Chương 83: 81: My Last Words

Remnya By sunset, a dense fog covered the volcano, mixing with the smoke of dying fires and molten rock. The Vezzanyo had morphed into a field of devastation, and the imposing peaks had collapsed into avalanches of magma and pyroclastic flow. Amid the ruins, Remnya stood still, contemplating the sound of silence. Blood rolled down her skin from open wounds caused by the last Necrotix's desperate attempts to subsist.

She had made it; the creatures that had haunted the Vezzanyo's heart for decades were gone, reduced to ashes and memories. As the sun descended into the horizon, the temperature dropped, and snowflakes landed on Remnya's hair along with ashes. An icy breeze mingled with the hot vents nearby, like the hands of death brushing against her through the implacable fire. Remnya sat on a jagged rock, staring down at the ruined slopes. The volcano rumbled faintly beneath her, as if mourning what she had done.

Vultures circled below, claiming what little remained of her carnage. She closed her eyes and listened to the distant steps approaching. His unmistakable energy filled the place with its calm yet puzzling presence. His arrival confirmed her suspicion. When the wind stopped, Remnya opened her eyelids and turned toward the last hope of Karx.

"This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"

"It was necessary," Debrin Kavram replied, placing a box full of canned food on the ground.

"You just wanted me to clean this place for you." She furrowed her eyebrows.

"I wanted to prepare you for what's coming." Remnya punched the rock, shattering it, and stood to glare at him.

"Are you still doubting me? How much more do I need to prove to you?!"

"This is not about proving yourself." Debrin took a slow breath.

"I know what you're capable of, Remnya. But power alone won't be enough." She spat on the ground.

"I've always known that." He studied her for a moment, his expression cold.

"Here's a question. Once you rescue your friend… what then?" The question made her hesitate.

"I don't know. I don't care."

"Remnya." Debrin narrowed his eyes.

"I know your body can endure the training. However, I'm not sure your mind will survive long enough." She turned her back to him.

"If you came here just to tell me that, you can leave."

"No." Debrin walked over and stopped beside her. Both of them stared at the lava flowing like blood from the earth's heart.

"I came here to train you properly from now on." His words hung in the air like the sound of a door opening.

"Why now?" she asked.

"After speaking with my people, we all agreed your help will be vital for our mission." Remnya blinked.

"So, you want to use me as a tool for your war?"

"You and I have the same goal," he said, eyes fixed on a thin beam of light piercing the clouds.

"We both want to save the ones who matter to us."

"Don't get me wrong." She crossed her arms, her voice full of contempt.

"I don't care if you're only using me. As long as I can rescue Zeo, I don't give a shit about your intentions." Debrin turned to face her.

"Right now, you're a mere nuisance to The Hunters. An insignificant threat. But if you survive what's coming and unlock your full potential…" A faint, cold smile touched his lips.

"They will need way more than their current forces to stop you." She absorbed his words in silence.

"If that's the case, let's not waste time." She stretched her arms and cracked her neck.

"I want to finish this as soon as possible."

"Rest comes first," Debrin said, gesturing at the canned food.

"Recover your strength and clear your mind. It's been a long day. We shall begin tomorrow."

"I don't need to rest." She stepped forward, fists raised.

"I can start right now."

"Tomorrow," Debrin repeated, his voice firm. He turned his back to her.

"If you're going to train under my lead, you will do exactly as I say." He gave her a cold sidelong glance.

"Is that clear?" Remnya remained silent, teeth clenched, suppressing the urge to hurl a fireball at his back. Debrin's gaze lingered on her, waiting. Finally, she gave a faint, reluctant nod.

"Tomorrow," Debrin said once more, and rose into the sky, vanishing into the thick fog. As soon as he vanished, Remnya's knees sank into the ashes. All her energy was suddenly gone, leaving her body empty and numb. Was it because of her exhausting battle? Or perhaps, Debrin's presence drained part of her soul. It didn't matter. Night fell upon her, stars sprouting into the dark vault above, and the air cooled her sweaty body. She closed her eyes and listened to the foreign yet familiar sounds of the darkness.

* No sleep came. The night was a cacophony of geological nightmares: the groan of settling rock, the sharp crack of a lava tube collapsing in the distance, the whisper of the wind carrying the scent of sulfur. Remnya remained still, watching the molten rivers paint the darkness with their hellish glow. Perhaps she still feared the nightmares. The ones that always came after the adrenaline faded. The ones where Virgil Alzer's face loomed, not as a man, but as a symbol of everything she'd lost.

She wouldn't sleep, eat, or move until the sun rose. When the first light of dawn sliced through the gloom, she blinked for the first time in hours and then closed her eyes to see beyond her senses, searching for his energy. You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. She found him already there, standing not fifty paces away, a solid form against the wavering heat haze. Debrin watched her with a patience that infuriated her.

His uniform was white and silver, as pristine as if it had never seen a grain of dust.

"Your energy today is as chaotic as yesterday," he said, his voice a low rumble.

"Whatever," Remnya rasped, her throat raw. Debrin fixed his orange eyes on hers.

"Remnya. The chances of you dying during this training are substantial."

"I told you, I don't care."

"It wasn't a warning," Debrin said, pacing forward, the crunch of rock under his boots loud in the quiet. Silence.

"Do you remember our last talk at the old camp?"

"No."

"Back then, I told you, when you return from your trip, I'll tell you about your parents." Remnya digested his words one by one and then spoke.

"So what?"

"I wish to give you a chance at closure."

"Save your pity." Remnya tightened her lips.

"I don't need it." Her parents. Countless dreams had fabricated her memories of them. Ever since she had been old enough to dream, she had created them for herself. The lady with crimson eyes who spoke kindly when she needed it the most. Those dreams had long since withered into dust.

"Your father..." he started, then paused as if waiting for her to interrupt, to dismiss him again. Remnya did nothing. She just stood there like a statue, her gaze locked on the distant, smoldering horizon.

"Your father," he repeated, the words finally taking shape, "He was a Hunter." A dagger of ice pierced her spine. She tried to say something, but her throat closed up. The world seemed to tilt, the roar of the volcano fading into a dull ringing in her ears.

"Nero Belladonna was one of their best executioners," Debrin continued. Remnya stared at Debrin, her breath hitching.

"Your mother..." He paused, a flicker of something unreadable in his eyes.

"She belonged to Karx. Elysea Scheduna, better known as the Crimson Death." Debrin's words remained stuck in the air. Such a name for the loving lady she saw in her dreams, in the moments when she was at her lowest and still held onto a sliver of hope. The lady in her dreams was a woman of innocence.

"I never met your mother. In fact, I was unaware of her real name until I began to research your background." Debrin breathed, allowing Remnya to process it all. The wind howled around them, carrying fine particles of ash that clung to their faces.

"A hunter and a warrior of Karx?" Remnya whispered the words and then began to laugh.

"That's... that's beautiful." She spat her words with disdain. Her parents, the ghost figures she had built in her mind, were not different from the monsters she had met. Both of them killers, both of them part of the same system that had destroyed her life.

"From what I could gather," Debrin said, his tone softer, "their relationship was as much a battleground as their missions." Her fists clenched.

"Nero died on a mission, at the hands of Karx, or perhaps another Hunter. I don't know. Your mother, shortly after, in another mission for revenge, perhaps."

"So..." She took a deep breath.

"She left me behind to go die for the enemy?"

"It appears so." Remnya looked up at the blood-red sky.

"A poetic death," she murmured.

"A warrior of Karx dies for a hunter." Debrin watched her, his own expression unreadable.

"A warrior of mine knew of your existence, but he hid it from me."

"Who?" Silence stretched between them.

"You knew him." He closed his eyes.

"Back then, he was barely a man. An arrogant eighteen-year-old prodigy fighting alongside your mother during the Blood War. He saw her die, probably, and instead of bringing you to me, he chose to hide the baby." A knot of fury tightened in her stomach. There was only one person who could have done something like that.

"Was it him...?" Her fingers twitched, sparks of fire crackling at her fingertips. Debrin nodded.

"Ronner," she muttered.... The name hung in the sulfurous air like a curse. Ronner. The Blue Demon. The monster who loved Brisa. The man who had died protecting her sister, the man she had ultimately failed. Ronner. Her guardian angel.

"Why did he do it?"

"Power, mercy, or a promise... I can't tell you because I don't know. For a long time, I thought you were a mere rumor whispered among the survivors of the Blood War." Remnya stared at the ground for a long moment.

"So my whole life... It's all because of him?" Debrin walked forward and stood right next to her.

"He made the right choice. That orphanage was the safest place for you."

"Safest?!" she screamed, her voice breaking.

"Do you have any idea what it was like there?! Fuck that!"

"It was never an orphanage, Remnya." The words landed with the force of a physical blow. Remnya turned to him slowly, her mind reeling.

"What did you say?"

"They were not orphans, they were not caregivers. They were mere pawns, a facade Ronner built to protect you." She shook her head, denying it, but the pieces were clicking into place with a horrifying clarity. The strange looks, the whispers, the way some adults would stare at her with a mixture of fear and contempt.

"The adopted children." Remnya swallowed.

"Where did they go?"

"Those who had potential were used well. Those who didn't..." He trailed off, the implication hanging heavy in the air.

"He had to maintain the illusion, Remnya. A real orphanage had to have a turnover." The ghostly faces of the children she had played with, the ones who vanished in the dead of night, returned to haunt her. They weren't finding new families. They were being sacrificed to protect a secret. To protect her. After a long silence, Remnya let out a dry, humorless laugh.

"You're right. He made the right choice," she said, her voice full of poison.

"What are some pathetic orphans compared to me? What are their lives compared to mine?" She turned away, her shoulders hunched, the weight of a thousand souls settling upon them.

"I always wondered why those couples looked so nervous," she murmured to the scorched earth.

"It was fear." Debrin remained silent, allowing the truth to settle in the ashes of her heart.

"My mother..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"The site where she died. Where is it?"

"I'm afraid I don't have that information." He crossed his arms.

"However, you might find your answers when you infiltrate the Hunters' Headquarters." A tremor ran through the ground, a reminder of the raw power beneath them. But the earth's fury was nothing compared to the storm raging inside her. Remnya lifted her head, her eyes burning with a terrifying clarity.

"I see," she said calmly.

"In that case, I'll force the answers out of them." She clenched her fist, crimson sparks dancing between her knuckles.

"Each one of them will pay. For Brisa. For Zeo. For those children. For Ronner's sins." A twisted desire to burn them all consumed her. She wanted to see their faces as they melted into her inferno. She needed to see their terror, their agony. Debrin stepped forward.

"We can not waste any more time." He turned and began walking toward a less devastated part of the caldera.

"We need to move far from here. Staying would pose a great risk to the people down at our camp." Remnya fell into step beside him, her silence a heavy presence between them.

"I have a request," she said after a while.

"Very well." He stopped.

"If I don't survive the training... can you bury me where Brisa died?" Debrin examined her, his orange orbs scanning her face for any sign of weakness.

"I shall." His voice was a void.

"If the time comes, you'll join the rest of them there." Those words seemed to awaken something in her. A ghost of a smile touched her lips.

"Thank you." Debrin nodded.

"Meet me 120 kilometers north of here," he said, then took off, orange energy enveloping his body and melting the ground. Crimson flames erupted from Remnya's body, and she shot forward like a meteor, her boots tearing into the ash as she pursued his airborne shadow on foot. She couldn't fly, not yet, but the explosive force of her fire propelled her forward in roaring leaps across the ruined slopes. The greatest challenge of her life was about to begin, a path of self-destruction.

Debrin would try to break her, she knew, but you can not break something that is already broken.

"Mom... Dad..." she whispered into the wind.

"I don't care about who you were. I don't care about your sins. I don't want your legacy, or your love. But please... Please, allow me to use your blood. Allow me to use this fire inside me to turn the rot in this damn world to ash." I promise I will do it... For Brisa...... and Zaoly. END OF BOOK 2