Nightblade (Darkest night)

Chapter 254: Memory

A massive underground chamber stretched endlessly around him, shrouded in a veil of darkness.

The darkness stretched around him in all directions, making it nearly impossible to see.

But not for Morgan.

His affinity to the Void allowed him to pierce through the darkness and try to gain his bearings.

What he saw made his skin crawl.

Ancient dark pillars rose from the darkness, stretching endlessly to the sky, defying all reason.

The walls around him were covered in forgotten symbols, grotesque imagery surrounding the cavern.

"What the—"

He staggered back, grabbing at his head.

"What is this..."

More images quickly appeared in his mind.

A sit second later, the darkness faded away, replaced by a surreal vision.

In his mind, the Zeregran Ranges flashed before him. But they were not the same mountains he knew.

They were...different.

The jagged black peaks still pierced the heavens, but they were not covered in the ethereal mist that now surrounded them.

The lower slopes were covered in vast forests that stretched farther than the eye could see. Ancient trees towered over the land, their trunks so massive that entire settlements could be built between their roots.

Streams of crystal-clear water flowed through the upper slopes, tracing their way through the vast ranges.

For a while, he stood frozen.

"Is this a memory?"

Morgan frowned slightly,y staring at the scene before him in disbelief.

A moment later, an incredible wave of ominous pressure washed over him.

For an instant, his entire body refused to move.

In that moment, Morgan felt like an ant in front of whatever had emanated the predatory killing intent.

His breathing became shallow as his eyes swept over his surroundings warily.

Small beads of perspiration ran down his forehead, hiss eyes narrowing slightly.

"What the hell is going on..."

Absurdly enough, the situation just simply kept getting worse.

One minute they’d been running from the wave of darkness.

The next, they’d fallen through the ground and now this...

Whatever this was.

Just then, the ground shook beneath his feet.

"Holy crap!"

The birds in the surrounding trees scattered from the trees in massive waves, their cries echoing through the forest.

The world around him surged as though a slumbering giant was coming alive.

Morgan’s instincts took over.

His entire body screamed at him to move.

A moment later, he blurred through the forest, sprinting towards the nearest cover.

Despite not knowing what was happening, he simply knew he had to get out of the open.

Morgan ducked behind a particularly large tree trunk, swiftly doing his best to squeeze into its roots.

A moment later, a mammoth foot landed a short distance away from him, the ground cracking beneath its monstrous weight.

With that single move, one of the giant trees a short distance away exploded in a shower of splinters and bark.

Morgan’s eyes widened slightly, his entire body going rigid.

"Sarenus?"

There was only silence.

"Damn it!"

Whatever was happening could only be a result of the darkness they’d encountered.

"This must be the past."

Before he could understand what was happening, the scene changed.

A tall ancient building rose before him. Archaic but magnificent images were inscribed on its walls in a language that Morgan failed to recognize, yet he instinctively understood.

A temple.

The chamber stretched beyond the limits of his vision, a vast underground sanctuary carved directly into the heart of the mountain. It was not merely hidden beneath the Zeregran Ranges.

It almost felt as though the entire mountain had been built around it.

More images flooded into him, first a trickle of them, then a torrent, and after a while, a full-fledged flood.

But among them, one stood out more than the others, the image of a serpent.

Morgan gasped, dropping to his knees. Pain permeated every fibre of his being, driving him to the brink of sanity.

"Stop...stop!"

But even then, his pleas fell on deaf ears.

The flood of images continued.

His eyes darted around with feverish intensity, gazing at a reality only he could see.

The enormous stone arches supported the ceiling.

The creatures depicted were not ordinary, but colossal beings, monsters of legend.

Beings that seemed terrifying, even inscribed into the walls.

Some carvings showed them devouring stars. Others showed them facing beings of light that descended from the heavens.

Morgan gasped, turning his gaze to the ground.

The floor beneath him was made of polished black stone, but cracks ran throughout it like scars left behind by some ancient battle.

In some places, faint golden lines remained visible beneath the surface, forming enormous patterns that resembled the runic formations in Azaroth.

Moments later, the scene shifted once more, the temple blurring before him at a frenetic speed.

This time, Morgan found himself on a battlefield.

The sky was painted an eerie red, filling Morgan with a horrendous sense of foreboding.

A moment later, the sickly sweet stench of death slammed into him, overwhelming his senses.

All around him, countless bodies were strewn on the ground, some even carelessly arranged in piles.

Morgan slowly rose to his feet, staring at the scene in front of him with a mixture of shock and horror.

He silently cursed, then, with a sigh, took a step forward and stopped.

A moment later, he doubled over, fighting overwhelming waves of nausea and revulsion.

"What the hell..."

His instincts screamed at him, a palpable force barring his path forward.

His gaze shifted to the scene of devastation in front of him, surveying the carnage apprehensively.

A moment, Morgan stiffened, frowning slightly.

His eyes glinted warily in the eerie crimson light of the grotesque battlefield.

In the distance, a lone figure stood, silently, with his back turned to Morgan.

Despite the man remaining still, something still felt off.

Something about him was deeply unsettling.

Morgan couldn’t explain it, but he felt it.

The figure was not moving, he wasn’t attacking, but even then, he felt an overwhelming sense of dread.

Slowly, the figure began to turn.

Morgan instinctively reached for his blades and found nothing.

He quietly cursed, taking a step back.

At least he tried to.

Instead, he found his feet stuck to the ground.

"Shit!"

In the next moment, what he saw made his blood run cold.