For those who were the witness to the events, it all felt like a blur. It was like watching a fireworks display that came so shockingly that it shook the ground, and then ended abruptly.
The members of the An Xin sect were actually feeling somber that night. There were just times when our subconscious just knew something, and yet we chose to ignore it. That twisting feeling in someone's gut that cannot be explained, that heaviness in the air that transferred to your chest and made it hard to breathe…..
Tao felt it the most. He was still alive, but he was still significantly weak. He was being carried by Clementine as they flew all the way from England to the Arctic.
"Let's go back, Clem." He said.
Clementine shook his head. "No. The sacrifice must be made."
"What if it gets interrupted again this time? It led to the death of the Venerable One. It took us more than a thousand years for a new one to be reborn and bring the Great Bright One into the material realm." Tao furrowed his brows. "What if that was always the fate of the Venerable One, and the cycle will just repeat again?"
"Then is there any point fighting against it?" Clementine answered.
This made Tao finally be silent, but that doesn't mean that he had easily accepted that answer.
They didn't speak to each other until Clementine had set him down where the 13 pillars were. He then said:
"We are born for the purpose of the Great Bright One. Sometimes we may not understand it, sometimes it may frighten us. But we must remember that our bodies are something we just borrowed in order to accomplish his will."
Tao smiled sadly. "We are the true sacrifice, then."
And he wasn't wrong. As soon as he saw that black surging winds, like a black flame about to destroy everything he knew and loved…..
He knew then that they were the real sacrifices for the night. The women were just a way for the destruction to come unto them.
Why does it have to be them? Why does it have to be him, why does it have to be Clementine?
He felt like a pawn questioning why he had to be a pawn. In the end, the angel must be right. There was no use questioning it, no use fighting it.
And yet….
In his last moments, he still turned into a large tiangou….
And wrapped himself around the man he knew all his life. His greatest friend, his companion. They had been inseparable since the beginning, and they won't be separated until the bitter end.
Clementine looked up at him. He had ordered everyone to attack and avoid the surge, yet it was too late. The carnage was imminent, their destruction was inevitable.
As Clementine was sheltered by Tao's own body, he gritted his teeth.
"You fool….. This is your moment to be free. You wanted to run away, and you could have. So what are you doing?"
"I couldn't kill you." Tao said. "Thousands of years of finding each other insufferable, and yet we still couldn't kill each other, much less abandon each other."
At this, he laughed.
Such a good laugh it was. It lasted quite long. Bright and airy, it even sounded melodious to his ears. Tao thought that perhaps death would not be so bad if that laugh was the last thing he got to hear.
"You dumb dog." Clementine said, leaning into a chest covered in fur. "I suppose I'm not any better."
The black flame was heading for them, and the angel he couldn't kill said:
"In the next life, I hope that we couldn't kill each other still and continue to remain in each other's insufferable presence."
Tao lowered his head to rest above Clementine's, and then….
They were gone. What happened next, only they would know. What happens after the end.
Meanwhile, the bodyguards were quite confused. Alejandro had successfully burned all of the SS cells from Victoria that carried Roland, and had gone to come and infiltrate the area for battle.
But the moment they got there, the battle was over. Eden no longer exists. Even Victoria's crew were confused at how quickly they lost it.
They saw their leader be eaten, saw the deaths of the An Xin members, but it all felt…. like a dream.
They saw the Roland's men with their guns and flamethrowers, and didn't even put up a fight. They just raised their hands, too confused to decide what to do so they let this other group decide. But even Alejandro and the others were confused on what to do.
They were like pawns that were just left behind as the actual pieces battled each other and a victor was decided so fast. They didn't know where to go from here.
Soon, they saw Mina and Joan dragging along a figure that never moved no matter how much they called out.
The people all expected the 'victor' to look majestic within this blizzard, like a proud and mighty entity walking…. well, victoriously. But no. He looked like a dead man, worse than a dead man. He looked like a defeated man, exhausted and bloody from the battle.
Alejandro rushed to carry Harker for them, checking his vitals. "Is he still alive? Did he drown?"
"For a while. But he's still…." Joan looked. "Something's wrong with him."
Alejandro checked Harker's body well, and she was right. There really was something wrong with this man. He was breathing, but he had no pulse. No heartbeat. His body was simultaneously hot and cold at the same time. He must be in a coma or concussion, but he couldn't tell if this was from hypothermia or heat stroke.
"We…. We should bring him back to land as soon as possible. Real, normal land." Alejandro said shakily. "We still have to find Mr. Roland---"
"So they're both like that, huh?"
The people parted as soon as they heard that voice. It was Adam Fiero, and along with him were the other three scientists. He was also carrying someone on his back.
"Couldn't tell if he was dead as a doornail or having a very high fever. Couldn't tell if he still has a soul or not." He said, showing the body. "They could be in the in-between."
Joan clenched her fist. "Whatever's happening right now…. We better get out of here. I don't want to be in this place anymore."
She hugged herself. Everyone was rattled by what happened, but it was even worse for her…
Because she achieved what she always wanted. She talked with her sister, right before she handed her over to be a sacrifice to those demonic or whatever cult. Mina was apprehended again by having her breath taken away just enough so she would be too weak to move while being pinned down by 4 An Xin members.
Their last exchange was:
"If you hated me so much, why don't you just kill me yourself!?"
Victoria just smiled.
"I couldn't. I hated you all my life, ever since I laid my eyes on you. But I just couldn't. I had my chance a long time before, just letting you die."
She then went on to do something unexpected.
She went to hug Joan.
"But you wouldn't die. I know that. You are the one person in this world that I couldn't kill.... sister."
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