Bab 84: Chapter 84 : Fleeting shadows: Rebirth of Apollyon Twyla , the doom that befell the royal wedding ceremony

"Where am I?... Who am I?" a man with green hair spoke, opening his eyes surrounded by mist.

The man was one of Zebha's finest knights, the emerald demon Faro Jorn. , His eyes bore a confused gaze, resembling someone deep in thought, searching for answers about his roots. Rising from the rough surface he had been resting on, Faro scanned his surroundings. To his surprise, his gaze was able to cut through the mist, revealing a confined space with uneven rocky walls that seemed to cradle the cell. The rocks, weathered and rugged, had traces of vapor that clung to their surfaces. Strange, fleeting creatures slithered along the damp walls, their movements creating an eerie dance within the mist. Faro calmly observed the details, but soon, an eerie sensation hinted that he wasn't alone, as if unseen eyes were fixated on him from the shadows of the mysterious cell.

"What is this place?" he asked himself, scrutinizing the mist. Faro found himself confined within a cell, the rugged rocky walls enclosing him. As he faced one of the walls, a drawing seized his attention – a pair of abyssal eyes etched onto the rough surface. Staring at the drawing, his perception blurred, and a wave of dizziness swept over him. Just as he faltered on the brink of unconsciousness, a cold and detached voice echoed through the confines of the cell, breaking the silence, "Very impressive, no one has ever stared at the eyes of Sega that long. Your mental fortitude is very resilient; I am certainly pleased."

"How do you feel after your rebirth? Can you feel the powers of old coursing through your blood vessels?" The voice became clearer and clearer and Faro guessed that it belonged to a woman ,but who was this woman? His head was filled with general knowledge but when he tried to recall anything related to him it seemed as if an invisible mental wall blocked him from the truth.The confusion on his face deepened. Confused, he asked, "What is this place? Who am I, and what is my purpose here?"

The fog surrounding the cell rapidly vanished, and in its absence, a figure of a woman dressed in a gown seemingly made of mist appeared. Her ebony black hair gracefully flowed to her back, and her pale white skin made her appear a non-living being, coupled with her glowing red eyes – night walker. "Who are you? You are my greatest weapon, my most fearsome warrior born of the foul. Bearer of the blasphemous runes, thread cutter. You are my weapon against destiny, born only to serve me. You are Apollyon Twyla, my destroyer woven with a double thread." The mysterious woman spoke with an obsolete tone.

Faro, now Apollyon Twyla, stared at the rocky weathered floor and murmured "Apollyon Twyla." The night walker's eyes were fixated on him the entire time, gently nodding, she approached him slowly floating towards Apollyon.

"I have a task for you, my herald. I need you to go to a certain kingdom and cut the threads of destiny weaving themselves around the princess of that nation and the king of a fallen kingdom. But first, we have to get you accustomed to your new power, and then the mission will commence. When destiny entwines, you will be the one to cut off the threads and usher in a new generation... A generation where the old gods are nothing more than a myth, a generation where every being has control over their destiny, a generation of devils." She spoke slowly as she approached him, each and every one of her words echoing in the rocky cell.

"Devils?" Apollyon's confusion only got worse, and the night walker halted in front of him and answered: "Yes, devils, devils are the only beings the hags cannot weave their destiny as it is unnatural and inconceivable for them. The hags can see the destiny of every creature living, undead, and mystical; even the destiny of Gods is weaved by them. But they do not have complete control over destiny, they simply weave it interconnecting all the destinies of mortals and deities alike. But the destiny of the devils is lost to them, they can't see it nor weave it. Even Gods fear the hags, the only gods that can put up a little fight are Revi and Zebha since they are said to have almost passed the limits of godhood. Only the formless can somewhat stand against the hags as they have a certain level of control over their destinies, mmmh look at me exposing ancient wisdom to you." She smiled at the end.

Apollyon glanced at the surreal woman in front of him, "I will follow you for now, something is wrong with me and I will find out but for now I will do as you say." Apollyon thought.

"I will serve you accordingly." He bowed, the night walker glanced at him for a bit and smiled nodding, "Very well, we will usher in a new generation together Apollyon for the glory of the blood empress Lilith Mendabich, the mother of woes." The woman's smile sent chivers down Apollyon's spine but he forcefully suppressed his fear of the female night walker in front of him and calmed his messy thoughts. The woman glanced at him and spoke, "I am Airlia Aine, the ethereal radiance of chaos, Daughter of the fallen." Each of the words spoken had a certain effect on Apollyon.

And the start of Apollyon's journey started, without a single memory of his origins he decided to slowly unravel the mysteries around his origins slowly without alerting Airlia. Two blasphemous runes on his back glowed with a fleeting light and shadows covered the whole cell for a short amount of time before they quickly dissipated. Airlia glanced at Apollyon intensely before relaxing her creased brows and giggling in a very cute manner a stark contrast to her matured and graceful behavior.

"The runes have accepted you, very good.".....

.....

Present day: Hentesa

The king of Nesa'i chuckled a bit and every part of his body jiggled, King Amadeus shook his head with a smile and spoke, "This wedding between our two children will bond us as family and allies, so from today you are family and so am I to you. The prophesied war has already started and many other kingdoms have already started battling but Hentesa and Nesa'i will not partake in this war, if anything I propose that we should be the ones to try and reason with the other kingdoms in order to stop this senseless war. Zebha is lost to La'faura and pretty soon many other kingdoms will fall just like Zebha, and if we are not careful it would be us falling next." King Amadeus spoke his words bearing great weight, King Baichun nodded at his words and added:

"You are wise as ever my old friend, this war is senseless. We will do as you suggest but let us not waste time and commence with the wedding, I'm sure the children can't wait to be bonded together for life. Hehe" the king laughed.

Prince Bai standing beside his father almost buckled over at the mentioning of "forever" but he forcefully withheld himself from fainting. "Damnit you old potbellied fool, forcing me to marry the child of the man you are envious of the most in order to fuel your own disgraceful plans. When I am king I will murder you and let the princess go." Prince Bai thought to himself but outwardly he still kept his smile on.

"Very well, let the royal wedding ceremony begin." and with that they all left the throne room. Baichun's four royal guards were left outside of the throne room, so when they heard the doors open they quickly bowed and Baichun nodded at them and they left following behind their king.

In the amphitheater located at district 8, the crowd all wore matching attires, and the air was lively. Timothy's group had seats closest to the stage, and everyone seemed to be in a relatively good mood except for Finn. His expression showed great dissatisfaction, mirroring a man unwilling to be here. Timothy stole glances at Finn, worried about him, but there was just no way he could help him, for the matters troubling Finn were matters of the heart.

While Timothy was still thinking about Finn, Lenard leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Stay on guard. I sense the presence of the foul, and it is very strong. Whatever happens, stay by my side." Lenard whispered the warning to Timothy alone. Timothy's heart rate picked up, and his breathing became unstable. Jake turned to look at him, catching a glimpse of fear in Timothy's eyes. Stealing a glance at Lenard, who was standing beside Timothy, he noticed that Lenard, who always had a carefree expression, now had a somber look on his face. Jake had a premonition that something wrong was about to happen, but everybody here was unaware of the doom about to befall them.

Timothy managed to calm his breathing and steel his heart. After all, there was nothing he could do, and even if he could warn the people, it would only lead to chaos and a fate worse than what was already coming. The people he was most worried about were his teammates, who seemed oblivious to all of this, but deep down, he knew Finn wouldn't let anything happen to them. While he was still lost in his thoughts, a horn was blown, signaling the arrival of the royal family and the start of the royal wedding ceremony.