TBATE - To fulfill a promise

Prologue

ARTHUR

"Hurry through the portal!" I roared as the three of them ran past me.

Tess turned back, facing me as she continued racing for the portal. "What about you?"

"I have my own medallion. I'll meet you back at the shelter with Sylvie. Now go !"

"Grey! You can't do this to me, not again!" Elijah shouted from above, desperately trying to get here in time. "Not after what you did to me and Cecilia!"

Elijah's words struck like thunder, and I almost let him get to the portal.

With aether under my command, I closed the distance, just as he was about to fire a black spear at the gate, and intercepted him.

Wounded and tired, Elijah wasn't a match anymore while I was in this state.

I gripped his neck and squeezed just hard enough so he could barely talk.

"How do you know that name?" I growled.

"Looks like you're finally...sober," he gasped. "If you weren't...under the influence of that power that's...killing you right now, you might've already figured it out."

I squeezed harder, making him gag, before loosening my grip. "Who are you?"

Elijah spat on my face before smiling, revealing his blood-stained teeth. "I was your best... friend, and the one whose fiancée you killed in front of me."

My grip loosened and I felt my strained heart clutch. My mind swam and my entire body felt like it was submerged in tar. My throat tightened and choked as it tried to keep me from muttering the single word that pressed against my brain like a smoldering brand.

"Nico?"

TESSIA ERALITH

"Nico?"

A mixture of goosebumps and deja vu was the only thing I felt when Arthur said that name. The old friend that goes by a name that is eerily striking facial features almost seemed to change in recognition as unknowing memories surged through my brain. The ground rumbled as flashes of gold and black appeared in my vision from Sylvie and the scythe fight, but they only resounded in the background as I stared at the two.

"I-It can't... no, it's impossible. There's no way... " Arthur denied.

"That I'm...Nico?" Elijah coughed as he pried Art's fingers apart just enough so he could speak. "If you've reincarnated into this world, Grey, why is it impossible for anyone else to as well?"

Confusion, deja vu, recognition, and goosebumps gradually increased at the name Grey. But it wasn't the time to dwell on those thoughts.

The hand currently wrapped around Elijah trembled uncontrollably. Art squeezed harder as the black lightning tendrils that covered his hand began to shake erratically, almost seeming to represent his denial.

The ground parted away to let the black metallic spike move through it. "Art! Watch out!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Unfortunately, my warning was too late as he couldn't fully dodge Elijah's spell. Arthur's hand grip loosened as Elijah took advantage of it by punching him square in the jaw with a hellfire-clad fist. Elijah grabbed his collar as another spike was ready to launch at him, the tip already pointed at his head.

I screamed at the sight of mana leaking throughout my whole body. The immature mana channels began to strain as I prepared an attack, "Focus on the gate!" Arthur's warning made me halt the spell I was about to launch.