Xerxez stayed by Perlend's side, their hands intertwined like unbreakable chains. But as their time together lengthened, Perlend's skin slowly began to rot away. Xerxez sent a plea for help to Cypriox, in the name of Thallerion, as it was indeed the decree of the Peronican people.

However, the woeful truth was that there wasn't enough time for the miracle workers from Cypriox to reach Thallerion immediately. If help could be sought from the nation of Dreamithreo of Pegasus, their arrival would be hastened, but it was highly unlikely for Thallerion to ask for their aid, as Thallerion had been isolated ever since Orion left it.

"Xerxez, I'm out of time." Her voice was slow and fragmented. Her eyes were rolling back, and she was terribly thin. Xerxez's heart nearly sank in despair at what he saw. Entities only hurt the hearts of mortals when they meddled in human lives, and for Xerxez, entities brought nothing but pain to people.

"Perlend, fight... you promised me we'd be together forever. Why are you surrendering yourself to the phoenix's punishment now?" Xerxez said, tears streaming down his face, his lips pressed against Perlend's palm. Queen Pyramia was also there, lamenting.

"I love you... Xer—xez." That was Perlend's last voice, fading into the air. Even though it was a whisper, it was crystal clear to Xerxez. Suddenly, Perlend's body stiffened like stone and glowed like burning fire. In an instant, the light spread throughout her body and she turned to ash.

"Perlend!" Xerxez cried out, his very core wracked with anguish, his voice caught in his throat as if squeezed by something hard. "I love you too."

Throughout the land of Peronica, all the red leaves fell from the trees, and the air turned hot. In the sky, a large wing seemed to pass through the clouds, illuminating the heavens. Sentheria and her companions witnessed the astonishing scene of those hours. They confirmed that Perlend's life was pure and unblemished.

The baby cried as if it felt Perlend's somber departure. Xerxez clenched the ashes in his palms, sobbing uncontrollably with profound grief. Queen Pyramia was there to comfort Xerxez in his heartbreak. She patted Xerxez's back, also weeping.

Sentheria and her companions arrived, knocking solemnly on the door, their voices quiet like a deep cave that had no words for Perlend's fate. "Our condolences, Xerxez," Sentheria said. But they only saw tears on Xerxez's face, and he refused to let go of the ashes on Perlend's bed.

The following day, everyone prepared for Perlend's funeral ceremony in the Peronican Bay. Perlend's ashes were placed in a red porcelain urn adorned with a painted phoenix flower. As dusk settled, people lit candles placed in coconuts, beautifully decorated with flowers. On the quiet shore, they floated the candles on the calm sea. In an instant, the candles changed color, becoming a captivating phoenix flower hue. The earthly-phoenixes gathered near the shore, their feathers gleaming. Afterward, a mournful cry from the birds echoed through the air. The bird-of-paradise, once enchanted by Perlend's song, flew above the candles, circling as if performing a ritual.

Their Condolences, like a tide of sorrow, swelled around Xerxez. "Xerxez, our hearts break for you," murmured the gathered throng, their hands offering white roses to adorn a floating funerary vessel.

Earthly-phoenixes, ancient guides of ethereal currents, ushered the glimmering candles into the vast unknown. Xerxez, clutching the urn, felt the hot torrent of his tears carve paths down his cheeks, a testament to the agony within. A chill wind, whispering secrets from beyond the veil, brushed against him—a spectral touch, a final embrace from Perlend.

His knees, betrayed by grief, buckled and he fell to the trembling sands, a mortal brought low by an unyielding sorrow. With a heavy heart, Xerxez placed Perlend's ashes, held within the urn, into the circular, ritualistic boat.

"The hour of release is at hand," declared Sentheria, her voice resonating with ancient power. She assumed her sacred stance, beginning the ritual of passage. An incantation, older than mountains, flowed from her lips. A verdant energy erupted from her very being, her eyes blazing with an unearthly, emerald light. Sentheria's staff, once imbued with azure, now pulsed with a vibrant green, and a serpentine luminescence coiled forth, binding itself to the vessel. With a slow, deliberate majesty, it began to guide the boat away, a fading silhouette against the horizon.

But then, the very earth roared in protest! A cataclysmic quake rent the air, shattering Sentheria's sacred rite. The boat, now abandoned, drifted precariously in the ocean's churning heart. The waves, once gentle, became monstrous, swallowing the fragile, floating lights. From afar, the earthly-phoenixes sensed a malevolent energy, a disturbance in the cosmic weave. In a terrifying instant, the winds turned venomous, whipping into a vortex of chaos at the ocean's core. The noble earthly-phoenixes were flung about by the tempest's fury, the moon itself recoiled into shadow, and the birds' mournful dirges transformed into screams of primal terror. The candles, extinguished in the inferno, were dragged into the abyss.

"What dread horror has befallen us, Old Sentheria?" cried Arthen, his magnificent Bird-of-paradise wings unfurling in a dazzling display of alarm.

******************************************************************************************************

The boy wake up, leaning in the moss coated tree, he sat on the green grass carpeted by dried leaves. Soaked in sweat, his heart hammering against his ribs like a desperate drummer. He gasps.

'It ate me! Like... like a perfectly poached egg!

He scrambled up, still half-convinced, he was being swallowed. He ran to the stream, while the monster's face still echoed in his mind. The water was like a mirror before him, and then he carefully examined his reflection. He mumbled.

'Wait a minute,' tickling his stomach. 'I don't feel like, I was eaten by a cosmic horror. I actually feel... a little hungry. You know, for a monster horror-sized breakfast.

'Maybe some eggs, but definitely not poached. Scrambled. Yeah, scrambled would be good. Less chance of triggering my terrifying dream memories. Or steaming boiled eggs.'

He pause, then whispering to his reflection, 'Though, I have to admit, that monster had good taste. Hehehe, It feels like I'm a delicious kid.'A blinding light suddenly struck Xerxez vision, then, on his mind it feels like he was teleported into the different dimension, but this time, the surrounding become louder. The visual swept him from a blinding light space into a terrifying scene. Though it is fragmenting.

"Woah, what was that light?"

He saw the light violently crashing down from the sky. He saw a wide, glowing shield affixed to the heavens like an ultimate, unbreakable barrier, and a creature trying to destroy it with a powerful mechanism. The boy was too young to understand, ignorantly watching the face of nightmare.

GRAWRR!!!!!

"Ah, is that a monster?"

"If this is still real, then, I saw a real monster, a long-tailed creature breathing fire...His is fighting...and fighting... against magic and powerful weapons? and then he become a— boy? Who is that boy? Oh, it disappear!"

Then, a vertical line rise in the sky. There is a black. An open field in the sky. Suddenly, there are giant tentacles appear too! It resembling claws, and trying to widen the hole in the sky.

"Whoah, there is a monster face, made of thorny evil energy, a halo of dark purple monster, peeked out from it. Its eyes, like... like the galaxies with malicious intent? Ehh, he stared at me!"

One tentacle, it coil at him, like an octopus!

"No, I have nothing to do with this, the man just brought me here." The boy felt like peeing himself in fear at the sight of the lashing monster as he was gripped. "Let me go!!! Please, no, don't eat me!!!"

It lunged, not just grabbing, but enveloping the boy in its crushing grip, the air squeezed from his lungs, his bones groaning in protest. He felt himself being pulled towards its mouth, not just swallowed like an egg, but pulverized, created, absorbed into its very essence, his consciousness dissolving into a painful, eternal scream as he became one with the terrifying creature.

"If this is what he say, life and death? Then, this is not funny!".

* Example: "Then, amidst the melee, one of the 'fatted beasts' at the vanguard, whose laughter had been so jarring, shuddered. Its fur-bearded skin began to ripple, not with muscle, but with something else moving beneath. Armor plates groaned and tore, not from impact, but from the grotesque swell of bone. The chuckling predatory grin stretched, elongating into a maw of clenching fangs, and the creature that had been merely 'four-pedal' rose on two legs, then dropped to four, a true, colossal Ursa, its roar shaking the very spears in the Thallerion's hands. This was no beast of burden. This was Moonatoria's true visage.

Then, amidst the melee, one of the 'fatted beasts' at the vanguard, whose laughter had been so jarring, shuddered. Its fur-bearded skin began to ripple, not with muscle, but with something else moving beneath. Armor plates groaned and tore, not from impact, but from the grotesque swell of bone. The chuckling predatory grin stretched, elongating into a maw of clenching fangs, and the creature that had been merely 'four-pedal' rose on two legs, then dropped to four, a true, colossal Ursa, its roar shaking the very spears in the Thallerion's hands. This was no beast of burden. This was Moonatoria's true visage.

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