Well hello again, if anyone is reading this then welcome to the the fourth chapter of The insecure demon Lord misadventures, I've not got much to say before the story begins, but one thing I would like to address is that anyone who is seeing this who is also keeping up with my other story (watching Subaru lose his shit for 636 minutes straight) I'm happy to announce that I'm planning to start writing for it again, now that my life situation has stabilized a little bit, I still do not have a set schedule for when chapters without story will be released, but I plan to release them as frequently as possible given their much larger size compared to this story I'm currently writing, but without any further ado please enjoy Chapter 4 of The insecure demon Lord misadventures.
I feel my senses returning slowly to me, I can't help but groan, as I make a move to turn over in the bed, except instead of the comfy bed fell asleep in I feel... absolutely nothing, my eyes snap open in an instant, and to my shock I'm back in the black void, that the measuring mirror in the Adventurers Guild have transported me too, looking around it's the exact same empty nothingness that it had been the last time, even the cowboy looking person was no longer present, and least if he was, he must be far away that even my superhuman senses can't detect him.
as I stand in the black, at a complete loss of what to do, I suddenly feel something that causes me to spin on the spot, and my eyes are met with when I can only describe as a young girl, she's incredibly short with her height being just a little over 4 feet tall, her outfit or what's left of it appears to be some kind of kimono, that at one point looks like it would have been a deep crimson colour, but now it is faded and torn, yet despite her clothes looking worse for wear, she herself looks in perfect health, looking into her eyes I can see that they are that of the cat, as I feel her inhuman gaze making its way up and down my body, finally she locks eyes with me, she opened her mouth to speak yet no sound comes out, instead it feels like her speech is being directly implanted into my brain.
you must find them, if this world is to survive, the coming storm she says telepathically as my head begins to pound like someone's trying to crack it open with a sledgehammer, she continues to stare into my eyes, I can hear more voices in the distance, streaming my superhuman ears I can make out that they are voices that I recognise.
what are you talking about, who and what am I supposed to find exactly, what the hell is this coming storm, I scream mentally at her, not sure what the hell she's going on about, she looks into my eyes again as the unbearable headache returns.
I don't know where they are, but I know you can find them, in fact try the local library first, it's the best starting point you have at finding the answers you need, now make haste and wake up the, me and the world are counting on you, she says with a pleading tone of voice, as her body seems to melt into almost black tar like substance, but before I can react or even make a move, the entire void itself seems to roar at once, and begins to twist and warp itself, knocking me clean off my feet, as I instinctively close my eyes embrace for Impact, then I suddenly open them again boulting straight up in the bed I've been sleeping in, taking a couple seconds to calm my ragged breath, a slight headache seems to still be present yet the worst of it is gone now, looking to my bedside I can see a very concerned Rem and Shera in the nightgowns, standing beside my bed, and looking at the window behind them I can see that the sun is only just beginning to poke above the horizon.
"Diablo? what's the matter you scared as there" Rem says obvious concern and with a bit of fear very evident in her voice.
"yeah you just started tossing and turning really bad, while talking in your sleep... a-a-and then you stop b-b-breathing for a moment " Shera stammers out, almost on the verge of crying, looking at them I realised the other voices I had heard were them, trying to wake me, rubbing the still aching part of my head, I think back to what the the void had said, she said the local library or any library's for that matter, is where I would find the clues that I need.
"I'm sorry if I scared you too, I'm not sure what happened, one moment I was asleep, and the next I dreamt I had been transported to another plane of existence " I say in the most reassuring voice I can manage, while still rubbing my aching head, obviously mentioning the dream itself piqued both of their curiosity, yet they didn't ask any questions because it was obvious that I was in no frame of mind to talk about it, deciding it's time to finally visit the library and see if I can find any clues about this whole mystery, I make a move to get out of bed Rem and Shera, quickly make a move to try and keep me in the bed, yet with a quick wave of my hand I let them know that I'm fine, I quickly dressed myself and get ready to go looking out of the window again, I can see that the sun is beginning to peak above the building tops, sending natural light cascading into the room I can't help but smile a little bit at the sunrise, as I give some final adjustments to my cloak.
"I'm going to the library to see if I can learn more about this world" I say, which even to me sounds like a flimsy excuse, yet both of my companions don't question it even though I can tell they want to, after giving them one final reassuring wave, I quickly make my way out of the room and the inn as a whole, looking around at the empty street, I can't help but feel slightly uneasy almost as if something big is coming, I shake my head trying to clear my brain, worrying about such things is not going to get me anywhere at the moment I say to myself mentally as I start making my way towards why I think the library is ,intend on finally getting some clues and maybe even some answers.
After spending god knows how long looking for the library, I finally managed to find it, considering that by fantasy standards it was very nondescript looking, it's no wonder I couldn't find it at first, after nearly giving the librarian a heart attack when she saw me, I quickly begin to look around the library for any clues about what I'm looking for , after spending a good hour or two looking for random books, half of which I couldn't even read to begin with, I can feel my motivation beginning to diminish, however as I begin to make my way back to my designated table, I catch sight of something in the bookshelf, looking at it for a moment it looks like an ordinary book, yet I feel this weird compulsion to pick the thing up, gently pulling it out of the bookshelf I can see just now dusty and unkept the book is, it looks like it's been sitting there for quite a with nobody even bothering to clean it, turning the book over in my hands and wiping way some of the dust I can see that the front cover is embroidered with faded but still beautiful looking gold leaf, and wiping some more of the dust I can finally see what the title of the book is, A history of the first and second age, Revised edition, I can't help but smile at this, because even if it doesn't offer me any clues about what I'm looking for, because at least having some more basic knowledge about this world History will still be useful, placing the book under my arm, I return back to my designated table, gently placing the huge tome down.
after getting myself nice and seeded, I open the cover of the book, and I'm surprised to see that this book actually has a table of contents, looking at the contents closely I see that the decades are categorised, by notable historical events such as the crowning of kings, the beginnings of wars and such, however as I approached the end of the first age section, I noticed that the defining moments for each decade seemed to become more and more focused around war and death, eventually ending with a section, that the table of contents calls the great cataclysm, thinking for a moment, I can't help but rack my brain for a moment because the great cataclysm sounds strangely familiar, yet I can't quite place my finger on where I heard it before, after a moment it finally clicks, Shera had mentioned something about a great cataclysm, in which many races, humans included almost went extinct , after making that connection, I quickly open the book to the appropriate page and begin reading.
by the time I had finished reading the great cataclysm section of the book, I was completely floored, apparently this great cataclysm had been the coming of a dark entity called the Dark one, a being said to be of pure malice and hate, with its only goal apparently being the life domination and subjugation of all life, it apparently had amassed an army of monstrous creatures, as well as twisting and deforming already existing races into grotesque monsters versions of themselves, it armies had swept throughout the world conquering and subjugating wherever they went, by the year 3282 there were very few Kingdoms, both human and non-human that were free of it's tyrannical rule, however in the year 3283 it said that three mighty Heroes, managed to band together the remaining kingdoms and free peoples of the world in one last ditch attempt to try and beat back the unholy horde of the dark one, many battles were fought over kingdoms and cities with the three Heroes forming an alliance of humans and nonhumans, and managing to beat back the unholy hordes of the dark one's armies, pushing them across the eastern sea to the land Teva, and finally with one last battle in the year of 3284 at the slopes of Mount Boulderscream, the dark one was said to have been defeated by the three heroes, however it's feared only it's physical form was destroyed, and that it's unholy essence still remains, waiting for its time to return to the mortal world to finally finish its ultimate goal.
Leaning back in my chair, I grab the side of my head, feeling the headache from earlier beginning to return with renewed vigour, I end up sitting there for god knows how long gently nursing my head, while thinking about the information that this book has given me, however I realised something, quickly I skim through the book again, eventually finding the section where it mentions Teva and Mount Boulderscream, those two names definitely don't sound like they've come from the local area, at least going by all of the other place names I've heard for this world so far, another part that interests me is the fact that it mentions an Eastern sea, which quickly leads me to conclude that the final battle… most likely did not take place in these lands! at the realisation I quickly jump up from my chair, causing it to fall over behind me, scaring some of the other people in the library at the sudden noise, I practically run to the information desk where the library is located.
"Excuse me, but do you have a map of all of this Kingdom!" I say, a little bit more forcefully and I intended for it to come across, the small girl and the desk seems to shrink away for a moment, before quickly grabbing a large piece of rolled up parchment and practically throwing it at me, instead of trying to calm her down, I just rushed back to the table I was sitting at, practically slamming the piece of rolled up parchment on the table, I quickly unroll it and find that it's a pretty extensive world map, although I can tell there are substantial portions of it missing because of the fact, that it's not been explored thoroughly, I quickly start examining the map in great detail, trying to see if anything on the map resemble the name that I'd seen in the book. however I don't seem to find anything that resembles Teva or Mount Boulderscream anywhere on the map, like I somewhat expected, however looking at the eastern most section of the map, I do see that a sea is present, much to my satisfaction, and surprisingly, it's not too far away from the current town I'm in, at the most it looks like it could be a two week journey on foot, feeling satisfied with what I had found. I quickly roll up the map placing it into my inventory, I also pick up the large history book from the table placing it under my arm, quickly making my way towards the exit, placing a substantial amount of silver and some gold coins on the librarians table as I pass. as I emerge from the library into the now busy and bustling streets, I look up to the sky and see at the sun appears to be just reaching high noon, meaning it's most likely just about to go midday, thinking for a moment, I was originally planned to return to the inn, however considering the time of day, I think it's more likely my companions would be at the Adventurers Guild by now, so with my mind set, I quickly begin to make my way towards the Adventurers Guild, however as I make my way through the busy and bustling streets, I feel that ominous feeling again, as well as a general sense of foreboding, but shaking my head to get rid of the feeling, I instead concentrate on making my way to the Adventurers Guild in hope of meeting up with my two companions.
As I make my way into the lobby of the Adventurers Guild, I noticed that it seems quite empty today, maybe it's just a slow day, I think to myself as I look around for my two companions, looking around for a moment I am unable to spot them in the relatively empty lobby, which means they are either not here all together or on the upstairs floor, I decided it would be best to check with the upstairs floor just in case they are there, before I even think about heading into the city to look for them, making my way upstairs, I come to the room that me and my companions had our adventurer assessments in, looking inside surprisingly it's empty, with the three girls that were there the other day completely missing, however as I'm about to leave the room I noticed that the broken measuring mirror is still in the room, with most of the pieces being sweeped up into a pile in the corner of the room, I'm not sure exactly why but something compare me to walk over to the pile and grab one of the larger pieces of the broken Mirror, looking at the large piece for a moment, I can see that it's still has no reflection whatsoever, instead looking like a solid piece of black nothingness.
Looking deeper into the mirror shard, I could have sworn, that I saw something in the inky blackness, yet whatever it was it was gone so quick that it was either of my imagination or something not there to begin with, quickly shaking my head, I place the mirror shard into my inventory for safekeeping, after making sure it was in my inventory correctly I make my way to the door, and as I do, I can hear voices that I recognise, looking down the hall I can see that the door too Sylvie office is open, and the unmistakable voices of Rem and Shera are coming from inside, quickly making my way to the door, I gently knock on the door, which causes the voices from inside to stop for a moment, before the voice of Sylvie says to "come in" gently I push the door open, the hinges making a slight squeaking sound as the door opens fully, as I make my way into the room and towards the couch, I can see a look of relief wash over both Rem and Shera faces.
"I'm sorry for worrying you two earlier, and for not returning sooner than I would have wished" I say with a slight apologetic tone, as I make myself comfortable on the sofa opposite Rem and Shera.
"Well I guess since Diablo is finally here, I can cut to the chase" sylvie says with a slightly less energetic voice than usual, as she reaches into her desk, pulling out a large piece of parchment, which to my dismay I can immediately recognise as a quest form.
"I would like to sincerely apologise for what happened the other day, if I had known the quest was a trap I wouldn't have sent you on it" she says with a apologetic look, I give a wave of my hand to indicate that no harm was truly done, after all despite not being what I expected, yesterday's quest had shown me that I am stupidly powerful, by comparison to most people in this world, yet despite that, I also realised that just because I am the most powerful doesn't mean that I am invincible, there very well could be people in this world, that are just as strong as me or maybe even stronger.
"also I have a special request, that a certain somebody asked specifically for Diablo to complete" sylvie says as she holds out the piece of parchment to me, hesitating for just a moment, I take the piece of parchment from her small hand, looking at the quest details I can't help but raise an eyebrow, the quest itself was incredibly simple. all I needed to do was deliver refreshments to the bridge of Ulug, which from what I remember is one of only two ways you can get to this particular City. reaching the bottom of the quest form, I'm surprised to see that the quest was officially issued by Celestine Baudelaire, the head of the Mage's Association, I can't help but inwardly chuckle to myself at this, because this is most likely her attempt at making up for what happened yesterday. however as I see the reward for the quest my eyes go wide, she was offering 150 gold and 75 silver, for the completion of this Quest, despite not being much of a greedy person, even I can't help but drool at the thought of having so much money, however I quickly wipe the look of surprise off my face, as I hand the quest form to my two companions for them to look over.
"Wow! that's a lot of money, imagine how much food we could buy with all of that!" Shera says excitedly, practically drooling at the thought of having so much food, Rem on the other hand says nothing, seeming to become more agitated as she reads.
"I'm not going on this quest" Rem says quietly, still loud enough to be heard, I can't help but look at her with a confused face for a moment before it clicks, Rem was very much in independent person ,and therefore did not like to rely on others generosity, often viewing it as pity, she had said as much two nights ago when I confronted her about her problems, and the whole situation of the previous demon lord's soul being trapped inside her, certainly didn't help matters either.
"I don't want to owe Celes any favours" she says quieter than before, seemingly trying to make herself as small as possible.
"I wouldn't mind it if it were a normal mission, but I'm not taking a quest from her that has an unnecessarily high reward" she says, bringing her head up to look directly into my eyes, despite her face not showing it, I can tell from the pleading look in her eyes that she really doesn't want to be on this quest, after a moment of contemplation I give a subtle nod only she could pick up on, almost immediately her entire body seems to relax, and despite her face not changing I can see silent gratitude in her eyes.
"well I guess in that case it will just be me and Shera, going on this quest" I say, trying to make my voice have a slightly bored tone to it, sylvie and Shera look at me confused for a moment, with Shera looking like she was about to say something but seem to rethink it, sylvie on the other hand just look slightly confused in general, before letting out of small disappointed sigh .
"I'm afraid to break it to you, that Rem won't officially receive any of the quest reward, because she won't be in the quest party" Sylvie says, seemingly trying to break it to us gently.
"That's fine, the quest reward can always be split after it's collected" I say, giving a wave of my hand, trying to sound dismissive as possible.
"Well, I guess it's settled then" sylvie says, gesturing to the quest form in Shera's hand, with Shera immediately handing the quest form to sylvie, who then pulls out a stamp marker from her desk, quickly stamping the quest form.
"You probably know the drill by now, but once complete, bring this quest form back to me, as proof of completion and I will give you your reward" Sylvie says, holding out the now stamped quest form, with a nod I take the form from her small hands, rolling it up, and carefully placing it into my satchel.
"Well I suppose we should make our leave, if we want to complete this quest by nightfall" I say with a slight nod of the head, indicating to Rem and Shera, it's time to leave, they both quickly get up, making their way towards the door, I turn to follow them, however I stop mid turn, my eyes coming to rest on the semi-transparent crystal that's in the glass cabinet, as I look at the crystal I can hear the voices and whispers again, and despite my superhuman hearing, the whispers are nothing more than intelligible gibberish, after god knows how long, I managed to break my gaze away from the strange crystal, turning to look at sylvie, who to my surprise seems to be so deep in thought, that she completely missed my little crystal staring contest.
"Sylvie" I say, trying to catch her attention, but it doesn't seem to work as she continues to stare past me.
"Sylvie!" I say a bit louder, which judging by the way have body jolted, seems to have brought her back to the land of the living.
"Oh, I'm sorry, diablo, I must have been daydreaming there..." she said nervously, trailing off at the end, I can't help but rise an eyebrow, in the short time that I've known her, sylvie doesn't seem like the kind of person that would just begin daydreaming out of the blue like that.
"Anyway, is this something that you need?" she says trying to put on her usual carefree tone, although I can tell that it's forced, yet even I know it's not a good idea to pry into other people's business like that.
"Yes actually, I was wondering about that strange crystal you have in the cabinet over there, I've never seen a crystal like it before" I say, not needing to fake the interest in my voice for the strange crystal in question, Sylvie looks at me for a moment with confusion evident on her face, before she seems to understand what I'm talking about.
"Oh! are you talking about that large crystal on the middle shelf?" she says, pointing to the large crystal in question, I give a subtle nod of my head, indicating that exactly what I was talking about.
"Well, I don't know exactly what kind of crystal it is, but it was given to me by my father a long time ago, and I've just kind of held onto it ever since then. . ." Sylvie says, her voice trailing off at the end, her eyes seaming to glaze over slightly, as if she was daydreaming or reminiscing about the past, instead of bringing her back to the land of the living, I return my gaze to the crystal in question, at a first glance you could confuse it for some kind of opal crystal, or some other semi-transparent white gem, however looking at the gym closer, I could almost see what look like Shadows inside it, at first I thought this may have been the trick of the light, but the shadows seemed to move in time with the intelligible whispering, as if it was some kind of recording or perhaps a memory?
"Diablo, Hey Diablo! are you alright?" Sylvie says my slightly raised voice, which causes me to jolt and snap my head to look at her, as a result making her flinch slightly at my sudden movement.
"Oh! I'm sorry Sylvie, you startled me there" I say with as much of an apologetic voice that Diablo's vocal cords can muster.
"T-that's alright, I didn't mean to startle you" she says with a slight stutter, obviously still trying to recover from the unintentional scare I gave her, but that makes me realise something, everything about Diablos appearance was made to be intimidating, so it isn't that surprising that even something as simple as snapping to look at her Direction almost gave her a heart attack, this is definitely something needs to be kept in mind for future engagements with other people, scaring them away by doing something completely normal to them, won't get me anywhere.
"Well Sylvie, I was wondering actually. . ." I say, which causes her rabbit ears to snap to attention, an obvious indicator that I have her full attention.
"If I could have a look, at the gemstone in the case" I finish after a moments pause, Sylvie simply looks at me with a confused look , obviously trying to process the request I just made.
"Sure I guess? if you wanted to have a look at it you could have just asked earlier" she says with a slight tilt of the head, still trying to process the request I made, and obviously not getting anywhere with it.
"indeed, I might be a demon Lord but I am not a simple uncouth individual, that would touch someone else's property without permission" I say nonchalantly, which seems to break her out of her stupor, and look directly into my eyes, she seem to process what I just said, before letting a genuine smile come to her face, this is perhaps the only sincere smile I have seen on her face since I've entered the room.
"You know, I'm beginning to think you may have not been a demon Lord in your previous life" Sylvie says with a small giggle, however that comment causes my brain to completely stop for a moment, and for the first time since coming here I begin to feel panic, at the thought of somebody might have figured out my secret, however the Rational part of my brain quickly kicks in, and I realise that that's not what she meant at all, instead of figuring out that I'm a complete nobody from Japan, she's obviously referring to the fact that I am actually a kind person unlike the uncaring demon lord facade I'm desperately trying and failing to keep up.
"W-well, just because I'm kind to you and m-my companions does not mean that I am a f-fearsome demon l-lord" I say, the words spilling out of my mouth with a stutter, I can't help but curse silently to myself, at the fact that I sounded like a bloody school girl speaking to her crush for the first time, instead of thinking about my embarrassing display just now, instead I focus on the task at hand that being the strange crystal in the cabinet, with a nod from Sylvie, I moved to the cabinet chimney opening the doors, as I reach for the Crystal the intelligible whispering, becomes louder and somewhat recognizable as actual words, how about is my hand finally makes contact with the with the crystal the Whispering abruptly stops, almost as if it was never there to begin with, been very confused by this I quickly take the crystal into my hands, looking at it now if I have not heard the strange whispering before, I would have thought of it as just another decorative gemstone, after another moment of examining the gem, nothing about it physically stands out as being as being non ordinary.
"Sylvie, you said this was a gift from your father, do you know where he may have got his hands on such a gemstone?" I asked not taking my eyes off the gemstone, however the only thing that answers me is a complete unnatural silence, after a moment of receiving no answer, I turned to look at Sylvie, ready to ask her why she had completely ignored my question , however the words die in my throat, because to my surprise and utter shock, Sylvie is frozen like a statue, her mouth open seemingly in the process of forming a word, quickly whipping my head around the office, I can see that everything is completely still , even the dust floating in the air is completely still. as I slowly turned to look back at the gemstone in my hands, for the first time since I've been in this world I felt absolute terror a flow through my body, with every bodily instinct telling me to simply let go of the gem, yet I couldn't it was almost as if I've been paralyzed in both Arms, I could also hear my heartbeat in my ears and feel it in my chest beating a mile a minute, however suddenly the world around me seems to twist and warp, before shattering like a pane of glass, before suddenly recombining back into a completely different space, instead of the old but cozy office, I was now on what looked like to be some kind of volcanic beach, and despite the sound of the waves crashing against the black sand, the distance sound of a large group of people could easily be heard, as my legs finally started responding to my brain again, I quickly spin around on the spot, to see that the beach is completely littered with the corpses of many creatures, most of which I can't even identify, however a large outcrop of rock catches my attention, or more specifically the individuals that were covered around the rock.
At the centre of the group was a large tan skin man, with two large bovine horns the sticking from his head, the first thing that caught my attention was his sheer absolute height, he must have easily been 8 or 9 feet tall, not including his horns, however his arms then caught my attention, because they seem to be wrapped in heavy metal chains, which ended in a pair of large blades, although his outfit was the strangers part of all, because it had a vaguely Asian appearance to it, with the closest resemblance I could think of being some kind of Chinese monk outfit. however the other two individuals that stood next to him were just as interesting / bizarre, they were both women of unusually tall height, but nowhere near as much as the giant man, with both of them easily being 6-foot 10 plus. one of the women had creamy white hair that flowed down to her back, with a three pointed crown that floated above her head, and a 4 pointed star hairpin affixed to the right side of her hair, her outfit was a strange combination of a leotard and a flowing dress, she also had a Cape/cloak that seem to have the night sky it's self, embroidered into the inside of it. the other woman was just as interesting looking, her skin complexion was somehow even lighter than the previous woman, and her hair was also incredibly unusual, with the top most part of her hair being pink, but as it flowed down her back, it changed from Pink to blue and then finally to green up the very end of her hair, her outfit was also strange, with it from the waist up seemingly some kind of skin tight dress, with the bottom half of the dress reaching all the way to the ground, as well as having two large splits, that ran from the bottom of the dress all the way up to her mid-thigh, exposing her bare feet and legs to the world, she also seemed to have some kind of collar strapped around her neck with a chain dangling off the front, and finally on her back seem to be a pair of large angelic wings, that could easily dwarf the wingspan of a small plane
"Master, I have been informed that the incantation is ready, we should return to the staging area immediately" the white-haired woman, says to the large man, however the large man doesn't respond immediately seemingly deep in thought about something.
"My master, what's the matter?" the angel like woman says, says with a sultry yet concerned voice, which seems to bring the large man back to reality, from whatever contemplating episode he was having.
"Nothing Jibril, just pre battle nerves as all, I'm just a little bit worried that this battle might be our last" the large man says in a deep voice, that almost seems to reverberate through the air.
"You are a supreme being my master, I don't believe there is an entity in the universe that could stand up to you in terms of power" the angelic woman says with a slight seductive tone to her voice, which only seems to gain a small chuckle from the large man.
"Well, I'm glad that you're not worried at least" he says, a genuine but still somewhat nervous the smile gracing his lips, he then opened his mouth to say something else before he was interrupted by the white-haired woman.
"Apologies my lord, but apparently Lord Walker is looking for you, he said it's of the utmost urgency" the white haired woman says, while putting two fingers to the side of her temple in some strange gesture, smile on the large man's face repairs replaced by a look of determination and slight apprehension.
"well I guess it's time then, Jibril, send a message back to the Jade palace informing them of our departure, also informed them the entire palace is to remain on high alert until I say otherwise" he says with an authority voice, giving a slight gesture towards the angelic woman with one of his hands, in all of this, I'm simply standing in the same spot observing them, despite more questions being raised than answered, I at least have a name to go with a face, and to be honest I was expecting something a bit more intimidating to match the name of Angel of Death, although a bigger question is who is the large man himself, considering that Jibril, refers to him as her master, which means that she must take orders from him, but my musings are cut short as the group begin to make their way down the beach, I moved to follow them but as I do the world around me seems to twist and warp match like before, before shattering like glass, however as the world combines back into the familiarity of Sylvie's office, I hear one last thing.
"pai, I want you to take some of our troops that specialised with stealth tactics, ahead of the main force, and make sure we're not running directly into an ambush" says the large man as his voice slowly trails off into a distant echo.
With the man's voice still being a distant echo in my ears, the world around me seems to kick back into gear, with everything unfreezing from it unnatural pause, I can faintly hear Sylvie asking me something I can't quite make out, despite to trying to think of something to say all I can think about is have tired I suddenly am, as if all of the strength in my body has vanished in an instant, I feel my legs beginning to give as the crystal tumbles from my hands, hitting the floor with a unnaturally loud thump!, followed by my own body hitting the floor hard, as darkness begins to take over the corners of my vision, I can hear the sound of Sylvie shouting something along with what sounds like rushed footsteps, I managed to hold my eyes open for just a moment, managing to catch a glimpse of Sylvie's face, concern and worry etched into her almost childlike features, I feel the urge to say something, tell her it's nothing to worry about, yet I don't seem to have the energy to even open my mouth let alone actually speak, as darkness overtakes me and I begin to fall into unconsciousness, I can hear more voices that sound awfully like Shera and Rem, I try to make out what is being said but I'm completely unable to as I finally drift fully into unconsciousness.