Rise of the Legendary Emperor

Chapter 277: Reliving the nightmare

"Wake up, little Don!"

Don opened his eyes after struggling to see a familiar face looking at him with a smile.

"Sister...Elena..."

The woman in front of him was a half-elf. She appeared before him with the black armor identical to his. Her black hair was long and shinier swayed around her shoulder and her head held high, she waltzed on with an effortless saunter. She was a couple of inches taller than him and when her eyes met him, she smiled as she reached her hand out to help him up.

"How?"

Don's hand shivered as his eyes welled up. Even though his eyes were fixed on the woman before him, he could tell that he's lying in a vast desert.

"Come on, take my hand"

The woman swung her hand again while he slowly reached out to place his hand on hers.

"Why are you weeping like a little girl?"

She wiped away his tears and giggled.

"Look at you, all messed up, blood everywhere"

He looked down and saw his ripped armor as he felt a throbbing pain inside his head.

"AH!"

The memories of his ambush flooded his mind and made him clutch his head tightly to fight the pain he's feeling.

"Am...I...dead?"

Following the crushing pain in his head, the pain lessened as he looked up at the woman and asked.

Yet, instead of waiting for her answer, he quickly stepped forwards and hugged the woman with all his might and didn't move an inch away from her.

He felt her warm breath after thirteen years and didn't want this moment to pass away. 

"You've grown up, I can't call you little anymore, can I?"

She ruffled his head and gently kissed him on the head.

"If this is a dream, I don't want to wake up"

"Wake with me, little Don"

She gently pushed him back as the scenery changed from a vast desert to a burning village.

"Do you remember this place?"

He tried to use the battle energy to rush forward towards the burning village but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't even use the tiniest bit of battle energy. 

The entire village burned in a sea of red, yellow, and orange and the cries of the people echoed around him. Don watched the scene as the flames ripped their way through the buildings surrounding him, tendrils of smoke reaching desperately into the sky as if trying to escape the blazing inferno below.

"It was...our home"

After failing to move his body, he croaked.

"So if you don't want to wake up, how are you going to avenge us?"

He didn't have an answer to give as she turned her gaze from the burning village to him.

"If those creatures could kill you, you won't survive what's coming, little Don. You're too weak!"

"I'm already dead, Sister Elena"

He remembered the feeling of his life disappearing after fighting the creatures and even though he didn't have a clear idea about what this was, he knew he's dead.

Elena smiled and waved her hand as the scenery changed. This time, a beautiful place appeared before him. He could see many elegant houses, various buildings, beautiful waterfalls, gorgeous paddy fields that looked like a golden blanket, and rivers.

"Everlight"

He immediately recognized the place where he's standing. He saw this place changing from vast grasslands and forests to a bustling kingdom.

Elena nodded and waved her hand again as Everlight faded away and another place appeared. This place was not as beautiful as Everlight but the small streams, fountains, huge mountains, and newly built marble and wooden buildings gave a unique charm to the place.

"Do you recognize this place?"

"Emir?"

The new small streams, fountains, and ponds constructed around the kingdom confused him as he wasn't there when they rooted the water spirit.

And then in a blink of an eye, the scenery changed again as he stood there in heavy rain.

"Agoria"

There was no drastic change in Agoria as in Emir except for the completed roads and more newly built houses.

"Do you know why I'm showing this to you?"

He shook his head slowly 

"Because Farheaven is gone, little Don, but Everlight, Emir, Agoria isn't"

As she said, they appeared at Everlight again.

"Revenge is not the only thing you have to live for. What you've built is not a weapon, it's home, little Don, it's home"

He looked at the people roaming around the place with a wide grin on their faces.

"It doesn't matter now, I'm dead, it all depends on Knight. He will avenge us"

"If that's what you think, I failed as your teacher, little one"

He knitted his brows hearing her.

"You're not up against a rogue cultivator, if you want to avenge us, you have to face the superpower of the Avelon continent, little Don. It's not a feat that you or Knight could do alone"

"You talk like I'm alive, Sister Elena"

The moment he said this, he appeared inside of a room where he saw the familiar faces of Amaryll, Arwen, Stodemar, Knight, and every single one who lives in the castle.

"oh"

Yet, he was stunned when he noticed his body lying on the bed as Kayako walked right through him.

"They still don't believe you're dead, little Don. Everyone here believes that Knight could resurrect you"

"Can he do that?"

He frowned and asked her but she just shrugged.

"Let's change the scene, shall we?"

Without answering, she snapped her finger to change the scenery.

"No"

When the new scene appeared, his legs moved backward as fear and panic emerged in his eyes. The throne hall he was standing in left a permanent scar in his mind.

The slender braziers attached to each of the fourteen ivory columns light up most of the throne hall and paint the hall a range of yellows and oranges. 

A golden rug ran from the throne down the center and looped back from both left and right while winged banners with adorned margins dangle gently from the walls. Between each banner, hung a huge gemstone that reflected the sunlight and illuminated the statuettes of the previous kings and queens of the kingdom.

Massive, stained glass windows depicting important royal moments were neighbored by drapes colored the same gold as the banners. The curtains had been adorned with burnished corners and embellished borders.

A towering throne of gold sits in front of a large window radiating light onto the throne and adjoined by four equally impressive seats.

However, the walls of the throne hall had splashes of blood as dead bodies of many soldiers in full plate armor lied around the hall in their own pools of blood.

In the middle of the throne hall, Don saw a little boy bathed in blood and burned wounds.

"No..no...no"

Don's breathing got faster as he reached his hands out to reach the boy. On the boy's lap, a woman was muttering something as the boy slowly pierced her heart with the knife in his hand.

"Hahahaha"

A burst of sudden laughter echoed through the hall as Don lifted his head to see a teenager with a metal hand walking towards the little boy. Don clenched his fist looking at the man and behind the metal hand youth, was another teenager who also had an evil grin on his face.

"Throw him in the fire with those maggots"

In a blink of an eye, a tall man with a sturdy figure appeared on the throne as he ordered. Don wanted to escape from this memory fragment but he couldn't.

"Why are you doing this?"

He shook Elena's shoulder who was calmly looking at the scene happening before her.

"You need to see this, little Don"

She pointed her finger at the little boy. The metal handed teenager grabbed the little boy by his collar and lifted him up while the little boy held onto the body of the woman and resisted with all his might.

"You still have some fight in you huh? You cursed shit!" 

The teenager slapped the boy and finally lifted him up.

"You have any last wish, little brother?"

The teenager who was standing behind the metal hand teenager came to the little boy and asked.

"Every...single...one of(cough)"

The little boy struggled and coughed up blood when he tried to speak

"You...will...pay"

Just as these words escaped the boy's mouth, a small dagger flew from the throne and pierced his chest.

When the boy closed his eyes, the scenery again changed as they appeared in the burning village. Before him, a group of mages chasing down the villagers and burning them alive with a single spell.

"NO!"

Looking at this, his blood boiled in anger as he again tried to circulate the battle energy to kill those mages.

"You can't do anything, little Don"

The screams of little children and women pierced his ears as he stood there watching the scene helplessly. The mages did not show a shred of mercy to anyone in the village, they even burned the children and pregnant women alive with an evil grin on their faces.

"I can't...I...can't"

Don tried to close his eyes but he was forced to relive this memory.

Many of the villagers ran through him and were slaughtered by another set of soldiers.

Once the peaceful village had been massacred and burned by the mages and the soldiers while Don watched the entire scene doing nothing and even though he realized he's reliving the scene from thirteen years ago, he still tried to save the village.

"STOP IT!"

After a few minutes of watching the massacre, he shouted with all his force as the scenery changed immediately.

"You can't change the past, little Don, but you can forge your future"

Elena let out a gentle smile and wiped off the tears from his face.

"Remember, I'm always there with you, in your heart. Don't let the flames of revenge consume you, even if you don't avenge us, youll always be my little one"

As she said, she embraced him and kissed him on the forehead like a mother.

"Protect those who love you"

"No! Don't leave me!"

Don screamed and tried to grab her hands but her figure grew further and further as a bright light started to pull him away from her.

"Good-Bye, little Don"