Re: Timeless Apocalypse-Chapter 54: Promise

The garden at the back of the house was huge, a sprawling expanse of green, filled with grass and flowers.

It was so expansive, in fact, that Uriel suspected it was a boon of Ayah’s mark, most likely a space not directly present within the settlement.

He walked through it.

Night had fallen, yet a drizzle of rain still fell, soft yet persistent. The winds were cool and strong, yet gentle enough to be soothing. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

His hair danced with the flows, his clothes fluttered, and his hands brushed through the high grass of the garden.

He made his way deeper.

Eventually, he found a rather large boulder. He climbed onto it and sat down, cross-legged.

He didn’t think about anything in particular.

The rain fell and soaked him. The grass swayed and whispered in his ears, and the wind tickled his back.

He looked out, deep into the darkness of the garden’s depths. It reflected upon his ivory eyes, becoming a canvas of onyx.

’...’

For some reason, his grandmother’s voice echoed in his mind.

[Oh, who dares?! You’re going to grow up strong and healthy, you hear? If need be, I’ll pull the gods from their thrones so they burn the filth out of you.]

[If need be, I’ll sacrifice myself to them, so you may reach my age, and live even longer. Don’t cry because I tear your flesh, cry because the sickness clings to you.]

’...’

[Come, sit on my lap. Tell me, what do you see when you close your eyes? Is it darkness, or is it nothing? Can you draw a line between the two?]

[No? Then that means you are good, for there is no line between evil and inaction. To be good, you must stand, and to stand means to fight. Do you understand?]

[You must fight, so all you can see is light—so you lose the ability to see, and bask in darkness born from blinding light rather than darkness born from looming shadows, yes?]

[I love you, understand? And because I love you, I do this, so you see the light, so you lose sight. So you may be reborn.]

[I love you, to no end, eternally, so don’t cry, yes?]

’...’

Uriel closed his eyes.

"I hope you’re alive, ma."

His breath came out shakily, his lips trembling only slightly before they settled.

He reopened his eyes.

From the distance, he heard muffled, echoing steps.

Enoch appeared, taking a seat beside him, quietly. He, too, stared far out into the darkness, his mind empty.

The two basked in silence.

"Why do you do things like that?" Enoch spoke, his voice impossibly soft, almost a whisper.

Uriel turned to him, slowly. "Do what?"

"You’re dying."

Enoch’s voice was deeper than usual, weighted by a slight tremor Uriel had never heard from the usually stoic and apathetic regressor.

Uriel himself didn’t react much to those words.

"I am," he admitted. "But I’ll be fine, eventually."

Enoch’s jaw tightened. "You weren’t going to tell me?"

"No."

It tightened further.

"I’m fine, though, for now. The pill I took gave me some time, well, it gave me back the year I had left," Uriel said, his voice plain.

Enoch looked at him deeply. "How bad is it?"

Uriel didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he looked at his palm, running his fingers across his skin.

"It burns a bit, all the time. And physical touch is fine, it fluctuates." He closed his palm into a fist. "It’s much better now than it was in the past."

The rage simmering in Enoch’s heart was hard to define.

Everyone handled pain differently, and tolerance was shaped by exposure and habit.

What did "a bit" mean to someone who had been burned alive more than once? What did it mean to someone who had had dozens of his limbs cut off before?

Uriel had never once complained about his disease, but Enoch was perhaps the most informed on the subject. He knew its depth—how could it be as simple as coughing?

If that were the case, then Uriel’s Death and Supreme Quests wouldn’t have been so directly aimed at it.

It wouldn’t be a lie to say Uriel had one of the hardest Death and Supreme Quests in the world right now.

Enoch exhaled. "The Immortal Soul Ambrosia Bloom."

"It’s the only way to fix it, and save your life," he added, his composure returning, his emerald eyes darkening.

"Mm." Uriel nodded, a bit absent-minded. "That’s good to know."

Then, the two remained silent.

One seemed utterly catatonic, detached from all things, while the other was lost in a storm of emotions and memories so chaotic and violent that anyone else would have broken down already.

They both stared out into the darkness.

The rain fell, then suddenly became just a little heavier, the winds blowing air a few degrees colder.

Enoch lost himself in his mind.

Each of his lives flashed across his gaze.

They all ended in failure.

He watched his loved ones die, each time more horrifying than the last. He watched the world burn, then rot into nothing. He watched his power prove meaningless and his Will falter.

The cries of desperation. The final goodbyes. The scenes of blood and gore and sacrifice.

But he also remembered the smiles.

He remembered the laughter of each member of his circle. He remembered their outstretched hands, their warm smiles, and the gazes filled with hope and trust they had given him.

And it all ended in death.

Enoch didn’t know why, but he couldn’t stop thinking about it. He couldn’t stop the tears falling from his eyes, couldn’t stop his lips from trembling or his breaths from hitching.

He couldn’t stop his heart from being consumed by fear of failure, his back from buckling under expectation, his soul from shriveling beneath endless loss.

He looked at Uriel, his vision blurred, his tears hidden beneath the weeping skies.

Uriel was just as calm, smiling as he stared into the darkness.

’...I can’t. Not again.’

Would he have to watch his brother die in his arms again?

Their journey had barely begun, yet Uriel already had so little time left.

He hadn’t said it, but obtaining the Ambrosia Bloom would be nearly impossible, especially with only a year remaining.

Would he be the last one standing again?

Uriel turned to Enoch, startled by his state.

"Oh, don’t worry. It’ll be alright, eventually," he said, a hint of panic in his voice as he tried to comfort him.

But Enoch didn’t move.

His emerald eyes kept burning and burning, memories and emotions surging, his heart tugged by Uriel’s spark—unbeknownst to both of them until—

’I promise.’

[You have opened a path!]

The winds exploded around Enoch. His emerald eyes darkened further, his hair turning entirely obsidian as it danced within the raging currents of his aura.

His jaw tightened so hard his teeth cracked.

’I promise.’

[You have formed a Class!]