"Ah... ah... " In the lifeless wasteland, only the sound of raspy breathing could be heard, reflecting the exhaustion experienced by the only living thing for miles. No corpse or other living creature could be seen, for, except for him, everything was razed to the ground during the battle.
The man stood leaning on what was his spear, which was destroyed in the fight, and yet he was only standing because of his tenacity imprinted in his bones. But just like everyone else, he has a limit; the man fell. He had won the battle by sacrificing his entire being and had no strength left to stand.
However, he did not lose consciousness; he had yet to discover why these beings came to his world and he felt that the answer existed in the surroundings. Looking through his limited vision, all he could see was a desolate wasteland. Due to exhaustion, he could see no further. However, there was no doubt that it was the same scene.
This made him question whether he was in the right place and doubt the sacrifices he had made to get there. He was exhausted, and felt the urge to bite his tongue to end his suffering. There was nothing to live for; his family, friends, all had died, and there was no place to return to.
He just wanted to put an end to this nightmare; he had won the battle but he had lost the war, he had lost everything, even the one pillar that had kept him sane during all these years of loneliness. And yet, that same pillar was the one that kept him from giving up.
Suddenly, a tremor occurred and he could see a structure emerge from the earth, where before there was nothing; there lay a crystal temple that seemed to exist between the material and the ethereal. Regaining hope of discovering the reason he fought for so many years, he tried to get back on his feet, which he found an almost impossible task, but having the end so near, he got up.
Then he began to walk using the broken spear as a cane. His steps faltered, but he slowly walked towards the temple. Arriving halfway, his legs gave way and he fell again, this time he could no longer feel them, but he followed the path crawling with his hands slowly until he reached the temple.
His hands were covered in blood and his arms were trembling, but he gathered his remaining will and did not give in, reaching the foot of the temple where stairs carved like diamonds lay in front of him. Exhaustion was overpowering him and he was losing consciousness. Still, he had never asked the gods for help, knowing it would be in vain. When mankind needed them most, they turned their backs on him. he knew his prayers would be in vain and he had to do things in his own strength.
Having rested for a few seconds, maybe more, he could not make it out; his consciousness was blurred, threatening to fade at any moment. He slowly climbed one step at a time, crawling. It felt like hours climbing the steps; when he almost made it to the top of the temple, a light that illuminated the whole world began to emerge.
He thought it was dawn, but his instincts told him that there was something wrong, that there was something that was strange. After a while, he felt a shiver throughout his body, which contrasted with the warm light that bathed him. He realized that the direction of the light, from what he assumed was the sun, was the same direction it was hidden by a few hours ago; his consciousness may be blurred, but his directional sense was always one of his strong suits, thus causing him to resume his attempt to reach the top of the temple, sensing that whatever that light was, it was not good news for him. As he climbed, the surroundings grew brighter and a sense of urgency washed over him, causing him to grit his teeth until blood gushed from his gums.
The man managed to climb the stairs and at the top, a few feet away, he saw an orb that looked like a crystal or diamond and changed color depending on the angle. He continued crawling and as he felt an invisible pressure, the man could not help but look into the light and distinguish some silhouettes approaching towards him. At that moment, a thought of realization formed in his mind. He realized a truth he would rather not have known and it filled him with anger.
He kept crawling and his decaying body did not respond as he wanted, and although he was less than two meters from the orb, he felt that he would not get there before the owners of that light. As his fingertips were about to touch the orb, he felt a presence above him and a euphoric laugh was heard.
"Ha-ha-ha!".
his laughter was a celebration of victory, a symphony of happiness and achievement. Ignoring him like a little insect that didn't deserve his attention. The man realized the veracity of his thoughts and, completely exhausted, he barely managed to graze the orb before surrendering to the inevitable.
With his strength depleted, all that remained for him to think about was the failure of the promise he had made and the inevitability of death. Despite having exhausted all his strength, an uncontrollable rage overcame him. In a hoarse voice, he shouted with all his remaining energy:
"WHY, WHY, WHY are you doing this to us, if there was no chance from the beginning, why the hell did I keep going, why did I keep fighting, why so many sacrifices, damn it, just why, what's the point of it all?".
His cries were a torrent of emotions accumulated over the years: despair, helplessness and an anger that burned from deep within him that made him say something he would never say but his anger was so great that he swore.
"If there is any God, a God who is on our side, and even if my existence is reduced to nothing, I offer it to you for this one sincere plea in my life. Please don't let this happen don't let them accomplish their goal I beg you take all I have left!" At that moment, his emotions consumed him, and his voice rang out with a mixture of desperation and determination, like a piercing cry in the midst of darkness desperately seeking a miracle.
But as if betraying his hopes or rather as expected, the only thing he could hear was the voice of the one who was laughing a few moments ago: "Pathetic human, your pleas are useless, there is no god on your side.
But since you got rid of that nuisance, I'll give you a quick death," he said in a mocking tone as he prepared to take his life. The man in his last moments could see his life flash before his eyes: his friends, lovers and those he considered family who died; everything he wanted to protect and failed. In his eyes his partner's last moments were reflected. 'I'm sorry, I couldn't make it, I couldn't keep our promise, I couldn't live as you wanted. In the end, I only found despair. I'm sorry, if there is a next time, we will be together until the end.'
Slowly he closed his eyes and his world was left in darkness. At that moment, he heard a voice that could be considered somewhat emotionless.
[[A POSSIBILITY HAS BEEN FOUND, INITIATING SYNCHRONIZATION]].
He couldn't understand what the robotic voice was talking about and he didn't care; he just wanted to die and escape this reality.
[[LOADING DATA, MEASURING CHANCES OF SUCCESS, 0.021%. PARAMETERS TOO LOW, LOOKING FOR SOLUTION. SOLUTION FOUND, INITIATING GAIA SYSTEM, INITIATION COMPLETE, INCREASING CHANCES, PARAMETERS TOO LOW, LOOKING FOR SOLUTION. SOLUTION FOUND, INITIATING DATA TRANSFER]].
The voice stopped sounding. '[P-please...y-you are the last...hope]''. He thought he heard something else, but thought it was just his imagination, thus letting go of his consciousness in the darkness.
'So this is the afterlife.' he thought as he contemplated the absolute darkness around him; he didn't even know if his eyes were open or closed. Thinking that at last he could rest, he let his body, or what he felt was his body, drift in this infinite darkness, but as if not to let him rest in peace, a light invaded the darkness, 'Damn I can't even die in peace 'he thought And just then. He felt that in this light there was One last chance, a thread of light in the midst of darkness, a chance for redemption or an even more uncertain fate. Uncertainty enveloped him as the light slowly absorbed him, leaving his everything in the hands of fate.
YOU ARE READING
Dawn Architect
Fantasy"Why struggle, you ask? What drives people forward, what is valuable enough for one's will to prevail? Have you ever stopped to reflect on the weight of your decisions, on the exact moment when things began to fall apart? You may never know where yo...
