Chapter 224: Darkness
Zarek had to admit that Suki’s scheme was excellent. Crushing his own spirits was as easy as killing Priya. But killing Priya was a task all unto itself.
The difference between himself and Priya was that Zarek only had the one weak point to press on. He had no family, no kin, and his friends seemed to change from lifetime to lifetime.
He had once had very close friends, but after his first life, they separated and his focus became almost entirely Priya and the guilt he felt after letting her die the first time.
It was hard for him to form friendships after that until he rectified that mistake. But every life seemed to snowball from one mistake to the next, and he never could seem to catch up with all of them.
However, there was one flaw with Suki’s plan.
He bet that the old bastard had done his very best. He probably managed to find a way to tweak the Time Godsfall Intent so that it amplified the emotions of certain memories, or maybe it enhanced the feeling of them, making Priya feel like it was there.
Forcing her to live out those horrible moments one after another in what was essentially just a few brief seconds... it would break anyone. And for all intents and purposes, it had certainly broken Priya.
But there was something that Suki didn’t account for.
Like Zarek had said, there were only three kinds of people when they hit rock bottom.
Those that ended it all.
Those that wallowed in it.
And then there were those like Zarek and Priya.
Priya slowly stood, her knees wobbling and her gaze somewhat dim. It was hard to see through all the salt streaks that weighed her lids down, the fatigue of crying with what felt like the entire cavity of her body pulling her down like anchors.
However, right then...
BANG!
A window shattered and sparkling shards clattered against the ground. Covered in blood, her hair hanging before her eyes, Priya couldn’t even seem to react to the oncoming Turned.
It moved like a shadowy ape, its legs squatting and its fists slamming against the ground in a continuous rhythm as it launched itself forward again and again in a sideways lunging motion.
Despite the odd gait, it was fast, and it seemed to jump from place to place, moving so swiftly that it was before Priya in a single instant of time, its primate-like jaws unhinging as the smell of rotten meat filled the air.
It chomped down, ready to take Priya’s head off in a single bound.
But Priya’s finger only twitched the slightest bit.
A forgotten umbrella moved, launching itself into the air and impaling the Turned’s head through its open maw. Its tip pierced through and slammed against a thick pillar of the sky rise, making it feel almost as though the entire building was rumbling.
And then the umbrella suddenly opened, the head of the Turned splattering into a mess of gore.
Priya continued to stand there, looking at the ground. Or, rather, Belladolls’ corpse.
It had been so long that all the color had long drained from her. Worse yet, she had lost control of her bowels as well, the truly grotesque side of killing—beyond the blood, beyond the adrenaline of battle—displaying itself in all its unholy glory.
"I’m going to fucking kill them," she said softly.
"Whoa, whoa, my girl is also prim and proper. She doesn’t curse. But if you’re going to turn over a new leaf, I wouldn’t mind, so long as it comes with anal."
"Don’t talk to me right now, asshole."
"Babe, baby girl, don’t do that, I was only doing what I had to for us!"
"You can forget about touching me for the next year. Go fuck one of those other girls you’ve been daydreaming about for four lifetimes."
"I was kidding! Really! I was!"
"Kidding, were you? I’m pretty sure you said them by names. You’re horrible with names, but you remembered every single one of them, did you? A queen, you said? Your favorite pornstar? Well go wank one to your screen. Oh wait, screens don’t work anymore, do they?"
"Babe! I’m innocent of all charges!"
Priya didn’t reply. Waving a hand, the umbrella broke free of the pillar and snapped into Priya’s palm.
It was a powerful treasure, probably one of—if not *the* most—powerful on the current Earth.
BANG!
Priya shattered it to pieces, her Godsfall flooding through it in all the wrong ways and turning what should have been an indestructible Armament into pretty fluttering pieces of pink crystal falling through the air.
"I’m going to seal my memories," Priya said after a long while.
"Okay," Zarek replied.
"You’re not going to ask why?"
"I know you’re going to seal your experience with Godsfall so you can track a new path."
"Can you not be a know-it-all for once?"
"I’m like 100 times older than you, this is only natural," Zarek said somewhat smugly.
"I’ll deal with your pedophilic tendencies another time."
"Hey! I didn’t touch you until you turned 18!"
"That’s creepy in its own right. You were probably waiting by the calendar like a pervert."
Zarek wasn’t worried about Priya sealing her memories. When she said that, she didn’t mean memories in the sense of remembering him or others—she was specifically referring to memories of her philosophy on using Godsfall.
Right now, she had three lifetimes’ worth of memories in this regard to pull from, but she must have noticed something interesting from her three varied approaches if she wanted to give it a fourth go.
"How long do you think it will take?" Zarek asked.
"By the time you return, I’ll be ready to unlock them."
Zarek grinned. "Then we rule the world?"
"Then you should actually give me a ring for once. Then maybe, if I’m inclined to say yes, I might give you a throne by my side."
Zarek’s laughter was his only response.
...
Not long later, Priya stood there in silence. She knew Zarek too well—she knew that that Turned appearing right then wasn’t a coincidence. After all, he could communicate with Zade and others too.
However, they both knew that there was a darkness in her now that hadn’t been there before.
And that darkness needed somewhere to vent.
She would suppress her Godsfall Intent knowledge, but that darkness would still be there, spurring her on to improve faster.
Even Zarek wouldn’t want to be on the other end of that fury.