A QUEST OF DEATH : Dawning Darkness

INTERLUDE: Burn

The world around her was ablaze, the fierce flames of Crepesculem licking the air with unbridled fury, reaching higher as if determined to consume the heavens themselves.

The sacred grounds were reduced to a smoldering battlefield, blackened and broken, the remnants of what had once been their sanctuary together now nothing but ashes and ruin. Ada sat in the heart of it, crumpled, her body twisted in pain, a crimson stain spreading across her side where Gan's blade had cut deep.

She gasped for air, each breath a knife in her chest, each movement a reminder of her betrayal—no, their betrayal. Her fingers, trembling and blood-stained, reached instinctively to the wound, pressing down as if she could staunch the agony spreading inside her. But it wasn't just the wound; it was everything. It was the memory of the kindness in his voice, the quiet warmth in his eyes when he used to speak her name. It was every word they'd once shared, every fleeting smile they'd given each other, every moment they'd held each other up when the world had tried to pull them down.

Gan, her savior. Gan, her friend. Gan, the only person she had ever trusted with her whole heart. And now... now he was her destroyer.

A bitter sob wrenched from her throat, her vision blurring with tears. How had it come to this? How had they fallen so far from the love, the trust, that had once bound them together?

She wanted to scream, to claw the memories out of her head, to forget the sweetness of his voice, the strength of his embrace, the nights she'd spent by his side, thinking there was no one in the world more worthy of her loyalty. How foolish, how devastatingly naïve she had been.

Her hand dropped to her side, the sword she'd used to fight him lying discarded at her feet. She couldn't even look at it, couldn't bear the sight of the weapon she'd raised against him. The thought curdled in her mind like poison—she had borne a sword against the one person she owed her life to.

She'd crossed a line she could never uncross, severed a bond that could never be mended, and all she was left with was the unbearable ache of it, the agony of knowing she'd lost him, truly, forever.

The fire crackled around her, the heat scorching her skin, but she couldn't move, couldn't find the will to rise. What was the point? Everything was gone. Everything that had once mattered had turned to ash around her, and all she had left was the hollow echo of his voice, the memory of his smile—things that would haunt her forever.

She could feel her strength slipping away, her body growing heavy, her mind sinking into a darkness that felt, for once, almost like a relief. Maybe it was better this way. Maybe she'd paid her dues, and now, finally, she could let go.

"Ada..."

A voice soft, almost a whisper, cut through the haze in her mind. She lifted her head, her vision swimming, and there, through the flames and the darkness, she saw him. Amber eyes, warm as ever, looking at her with something she hadn't felt in so long.

Worry. He must have been searching for her everywhere.

Relief. She was in one piece. A little tattered but she'd survive.

His gaze softened as it met hers, and in that fleeting moment, she thought she saw something she had missed in them, something she had failed to recognise. Something she longed for. Something she would cherish for the rest of her life.

The fear of abandonment dissolve into a tear slipped down her cheek, her lips parting in a trembling whisper she wasn't even sure he could hear.

She wanted to say something, to reach out, but her strength was gone, her body collapsing into the desperate pull of oblivion. She let her eyes close, his face the last image in her mind. Strangely so, a balm to her shattered heart.