198 CXCVIII. The Vision

"Aaagh!"

With one last effort, Dag pulled the fluid towards him with both arms, ripping it from the enemy's body, now halved.

The woman's legs, which were the only part left intact, knelt and fell to the ground like lifeless objects.

The fluid that had absorbed the upper part of his body, formed a beam, and quickly entered Dag's body, slipping into his mouth, ears, and through the pores of his skin.

"Fuck! Captain!" yelled Reidar, trying to make Dag understand that his friends were still there and would not abandon him.

In less than 2 seconds, all the fluid in circulation was inside him, that knelt and rested his hands on the ground, trying to concentrate.

At the same moment, from the legs of the woman's body, a violet gas soared into the air, swaying upwards.

Before Reidar and the others could intervene, all the gas leaked out of the flesh of the host body and flew up to the sky, dissolving in the air, leaving the two legs completely dried up, as if the muscles had been drained and every liquid in circulation had evaporated instantly.

Dag began screaming again, resting his face on the ground.

"He's in pain! I said his body wouldn't be able to hold all that power! We must help him!" yelled Karl, who ran to his friend, quickly opening the medicine box.

"Aaagh!" shouted Dag again, banging his fists on the ground, to hold back the pain.

The fists were so powerful that a shockwave spread over the surface of the ground, causing Karl to fall during the run.

He repeatedly hit the ground, cracking the rock below, which broke out, emitting lightning bolts and making sounds similar to the roar of thunder.

To the fury of hitting the ground, Dag created furrows, continuing to scream out of control.

"Get away from there!" shouted Reidar, who lowered himself toward Karl and dragged him away from Dag, who could accidentally kill him.

At one point, he raised his head upwards, breathing hard: on his neck, the veins swelled, while the black fluid flowed inside them.

His face expressed the incredible pain he was feeling.

He opened his arms, clenched his fists, and on them, the situation was identical to that of the neck.

"Even if we cannot see it, there is a real war inside his body. This moment is crucial... c'mon, Captain..." continued Reidar, kneeling on the ground, sighing.

"Come on, Dag! Don't let them prevail on you! You're stronger! Keep fighting!" shouted Gridd, trying to make herself heard by Dag.

"Gg... aaaagh! bIjatlh 'e' yImev!" he said, his gaze in a baritone voice, looking upwards as if he was answering to Gridd, while his body was still in tension.

Suddenly, some of the liquid came out of his body, smashing a rib and wrapping his neck.

"Dag... please... don't leave us… Dag..." continued Gridd, who stopped screaming, losing hope.

Dag closed his eyes.

...

"Where are they? What... how did I end up here?" he thought, looking around, seeing nothing but darkness.

"I'm floating... those are stars! I may be... Yes! I'm in space! I can breathe and... and that's the Earth!"

In front of him, in the distance, a large blue sphere was motionless, suspended in space.

Just thinking about moving towards it, he dashed at great speed in that direction, and when it was in front of it, the spectacle was magnificent: that huge sphere was really the Earth, but not as he remembered it.

It was shrouded in a dense atmosphere and vast oceans covered its surface.

He was enchanted to watch that show, standing between the stars, when he felt intense heat on his left arm.

"What is this heat? Where did it come from?" he continued to think, turning his gaze in that direction.

Before he could look, an incredibly strong light blinded him, forcing him to cover his eyes with one hand.

The heat spread throughout his body, which despite the icy cold of the boundless space, began to burn.

"This heat... this energy... it can't be...!" thought Dag, when he finally managed to spread his fingers, looking beyond them.

"It's the Sun!"

He gasped, looking at the huge red giant in front of his eyes, as he spewed flames from his surface, burning ardently with every breath.

Dag continued to stare at it, enchanted by all that beauty, until, the feeling of warmth on his skin ceased, despite the huge flaming star still in front of him.

Starting from behind it, a shadow began to envelop it, stifling its vital flames and preventing all other chemical reactions that made that star so unique.

"What? That looks like..." thought Dag, who began to feel cold.

The black substance that was enveloping the Sun was very similar to the liquid he could synthesize, only that its size was infinitely larger.

Crawling on the fiery surface, the liquid reduced the star to a cold, motionless sphere, which slowly began to crumble.

Dag could not hold back a weeping.

Tears began to flow across his face: some of them broke off and began to float towards the dying Sun.

In a few seconds, they froze, crystallizing.

"That fluid... my power... has it something to do with the death of our Sun? But how?! What do I have to do with all this?!" he thought, grabbing one of his crystallized tears, while his body began to freeze from the inside.

His eyes squinted and Dag felt that his end was near, when, looking at the huge lifeless star, a gigantic shadow spread around it, expanding and enveloping it for the second time.

Dag stretched his eyes as he felt his neurons become ice.

That huge shadow spread in several directions, taking the shape of a gigantic hand, which squeezed the frozen sphere and broke it, causing an explosion of unimaginable size, which enveloped all the space around him, also involving the Earth and nearby stars.

As the supernova expanded toward Dag, his eyes closed and she saw only the darkness.