Cherreads

The Sin of Hope

Isleen
7
chs / week
The average realized release rate over the past 30 days is 7 chs / week.
--
NOT RATINGS
156
Views
Synopsis
A man who is still fighting might look crazy, desperate, shallow even. His unending battle with his very self a vain affair. But what is truly terrifying is a man who's given up. Insanity's incarnate, too sickeningly free in his machinations. What if one such figure ends up driving themselves to their utter limit? what if they end up so deep in the throes of despair that it becomes a part of them? And what if at the end of it all, they ask for respite, for revenge. In a sense, that could be any of us, or even, all of us. Hope is the poison we take willingly, it is the knife we turn within ourselves. It is what makes us, and it will be what remains of us Time, fate, and the very nature of life itself, it haunts us—and surely, it will ruin us. And so, the story went on. A dying world, rotting from within. A boy cursed by it, yearning for freedom.
VIEW MORE

Chapter 1 - Prologue: To an Eternity.

Silence, and the complete and utter lack of movement.

It really was such a bizarre thing to see, especially in the middle of a grueling warzone.

The Earth—who had been groaning under the sheer quantity of violence released upon her surface, let out a sigh of relief. Metallic stench, wafting out from the nightmarish amount of blood that was present on the ground, filled the air.

Too many deceased beings, corrupted, ascended and mundane alike, littered the pitiful ground.

The battlefield was truly an otherworldly mess, in some parts it was charred beyond recognition, the once fertile soil now nothing more than black soot. Elsewhere, it was frozen, literally. Ice encased everything as far as the eye could see. Nothing, dead or alive free from its chilling clutch.

Far in the distance, the towering crown of an impossibly tall tree could be made out, the setting sun doing nothing to mask its ominous aura.

But the most terrifying apparition perhaps, was the titanic silhouette that loomed alongside the descending sun, the sheer size of whatever the thing utterly incomprehensible to whatever eyes dared to gaze upon it.

Yet, past all the strangeness—horrifying as it was, stillness reigned upon the lands, and something else... a feeling of wrongness held the air by its collars.

Nevertheless, no being dared a twitch. Even the Seraphims, the cocky descendants of Dawn—and the cunning Nephilims held their breath.

Humans, Corrupted and even the Divine alike stay still, all of them powerless against the gaze that peered into their very being.

But in a way—be it the most bizarre one, it made sense.

After all, It was Night herself who had called for the pause.

Who were mortals, or heck, even gods to deny the order of an absolute fragment of reality.

A moment—one that felt like an eternity, passed by under the eerie stillness, even the wounded holding back their groans.

Eventually though, titanic gaze of Night shifted, and the battlefield let out a sigh of relief.

Presence bloomed accross the battlefield once more, and Earth groaned, the weight of all the sheer power making her surface quake.

And yet, it was still less suffocating than the pirercing gaze of NIght.

All beings—gods and mortals alike, let out a shaky breath, the final drops of their bloodlust sapped from them.

Yet, the sense of wrongness still held, only growing and growing as the moments passed by.

There was something, something so wrong. Something that was not supposed to be.

It only took a small while for the strongest of beings to understand what was wrong.

Anger.

No, more accurately, it was hatred.

It was pure, distilled, unbridled hatred. Its burning, blinding radiance a somber sight to behold.

Because after all, it was directed right at the oppressive presence of Night.

The battlefield held its breath once more as Night settled her gaze upon it.

Stillness took over again, but not completely this time.

Far far into the battlefield, on an especially gruesome piece of it, where the highest of beings was testing eachother.

The muffled sob of a young man could be heard, it sounded weak—pitiful almost, like the poor guy had just got his world shattered.

And in a way, it had.

Sapped of all his strength, Yuki Veritasis was kneeled on the ground. In his arms, he cradled the limp body of another man, both shared the same jet black hair and ruby eye's, but only one of them alive.

"Atlas…"

"Atlas…please" Yuki choked, his voice weak, shaking in the throes of unbearable grief.

"Please… wake up…" He sobbed, but to no avail.

Atlas Veritasis had met a bitter end, the impossibly dark spear jutting out of his chest a grand sight to behold.

Sadly enough, it looked like his brother was destined for the same fate too.