30 Days | (ONC 2022) ✓

Chapter 23: Is It Time to Say Goodbye?

December 3, 00XX

Ythyr lounged in the tent, his feet dangling from his seat as he devoured the contents of Azaroth's journal. It suddenly appeared after they fixed the glass pane fully. He waited for Elliot to return to tell him about his dream. The tent flap opened, and Ythyr opened one eye.

"Ah! You're back," he said with glee. Elliot entered the tent and Ythyr didn't notice the solemn expression on his face. Ythyr called for the parrot to fly to his shoulder. "I saw your letter last night, sorry I wasn't there. Look I found Master's journal, I can't wait to try new spells out. Also, I came looking for your parrot. I knew you'd want him back." He raised his brow at Elliot's lack of enthusiasm.

Elliot walked over to the chair and sat down. Ythyr's gaze followed him as he moved.

"Ythyr... I—" Elliot sighed.

"What's wrong?" asked Ythyr, looking up at Elliot. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"I have," said Elliot, trying not to let his voice crack. "You're not going to like this."

______________________________________

The angels descended from the sky.

Elliot jumped, he didn't expect the dream to start off from the war immediately. He saw himself stand beside Azaroth and the other camp leaders.

Azaroth acted as their grand commander and charged to the frontlines. The demons charged and Elliot followed and clashed blades with the angels.

"You're nothing more than a traitor, we trusted you!"

Elliot felt his back crawl, he remembered the same words they said to him last time. Even just watching himself made him uncomfortable, he kept looking behind himself at his comrades. Despite being invisible, he felt like he was being watched, he looked up into the sky. There were hundreds of angels flying around them. His stomach churned as he remembered their glares and dead bodies.

A wave of nausea came over him but he continued to watch. Memory Elliot didn't hesitate in battle, he swung his sword around and cut down one after another.

Then suddenly, the world turned black.

Real Elliot turned around and saw Azaroth's body floating above them. His eyes flowed with different colors of light and a white flame blazed covering his entire body like an aura. He chanted as sigils and enchantments etched into the air, glowing a bright yellow. Azaroth's raised his hand and a blast of lightning shot toward the angels. Elliot was mesmerized by its beauty and power, then the ground started to shake.

The earth cracked open and Elliot could see the fires of hell below. Flames flew out and tornadoes spun around the area. Elliot looked up again and saw that hundreds of angels had fallen to the ground. Their wings burnt. Some tried to get up and fly away but they fell straight back down. The demons charged forward, as he followed them.

The skies began to thunder and lightning struck down the battlefield, he could hear the screams of agony. Elliot's eyes widened in amazement, he'd never seen anything so powerful.

Memory Elliot smiled and pulled back his sword. Their side was holding off pretty well and he began to hope. At this rate, they might just win the war.

The sound of brass horns blaring was quick to put out that thought. The angels stopped their pursuit.

"The arrows..." Real Elliot whispered. It came raining down and a strong shockwave rippled through the air as it blew away the arrows. He looked back to see Ythyr levitating beside Azaroth. Memory Elliot was too busy to even notice Ythyr's power.