Master of the Loop

Chapter 81: = Tears of a God

Chapter 81

Tears of a God

Snow kissed the gentle dirt repeatedly, snowflakes pooling into hills and mountains, and melting under the pressure of rotted feet and boots on the other end, forming rivers and ponds and streams. Wall stood like a barrier between two antithetical worlds, two opposites, two inevitabilities in the unending story of reality. The sky above remained ashen, and whether it was day or night, nary a ray of sun burned through. Dark, instead, reign. And invisible muses sang the song of the windslow and harrowing, cascading through the open doors and windows.

There was no silence to behold the moment; the world was swallowed in the season, in the cold, in the wet of the winter. On one end stood the living, braving the fears, and on the other stood the dead. It was a sea. A flood. A number that left everyone stunnedSylas especially. The rows encompassed the entire northern walls, tens of thousands only of the visible ones. The dead never ended, and they never began. They were all and everything. Untouched.

He instinctively grabbed onto the stoned wall, cupping a handful of snow. His brain didnt even register the chill and the cold of his fingersinstead, it was too busy losing reason and hope.

What what in the Gods name is this? Valen mumbled helplessly.

this is not normal, Derrek, similarly, shuddered and shivered and stuttered in disbelief.

Indeed, it is not," a childish, yet choral voice drew attention to himself. Iun climbed on top of the wall and glanced to the other end, inspecting the dead. "I am afraid your home has been Marked.

M-marked? Sylas quizzed.

As new grounds for the building of the Well, Iun said. All the dead here shall give birth to it.

! Sylas eyes widened in horror, the chill of his soul far eclipsing that of the winter.

You neednt have told them that, a voice broke from within the ranks of the dead as a cloaked and hooded figure, hunched unhealthily, stepped forward, supported by a wooden, crow-headed cane. You will kill their spirits, Iun.

your protection will not be eternal, Ghost, Iun spat out. And when it ends, I shall rip your spine out personally.

He he he, the figure laughed strangely. Always a pleasure. But, I plead thee leave now. We wouldnt want any misunderstandings to occur, would we now?

Iun turned toward Sylas and Valen before sighing. Good luck, little humans. The boy suddenly melted like a chunk of ice into a body of water and disappeared, as though he was never there.

Good, the figure said, turning around and walking back toward the ranks of the dead. Now that the nuisances are gone Chan-te gakaa benum

As the voice faded like a distant whisper of a dying man, through the belting winds came roars of the deadroars the shook the world. All eyes grew alight, as from within the ranks of the dead, over twenty pulsating figures came rushing out. Sylas recognized them immediatelyas did Derrekbut only the latter responded in kind.

EVERYONE, GET OFF THE WALLS!!!! however, even his loudest, throat-burning shout barely reached anyone. And those few that it did, stood about confused, unsure as to why.

Just then, the Infernals reached the wall and exploded. Beyond the sheer horror, Sylas mused as he found himself flying through the air, looking back at the wanton destruction, it was beautiful. His eardrums were immediately blasted, bleeding profusely. But the sight, for the briefest moment he experienced it before being blinded, was beautiful.

Colors spilled over the world like canvas, edgeless, formless, bleeding over from one onto another. The massive wall was uprooted like a plant, its bits and pieces and chunks flung about everywhere like an upward rain. Amidst the rubble of the stone and the rocks and the wooden planks, what stood out the most were corpses. The human blood stained the world at that moment.

All of the reality slowed down for him to seefor him to see all that he could lose. Valen was cut across his abdomen, his lower half missing. Just like Sylas, he was stunned, brutalized, arms spread open like a prayer to the Gods that would not listen.

Ryne was bleeding from both her eyes, and it looked like she was crying tears of blood. She was screaming, Sylas sawwhether it was in pain, in horror, of any combination of the two he didn't know. But his heart broke, all the sameit broke like a glassed bowl tossed against the wall, its shards spilling onto the ground.

Tenner was decimated completelySylas saw it as soon as the first explosion occurred. He, unluckily, stood straight above one of the explosions, his entire body blown up into bits and pieces, chunks mingling with the rest.

Derrek lost his right arm, his expression a mixture of horror, pain, agony, and anger. The whole of mankind bled at that moment, amidst the rapture, amidst the horror, amidst the blood-stained snow. They fell like trees being cut by a lumberjack. One by one, yet at once.

You have died.

Save point Pups Blood has been initialized.

Theres no way, Sylas mumbled into the cold and distant night. In the distance, they celebrated. They celebrated a victory. But his heart was bereft of joy. Instead, within it only horror at the realization they were doomed remained. They couldnt win. Even if there were twice as many of them, they couldnt win. "There has to be a way," he mumbled in a contradiction. "It can't end here. No, it can't end here. I won't allow it. It can't."

The scene was still vividly imprinted onto his brainand he knew that it would never leave him. It would join the ranks of the few other scenes that he could never forget, no matter how many years had passedthe first time he died, the first time he saw the sky rain the dead and the figure being lowered on the harness of chains, the first time he killed someone, and now it was that. The scene straight out of a story depicting the downfall of mankind. The dead won. No, to call it a victory would imply there was some kind of a struggle. There wasnt.

Jesus Christ, Sylas mumbled, standing up and walking over to the porterboys in search of wine. How many years will I spend in this fucking loop?

After scoring a few jugs of wine, he retreated into the darkness of the woods, hiding behind a tree. Up until now, at any other point, he never felt completely hopeless. He felt defeated, hollow, even beaten, but never hopeless.

No, not completely hopeless, he mumbled, half-drunk. He could think of only one thing that would have a chance of salvaging this looptalismans. Specifically, the ones Ryne and he experimented on using the ancient version of the characters.

Naturally, they didnt make any through that methodlargely because they just had a few days to practice. But that could be remedied. Three months and a couple of weeksthats how long the current loop would last. To be grounded, Sylas gave himself three monthsthree months per loop to continue learning those talismans.

They'd have to immediately swarm Iun to share them and then study. And each loop, Sylas would have to force Ryne to catch up since she had a far greater comprehension ability. Over and over and over again, until, someday in the distant future of the present they could make talismans entirely from the ancient characters.

Fuck, he cursed, drinking without a stop, even after vomiting once. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck

E-eh? a voice drew Sylas out of his stupor, causing him to look to his left. There, a woman stood draped in the guards armor, looking at him strangely underneath the hood. He could barely distinguish some of her features due to the lack of light, but, at least, her shimmering, lime-green eyes stood out. IIm sorry. I I thought I heard something so I came to

want a drink? Sylas interrupted her, trying to hand her a jug of wine. To his surprise, she looked at him for a moment before accepting and walking over, sitting opposite of him.

What? she quizzed. You look like you need to keep drinking. Im here to provide company and ensure you dont kill yourself.

we havent met, I dont think, Sylas said, though he couldnt be certainafter all, he was fairly drunk. Im SSylas, his speech was quite slurred, but he continued to drink.

I know who you are, she said.

Oh? Im famous? Hhow flattering.

why are you here? she quizzed. Celebrating on your own?

Hoh? You thinkyou think this is me celebrating? Sylas crackled in laughter, startling the woman for a moment. Celebrating, she says, ha ha ha ha das a good one. Good one, I tell ya. No, no, fraid Im not celebrating. Im mourning.

Mourning what? she quizzed. Even drunk, Sylas picked up on her rather thick and strange accentalmost a posh-like one, just even more pompous, so to say.

The death of mankind, he said, heaving the jug of wine up in the air. Dont tell anyone this, butI aint, I aint really a prophet, you know?

You dont say, the woman mumbled.

Instead, instead what I amis a looper? Aye, a looper. I die and then, and then I go back. Go back in time! Ha ha ha, can you believe it? Utterly insane, I know! Bah. I die and I die and I keep on dying and waking up in this fucking place, this fucking night, over and over and over again. And and its only just begun.

I died, recently, he continued, talking to himself more so than with her. Not just me. All of us, actually. We were at the castle. It was winter. Deep, deep snow. An attack. Another one. Heh. Another one. So many so many dead, he said, drinking some more. And then boom. Boom went the wall. And us with him. And I am I am tired. So, so, so tired. It has to be me. For everything. Theres only me. I have to figure out this. Figure out that. Find all the answers. And nowand now I need to learn how to stop an army of tens of thousands of dead. How to stop the castle from falling.

Bullshit! Fuckin bullshit! he yelled, deeply drunk by now. IIm not good at this crap! I, I mean, gimme some rich fuck, and IIIll get you some of is money, you know? Ill get you that. But, fuck, do I look like some hero who will save the world? I Im trying, goddammit! But this world this fuckin world of yours just wont chill!

you sound like you need a hug, her voice still somehow managed to pierce into her psyche.

A hug? No, no, what I need is a nuclear fuckin bomb to deal with that army, Sylas said, sighing. Im just so tired. So, so, so tired

Even so, she said, the sound of her boots beating against the snow drawing closer as she crouched in front of him. You shouldnt sleep in the snow. You could die.

can I tell you something? Like, honestly, the woman drew back slightly at the stench of his breath, but still nodded. Sometimes sometimes, II wish I could.

life is precious, she said. We need to hold onto it. Come on. Take my hand. Ill escort you to your tent.

Whatd you say your name was? Sylas asked, hardly aware of what was happening.

I didnt, she replied, tossing his arm over her shoulder and slowly dragging him to the camp. Steady, steady! Just hold onto me!

youre good, he mumbled, falling asleep. A whole lot of you are good. Valen. Tenner. Ryne. Even that handsome fuck Derrek is good. Why? Why are you all good?! If if you were evil scums, I could have left. I could have gone away. Washed my hands of you lot. I could have I could have escaped this hell Sylas fell asleep, his mind dazed and adrift, uncertain. For the first time in a long while, he slept peacefully, as though cradled within the arms that banished all his demons. He slept and he rested, blooming like a flower in the dawn.