Celestial Saga: Exiled To Earth III 21 Stage Twenty-One: The Dark Aura Seal

STAGE TWENTY-ONE: THE DARK AURA SEAL

"Aluanthi!" Freyja dashed out to chase after the young man. But as soon as she stepped out of the house, she found herself in an entirely different place. It was still the same village she stayed in, but the surroundings were all distorted. The night sky is now colored deep-purple with streaks of bright orange, the trees and houses grew large, and inanimate things started moving on its own.

"The perpetrator is twisting the 'reality' in this subdimension…" Freyja thought. The 'calm village' setting is now completely shattered. Vases and rocks suddenly came flying towards Freyja, like poltergeists attacking. "s.h.i.+t!" She screamed, running while the once friendly village people started going after her too, carrying hoes and swords and sticks. Not for long, she found herself cornered. Freyja didn't want to hurt them, but she's running out of options. She was about to summon the celestial runeblade, when Keon and his rune beast suddenly came flying towards her. "Grab my hand!" Keon shouted, and she did. The people were still throwing things at them as they fled. Alaric's icicles suddenly emerged from the ground, forming a giant cage that trapped the villagers in. "Go on Freyja! Leave these to me!" He shouted, "Kirin is following Aluanthi!"

"Roger that!"

From above, Freyja could clearly see how the village began to crumble into dust. The surroundings began to turn black slowly, and the people mutated from humans to disfigured, monster-like creatures mindlessly chasing after her. The sub-dimension is collapsing. Keon made his rune beast fly faster and more agile, as the clouds in the sky started turning to rocks that fell down on them. Maneuvering from all that was a tremendous challenge, to say the least. But Keon made it. They made it. "We're at the end!" Keon shouted, finally seeing Aluanthi and Kirin from afar.

Aluanthi finally stopped running, and he fell onto his knees, breathing heavily. "The Lenfiare is the only one who has the power to enter this village. How did you do it?" He asked, looking straight at Kirin.

"Guess how?"

Tears fell from Aluanthi's eyes, as he chuckled. "I wish I could have lived as Aluanthi forever. I wish I didn't hear that d.a.m.ned name! I wish I could just sleep and not know anything."

"Kirin! Aluanthi!" Freyja cried out loud before jumping off Keon's rune beast and das.h.i.+ng towards them. "Aluanthi… what's… what's wrong?"

"I knew it. I knew this day would come. I'm not human. I don't even exist. I am just an illusion created by Lord Afra. And we are all just puppets instructed to kill anyone by the name of 'Freyja.' Meeting you in the sh.o.r.e was no coincidence. I was 'instructed' to meet anyone from the outside world and take her in…" Aluanthi's real memories finally surfaced. "…no wonder I couldn't remember anything from my childhood… because I never had one."

"I see." Kirin finally realized what's happening. "That celestial guardian doesn't like Freyja, so he set this elaborate trap to lure her in. And made the 'trigger' her name. But since Freyja used a fake name, she was safe for a while."

"So what!?" Freyja shouted, stomping her way to him. "SO WHAT IF AFRA CREATED YOU!? SO WHAT IF YOU'RE NOT HUMAN!? WHO THE h.e.l.l SAID YOU DON'T EXIST!?" Freyja took a deep breath before continuing, "This existence thing is all bulls.h.i.+t. I've had enough of the d.a.m.n word. 'Kirin doesn't exist, Celestia doesn't exist… f.u.c.k. Can people just shut up for once!?'" Freyja's burst of anger silenced the two. Slowly, she walked towards Aluanthi, who's also trying to walk away from her. Even so, she managed to get near him and grabbed his hand. "Aluanthi, didn't I promise you? You'll go with us. Alaric, Keon and Kirin. We will travel around, have fun. I don't care what people think, but for me, you are Aluanthi, the one who saved me from drowning in the ocean, the one who took a total stranger as family. You are Aluanthi, my friend."

"Fine… Fine… Fre… ARGH!" It was that dark aura again, it started clumping around Aluanthi, making him lose control yet again. He pushed Freyja away, before falling onto the ground, twitching and groaning in pain. His limbs, his body and even his face mutated just like the other villagers.

"Rune of protection!" Alaric's made it just in time. He casted a powerful barrier spell above them to fend off the rocks falling from above. "s.h.i.+t, it's collapsing! Freyja, do something!"

"Astrid!" Freyja called the rune blade before rus.h.i.+ng out of Alaric's barrier and towards Aluanthi. "Aluanthi, take cover!" She shouted, noticing a huge chunk of rock, about to fall on him. Using her blade, she sliced it off, but it was unnecessary. The transformed Aluanthi suddenly pulled her legs, making her fall down face flat. Freyja struggled, but Aluanthi's grip was far too powerful, even against Freyja's white aura. "Why the—" Until now, no one has been able to resist the white aura to this extent.

Aluanthi, enveloped by the raging dark aura sealing the celestial guardian, raised his left hand, which transformed into a sharp blade. He was about to pierce that blade right through Freyja, when all of a sudden, he stopped. Freyja took the chance to escape from his grasp. To their surprise, transformed Aluanthi pointed the blade at himself, trembling. And right before their very eyes, the monster he became, stabbed its own heart.

Freyja couldn't move a step. As she watched the monster gush out crimson red blood, memories of the kind, hardworking Aluanthi and his laments of solitude came into mind. Sensing the dark aura cease from its body, she ran back to its side. "Aluanthi, that's you right!? HEY!" She called him, but the monster just spoke, in a very low voice. "I'm sorry." It was Aluanthi's gentle voice. "I'm sorry, I hurt you."

"Aria!" Freyja exclaimed, calling the healing guardian out. She ordered him to heal the transformed Aluanthi. His wounds closed, and his appearance returned to the young man she knew, thanks to Aria. But it couldn't stop him from disappearing. After all, his physical body is completely on another celestial guardian. "Lord Afra, you can't… kill…. Fre…" Aluanthi struggled to get words out. He looked at her, smiling, as he lay in her arms. "I told you, didn't I? You are Aluanthi and you will always be." Freyja whispered as she watched him disappear little by little. "Thank you… it was… fun." Slowly, Aluanthi closed his eyes. His hands, feet, ears…. All of him disappeared one by one, until he's completely gone.

But time didn't even let Freyja grieve. As soon as Aluanthi disappeared, and the subdimension's village disappeared and turned black, with only a ball of light from up above illuminating their path. Alaric summoned another light ball and looked around. "Everything's gone."

All the aura used to create these illusions clumped up in front of them, forming the frame of a pale young man, looking about in his late twenties, with long crimson hair and eyes. This man resembled Aluanthi's appearance so much, Freyja thought at first, that it was Aluanthi. But it wasn't.

"Aluanthi?... No. Who are you?"

"To destroy the dimension, I created is something I expected from the cursed descendant of the Leafen." The man said, glaring at her. "What are you talking about?" Freyja summoned the celestial rune blade, sensing a tremendous force coming from this man.

"Lenfiare, you aren't supposed to be out of your cage. And neither am I."

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