Shattered

The Capital Burns - 4

The forest's trees were exceptionally thick, allowing only a meager amount of moonlight to shine through gaps in leaves and splash across the ground. The wind which knew only silence whistled and blew. The quiet atmosphere and the gentle breeze, along with the pale light, gave the forest an enchanting look.

However, no one would dare to stop in the forest to admire this look. For this seemingly peaceful place was the Great Jura Forest. It was filled with dangerous monsters, having herculean strength capable of giving even veteran adventurers a run for their money.

Tonight was no different. Monsters of all kinds roamed the forest. Most were stealth predators that lurked in the shadows, waiting for an unsuspecting creature to appear. And there was indeed such an unsuspecting creature in the forest. However, while it might be unsuspecting, it was by no means weak.

Even just the garments it wore were unique-grade; the sword hanging on hips was legendary-grade. However, just a single glance at the creature's outfit would reveal the fact that it had no sense of style. It's clothes were a chaotic combination of many colours; some contrasting sharply against each other. Similarly chaotic patterns were visible on its robe that had a bright long ribbon at the waist. It also wore fluffy gloves and pointed boots.

But what was perhaps most peculiar about the creature was it's mask. It could be described in one word: eerie. The asymmetrical smile, coupled with glowing red dots that were perhaps meant to represent eyes, gave it a sneering look.

Contrary to the expression on the mask, the creature's face beneath was fixed in a smile. He was in an extremely good mood, for today would be the day their life-long mission would be completed.

Ah, but this is no time to be slothful! I must display diligence worthy of a herald.

Thinking so, the creature sneaked its hand - covered with a fluffy glove - into one of the pockets in its robe. After fishing around for a bit, the creature withdrew its hand, pulling out a plain black book the size of a pocket dictionary. Neither a title nor an author's name was written on it's dark cover.

The creature flipped through the pages with barely concealed excitement. It let out androgynous giggles, and it's left leg repeatedly lowered and rose up in excitement.

After three seconds of flipping, the creature stopped at a particular page. It's smile grew even wider. If an outsider were to observe the creature, they would be very puzzled. Why?

Because the page was empty.

The creature kept staring in anticipation. One minute passed. Then five. Then ten. Finally, at the fifteen minute mark, a single dot appeared on the top left corner of the page. The dot turned into a letter, the letter into word, the word into a sentence and soon the page was being filled with text, as if someone invisible was writing it.

The creature, after reading three lines, had already guessed what the rest of the contents would be. Even though the words were still flowing, the creature closed the book and tossed it aside without a care, for he already knew the words being written, and as thus reading it still would be a waste of time. Time he did not have. Time was precious.

It was almost ironic. Millions of years had passed by in the blink of an eye, and now that it was the time to complete their mission, it wished to savor every moment.

Just then, a thunderous roar echoed out within the capital of the Empire. The roar was music to the creature. It signified the completion of their duty.

With it's smile taking a more sinister form, the dark clown immediately rushed towards its destination.

Meanwhile, the book it had thrown was laying on the ground, beneath the cover of a large tree. The page that the dark clown was reading was now visible for the whole world to see. Written beneath the block of text on the previously empty page was a single paragraph written in bold: