《Divinity: Forsaken》 1. A regretful decision Lancelot, a boy that dreamed being the hero and save humanity just like everybody else. The only difference is that right now he is batling for the very existense of humanity against the demon lord that razed the ground and consumed thousands or millions of lives already. The great chamber where everything must end will start another begining. Lancelot is breathing very hard while trying to support himself as he stab his holy sword to the ground for support. After grueling hours of battle against the very powerful demon lord, he finally won just like the clich¨¦ storylines of the books. -You have done well human. The demon lord was just barely alive after the holy sword stabbed his heart. Though he was supposed to die instantly, he was now having a peaceful expression. Though he was coughing up blood, he was smiling cheerfully. -With this, the war is over and peace shall finally come. *What the hell are you talking about like a priest? Lancelot was confused about the actions of his enemy which drained him almost all of his divinity that would take a lifetime to recover. Even though they were going for each other''s neck not even half an hour passed, now the demon lord was having a hopeful tone while speaking far from his declaration earlier saying "I shall bathe into your blood and eat your heart in front of humanity!". Really it was strange.... very strange for Lancelot to understand. -Let this war be the end of all the wars in the future. For everyone knows how terrifying war is. Though I ask the one who defeat me, let my daughter live in the world I prepared for her. The demon lord raised his left hand and a little lady, maybe at fifteen base on human age came into appearance. Lancelot was puzzled with the statement and the meaning of the demon lord''s statements. -Her name is Michaela Ravion Espera. She was my most treasured treasure I have. Please take her with you and protect her. Let her see the lands beyond this darkness. Then the demon lord''s hand dropped. Finally the demon lord is dead. The war in the continent abruptly stopped with the sudden weakness every demon felt when their lord''s presence disappeared. Now the sole heir to the crown was at the mercy of demons'' nemesis. Lancelot stood up after having enough strength and walked towards the little girl five years younger than him while gripping his sword tightly. Then when he is near enough, he raised his sword and pointed it to the princess'' throat. *What do you desire? He asked in a cold and serious tone. He waited tense for a few seconds before the girl looked into his eyes finally after starring at her dead father lying on the ground. When their eyes met, Lancelot didn''t feel any malice nor ill intent from the girl. -I wish to live and see the world as my father hoped for. He wanted to deny her answer but Lancelot can not find any fault nor any hidden message from her. Her eyes were honest and her voice is full of grief like she was on the verge of crying. Lancelot tried so hard to find a reason, enough to kill this innocent lady but he could not find the resolve. So what if she is a demon and the daugther of the demon lord? She is just a little girl just like anyone else. Her red eyes doesn''t pass as a reason enough to take her life. Lancelot dropped the sword from its position and sheat it back to its scarab. *Come and follow me. I will show you my world. The princess nodded and suddenly collapsed. Now he can see how pale and nervous the girl was. She was only fifteen and the man that killed her father pointed a blade towards her. Of course she would be terrified! Lancelot swoop her up like the princess she is and left the castle of the demon lord by using the last of his divinity to make a portal towards his home. The castle was now empty. Or so Lancelot thought but there were shadows hidden in some dark corners. When he returned, he quickly cooked something to eat and placed the sleeping girl in the bed. Then when the food is done, he left it at the table near Michaela along with a glass of water then left for the castle to report. Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! The king was overjoyed when he heard the news. He offered many riches,vast land and one of the princess from his daughters as a reward but Lancelot refused it then left without a second backward glance towards the vast golds and jewels offered to him. A month passed and Michaela is starting to open up to Lancelot. They can now dine together without Michaela trembling and nervous. Everything seems going well and peace has returned to the kingdom of Mathol. The demons barricaded themselves and living peacefully back at the dark lands and the flames of war has finally died. Lancelot thought that everything was fine until knights and soldiers from the kingdom came to his humble house near the lake. -We demand you hand over the daugther of the previous demon lord! A knight he knows very well since they fought together in the front lines for so long. The knight is named Baron and he was a son of a high ranking noble that is expected to succeed the glorious house. *What are you saying here? -Do not play games with me Lancelot! I saw you leave with her in the demon lord''s castle! Hand her over now! She is a great threat to the kingdom. Though Baron was saying such patriotic words, he was just a glory mongrel seeking fame and great attention since he cowered when the demon lord appear. Now he is trying to act like a hero of the kingdom. *I will not. She is not doing nor planning anything bad so leave us alone. I shall watch over her. Baron nodded to the other knights and all of them drew their swords and surrounded Lancelot. *What are you doing! Lancelot screamed as he drew his own sword. He was not recovered yet and he doesn''t have enough Divinity to repell the current threat. He could defend himself with swordsmanship alone but he knew that he can''t win againts other knights along with their own divinity. -It is the king''s order. By mercy of the king for defeating the demon lord, you will retain your life but the demon princess must be killed. *Michaela! Run! Lancelot screamed and try to strike with his sword but then he was pushed to the ground by an invisible force. Th knights used their divinity to restrain Lancelot and he could not break free the combine forces of the knights in his current condition. *No! Do not do this Baron! Leave her be! -Do not despair. When you open your eyes again, Michaela Ravion Espera, daughter of the demon lord shall be no more. Then the force that is restraining him trippled to the point that he could not breathe and his conciousness is starting to fade. But before he lost it, he saw Baron dragging Michaela out of the house. She was trashing wildly and managed to free herself and tried to runaway but Baron''s sword pierced her from the back before she can get away. Michaela fell to the ground lifeless. Lancelot''s blood boiled to the point he was trembling. He gathered all of his strength to break free but a sudden hit to the back of his head made him unconcious. The last image he saw was the smiling face of Michaela earlier that day while eating apple. In the dept of his heart something awoken. In the deepest corner of his being came a sweet whisper. -What do you desire? A voice so tempting you wouldn''t doubt it is of the devil. But now that Lancelot was in the state of madness he didn''t care but this time unlike the many times the voice tempted him, he replied. *Revenge. I want to drown this kingdom with their own blood. Give me the might to do so. -Oh... hahaha. You finally replied. But I must warn you... The price of that is high. *Take anything! Everything I held dear is gone. How much worse can you ask for? Lancelot replied fearlessly. Without any hesitation. Nor doubt, his answer was firm. -Yes.. Just like that... I will grant it in exchange for your soul when you die. I shall feast on you. The voice replied sounding pleased and Lancelot heard the sounds of hunger with in the voice. *Agreed Chapter End. 2. Ruler of Time *Agreed Lancelot easily answered to the madness of a deal. Concenting for the devil to eat your soul is the same as losing whatever divinity one has. It was the same as being forsaken by the god and now will his soul be ripped apart with no hope of salvation. For a moment, the scenery aside from darkness changed and now he was in the fiery hell standing directly to a giant sitting to a throne. The giant was having a pleased expression and a crown with jewels as dark as the night was embeded is placed proudly on the giant''s head. -I am the traitor. I am the one that brought wars and sickness to the world. I am in everyone''s heart. Bow down to me! The giant roared but now Lancelot doesn''t feel any pain. He felt perfectly fine and lively as a child. *I refuse! I shall never bow down to anyone again! Now either grant me what I want and be done with it or leave me alone. The giant laughed and made the whole place shook with a mere laughter. -Interesting! Muhahahahahahaha. It has been so long since I met someone like you but all of them is with in my belly now. *Can you grant me what I desire? Lancelot didn''t feel intimidated by the giant in front of him that was oozing with might but he remained focused on what he wants. A power greater than divinity that which was capable of slaying a demon lord. Something beyond a mortal could reach. That is what he needed to fulfill his vendetta. -What you seek is more than what you can handle feeble mortal. Do you think I will give it to you just like that? A soul? For a mere soul? A single soul for a power that could devour hundreds and thousands of soul? I don''t think so. *What would it take for you to grant it to me then? -Let us see.... The giant was stroking his beard while having a difficult expression. Then suddenly his gace brightened and smiled deviously. -I know.... Give me more souls... That is the only way. Lancelot was puzzled since he only have a single soul. What more can he do? He frowned and tried to come up how to get those what the devil is asking him. *Every soul I take, shall be tainted and marked so you can eat them. Every single one of them shall burn and suffer with your side. The devil stood up and had a serious expression. The truth is he did not expect for this development at all. He was just tempting the man in front of him to offer another soul to him. Since he knows that offering a soul to him shall be faced with heavy consequence. The god would act and shall guide the followers to eliminate any agent the devil has in the world. It was the same how Lancelot was able to slay the demon lord with his divinity. Every soul has a certain divinity and purpose. Once his purpose is done, the same divinity will disappear no matter how vast or little it is. Just like how Lancelot is fated to slay a demon lord and lose his divinity and was left with so little just enough to live and protect Michaela. -You do know what you are asking right? Lancelot just nodded fearlessly at him. The devil saw what is inside the man in front of him. Deep, so very deep hatred that is clouding his judgement but that is what the devil waits for. When someone is blinded by greed or any misfortune that falls on them then it is time for him to tempt them but for the first time he is unsure. The man in front of him was no one he ever hope for. Despite that, a devil is a devil and he would not let this chance to have more souls to eat to pass by. -Very well. I shall give you the power to stop time at your will. Time to yourself, to someone, something, anything is possible but the time you stopped will the taken from your own time. For simplicity, the longer you use this power the faster you will die and the sooner I can eat your soul. Then something small in a circular shape flew from the hand of the devil towards the eye of Lancelot in a blinding speed. For a moment Lancelot thought of trickery but he only felt pain for a brief moment. Though it is brief it was an instant and compressed pain like his eye is being gouged out. Lancelot fell on his knees and groaned in pain. Once he felt better he stood up again and saw "??????" On top of the giant''s head. Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. -That is a power I held very cautiously for it will affect the mortal real vastly but eith your feeble time as a mortal I guess it is fine to mess with the things once in a while. The giant nodded to himself satisfied. Lancelot on the other hand was confused about what the giant is talking about. He understood the part that he need to exhaust his own time to affect the time of the world but he doesn''t know what does a timer or sort is on top of his head. There were numbers like "73:21:43" and the last part is going down every second. -That is your time. The time left in you and every time you use your power it will go down depending on the scale of effect. How does it feel seeing your own life goes down? Hahahahahahaha The giant laughed and once again the place shook then he sat down back on his throne. He was smiling towards Lancelot not in a good way of course. It was a smile of a child waiting for his dessert. *So that is my time..... That was enough I guess.. Lancelot said and silence fell on him. He was thinking... now what? -Here I will lend you this. It is called The Reaping. Use this to take a soul and it should taint it enough for me to consume it. A sword with a disgusting vibe appeared from nothingness. One can summon a weapon ussing divinity but the devil doesn''t have one so it made him wonder how he could do that. -Fuse this sword with your holy sword and it should do the trick for tje tastiest treats. A devil enjoys a half innocent pure soul too. Hahaha The sword flew slowly this time and found its way into his left hand. Then when he looked up again, the scenery is falling apart and everything is returning into darkness. -Our time is over. I shall sleep until you deliver your first soul into me. I look forward to it. Then the giant laughed some more until everything fell into darkness once again. Now Lancelot can feel the fatigue and the pains all over his body that made him open his eyes. The first thing he noticed is he is facing the ground. He can feel the metalic taste of his own blood and he felt very weak. He felt something heavy on his left hand and saw the same blade earlier. Now he knows he has not gone insane. Lancelot stood up and looked around. *Michaela! Lancelot remembered and ran towards the direction he last remember. The spot where Michaela is mercilessly murdered. He saw the fresh blood stains and once again anger surged with in himself. A surge of raw fury was coursing down his viens. *The took Michaela''s body.... How could they? How.... dare....... His tone turned into a menacing one and materialize his holy sword with the last bit of his divinity. Now he only has a few minutes before it permanently disappeared but he did not care. Fuse it with your holy sword. He remembered the devil''s command. He brought the two swords closer and suddenly he can feel the aura around him change. The air pressure rose and he has ha hard time breathing. He kept on closing the swords together until they were touching then the two swords were set ablaze like the both of them were fighting for domination until his pure black sword disappeared and his pure ehite sword now has a twirling black color into its blade. Now he felt the sword was an abomination and should be thrwon into the depts of volcano but he will not do it no matter how it feels. For this tool is the one that will bring doom towards those he wanted dead. An eternal suffering beside the devil himself. Lancelot then packed his things including food for the next few days of travel. Now his destination... The capital where everyone is celebrating peace. Lancelot''s eyes changed and now he now sees very different from everyone else. So very different that you would shudder. 3. March of the Damned Lancelot made his way towards the north, onwards to the capital. On a vast forest between him and the capital, he had actually time to ponder and consider things for the last time. He thought he worked hard to save this kingdom yet he is also the one plundging it to chaos once again. He tried, really did try to consider the good things but in the end he didn''t care. Lancelot thought it is because he was tainted by the devil since he can feel the constant gaze on him like he was being watched from a realm he can never reach. Still he didn''t care, his mind only screams for revenge. To show everyone that they were not the one that will decide the fate of another. To show them that even how powerful they grew, whoever got their backs, someone will still challenge them and he intend to win no matter what. There is only one goal for him. To prove a point. Days became weeks and weeks turned to months until he finally met someone again but he was still a long way to go to reach the capital. Three months passed but the first person he met was not worth it. Lancelot met a bunch of bandits. In the past, he was considerate. He was looking why they became bandits. Perhaps poverty? Oppression? False accusation of crime? Born a bandit? In the past those were the reasons he can see but now all he is the ugly smirk of the bandits while looking a lost man with a huge luggage on his back. The bandits were so sure it would be a boring day. They were lowlives that didn''t want to work hard to earn what they eat but just to take the short route. To steal and take others'' hard earned rewards. Though most of them were forced to this kind of lives, they didn''t seek another path of living after being used to being a bandit. A bandit''s life was easier than a sweating and being oppressed farmers or a brave and always on the verge of death knights. Really they didn''t want hardship and thus they continued being a lowlife since then. As for the current time, twelve bandits were surrounding Lancelot and snickering. Each one of them were laughing like something funny while slowly advancing carefully. Though they were bandits, Lancelot knew these guys were veterans on this kind of lifestyle. He knows that these bandits knows arrogance is fatal in their field of work thus even though they were laughing and snickering by themselves, they were obeserving Lancelot carefully. The first bandit was guessing how strong this one is. He was looking for his weapons or anything that the stranger in front of him can use to fight back. When he nodded to his coleagues, the other bandits'' confidence rose one more step since they were certain this man is unarmed. -Hand over your belongings and leave. Resist and die. Lancelot pondered if these scums were worth spending a bit of his time but his curiosity won and decided to test how lethal his power against himself. First he looked at the man in fron of him and saw only a few seconds were remaining on his clock. He wondered why. Perhaps it is because they met him as he saw the other guys have the same or a few seconds longer on their clock. Still all off them have less than a minute to live. If I leave them alone will they die? He wondered but he has no more time to think as a man behind rushed with a dagger on hand ready to stab him in the back. He decided he don''t have the luxury of time to spend. The man signaled one of his comarade to start and the other man obeyed. He rush, fast and deadly but a bizarre thing happened. The man freeze and completely stopped his movement. Like there was an unknown force holding him still. The event made them warry and all of them drew their weapons from daggers to swords or crossbows. Lancelot decided to use his power in just a little area. Just enough for an adult man to fit. The result was... well he was also stupefied. The man behind him was not moving but his 40 seconds left on clock started to rapidly decline. For his time, the remaining "73: 10: 4: 23: 37: 08" (year, month, day, hour, minute, second) decline by seven minutes and a few seconds for the little area and his seconds remaining declined rapidly the same rate as the remaining time of the man he stopped. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Lancelot decided that the consequence is also severe for him. Fourty seconds took seven minutes of him instantly and his time was rapidly decreasing. *Have you ever seen the devil? Lancelot said as he materialize the holy sword in the past but now tainted with darkness blade The Reaping thus he named it Deliverance. Not of hope or rest but deliverancento eternal suffering. Fitting as a name for the first one of its prey was sent directly to the belly of the devil as he slashed the neck of the bandit behind him. The time should have been 10 seconds more but he still cut it off and he noticed his time was running normally again. The seconds were tickling down as it should have once more. -What did you do?! Lancelot heard the cry of an angered man. He was pointing his long sword towards him while shaking with fury. -------------------------------------------------------------------- From a realm different from the mortal realm, a giant woke up as something fell near his feet. His snake-like eyes opened and looked below and saw a rugged man with a nasty get up. -Ah... he delivered something so soon. He looked at the sphere on his right side of the throne to see the mortal that took the danger of angering the god and may destroy his existence for good. The mortal in the sphere was fighting multiple men with a single sword he doesn''t recognize but he can feel his creation with in. The giant''s eye glowed with amusement as the man was fighting with so much better swordsmanship against his foes. Though the enemy was using their divinity and showering Lancelot with multiple spells and deadly attacks infused with divinity, Lancelot was dealing with them with pure swordsmanship alone. Though his power was above average, a man infused with divinity can match his might in terms of raw power since he can''t materialize any of his divinity for now he doesn''t have it. Lancelot, the name of the mortal which he gave a troublesome power annihilated the enemy under a minute and a few more seconds, more things fell on his feet and he finally saw the confused look of them. -Who are you? -Where are we?! Every last of them was under heavy anxiety and fear for the unknown. Everything around them was darkness but the was a giant throne in front of them where someone so huge was sitting and looking at them. Once they saw the whole face of the said huge man, they shivered and remembered something. *Have you ever saw a devil? All of them have the same thought. We are doomed. -Hellcome everybody The giant smiled and picked up one bandit and dropped him to his mouth. The giant was chewing and having moans of delight as he savor the soul he got for the last 700 years. Then the devil laughed and every bandit ran away from the giant. They ran as fast as they can shile trying to use their divinity but for some reason they can not. They were crying while wetting themselves due to the horrenous scene. -More! Give me more! The devil chanted while laughing then grabbed another bandit from the darkness as his arms extended like a rubber. -Wouldn''t want to lose my meal to others.. He munched another soul and finally closed his eyes but every bandit that flee was mysyeriously met the same throne after the long darkness they plunged themselves. Every last one of them resigned their hopes and crumbled to the floor. Time remaining 73: 4: 12: 13: 10: 57 as Lancelot arrived at the capital after sending a lot of person to be damned. I as the narrator called it the March of the Damned.