《The Avatar of Death》


 Chapter 0 - The memories

    My name is Mira, and I was born into one of the 13 great noble familiesof the Bahruth Empire. And today is the day I will finally go on my first trip along with my parents. They are the most popular explorers in the entire Empire! Today we were supposed to travel to a pyramid together with our bodyguards. A few scouts already visited ahead of time to guarantee our safety. So let our journey begin!


    We are moving closer to a poor Relgurd village with a tall man who wore a soft smile yet sharp eyes wearing an expensive-looking robe with a diamond bracelet on his left hand. He was walking alongside me, and he was a man I was proud to call my Father. ¡°Son, are you enjoying your first trip away?¡± He asked me with a calm tone.


    I looked at him with glowing eyes and screamed out loud ¡°I love it, father! It¡¯s the best!¡± With an impatient tone while glancing around and gluing the image of my surroundings into my verysoul.


    ¡®What if we find a hidden passage in the pyramid. That would be like super cool!¡¯ I started jogging without even realizing it that¡¯s how excited I was!


    We justwent through the tiny city gates of Relgurd. It was a poor village. Roads were rundown houses were cracked in different places. You could rarely even see a window but if you do it¡¯s eitherreallydirty, cracked or shattered and there was sand everywhere. But it didn¡¯t bother me as I finally got the chance to go exploring!


    ¡°Don¡¯t forget about me, sweetie. ¡°My mother said while walking towards me from the other side of my father with a charming and heartwarming smile. My mother had two different colored eyes. One of her eyes was gold, a physical representation of her god''s eye ability she has been born with that could see what spell the enemy is casting, and the other one was purple, a shade she inherited from her family line, and I loved the way they contrasted.


    I was jogging through the village streets of Relgurd with everyone wary of us because of the mean looking bodyguards behind us. Everyone in the village bowed and tried not to get in our way. While I was jogging and looking around the rusty buildings with rusty or dirty kitchen tools and people wearing tarred robes, but then I swear I saw something move¡­ A black figure with the corner of my eye.


    My mother from my right joyfully said ¡°Sweetie wait for us. Don¡¯t run away no-¡± Her face went from a full smile to one of a terror and horror in seconds. ¡°MIRA RUN!¡± She cried so hard while running after me while I stood there terrified and confused at the sight before me.


    ¡®I couldn¡®t move ¡ª not even an inch. Fear has its clutches around me. It has me locked in place. I can feel my hands going numb and just barely hearing the baffled voice of my mother. While I stood there and watched as the Bandits no¡­ the Assassins were charging at us with a lot of various spells going from fireballs to lightning spells.¡¯


    ¡°Protect my son at all costs!¡± My father shouted with a frustrated tone yet one which carried superiority.¡± We can¡®t¡­ win¡­¡± He whispered underneath his nose, but it was loud enough for me to hear it. ¡°Son, we will be fine¡­ but you will get in our way... so run away and don¡¯t look back.¡± He whispered in a calm and relaxing tone. ¡°I love you¡­¡± he whispered again.


    They trained me in magic. I wasn¡®t tough as I was only seven years old yet I had the best magic teachers money could get so then when I realized what my father was doing. And it justdrove me further into despair¡­ He was casting a self-sacrifice spell that would shield an ally from any potential damage.


    This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.I can feel my face tensing up when my mother shook me crying ¡°Wake up!¡± with wet eyes from all the tears she already shed.


    As I got plunged back into reality, I ran towards my father who had one of his hands on his chest while the other in the air. I jumped and struggled to reach his hand in the air to stop him from casting this spell all while I am screaming my lungs out while panting after every word ¡°Noo Father¡­ Stop¡­ Please¡­ Must¡­ Stop!¡± Yet¡­ He didn¡¯t even flinch¡­


    My mother embraced me and yelled ¡°A high leveled mage! He is casting the black lightning spell!¡± While continuing to hold me even tighter. After a moment a holy arrow pierced through her chest. Her eyes went wide, and she coughed out some blood. But she still didn''t let go of me. Still protecting with all she has. ¡°It''s all... right,¡± She said ¡°Run Mir-¡± She was whispering as a loud explosion ringed my ears and bright light made me seal my eyes shut¡­ Yet... I didn¡®t feel any pain.


    Before I knew it, I was slipping away into some dark cave together with all the rubble. When I got up I didn''t have a single scratch on me. I didn¡®t know what was happening. But my survival instincts kicked in and I ran deeper and deeper into the cave hoping they won¡¯t find me. I ran for about a minute without being able to see anything of how dark it was, and it didn¡®t make it easier when my whole face was covered in tears. I was hoping to get further away from those monsters. I ran.. I kept running until I plunged into something head first.


    ¡°A chain... the hell.¡± The first thought thatcrossed my mind was that I found someburial location. Of someone important because the chain was made outof platinum. I didn¡®t have time, so I infused all the little mana I have into a single mana blade ¡ª the only thing I have mastered. After I cut the chain all the torches in the room suddenly lit up, it allowed me to look at a mechanism rotating and a box¡­ no a coffin with strange glowing symbols all around it that are starting to dim bit by bit all while being raised out of a pool of mercury.


    I went inside, I was at awe everything was made outof gold, adamantium and with strange old Egyptian symbols, I have never seen anything like this before. Old Egyptians were like demi-gods to us they had extremelyhigh mana attributes with a lot of endurance¡­ but now they are gone¡­ they suddenly disappeared 2000 years ago. ¡°Wait with adamantium? At a burial¡­¡± ¡®Why would you need the strongest metal to bury someone when Mithril is considered more expensive? Then I saw four statues of humans with dog-like faces at each corner looking inside the burial area.¡¯


    After that, I noticed that all of the Pharaonic statues where looking into the tomb¡­ not out. Then I realized that this is not a tomb. ¡°It is¡­ a prison.¡± I whispered in a trembling voice realizing that I did something far worse than those Assassins. If it was locked out by the old Egyptians, it should never see the light again, or the world itself may crumble.


    After that, I only remember images. Like seeing the coffin blow up. Then a skeleton with tattered bandages all over her skeletal body stood next to me. And the last one¡­ Her holding her dagger with a bright red crystal on top of me then plunging it into my heart. All while saying ¡°Oh God of Death... Anubis, accept this mortal vessel and appear to dominate the mortal realm all alone!¡± She shrieked in a sharp-pitched growl barely recognizable. While I lied there with my whole body being numb looking at the crystal that is slowly losing its color¡­ It would scare other people. But for me, I wasn¡¯t scared¡­ I was strangely calm like it was an everyday thingto me¡­ Like I felt it before¡­

 Chapter 1 - The awakening

    I watched the same memory being played out for so many times already¡­ I lost count.


    Floating in the middle of nowhere. It doesn¡¯t matter where you look to... it¡¯s all black. I can¡®t move an inch. I feel like¡­ I¡®m being forced to watch my worst memories for the 1000th time... Is this the price I have to pay? The price for releasing the ultimate evil. At first¡­ It hurt¡­ a lot... It felt like my whole body was being disassembled to the atomic level and rebuild again.


    But now?¡­ Hah. Not anymore... It doesn¡®t hurt anymore... I can''t feel anything anymore... I don¡®t know if it stopped, or I lost the sense of pain or maybe I just lost the willingness to care about anything anymore. I can move my eyes but I can¡®t close them it''s like I''m watching a movie. Every time the memory plays out... It is like I¡¯m there again but I can¡®t change the outcome... No matter how hard I try... the ending was always the same.


    I have noticed the 5 strange symbols on my left hand... That I can¡®t understand but I get the feeling that I should know what it means. Every time I try to dig deeper into my mind to search for the answers I get the image of the coffin, a beautiful woman walking down the desert and... me being pierced through the heart with a knife¡­ I don¡¯t know what¡¯s real and what¡¯s fake anymore, I lost all sense of reality. After that, a huge shock-wave is sent through my body and the feeling that my head will explode any second.


    I have sat there watching the memory play out¡­ I don¡®t know how much time has passed¡­ Perhaps seconds... days... months¡­ years... perhaps even decades when you are stuck in a place of nothingness, darkness you even forget about the time itself.


    At first, I tried counting... Yet no sound came out it feels like I¡¯m stuck in a black hole until¡­ I don¡¯t know how much time has passed, but I felt a surge of enormous, throbbing pain¡­ I thought I lost all of my senses, but this worked as a reminder that I have yet to pay for my sin.


    But after what had seemed like an eternity an extraordinary feeling slowly overwrote the pain. One I felt for the first time in my life. Is this what people call the feeling of power? After a while, I didn¡¯t feel any pain at all. I felt powerful¡­ like a lock inside me was finally undone. My ears started ringing¡­ ¡°Wait¡­ my ears? I can hear?¡± I said in a confused tone that echoed through the surrounding void. I continued looking into the screen that played my memory still not being able to look away. When it suddenly cracked with a loud sound. The cracks kept on multiplying until it exploded with a loud bang and with a blinding white light coming out of it. The symbols on my left hand glowed and then everything went black again... No sound... nothing until I felt a similar sensation I thought was long-lost¡­ The breeze of the wind...Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.


    ¡®No way¡­ Am I back?¡¯ I thought to myself while my whole body ached and was numb not listening to a single command I¡¯m giving it. ¡°Aaaahhhhhhh¡± I shouted with all the power left in my body. And I heard my own voice, with no distortions¡­ It¡¯s been so long. I slowly opened my eyes. I was inside a forest, but it¡®s different from what I remember. It was all¡­ Black and.. grey. I saw a healthy tree in the corner of my eye. It gave me hope. Yet after a moment, it got engulfed by a dark flame. ¡°Ahhh I don¡¯t care anymore..¡± I whispered in a strange and tired voice. ¡®I just want to sleep¡­¡¯ I thought while slowly closing my eye and went back to sleep. Ignorant of the surrounding destruction.


    ----------------------------------------------------------------------------¡ª Angelina ( Village inhabitant )


    ¡°Mommy, Mommy¡± My daughter shouted with a joyful tone from behind me. While tugging on my tattered dress.


    ¡°What is it, sweetheart? Could you tell papa to come back soon? Tell him the dinner is read-¡± I was about to finish. When I heard something loud. Like an explosion from behind me. I tried to turn around but the second I did I got thrown to the ground and shrieked in pain. ¡°Aaaahhh¡± When I looked down at my arm which was pierced with a plain piece of wood. You could even barely see the bone all the while blood was oozing all over the place like crazy. My face turned from pain to horror. I felt goosebumps running down my spine. I couldn¡®t move¡­ I saw something I could never forget.


    There was a huge... at least a 200-foot tall skull made of purplish black flames burning away our crops and forest in seconds. Making it colorless. It straight up removed the colors from the world. The sky was being dyed black everywhere the flame went.


    ¡°A Devil!! He has come to make us pay for our sins!¡± An old man roared with all his might. Like he was enjoying the panic in the village. Everyone was shouting, running away or crying being lost from their families.


    After a while, we noticed the fire was beginning to extinguish after we all packed up the most important things. Yet the fire just went out¡­ The skull disappeared¡­ But the colors never came back.''No one wants to stay here anymore... I mean could you blame me? Just when things were starting to get better this happened... ¡°From this day on this land got the name of The cursed forest, anything that set foot in it¡­ perished.¡± A tall old man with a dirty priest robe said with a grim tone. ¡°The Bloody Emperor got interested in this accident like or was a game to him¡­ at least he sent a few rescue groups and adventurers¡­ We survived something unexplainable today. I think everyone here is tired so I call this meeting to an end."

 Chapter 3 - Let the Journey begin

    ¡°Ughh my head hurts...¡± I said while slowly opening my eyes. ¡®Oh looks like the fire is already gone. I would say about a mile around me got burned up and lost it''s... color?... I wonder for how long was I napping? Oh, well¡­''


    "Ughhhhh! What am I doing! I''m finally free!" I shouted to myself while trying to stand up using my hands as leverage. When I finally stood up, I shrieked at the top of my lungs "Hell yeahhhhhhhh!" With a huge grin, I shrieked. "Hahahahaha! I''m standing bitches!" With anticipation for my upcoming adventure written all over my face. ''Now thatI think this through... I have no idea where I am¡ªnor where to go... -well shit''


    ''Well, I guess I will go that wa-" The moment I started walking. Or better word would be tostruggled to walk. I went face deep into the wet and colorless soil..., "Shit... the ground is really cold..." Finally being able to stand normally I looked towards the sky and my eyes barely caught black smoke coming from behind a small hill upfront. ¡°Hmm? I wonder what''s happening over there¡­ Gawwh¡± My stomach cried out. ''I¡¯m feeling really hungry so I guess I will go check it out. Not that I have a choice¡­ That seems to be the most likely way to not die from starvation.¡¯


    I walked towards the small black cloud rising behind that hill. The distance was maybe about a kilometer¡­. Deam¡­ I spent so much time in the void yet I didn¡®t age¡­ I hate these tiny legs of mine. After I got closer to the cloud, it seemed to get smaller and smaller¡­ Thank goodness if it would have been getting bigger¡ªthat wouldn¡¯t be a good sign¡­


    I¡¯m almost at the top¡­ Common little legs do your job¡ªNow thatI look around¡­ It¡®s beautiful¡­ about 200 meters awayfrom what I could see the river extended ahead of me, with sharp rocks jutting out from the stream in sparkling hues against the sun behind me, a beautiful forest and the absolutelygorgeous mess thatI¡¯m guessing¡­ I left¡­ Lifeless, colorless, forest¡­ That¡®s what I call art. ¡®If someone finds out I did this¡­ People might not look at me in a veryfriendly way¡­ yeah, let''s not go around telling everyone about my ¡°Art¡±¡¯


    As I closed my eyes and enjoyed the peace and quiet¡­ the fresh air¡­ the cool breeze¡­ the white teeth in my right hand¡­ ¡°Wait¡­ WHAT!¡± I screamed and shook my right hand all over the place¡ªThat''s a freaking wolf¡­ ¡°Aghhh¡­ You dog I never said I would let you taste me you jerk!¡± I shrieked in a high-pitched voice while silently casting a spell with my left hand. In the corner of my eye, something caught my attention¡­ ¡®shit¡­ you guys hunt in groups don¡¯t ya¡­¡¯ ¡°Man¡ªAghh. Mana blade¡± I shouted with all my might and slashed the unstable Mana blade into the wolf¡®s neck¡­ Cleanly chopping off its head. It was hard for me to concentrate while he was munching on my hand so the mana blade became unstable and after it got off the wolf¡¯s head it exploded knocking me off the cliff and painfully hitting the ground¡­ and then everything went black.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.


    -----------------------------------------¡ª- Village inhabitant (Angelica)


    It¡®s been 26 days after the strange... explosion. The village was starting to get back on its feet but some called this land cursed and moved away¡­ My daughter is 9 years old¡ªI justwanted her to have a peaceful life.


    Someone tugged on my dress¡­ It was my daughter who said, ¡°Mommy, don¡®t cry.¡± She said in an apologetic tone and looking at me with puppy eyes.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry sweetheart¡­¡± I smiled and awkward smile. ¡°The adventurer¡®s healed my wound¡­ It¡¯s way better now. My magic is to weak¡ªdo you remember my promise?¡±


    She had a huge grin on her face and said while joyfully jumping ¡°Let¡¯s go fish for fishes together mommy!¡± I looked at her with delight... She is calmer than I am¡­ ¡°Let''s go!¡±


    ¡°Angelica, wait!¡± A strong man with well-developed muscles ran into our little shack and shouted. It was my husband, but he seemed in a rush so I skipped the messing around the part and listened to him seriously. My smile disappeared... ¡°What is it?¡± I asked him with a serious tone. ¡°A boy¡­ about 7-8 years old boy¡­ He was being washed away by the river when one of our fishermen saw him and got him out... He is seriously injured¡ªlooks like he fought a bear or a wolf¡­ it¡¯s hard to tell he got really run down by the river¡­¡± I can feel my face muscles tensing up into a frown. ¡°He has strange markings on his left hand¡ªwe think he might have escaped from slave traders.¡±


    ¡°Let me see him..¡±


    We all rushed out of the shack and onto a small tent that was our ¡°Hospital¡±. There lied a young boy full of open wounds and blood oozing out. There were three individuals standing around him working to stop his bleeding¡­ ¡°Miss Angelica. Please heal this child or he won¡¯t last till sunset.


    ----------------------------------------------------¡ªMira POV (Main character)


    I am standing in the middle of the desert¡­ Alone¡­ that strange painful feeling in my chest¡­ Looking forward now¡­ I noticed a humanly figure standing a distance away while it¡¯s dress was buffeted by the strong winds¡­ seeminglyblowing down out of nowhere.


    ¡°You must pay for your sins¡ªYou must not forget your sins¡­ Son¡± A faintly familiar female voice with no emotion came from behind me. I instinctively looked back but found nothing¡­ I looked back towards the direction of the strange figure¡ªIt was gone¡­


    I searched around me everywhere when suddenly everything went dark¡­ I glanced upon the sun. It was black¡­ A black sun¡­ suddenly a bunch of odd memories struggled to force their way inside my head¡­ ¡°Aghhhhh, Ahhhhhhh¡± After some time of screaming and rolling on the hot red sand. The intense pain has stopped. ¡®I won¡ªain¡®t letting you inside my head... Just like father taught me¡­¡¯ Everything around me started cracking¡­ Like a screen or a window¡­ until there was nothing¡­ everything went black again¡­ ¡°Am I dead?... Again?¡± I inquired with a troubled and regretful expression. ¡°You can¡¯t escape your destinyyyy!¡± The female voice that resounded in my head¡­ From left¡­ and right¡­ it came from everywhere slowly disappeared.


    ¡°Haaahhhh¡± I opened my eyes and shouted. Confused at what was going on¡­ There were people with bloodied rags¡ªand.. bandages? All stood around me. I tried to hold my hands up in a defensive stance but my whole body was shaking and my eyelashes felt heavy.


    ¡°It¡¯s okay¡­ Everything will be all right¡­ go back to sleep¡­ rest¡­¡± I saw a fuzzy figure of a beautiful woman saying these words with a light and gentle tone¡­ and then my consciousness faded away once more.