Realm of the Mad God: Novel

Chapter XII

Death. It’s all around us, and affects everyone at one point in their lives; we can’t do anything about it. Death is, and has always been, inevitable.

I’ve become rather attached to my friends, but I know, too, that they will die one day. The question isn’t IF it will happen, but rather, how soon it will happen.

It could be tomorrow. It could be a week from now, or a month, or even years.

I might even die first before any of them. We all live in fear of death; it is, after all, an inescapable fate — the unstoppable part of our destinies. All things live ONLY to die, and that’s the way it’s always been: the unchangeable irony of our existence.

About a week had passed, and now everyone was preparing for the impending battle with Oryx; an encounter with the Mad God had always been a widely anticipated event in the Realm. At the nexus, hundreds of travelers were gathering together to await the day Oryx would appear to take them all into his chamber for a climactic battle. Usually, it happened about ten days after all his minions were slain; this was so that everyone had time to assemble together in the Nexus town, even if they were located on the other side of the world.

It took Claire’s party about a week to journey from the northern regions of the Realm back to Nexus; along the way, they stopped at the town of Colberth to bury Kira’s body, and Claire had laid the Yague flowers (which she picked from the Blue Woods) over her grave.

At Nexus, the party stayed for a few days at the local inn; during this time Claire did not bother to go talk to Kathleen again, for she no longer cared what the woman had to say. On the day that Oryx would appear, the group gathered at the town square — in the garden-area, near the map of the Realm — to await the arrival of the Mad God; Claire stood upon a small bridge suspended over a lotus pond (nearby a fountain).

“It’s funny how things work out sometimes,” Claire said. “This was where my journey began: at the Nexus town square, and now, it’s where my journey is going to end.”

Aaron threw Claire a strange look. “Don’t say that,” he replied. “Your journey’s not going to ‘end’ here, is it?”

“No…that’s not what I meant. I just feel that…after this, after my encounter with Oryx, I just don’t want to go on anymore journeys.”

Aaron nodded. “I know. Our past two months have been quite stressful, and we’ve lost a couple of friends in all the battles that we’ve fought.”

“I think I’ve seen too much of this Realm,” Claire said. “Before, my goal was to find the Mad God so that I could talk to him and learn about my past.” She shook her sighed. “But now…I just don’t care anymore: I’ve survived long enough in this Realm to acquire a new identity for myself.”

“So what are you going to do, now?” Aaron asked.

“I suppose I’ll go and fight Oryx to bring an ‘end’ to my journey. If it’s possible, then I will try to speak with him, to see if I can learn anything about these ‘answers’ that Kathleen told me about earlier.”

“Doesn’t seem like it. Everyone here looks like they’re in a killing mood; and Oryx himself probably isn’t interested in any civil discussion,” Aaron responded.

“I know.”

They did not say anything for a while; then, at around noon, it began.

The skies darkened, and there was a booming clap of thunder in the distance, followed by several flashes of lightning. To Claire’s surprise, it began to rain — for the first time ever — inside the Realm; which only happened on the day that Oryx appeared. Claire let the water fall upon her head and soak through her clothes, drenching her entire body; she did not care, however, for the rain felt (surprisingly) relieving to her.