Chapter 603 - Day MMCXLVI, Part VII

It was just a second, and they all seemed to be fine just after. Still, I couldn't help but sweat. I didn't know how I should react. There were many secrets hidden in my head, and I didn't want them to see the daylight. Katri Xel Avakadaisu said it was supposed to be just the memories about the tournament, but still, a mere thought of somebody rummaging through my brain was putting me on my toes.

I even considered just shadow walking the hell out of that place for e second, but then the memories of my previous fuckup with the Zor'xal's army made me freeze. I couldn't allow myself to make another mistake, especially here when the stakes were too high for that.

One by one the High Queen went through people, including my friends, and my time finally came. At first, I felt pressure in my skull, and then the chamber disappeared, I was suddenly back in the waiting room on Dispur with all the hunters around me. Everything was happening so fast. Gavriil went first and he was winning. Smashin opponent after opponent, until the time for his toughest fight, came, and he decided to give up.

The retrospection continued. For me, it was taking some time, but I bet on the outside it wasn't even a second. The memories kept flashing, creating the story just like you know it, all the way until I thought about The Great One. Everything stopped there, and I was let out of the prison of my own mind.

I was standing in that strange chamber looking straight at the Queen, and she was looking at me. She was shocked. Her mouth open indicated that clearly, not to mention the fact that she finally stopped looking at that crystal.

Everybody else around us was frozen in time, even the officials.

She stood up from her throne and flew straight to me. I panicked and tried to activate my skills, but then something surprising happened. I just noticed her right next to me, while having a strange feeling of déjà vu.

Her long fingers touched my cheek, as her face got closer.

- Where is he? - she spoke to me without even opening her mouth.

Suddenly I was not in the chamber at all. I was standing between her and The Great One in some rocky place, with dust in the air thrown by the wind. They were looking at each other. He had a serious expression on his face, and she was smiling like a crazy person.

I could feel her bloodlust.

And then everything around them shattered in a battle of two wills. The rock couldn't take it, and it broke into smaller pieces, that immediately turned to sound, as two waves of psionic energy clashed with a power to tear a planet apart.

It didn't take too long to see who was the winner. The blood started pouring down from The Great One's nose and eyes. He lost, and now was just trying to not die. The Queen attacked with even more power seeing the victory ahead of her, but then he disappeared. She screamed out of sheer frustration and followed his trace through different worlds, but she couldn't catch him. He was gone.

- Where is he? - I heard the question again.

But not only did I have no idea, but I also was not gonna just tell her. She felt in, and in a wave of immense pain, I felt my memories flashing through my mind from the very beginning of my life to the very point of her tearing my brain apart.

Everything was slowing down for a moment when The Great One was appearing, as she tried to find any informations on his whereabouts, but there was nothing there. I simply didn't know.

I tried to scream, and use all the willpower I possessed to activate the 'Shadow fusion' but it didn't work. My brain went blank for a second, and I again had the same feeling of déjà vu. It was like a part of my life was just deleted. Like my brain was left in the past, but my body was in the present, and I was sure that it had all already happened.

- WHERE IS HE?! - filled my mind.

I could hear it, and see it in writing flashing in front of my eyes. It was everything. My entire world for a moment was built just of this simple question.

I felt blood pouring from my ears, eyes, and nose as she finally finished her search, finding nothing, because there was nothing to find, but I was sure at that moment she won't stop searching, because at that moment when the two of them clashes she felt immense excitement for the first time in hundreds of years. I don't know why, but she shared her feelings with me in that short period of time.

Maybe expecting I would understand, or maybe it was a slip on her side, as she couldn't contain herself because she found the first clue leading to something she really wanted to possess.

I returned back to reality with all the people around us still frozen in time. I was lying on the ground, with the High Queen above me. The expression on her face was showing anger. Tightly clenched lips, and frowned eyebrows.

There was pressure applied on my body by her powers, and she just stared. Then she suddenly smiled, as she finally figured out what to do, and I felt the flor under me shattering as the pressure increased to the point of breaking the stone.

The world turned black. I still could feel the pain, especially in my head, but there was no vision, no sound, and all other senses were also turned off. Then even the pain disappeared.

This awfully sounds like the end, doesn't it? Well... It kinda was.. An ending in a chapter of my life, but not the ending of the whole story, as there is still plenty to be told.