Ah, yes. Part 5 of Fading Lights. The last part of the first season.
Let's end it off with a bang, shall we?
After the unfortunate turn of events a few days ago, Jura finds himself in a different area than he's used to and will meet new friend...
(I should stop marking stuff, it's all NSFL. Marking that makes me seem as if I'm some sort of psychopath)
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As I was making my way down the side of the cliff to the person, I noticed that it was indeed Hero, but he wasn't pregnant anymore seemingly...? Or rather, his baby bump was gone. I frowned worriedly and stopped next to him, taking a good look. Judging by his wounds, which looked... quite a bit brutal. There was blood everywhere. Bite wounds, scratches, bruises and broken bones littered his body. His spine seemed to be ripped apart as well, judging by how he was hanging. There were rips in his neck and backside. Some vines were tangled around his limbs, but mainly his neck. A small sigh escaped me and I glanced up. "How the hell am I supposed to save him? He's completely entangled." "Don't you have a knife down there? Or does he have one?" I couldn't identify the voice at all, so I just replied. "I don't know, I'll check." That I did. I didn't have one on me, buuut Hero had one on his belt. So I reached over to grab it. Before I could react he suddenly gripped my arm, looked at me with a grin, and sliced my rope through. The reaction was immediate. I fell, and since he had his grip around my arm, he fell too. The fall took a few seconds, spent with us both in complete silence. I was just shocked that Hero was even awake, and able to grip me like that. This wasn't some limp ass grip... My glance went over to Hero, who didn't really show much reaction at all. Seems like it was never meant to be... I would laugh if I could. But even now, I couldn't. My limbs woke up from their trance, so in pure reaction I gripped him and pulled him close. He visibly tensed up, but couldn't react anymore. My body hit the rocks hard, cushioning Hero's fall. The impact was brutal, the agony tho didn't come at first. Only when I noticed that we were both stuck on a sharp rock at the bottom of the cliff, having been impaled by it, the pain started to rise in me. Guts and blood covered the rock and the ground good a meter beneath us. I remembered the situation where Hero got impaled by a tree, this feels similar to that time... My heart sunk as I realized that. With one attempt I have murdered us both, and that without planning that. A whimper escaped my throat as Hero went limp on me. I barely managed to raise my arms for a hug, wrapping them around his mangled body. With that, I closed my eyes, letting out a shaky sigh. I'm sorry, small one. This is my fault. I shouldn't have talked out your secrets like this. I passed out, not noticing a thing.
(A while later) This is... odd... I woke up in a small room, pretty dark and boring... Sitting up on the bed my body was placed on, I took in my surroundings. I remember Nightmare having mentioned this place... It was a small room made of stone bricks and a bed. Someone knocked on the door, making me look up from my arms, covered in black runes. Pietro stuck his head in to the room, surprised. "Eh? What are you doing here?", he asked, confused. I rubbed my hands a small bit in nervousness. "I suppose I have died.", I answered. Pietro still stared at me before eventually clearing his throat and standing up straight, opening the door. "That explains why Hero is here too.", he muttered and showed me to follow him. I got up and did so, uneasy. "What is this place? This doesn't look like the judgement hall I know.", I asked him. Pietro, who I now only noticed wearing a similar robe to the guy at the cliff, a black robe with purple stitching, started to grin. "Welcome to the Hall of Realms! The judgement part of it, that is!", he introduced with a big grin. "Usually only Nightmare and very few others come here, and it's rare that I'm informed, not Scotty. I'm the judge, so that is a bit odd to me. Seemingly you did something great tho right before your death, mate!" I hesitated a bit. "I killed Hero and myself by trying to save him.", I muttered. He needed a few moments. "Usually heroes don't come here, that's odd. Unless they did something much worse, like murder. But your runes show that you aren't a killer, you're a hero. So that's really confusing and doesn't add up...", he explained, thinking. "Well, I'm the judge, so I'll have to handle that, alongside the others that is. But that's your first time here, isn't it? You don't seem familiar with this place. Which judgement did you come from? Ciatica? Lowsome?", he eventually asked me before grinning. "I bet it's lowsome, they have the handsome kinda guys!" I scratched the back of my neck, embarrassed. "Thank you for the compliment, but... No. I come from TWOR." He paused a bit at that before frowning. Eventually tho he shook his head a bit as if throwing that thought out of the window. "Well, heard TWOR is a nice place too. Only one of the three there is a bastard towards us realms, but I'm not one to judge another judge.", Pietro mumbled before opening a door for me. "Well, anyway. Here we are, the judgement hall. Sadly there is no Manticore that can prepare you for what's about to happen." I entered the hall, uneasy before stopping dead in my tracks. There was no ceiling, so I could easily see the stars and the darkness of space. Space...? We're all the way in the stars? The walls had parts missing, intentionally left out to give the illusion of a crumbling, ancient hall. I could see planets and star clusters, the sun was far in the distance, not more than a medium sized, glowing ball of plasma. I kinda just stared as Pietro walked past me, mouth a bit open. He gently closed it for me and giggled. "Welcome to my home, Jaylord. It is an honor to have you here."
