The portal closed behind Krynt, who carried Aries and Yvaine away from Cale. The amethyst eyes widened in the purest disbelief, without letting go of the unconscious warrior that disappeared. All that remained was a chaotic world at his feet.
He had been abandoned.
It could be ironic, if it were not so cruel.
Cold shadows made tentacles continued to pull Cale against the ground, causing more pain thanks to the wound on his arm. His body reacted so naturally to pain, ignoring the unbelief of his brain. Mind and body were in complete disharmony.
"AAAAH!!!" Cale screamed when those shadows wrapped in his open wound.
The pain in his shoulder, where Krynt had driven the sword, throbbed rhythmically, like a drum announcing an inevitable execution. The shadows that rose from his legs were like living roots, hungry, each cold touch pulling a little more of his willpower.
What... The hell was that?!
"No..." managed to whisper, almost inaudible.
Nuria approached, his silhouette deformed by the purple mist seemed to float, warping like a moving nightmare. A smile widened on cruel face, practically inhuman, while his golden eyes sparkled fed by the agony before him.
"Alone at the end of the world" he whispered, shaping the air between his fingers as if it pressed the very fate of Cale. "As it was always meant to be."
Cale tried to fight against those invisible ties, which wrapped around his neck choking him tighter and tighter. Coughing and struggling to breathe, he struggled in vain.
"No..." he shake his head, the grip getting more intense and difficult to get rid of. "No... let me go..."
Nuria let him fall to the ground. The young man coughed, breathing desperately. It was so clear his body trembling so cowardly. Crouching before him, Nuria opened the most deformed and weak smile on his face.
"Did you really believe that you would be saved? Or that you were someone special? You are only meat for slaughter, little Arkalis. An exile..." Nuria leaned dangerously close to Cale, whispering coldly, "just like me."
Nuria's hand closed on the wounded arm, pushing it against the ground with force.
"GAAAH!!" Cale choked, hands struggling to free the hand of Nuria.
"Don't be such a coward, I don't intend to kill him soon. After all, we need to delight ourselves with the idea that Ereghast should be... Desperate to have you back", satisfied with the fear that overflowed from the body of that demigod, Nuria sank his fingers in the wounded flesh, "We have a long time, Arkalis. Every second will be an eternity to turn you into the perfect tool to take what is mine."
Cale could only scream and struggle to try to get out of the grip.
He had never felt such pain in his life. He never imagined that he would ever go through it, and it sounded so surreal that he thought it was just a nightmare caused by his anxiety for the coming-of-age ceremony. That in the end he would wake up at the academy, or at home, and could go about his life normally.
But no.
Nuria's fingers encrusted in his flesh made pain real.
When finally those filthy fingers moved away from Cale's shoulder, he trembled deeply. His chest went up and down, he could hardly discern where his pain came from, for everything was painful.
"Let's see... I should be a more receptive host, right? Should we go to my castle? I believe I have the perfect place to keep you..."
Rolling his eyes slowly around, Cale tried to find some way out. Unfortunately he saw nothing but that gloomy scenery and disgusting trees. Nothing but chaos that serves as a home for his god.
But he had to run away!
His instinct cried for the end of that nightmare.
Ignoring the pains of his body, and the dread of being before a higher deity ten times stronger than him, Cale forced his body to roll on the ground and move with desperate urgency.
With a force that he had no idea still resided within himself, he stood up and ran. Not in a certain direction. Just away from Nuria.
"My my... that treacherous boy. Right, right, I can play with you a little more before we go" Nuria smiled, standing in place.
Running, every step of his was an explosion of pain in the exhausted muscles. However, Cale forced his body to obey, forcing himself to believe that he would be able to escape.
"Damn it..."
Behind him, the low laughter of Nuria crossed the World of Chaos as nails being dragged on stone.
To Cale's anger, that thing didn't move. He didn't try to run after Cale, nor did he scream in anger. There was no hurry to catch him again. Nuria just enjoyed watching him run away like a rat.
"Don't stop," thought Cale as he ran, "don't stop running and reach an exit".
His legs weighed like lead as did anxiety. There was nothing around him that looked like an exit. No magical portal to a fucking alternate plan. No cave that could take him to a secret room! Nothing! Only shady creatures and an inhospitable environment.
While Cale had already run away from where he was before, he still seemed so close when he heard that laugh.
Cale staggered through the dead landscapes of the World of Chaos. Torn clothes hung from his body, soiled with dry blood and dirt. The wounds throbbed like embers under the skin, but he no longer felt pain in the same way. Or maybe he felt, but his brain was no longer processing properly.
The world was spinning like a repeated nightmare, distorted, broken, without any logic or compassion. He had even become a true court jester for the entertainment of the shadowy creatures that seemed to accompany him to mock his escape.
"They left you, Oh little demigod" hissed the voices, scratching your mind, "No value... No future..."
Clenching his teeth, he forced himself to ignore.
"If it wasn't for Krynt... I could be out of that damn place," he thought angrily.
Anger for that fucking traitor god.
By the Herald who judged him.
For all that was happening so suddenly.
His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a roar. The ground trembled when something like huge creature took a step, his neck so long and a look so furious.
Cale's whole body trembled.
"Fuck it..."
He turned around to run away. There was no way to fight it. In fact, could him? He didn't even know what kind of creature it was!
Why everything was so complicated?!!
"Coward" mocked the creatures, "Weak. Abandoned coward."
"SHUT UP!"
His thoughts came in flashes: the golden wheat field of the village; the image of his family, his friends... of Aries. All that hurt like an open wound.
Chains came out of the ground, wrapping Cale's legs, causing him to fall heavily on the floor. Gradually, a pair of black shoes approached him slowly.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk... so predictable", murmured Nuria, appearing beside her without haste.
The chains lifted Cale into the air like a pathetic trophy. Even if he writhed upside down, he could only look more ridiculous.
"Ugh..."
"Let's finish with this silly joke, yes? It was fun, but I'm tired."
The chains wrapped around Cale's chest and shoulders, leaving him completely immobilized. Nuria approached slowly raising Cale's chin, subtly touching his neck as he watched him coldly.
The marks of the curse resurfaced on his skin. A satisfied smile appeared on that pale face.
"Ah, right. Everything is as it should be, these beautiful words embedded in your being. But... really irritates me those eyes, you know? So, let's get rid of it first."
The tips of those huge nails were dangerously close to Cale's face.
Did he intend to gouge out Cale's eyes?
"Let me go!!!" he growled, struggling again, although it was not enough to get him out of the grip.
And yet, those claws approached without any problem. Cale closed his eyes tightly and a strange sensation enveloped him at that moment.
Something that made your whole body warm up. Its muscles vibrate. Heart speed.
Only that its closed did not allow witnesses to what really happened. The intense energy that arose between him and Nuria, in an explosive way that eliminated all the current that imprisoned him. Cale fell to his knees, opening his eyes in the purest surprise and disbelief when he saw Nuria's burnt hand and serious countenance.
"Hm... interesting. I think we can do... some experiments on this ability."
The shadows simply swallowed Cale, the wonder serving as a delight to the chaos of Nuria.