Echoes of the Abyssal Blade: Path to Free Will-Chapter 55: Escape From Lyneex’s Wrath

Rhydian was panting while carrying Jonan on his side, and running from the onslaught of the Monarch behind him, who had already destroyed the city behind him, he was sprinting fast, but with the size of Lyneex, she was easily catching up with them.

Lyneex had already noticed two escaping figures, at first she wanted to pursue them, but she still had to shower her wrath on this city, from what she could notice, no one was powerful enough to kill her child, not even those two, who were escaping.

Jonan, who was now a bit conscious, couldn’t help but speak, "Elias, Edric, and Marla, we have to get them, they have been left behind, we have to go back and help them."

Rhydian still had his glossy white mask, who indifferently shifted his neck, and said, "They are already dead, and we would be lucky to escape from here."

Jonan became furious upon hearing Rhydian speak with certainty about his cohort’s death, not even trying to save them when he was powerful enough to face an abomination.

Jonan was furious and upset, but he couldn’t do a thing because he wasn’t even able to save himself, let alone others.

"You knew of our mission, you also knew that successfully killing that abomination would have the Monarch raze The Wailing Shadow City to the ground, in spite of knowing the total outcome, how could you sacrifice the whole city for just an abomination?"

Upon listening to Jonan, Rhydian scoffed, "Just an Abomination, did you forget how all of you were pissing yourself in front of it, and that was just a newborn, and that too without any battle experience, imagine it mastering it’s powers and abilities, just at its birth, it could raise bestial tribes to the ground, whereas a fully grown abomination could simply raze the whole continent, if it wants too, its thanks to the heroes, who are keeping them in check, or else who knows how dangerous these beings could get."

With a somber tone, he said, "There is no fixed pattern or any indication for when and which beast might transform into an abomination, this one was a rare one who, upon birth, transformed into an abomination; that is even rarer."

"It is fortunate that we were able to find out about it and eliminate it, or else it would have become a problem for the future, and while it is regretful that the whole city is decimated because of this, their sacrifice will be remembered."

Jonan went quiet in silence, realizing he couldn’t do anything, thinking, "Yeah, sacrifice, as if they had wished to be sacrificed."

Not speaking a word, Jonan’s eyes were listless, whereas Rhydian was sprinting fast, trying to escape from the city, and the black tide, that is not stopping.

Rhydian’s breathing grew heavier with every stride, his mask reflecting the flickers of crumbling shadows that once were buildings, his boots struck against the cracked stone of the city’s remains, dodging collapsed towers, corpses, and geysers of black ichor erupting from the ground like blighted fountains.

Behind him, Lyneex’s presence pressed down on him like a storm cloud of nightmares, every pulse of her wrath distorting the very fabric of reality with shadowy waves and destruction.

She moved with deceptive slowness, her colossal form looming over the skyline like a walking mountain of shadow-flesh, yet her reach extended far beyond her visible form, her tendrils sweeping across entire districts, reducing buildings to dust and silencing any lingering cries of the dying.

Despite carrying Jonan, who was a bit bloodied, his limbs were now limp, his eyes were flickering with a mix of exhaustion and rage, Rhydian maneuvered through the chaos with relentless focus, he had to look desperate, feel desperate, but never too strong, Lyneex’s wrath was primal and vast, but it was also intentional, if she suspected even a hint of threat from him, she would suspect him, and pursue him without question.

The sky had turned a deep obsidian, choked by smoke and unnatural clouds spawned by the Monarch’s dark tide, from above, thin rays of sickly light flickered through, occasionally illuminating the corpses strewn across the streets, the Phantom Brigade had fought valiantly... and died futilely, citizens, nobles, warriors, and everyone else were reduced to ash and silence.

Rhydian didn’t even bother to look back.

Jonan’s voice, rough and bitter, cracked through the silence between them. "On whose orders were you working?"

"You have already realized who, then why bother asking something futile?" Rhydian replied coldly, dodging a collapsing tower that grazed his shoulder, his mask hid whatever expression might have flickered across his face, but his tone carried the weight of his conviction.

"Did my stepmother know anything?" Jonan hissed weakly.

"She knows as much as you do," Rhydian replied to him in a calm tone.

Jonan breathed a relief, before he felt his stepmother wanted him dead, but he could feel now that wasn’t the case, and from Rhydian’s previous words in the bestial area, as well as his tone, Jonan was sure that Rhydian worked for his father.

But he knew it wouldn’t stop here; the death of the citizens of the Wailing Shadow City would ripple across the continent, everything would change, a strategic fortress-city lost to the beasts by a sneak attack by a Monarch, no matter the reason, the war between the beasts and humans will escalate from here on.

He remembered Ningjin, the newborn abomination, its inhuman aura, its spiraling hunger, the way even spirits recoiled from it, he knew it had to die, but he still felt it was not worth sacrificing a whole city just to appease the Monarch of beasts.

A deep roar, shook the ground beneath them, Lyneex had paused, standing at the heart of what remained of the central spire, where she had unleashed the initial tide, her head tilted, and from her colossal shadow-body, an inky wing of energy unfurled, it swept across the land like a reaper’s scythe, claiming what fragments of the city remained.

Rhydian ducked into a shattered aqueduct, using the fractured tunnel to escape her line of sight. The passage reeked of ichor and blood, and the bones of the slain echoed like glass underfoot. Every second inside gnawed at his resolve, but he kept running.

Then, finally, they breached the outer rim of the city.

The moment Rhydian crossed the ruined city’s final threshold and found himself at the edge of a darkened forest, he let out a breath that was more relief than exhaustion, his limbs trembled, not from fatigue, but restraint, he didn’t stop, not yet.

He kept running.

But now, he unleashed himself completely outside of Lyneex’s senses.

With Jonan’s barely-conscious form secured in his arms, Rhydian swiftly sprinted, his frame blurred, trees warped past him, the winds screamed in his ears, the very world around him lost form, turned to lines and motion, he crossed ridges in seconds, vaulted rivers in moments, and tore across plains with footsteps like thunder.

This was his true speed.

And it would have made Lyneex pause; this display of power, had he used it within the city, would have marked him, she would’ve wondered—why didn’t I see this insect before? Why did he flee only now? And her vengeance would have doubled in fury. Not even Rhydian’s strength would have been enough.

Even now, the threat hadn’t passed. Lyneex’s senses were spread wide, her connection to the shadow realm vast and ethereal; he couldn’t outrun her, but he could evade her detection if he moved beyond her reach before she thought to look for him.

After what felt like hours, though only minutes had passed, Rhydian had finally stopped.

Jonan leaned back, resting against a cracked stone, for the first time since the escape, he allowed himself to feel the deaths of Elias, Edric, and Marla surge through him like a flood; he tried to picture their final moments, and the images clawed at him mercilessly.

"I couldn’t even bury them," he whispered.

Rhydian remained still, silent.

Outside the place where they had stopped, the earth still quaked faintly, even from this distance, the might of Lyneex’s wrath echoed across the horizon, her terrifying will spreading fear from afar.

But Rhydian’s mind wasn’t on the city, which is turning into ruins, it was on Lyneex.

The Monarch hadn’t chased them. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Which meant... she hadn’t seen them as threats.

That, perhaps, was their only saving grace; if she had been a bit suspicious, then it would be devastating for them to escape.

But it was also the most terrifying thought of all.

Because when a Monarch doesn’t notice you, means it doesn’t even deem you worth pursuing, and that is when you realize just how powerless you truly are.

Rhydian knew about the complete plan, but what he didn’t tell Jonan was that even he didn’t know any mention of Lyneex, or such a travesty would happen to the city, he felt that considering the death of an abomination would have surely turned those from the beast race to rage.

But this felt more personal, the destruction of a whole city might not like much considering Lyneex’s power herself, but upon harming the innocents of the human race, she has broken an unspoken rule, where you don’t attack those below you, so it is only a matter of time before she is killed by the heroes themselves.