Greed.
Selfish desires. Desires uplifted in excess. The unnecessary claimed to be necessary, the unimportant given priority.
For some, greed is a virtue.
For Valerie, it was a sin.
She reached too far, and paid the consequences. Irreversible, inevitable, and utterly profane, she saw it all.
The true form of Lord Regent.
Mind broken, body hollow, the subject erupted in a cacophony of horrific sounds and sights. Giant tendrils of dread sheared through the air at unimaginable speeds, crumpling the imaginary reality. On their black and horrible surface, terrifying eyes fluttered open, their enchanting jade pupils casting a suffocating gaze.
Valerie had to look away.
Stumbling back, an insurmountable pressure pressed down on her. Thankfully, her willpower was great enough to stay on her two feet, but she had never felt a will this strong. Even just lifting her head felt like tugging on a mountain. Her mind struggled to hold on.
Colors swirled within her realm. The white mixed with the black, the darks darkened the lights. Soon enough, the suffused white sky of her realm had been shrouded in darkness. Glistening eyes stared at her, imposing.
Then, the scene changed.
The darkness swirled and bulged, the memories and thoughts of the subject having been freed from the cognitive confines of the brain. Colors formed and distorted, blue hues moved from the ground to the sky, burning orange shades stretched and tore. Whites flashed in and out of view. A scene began to form just around her periphery.
Then, it was night.
A peerless night above all. The moon… the moonseye hung high above in the starless night. Clouds parted, letting its divine light shine down on the town.
The town of Etris.
A town in distress. Grand buildings of fine wood burned. They burned with an unrelenting ferocity, a ferocity that had been burning for months. A ferocity of hate. Valerie watched as houses burned and collapsed, their infernos reaching high into the darkness of night.
The tree at the interstice, an anchor for the town, burned brighter than the rest. Its steadfast branches charred, then broke off. Leaves wilted and burned, falling into the fissures below.
It was a peerless night. Unequivocally terrifying and dreadful.
Valerie, barely being able to stand, looked around.
People.
There were people.
There were people burning.
There were people burning, dying, and dead.
Men with half burned faces crawled towards her with what was left of their body. The skin on their hands melting, the unmistakable scent of burning flesh spreading. Blood seemed to evaporate upon touching the air. The drops that didn't… Well, they fell right on Valerie's roughened hands. She reached outwards towards them, but quickly recoiled.
'This… isn't real. This isn't real…'
Women held their children tight. Tight, so tight. Yet, the ferocity of the fire was too great, too relentless. The fat from beneath their porcelain skin melted and dripped, fueling the flames. Their muscles unwound and flayed like the branches of the great tree. Far away, she could see a child hold the hand of his unconscious mother, he bore a strong similarity to Quies.
The people burned.
They stood.
They crouched.
They fell.
And then, they died.
All of them.
All of them died in vain. Some had tried to fight the flames, to fight the people who had come and destroyed their home. Some had fled, feet of all sizes pounding the ground in desperation. But ultimately, their fates were the same. Sealed since one man had set foot on the shores of this island…
'What the depths…'
Charred bones surrounded her and the interstice. Skulls with their eye sockets empty stared at her harder than eyes could. Phalanxes with residue of blood and meat reached further than hands.
The foundation of the bridges creaked and broke, fibers of wood breaking off and disintegrating. All fell but one.
And on that one bridge stood the man.
His pale white hair flowed down a slightly slender body. A lusterless dark alloyed shell of an armor coated his pale skin, amber gold lining the edges of the armor pieces. A black blindfold shielded the world from his shattering gaze.
The Lord Regent
Not Zi'eer.
At least, not yet.
Behind and in front of him, a legion of fearsome guards surrounded him, their figures imposing and fearsome. Each shogun of the legion wielded a fearsome odachi, each having cut down at least a dozen civilians. Tapered helmets of dark steel shielded their heads, contrasting the luster of their face mask. Their cuirass glinted the light of the moonseye, an upside down trident-like emblem on their crest.
Of course, looks didn't matter much with their surfaces stained by blood. Their tall and larger figures overshadowed that of the lord as they marched across the charring bridge.
Valerie knew better than to think that, though.
"I didn't expect to see you here."
The man called out to her as if she was a part of the scene.
"I'm used to unexpected visitors though. Ah, but do you know what I do to those curious visitors?"
Despite his modest look, he exerted a pressure which made even Valerie falter. All she could do was stare, frozen in her stance.
"Oh, sorry, I must not be addressing you properly. My apologies."
"What the depths do you mean?"
Her voice quivered as she responded to his statement.
"Valerie Talo, do you know what I do to pests like you?"
Her eyes widened.
'How… Does he know my name…'
Valerie stumbled backwards and shuddered. Falling backwards, she scurried backwards in panic, plowing through the pile of charred bone and flesh. Fire erupted around her, leaves of ash fell.
For the first time in a long time, Valerie was truly terrified.
"Little mice scurrying around my domain with liberation… Ah, but it would be better to show you. You can finally see what a prophet of the ministry can do! You and that filthy spawn of the second…"
Then the lord stood there. His guards parted, giving Valerie a clear view of his figure and face. An utterly disgusting smile widened on his blinded visage.
Back against the tree, Valerie had no more space to retreat. Pinned towards it, she could only hope that this illusion would end.
'It's not real.'
'It's not real!'
Then, a moment later, the lord regent erupted.
Despite wearing armor meant for literal creatures of hell, the lord regent's tendrils of dread pierced deep into Valerie's illusory body. All over, the pain hurt.
It hurt like hell.
It surrounded Valerie's illusory soul like a silk cocoon, gripping it tight…
And ripped it apart. Or at least, it tried to.
Valerie was not weak.
She was not weak at all.
Completely exhausted of ether, left with no other options, and completely and utterly helpless, she held on to her consciousness. She held on to the things she still had left.
And she still had quite a bit left.
Steeling her willpower, she stared at the useless blindfold of the profane. The pain was only imaginary, literally. In fact, everything here was imaginary.
Everything here was fake. An illusion conjured by the mind. A domain conjured up by her mind, which the lord regent intruded on without permission. Knowing this, she fought against his weakened will. She fought against the will of the lord regent.
She fought against the will of the Fourth Prophet of the Ministry, Zi'eer.
This was her realm.
Her domain.
Her rules.
Her boundaries.
Her control.
And she would win.
Soon, the illusions faltered. The tendrils of dread melted and disappeared into the inferno that was the burning city of Etris. The darkness of the sky retreated, a suffused light piercing through its receding gaps. The moonseye disappeared with the veil of darkness, and the city fell out of view.
The infernos were extinguished.
And then, balance.
That was what she felt now, in the Illusory Realm.
Her domain.
Her rules.
Her boundaries.
Her control.
No one could take this from her. Not even the fourth prophet. This was her domain, after all.
She savored the silence of it all. Sure, the will of the lord might have been severely weakened because of a distant influence in another's realm, but still…
…She won.
Eyes heavy, ether depleted, and mind utterly broken, Valerie toppled over unconscious.