To the Core

Chapter 4.1 "Catharsis"

Chapter 4 "Tout finit (3)"
Part 1 "Catharsis (4)"

Loud sound. The weakened body fell into the abyss, palpably covered in dust. Again, the same place, the same emptiness and darkness... C'est du deja-vu (5)...

After the impact on the "ground," there was neither pain nor a scream. Only in the heart, as if a tumor, a heavy stone from an unknown mountain fell. Nothing is heard... Silence... Only the pulsating blood in the ears, so tense, unbearable, but later it subsided. "Get up," a familiar voice was heard. "Get up, to whom am I talking?!" Surprisingly, the body was light as a cloud but with a huge chunk of ice inside. Transitioning to a sitting position was easy, but something was off... Looking at the hands — phantasmal and translucent sticks, yet the clothes were intact, not torn as before. However, the skin was different: entirely dark, covered in purple cracks, as if water had adorned asphalt.

Turning his head slightly backward, Foras saw his body, still maimed and multicolored (changed color from red blood). Behind stood the sorrowful rescuer: Velial.

"I've wanted to talk to you like this for a long time: one-on-one. Without physical interference, so to speak... By the way, do you like your appearance? Forgot your true nature, didn't you? Hm..." Velial stood seriously, thoughtfully, motionless, but his scolding and mocking tone could still be felt. "I wanted to talk like this because otherwise,

it's harder for you to escape," he added. In an instant, golden prickly chains surrounded Foras, as surreal as everything else, yet real and painful. "Or even impossible," a mad grin appeared from under the shoulder, swiftly changing to a stony face as the demon returned to his "favorite one."

Velial was dressed up differently: a snowy long robe covered in chains and spots resembling fresh blood. "I planned this worldly conversation from the first time you saw what I had become, with your own eyes. But no. Our princess had other plans: she doesn't like prisons. And I've been sitting here for years!" he suddenly exclaimed angrily. It felt like distant thunder, gradually approaching. "You escape — I chase you. A demon follows you — I save you. You lie down — I fight beasts for you. I, everything is me! And then, when that fool raised his fists at you, remember? You remember?! So, I knocked him down, I did! And what? No one came closer after that, ha-ha!"

"They were all afraid; is that what you wanted?" Foras said quietly, with pain in his chest.

"Yes!" Veliel instantly appeared in front of Foras, and from behind, a cold sharp blade touched his neck. "And you wanted them to fawn over you, right? Then you should've offered a cake! Maybe then people would have honored you, cared for your worthless soul. What did your methods lead to?!"

"People at least didn't recoil from me and didn't vomit at every word I said..."

"Wrong!" The blade cut deeper, the pain became unbearable. "You locked me in here, put me in chains, and handcuffed me! And you talk about humanism! Ha-ha! Don't think I'll do the same to you, no. I planned to have a peaceful chat with you and just put you out the door... To the Lord..." During the heated conversation, Foras felt the "Cube" near him and formulated a plan. "After all, you have damaged my body quite severely. Appeared one day, criticized me, and with your 'peaceful' ideas, simply threw me into prison, funny, don't you think?"

"To your knowledge, we existed together from the very beginning. Your idealism has been cutting my ears for a long time, so I had no choice but..." Suddenly, the device spontaneously activated, and Foras was moved not far from the argument before the blade could pierce even deeper.