. "Darrow only helped me a little in my life. He wasn't even aware of your existence."
Athyma laughed, which only increased the rage coursing through Sierra's veins. The sound was soft and casual, and it undermined the carnage he had just spread.
"Well, even if he didn't know of my existence, he still sided with you. Seeing that, I couldn't just let him and his family continue to live," he replied with a shrug.
"They did nothing wrong! They are not a threat to you in the slightest, you demon!"
"So? I don't kill people solely because they are a threat to me, genius. I thought you knew me well, my dear Augustus. Sadly, it seems that you lack knowledge." Saying that, Athyma raised his free hand at the mother and her cute little daughter.
The woman froze as blood drained from her face. She looked down at her daughter with wide eyes, her hands shaking violently.
"Mama...?" the girl spoke in a soft, broken voice that made Sierra's heart bleed.
"Ahhhhh! A monster, an abomination! Get away from me!" The woman cried out and immediately threw the girl away from her embrace.
As her butt crashed hard on the ground, the girl shuddered with wide eyes. "Mama? What?"
"Get away from me! Die!" She suddenly lunged at the girl, her hands wrapping around her throat. Her brows furrowed, and her eyes darted around in a crazed light.
"Ma...ma?" The girl began to cry as she struggled against her mother's grip. Her body was still shivering, and Sierra could tell that the girl was deeply frightened and confused.
After all, this was her memory.
"You!" Augustus suddenly roared, pointing a finger at Athyma. "You drove her to madness?!"
"I merely convinced her that everything around her was vile, and made it so that the people she loved looked the most vile and horrifying. Since that girl was the one she loved most here, she looks so terrifying that the woman wants to both kill her and escape from her. Quite a contradiction, don't you think?"
Athyma's voice was light and casual, as if talking about the weather. His smile widened as he observed a mother trying to kill her daughter as if it wasn't a scene that would make a person puke.
"That's... you rewired her mind?!"
"Correction: her soul. Her soul's perception of all that exists. All that she knew. All that she remembered. At this moment, she doesn't even remember that she has a daughter. Heck, she doesn't even remember herself. I wonder what would happen if she looked at herself."
Augustus's eyes widened. "Wait! Don't—!"
"AHHH!!!" The woman's screams echoed once more as she suddenly retracted her hands from the girl's throat. She was looking at herself with wide, trembling eyes and quivering lips.
The young girl coughed violently as her skin had turned a shade of purple, her eyes wide and dazed as she looked up at her mother.
"Mama...?" Her voice was barely audible.
But what the girl saw next frightened her most.
Her mother began to pull at her own skin, her nails digging into the flesh till she bled. Then, in a horrific scream, she pulled out her own flesh and tendons.
The young girl screamed shrilly. "MAMA!!!"
Sierra averted her gaze, not wanting to see such a sight again.
Augustus immediately jumped at Athyma, lunging his butcher-like sword at him. "You bastard. Die for what you have done!"
The bald man's smirk didn't waver. He merely met the attack head-on with his blade. A loud clash resounded, but it was silenced by the mother's screams.
"W-What am I?! I should die! Why do I exist this way?! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!" She screamed as she continued to tear at her clothes, skin, flesh, tendons, veins, arteries, organs, and every other inch of her body. Her soft breasts were pulled out of her body with exceptional force.
"Hehe," Athyma chuckled at this, his eyes shining in a ruthless light. "See how she is treating herself as compared to her daughter. Deep down, she always loved herself more than anyone else. How laughable."
Every strand of her hair was completely plucked out; her beauty had dissolved to nothing as she was slowly turning into a skeleton.
Sierra grimaced at the sight. She had initially been confused by how her mother was still alive while doing all this, but Augustus had later told her that it was thanks to Athyma keeping her soul trapped in the body till she destroyed her brain.
"MAMA! MAMA!!" The young girl screamed and rushed at her mother. She grabbed her hands, trying to stop her from mutilating herself like this, but was slapped hard instead, making her fall to the ground.
At the next moment, the mother grabbed her own skull. Her thumb pierced her eyes, making her scream shrilly. Then, with a strength that had never existed in her before, she opened her skull, revealing the brain inside it, before stabbing it with her bony hands.
With one final scream of pure horror, she was dead as her skeleton collapsed, bathed in her own blood and internal organs.
"Mama?!" The girl screamed as tears streamed down her cheeks. She rushed to her side, holding her halved skull. The touch was cold and merciless.
The young girl then turned to Athyma, who was still busy with Augustus. And then she let out a shrill scream, one filled with absolute hatred, as her eyes were wide and her brows were furrowed impossibly.
Athyma glanced at her, clicking his tongue. He raised his free hand, aiming it at the girl. "Nuissance."
As he charged an attack, Sierra's instincts urged her to rush to the young girl's side. Yet, she remained still. This is merely a memory. She reminded herself even as her eyes grew watery.
Yet, the momentary lapse in Athyma's attention was all Augustus needed. With a grunt, he coated his sword with Vyr and unleashed a devastating attack. "[Final Severence]!"
At the next moment, Athyma screamed as his body began to burn and disintegrate. Yet, a dark, shapeless, and illusory figure soon erupted from his body, rushing into the sky with a speed that the young girl couldn't even dream of tracking.
"Damn it!" Augustus growled, his pupils shrunken.
As Sierra realised that the illusory figure was none other than Athyma in "his" true form, her surroundings suddenly shifted.