Chapter 234: The Burden of Power
469 5 16
X
Reading Options
Font Size
A- 15px A+
Width
Reset
X
Table of Contents
Loading... please wait.

He had been on the ground for a long while now. The pain vanished but the memories flooded back in. He could feel the time warp back in forth. The trees rustled in his heads. The raindrops pouring over the grasses. The wind whipping them to sway.

Why do I live again?

The rain tapped his wooden box. A hand reached for his face. It was a familiar face. Yes, it was the face of a woman he had been with from the start. The woman that had been trapped with him.

“You are always by my side,” he whispered. “Why?”

“You are a fool, Nolan Salvatore.”

“Tell me why,” he demanded. “Why are you doing this? To watch me suffer? Is this what it is all about?”

“No,” she replied. “It was never about that.”

“Yes,” he wheezed. “I understand. You pity me, don’t you? You pity that I was a fool who had somehow done that. All of you, you never really understood. I have never been loved. My memories are false and the only thing that I had ever loved was standing on a tall building with the sun in front of me. That big giant ball of light that seems to split the clouds and vaporize it. I was a kid once. A kid that dreamed that he would one day find happiness. That somewhere along with his miserable existence that he would find it. Just look at the horizon, waiting for something to appear in front of him. You pitied me.”

The woman’s throat was blocked. Her mouth hung open.

“I pitied myself a lot. That’s why your love and pity for me stings harder than anything else in this world. My heart feels crushed and my lungs searing. When I arrive in this world and the others. I was lost. I was a boy that wanted to get home. In stories, those who are lost find the wise wizard that would somehow guide their way. No one came to me. I became a fool who followed a woman who radiated with confidence and beauty. She held my eyes and my heart before I could do it. On the night of a battle, I professed my love for her. Ask me why I did that?”

“Why?”

“Because in the end, I know that she was never meant for me!” He screamed, forehead planted on the mud. “A fool is a fool. I know I am a fool and I know that I wanted her death sentence! Can’t you see? I gambled. I tried. I wanted to be with someone high as a mountain! And what did I get it for it? I got put in a cycle of death and rebirth! I live and live again over and over again. Sometimes crippled, sometimes a peaceful life which would be then broken by her call! You all think of me as helpless! I have no talents! I have not a single talent in this damned life! But give me long enough time and you will what I truly am! These memories burden me but they had formed what I wanted!”
He grabbed the air like they were threads. He pulled them and grabbed hold of her. She tried to pull away without any luck. “No,” she snapped. “Do not take me away!”

“I am done being played! Will you get out of me already?”

He pulled her soul out and she was tossed to the ground, mud splattering. An Obsidian flower grew, forming flesh, and a woman fiery red hair, and a beautiful yet scowling face glared at her as if she was mistreated. Nolan sniffed and drew a word of power that then locked all of the memories. His breathing stabilized and there was a red sun inside his eyes.

“What did you?”

“You are free now, Tania. You will not manipulate me ever again! I will not discard the memories! They are me! They scream! They anguish but they are still me! A Part of me and I will never allow the memories to disappear! It is an insult! I will not let you deny me of this!”

The red sun on his eyes blazed. The accumulation of despair and deaths that he had suffered turned into power. Using his multiple past as his blood offering. Nolan Salvatore had created his power. Billions of years of dying and learning the runes had finally shown results.

“How could this be...I didn’t see this!”

“I was always a bleak walker! And I am the Revenant of the Time Wraiths! I consumed the Old Revenant! I have forged power and I will not be a toy again!”

Thunder lashed out. The ground sagged and the trees started to melt. The raindrops hissed as it touched the body of Nolan. Steam came out of his body and his body dried before it could be wetted. The flow of power that was woven around him had disallowed Tania from using her powers.

“I will not be toyed. You, I shall take that as well! I will not allow you to manipulate time and toy with me! I shall not allow it!”

Tendrils of light forcibly stab on her heart. Then, she saw an orb, and she knew that if she lost that Orb. She would lose the ability to bind him and her. She would not be able to cast the powers that she had demonstrated. Nolan’s hair started to blackened and there was a vortex that swallowed the power she had into the stomach of Nolan.

Tania had mistaken. It wasn’t because he was mad. It was because he had been patient that he was allowed to leave! She had a mistake using time and doing so had fed the time wraith inside of him. The Old Revenant, who he consumed, had started to manipulate his flesh, obeying the will of Nolan.

Nolan manhandled the strings of light in front of him. He cut down the clouds and before long he saw that there was only Tania looking at him with the awe. “I have been running away. I am awake now and I thank you for it, Tania!”

The Old Revenant is Reborn.

16