Library of Rain

Lucus staggered as the warped in front of him yanked on the chains around his wrists. All around him, the once elegant manors and shops of the Crown Ring lay empty and desolate, the once pristine streets now covered in blood-caked ash. 

 

As if a ghostly projection were before him, Lucus could see in his memory how the city used to be when he was young before things had gone so wrong. He could see the bakery, beautiful and whole, despite it being destroyed during The Return. In front of it, two girls and an older boy ordered sweets. The bittersweet memory of trying to impress his sisters raced through him, and he could smell the sweet aroma despite death being the only thing in the air. 

 

He stumbled past a street where a ghostly boy stood before his father, trying not to show how pleased he was by the praise he was receiving. All these years later, even after his parents' deaths, he still remembered how hard he’d struggled to hold back his tears as his father's smooth voice praised him.

 

Memory after memory assailed him as he walked, each bearing the taint of his failures over the years. Lucus could have stopped all this if he’d only been even slightly better than average. Soon, the escorts around Lucus weren’t the only warped around him as others appeared, peeking out of the ruins. Most were twisted mind and body, nothing more than puppets to the Bane of the Isles. But some were different; some had the visage of madness behind their eyes, yet they still looked the same as the day they lost everything. Others, more distressing to see, were twisted abominations, yet behind their eyes, Lucus could see a reasoning person watching from their prisons of flesh as they were forced to obey the commands of their master.

 

All this pain was Lucus’s fault. If he had killed her when he had the chance, none of these people would be suffering. 

 

All to soon Lucus found himself at a familiar yet foreign building: Estom manor. The parameter walls had gaping holes in them the black stone monoliths that populated the grounds now loomed higher than before twisted faces peering at him over the hedges that dripped foul sludge. The house itself was shattered and broken, yet somehow alive. The shattered glass around the windows like teeth around gaping maws.

 

He was going to see them again. After how poorly their last meeting had gone and how much he had struggled to stop the carnage and death they caused, he was going to see them again, and he did not doubt that this time, he would die.

 

His entourage escorted him through the gates. Lucus could barely recognize the grizzly figure of one of the monsters guarding it as Palle: one of the Estom house guards. The poor man had a gambling problem, probably inherited from Lucus’s father. She had probably used that against him. Even if he had been one of the ones to betray the house, Palle didn’t deserve this half-life as an insane creature.  

 

As Lucus was marched to the manor's dining room, he saw other, wrong versions of the staff. The walls twisted around in a mockery of what they had once been. Yet despite that, Lucus saw dozens of ghostly figures running through them as all the good memories of his childhood were reflected in front of him.

 

Regret.

 

Every step and every memory condemned him. If he had only been stronger, more capable, decisive. 

 

When the warped who was leading him pushed him through the doors, Lucus could see the tears in her eyes. She must be one of the unfortunate ones who retained their mind. 

 

The dining room, or more accurately, the throne room, was nothing like it used to be. The once homey room where he used to spend time with his family was massive now. Somehow, the force that made the hallways feel like they were bending in on themselves had turned this room into into an enormous affair with dark mist pouring from cracks in the walls. Scattered across the floor were rubble and soul shards, but the centerpiece was the throne of rubble and bone.

 

There she was, the Bane of the Isles. A young woman, barely more than a girl, sat on the throne, her hands resting on the skulls of Lucus’s parents: Lady Tyix. 

 

The murderer’s eyes were hollow and gaunt, making the horrific mutations they now bore worse. As she looked at him, he could see the defeat in those eyes. 

 

“My traitor brother returns.”

 

“Hello monster,” Lucus responded, yet despite his words, which would have deeply hurt her in the past, she seemed unaffected. 

 

“That's right. I am a monster. I’m the monster this world needs!” 

 

Tyix snapped her head to the side and howled to the empty room. “No, I won't fix you! Stop asking Mr. Purple. You need to stay broken like me. That way, you can’t leave me!”

 

She was getting worse, much worse. Lucus had known his sister was gone the moment she returned, raving mad and missing so much as a spark of mercy. If only he had killed her then rather than trying to comfort her, the city and his parents would still be alive.

 

“Is Sunrise here for the family reunion?” Lucus asked. Both hoping and fearing that she was. 

 

“Why wouldn’t I be at my precious mistress’s side?” a familiar voice whispered into Lucus’s ear.

 

He shivered. When had she gotten behind him? 

 

“I’m so excited to finally watch you die and end the line of the Estom filth.”

 

“As much as you hate it, you’re a part of that line, sis,” Lucus said, putting as much venom into that last word as he could. 

 

A sharp blow to the back of his knee sent him sprawling to the rubble-strewn floor. 

 

“Enough Ise.”

 

Lucus took his time looking up from the floor because he knew that once he confirmed that both of his insane sisters were here, it would be time to end the Estom family for good. Too many good people had died to get him to this place for him to back down now.

 

Sure enough, there she was, covered in dried blood and grinning wildly: the Assassin of the End. He could forgive Tyix for becoming a monster after everything she had gone through; he would blame her madness on corruption, but Sunrise - a classer who never touched one of those cursed books - her actions were hers and hers alone. 

 

It was time; everyone was here, and the crystal fire the woman with black hair and ruby eyes had given him was ready to burst. All that was left was to see this to the end, and Lucus knew how to make that happen. Despite her monstrous nature, he still understood a few of Lady Tyix’s triggers.

 

Viggo, Wave, Grace, Loke, Blade, Lykke, Rock, Yvonne, I’ll see you all soon.

 

It was time to end this all and pay for his failures.

 

“Your past self would be disappointed in you.”

 

That's all it took for the hollowness in her eyes to turn to fire.

 

“Kill him.”

 

Lucus felt a pair of slimy hands hold him down as the warped who led him here drew a star metal sword.

 

This was it; his failure of a life was over, and nothing was left. Lucus was filled with nothing but regret and hate as the sword came down and removed his head. 

 

Searing Pain filled his mind as the blade parted him from his body. He could see for a brief moment before the world was covered in fire, his death triggering the sphere he had the red-eyed woman had given him. Then, the world went black.

 

[You died.]

 

[Notice: activating limited skill Second Chance.]

 

[Skill lost: Second Chance.]

 

[You are no longer barred from reading from the library of Oru.]

 

[Congratulations: you have gained the hidden class Regressor.]

 

[You have gained the passive skill: Regressor’s Mind]

 

[You have gained the passive skill: Regressor’s Silence.]