This was absolutely impossible. I had convinced myself she was a phantom haunting my dreams while I was unconscious, a mere trick of my mind while my body fought to restore its mana.
"Umm… didn't I just see you in that place between life and death?" I asked, my voice laced with bewilderment.
"Mind letting me free so we can talk properly, Justin?" she asked, her smile radiant and unsettlingly warm.
"Yes, of course. I've done it once before," I said, raising my hand. On command, Esta materialized from a ripple in the air, her steel humming with recognition.
"Demon, don't you dare release the Witch!" Akari barked, her playful demeanor vanishing as her face hardened into a mask of lethal seriousness.
"I've freed her once in the dreamscape, and she wasn't a threat," I said, glancing back at the sisters.
"Justin, Akari is right to be cautious. We don't know what she is," Himori added, her hand hovering near her scabbard.
"Release her and we will strike you down alongside her, demon," Yuri added, her voice a low, frigid threat.
"I know you don't trust me. But I'm asking you to trust me now," I said, my grip tightening on the hilt. "If she defies us, I'll take her head myself."
"I trust you, my dear future husband!" Liora chimed in, clinging to my arm and beaming.
What a bizarre personality. I wondered how long she had been isolated to turn out so differently from her sisters. It was utterly ridiculous. I gently moved her aside and stepped toward the chair. With a few surgical strikes, the white bindings fell away. Just as in my vision, Violet stretched her limbs and stood, a formal green gown materializing around her, hugging her figure with regal grace.
"Ok, Violet. What is going on?" I demanded.
None of this made sense. First a dream, now she was standing here in the flesh, looking at me as if she knew my soul. She slid her arm through mine, her touch light as a feather.
"Walk with me, Justin… my successor."
"Successor?" I asked, my breath catching. "What do you mean by that?"
She began to lead me away, but Liora was still holding onto my other side. I was caught in a tug-of-war between two mysterious women.
"Liora, stay here. I need answers," I said, casting a cold stare at the High Human. Her expression crumbled into sadness a look that felt strangely genuine but she let go.
Violet led me deeper into the white void as the others watched from a distance, their figures growing smaller.
"What do you mean, successor?" I repeated.
"I don't really remember much," she replied, her gaze drifting. "I don't have all of my memories."
"Are you the Witch of Chaos?"
"I think so," she mused, tapping a finger against her chin. "The name sounds familiar."
"I didn't come here for riddles. I came for power," I said coldly.
The room shifted. Suddenly, we were standing on a blood-stained battlefield, the air thick with the scent of iron and decay. My eyes widened, and my hands began to tremble. A white-hot pain lanced through my skull, as if it were being split in two. I collapsed to my knees, clutching my head.
Memories… a flood of them. But they weren't mine. I screamed, trying to drown out the agonizing psychic feedback. Finally, the pain subsided. In front of me stood the memory of a little girl violet hair, violet eyes sobbing amidst the corpses.
I turned my head to look at the woman beside me, my irises trembling. "It was you… you did this. But why am I seeing your past?"
"Oh, you are correct. I killed many demons when I was young," she said with a serene smile, helping me back to my feet. "I still don't know why our minds are linked."
I struggled to find my balance, sweat rolling down my face.
"Fret not, Justin. I am just a memory now. I won't harm you," she said, pulling my arm back into hers.
"Isn't it weird that you already knew my name before I said it?" I asked with a dry grin.
"You told me your name, remember?" she replied, looking confused.
So it wasn't a dream. I had truly walked the border of death and spoken to her there. I had escaped the grave twice. We walked in silence as the battlefield vanished, replaced by the sterile laboratory with the massive stasis tubes.
"I remember this place," she said. "Me and an important demon… we were making a baby. But who?"
"You conducted human experiments?" I asked, disgusted.
"Demon experiments," she corrected gently. "To avoid the tragic death of our kind… or so I recall."
"Enough fragments! I need the power to end this war now!" I shouted, pulling my hand away.
"You are not yet worthy," she said, her voice turning icy. "You are driven by simple bloodlust."
"That's rich coming from the person who supposedly destroyed half the realm as a child," I retorted.
"I have no memory of that, so it never happened," she replied with a happy, oblivious grin.
"Then who was the girl I just saw?"
"I don't know who that child is," she said bluntly.i could see through her lies
"If I'm not worthy, then why are you even here?"
"I was deemed to protect the Stone," she said. "And I am the Witch of Chaos… I think."
"You don't know anything," I muttered, frustrated. "Just tell me how to get out of here, Violet."
"That, I remember. But can your body handle it?" Her face turned deadly serious.
"I'm a Royal Demon. I can handle anything," I snapped.
She pointed toward a pedestal where a glowing black stone stood, radiating a faint, sinister purple light.
"Touch the Stone and your body will absorb it. But beware it might destroy you," she warned.
"I've survived this long. I won't die now."
I stepped toward the pedestal. With a series of mechanical clicks, the protective casing retracted. I reached out and touched the stone with a single finger.
Immense power surged into my veins, a violent torrent of mana. I felt a horrific ripping sensation in my back as my skull felt like it was cracking open. My body surged, growing to twice its size. Three pairs of jagged black wings erupted from my shoulder blades six in total. Obsidian claws grew from my fingertips, and a bone-like mask formed over my face, tracing my horns. My skin hardened into living black armor, and my eyes turned into pits of absolute darkness.
I looked down at my transformed self, then at Violet, who was beaming with pride.
"You can actually control the Stone. Well done, Justin," she said. "Now, to leave this place, you must blast your way out. Simply say: Dark Magic: Black Flames."
I raised my clawed hands to the white sky. Two massive purple magic circles appeared, one above and one beneath me.
"Dark Magic: Black Flames!" I roared, my voice vibrating with the power of a god.
Black fire erupted everywhere, shattering the white void into a million pieces.
BOOM.a silent screeching sound that took my eyesight
Birds sang a beautiful song ,insects also loud as ever and the damp air,When I finally opened my eyes, I felt a gentle breeze on my face. Leaves drifted in the air, and I heard the distant song of birds. I was lying on grass, my head resting in Violet's lap.
"You're finally awake," she said softly.
"Yeah… looks like we're out of the Runes," I responded, sitting up to meet her gaze.
"Well, Justin… I don't have much time left. It's time for me to go."
"Wait. Before you disappear, tell me the truth about everything," I pleaded.
"I don't remember it all," she said, tears welling in her eyes as her body began to dissolve into shimmering particles of light.
"But the truth is hidden in the castle… in the secret room within your father's chambers."
"That's where I'll find out what really
happened?"
"Yes. Everything is there," she whispered. She reached out, her hand incredibly soft as she brushed my cheek. "I am so happy I got to see you all grown up… my son."
"I hope you don't turn out to be like your father" her face a mask of frost
With those words, she vanished into nothingness.
My son? The words echoed in my mind. What does that mean? I thought the Queen was my mother. I stood up, laughing nervously to mask my confusion. She must have been delirious.
I headed West, and soon I saw them the four High Humans waiting for me. Liora immediately sprinted forward, throwing her arms around me in a crushing hug. The others simply looked away, unable to meet my eyes in my new, darkened form.pale like skin long white hair and crimson red eyes
Now, it was time to go home. Alicia must be worried sick.