Return of the Flamebound Oathkeeper

Luciel froze, fingers gripping the splintered stage. Blood trickled and fell onto "Mira" as a thousand thoughts collided in his mind. It just couldn't be her. She was gone. Or at least... that's what he'd always believed.

Yet the voice carried her cadence, her stubborn warmth. He could even recall her smile with that note alone. And it tore something loose inside his chest.

The flame roared suddenly beneath his ribs, a heat so intense he nearly tripped over. It hissed at the tether's glow like an animal baring its fangs.

'What? Why... are you acting up like this?' Luciel clenched his jaw as the flame continued its rage.

The earlier echoes had been different. The flame had watched those without protest, almost reverent.

But this... this was something else entirely.

Still, even with the flame's fervent objection, Luciel couldn't look away. His throat tightened painfully as "Mira" reached out an arm, eyes painted in the blood of his fingers.

"Why did you leave me?"

The flame exploded, as though the voice triggered something primal within it. Luciel gritted his teeth despite the overbearing pain, eyes still locked onto the silhouette.

But then something inside the fissure twisted violently. The glow dimmed and turned into muddy darkness. Shadows rushed upward, clawing at the edges of the stage. A storm of bloody threads and swirling black mist erupted as the silhouette split apart and convulsed.

Luciel stumbled and fell to his butt as the flame surged up his arm, pulsing wildly.

From the heart of the now eerie glow, a voice echoed—not Mira's, but something fundamentally wrong and not for a normal folk to listen.

"How could you survive on your own?"

A shape began to rise from the storm. Bones unfurled like wings, dripping black tar. A distorted mask, a fusion of an innocent child and a repulsive beast, glared at him through a veil of Hollow mist.

Luciel immediately picked himself up and raised his arm defensively. The flame burned along his wrist, more radiant and violent than ever, waiting for his command as if facing an eternal nemesis.

The creature then muttered hoarsely as it slowly rose from the crack.

"You... left... me... to.... die."

His jaw tightened. He forced his mind blank, breath sharp in the freezing air. He'd snapped out of its reverie and no longer fazed by its lies.

Luciel slowly pulled out the bloodied dagger that he used to kill the man in the cave and closed his fist around its handle.

The monster moved closer, its enormous bone joints creaking as it tipped its mask. Black tar oozed out onto the stage, sizzling against wood. Its voice twisted once more, switching between eerie static and trembling pitch of a child.

"Luciel... why did you leave everyone to die?"

A flash then snapped within the silhouette. For an instant, Mira stood idly inside the black carcass, braids hanging limp, blood seeping down to her chin. Her eyes wore twin abysses, empty and betrayed.

Luciel's chest constricted. He clenched his teeth, pulling a forceful breath to steady himself, enduring the phantom pain pinning against his heart. His fingers tightened on the dagger, blood smearing onto the hilt.

"Shut your goddamn mouth," he muttered. An unfamiliar emotion had crept into him.

The creature lunged instantly as talons unfolded from its bony limbs. Luciel immediately pivoted aside, dragging his dagger across the Hollow's forearm while leaving a trail of fire in his wake.

The wound immediately festered and gushed out black blood, burning his eyes with a harsh, metallic tang. The world turned dark for a moment, but he could hear the creature screaming its lungs out in pain—if it had any. A cacophony caught between a child's sob and tearing metal.

The flame then quickly unfurled within the blade and washed away lies and sins from his eyes, returning his vision.

The heavy creature flailed its limbs while advancing forward, causing the auditorium to tremble and the boards to splinter under its weight. Shadows coiled around it, stretching outward like grasping, desperate hands.

Luciel backed off, flame dancing brighter than ever. But for some reason, he hesitated, searching the monster's face for any trace of the girl he'd once known. A false hope that maybe she could be saved.

"Luciel..." it whimpered. "Come back... Save me."

The words fell like shards of glass cutting through his ribs and stabbing his beating heart.

The flame snarled low, a sudden flare racing up his arm and wreathed the dagger once more in scarlet beauty. It had been doing whatever it pleased, and even more so against this abomination.

But Luciel wanted to surrender to his anger completely... just this once. Just once would be enough. If he could burn the creature into a crisp without hesitation, then maybe everything would be resolved.

He lowered his stance, jaw set. "I'm done listening to ghosts."

He lunged forward, danger poised and sharp, as the creature shrieked and surged to meet him.

Luciel swung the blade infused with pure rage, but the creature twisted away, joints snapping in impossible angles. Tar sprayed in ragged arcs wherever the limbs whipped, sizzling against everything it touched.

It shrieked again and coiled its limbs tighter. Then the limbs lashed out into jagged streaks, bone flashing like pale knives. As it swung, shadows flickered around its torso.

Luciel ducked beneath its first strike, twisted to the side on the second, and drove his flaming dagger across its flank. The steel and flame bit deep into its marrow, and its blood splattered across his entire body. It felt like acid sizzling on skin.

Pain hissed along his nerves for a moment, before the flame coiled around him once more and cleansed the corruption. He'd understood that the process was automatic at this point, and that the flame could heal him.

But he paid no heed. All he could think of was the damned bastard that kept running its mouth and pretending to be Mira.

The monster howled and jerked back, bones flexing as it reeled. The shadows coalesced again around its torso, but this time, just for breath, Mira's shape bled through the darkness again. Her face was half-lit, eyes wide in silent plea.

Luciel blinked hard, throat closing. The illusion vanished like it never appeared, leaving only the creature's grotesque mask.

This time, he didn't utter a word. Flame doused upon the entirety of his existence as he advanced forward like a meteorite.

The creature followed, its claw sweeping in a broad arc. Luciel acrobatically twisted aside and felt the talons scrape past his coat. He found balance and slashed with the scarlet dagger.

Steel scored once again. A deep gash across the creature's other flank left it stumbling. But it didn't fall. It lifted its head, and a voice crawled out of its throat—yet this time, it was small, soft, and painfully familiar.

"Run, Luciel... run and live..."

He froze. These words, unlike before, clawed at his memory, dragging him back into the scene of screams and bodies. His chest tightened. His grip on the dagger loosened. His anger snuffed out.

His eyes went unfocused as images crashed over him: burning streets, blood pooling around mangled corpses, Mira reaching out—

A vicious blow crashed into his side. The creature's claws ripped through cloth and bit into flesh. Pain burst across his ribs, sharp enough for him to cough out blood.

Luciel felt like his bones had collapsed. He gasped and staggered back, heat exploding behind his eyes. Blood soaked into his shirt and dripped onto the cold snow.

Even though the pain was immense, he was thankful for the blow. It had snapped him out once again and reminded him how weak-minded he was.

"Enough," he growled, his teeth clenched. Rage crackled like sparks beneath his skin, announcing its return. He tightened his grip on the dagger again.

The flame then surged in his chest. Extreme heat flooded his ribs, searing through torn muscle and broken skin.

It wasn't gentle. It ripped into the wound, burning away fresh blood and boiling edges of torn flesh until they knit together anew.

Luciel could only clench his jaw until his teeth ached. He tasted copper and realized he had been biting his tongue. The pain was a thousand time worse than the wound and the blow themselves. It felt as if his body, bones, blood, and nerves were set alight.

But when the flame withdrew, his chest had donned itself a new skin. The bleeding stopped along with the searing pain, and everything had happened in under three seconds. It was the pain that made him feel like an eternity.

Luciel drew a ragged breath. He felt hollowed out and furious all at once, then pointed the dagger toward the creature. He refused to give the creature another chance.

"You're not her. You don't get to wear her voice and face. Stay in your fucking lane."