My Throne of Light (Seven Knights Fanfiction)

Chapter 69: Owning the Darkness

"Your hand is so warm! It's unnaturally warm!"

He felt awake, but there was nothing around him. He did not feel anything: cold, warmth, or even the ground. He felt like he was floating and bodiless. It felt like he was nothing but his own consciousness.

However, there were voices around him, muffled and distracting. He could not make out most of them; that was the clearest one he could recall hearing.

Yet it felt so far into his memory. He wondered how long had it been since he last heard that voice. It sounded familiar- so familiar.

"Making yourself comfortable, aren't you?"

The voice came again with another vague statement. He did not know why it was embedded on his mind, or why he would remember this by then. All it mattered was that whoever spoke these words to him gave him warmth. Yes, it suddenly felt warmer; but he still felt hollow.

"Meeting you changed my life. Is it different with you?"

Instead of confusion, anger pulsated in his small consciousness. He recognized the voice spoke by the same person as before. However, he seemed to start feeling hatred towards the owner. He could not remember who it was, and yet, he was getting mad.

He could feel his heart beating again. It was erratic and alarming, but it was beating. He could hear the pounding of the chambers against the intangible cage of bone holding it. Blood rush was making him feel warmer, enough to feel alive.

"In an event that you'll lose yourself, I will save you."

Liar. It was the next word that came into his mind. He was starting to recall who owned the voice in his head. It was this man who called him friend and who pretended to help him. And yet he gave him up for the Goddess of Light to hide away forever.

"Even when the Goddess abandons you, I will still be there."

"Then where were you?" Kris whispered.

"He's gone. Your friend will never come."

The noble heard another voice in his head. Unlike the others, this one had clear words despite the first time he heard of it. It also seemed to talk to him directly. There was something else in there with him, and he felt obliged to know.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

"This is nothingness, Kris. You have given up life, and you will waste away as soon as you learn to forget." There was loud chuckling. "Your body does not belong to you anymore."

"My body?" He understood why he felt incomplete. "You have it?"

The other entity seemed to laugh again. "I own it now." It hummed. "I have to say; you are quite strong for a human to hold something like my power. Soon enough, I will be able to walk Ladenland freely- without ever needing to change bodies."

"Are you" -the human craved to move despite having no physical body- "the God of Destruction?"

"Would you prefer that, puny human?"

Kris failed to hold back his ridiculing chuckle. "Then what are you? The Darkness?"

The entity chuckled darkly, its voice fading out Kris' earshot. Soon, he was not able to hear anything else. No murmuring voices, no notable promises. He was alone in a place he cannot see or feel anything- but anger.

Despite the talk with the entity, he could still feel the hatred towards the friend he thought he had. Kris wanted to move around yet he was unsure how he would in such a surreal plane. He was like a thought going around someone else' mind.

"Kris" -the entity came back- "why do you even try so hard? Even if you live through this- through me- nothing is waiting for you. Nothing worthwhile." It laughed. "The demons need me; they breathe and hunger and thirst for me. I have a lot of reasons to obliterate you."

"...you're wrong," the noble whispered. "I have things to look forward to when I'm done with you." He would grind his teeth if he can; he would bare them in a big grin if he could. "If you are pure power, then I will be able to use you. I will see Terra burn to the ground. I will destroy it.

"I will destroy him."

The entity hissed. "You clung too much to worldly emotions. Death" -the entity paused to laugh- "it will set you free from pain."

"I'd rather take him with me if I had to." The former Knight of Light snickered before loudly laughing. "He will regret lying to me!"

Energy pulsated around Kris again, making him feel power thread through lines leading beneath him. He could feel his tired shoulders and shaking hands, all the way to his weakened knees and unstable feet. He could stretch on his face as he grinned and clenched his teeth. Slowly, he could feel his own body becoming his again.

"Kris, thriving in pain will only result to pain."

"What do you know!? You're nothing but a representation of evil! You're supposed to motivate me!" Kris swiped his hand to the side with such force. "Aren't I supposed to be someone you can use to destroy the Light!?"

"I am the Darkness, the home of the lost. The warmth embracing those who are stung by the blinding Light. I am the fire keeping one alive after the slaughter led by truth and justice. I am the sanctuary of the wounded and the revengers, the prison for betrayal and conceit.

"If you seek for someone who wants to sever the Light from the world, you need a man. Not this pure power."

Kris could feel the entity's presence fading. "Then I will be that man."