CHAPTER 196: TUMULT OF THE TWO WEEKS: PART 8 - MASSACRE OF SNOWSTORMS

Asahi screamed, staring at corpses scattered across the streets.

Just hours before, this vibrant neighborhood was filled with the chaos and clamor of a vicious battle. Buildings bore the scars of incendiary blasts while the air still reeked of smoke and despair.

"Who... who did this? Why won’t it..."

(SNAP)

Again. Nothing. Just utter stillness. Asahi then raced through the roads, frantically searching each corner and doorway for any sign of life. The crunch of snow under his boots was swallowed by the ominous silence. The air was thick with the metallic tang of blood mixed with the lingering smoke from the battle, each breath he took tasting of ash and despair.

(SNAP)

Nothingness. Each snap of his fingers was an attempt to harness time, a futile hope that reality could be altered. Desperation clawed at him as he hoped for a spark to rewind time or bring back the fallen, desperately seeking to reverse the nightmare before him.

(SNAP)

The corpses littered the street: some clutched knives, others rifles. This was nothing short of a massacre as snow fell heavily in thick flakes. Then he was reminded of his actions and how Telos had provided him with the crucial information needed to resurrect his beloved sister, Aletha.

Telos had seen potential in Asahi, recognizing his unique ability to defy mortality, and had provided this knowledge out of love and consideration.

But now, having witnessed his actions toward Kartara, Asahi just knew Telos was displeased.

To bring Aletha back meant everything to Asahi—it was not just about reversing death, but about restoring the light she brought into his life.

Yet, with immortality at his disposal, how could he possibly get around this hurdle, knowing that everyone had... died?

. . .

Everywhere he looked, corpses hung left and right, blood seeping into the earth like the trees siphoning the soil. A damp, earthy smell mixed with the metallic tang of blood filled the air, assaulting his senses.

He took one left, the crunch of the snow beneath his feet dangerously loud in the silent chaos, and saw dead bodies scattered beneath the sheet of snow.

The frigid temperature cut through him like a blade, growing colder as the shadow of death loomed above him. The clouds released a silent but deadly snowstorm, each flake a reminder of the devastation that had transpired.

As he progressed through the streets, every breath a visible cloud in the icy air, Asahi turned up to the sky, fury driving him to the brink of insanity. Had this been the third day, he thought things couldn’t get worse, yet even the horse carriages were toppled, adding to the eerie stillness.

The last idea he could think of... was to go to Brittlefrost Peak as Telos instructed, abandoning everything and the massacre combined. From one road to the other, corpses were scattered everywhere. He couldn’t manage to fathom how many had died.

"W...What happened here?" Asahi shook the thought aside and saw the faces of Yawman and Kika flashing into his eyes. He hadn’t known what to do, but something had washed over Asahi. Not some resentment or other emotions, but with PURE rage at his desperation. It’s all that he had left.

(SNAP)

Still... nothing. In his mind, Asahi was torn between overwhelming guilt and his singular resolve. He hadn’t cared about saving everyone, selfishly fixated on reviving Aletha. The thought clawed at him, questioning his priorities: Was one life worth more than so many others?

It pained him to admit that he could abandon the rest, but the haunting memories of Aletha’s last moments suffocated him.

How on earth could he reach the peak of Brittlefrost with just rage and the weight of this massacre pressing down on him?

A careful silence loomed in the empty atmosphere.

Tragedy shone all over the darkest of shadows.

Asahi, after seeing a massacre of a horrific battle, flames burning in the city, knew that his time had come.

(SNAP)

And yet, he could not snap. Not after witnessing all of this play out. It had haunted the back of his mind.

"If... If I can’t snap." He said, growling in anger. "Then it’s for Aletha, only."

This selfish resolve ate and bittered him wholly. He hadn’t thought straight. Kika and Yawmen, these two or possibly more, killed all these innocent people, and there was nothing he could do about it. Yes, he was immortal, but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t bite his tongue at the bitter taste of loss. If he were to fight, he would do it. This urged and broke him mentally.

. . .

When he at last conquered the summit, a blue light shimmered in the mountain’s heart. Asahi, clinging to the last threads of his sanity, fixed his gaze on Aletha’s face, shutting out the world.

Relief washed over him as the white-haired girl emerged from the glow, her form coalescing before him. She touched down softly, and Asahi rushed forward, gathering her into his arms and holding her as if he would never let go.

"We’ll... be safe..."

He murmured his vow once more, cradling her against his chest as he half-carried, half-dragged her down the spiraling stairs, every step a battle against his own shaking limbs and her unyielding weight.

"Let’s go to the desert. W...Where it’s safe. Safe from every single person that comes our way."

He had clawed his way to the summit in thirty punishing minutes, emerging at the peak unscathed. Hatred and raw determination had sparked life back into her atop the mountain. Yet a new torment seized him: though her chest fluttered with faint breaths, her spirit lingered somewhere far beyond his reach. She couldn’t wake up.

"Wake up!" Asahi hollered as he carried Aletha slowly down the stairs.

Still, her eyes remained closed. Had all their suffering been in vain? He forced the doubt away.

Selfishness, once buried deep, rose up to torment him. Drawing on the last shreds of his resolve, he pushed forward through the carnage, bearing Aletha along the scarred roads.

A snowstorm brewed at the edge of the nation, and as the first icy flakes fell, he stood rooted in place, paralyzed, even with her weight in his arms.

A chilling realization slithered over him as he crossed the thresholds...

Aletha wasn’t immortal.

With desperate urgency, he hauled Aletha through the wreckage his own hatred had unleashed, every step a grim march through the ruins of his making.

"Aletha..." He said, feeling the warmth of her hands going cold. "D...Don’t die on me now."

As he emerged from the town’s entrance, a creeping snowstorm began to swallow the empty city, its silence deepening with every drifting flake. One step, two steps, just a little farther from his reach. Blood had sapped and dripped from Aletha’s face. The snow grew intense in scale, enveloping what was Blacksmith Haven into nothing but heaps of snow.

He gulped down a breath of sorrow and progressed through the snowy hills. Each step was filled with despondency.

"Aletha. We can go far from here. Let’s start anew, you and me both!" Asahi hollered as the snowflakes dropped in tremendous scales.

But it had already been too late.

Once they saw the golden dunes shimmer in the distance, frostbite had started to gnaw on Aletha’s body.

With tears freezing on his face from the chilling cold, Asahi placed Aletha down. He tried everything to wake her up, but all that was left was the distant sandy dunes glittering in the deceptive sun.

"A..Aletha..."

He slammed his fists to the ground.

"Why won’t you wake up? W...Why?"

Just a few more steps, and he could reach Zomrack. But the snow had already pulled them. They were too late.

"Aletha..."

After grasping one more time, the tension of all the dead bodies in the city tormented him, and before they could ever reach the sand...

Aletha’s head was chopped off by the biting winds.

He collapsed to his knees, watching everything he loved perish. He saw them—Primrose, the inn manager, and the blonde-haired girl.

Each stood beneath the lifeless skeletons hanging from the ceiling. Silent. Each was a testament to his loss. After simply going to sleep, and finding the consequences to his actions, he was left in despair. At first, the limit wasn’t enough, now this? It truly had tormented his soul seeing everyone lie barren in this hellscape.

"WHY!?" He said with grief slipping off his grasp. "What did I do... I’m sorry Aletha, Kartara, Telos, a...anyone? Help... Help me out."

This pain overshadowed all others; nothing had prepared him for such utter loss. His selfishness had brought this upon him, and even after a punishing hour’s walk, even after climbing the mountain, he remained powerless to shape fate.

The snowstorms grew furious, slowly swallowing the distance in one icy gulp. The moon shone underneath the frigid horizon.

Truly, this was the end.

Now, without Aletha, he was truly left alone, left to drown in tragedy.

In curiosity, he hunched forward, next to Aletha’s corpse and bowed down to the winds, quivering and shivering near her blood spilling out of her, tainting the snow.

Tragedy enveloped his awful movements, sleeping and hunching over, hoping for this nightmare to end.

.

.

.

But then, just as he was about to lose himself, he decided to snap one. last. time.

(SNAP)

And then, suddenly, the whole world folded on to itself and...

"Get the damn boy up, it’s been what, twelve minutes?"

Afterward, Asahi was placed back all the way to where he obtained The Orb of Immortality cradled on his hands...

The Nightmare had finally been brought to an end.