"Hee!"
"Ahh!"
On a dark night filled with human screams, even different howls and roars of creatures echoed in eerie unison. It sounded almost natural, as if it were the only sound that existed.
The moonlight pale light, casted over the city that, it made shadows as currently, the city was halfway ablaze, illuminating the terrified faces of those who dare peeked out their windows.
The night air was bitter and dry, reeked of blood.
At the heart of the city stood a hallowed, abandoned cathedral. Moonlight filtered through shattered stained glass... scattering cracked colors across the overturned pews coated in dust and long dried crimson liquid?
Named Cathedral of Aurel, it was built above an ancient crypt said to imprison a forgotten god.
Once, this cathedral was a sanctuary… a place of peace and whispered prayers for redemption... now it looked like a tomb of the dead.
As the scent of death clung to the air, overpowering all others inside and out. It's a thick fog, seeped into the cracks of the ruined stone floor.
Bodies lay sprawled across the cracked floor some human, others twisted beyond recognition. Their eyes were frozen in terror, as if the last thing they saw scared them to death? Even dark, slick, glistening stains pooled beneath their torn throats.
It was a massacre.
In the center of it all stood Lucian, chest rose and fell in slowly… his grip tightened onto the hilt of his cursed blade, a weapon forged from the bone and blood of something ancient, back to its creator, it pulsed in his hand like a living thing.
His heart beat was slow… to slow.
Suddenly, something shifted in the rafters above him. He didn't move, but he felt it presence, slithering at the edge of his senses, just beyond the reach of his sight… A shadow formed behind him.
His ears perked up.
"Still clinging to your humanity, Lucian? How quaint."
Lucian jaw clenched... He knew that voice all too well.
Emerging from the darkness, a figure dropped silently to the blood soaked floor. Tall, dressed in a long white coat, he moved fluid, as though he were more smoke. His face was pale and sculpted, but it was his eyes… black, empty pool, as if it were empty of life.
The coat he wore marked him as someone of great power... But no blood stained it. Not even a drop.
Lucian's grip on his sword tightened.
"Lazarus," his voice was low, rasped even carried a heavily darkness. "Back from the dead? Or did you finally decide to crawl out of your hole?"
Lazarus lips slowly formed… a knowing smile. "You hurt me, old friend," he said, stepping forward, his hands tucked into the folds of his coat. "I never left. You just stopped looking."
The air between them thickened, oppressive, as if the very space was holding its breath. Lucian remained still. They had once fought side by side, but now... now, they were enemies.
They no longer shared the same goals, the same ideals. Protect. Dominate. What had once been friendship had turned to hatred, and conflict.
Lazarus head tilted slightly, his eyes narrowed on him. "You shouldn't have betrayed us."
Lucian chuckled lowly. "You shouldn't have done what you did."
The place fell silent again. Even the wolves outside had gone quiet, the only sound was the steady, rhythmic, heart beats from both Lucian and Lazarus… it was a bit amusing that they both learn to detect lies from listening to each other hearts.
"Whoosh"
Lazarus, suddenly moved his body blur through the darkness.
His speed was a flash, too fast for human eyes to follow. Even Lucian, who had trained his senses for years, It was like watching time skip a frame. One heartbeat he barely had time to react as Lazarus's claws sliced through the space where his throat had been.
As Lucian was no amateur… He twisted, sidestepping the blow, but Lazarus was relentless. His claws shot out again, he aimed for his heart. The clash was deafening… steel from his sword against shadow… light against dark?
Lucian's blade cut through the air, but Lazarus danced around it, his body flickering like smoke… A sudden sharp strike grazed Lucian's side, he felt a intense fire seared through his nerves. He gritted his teeth, and ignored the pain.
Lazarus his lips curled into wider smirk. "Still, holding back?"
Lucian rapidly blinked as the world doubled... two Lazarus's swaying before him, their outlines were shifting with each heartbeat. His pulse quickened, he licked his lips, feeling the familiar darkness stirring inside him. It whispered.
"Let go."
He strongly exhaled… He wanted to end it, well he could end it easily. But something inside him… something he refused to acknowledge held him back.
A flicker of doubt tightened his chest. He had spent too many years with Lazarus, believed in him, trusted him. He swallowed hard, steadying his breath
He believed there must be a way, a chance for Lazarus to change… he still felt doubtful.
But was that hope a weakness? A naive longing for redemption? Or was it a strength, a reminder of the man he used to be?
No. Not yet.
"This wasn't meant to happen… this wasn't supposed to become us." Lucian muttered.
Lazarus's lips formed a twisted smile, as his head was held high. "It wasn't meant for you. But while you see both sides for what they are. I seek understanding beyond them. I need to master them all."
He stepped closer, his voice dropped lower. "Long ago, both sides nearly reached an agreement… until someone like me realized the truth. Without control, nothing will ever change. These devils are useless without me."
Lucian's gaze hardened... He knew the truth now, there was no point in speaking to Lazarus anymore... They were past that.
He sighed… before he lunged, his sword arced through the air, but Lazarus vanished in a swirl of black mist. Before Lucian could react, a whisper brushed against his ear.
"You can't outrun fate, Noct."
"Noct" The name that had been given to him, a nickname he had come to hate. He refused to let it anger him now, but it gnawed at him, a reminder of what had been lost.
Noct isn't just a nickname… it was the name given to him by someone important. Still, he refused to let it anger him, it even reminded him of what he done to the nickname giver… he even felt enamored, by the thought of them.
Pain.
Suddenly, something cold pierced his side, a dagger? No…claws. He staggered, blood spilled from the wound onto the floor, bubbling like fire.
He saw, Lazarus's claws retracted reflected in the light, dripping crimson… He took a step back, his eyes were filled of a dark amusement.
Lucian struggled to straighten up, his vision twsited and turned... But he didn't fall. He wouldn't fall…
Not tonight.
Though he felt full of unease, a cruel chuckle echoed through the ruins of the cathedral.
"Still fighting it," Lazarus mused, his voice was filled of disdain. "How long until you break?"
They both stood face-to-face, neither willing to back down, as tension crackled in the air…
Lucian thumb passed arocss his lips, wiping his blood away, his fingers curling around the hilt of his sword. His body screamed in protest, urging him to run, to escape. But he met Lazarus's gaze, eyes burning with a fire colder than fury.
"I've walked through fire and death, Lazarus. I've seen what devotion to one side does to a man… it breaks him, blinds him, molds him into a weapon for someone else's war. But I'm no one's weapon anymore. Not theirs. Not yours."
He took a slow step forward, dragging one boot across the blood-slick floor.
"It's in refusing to become what the world demands just to survive."
His free hand flexed at his side, trembling slightly before he stilled it.
"You think control is salvation, and they think obedience is righteousness. But both sides have forgotten the value of the soul. I won't trade mine to belong. I won't kill what's left of me to win."
He took another step, steadier this time, his breathing controlled. One could almost hear his rhythmic slow heartbeat, a storm behind his eyes.
"So no… I won't kneel to gods, and I won't stand beside monsters. I'll carve my own path, even if I have to drag myself through every damn ruin in this cursed world. Because the moment I give in, the moment I stop choosing... is the moment I become you."