The Heartstone Journey

Book 3 | Ch. 12 - To Comfort Whom Despaired

Chaos ensued everywhere in the unknown abyss filled with manmade destruction, all by a single human. His face was filled with horror as he forced himself to cut down his own lover, his partner in life in two. Her body fell, small and delicate like a feather as she used the last of her strength left over to give him a lovely smile of hope. He was guilt-ridden as he had to endure the last moments of what has supposedly taken the form of his wife smile up at him despite dying. Her smile was so gentle and kind even after she was cut down, she put on a happy expression all for the man she admired and loved. Hunter shook his head side to side terrified about how he should be feeling, only to grow worse when she finally spoke to him with direct eye contact for the first time.

"𝐼 𝓁𝑜𝓋𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 [REDACTED]."

Those were her final words before sparkles enveloped her whole body sending her off into the dark abyss.

"*Pant* *Pant*... What the fuck! N-no~... This can't be real! She was a fake! She really was a fake I swear! FUCKING SHIT! *Pant* *Pant*."

He cried out mentally unstable questioning his reality and sanity.

He knelt to the ground placing his hands over his face hiding his expression but we all could tell it was anything but positive. He did his best to try and cope with the emotions wriggling inside his body but they kept getting more and more uncontrollable and agitated. He mourned not for his wife but himself not knowing what he was seeing any longer hoping that everything would be better soon. His sense of reality was beginning to shatter with his will starting to finally crack after the enormous toll it had to undertake. Suddenly he released his grip on his face now lowering his attention toward his pocket watching the item bounce around. It was attempting to run away desperately bouncing up, down, sideways with no rhyme or reason. Seconds later it shot out from his pocket ripping a hole through it as he tried to snatch it from getting away. It was far too quick and floated just enough out of his arms reach a few feet away. With a defeated sigh and expression he simply accepted what was coming next, be it his death or his punishment for all the sins he had committed he was ready. His breaking point had finally arrived and could no longer take it anymore.

What came next was breathtaking, they all witnessed the little crystal suck up and absorb all the hysteria and dark energy surrounding the cottage. With all that energy going into the little gem it greedily and eagerly ate it all up making a swirl into the crystal. The gem began to shine far too bright to see with the naked eye until what alerted them next was an explosion that was luckily small enough to not cause any harm to them. When they opened their eyes once again they were in awe. A beautiful plot of land filled with greenery painted the terrain with life around the cottage. The boys soon noticed that the dome filled with dark energy and hysteria had vanished and rushed to Hunter's aid not caring about the later consequences, only concerned about Hunter's well-being.

"HUNTER~!"

The three boys shouted earnestly thinking he was seriously injured.

Hunter only stared blankly at them with the cosmic space in his eyes no longer being there. It was empty, dull and most importantly dead with broken hope. He glanced over at the crystal catching that it was much larger than before now being the size of a large rock at least. It shined brightly with flamboyancy and passion now projecting a light just in front of Hunter. The boys ran behind him wanting to treat his injuries but he shrugged them away without saying a single word to them now more broken than ever. He was utterly defeated with nothing but a miracle to keep him from sinking further down the hole. We all looked at each other both worried and a bit scared, this was the first time he gave us the all the cold shoulder like that. He wasn't even angry nor sad... He was in despair. He groveled on the floor clenching his fists tightly, skin tore causing blood to ooze from the palm of his hand with his teeth clenching. He held his voice back to keep himself from letting out anymore emotion than he already was just so the boys wouldn't succumb with him. Little did he know.. it was already happening with their faces of shock being the proof, lowering their morale to zero.