Chapter 408 – Nocthar Mort of Death
He certainly should have expected this situation. The mont he stepped into that strange place where death beca as widespread and as ubiquitous as weeds, the scent of divinity he had co to get used to had been so high it was sickening.
Still, it was not only that.
There had been multiple corpses — corpses of goblins, hobgoblins, trolls, and even elves and so dragonkin.
All of these corpses had one thing in common despite their variety: they were all black-skinned. And that distinction might seem small at first glance, but it was anything but that.
Kaden rembered his first ti outside of the stronghold. The ti when he entered a dungeon alone and found himself in a battle against black-skinned monsters.
That sa dungeon where he had found...
"...Nocthar." Kaden spat with obvious distaste, crimson eyes narrowing with both coldness and slight nervousness.
"The one and only." Nocthar said.
"Is this your work?" Kaden asked, looking around the crimson void around him, his left eye still bleeding, before turning back to Nocthar. "This dream?"
"A dream?" Nocthar barked a laugh, causing the void to rumble as if lightning had struck.
"Oh, it might actually look like one, but no, Kaden, my dear favorite candidate, this is simply a mory."
"Favorite candidate?" Kaden echoed, eyebrows peaking. "What nonsense are you saying? And how could this place be a mory?"
"A mory, Kaden." Nocthar said again. "A mory that you activated simply because of your bloodline and the death aspect within you after you saw..."
He paused, tilted his head, making the chains wrapped all around his body creak protestingly. The chains glowed, and his head snapped back to its normal position.
Nocthar winced. He muttered sothing under his breath, causing another wave of pain through his body.
His jaw popped in anger. Exhaling, Nocthar cald himself, recovered his smile, then rested his eyes on Kaden before answering,
"So much ti has passed." He said. "But sothing must have reacted to you. According to my Lord’s habit, it must have been either through a bird, a weapon, a painting—!"
Kaden instinctively twitched at the word painting. Nocthar abruptly stopped.
"A painting, then." He concluded, looking amusedly at Kaden.
Protheus answered with silence. He only stared at him, multiple thoughts jogging restlessly inside his mind.
His body was feeling better, though he could feel himself dying. Surely thanks to Rea, he easily guessed.
Even so, Kaden knew it would not last long.
And even if it could, he had no intention of staying in this place. The divinity around was poisoning his body.
In spite of that, Kaden couldn’t go back without at least so answers.
"Who are you?" He asked, voice steady. "And what is the blood you gave back in the dungeon?"
His voice sharpened and cooled like frostbite,
"Two tis, Nocthar." He raised two of his fingers upward. "Two tis this trait activated. And in any of these tis I ca to a situation where I am seeing images in my head. Images of soone making a Sun bleed. Images of a sky crashing down on ."
Kaden paused, inhaling, then exhaling softly to calm his breathing. He picked it up,
"What did you do to , Nocthar?"
Nocthar’s face still held his amused expression. Though now, there was a hint of seriousness in it.
"A Grandmaster, now you are." Nocthar said. "And you have already obtained half a Death Aspect. How great. I was right. I was definitely right to give you the blood of my Lord."
"Who is the Lord you have been talking about?" Kaden tilted his head.
"A god." Nocthar said simply. "A dead god."
He clarified.
Kaden’s eyebrows knitted together. But before he spoke, Nocthar continued,
"As for who I am? Oh, it’s been a while since I presented myself. How nostalgic."
He grinned.
"I am NoctharMortofDeath, Ascendant of the Death Pathway, follower of ******, who is the Master of the Unending River, the Eternal Blood, the Flesh of War."
Kaden’s head writhed. He almost collapsed, feeling as if a hamr had been struck on his skull.
His very existence felt as if it was about to crumble under the weight of the na.
He staggered one step, then two, then five, until he gathered himself, wrapping his head in horrible pain.
Nocthar didn’t even wait for him to regain his senses. He continued his words, speaking as if he was in a rush.
"I have no ti to tell you the very beginning of all this, Kaden, my favorite. The only thing you need to know at this mont is that you hold one of the fragnted bloodlines of my Lord. The Aspect of War! But even that, it’s only half of it."
"Death upon all of them!" He suddenly shrieked in anger. The chains rattled and ca down on him like collapsing heavens.
He ignored the pain and imdiately continued,
"You have the half Aspect of War and the half Aspect of Death. You need the other half and the one of Blood, Kaden."
"Why should I?" Kaden rasped, feeling his own existence slipping through his fingers. "Why should I bother myself to gather all the Aspects of a dead god?"
"You will need them." Nocthar said. "You will need a complete bloodline and a complete Pathway to reach the Elderling rank. You have no choice, Kaden. No choice!"
"I can—!"
"First," Nocthar cut him, "no matter how exceptional you are, you cannot create your own Pathway. If even TheSovereign barely succeeded, you will not, Kaden. Your ancestor was and is the best of your bloodline. Oh...Maybe the Godkiller can reach his level..."
His voice lowered, looking at the bewildered face of Kaden.
He continued,
"And second, my favorite, you will die even if by miracle you succeed." Nocthar said. "You will die if you ever seek to reach the Elderling without an already established Pathway."
Kaden was lost. All of this information in one go was making his cognitive abilities lag behind.
Now he found out that he needed to collect the Aspects of a dead god.
And if he didn’t, he would die?
He scoffed angrily, about to say sothing, but the surroundings began to crack and crash.
"You have no choice, Kaden." Nocthar said at last, as he began to be swallowed by the void around him. "There is a reason your bloodline has been divided. They have been dealt catastrophic damage during the process, but they will soon co to finish what they have started."
He looked coldly and sternly at Kaden.
"You need a Pathway, Kaden. You need a god behind you, or your whole family will die."
"Who are they?" Kaden managed to ask, his body dissolving into energy.
"The sa ones who chained ." The Ascendant of Death said while trying to uselessly move. "You will know them. You will know them by their nas. Don’t ask how. Just know that you will."
Kaden began to feel his own body.
He would soon wake up, he realized.
"One last thing, Kaden!" Nocthar bellowed. "The eight mountains! You need to go through the mountains between morning and midday in random order to get to the bridge."
"And under the bridge, there is—!"
CRACK—!
Everything shattered, drowned into deafening silence. Kaden stood lost for a mont, surrounded by darkness.
Then, monts later, he found himself gasping for breath, eyes snapping open, revealing a blurry pale face with ruby eyes that glowed with exhaustion.
"W-What..." Kaden’s words were cut short, his throat dry like leaves, making him cough instead of talk.
He licked his lips and tasted blood. But not his blood. No, this was...
His eyes cleared and looked at Rea. Her body seed to be devoid of any trace of blood.
Seeing him awake, Rea sighed in relief, then imdiately slumped down, falling to the ground like a sack of rocks.
"My beautiful Rea!" Einar shouted in worry, running towards her in haste.
Yet before she reached her,
"Blanche." Noah rasped. His voice bood out.
A screech of a phoenix reverberated, accompanied by the eruption of immaculate white fire, soaking both bodies of the two fiancés in a protective embrace.
Kaden lay there, exhausted in an existential manner, his mind rethinking the last few monts.
He closed his eyes tiredly, exhaling softly through his nose and mouth.
"Bloody fucking hell."
—End of Chapter 408—
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