There Is No Lie In This World-Chapter 20: Darkness

The entire world turned dark.

Not the kind of dark after lights go out. Not the kind of dark on a moonless night. It was kind of darkness where light had never existed in the first place.

Yet, I could see Luc. Clearly.

I looked down and there was Bada, still bleeding to death - and I could see my own hands too. They looked pale, and covered in the little girl’s blood.

Scanning around, I saw that Cain and Abe were still there too.

But nothing and no one else was around anymore.

It was as if we were in galactic space with no stars or planets. It felt like the time before the universe existed, or the time after the universe vanished.

Our bodies did not float, but rested on the invisible floor of gravity that spread out from Luc’s feet.

"How-, what is this?"

I asked but Luc did not answer.

Her eyes contained - and emitted - suffocating darkness, yet somehow, I could sense infinite sadness in them as she looked down at me.

"Velin," Luc spoke, addressing the nothingness.

Something stirred in front of her. It was invisible, intangible, but its presence could be felt. Every vein in my body filled with dread. Every cell in my body was rejecting it.

"I need a confirmation."

As Luc requested, the ominous presence moved closer to where Bada laid, hovering over her dying body.

"One minute forty two second," the presence spoke. It was a genderless voice that could equally be a child or the oldest person in history.

"Deal," Luc stated. Firmly.

"Deal." The voice confirmed. With finality.

The presence then drifted away slightly, and Luc commanded again.

"Nabir."

Out of the invisible ground that Luc sustained, Nabir - the man with a muzzle whom I saw in the Offering Room, emerged.

"Yes, Mistress," the tall man, whom I wasn’t even sure anymore if he was a human, responded once he finalized his manifestation.

"You have one minute."

With that, the muzzle over his mouth dropped off. An irrepressible jolt rippled through his body. His fingers extended, nails sharpening into beastly claws. His ears grew pointed, his eyes burned with fire. After one deep flare of his nostrils, Nabir dropped to all fours—then galloped forward with such ferocity he vanished from sight within seconds

"What’s... happening, Luc?"

But her lips were sealed tight. She said nothing.

"One minute twenty second," the presence - the one that Luc called Velin - announced.

I looked down at Bada and she was completely motionless now. Her eyes closed.

I brought my head down and checked for her breath. I could hear none. But when I desperately searched for her heartbeat, I could feel it. It was very faint, but it was there.

Luc still said nothing and I was at a complete loss. Utter confusion and fear. Fear like I’d never felt before. I knew - I just knew that I wasn’t in what could be called a normal world anymore. I felt like I was in a place that wasn’t meant for humans to see.

"Fifty four seconds," the voice again.

I searched for clues.

There were none.

I looked at Abe. His eyes were closed. He didn’t move. It was as if time had been suspended for him. There was absolutely no hint of the permanent smile he normally wore.

Cain was the same. He stood motionless. But he no longer looked like a strong stone statue in this space. He looked fragile. As if his great body could disappear into nothingness any time.

"Forty two seconds."

I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t know where Nabir had gone - and what he was asked to do - but I prayed that he’d return. It seemed there was nothing anybody could do at this moment except to wait for Nabir to come back.

"Thirty seconds."

I studied Luc’s face. She hadn’t blinked once.

She looked calm. Unaffected. Cold even.

And she was in control.

There was something majestic about her presence. She didn’t only belong here. She didn’t only fill up this place.

She owned this space.

"Twenty four seconds."

Then Nabir came running back. I was relieved and horrified at once.

His coat was covered in blood. His hands, his body - he was dripping blood from everywhere.

And he was holding a bleeding human heart in his mouth.

And this heart was still beating. It was impossible, but it was unmistakable.

"Proceed," Luc commanded.

With that, Nabir crawled over to me. My body flinched. Every hair on my skin was standing up. Yet, the blood in my veins didn’t feel cold. There was something warm about Nabir’s presence, like a fierce beast that learned to curb its aggression when near a friendly creature. As my body trembled, Nabir placed the bleeding heart just above Bada’s head. The heart was still beating. Inexplicable, but that was the fact.

"Done," Luc announced, his eyes locked onto the presence called Velin that I couldn’t see but feel.

"Done," the voice announced the confirmation.

I then heard a loud gasp from below. I instantly looked down at Bada. She was still covered in blood, but now her eyes were open. My hand on her chest could feel that her heartbeat was restored. It was beating fast, but steady.

"Bada! Are you OK?!"

Before she could answer, the darkness around us started to fade, as if lights were now allowed to enter. I could see the floor now that was sticky with Bada’s blood. I saw the last of sun beam before it sets grace the little girl’s face. Tears of joy ran down my face. The relief, the joy - and the crushing guilt.

I had let something terrible happen here.

A miracle saved this girl . A miracle that I prayed for her.

But in return, something catastrophic had happened.

Just as the last remaining shade of darkness was disappearing, I heard the voice of Velin.

"So unlike you, Luc."

Luc did not answer.

In her eyes, all I could see was eternal sadness.