thief of fate-Chapter 88: Arkanis’s arrival

I sat at the edge of the stone amphitheater, watching the battlefield that was still boiling with dust, sweat, and screams. Above, the day had begun to lean toward its end. But I didn’t care about that now.

My gaze was fixed on Selena.

She moved with a lightness that resembled a mysterious dance, between two massive opponents trying to corner her from both sides. But her steps were calculated to a degree that invited admiration.

I looked to my right, where Kyle was sitting. He seemed captivated by the scene, so I continued:

– "Watch carefully. Every battle you see here... can be a lesson. Especially when it’s a girl like Selena fighting."

He nodded without looking at me, his eyes still glued to Selena, who finished off her last opponent with a combined blow of blade and leg, making him collapse as if something inside him had been extinguished.

Then something happened.

The air around me suddenly froze. I felt it, as if time had folded in on itself for a single moment. I blinked, and suddenly...

It appeared before me.

A screen.

["They have arrived. And this might be your end."]

I felt something drop in my stomach, heavy, harsh—like someone had spit the truth into my face.

I looked around. No one else could see what I was seeing.

No one heard what was read to me.

Kyle was still watching Selena. The crowd was cheering. The kings sat in their towers. The world went on as if nothing had changed.

But I knew...

Something had changed.

...

In the distance, Princess Evelyn was running.

Her running wasn’t normal. She ran as if she were fighting the wind.

Her hands trembled, and her face was stained with the ash of fear.

She passed the guards, ignored the stares, and reached her father, King Yaram, who stood in astonishment.

"Father!"

Her voice was louder than the battle.

"Stop everything! You have to flee! Everyone must flee! Now!"

King Yaram raised an eyebrow, about to ask, but a look into his daughter’s eyes stopped him.

He saw what she didn’t say.

He saw what lay behind her gaze, as if something was chasing her even here.

The king’s voice was clear, decisive:

"Stop the matches. Withdraw. Evacuate the arena immediately."

He shouted the command as he raised his banner, and his army responded like lightning. Yaram’s men were trained to obey, not to question.

Queen Elyria rose immediately from her seat, looked at Yaram’s daughter, then at him, and wanted to speak.

But Yaram’s hand stopped her—firm, stern.

"There’s no time. Something... is coming."

I saw the confusion spread like fire through the crowd.

The soldiers began clearing the arena. Some didn’t understand, some were afraid, some pretended to be tough.

I looked again at the screen that hadn’t disappeared.

The words were still there, mocking. Watching me like they were enjoying it.

["The end isn’t always death. Sometimes... it’s awakening."]

I started looking around for Selena. Where did she go?

Where’s Kyle?

I felt a sting in my soul, like someone was tearing me apart from the inside with something unseen.

King Taril had also risen. His eyes were scanning the ground carefully.

"What is happening?"

He said it quietly, not wanting anyone to hear, as Queen Elyria’s face showed tension.

"Is this a threat? An assassination attempt?"

But she found no answer, because Yaram didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to one of his men and whispered something, prompting the knight to blow a brass horn.

The sound of the horn pierced the sky.

And with its sound, everything changed.

The air became heavier.

The sky, which had just moments ago been dusky, turned dark—as if an unnatural blackness began to spread.

And I... no longer felt that I existed in this place.

As if something was pulling me away. Or pushing me inward.

I heard another voice in my head... not from the screen. From within me.

"The time of choice has come, Valerian."

"What do you choose? Escape? Or knowledge?"

I lowered my head. I don’t know.

I don’t know.

But I know one thing...

This wasn’t just a warning.

It was a declaration.

Queen Elyria turned her face toward Yaram and shouted:

"Tell me what you know!"

But he didn’t respond. He only looked at his daughter, who clung to his cloak as if it were her final refuge.

"She feels something. And I trust her."

Yaram said, then turned to King Taril and spoke loudly:

"No time to explain, Taril. Take your people and flee. Now."

Taril wanted to object, but when the first shadow fell from the sky, he stepped back.

It wasn’t a normal shadow.

It was a being... with no shape, no sound, no beginning, and no end.

As if the sky had torn open, and pieces of a nightmare began to fall from it.

...

What everyone saw now...

On that screen.

In that blue text.

"They have arrived."

The rest began to run.

Kyle grabbed my hand without saying anything.

Selena appeared from a place I didn’t know, breathing heavily, her face no longer bearing its usual calm.

"We have to leave."

She said it, her eyes not looking at me—but at the sky.

Above us, above everything...

A crack was forming in the air.

A real crack.

The sound of creaking, the trembling of the ground, and silence in the hearts.

People began to fall—not from a strike, but from fear.

The soldiers forgot their training.

The kings descended from their towers.

Even me...

Even I...

Began to feel something being ripped from within me.

But amid all of this...

Something else appeared inside me.

A voice... soft... strong...

Survive.

I raised my head... and wished I hadn’t.

The sky was no longer a sky. It was a massive mouth, open, devouring light and spewing forth... nightmares.

They fell like rain—millions of gray bodies, at first without sound, then with a cascading explosion of screaming and flesh. They had no wings, but floated in the air, twirling, falling, tumbling over one another as if they wanted to devour the earth and everything on it.

Gray creatures, the color of rot, glowing yellow eyes, human-like but deformed bodies, arms too many, jaws opening down to their chests.

Some crawled.

Some walked.

Others ran on all fours.

And all of them... were screaming with hunger.

"The Arkanis..."

The word escaped my mouth as I felt a pulse echo through my bones.

Even the air was corrupted.

A dark aura emanated from their bodies—something not entirely visible, but deeply felt. As if the world became heavier, as if the life inside you began to reject you.

I saw some vomiting from the intensity of the aura, others collapsing without being touched.

People screamed.

Soldiers screamed.

I screamed inside—but no sound came out.

It was total chaos. Hell... had begun.

In a moment, my father appeared.

He didn’t need an invitation.

He descended from a gate that suddenly opened on the side of the amphitheater, his sword in hand, and with him an aura I had never seen on him before.

"Valerian! Claire! Raine!"

His voice thundered like a storm.

He appeared before us in the blink of an eye, standing between us and the monsters, his eyes ablaze. One look from him was enough to remind everyone who he was.

He turned quickly toward Raine, but...

"Don’t wait for me!"

Raine shouted, surging forward like a shooting star, laughing arrogantly:

"Let me show these wretches the meaning of strength!"

He was fast—so fast even the wind couldn’t outrun his steps. He leapt into the crowd of Arkanis and began slaughtering them mercilessly. His twin blades moved like a dance of death. Their black blood splattered around him, and with every move, the beast inside him grew stronger.

Clair was calmer.

She stood at the edge of the arena, focused, and extended her hands.

In a flash, a torrent of arrows burst forth from her—countless, unending.

Thousands of arrows, each one lethal, destroying, piercing skulls and hearts, exploding when needed.

Her expression was colder than it should’ve been in a moment like this.

Me?

I was caught in the middle. One half of my legs wanted to run into the fight. The other half wanted to flee for survival.

But my father’s voice pulled me back.

"Kyle!"

Edgar turned his head toward the boy trembling beside me.

"Protect him."

He said it like a roar, like a command that left no room for hesitation.

Kyle turned to me, and I had just gripped my dagger when he grabbed me.

The soldiers had already begun to fight.

They rushed in with all they had—but it wasn’t enough.

The Arkanis weren’t fighting... they were tearing.

One of them jumped over a soldier’s head, grabbed his upper and lower jaw... and pulled.

A single scream—and then a burst of blood.

Another crawled insanely fast and began ripping through soldiers’ legs.

Every shot, every strike, every scream... wasn’t enough.

...

At the heart of the chaos stood King Yaram.

He raised his hands, closed his eyes, and the glow began to spread.

His illusions...

They weren’t mere images.

They were an entire world of falsehood.

The Arkanis began attacking mirages, chasing an endless mirage, striking at phantoms that didn’t exist.

And so... they were delayed.

Queen Elyria had descended into the fight, cutting them down, and with every motion, three or four fell.

Her voice was calm... but her body moved like a storm.

As for King Taril... he was fire walking on two legs.

He held his massive axe and slammed it into the ground, shattering it beneath him, shards flying up.

"I won’t die before he does!"

He roared, and charged at the Arkanis closing in.

He struck, tore, cleaved—and the gray blood covered his golden armor.

He was furious.

And now... I feel like I’m in something that doesn’t resemble war at all.

A great scream tore through the sky.

A scream not from the earth... nor the heavens.

And every Arkanis paused for a single moment, as if they’d received a command.

Then... they all began running toward a single point.

Toward me...