thief of fate-Chapter 61: Diros 2

The cave reeked of mold and dampness.

The corpse of a creature that was once a stone tiger lay at his feet, its belly split open to its neck. Its tongue dangled and its pale eyes carried a shock that still echoed in the air.

Diros laughed.

The right face laughed, while the left face, the one that moaned

"Tasted good, didn’t it?"

asked the smiling face, its tongue tracing the upper lip, following the last drop of blood.

"He didn’t want to die..."

answered the crying face, in a hoarse, broken voice, as if each word shattered upon leaving.

"But he didn’t deserve to live!"

"And who are we to decide?"

The smiling one laughed, and the crying one wept.

Diros sat on a moss-covered rock, his body stained with blood. And his body despite its strangeness seemed to breathe sorrow and joy. Then came the sting. Gentle at first, then like a thorn in his spine.

"I feel... something..."

whispered the crying one.

"Yes. The flame is fading, you can’t stay here any longer."

"But I’m not full yet."

"You’re never full, you fool."

Diros’ body trembled suddenly. A gasp, then a long scream that tore through the silence of the cave. A faint light began pulsing through his veins. His skin peeled slightly in places. His nails retracted and then regrew.

"The calling... has begun?"

"It has. And we have but one path."

Diros raised his head, and both his faces stared into the void before him, seeing nothing but black shadows twisting and breathing.

"The Abyss opens its mouth once more..."

"Then let it swallow us."

He rose to his feet slowly. Turned his head both heads towards the cave’s entrance, then said:

"Let us go back... home."

The transition to the Abyss was not a simple matter.

It was no cave with a door, nor a tunnel led by steps.

He had to sink.

He sank into the cave floor, both feet, while his blood evaporated from the heat. His skin peeled, his bones shrank, and his body... was crushed.

The crying face screamed, and the smiling face laughed madly.

"Beautiful pain!"

"No! I don’t want to die!"

We don’t die, my friend, we only... return."

Then, they vanished.

When his eyes opened again, the air was different.

It was dense, suffocating, filled with the scent of decaying iron and rotten flesh.

Diros stood on his feet.

"Ah... how I missed this stench."

"I... don’t want to be here."

"But you’ve always been from here."

He walked across the spongy ground beneath his feet. Each step made a squelching sound, as if he were sinking into the guts of a massive creature.

And suddenly, he heard them.

The noise.

The screams.

The gnawing.

The laughter.

The howling.

He climbed a fleshy mound, like the back of a dead beast, and saw the scene.

The lands of the Abyss... homeland of the Arkanis.

There, his kind were playing in their usual way.

One was biting his brother’s arm, while the latter laughed and hit him on the head. Another was digging claws into his companion’s belly, eating his guts while flirting with a giggle.

They began to crawl toward him.

Some laughed, some screamed, others clapped with their bony plates.

The smiling face said:

"Oh, how I missed them."

The crying face said:

"They’ll eat us... if they get bored."

"They won’t get bored... if we make them scream at us."

Diros descended into their midst, his chest full of dread and joy, nostalgia and awe.

"You’ve changed, Diros."

said one of the Arkanis.

"Did you bring a new flavor from above?"

"I want to taste the blood of those you ate!"

"Were there women? Children?"

"Or were you only eating reptiles?"

They all laughed. Screamed, jumped, trampled one another. One of them exploded his stomach from laughter.

Diros stepped forward, until he stood among them.

"The Abyss has begun to open its mouth."

he said calmly.

They stopped.

All of them.

Even those who were eating each other stopped gnawing.

"Is this... real?"

"The flame... weakens?"

"The world above... is collapsing?"

Diros smiled, and wept.

"I returned because I could no longer endure the world above. I could no longer... exist."

"But we still wait."

"We wait for the gates to open."

"Will the war come?"

"It will come, and we will eat... and laugh... and die... and return."

"I want to taste humans.

I want to eat warriors."

"I miss the laughter of children before their throats are torn."

They all laughed.

And one of them said:

"One day, we’ll enter again."

And another said:

"We’ll teach them the meaning of screaming."

And Diros, quietly, muttered:

"But am I still... me?"

The other face in him answered:

"You are not one thing."

"I am not anything at all..."

Then he collapsed to the ground, and slept, among their screams, among their rot, between his madness and theirs.

Then he awoke.

He remembered he had to return to another place.

Diros walked with heavy steps.

"They said they’re here... Siriantha, Gulerath..."

"Ah, Siriantha... her scent never changed." 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

"And that massive one... he devours without chewing."

"Like us."

"Worse than us."

The right face smiled, and the left one wept.

When he reached the hall, the lights were pale, hanging from an organic ceiling that breathed slowly. A group of Arkanis stood near a massive rock oozing dark fluid.

And upon the rock, sat Siriantha.

She spoke without raising her head:

"The madman has come."

Then she looked at him, with half a gaze of disdain and half curiosity.

"Did you find the flavor you raved about? Or did you return because you can’t stand clean air?"

Diros stepped forward, and the crying face said:

"I missed you all..."

And the smiling face said:

"But the blood up there was purer."

Gulirath was sitting in a corner, devouring something hard to identify. It might have been an arm, a human rib, or something worse.

Syriantha said in a lazy tone:

"You’re stupid enough to use your only chance to get out... for bait?"

Diros smiled and said:

"The stupid one doesn’t return... only the fool does."

"And you’re both fools."

Then she suddenly fell silent.

Everyone fell silent.

For no clear reason, they all felt something... change.

The heavy air became more compressed. As if something massive had entered the same space with them.

Gulirath stopped eating.

Syriantha lowered her legs and stood up.

She said in a low voice:

"The pressure... do you feel it?"

Diros screamed inwardly, and both his faces trembled.

"He’s coming!"

"What is this creature?!"

Axel entered first.

His steps were calm.

Then, Irkalos followed.

He was taller than all of them.

He didn’t speak.

He didn’t look at anyone.

But everyone in the hall felt like they were under a microscope. As if their breaths were now hanging by his will.

Diros whispered:

"He’s a Predator..."

Each of them felt it... that disparity. That silent threat.

But what surprised Irkalos himself... was that despite his strength, despite his certainty that he could tear any one of them apart... Axel, standing near him, was more daunting.

Irkalos said to himself:

"Everyone here is weak? Why aren’t they like me? They’re stronger than him... but why is he... why can’t I see his end?"

Axel said coldly:

"This is Irkalos."

He fell silent, as if that definition was enough.

He said it as one would present a piece on a chessboard that cannot be defeated.

Then he looked at Diros, his eyes expressionless, his voice devoid of emotion:

"And you wasted your only chance to get out... for eating rats."

Diros smiled, bitterly:

"They were delicious..."

The crying one said:

"I didn’t know..."

The smiling one said:

"But I don’t regret it."

Axel took a step forward.

"You could have watched... reported... planted us an eye there. But you chose mud over insight."

Syriantha asked:

"Shall we tear him apart now?"

"No. He’s still part of my plan."

Then he turned to everyone.

"All of you... are part of my plan for liberation. And if you can’t see what it is, that’s because I don’t need you to."

His voice was cold, carrying no threat. Yet everyone in the hall felt something press on their chests. It wasn’t fear of death... but of the unknown.

Irkalos suddenly said:

"Why am I here?"

Axel smiled and answered:

"Because you will be the knife that cuts the final thread between the world and the abyss."

Then he continued, looking at Diros:

"And because the world will learn the meaning of fear... the meaning of being prey."

In that moment, Diros understood one thing.

He wasn’t free when he left the abyss.

He wasn’t free when he returned.

Diros laughed.

He laughed loudly, the smiling face screaming in joy, and the crying one wailing in regret.

He had been deceived... and he knew it.

"What must I do... to open the passage? To let everyone out of here?"

Axel didn’t turn, didn’t change his tone. He simply replied with two words:

"Be human."

For a moment, silence reigned. Then Irkalos exploded into roaring laughter, a laugh heard by all.

He laughed until his massive body shook.

"You are crazier than me, Axel... much crazier than me."

Axel thought to himself:

"How stupid you all are..."

"Great bodies, terrifying powers, minds no deeper than a shell’s crust."

None of his thoughts showed on his face.

He merely closed his eyes for a moment, and lifted his head toward the ceiling of the abyss.

"Come on, Tofana... surprise me. You too, goddess of misery. I’ve placed the pieces."

"Let me see your struggle against him."