«Pathos» I'm still….here?
Those were the first words he could mutter after his consciousness had returned. His senses slowly adjusted, as though he was waking from a nightmare.
"What happened to me?"
"What were those images?"
"Was that me?"
"That man…Why would he follow me?"
Question after question flooded his mind—questions he felt he should know the answers to, yet couldn't.
"Ruem!?"
But despite the endless questions that drowned him, One name seemed clearer in that dream. "Ruem"
For some reason
The only name, no. The only reality that was clear, was what fate would have in store for Ruem if Pathos ran away. He had to do something.
He slowly pushed himself upwards, struggling, as his senses still adapted to the environment.
«Pathos» I…have to….i
His face was covered in blood, concerning the bystanders nearby. Yet none dared to approach him.
«Pathos» I need to go back.
Once he got up, he began walking back his legs yet unable to listen to his command. But after a couple of steps he fell once more.
«Pathos» R–uem!
And once more he got up. His teeth clenched as he pushed himself further. If his legs were asleep, he would use his own arms and if those were asleep too he would use his torso to move. He wouldn't fail, not again. Not now.
But before he could do that he opted for a different approach.
His legs wouldn't obey? Fine—he'd wake them himself
His head turned towards his own legs reaching for them with the intent to. Wake.Them. Up.
«Pathos» I hope this work
The electricity that flowed through him made his body twitch, he had shocked himself to make his own legs wake up.
«Pathos» Gah–
He grunted in pain as he sent more and more electricity throughout his body. Thankfully, his plan had worked, he had regained control of his own legs.
«Pathos» It worked…? I can move my legs!
After he briefly straightened and closed his legs to test them, he turned around. And yet again he began to run.
«Pathos» Please Ruem, keep our promise a little longer. I'm coming back! I don't want to bury yet another body.
His voice shook as if was on the verge of tears, those were not simple words of a boy concerned for his friend. Those were the words of someone who saw fate lending out his hand to fix his destiny.
The more he ran the more those images became clearer to him. It was as if he saw his own future through his very eyes. The images implanted into his brain by the Kindled-eyes had shown him a vision of what would have been his destined death.
And now he had a chance to correct that, to alter what would have been his destiny.
Those were the hopeful thoughts of Pathos. As the image of Ruem's burned corpse lingered in his mind, he could only pray that he could come back in time to save him. Someone that had accompanied him in these two days, someone who he deemed a friend.
After countless steps. He had arrived at the very corner where the severed head flew.
«Pathos» Please God.
A last prayer as he walked around the corner, his eyes afraid to see, yet something else reassured him first. The sounds of someone fighting.
His eyes searched for Ruem amongst the cloud of smoke created by their fierce battle.
Fortunately for him, Ruem found him first, after he got thrown out of that cloud into a nearby carriage.
«Pathos» Ruem!
Pathos ran. He desperately reached for his friend hoping that he wouldn't find a burning corpse.
Each step fueled the next with hope. And after reaching the carriage he looked inside and found Ruem's figure struggling to pick himself up.
«Pathos» RUEM!
«Ruem» Pathos?
Ruem gazed in shock. Why was he here? He had specifically told him to leave him. To save himself, yet here he was sitting right in front of him, hand reached out to help him out of that rubble.
«Ruem» What the hell are you doing here? I told you. I would be back after I had done with him.
Pathos however couldn't believe his words as much as he wanted to. He knew what he saw. If Ruem fought against that man alone...
The thought alone was too much for even Pathos to bear.
«Pathos» No!
That "no" alone carried more weight than Ruem could ever fathom. His voice trembled as his eyes watered.
«Pathos» No. I can't leave you here alone, Let me help you. I beg of you.
Ruem's hand unconsciously reached for Pathos's, but he stopped before he could grasp it. With that same hand he reached for the broken boards on top of him.
«Pathos» Let me help!
Pathos reached to help but Ruem put his hand up to stop him, for some reason those words alone seemed to have damaged him more than the damage he suffered in battle.
«Ruem» I can do it alone, don't you worry. A couple of planks aren't what's going to stop me.
After that statement he removed each individual broken piece of wood one by one while Pathos stood there against his own wishes. But after Ruem had removed the fourth piece Pathos couldn't help himself and decided to help.
«Ruem» You really don't listen do you?
His tone shifted to its jokeful one as if he wanted to reassure Pathos that he was alright.
But the boy didn't even answer, nor did he look him in the eye as he removed each plank. Ruem almost looked… Troubled. He never saw Pathos this serious about something, his frantic smile quickly faded once he noticed it as he finally freed himself from the planks.
Pathos pulled him up as Ruem gazed into his bloodied face.
«Ruem» What the hell happened to you?
Pathos and Ruem exchanged glances and Pathos opened his mouth to speak before getting interrupted by someone's voice.
«???» Another flame?
Both of them turn towards the voice. ending their conversation earlier.
«???» Thy flame shineeth the most, amongst the two.
Their strange way of speaking surprised Pathos, but amongst that cold and deadly tone something in his voice seemed familiar.
A voice he never heard. Seemed familiar? His was one of the many voices he had heard in that vision, everything was still unclear to Pathos yet his body began to tremble at his tone.
As if his body remembered his fate despite the mind being clouded by a fog of forgotten. Something about this stranger made his body shake uncontrollably.
Ruem tapped Pathos's shoulder twice, as he passed by him to face the stranger who just came out of that cloud of smoke.
«Ruem» Could you speak properly? I can barely understand a word of what you say.
However the stranger's eyes stood fixated on Pathos. His gaze lingered towards his heart, where both soul and Prometeo reside. His mouth never opened to replay.
Pathos gazed into the stranger's eyes. His memory was still hazy yet something about the unnerving shape of the man's pupil…
A shiver ran down his spine. The stranger's eyes burned crimson, their pupils shaped like a rhombus.
«Ruem» Gotta admit this guy packs a punch.
Ruem fixed his coat as he gently rubbed his own chest, in doing so a pain scorched in his chest that made him mumble "ow".
«Pathos» Ruem please i need to know who this guy is?
Pathos made his way to Ruem's side prepared to fight the anomaly in front of them. In that instant Ruem noticed his determination and will to fight, despite his body that showed the exact opposite. That made him smile
«Ruem» You know Pathos. You never fail to surprise me. Up until this point you made me realize how much you continue to fight despite everything you have been through.
«Pathos» Save it for later, we have someone to fight.
«Ruem» I hope you will comprehend my actions.
Before Pathos could turn to Ruem a wormhole formed under Pathos's feet.
Pathos fell into the wormhole, clawing desperately for Ruem. Why fight alone? Does he know something about the stranger that he had failed to realize?
«Ruem» You can't die here, you still have someone to save.
His body fell deeper into the wormhole as Ruem gazed forward to face that man.
Pathos reached for the wormhole's edge to pull himself up, but each instance the wormhole grew bigger and bigger, which made it impossible for Pathos to grasp.
As his head fully submerged to the other side. Someone grabbed his wrist catching him mid-fall.
His touch was cold like the corpse of a rotten body. Unlike Ruem's.
As Pathos gazed toward the man who had taken a hold of his wrist, his eyes trembled in fear as they spotted those very same crimson eyes that struck terror on his instinct.
«???» Thy presence is familiar
The stranger pulled Pathos out of that wormhole as Ruem watched in shock at his speed.
Pathos' eyes never faltered from the stranger's out of fear of death as if the slightest movement could get himself killed. There was no declaration from the stranger himself, yet his own mind recalled an instant similar to this.
The way he was being held in the air by one arm, the very same way both of them gazed at one another. The very same way his heart was ripped out of his chest.
Those instances cleared that fog of unknown. There was more to that vision than what recalled, a sensation of Deja-vu. Finally he remembered everything. Ruem's burned corpse, Jhoel's chest impaled by an arm and the way the stranger held out Pathos's heart after he tore it from his body.
That was his fate. That very same fate he wanted to avoid at all cost was repeating once more.
In that instance, Pathos froze, sweat ran down his forehead as every image cleared itself. Now he knew who the stranger was. A demon. A demon that desperately wanted answers about his forgotten memory. Just then the stranger spoke once more.
«???» Who is thee.
Just as he foretold that demon asked the very same questions he had asked him in that broken future.
Without answering. Pathos punched him straight in the face in hope that he would release him. But his very skin felt like steel, that punch dealt more damage to Pathos than to him.
The demon appeared to be unbothered by his behaviour and simply moved on to the next question.
«???» doth thou know who i am
All the strength that Pathos displayed against the thieves, felt null against this wall.
He punched again and again. to the eyes of Pathos, he was death incarnated. But the more jabs he threw the more he ended up hurting himself.
The demon moved on to the next question.
«???» Why doth thou refuseth to listen?
Pathos began to cry. Powerless against this monster, powerless to save Ruem and Jhoel, powerless to save himself. And now that future was going to repeat itself
His hand began to bleed as he relentlessly smashed his fist against the demon, who didn't even budge. Because he already knew what statement would come after this.
The demon opened his mouth to speak yet again. This time however he was unable to even muster a word, Ruem uppercutted the demon's jaw which made his head snap back. In that instant Ruem grabbed Pathos and followed up his uppercut with a punch to the cheek sending the crimson demon on the ground.
Ruem quickly threw himself and Pathos into a wormhole giving them some distance, Ruem slowly let go of Pathos whose body fell on his knees. Ruem shook his hands after he too had hurt himself in the process
Pathos's gaze laid still as his breath quickened. His own hand reached out to grasp his own heart.
«Ruem» Pathos you noticed it too right? He isn't human. Damn it Pathos, I didn't want to involve you in this. I didn't even want you to find out who he is. Why couldn't you—
His speech got interrupted by the shaken voice of Pathos.
«Pathos» I didn't want you to die. I didn't want to lose someone again. He would have come for me even if I had listened to your words. If I run, you, Jhoel and I are going to die!
«Ruem» What are you talking about? You know I wouldn't lose to someone like him
«Pathos» Liar! Liar! Liar! You made me believe this was a battle you could take alone.
Now that Pathos had regained his full memories of the future he knew that all the mighty words that Ruem spoke of were just lies.
Ruem's words rang in his head.
"I don't want you wasting time here to fight"
"I want to set that mindset straight."
"I can do it alone, don't you worry."
Pathos clenched his teeth as the truth surfaced, ugly and undeniable. Ruem had never meant to win. Every promise, every confident smile, every careless word—meant to keep Pathos away.
To keep him safe.
Pathos's hands trembled. He didn't want that kind of salvation. Not again. Never again.
This very moment not only reminded Pathos of his own father, who gave up his spot to Pathos so that he could search for Pathos's mother but the future too, where Pathos found Ruem's burning corpse fade into ash leaving behind only his clothes.
«Pathos» I can't stand here doing nothing. Waiting for somebody else to save me while others dissipate into ashes.
In between those sentences he smashed his fist on the ground out of anger. His bloodied fist stained the ground like a canvas. His bones were about to crack like twigs smashed against a rock.
«Pathos» I won't let that happen. I can't let that happen. I refuse to be useless!
Ruem looked at him admiring his determination despite the clear difference in strength. Despite that Ruem still wanted to save Pathos but deep down he knew that Pathos would come back despite the monster upfront.
«Ruem» Alright then. I heard enough. If i can't beat him alone then perhaps with your lightning powers we could actually beat this guy.
Ruem held out his hand to Pathos, the very same way Pathos held his hand to him. Pathos's eyes sparkled as tears continued to cascade. A smile formed on his face as he happily replied with a nod.
Pathos gripped Ruem's hand with force, no. With hope, that his intervention could change the outcome.
As he got up with the help of Ruem but. His nose began to bleed once more. As part of the ritual the kindled-eyes opened as it revealed the future once more. Ruem, who had never seen the actual eyes of the kindled-eyes, remained astonished.
The eyes whatsoever did not stare blankly as they did last time, no. The very moment the eyelid opened, their gaze was already fixated on Ruem's eyes.
Ruem felt those eyes pierce his very soul as if judging him, they did not speak, yet they were able to tell words by just a look.
Pathos suddenly pushed Ruem out of the way and as he landed on the ground, a wall of purple divided the two.
As the flames stood in front of Pathos his mind began to tremble once more, but amongst that confusion he noticed something. About the flames in front of him.
Those were not just flames. For it did not emanate any kind of heat. Nor it scorched the ground.
It was then that Pathos witnessed the multiple faces living within the wall of fire. They were damned souls made into flame. Each tongue of fire was a hand reaching out, pleading for help. The wall's resonance was nothing but cries of pain, their voices reduced to whispers, barely audible.
That wall finally dissipated and so did the cries.
The kindled-eyes closed after fulfilling their duty. Leaving behind a nauseous Pathos, his vision blurred once more as he tried to adjust to the present.
«???» Thy flame sparked brighter for a second. Who art thee.
It was clear to Pathos. Those purple flames he saw earlier melting the barrier away were because of this demon. Those were his flames.
Pathos' eyes lingered forward for a moment as his mind slowly adjusted once more. His nose gushed more blood; that vision didn't just wound his emotions—it damaged his mind itself, which was unable to sustain this amount of information in the span of a second.
A second in the present was equal to two days trapped in that broken future. Therefore, his mind couldn't simply handle that amount of memories.
With a shattered mind whatsoever, Pathos gazed toward the demon whose eyes never shifted from his heart.
The arm from which he had shot the flames had become a gaping mouth, split lengthwise all the way up to his shoulder. Its teeth were all canine—wolf-like at a glance, yet grotesquely wrong in their arrangement. Saliva poured from it, dripping onto the ground like rain, the mouth itself seeming to hunger for flesh.
His eyes shifted out of anger toward this monster; not once but twice was he subjected to live a life where his attempt to save the other failed miserably.
He screamed in anger as his body prepared to move, running toward his enemy.
Ruem quickly called out to Pathos to stop his mounting rage.
«Ruem» Pathos—don't!
But he didn't listen; his mind was clouded by agony and pain. His body enhanced his strength with electricity as he ran forward, his fist raised, loaded with all his rage and anger.
In an instant, Pathos had reached the demon, ready to unleash all his might.
Crack!
Someone's bones got shattered by that powerful impact.
And those bones belonged to Pathos's own hand. The fingers crumpled inward under their own force, some bursting through his flesh, stretching out as if to embrace the wind. His hand was drowned in blood within seconds.
The pain that surged through Pathos's hand was surreal; his hand felt like it was engulfed in flames. No—like his hand was trapped in lava.
Pathos screamed for his broken hand while Ruem watched from the sidelines in horror. He didn't expect Pathos to go this far just to hurt that demon. Never in his life had he seen someone filled with this much anger toward someone.
The demon's chest, however, was simply bruised by that impact. Pathos had failed yet again; blinded by rage, he had completely destroyed his hand beyond repair.
«???» What a foolish attempteth. Thy punches hold nay force against I
The mouth-like arm turned toward Pathos as it lunged toward him to munch onto his shoulder and arm.
«Ruem» Pathos!
Ruem quickly got up as he reached his hand toward that mouth-arm. In that instant, Ruem tried to form a wormhole to stop that arm, but he intervened a moment too late.
The time it would take to make a wormhole in that instance was impossible, and he knew that.
Ruem watched in defeat as the mouth-arm bit down on Pathos's shoulder, each tooth punctured like a blade scraping against his bones, until a surge of electricity tore through it, stopping it from devouring him completely.
A hand placed onto the side of the demon—Pathos's left hand. Despite his broken right hand and teeth that pierced his right shoulder, he had managed to force himself to place that hand, which forcefully released electricity into the demon's body.
Pathos had figured something out. He knew he didn't have the physical prowess to actually damage him. His first punch was a distraction for his real plan—a plan that didn't involve him shattering his own hand, but rage had taken hold of him.
He remembered how Ruem suffered through his sparks and how they hurt him on the inside.
And that was the key to Pathos's plan.
If something has a shell capable of blocking anything in its way, that means the only way to damage the inside would be to either forcefully enter that shell and damage its contents or create an attack that bypasses that shell's defences.
And his electricity was capable of bypassing his hard skin.
More and more electricity surged onto the demon's body while he grunted in pain. His mouth-arm couldn't sustain its form.
Slowly, those teeth morphed into bones.
Every change in the structure of that mouth cracked as his sharp teeth turned into bones. His overall mouth either stretched his skin to the point where it tore or molded with the other to go back to its original shape. Every vein disconnected and reformed until finally it returned back into an arm.
Pathos's swollen eyes stared directly at those of the creature that stood in front of him. His cries blinded his sight yet he couldn't care less.
«Pathos» Suffer!
Electricity roared through the demon as Pathos unleashed Prometeo, punishing him for the destruction of the barrier and actions towards those close to him.
«Pathos» Atone!
Another round of sparks burned the demon's flesh like fire. He wanted to make him suffer for every death he would have caused.
«Pathos» BECOME ASH!
This third call of the Prometeo entangled the demon's body in so much electricity that even his body was incapable of containing such power. Bolts came out of the demon, roaring as they searched for something else to latch onto. Ground, stands, and even houses weren't safe from their rumble.
Pathos had finally discovered a way to defeat this abnormality, and he was ready to use any means necessary to buy time for That person to rescue him.
And if time was what he needed. He would spend every last drop of his Prometeo until he became nothing but a husk.