198 Getting To The Other Side
“It’s..... it’s boiling??”
The turquoise-blue boiling river visibly reflected in her shock-filled brown eyes and she instinctively backed away, keeping a safe distance from the broken end to avoid future disaster.
Roshan’s gaze was also fixated on the bubbling water, he wasn’t even close to it but could feel the heat as it evaporated from below. He had somehow, fortunately, made it past the two rivers that did this damage to him.
But he felt happy to have made it on time before Anna’s soul could go through the blinding passage, else everything he went through just to get her would have been a waste.
Due to his trespassing and ending up in a realm of spirits, he encountered terrible tortures that he didn’t even want to remember, and he’s still surprised to find himself going despite being power drained.
And worst of all, those beast guards weren’t friendly either.
Unfortunately, he isn’t allowed to fight them which in return, earned him these severe wounds that weren’t healing for some reason. Licking the blood from his lips, he forced his limbs to help him stand up and no sooner had he stood up did he feel a presence behind him.
Like he already knew who it was, he clicked his tongue and didn’t bother turning around, patiently waiting for the next stage he had to go through if he wanted Anna’s soul back.
Meanwhile, Anna’s eyes widened and she thought she was imagining Azazel’s presence too, but no, he was actually standing behind Roshan, holding a long powerful staff and for the first time, she noticed something was different about Azazel. His eyes were a bloody red and he emanated a strange power she sensed when she heard that thundering voice.
.....
Shifting his gaze to Roshan, he enunciated, “are you still willing to go ahead with this, or save yourself the stress and go back to your world!” His voice sounded inhumane, one that Anna has never heard before and she was completely lost on the discussion carried out by the both of them.
After a long minute pause, the glacier finally asked, “What do I do next?” He has already come this far to back away. He’d rather die than leave now when his Anna was just at the other end, waiting for him.
“I see, so you have made your decision then.” The voice wasn’t pleased and the thunder crackled violently, but with no lightning strike since hurting Anna was no longer part of the deal.
“Yes.” Came Roshan’s weak, but firm response.
“Fine.” Pointing the staff at the paths that were broken, a steel-like object began to grow from the area where the bridge had broken, elongating itself and growing further till it reached the other end.
Anna just stared as the magic evolved itself before her eyes, and when she returned her gaze to Roshan, they were filled with many questions that she needed answers to, but he just smiled in a way that assured her he was fine, but based on his condition, she knew he wasn’t.
“If you can get to the other end without losing your life, or falling into the heated water, then you can have the soul back.”
Hearing that, Anna’s mind pondered on it before she could grab what Azazel meant by it. Her soul?? He came to get her soul??
Looking at the steel-like object that had formed a path for him, this was another torture since demons are more sensitive to irons and steel, not only that, the boiling river below is enough to heat the steel, making it scorching hot but that he could handle, the steel was his only problem.
Regardless of his own thoughts, he proceeded to take a step and began walking through the heated steel. The moment he placed his feet on it, the pain that coerced from his feet sent his whole nerves throbbing in agony when it spread mercilessly into every part of his body.
Nevertheless, he continued to walk and all Anna could do was watch as her eyes filled to the brim with tears, the only question that ran through her mind was...
‘why is he doing this?’
Seeing how he tolerated the pain, Azazel pointed his long staff at the steel-like path and immediately, sharp spikes began to shoot up from the surface, penetrating into Roshan’s feet and that was something he didn’t expect, leading him to stop as his legs nearly gave out, but he wasn’t allowed to fall, he had to keep moving.
Anna’s eyes widened as the tear she had been holding dropped from her eyes and she shook her head. Witnessing the devastating scene that displayed before her.
This is wrong! No!
“Stop!” She quickly said to Roshan, “go back please, this is life threatening, don’t do it.” She shook her head, wanting him to stop but seeing her cry over him just made Roshan smile in her direction, a trail of blood ran down to his lips, and from the cut he had at the corner of his eyes.
“You didn’t stop when you risked your life to save me,” came his response, “what makes you think I’ll do the same?”
Knowing Roshan’s stubbornness and how he would refuse to heed to her words, Anna turned her attention to Azazel who just watched with a firm demeanor, and she looked at him with pleading eyes, unsure of why he was doing this.
“Please stop hurting him, he’s your brother he’ll die if this continues, Azazel!!”
“Don’t bother,” Roshan’s weak tone interjected Anna, “that’s not my brother talking.” He told her, “Azazel can never hurt me, that’s just him doing his duty.”
Recovering a bit, Roshan raised his feet up to get the spikes out, only to continue as he stepped on one spike after another, his feet was covered with wounds and his blood lingered on every spike he stepped on.
Anna covered her eyes with her palm, unable to watch the scene before her and she felt like waking up from this horrific dream. This is too much for her to bear, and knowing Roshan he wouldn’t let her join him in the pain.
Seeing as his Anna had covered her eyes, it gave him a moment to let the pain display on his face as those spikes showed him no mercy, it made it look like his feet had holes that were imprinted with blood.
And the pain was another whole level of torture, like being stabbed with a sword, only to pull it out and get stabbed again.
There was still a long way to go before he made it to Anna’s side, and remembering his goals and keeping it mind, it gave him the Zeal to keep walking and after reaching a spot, his body could no longer take it. The spikes were too much and he was losing a great amount of blood.
Peeping through her fingers to see what’s happening, Anna noticed Roshan had stopped halfway, there were just a few more walks remaining before he made it to her side, but from the look of things, it doesn’t seem like he can continue.
“Roshan..” she called out, gaining his attention and to Roshan’s blurry gaze, he saw the woman had crawled to the end, stretching out her hand for him.
“Take my hand.”
Seeing the delicate hand that was waiting for him to hold, he blinked a few more times to stabilize his vision before taking another painful step.
He needed to reach for her hand.
With an observing gaze, the demon kept persisting, letting a new information dawn on Azazel, that even though he was currently drained, the mentality of reaching for her hand was the only thing that kept him moving.
His red eyes darkened as he watched, but Roshan just kept his gaze on the hand that was waiting for his hold, and he found himself still moving.
“You can do it, take my hand.” Anna tried to encourage him and keep his focus on her hand, it all seemed to be going well and just when he was about to take her hand, his own hand paused mid-way and his eyes momentarily widened.
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