Nightblade (Darkest night)-Chapter 152: Realm Between

"Morgan...Morgan..."

Morgan’s eyes opened just a fraction before closing again.

A shrill voice pierced through his subconscious.

" Huh...what was that..."

" Morgan, it’s time..."

Morgan turned groggily in his bed, covering himself with his blanket.

"Five more minutes, Mom. Just give more minutes..." he muttered under his breath, closing his eyes.

This time, a new voice pitched in.

"Hey, Morgan, it’s time to wake up, dude, seriously..."

A hand jostled him, trying to wrench away his cozy blanket.

"Leave me alone, just...just a few more minutes...please..."

"Yesssss," a voice whispered insidiously, echoing in his head.

"It’s okkkkk...you’re still very tirrrrred, really realllllly tirrreeddd. Five moreeee minutesssssss."

Morgan nodded groggily, curling in on himself.

" Yeah, five more minutes...."

" Dude, you’ve got to wake up! Morgan! MORGAN!!!"

Morgan’s eyes snapped open.

The first thing he noticed was the cold.

"I’m cold?"

It was more of a question than a statement.

While he wasn’t impervious to the cold, the suit he was wearing provided a measure of protection from the elements.

The next thing was the darkness.

" Strange...I could almost swear we left the fire going..."

In the darkness around him, he could vaguely see the sleeping forms of the other youths.

" Did everyone fall asleep? Damn!"

He sat up, wearily wiping the drool from his face.

" Urgh!"

A white hot light flared before his eyes, momentarily blinding him.

His head throbbed painfully, the pain washing over him in pulsating waves of agony.

He instinctively raised a hand, tenderly grasping his head.

"Ah, that really hurts."

Taking a few moments to steady himself, he gingerly opened his eyes once more.

" Now to reignite the fire....,"

In the next moment, he froze, staring at the darkness in front of him.

Morgan’s body went rigid with tension, subconsciously gulping at the sight before him.

In the darkness, just beyond their camp, a ghostly figure moved through the darkness, seemingly gliding through the air.

The figure stopped eerily mid-air and turned its hollow eyes, fixing them solely on him.

In the next moment, the temperature around him plummeted further.

On the ground, a thin layer of frost swiftly formed, and the ice quickly froze everything it touched.

" Crap!"

Morgan shot to his feet, now fully awake.

" Cassius! Lucian! Emily! Guys, wake up!"

Despite his best efforts, the rest of the group continued sleeping soundly.

" Crap."

With a shout, Morgan jumped forward, throwing himself at the apparition.

Sadly, he didn’t even make it past the campfire.

A split second later, he found himself frozen in place.

" Talia! Amanda!"

The blonde-haired scion and the Talented girl didn’t even budge an inch, continuing.

He struggled violently, but the strange ice held him fast, unrelenting and unyielding even in the face of his awakened ability.

" Sammie!"

Strangely enough, he couldn’t feel any umbralis around him

His hands were frozen just short of the Blood Reaper blades strapped to his back, held firmly in place by the ghostly frost.

The ethereal figure drifted closer, its translucent skin emitting thin whisks of ghostly smoke.

" I know who you are...," the figure said, its elegant melodic voice halting his struggle.

The sound of the voice washed over him, soothing him, its melody lulling him into its deathly embrace.

Morgan felt his body grow sluggish, his thoughts becoming jumbled and incoherent.

The voice was like a song, soothing, unburdening him of all his worries.

Morgan yawned, his head dropping slightly

" I’m so tired, I need to wake the others, but I want to sleep, so..."

His fingers trembled violently, reaching for the dark blades on his back.

Blood Reaper hummed with power.

Morgan yawned once more, his eyes fluttering open then closing wearily.

" I just need to..."

His eyes opened and closed tiredly once more.

" I need..."

" Don’t worry, Morgan... You’re okkkkk..."

The voice washed over him once more, slamming into him, seeping insidiously into his mind, gently reassuring him, comforting him.

It had been a while since he’d had any proper rest.

And he’d worked really, really hard.

His trembling fingers went slack.

He was ok. He was home. He could sleep in. For just five more minutes.

It was àlright.

Mom would wake him up.

The translucent figure gently cradled his head, drawing him to her bosom.

His eyes fluttered open once more.

" It’s ok, you’re àlright. Just go to sleep, and everything will be alright," the voice said soothingly.

Morgan’s eyes fluttered open.

Before him, the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen cradled his head, staring down lovingly at him.

"Angel..."

The woman chuckled, her melodic laughter tugging at his heart.

He suddenly found breathing a little difficult.

" No, not an angel, sweetheart, but I can be if you want me to be..." she said, giggling faintly.

"Who are you?"

Suddenly, the air around him felt a bit thin.

Morgan gasped slightly, weakly trying to move his arms.

" I can’t...I can’t breathe..."

His legs uselessly refused to budge.

His eyes bulged out of their sockets, his face slowly turning paler by the second.

Still, he felt strangely calm.

" There, there, it’s ok. Just go to sleep. Rest, and it’ll all be over soon."

Morgan closed his eyes, giving in to the warm embrace of sleep.

"Ah, I’m so tired. I really need...to...get...some...ressssttt."

And then Morgan was drifting.

He floated, peacefully gliding through the silence.

He glanced around curiously.

" It’s so dark... Where am I?"

Then, slowly, a change occurred.

In the starless sky, one light winked to life, then another, and within moments the dark sky was host to a myriad of twinkling stars.

Morgan stared at the sight in awe as he floated near omnipotently above the dark scape below.

" Is this the Void World?"

Closing his eyes, Morgan reached out to a familiar thread within him.

With a thought, the darkness shifted, trembling slightly.

Morgan’s eyes snapped open, blazing with an ominous white light.

" Sarenus, come forth."

In the next moment, a ripple shook the inner world.

A deep voice reverberated through the starless void, stirring a violent wind into existence.

" Gladly."

Back in the Realm Between, Morgan’s eyes shot open.

Twin pyres of white flames burned where his eyes should have been.

The woman frowned slightly, her beautiful face contorting in confusion.

"And who might you be? You’re definitely not the child I was talking to earlier..."

Morgan’s lips curled into a dark smile, his eyes boring into the translucent figure’s eyes.

A deep voice spoke through him, his mouth moving on its own.

" I see you for what you are, child of Velagrew."

" And you might be?" the creature asked calmly, stroking Morgan’s hair.

Morgan chuckled.

"No one of consequence, not yet."

The woman’s beautiful face contorted, turning into a furious grimace.

"The times have changed significantly, but in the Ages past, I was known as Sarenus Darksbane. Perhaps you’ve heard of me?"

The woman recoiled with a horrified shriek, violently hurling him through the air.

"Impossible!"

With uncanny ease, Morgan flipped, gracefully landing on his feet.

With a smirk, Sarenus moved forward.

The frost around him began to rapidly melt, swiftly receding in his wake.

" And what exactly is impossible?" Sarenus asked, taking a step forward.

My being here..."

The cold receded the temperature returned to normal.

"Or is it..."

The frost evaporated, disappearing without a trace.

Sarenus grinned, the flames in his eyes burning brighter.

" This perfect vessel..."

The visage of the beautiful woman rapidly morphed, turning into an eight-foot-tall creature with claws for hands and gaping holes where her eyes had been.

Her limbs jutted grotesquely pair of translucent membranous wings sprouting from her back with a wet squelch.

The joints in the creature’s back shifted with a loud popping sound, adjusting for the new set of appendages.

A long tail grew out of its back, ending in a long, wicked, jagged spike.

The creature hissed, a forked tongue darting out of its mouth.

Sarenus grinned faintly, his lips curling into a cruel smile.

The flames in his eyes burned with a mixture of amusement and disgust.

"It’s been millennia since I saw a Veliscera," Sarenus said in amusement.

He nonchalantly dodged an insidiously fast swipe from the Veliscera’s tail.

" At least one thing hasn’t changed. You’re still as disgusting as ever."

"Thissssss iss my Father’s realm..." The creature hissed.

"You have no dominion here, Darksbane."

Sarenus smiled, shaking his head dismissively.

"That may be true, daughter of Velagrew."

He stepped forward, stopping a short distance away from the veliscera.

" But, I hope the times have not fogged your memories."

"I am Sarenus Darksbane," he spoke, his voice reverberating with power.

Brilliant flames bloomed into existence around him, burning with barely restrained hunger.

As if stirred into existence by his voice, a wind began to blow, dark clouds rushing across the dark sky.

"I serve the First, the Luminescent, the Lord of Light, Alsterius, the first Lord."

Bolts of lightning flashed, piercing through the darkness, a faint rumble running through the ground.

"And wherever I go, his domain follows."

Sarenus/Morgan cocked his head in amusement.

"Besides, you messed with one of his first. I don’t think Velagrew would interfere in such a matter."

" Or did you think these flames were for show?"

The veliscera hesitated, then snarled.

In the next instant, it turned with a shriek, its form blurring into the distance. Darkness writhed around it, embracing it.

Sarenus stared at the disappearing form in silence, the flames in his eyes burning vividly in the darkness of the realm between.

Then he whispered, ever so quietly.

" Burn..."

The Veliscera’s body exploded into white hot flames, the creature screaming frantically.

The light pushed against the surging darkness, overpowering it completely.

Within moments, nothing was left of the Veliscera’s body.

Sarenus shook his/Morgan’s head quietly.

" You really have a knack for getting yourself into trouble, huh, kid?"

In the next moment, Morgan’s eyes fluttered open.

" You’re finally awake. You had us worried there for a second."