Chapter 7 : Bloody Relics
1291 Words
"Shut up! Just shut up!" Han Ye screamed, clutching his head so hard his nails drew blood.
The laughter inside his mind didn't stop. It was a deep, rattling sound that felt like teeth grinding against bone. Mo Ran grabbed his wrists, her face pale under the dim light of the cave.
"Han Ye, look at me! Don't let him in!" she cried out.
"He's laughing, Mo Ran. He's laughing because he says everything you just told me is true. He wants the world to end. He wants me to be the one who opens the door," Han Ye gasped, his eyes darting wildly.
"We have no choice," Mo Ran whispered, her grip tightening. "If we don't collect the relics, the Light Sect will. They'll use them to harvest every soul on this continent. At least with us, there's a chance to change the ritual."
Han Ye looked at his hands. The black veins were pulsing. "A chance? I'm killing people, Mo Ran. Good people."
"We move now," she said, pulling him up. "The second relic is in the Frozen Peaks. We don't have time to mourn."
Six months passed in a blur of blood and ice.
They stood at the entrance of a temple carved into the side of a mountain. The wind was howling, biting into their skin like thousands of tiny needles. Han Ye stood over the body of an old monk. The man hadn't even raised a weapon. He had only sat there, praying, until Han Ye's void energy turned him into gray dust.
"He didn't even fight back," Han Ye said, his voice hollow.
"He was protecting a key to the apocalypse, Han Ye," the Emperor's voice echoed in his skull. "He was a fool. Why do you pity a fool? Take the relic. Feel its weight. It belongs to us."
"I'm a murderer," Han Ye whispered.
"You are a god in the making," the Emperor countered. "Pick it up."
Han Ye reached into the altar and grabbed the frozen cylinder. The moment his fingers touched the cold metal, a wave of power surged through him, making him roar in pain. His skin cracked, more black lines snaking up his neck.
"Two," Mo Ran noted, her voice trembling. She looked at the dust that used to be a man. "We have to go. The Light Sect's scouts are already at the base of the mountain."
They crossed the Great Sand Sea three months later.
The heat was a different kind of torture. Han Ye's energy felt like it was boiling inside his veins. They found the third relic in a palace hidden beneath the dunes. The Master of the Sand Palace was a father. Han Ye saw his two daughters hiding behind a silk curtain as he fought their father.
"Please," the Master gasped, his sword broken in half. "This relic is the only thing that keeps the wells from drying up. If you take it, my people will die of thirst."
Han Ye hesitated. The black energy around his fist flickered. I can't do this, he thought.
"If you don't take it, Mu Chen will," the Emperor hissed. "He'll come here, kill the girls, and take the relic anyway. Do you want your enemy to have this power? Do you want him to laugh at your weakness again?"
Han Ye's eyes turned completely black. "I'm sorry," he told the man.
He didn't use a blade. He simply opened his palm. The Void rushed out like a hungry shadow, swallowing the Master whole. The man didn't even have time to scream. The palace groaned as the foundation began to crumble without the relic's support.
"Han Ye, let's go! The temple is collapsing!" Mo Ran shouted, grabbing the third relic from the pedestal.
They ran through the falling debris, the cries of the people in the city below echoing in Han Ye's ears. He didn't look back. He couldn't.
By the time they reached the Forbidden Forest for the fourth and fifth relics, Han Ye was a shadow of his former self. He barely slept. He barely ate. His hair had turned a dull, ashen gray, and the black markings now reached the corners of his eyes.
"You're shaking," Mo Ran said as they sat by a small fire.
"I can taste them, Mo Ran," Han Ye said, staring into the flames. "Every person I've erased. I can taste their memories. Their regrets. It's all inside me, screaming."
"I'm here," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder. "We're almost there. Just two more after this."
"And then what? I become the monster that eats the world? Is that my reward for being a hero?"
Mo Ran didn't answer. She didn't have an answer.
The battle for the fifth relic was the hardest. It was guarded by a young woman, a genius from a small sect that had protected the forest for generations. She was kind. She had even offered them water when they first arrived, not knowing why they were there.
"You have the scent of death on you," she said, her jade staff glowing with life energy. "Why do you seek the core of the forest?"
"We need it to stop the Light Sect," Han Ye said, his voice breaking.
"By killing the forest? By killing me?" she asked softly. "Is that the balance you seek?"
"Kill her, Han Ye," the Emperor roared. The voice was so loud now that Han Ye's ears began to bleed. "She is a parasite! They are all parasites! Only the Void is pure! DO IT NOW!"
"I don't want to!" Han Ye screamed at the air.
The girl flinched, looking at him with pity. "You are already gone, aren't you? The darkness has already won."
She attacked. Her movements were fluid, like a river, but Han Ye was a dam that broke everything. He fought with a desperation that bordered on madness. Every time he struck, a part of the forest died. The trees turned black and crumbled. The birds fell from the sky, their songs silenced forever.
When it was over, Han Ye stood in a circle of death. The girl lay at his feet, her eyes wide and vacant. He was holding the fifth relic, a pulsing green stone that was slowly turning black in his grip.
"Five," the Emperor whispered. The voice was no longer coming from inside his head. It felt like it was coming from the very air around them. "I can feel the gate, Han Ye. I can feel the lock turning."
Han Ye fell to his knees, coughing up thick, black bile. His body was convulsing.
"Mo Ran..." he gasped, reaching out.
Mo Ran stepped back, her eyes filled with a terror she couldn't hide. "Han Ye... your face."
"What? What's wrong?" He touched his cheek. He couldn't feel his skin anymore. It felt like cold stone.
"You're disappearing," she whispered.
"I am the Void!" the Emperor's voice boomed, but this time, it came out of Han Ye's own mouth.
Han Ye tried to speak, tried to tell her to run, but his tongue felt like lead. He looked down at the relics. They were glowing with a synchronized, rhythmic beat. It sounded like a heart. A giant, cosmic heart that was starting to wake up.
Suddenly, the Emperor's laughter returned, louder than ever before.
"The girl was right, Han Ye. The darkness didn't win. It just waited for you to bring it home. Now, kill the Saintess. She knows too much."
Han Ye's hand moved on its own. His fingers elongated into black claws, and he felt his body lunge toward Mo Ran against his will.
"Run!" he tried to scream, but all that came out was a terrifying, guttural growl.
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