Nightblade (Darkest night)

The world around Morgan was crumbling.

Rather, it was the vision that he’d been trapped in that was slowly coming undone.

The battlefield erupted into a storm of countless white sparks, each fragment carrying away a piece of the ancient memory before dissolving into nothingness.

Morgan instinctively raised an arm to shield his eyes from the light.

The torrent of light swallowed him whole.

A moment later, the world around him spun at a frenetic pace, the mirage dissolving into a myriad of white sparks.

For one disorienting fleeting moment, there was neither up nor down.

There was no light or sound.

Only eerie stillness and silence.

And somehow, it felt strangely...peaceful.

This time, Morgan found himself slowly spinning through a timeless void.

He finally came to a stop, floating gently through the dark expanse of the void.

Morgan slowly lowered his arm, warily scrutinizing his surroundings.

"What the hell?"

He slowly turned around cocking his head to get a better look at his surroundings.

Despite the emptiness, he couldn’t shake the queer feeling that he wasn’t alone.

Even in the unfathomable dark expanse, something lingered.

Something or someone was quietly watching him.

Morgan hesitated, stopping once more to scrutinize the darkness.

Whatever it was, it seemed it wasn’t going to approach him.

At least for the time being.

Then a strange ripple washed over the dark void around him.

A strange yet familiar feeling washed over him, strongly tugging at his very being.

"WAIT!"

Recognition flashed across his face.

The words had barely escaped his mouth when he recalled the phenomenon for what it was.

It was the same feeling as before, when he’d been hauled into the previous memory.

This time, he allowed himself to drift into its dark embrace.

Within moments, Morgan found himself sucked forward at a blistering speed.

The darkness blurred into a long corridor stretching on and on into the distance.

Morgan squinted uncomfortably at first, then shut his eyes completely at the brilliant explosion of light.

After a few moments, the light did not fade.

Instead, it continued growing brighter, then slowly embraced him, obscuring his figure completely.

For one seemingly endless moment, Morgan felt neither hot nor cold, neither weight nor motion.

His entire body seemed to dissolve into the radiance itself, becoming one with it and merging completely into a fragment of the brilliant light.

For that one moment, Morgan felt his body lose cohesion, merging with something greater. His eyes ignited with golden brilliance for a few moments, his entire body taking on an ethereal light.

"Strange..."

A moment later, the brilliant light spilled out of his eyes, his eyes taking on the colour of white flames.

"I’ve felt this before..."

More light spilled into him, suffusing his entire figure.

Morgan instantly felt a tremendous surge of power course through him. A moment later, the euphoric bliss he was experiencing transformed into a blinding wave of white-hot pain.

A moment later, Morgan doubled over in agony.

The exquisite pain tore a soundless scream from his throat that echoed across the white brilliance around him.

In that moment, Morgan felt as though his entire being had been set ablaze.

Then—the brilliance receded. The agony abruptly came to a stop.

The absence of pain was a sweet, much-welcome relief as his entire body rejoiced in the exhilaration at the prospect of no pain.

The joy of relief was, however, short-lived because, once more, Morgan suddenly felt the weight of his body barreling through the air at a dizzying speed.

"Oh, come on! Damn it."

It seemed he wasn’t going to be catching his breath any time soon.

Gritting his teeth, he focused on Sarenus and Kazarax but was only met with deafening silence.

"Damn it!"

He cursed aloud, spinning around wildly.

Bracing himself, he shut his eyes and gritted his teeth, waiting for the inevitable impact.

A moment later, Morgan’s boots struck solid stone, his entire body landing as lightly as a feather.

"What the-!"

He stumbled forward, catching himself against a smooth black pillar.

He opened his eyes, staring at the solid ground beneath him for a moment before quickly staring at the terrain ahead.

All around him, an eerie chill was slowly creeping through the air.

Morgan stared at the memory unfolding before him in silence, all the while pondering where he’d ended up this time.

After a while, his eyes widened, then narrowed.

This was no battlefield.

Nor was it the temple from before.

He found himself standing atop an immense balcony overlooking an entire city.

It was nighttime. The cool night air swept over him, ruffling his clothes.

Morgan’s breath caught in his chest at the sight before him.

The city below him stretched farther than the eye could follow, built upon a series of enormous terraces that climbed the sides of a colossal mountain.

Countless lights blinked and shimmered beautifully in the establishments below.

Towers of polished obsidian and white stone reached into the heavens, their surfaces engraved with intricate runes that shimmered softly beneath the night sky in the light of the pale moonlight.

"Damn..." he murmured, staring at the buildings below him, his eyes glinting in wonder.

Great bridges arched between the towers like strands of woven silver with streams of ethereal light coursing through them.

With each passing second, the light coursed through them, and the silver strands pulsated with a life of their own at every beat.

From the sky, luminous waterfalls cascaded from impossible heights with crushing pressure before flowing through channels carved directly into the streets before disappearing into the magnificent gardens interspersed throughout the luminous city.

Morgan remained quiet for a while, pondering the strangeness of it all in silence.

Above the city floated dozens of crystalline structures, suspended effortlessly in the air by ancient formations that pulsed with golden light.

The memory of the temple from the previous memory quickly surfaced in his mind.

"They’re the same..." he murmured, staring at the floating structures in wonder.

The desolate temple from the memory before was the striking image of the floating structures that now silently hovered in the air the city.

A few moments later, one of the tiny figures down below slowly floated up into the air, his robes glowing with golden luminescent light.

Morgan instinctively lowered his gaze, staring at his own garb.

"Can I also fly..."

Unlike before, he wasn’t wearing his usual traveling clothes.

Instead, he was clad in a set of lavish robes befitting royalty.

The outer robe was woven from an immaculate white fabric that shimmered softly beneath the sunlight, almost as though threads of liquid silver had been stitched into its weave.

Intricate patterns of intertwining serpents and celestial constellations were embroidered across the hems with fine golden thread, the craftsmanship so exquisite that each scale seemed individually fashioned by hand.

For a moment, he was a little taken aback.

"Just where have I landed this time..."

From the look of things, it seemed to be another ancient civilization, but he hesitated to even call it that.

People moved through the streets below.

Thousands upon thousands of them, thronging through the streets, like one seething organism.

Children laughed as they chased one another through marble courtyards.

In the distance, he could hear the merchants calling out from bustling marketplaces for buyers and proudly showing off their goods.

Scholars gathered beneath enormous trees whose sapphire leaves glittered beneath the moonlight.

Morgan watched everything in stunned silence.

"This..."

His voice barely escaped his lips.

"...can’t be real."

Everything felt...alive. And hopeful.

This was a civilization at the height of its glory.

The people in this era were not simply surviving; they were thriving.

Morgan stared at the festivities below, his face becoming obscured in a mask of confusion.

This was obviously a memory of the Zeregran Ranges.

Of the glory they’d had before.

The people who had lived there.

The thriving civilization it had once been.

So how...how had it totally and utterly fallen into ruin and desolation?

"What the hell happened here?" He whispered, somberly staring into the distance.

Just then—soft footsteps echoed behind him.

Morgan frowned slightly.

He instinctively glanced over his shoulder, then his eyes widened slightly, his mouth falling open in surprise.

And his heart nearly stopped.

A young woman of breathtaking beauty was walking toward him, taking measured, ed graceful steps across the balcony.

With every step, her robes seemed to absorb the moonlight, highlighting her already ethereal beauty even more.

The woman wore flowing ceremonial robes of emerald and ivory that fluttered gently in the mountain breeze.

Fine silver embroidery traced intricate vines and flowering branches along the sleeves, while a delicate circlet of woven gold rested upon her chestnut hair.

Her features were strikingly elegant, carrying the quiet poise expected of someone raised within the royal court.

Yet it wasn’t her appearance or even her beauty, for that matter, that startled him.

Instead, it was the fact that... she was looking directly at him.

Not through him. But she stared directly at him and approached him with a soft, gentle smile.

Morgan instinctively looked behind himself.

There was no one behind him.

He turned back.

The woman smiled warmly at him.

"There you are, Your Highness."

Morgan’s eyes widened.

"How..."

The thought flitted through his mind.

His lips parted slightly.

"Y-You..."

The woman tilted her head, amusement dancing in her jade-green eyes.

"You look as though you’ve seen a ghost."

Morgan stared at her for a few moments, slowly regained inv his composure, then turned away, gazing at the city below.

She stopped beside him, following his gaze toward the sprawling city below.

"The preparations are nearly complete, Prince Modric."

Morgan stiffened slightly, suppressing the urge to turn back and stare at the beauty next to him.

He awkwardly opened his mouth, then closed it once more.

After a few moments, he inwardly screamed.

"Prince Modric?! What the hell..."