8 Chapter 8: Just A Dream?

Walking out of a burning house, I looked up to the sky being ripped apart by a wave of red, and seeing it I looked around to see my brothers and sisters scattered around me in pieces.

I felt numb to the core as I saw their corpses all around me, "We just revived our race not too long ago, looks like we're going to extinction once again, Lotus... Where are you?"

Asking myself as to where our God was when we needed.

I walked down the chiseled road slathered in our bloods.

And looking around, buildings were on fire, and others were collapsing and crumbling, shaking the ground, but that didn't bother me, because I continued walking to the castle. Why?

Why, as every step I felt calm, and looking forward. . . Numb.

Showing a humain form, I conjured a leather coat and kept walking to the castle, and as I did, the smell of iron, sulfurs and gunpowder filled the air, as well as necrotic magic. . .

"Why did we have to suffer again, after this long..."

Looking around, my brothers and sisters corpses filled the streets, their blood splattered and their guts layed across the road, and as I kept walking, I saw as some were sitting up.

As if they were hollowed, as flesh hung down from their cheeks and their bodies were ripped apart, yet as I stared at them, they looked to the sky, their eyes grayed, yet blinking.

From everything I've seen, my kin have all died here.

Yet some of their souls remain, tormented, and trapped.

What a truly sad sight to see, but as I walked past them, I offered no help, I kept walking as if it was my only goal and payed no mind as I felt the torment and dispair from them.

In truth, after everything, I was servely depressed.

But as time went by, I could only feel numb.

My face is wet, I'm. . . Crying.

Making my way in front of the castle; set on fire in scorching hot, demonic red flames, and crumbling from the roof, that's where I had been yesterday, I halted my walk, standing tall.

"Your Rook has returned..." I said out loud to the castle.

But on the next second, I fell down to my knees.

But what's the point... Everything's...

"Worthless"

Keeping my head up, looking to the destruction in front of me, "I don't have the royal queens seed, I can't fix what has been done, I'm just a rook, I'm nothing without my king & queen"

"I conquered a human base, but it was out of an adrenaline, a big burst of emotions, my own greed so that I wouldn't jus' be lonely, I hoped the others would come as soon as I did it!"

Lowering my head, "But I was wrong, after conquering them and finishing waiting for anyone to arrive as I punished them, everything hit me at once, and I felt lonelier than ever before"

Looking towards the sky! "What am I supposed to do, is this where everything ends, is this where we go extinct again, why! Why are we suffering! We were peaceful till now!"

Yelling at the sky did nothing, but as I could still see as my Lord's heads were hanging from a flail, my sight became so blurry as water covered my eyes, "I just feel so defeated..."

Blinking and clearing my sight, frost chilled the air, and the ground under me started spiking with little shards of ice. I don't know what to do anymore, I'm truly at a fucking loss.

"God, where are you, you promised us a life of peace"

"We trained for the day that peace was gone, but why"

"Why wasn't it enough, we followed your teachings"

"And in the end, our home was taken, we lost..."

Grabbing my face, and screaming into it, "Why the hell did this have to happen to us! Why must everything be taken!" feeling a wave of dispare hit me, my voice calmed, "Maybe"

Opening my eyes and peaking through my fingers, "Maybe I should just return to our demonic nature and kill everyone..." watching as a red aura flaired out of me, killing intent spread.

"I've had a good life so far, but now, maybe, we need to do this"

Moving my hands away, and looking back to the ground as ice shards were spread around me for many yards, "I'll head to Asmodeus's realm, join his arm, lead wars to the realms"

"That sounds better than what I originally planned on doing, forget trying to make a new home, a new Paradise for us, I don't have anyone left, so what's the point? Why suffer"

But just as this dispair filled my mind, and I was looking to the sky, ripped apart by death, and turned red as the smoke had ingulfed the skys, I heard a chuckle and a voice before me.

"Is that what you really believe? Rylie?" hearing a voice in front of me, only after believing everyone was dead or a lost soul, I darted my head to look in front of me to see, Incubus.

An incubus with mixed black and white long hair blowing in the wind, black stars gathered and covering his body from the neck down, dignified draconic horns, large draconic wings, a large tail even similar to the rest of his other features, he was a hybrid of sorts, and seeing him, I gulped looking into his emerald green eyes, looking so softly towards me here.

And gulping as I was in complete shock, I felt his strong life energy, I wasn't delusional, but before I could even open my mouth, he said, "Come on Rylie, get up, and follow me, ok~"

His voice was soft and kind, and as I was going to ask him various questions, he started walking away, so getting up quickly, I jumped over the ice shards and ran over to him, trying to grab him before he enviably vanished before me.

Just like everything in this newly horrid place.

But reaching him and grabbing his shoulder, he turned his head, just smiling as he saw me. That made me cry more.

Turning around, he moved his hand up, wiping away both of my tears, "Don't worry, I won't abandon you, I just returned, so I'm glad that there's another one like me here," he said as like he wasn't here, could he truly just have returned home?

But also, how does he know me, is he also another rook?

Following him as he turned around and kept walking down town, I finally broke the silence between us, "How are you so calm?" I asked wondering this myself after being with him.

And glancing at me from the side of his face, "I'm just calm, being irrational is no good in this situation," he said but how could anyone think like that, "But, I'll make whoever did this pay for doing this to our people, don't you worry about that"

He said full of confidence, but as we were walking, we made out way to the outskirts of the pawns living residency, how is he so confident in this, when he himself is in a weak position.

"I'm a lot wiser that my age let's you to believe, hahaha" he laughed like all of this was nothing, could he have seen this coming, or was he, like me, crying deeply on the inside too.

He probably was, but he's trying really hard to hold it in...

Following him, "How can you be so sure, that we can do anything. The gnolls and Yeenoghu, they're too powerful" I asked as he was overly full of confidence for just a pawn.

But just as I mentioned it was Yeenoghu, his smile fell and I heard him utter, "So it was Yeenoghu, oh really now," I heard him clearly, but then he turned his face and said, "So that just means we gotta work hard to get stronger, alright Rylie~" he said with that same confidence, even getting me to chuckle.

"How can you be so sure," I said, "We won't know till we try"

Saying that back to me, we arrived in front of a fully intact book store, and curious why, I asked, "Why'd we come here?" I asked because unless he has a plan, than this is. Just why?

"This is my home, come, sit down, have some tea with me"

Opening his door, I stomped my foot spreading ice around the front of the store, "The hell is wrong with you! There's no time for this!" I screamed, but turning around despite my ice spreading across his back, definitely hurting him greatly...

But as I did, and I saw how he was bitting his lip in a way that told me how badly I hurt him, and was freezing his flesh, he said, "Don't we need to plan what we need to do first?"

And catching on to him wanting to know what had happened as well as plan a strategy, I stepped back as I overreacted to his intentions. "I'm too unstable," I uttered my thoughts.

Walking up to me without me catching on as quick as I should of, he grabbed the both of my hands and said, "No you're not, you're just under a bunch of stress, come inside, let's talk, ok" he said in the same calm, kind voice, unaffected by me hitting him. How could I just attack such a kind soul, my own kin...

Feeling as my face got wetter, he chuckled, "Come, let me make you something to drink," an said. And not doing any more rash things, I followed him inside, sitting at a big table surrounded by hundreds of books. So he's a bookkeeper?

Waiting for a minute, he came back with tea and snacks.

And as he put it down and sat in front of me, he let out a cute smile which warmed me, "So, tell me everything that had happened," he said and I started from the begining.

In the next few minutes, the only other expression he made was the occasional shock as he couldn't believe what had happened, but going back to his usually smile, I finished after telling him how I woke up in my home an two hours ago and met him after falling into dispair in front of our mighty castle.

And hearing me, he said, "That has me filled in, so what do you think we should do next, also do you know where that place of humans you went to is?" He asked, but shaking my head, he rubbed his chin, and then sighed almost fustrated.

And as he did, I saw another thing in his eyes as it had lightly turned a blood red, this started bringing suspicious, could he not actually be a incubus, but instead actually a gnoll's spy.

This put me on guard as it made more sense thinking back to his previous reactions and attitude from when we had met.

And taking a sip of tea, he then said back, "Don't worry, after you wake up, I'll find you and we can work on fighting this war together," and hearing him, my eyes widened, I was shocked.

"Wait what?" but as I said that, my vision started fading.

And feeling as if I was drugged by him, he smiled and said, "Now Rylie, stay tight, this will only hurt just a tad bit," but as I was losing conscious and felt a sharp pang all around me.

I uttered, "How do you know my name?"

But before everything blacked, he said, "@+$+_(_$#"