The Game Before the Fall

Chapter 70: The end of his world. (Part 1)

Chapter 70: The end of his world.

The darkness became light and without warning I appeared in another space. The women dressed in black let me go and stepped away. I was in a sealed space, a room of stone. The floor was a single smooth slab of polished rock. The walls, spread far and wide accommodating the single object within its centre. It was an enormous sphere. At first, I thought it was the same. The same sphere that stood in the room that I died, the room where we had died. As my eyes adjusted however, I saw the difference. The sphere I had seen was perfectly smooth but this one was not. Instead, it was made of thousands of hexagonal plates all connected together across its entire surface.

"Where am I?" I asked and the women turned. She was about to answer but paused as I felt something spill from my mouth. I looked down to see a bright blue liquid dripping down. In a sudden burst it flew from my mouth and I felt my entire body shake and snap. I fit the floor. My bones cracked all at once as my muscles swelled only to deflate. Everything became blurry and a sense of dread filled my stomach.

"How foolish," the women looked down at me as shrivelled. "To eat not one, but two of the World's Seeds. You are lucky Ardent of another world, had I not been here, your life would be forfeit." She reached forward and simply flicked my forehead. Immediately my body turned back to normal.

I wretched as dust coughed from my mouth and struggled to get my breathing in order, but all in all, I felt fine.

"Thank you," I spoke as I wiped my mouth, cleaning off the dust and bile.

"Hmm," she stood, regarding me and nothing more. "To answer your earlier question you are present to the core of the world. As for your undoubted next question, I am the Witch of the End."

"You're Aria?" I stood up and already knew the answer. Though her presence felt the same, her demeanour was entirely different.

"I do not know this Aria, but I will be clear, I am not her. I assume she is your Witch of the End," she continued to speak with a cold tone, as if indifferent to even her own words.

"Yes, she's also my sister."

For a moment her eyes widened, "Your sister? That is impossible."

"Yeah, I've been told that before," I rolled my arms, working out the kinks of my body as I took in more of the room. It seemed like we were alone with the World's Core. "So why did you bring me here? I'm not sure you noticed, but you interrupted a tender moment."

"I noticed. The Ardent I was seeking was dead. A shame. He was a talented individual." The Witch again observed me, "Although it appears you may be even more talented."

"What makes you say that?"

"The Ardent I knew could use the Void. But you, the Void breathes through you."

I was remined of my mother's words but kept quiet about them. My gut was telling me something was off about this Witch of the End.

She continued, "As for why I brought you here, it was to honour the deal between Ardent and I. He did the World a favour. He challenged the trials to reach the World's Core and defeated the demons seeking to destroy it. To reward him I gave him a chance to find a solution, to send him to other universes to seek an answer. Instead, he died, and you are here."

I felt a sudden weight press down on me, this world's Ardent died and I was to replace him. My nerves shook not knowing if I could.

"And if your Ardent couldn't find a solution, what then?" I asked tenderly.