1224 Child Of Darkness
When Varian opened the door, he and the others found themselves staring at nine doors. These arched doors were still silver, but a shade darker.
Perhaps it was a sign that they had strayed off the right path.
Varian sighed under his breath. 'Wrong choice.'
Despite having the best chance at the first attempt, he picked one of the two wrong doors.
Maria, Bella and Sohan took out a few treasures to work something out.
Varian let them and did his own thing. He began scanning the doors, with his individual powers and then through his fused powers.
But his perception—which was like a sensitive net—just disappeared when it touched the doors.
It was blank.
The heirs tried out their treasures and picked the door most likely to be right.
Click!
When the door swung open, they were greeted with twenty-seven doors, still silver, but now visibly darker.
"Ugh!" Varian clenched his jaw and grimaced.
They were literally in a strip of land floating in a dark void. There was nothing around them, nowhere to escape, save for the cryptic doors.
They couldn't jump out, an invisible barrier was keeping them locked here. They couldn't destroy the strip of land and go underground—the plain brown ground was, for all intents and purposes, indestructible.
"I'll try this time." Varian used his senses to figure out a difference. It all felt the same. It was all blank.
Click!
The next choice opened to eight-one doors.
It's over. It's all over!
They hadn't even gotten one door right yet!
Bella stared ahead with a blank gaze, a sheen of sweat visible on her neck as were the drops of blood leaking down her bitten lip.
Sohan was sighing under his breath and only Maria looked unbothered. Varian, on the other hand, was lost in thought.
Even if by miracle, they get this one right, they had to get the next three continuously right or they'd start all over again.
The four of them looked at each other and saw confusion reflecting back.
Locked away in a dark prison you could never escape was a fate worse than death. Perhaps at least one of them must've thought of killing themselves if they get trapped here.
But it was too early to give up. They had no choice but to keep going. So they did.
Click!
Click!
Click!
…
Click!
The sound of every door opening resulted in disappointment, consuming their hopes, gnawing onto their will and eating into their confidence.
When the 13th door opened and more than a million doors presented themselves in front of them, the group stopped.
Bella slumped on the ground and let out a mocking laughter, mixed with sorrow. Sohan's clenched jaw opened and closed, as the man tried to speak and appear undefeated. But the only thing that came out of his mouth was a defeated silence.
"W-Why is it like this? Which motherfu—" Maria rubbed her forehead and started a string of vile curses.
Varian ignored the three of them and stared at the doors with a thoughtful gaze.
He had been through the same thing as they were.
He was hit as hard by disappointment as them, lost as much confidence as they did and was despairing as they were.
And unlike them who had more than a century of experience and 'lived' a sizable life, he wasn't even twenty.
He hadn't seen anything yet.
So, he was scared. More scared than anyone here. Absolutely horrified at the possibility of being locked away forever.
But he was even more scared about getting out of her late and witnessing Sarah's dying face.
Even though it was just a figment of his imagination, her once mischievous face now smeared in blood, her peaceful blue eyes dimming and her warmth body turning cold…
It as a nightmare to live he never wanted to experience.
'Something! There has to be something!'
Varian rubbed through the smooth but tough texture of the doors, and examined the microscopic runes on the doors as well as the yin-yang symbol at the center.
String after string of information he wouldn't have cared otherwise kept stacking up in his brain, hoping to be used for a solution.
'Are these clues?'
Everyone else gave up.
But Varian continued. With care, focus, and most of all, fear, he continued inspecting the million doors, one at a time.
— — — —
A stunning beauty, who looked no more than 24, stood in the all-expansive, all-devouring darkness.
Her long silver flowed down to her waist and swayed gently with the aura fluctuations, the ruby red eyes shone brightly.
Even though he was a prince, Baldur wasn't a lecherous person unlike some of his half-brothers and half-sisters.
Yet, he'd be lying if he said he hadn't seen many beauties over the years. Perhaps too many to the point.
But the woman in front of him was in another league. Like a goddess descending into the mortal world, she was otherworldly.
Baldur, however, didn't even dare to look up at her. He kept his head bowed and eyes closed.
The killing intent and power radiating out from here were literally slicing his skin and bleeding him.
'Even if a man looks at her with lust, the fear he'll feel from her will make such thoughts impossible.'
Baldur shivered. Whenever he'd think of her the next time, the emotion accompanying him would be fear. Nothing else.
"What happened after my disappearance?" Her voice was cold, arrogant, and indisputable.
"Y-Your m-mother o-ordered the destruction of your h…h-home world…"
Space froze. Time seemed to stop flowing.
Isador closed her eyes.
A familiar darkness.
It was space at the edge of the milky way. The light was sparse and matter was scarce.
There was darkness here and darkness alone. The fluctuations of life, the movement of planets, even the light from the stars—everything coming from the galaxy was devoured by the endless darkness.
In that darkness floated a baby.
With eyes open staring, thoughts still broken and immature, the baby took in the darkness with its tiny, fragile arms. Like the mother it never was, the darkness took in the baby.
For nine whole months, the baby survived in a hostile vacuum, harmful radiation, and unknown fragments floating around.
The darkness twisted around the baby, forming a caring embrace and protecting her from all harm.
And the baby rested, treating it as her mother's womb—safe, comforting, and warm.
But the baby had no mother and no matter how close it felt to the darkness, it couldn't survive in the space forever.
The baby's own instincts sensed this and floated it away to the nearest signs of life.
It was a primitive planet where beasts roamed free and chaos reigned supreme. The sentient beings—humans—banded together in small cities and towns—protecting each other from the wild.
On that fateful day, this civilization that was struggling to survive against the horde saw a baby descending from the sky.
"D-Divine Blessing!"
The sun's light was scared away, the beasts that approached the city backed away and the fear in their hearts melted away.
The people stared at the baby and got onto their knees.
God has sent them his own child to save them.
