Immortal Paladin-Chapter 131 – Something called Life [27]

Setting aside the fact that red, eerie eyes suddenly appeared in the middle of the infinite darkness surrounding me—eyes that seem to gaze at me with an impossible awareness—the most unsettling thing is that I can't distinguish where the "body" of this thing begins or ends.

It's as if it is both near and distant at the same time, enveloped by shadows so dense that they swallow any form or outline. Even though I know exactly where its eyes are, I can't estimate its size.

In this place I'm in, concepts of space simply don’t apply. Depth doesn’t exist, the horizon is a dead concept, and any attempt to comprehend the dimensions of this entity dissolves into absurdity.

However, as if that weren’t surprising enough on its own, something even more imposing suddenly emerged from the darkness. Two purple eyes, glowing like intense flames, appeared in the void—so bright they seemed to illuminate that abyss wrapped in complete darkness. It was as if the darkness itself recoiled in the presence of that gaze.

I didn't know if the monster with red eyes had noticed the colossal presence just behind it. The way it remained still, without any reaction, suggested that it hadn't—or perhaps it was simply incapable of perceiving what was about to happen.

I watched the scene with my golden eyes, which glowed faintly in the midst of the darkness. In front of me, two colossal presences faced off in silence, the air thick with almost palpable tension. Still, I averted my gaze—first to Nekra, then to my past self.

There was something unsettling about that image: my former self stood motionless, oblivious to everything, with a serene, empty expression, as if the grand spectacle before him was merely an irrelevant detail. It was as if those titanic entities simply didn’t matter to him... or as if he had already seen something far worse.

Suddenly, while that thought was still crossing my mind, an abnormal chill swept through the environment with unnatural intensity. But it wasn’t the natural, constant chill the place already exuded—this was different, denser, more oppressive, as if it had been forcefully imposed.

Instinctively, I lifted my eyes for a brief moment, and then I understood the source of that change: the creature with red eyes was there, still, but its eyes now burned with a ferocity much greater than before, like embers ready to ignite the air around them.

There was something deeply wrong with it. I had the strange impression it was roaring—a contained, suffocated roar in the absolute silence—and even though no sound was audible, the impact seemed to resonate inside my chest, as if the very air was holding its breath.

While I briefly reflected on what this creature was trying to do, I was startled to see Nekra slowly turning toward the monster with red eyes. The moment I noticed her expression, I couldn’t contain the astonishment that overtook my face. Nekra’s eyes burned with an intensity as fierce as live embers, ready to consume everything around them.

Her face was grim: her brows furrowed deeply, her eyes half-closed like blades ready to cut, and her lips pressed so tightly that they seemed to hold back a fury about to overflow. It was the first time I’d seen Nekra like this—or rather, the first time I had truly seen Nekra in anger. A raw, silent, and dangerous anger.

As Nekra’s eyes glowed with a deep, pulsing purple, like live embers in the dark, her mouth moved with almost hypnotic delicacy. Her lips barely parted, but her voice, heavy with power and intent, echoed sharply in the thick air: “Disappear”

My body shivered slightly at the sound of Nekra’s voice. It wasn’t the voice I was used to—the soft, almost curious tone she typically used. Instead, it sounded deeper, carrying a firmness that bordered on the inhuman.

Still, to my surprise, I didn’t feel fear. The closest feeling that overtook me in that moment was something like: "Ah... so she can speak like that too" A nearly trivial realization in the face of everything happening, but it consumed my thoughts for a moment.

In any case, that voice seemed to be exactly what the creature with the glowing purple eyes—hidden behind the red-eyed monster—needed to move. As if Nekra’s words were a trigger, a silent command for everything to begin.

And in the next moment, it truly acted on the darkness—or better yet, everything around responded as though obeying a silent command. The darkness that made up this place began to move, not like a mere shadow blown by the wind, but like a living, conscious organism, reacting to her will. It was as if the very environment had come alive, undulating and twisting in absolute silence.

That mass of darkness began to coil around the creature with red eyes, enveloping it little by little. The last image I could see was the vibrant glow of its scarlet eyes, resisting for a brief moment before they were slowly swallowed by the suffocating darkness. And then... it disappeared. Vanished completely, devoured by a void that seemed endless.

Or rather... even though it seemed to have simply disappeared, something about that scene deeply unsettled me. There was a strange, almost instinctive feeling whispering inside me that something wasn’t right. That wasn’t the answer.

Somehow, I knew—without knowing how—that the thing hadn’t been swallowed by the darkness surrounding the place. No. It had merged with it, become part of that vast, dark, silent void.

That realization hit me like a chill, bringing a new and disturbing perspective to my surroundings. The darkness no longer seemed like a mere backdrop or an innocuous void—it was alive, conscious, and now, it was part of it.

“Ugh...” murmured Nekra, wrinkling her face in disgust as she turned away.

I turned my eyes toward Nekra. Her face bore a clear expression of discomfort, as if she was fighting something within herself. My past self-extended a hand delicately, running his fingers gently through Nekra’s hair, a calm, almost hesitant gesture.

His gaze was hard to decipher — there was something between curiosity, compassion, and a silent pain. As he gently stroked her head, Nekra slowly lifted her eyes. Her expression was sad, her lips parted as if she wanted to say something but lacked the strength. The silence between them felt heavier than any word could.

"Do you really have to go?" Nekra asked, her voice carrying a melancholy so deep that it seemed to weigh down the air around her. Her eyes, slightly lowered, avoided meeting his gaze directly.

By the way, another thing caught my attention: Nekra's voice was strangely fluent, almost unnaturally smooth for someone like her. But what intrigued me even more was... what the hell language were we speaking? Both Nekra and I seemed to understand each other perfectly, but... could that even be called language?.

From my point of view, our lips were moving, yes — both hers and mine — but it all felt merely illustrative, almost like a play. The sensation I had was that the meaning of what we were saying was projected directly between us, anticipating any sound, any verbal articulation. It was as if speaking was just a delayed reflection of something that had already been understood. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

In the end, "I" and Nekra talked for a while longer, but for some reason, I couldn't understand what we were both saying. The words kept coming out of my mouth, and technically I could hear myself talking, but I had no clue what I was saying.

Instead of words, those expressions transformed into sounds — strangely melodic and soothing sounds. It was like the sounds, even though they came from me, had a distant quality to them, as if they weren't truly a part of me. The fact that I was the source of those sounds, yet felt like they had no meaning, made the experience even stranger.

Eventually, before I could fully grasp what was happening, my other self abruptly disappeared, leaving only Nekra, now alone in the darkness. I was turned away from her, which prevented me from seeing her face, but my gaze stayed fixed on her.

As before, Nekra placed her hands on her knees, curling her body into a cocoon, as if protecting herself from something invisible. Then, her body seemed to float with a supernatural lightness, gliding through the darkness.

A few seconds later, while she floated gently upside down, I finally caught a glimpse of her expression. Her eyes, once filled with intensity, were now completely empty, as if all the life had been drained from them.

There wasn't a trace of light, as if, while her physical presence was there, her essence was absent, lost in a distant place. The darkness around me seemed to move, flowing like a silent current, wrapping around Nekra almost lovingly, as if embracing her.

Next to her, small purple eyes began to glow, but unlike before, their reflections now carried a deep and melancholic sadness, as if they bore the weight of an endless sorrow.

Even in the midst of that somber transformation, Nekra remained completely still, without any reaction, as if she was incapable of feeling the pressure of her surroundings, or even the pain of what enveloped her.

Her empty eyes were the last image I saw before I closed my own, and in the next instant, when I opened them again, I found myself face to face with something that caught me by surprise. I knew exactly what it was, though I couldn't understand how I recognized it. Before me were nebulas, dancing in space, as if the universe had unraveled into a cosmic cloud of shapes and impenetrable colors.

The nebulas stretched out before me like a dream undone in the vast silence of space. Their contours were soft, almost liquid, slowly contorting in shades of purple, blue, and gold, as if the universe was painting its own canvas.

It was like watching a living painting, where each brushstroke seemed to be made by a dying or birthing star, its silent explosions lighting up the cosmic fabric. The dust and gas clouds glowed with an ethereal light, almost tangible, as if whispering ancient secrets into the infinite void, their echoes vanishing into the dark abyss surrounding them.

There was something sacred about that place — not like a temple, but like a profound mystery, that, while beyond comprehension, demanded respect. The vastness before me made me feel small, but not insignificant. It was as if, for a brief moment, I became a part of that scene, as if the universe, in its silence, recognized me and, in some way, embraced me.

Some stars seemed newly awakened, twinkling with youthful enthusiasm, while others were already fading, leaving behind only a subtle trail of light that slowly dissolved into the vast cosmic fabric.

A soft green glow slithered between the clouds, as if an invisible spirit were passing through them, tracing a delicate thread in the sky that intertwined life and death, blurring the boundaries of the real and the ethereal.

Looking at that nebula was like facing time itself in its purest form — past, present, and future intertwining in such vibrant and complex colors that the human eye could barely process them. I didn't know if I was witnessing the birth of a new star or the twilight of something that had already lived its existence.

All I felt, though, was the indescribable beauty of that moment. And, as distant as it was, it touched me deeply, as if the vastness of the universe had found a way to connect directly with my soul.

But that wasn't the most surprising part. What truly left me speechless was the fact that, even immersed in that infinite expanse of colors, there was something — or rather, someone — who didn't fall behind in beauty, not even remotely, when compared to all the nebulae around me.

In fact, instead of being lost in the immensity of the beautiful cosmic formations, this someone in front of me stood out with a unique luminosity, radiating a beauty as breathtaking as any nebula I had ever had the privilege of contemplating.

Her skin glowed with an ethereal shine, like polished marble under the soft light of the moon, emitting a gentle and captivating aura. Her hair, long and silky, were not mere strands but liquid golden or shimmering silver streams, dancing and shaping themselves with every movement, capturing light and transforming it into a spectacle of brilliance and reflection.

Both her hair and her skin emanated an essence of the universe, as if her body was composed of thousands of stars, each radiating its own unique glow. But her eyes — those were the true abyss of desire.

No matter the color — whether incandescent gold, celestial sapphire, or hypnotic amber — they didn't just reflect light, they captured the soul of those daring enough to meet them, as if the depth of her gaze could reveal the most intimate secrets of anyone who stared into them.