Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 616: The dichotomy of darkness and light

Chapter 616: The dichotomy of darkness and light

It was in an open field with tall wild grasses as far as the eyes could see.

A dichotomy existed within this land as darkness persisted on one side while light claimed the other.

Both concepts were in perfect harmony, drawing a line in the open field.

On the side of the darkness, Alex stood, wearing a white shirt and a pair of khakis along with tall boots.

His expression was the epitome of confusion as he struggled to figure out where he was.

"Where am I?" He muttered only for a voice to reach him.

"So you are him."

Alex glanced in the direction of the voice only to lay eyes on a man who didn’t lose out in appearance to Adam, standing in the area bathed by golden light.

His piercing gaze made Alex uncomfortable, causing him to question.

"Who are you?"

Instead of an answer, the golden-haired man intoned. "I thought you would die but you are more resilient than I thought."

"What are you talking about?"

"I do not know why you continue to persist, but I will tell you this now: Give up on your dreams and die."

Alex frowned, unsure of how to respond to such a morbid statement.

"Because if you don’t, if you continue on this insane quest of yours, then I will kill you. That is a promise."

"Is that a threat?"

"No, it is fated. The Hero of Light will vanquish the Dark Lord and bring peace to the lands for a time, a time, and a time again."

"The Hero of Light?" Alex furrowed his brows, clearly unfamiliar with the concept.

"I hope you heed my warning. I would not want to be forced to do what needs to be done."

With that, the scenery faded away like a lie and Alex woke up.

***

Alex opened his eyes to find himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling forged from brass though the metal looked faded, almost like it had eroded.

Blinking a few times, he tried to get up only to realize that he couldn’t.

Only then did he realize that he was tied down to the bed.

He struggled to no avail, showing that whoever had tied him down had been rather meticulous with it.

Gritting his teeth, he cursed. "Damn it!"

Then, he closed his eyes and checked to see if he could sense Ana or Ulysses, only to pause as he sensed them approaching.

Seconds passed before a door opened and Ana as well as Ulysses walked in.

"He seems alright so far. He isn’t thrashing around like before. That’s a good sign, right?"

"I don’t even know anymore. We really shouldn’t have allowed him to take that drop the way he did."

"How could we have known that it would make him go mad."

"I don’t know, maybe the fact that it’s from a godlike entity?... We should have gauged the risk before going ahead with it."

"Look, this isn’t the time for an argument. We need to fix Alex else we are going to be stuck on Cinerath till Khanna wakes up. So how about we get down to business."

"Hah, fine then, let’s start."

Alex maintained silence, trying to glean information on how he ended up chained to what felt like a hospital bed.

So far, all he’d managed to understand was that he had gone mad and it had something to do with the drop of water that he had taken from the Fountain.

Just then, a familiar face loomed over him; Alex quickly made the person out to be Ana with her red hair tied up in a single long braid.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Good to see that you aren’t so troublesome today."

"Good morning to you too, Ana. Now, mind explaining why I’m strapped to a bed and what’s this talk about me going mad?"

The silence that followed was deafening as Ana’s eyes slowly went wide with shock only for her to mutter in disbelief.

"Alex, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Oh my goodness, you are back."

"I don’t understand, was I gone before?"

Instead of responding, Ana excitedly began to take out the straps holding him in place while Ulysses could only watch this happen while scrutinizing Alex.

He seemed to doubt that Alex had truly recovered from whatever had plagued him before.

Finally, Alex was able to sit up, allowing him to make out more details about the room he was locked in.

It had no windows, with only one way in or out, and was lit up by brass lanterns that also seemed quite eroded.

The walls, also brass, weren’t spared the erosion but what stood out the most wasn’t the eroded walls but what was written on them.

They seemed to be a mixture of mathematics and languages but no matter how Alex tried to interpret them, they made no sense.

It seemed more like the ramblings of a mad man considering the dried blood and torn flesh that clung on to various parts of the wall.

The scratches on the wall seemed like the workings of a wild animal, causing Alex to wonder... Why exactly was he strapped in a place that resembled the bedroom of a lunatic?

"Can someone explain what’s going on?" Alex finally intoned, breaking the silence that persisted.

Ana and Ulysses exchanged a look before the latter calmly intoned. "You went mad."

"What?" Alex glanced at him. "How?"

"We aren’t sure but it happened after you took the drop of water from the Fountain. We don’t know why, but the moment you did, your head cracked open, and blood began to leak. If I hadn’t fed you my flesh, allowing your body to heal, you’d have died. Unfortunately, even though we managed to heal the physical damage, the mental damage was extensive. Your mind wasn’t just fractured, it completely shattered."

Alex frowned, visualizing everything that Ulysses said with frightening accuracy.

To think that such a thing had happened.

"Alex, what happened?... Can you recall anything?"

Hesitant at first, Alex replied. "I saw something."

His lips moved, but no words came out, and just as he sought to describe what he’d seen, a terrifying migraine assaulted his senses, knocking him out cold.

When he came to, Alex found himself once again strapped to the bed though Ana and Ulysses were still with him.