The extra is a fox eyed jester-Chapter 44: The forest of the forgotten

"Gasp!"

Azazel’s eyes snapped open while cold sweat drenched his body.

The scenery wasn’t the same as the cave they had once sought refuge in, in its place was a mystic blend of trees and otherworldly allure.

Behind him, a huge tree grown to perfection stood.

Its trunk was thick and dark, like an ancient pillar rising from the forest floor, its bark as dark as night, devouring every little light that came in contact with it.

But above him... the canopy exploded into a galaxy.

The leaves glowed in shades of turquoise and ocean blue blended together while golden shimmers gleamed like stardust.

His vision was slightly blurred and his body was devoid of strength.

A breath of relief escaped his lips, one he didn’t realize he was holding.

"I survived..."

He slumped against the back of the tree, completely and utterly spent.

He took a deep breath but a voice slithered into his ear before he could exhale.

"For now, don’t think I’ve given up on devouring you." It said,

Azazel allowed his tired eyes to drift towards his right hand where a thin slender black rapier lay.

Its design was elegant, more regal, more alluring.

It didn’t look anything like the dark longsword which had tormented him for what felt like an eternity within the trial, it almost looked... tailor-made to suit him.

"Akathartos?" Azazel couldn’t help but ask.

The blade didn’t respond but it thrummed subtly within his grasp.

Somehow, Azazel couldn’t help but feel the blade was sulking.

He shook off the ridiculous thoughts then willed Akathartos to return to his soul.

’I came to help the protagonist awaken but I ended up with a corrupted weapon instead.’

He could already feel the headache piling up. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

He still couldn’t digest everything he saw, everything the sword had shown him.

It was nothing like the story he knew.

Everything about that last battle felt different.

The only similarity was the descent of that ’thing’.

The final boss of the game.

A fallen angel.

No one knew its name, not even the gaming community.

In the first place barely ten percent of the game’s total players had reached that end.

But everyone knew of the fallen angel because...

It was the loading screen of the game.

—-

A silent whimper drew his attention away from his thoughts.

His head snapped sideways, not fully, but enough to see an infuriating redhead gripping the shaft of a glaive till his knuckles turned white.

Now that he looked closely enough, the mercenary’s shoulder was trembling visibly.

Azazel froze.

His mind blanked for a few seconds.

The mercenary, Nathaniel, was crying.

It wasn’t dramatic, no.

It was something more.

Something that came from long years of bottled emotions.

He scrubbed at his face as if irritated by sweat, not tears.

And then his eyes met Azazel’s.

Azazel felt his throat go dry.

To be honest he didn’t really know much about Nathaniel, he only knew Nathaniel as the second protagonist, nothing more, nothing less.

Just the character who’d pilot the story if the golden prince died out early or was unable to awaken.

He didn’t know what each of them had gone through during their trials and he had no intention of asking.

He couldn’t say anything, couldn’t offer words of comfort, because he wasn’t sure he was in the right state of mind.

Something within him broke during his trial, a cruel test he couldn’t even wish upon his enemies.

His chest still felt hollow, his madness whispering like an obsessed lover somewhere within the depths of his mind.

At that moment a startled shout reverberated from the other side of the tree.

It was none other than Elias.

His body shook aggressively like he’d just taken a dip into a frozen lake with his body bare.

His face turned green as he proceeded to empty his stomach contents on the floor below.

Nathaniel stared at Elias, eyes puffy and red from crying.

He lingered for a second then spoke.

"Y-You look like crap." He said weakly trying to smile but his expression crumpled immediately.

Seeing his attempts, Azazel couldn’t help but taunt.

"You sound like crap."

Nathaniel’s gaze sharpened into a glare

"And you are crap."

Azazel responded with a shrug.

"Not the first I’ve heard."

Nathaniel willed Apeiron back to his soul.

He didn’t speak further, instead he leaned against the tree for support, his eyes snapping shut slowly but surely.

Elias on the other hand couldn’t even move for the first few minutes, the lingering effects of his trial still loomed over him like a mantle.

Sol rested within his grasp with a gentle glow.

Elias didn’t speak, he couldn’t speak.

The trauma and physical reformation his body had undergone were taking a serious toll on him.

His unfocused eyes soon drifted off to sleep while Nathaniel followed closely behind.

Azazel was the only one unaffected and he had an idea why.

His eyes grew sharp, watching the figure approach with slow confident steps.

When the figure came into view, Azazel clicked his tongue softly.

"Elzar." he said flatly.

Elzar allowed their golden eyes to lock onto his for a brief second, then they responded.

"You bonded with a corrupted weapon." They muttered with mild interest but nothing beyond that.

"You want to talk." Azazel said as a matter of fact.

"Indeed." Elzar replied.

Azazel could only sigh in response.

"Alright, what do you have to say?"

Elzar lingered for a bit, letting the silence stretch between them, then they spoke.

"First I want to apologize, it wasn’t to my notice that a corrupted relic had managed to slip past my perception. If your will had been weaker, then you would have lost yourself to the relic."

Their gaze flickered towards the map Azazel had been holding before he began his trial, a ghost of a smile danced on their lips.

"You also attempted to find the treasury of the gods using such a crude map, commendable but stupid nevertheless, if you three hadn’t been together then you would’ve searched for years and you still wouldn’t find it."

Azazel frowned slightly, the strange keeper was right.

He’d been relying on the knowledge of the game a little too much but even that seemed to be unreliable in the grand scheme of things.

"Still..." Elzar continued. "I want to ask, do you wish to sever the bond between the corrupted relic and yourself?"

Elzar waited patiently for Azazel’s response but to his surprise the redhead just looked around, then asked.

"What is this place?"

Elzar was taken aback by the question, they tilted their head slightly in confusion but Azazel didn’t say otherwise.

Elzar exhaled in exasperation.

"The forest of the forgotten."