Parallel - A Virtual Reality.

"AREN!"

Arksen bȧrėly stands up as he rushes to Aren while limping over. His breath ragged as desperation shows on his face.

Isa, Vladi, Juran, and two of the Barbarians, Faicen, and Luer, were already beside Aren who had collapsed on the ground.

Arksen arrives and sees him bȧrėly breathing with eyes cloudy while looking at the sky that had its dark clouds dissipated.

He kneels and grits his teeth. He looks at Juran with bloodshot eyes, but before he could open his mouth to tell him to save Aren, he feels a hammer falling on his head when he hears Juran's words.

"Aren, do you wish to say something?"

Juran calmly utters those words as he says that with a smile to Aren. But his eyes have blood threads as tears try to surface. Isa's tears stream down soundlessly as she looks at Aren, while Vladi stays silent with her fist clenching so hard that traces of blood could be seen.

The Barbarians look at Aren proudly, but sadness still shows in their eyes as they had already placed the other two barbarians Trien and Zair beside Aren, their bodies lifeless.

Arksen's stomach sinks as he finally realizes reality and he looks at Aren, tears, and sob coming from his mouth.

But then, he looks at the peaceful smile of Aren.

"Azalea… you should… smile more"

His body shakes when he hears those words and he bites his lips hard, feeling that metallic flavor once more.

And just like that, his friend, Aren, dies.

Arksen stands up and looks at the rest of the enemies being killed by the army and Zenith and steps forward.

'I am going to annihilate you all'

But just as he is about to throw himself towards that battlefield, a message arrives.

He frowns, about to ignore it, but as soon as he read parts of its content, he feels his brain exploding as he looks blankly at the space before him.

"What?"

Vladi and Isa also stop in their motions as they look stunned.

Their eyes subconsciously go in Zenith's direction.

-------------------------------------------

As Dorek falls to his knees lifelessly, Kagito lets go of the Draconic Spatial Orb as he also falls too. The pillar of ice sustaining the throne starts breaking apart with Kagito on it.

He manages to glance at Aren as he feels his vitality leaving him rapidly as windows after windows appear in front of him. He ignores them as he focuses solely on Aren's image. He inwardly knew what would happen to this friend of his.

The pillar of ice breaks apart as his body falls to the lake.

Isca stands up with difficulty as he looks at Kagito falling, and he hurriedly turns around towards the direction his father was in.

His body heals a little with Juran's aura as he little by little star increases his speed. Soon enough, he arrives beside his father, who was already laying down in a pool of his blood.

"Father!"

Isca takes his father in his arms as he feels him bȧrėly breathing. His face tenses as he sees his father in that condition.

Casca opens his eyes bȧrėly, they clouded by blood but as if looking through the darkness, they show a joyous expression when they fall on Isca.

"Son…take…care"

Casca says that as his last breath leaves his body, his eyes half-open.

Isca's eyes tingle as he looks at his father in his arms now dead. He grits his teeth while holding Casca tightly.

"Yes, father, I will take care of myself and the Scardinians"

Resolution shines on Isca's eyes as he slowly stands up while holding his father.

He looks at the distance as he sees the army of Dorek being dismantled by their army, their morale at the lowest because of the death of their king and all their generals. But even more because of the man that had aided their army.

The Death Lord's action is swift and merciless as he cuts down each of the enemies. Despite that, the trembling of his eyes betrayed his emotion as he mechanically moved his body.

Then Isca's eyes fall on the group around Aren, the Barbarian that gave the finishing blow to Dorek.

Isca's back straightens itself as he looks at all the warriors that have given their lives in this battle. The aura of a ruler appears on Isca as he takes everything that has happened inside of him.

'Grudell, one day you are going to die miserably'

Ruthlessness shines on Isca's eyes as he steps forward to the remaining enemies.

----------------------------------------------------

A vision opens up to me. In there three people were walking side by side. My eyes soon regain focus as I watch everything in a drunken state.

On the other side walked the woman, who walked with soft steps, her aura restrained to her close surrounding shining with a deadly dark purplish color. Even then, wherever she stepped on died, but her eyes showed she didn't care about that, or more like she was indifferent to it. Devoid of showing emotions, she simply continued stepping forward with her pitch-black hair untouched by the wind or movements.

In the center of those two walked a man with a relaxing smile, exuding an ethereal feeling as if everything around him would fall into order. Even the auras of those two beside him coalesced together harmoniously when close to his body. His eyes shone with divine light as his steps were in balance with the whole world.

'Despite each of their auras flowing in completely different directions, the three of them seem very close'

The three of them complement each other, feeling like they were one entity.

'It is all thanks to that person in the middle'

The person in the middle brought order to the group and while the golden man seemed arrogant, he still seemed to yield to that person.

Then, a battle of them with mighty beings surfaced. A battle far beyond my cognition, as I watch the sky thundering and the earth sundering, the space cracked apart and vortex of energy flowed everywhere. But even when they faced those mighty beings, they still maintained their calm and prevailed.

Until one day…

The man that reflected order looked into the void, something appeared in that place, something that instantly threw everything into chaos. A greyish matter that would make anyone else shudder.

"From Order, Chaos is born."

This time his eyes weren't shining with serenity, nor his aura was balanced with the world.

At that moment, everything turned into Chaos.

Then, the man looks at me, or well, the direction I am in. But this time his whole body seemed fuzzy.

His eyes trespassed me as I could notice something like a smile surfacing.

"Time to go back"

And with those words, I woke up.

As soon as I wake up, an intense headache ȧssaults me. Feeling nauseous as if I had been turning in circles without stopping attacked me.

I instantly try to move to puke, but I bȧrėly keep my balance as I crash into things with the VR dispositive on. I fall beside the trash can and bȧrėly manage to grab it as the pain comes from my extremities because of my tense and stiff muscles.

Pain shakes my body and brain as I bȧrėly can stand up, but I end up stumbling on my bed.

"I… have to see, how everything, went"

I try to keep my eyes open, but they end up closing anyways as I fall asleep.

BANG BANG BANG!

"Ezequiel!"

I hear loud banging on my door along with a noisy shout.

I bȧrėly open my eyes, feeling as if lead was on them, and try to push myself from the bed drowsily.

I close my eyes and, instantly open them as I look at the clock.

Looking at the hour, the battle must have finished unless something very wrong happened, and I hurry to open the door despite my legs stiffening up.

I groan a bit and open the door; in my sight, a worried Nicolas shows up.

"What happened to you?"

He asks me as he steps inside and then looks towards my room, noticing the bad smell coming from it.

"Nothing much, how did everything go, how are the others?"

Nicolas then looks at me startled and a somber expression appears on his face.

"You don't know yet…"

He looks at me with a sad smile and I feel my stomach sinking, hurriedly asking him again what happened.

"We won" Nicolas pauses as he says that, and tears start forming on his face, "…but Aren died."

I look at Nicolas blankly, feeling my stomach being twisted, but before I open my mouth, Nicolas clenches his teeth as his eyes start showing fury, his fists trembling a bit with veins showing.

"That bastard of Grudell escaped, and…"

He looks at me with a fierce expression as I am still trying to process the death of Aren.

"He was allied with Brazen it seems, those bastards! Those bastards attacked Hellish Town and Gardan Village!"

Nicolas' body trembles as he says that frustration and fury showing on his face as he looks down again.

"Tact Hand…Thane… both of them died"

His trembling stops as he powerlessly sits down.

I look at him blankly and then look to the ceiling.

Without noticing blood starts coming from my palm because of nails pressing hard on them.

But instead of pain, I only feel raging fury.

Droplets of water stream down my face as an incoherent sound comes from my mouth.

Without realizing it, we had already lost so much.