Chapter 1576: Face It

Erend finally heard Krono’s voice again after what felt like an eternity since the last time he had heard him. Under normal circumstances hearing that familiar voice again should have brought him relief or even happiness. But right now Erend could no longer feel anything like that. His mind was just buried beneath overwhelming sadness and self-loathing that seemed impossible to contain.

"Erend. This is a Trial. Remember!" Krono’s voice rose in urgency. It sounded desperate as he tried to reach Erend through the darkness consuming his mind.

Something inside Erend finally began to snap back into place.

His crying slowly stopped. His breathing was still uneven as he looked around him, but he finally noticed the black sand beneath his body.

He was so completely consumed by grief that he had forgotten where he was. He had forgotten that he was still inside the Trial.

Krono’s voice had given his mind something to hold on to.

But then Erend looked toward the mangled corpses of his mother and Arty again.

The moment he saw them another wave of sadness struck him like a hammer. His chest tightened and his breath caught in his throat. The pain returned so suddenly that Erend struggled to breathe.

"Erend!" Krono called again. His voice sounded even more desperate this time. "I can’t help you with this. You have to escape from it on your own."

Erend did not want to try. Why should he? He had killed his family. His own hands had taken their lives. What reason did he have to keep fighting?

"This is not real..." Krono’s voice became weaker. There was almost helplessness in it now. No matter how hard he tried, his words seemed unable to completely break through Erend’s despair.

But those words finally reached him.

This is not real. Erend slowly focused on them. "This is not real..."

The thought connected with another memory. He was inside a Trial now.

That realization pulled another piece of his mind back into place.

Erend remembered everything that had happened before this moment. He remembered the hundreds of warrior zombies that had surrounded him. He remembered the giant worm and the brutal battle that followed. He remembered killing it from the inside while his rage continued growing. Then his mother and Arty had suddenly appeared before him.

The sequence was too chaotic to be a reality.

The Trial had created all of it specifically for him. It had taken fragments of his memories and emotions and turned them into challenges designed to push him toward his breaking point.

The loss of his strength, the zombies, the worm, and his family. Every part of it existed to test him and force him to confront something inside himself.

Erend finally managed to breathe again. His breathing was still heavy and uneven, but he no longer felt completely suffocated by his grief.

When he looked at the mangled bodies of his mother and Arty, the pain remained, the bitterness remained. The guilt still twisted inside his chest. But it no longer paralyzed him.

He knew this was not real. This was a Trial.

"Krono," Erend called quietly through his subconscious. "Thank you for helping me."

There was a pause and silence followed for a moment. Erend almost felt a quiet sigh of relief from the soul fragment inside him.

"I am glad you came back to yourself," Krono said.

"This Trial is too hard." Erend lowered his head. His voice trembled slightly in his mind. "I... I know I didn’t do it. But I also know that what happened is entirely possible."

He turned his face away from the corpses. He could no longer bear to look at them.

"Yes," Krono replied. "But you have to stay strong. Accept it. Do not run away from it. That is how you can overcome the Black Rage."

Erend remained silent. He thought about what Krono had said. If the Trial could show him something this terrible simply by bringing out the Black Rage inside him, then what would happen in the real world?

He could actually kill his mother. He could kill Arty. He could kill Aurdis, Captain Adrien, Billy, Eccar, Aesa, Sylven, or anyone else who stood near him when he lost control.

The thought terrified him.

But another thought followed.

If he could not master the Black Rage, did that mean he needed to stay away from the people he loved? Did he have to run from them forever because he was afraid that one day he might lose control and hurt them?

For Erend, that sounded even worse.

He could accept fear, maybe endure the pain, or accept carrying the scars of his past.

But abandoning the people he loved because he was afraid of himself was not something he wanted to do.

Something moved. His eyes widened when he saw it.

The mangled bodies of his mother and Arty began to rise from the black sand.

Their broken limbs moved unnaturally. Their ruined bodies dragged themselves upright despite the terrible wounds covering them. Blood still covered their clothes and flesh, their bodies looked as though they should never have been capable of moving again yet they stood.

Erend stared at them in disbelief. It seems that the Trial was not finished with him yet.

The two corpses creeped toward him with a disturbing and unnatural gait. Their limbs moved in strange ways. Their arms and legs jerked awkwardly, making them look more like puppets controlled by invisible strings that forced their broken bodies forward.

Erend slowly stood up and gritted his teeth. He knew they were not real. His mind understood that much. But his emotions surged so violently that they clouded his thoughts and made it difficult for him to think clearly.

The sight of his mother and sister approaching him in that condition dragged every bit of fear and guilt back to the surface.

Erend took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. He could not run from this.

This was what the Trial wanted him to face. This was the Black Rage, the darkness that threatened to consume him whenever his emotions overwhelmed his reason.

If he wanted to master it he had to confront it now. He could not allow himself to lose control again.

Erend walking toward his mother and sister. He kept his eyes fixed on them as he approached, forcing himself to look directly at their mangled faces and broken bodies.

He knew that he had caused those wounds. The sight before him represented the possibility of what he could become if he ever lost himself to the Black Rage again.

"I won’t do this again." He repeated those words inside his mind as he continued forward.

He would never allow himself to become that monster. He would face the fear and guilt instead of running from them.

Eventually, Erend stopped directly in front of them. He stared at their bodies and forced himself to endure the sight.

Arty slowly raised her head. "You... killer..."

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