20 Burning Pyre

The beast was hungrily devouring Lucas's soul. It was very delighted as its long-desired wish to escape this realm would be fulfilled any second. But suddenly, the weak soul turned blazingly hot. It became hard for the beast to devour the soul. 

It felt an ominous premonition, and thus tried to back away from the soul. The beast's soul looked around in Lucas's mind space and was greatly alarmed to find it being covered in black flame, the same thing Lucas's previous soul had turned into.

It tried to escape the mind space and return to its own body. But there were no openings within the space mind of Lucas. The black flame started swallowing up the whole space and closed in on the beast's soul. It felt anguished as the weak prey, which was getting toyed to death, had now completely overwhelmed it. 

The black flames crawled up the beast's soul from its legs. The resounding howl of the beast echoed throughout the mind space as the last vestiges of its soul were devoured by the black flame.

After the beast's soul was destroyed, Lucas opened his eyes. But his eyes were not the normal sapphire-blue eyes but had a hazy grey color with a flickering tinge of red in them. 

With an indifferent expression, Lucas slashed his sword at the beast's body and shredded it into pieces. A tiny wisp of soul that was trying to leave the beast's body to escape from its destruction was also obliterated. The beast's core was the only thing that remained after the mighty slash.

Lucas sheathed his sword in his scabbard and looked up in the sky. It was night in the realm. The sky was dark. He continued to stare at the sky as he started to fall backward on his back. By the time Lucas touched the ground, he had closed his eyes with his consciousness lost.

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I was falling down. I had been falling down for a very long time. The last thing I remembered was that my soul was being devoured by the beast. I noticed my soul turning into a black flame, which covered my mind space before engulfing the beast's soul. After that, I felt unconscious, and when I came to be, I was falling into this endless darkness. 

The darkness was suffocating at first. Even though I had gotten accustomed to this feeling, I still felt some nausea. It felt like numerous nightmarish hands were dragging me into the darkness.

With each tug, I felt many blurry scenarios running through my head. Though I couldn't understand what was happening in them, I felt various negative emotions like grief, despair, and anger invoked in me. I tried to suppress these emotions and continued to fall through the darkness.

After I didn't know how long, I reached the bottom. I was lying in a black swamp. The swamp was clinging to my body and was trying to suck me into it. I had lost most of my endurance, suffering from the aftereffects of the blurry visions. So, I let myself drown in the swamp without any resistance.

When I was fully sucked into the swamp, I saw another vision. This time, the vision was not blurry but rather crystal clear.

There was a young man with a woman lying in his embrace. The entire ground surrounding the two was coloured in red. There was no other person present except the two. The man had his head down, looking at the face of the woman. Tears flowed down his cheeks, and he caressed the woman's hand. But the woman's face showed no emotions. It was donning a calm and gentle smile. It was the smile of a person who had accepted his death peacefully.

There was a fatal wound on her body. Blood was puddled on the ground under them. The man's robes were soaked with her blood. The man couldn't contain his grief any longer. He howled to the gods. He screamed, demanding to bring the woman back. But alas, there was no response. 

He built a pyre of woods nearby and laid the woman on it. Then he caressed her one last time before setting the pyre on fire.

He watched the pyre for a few seconds, then jumped into the fire himself. He lied down beside the female, grasping her hand, and closed his eyes. Even though the fire burned him alive, the man didn't utter a single sound. The fire didn't die down for a long time. It continued to burn for many seasons.

The vision ended when the fire died down. When I was looking at the vision, my heart started beating fast. It felt real like I had witnessed it before. I lay there inside the swamp and felt a fire burn my body. The fire melted my skin, my bones, and everything inside in my body. 

I felt the searing pain of being burned to death. But I didn't scream and let myself burn into ashes. In the last moments, I heard some indecipherable words.

…ang..uish…..sor..rows..…misery..…soul..…night..mare

I opened my eyes. I was lying on a beach. The waves were crashing on my body. I checked my body to find it riddled with scars. There were no injuries present except for their scars. 

I lifted myself up and found that I was near the portal of the Turquoise Realm. There were many dead bodies lying around near the portal. I looked at those bodies and found that they were of Callum and his lackeys.

I tried to find the beast but couldn't find it. There was a red glowing ball near my feet. It was a beast core. Sensing the strength of the beast core I understood that the beast was dead, with only its core remaining. I didn't know how it was killed, but I didn't have any energy or patience for that.

I had to leave the realm and return back to Alice. I hoped that she was safe along with the Luna sisters. I gave a last look at the mountain at the centre of the island and entered the portal.