5…
4…
3…
2…
1…
0…
All it took for three bodies to be flung to the ground, lifeless.
The blood-curdling screams from his friends rang constantly throughout his mind.
"Heh. Fools. You call yourself the Warriors of Light? You're merely lambs, lambs waiting to be slaughtered in the name of His Majesty."
His hands trembled in fear, unable to grip the cold, blood-stained floorboards of the Grandship.
Unable to register what had happened. Unable to breathe.
A mocking laughter bellowed from the monstrous pupa-like fiend, dark, hollow eyes that stared into him. Piercing dark eyes, eyes that for a time back then he thought might've been innocent. A pure cryst-fairy who guided the wind-vestal. Perhaps, even a friend.
"Oh? What's the matter? You look shocked. Why? This turn of events should be very familiar to you now, Ringabel. Or, shall I say, Alternis?"
Alternis. HIs true name.
The name carried by a man of solemn morals and unfaltering loyalty.
A man who suffered grave injuries from falling into a hellish pit of lava, due to a misunderstanding with his angel, Edea Lee.
A man who wore jet-black armour and wielded a blade of sheer darkness, holding the title of the Dark Knight, his powers unleashing through inner hatred and bitter blackness.
Alternis Dim.
The name shot straight through Ringabel. Taunted him.
Haunting him with a memory he wished he never had to remember. Never had to witness.
Yet here he was now, repeating the dreaded event time and time again. An endless loop of watching his close friends slump to the hard ground, lifeless and still. Unable to save his friends, the ones he loved most.
Unable to move, frozen in fear and entrapped in cowardice.
Unable to stop cursing himself with hate-filled guilty thoughts.
Regret.
Sorrow.
Loss.
"...Why couldn't I have been quicker…, I...I could've reached you in time…, yet all I did, was cower in fear… Why couldn't I move? Why couldn't I fight…? I vowed to protect you, yet I-".
His thoughts trailed off in a mix of choked sobs, some of these escaping in broken, audible words.
A strong gust of forced wind slammed directly into Ringabel, hitting the pillar that upholstered the mast, colliding with hard wood.
The monstrous fiend hovered closer.
"Well? What are you going to do now, dark knight?" the menacing pupa spat.
Did he want to witness his friends potentially die yet another tragic fate in another world?
Relive the nightmare that was now a cruel reality?
He didn't want to see them suffer.
Ringabel stumbled upwards on shaky legs, one hand placed on the wooden pillar he had just crashed into. Looking out to the sea, he saw the blinding holy pillar, the pillar that warped his time as Alternis into two worlds ahead, the world where he had met his precious allies.
Glancing over to the left, he saw an area of normal, dark water- a patch that was not connected with the time travelling portal.
Clenching his fists and taking a few unsteady, deep breaths, he made his way over to the side of the Grandship near the safety railings.
"Sorry, for failing you…" he murmured glancing back quickly at the fallen corpses of his friends.
"There's... nothing left to do now…" he sighed, burning tears quickly making an escape. Feeling the heavy swell of the boat and the crash of the strong waves, he counted six seconds, waiting for the moment where the Grandship was moving downwards.
Then, there was a splash, followed by a long, eerie-
Silence.
=====
A/N: I really wanted to write something about Ringabel's past, concerning Airy and having to witness his friends die- only this time, not as Alternis.
Feedback is much appreciated, thanks! c: