NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53: Chaos
Warlock Ch 53. Chaos
"I can't..." she whispered, her voice soft, barely audible over the roaring winds. But he could see her lips move, see the tears that streamed down her face, glistening in the harsh light of the vortex. "I can't stop. This is how it ends. It's too late."
"It doesn't have to end like this!" he stated.
But the woman shook her head, a small, bittersweet smile tugging at the corner of her lips. Her tears fell freely now, mixing with the dust and debris swirling around them. "We're all ready to die. Me, the people who fought beside me... we knew this day would come."
Her voice cracked as she spoke, and Damian felt something inside him break. He could see her resolve crumbling, but still, she stood tall. She wasn't fighting for herself anymore. She was fighting for something greater, something she believed in with all her heart. But Damian couldn't understand why she was so willing to let it all go.
The woman's eyes softened as she looked at him, her tears glistening like silver in the storm. "Goodbye---" she whispered, her voice full of sorrow. He saw her mouth move, calling a name—a name he couldn't hear.
And then, with a deafening roar, both powers exploded.
Damian was thrown backward, the sheer force of the blast ripping him from the ground. The impact knocked the air from his lungs, his vision blurring as pain shot through his entire body. He tried to move, tried to breathe, but it felt like the world had collapsed on top of him. The sky above him twisted, dark and chaotic, the wind and debris swirling in every direction, tearing apart everything in its path.
In the middle of the destruction, just before everything went black, he saw her one last time. The woman, the sorcerer, her figure blurry and fading. Her hair, long and flowing, shimmered like silver in the chaos, and for a brief second, Damian could've sworn she looked right at him with tearful eyes. But it was too late.
Everything went dark.
When Damian opened his eyes, it was morning. Sunlight filtered through the curtains. He blinked, disoriented, his heart still pounding from the dream, his body drenched in sweat. For a moment, he lay there, trying to catch his breath.
Beside him, Evelyn slept soundly, her face calm, her breathing soft and steady.
Damian stared at her for a long moment, his heart still racing, his mind replaying the dream over and over again.
'Not her…' he thought, relief washing over him. 'At least it wasn't her…'
He wasn't sure why the dream had affected him so deeply, why the sight of that silver-haired woman had shaken him. But one thing was clear, this dream wasn't just a dream. It was something more. The pain, the fear, the strange magic he had wielded—it had all felt too real. And that woman, whoever she was, had left a mark on his heart.
Damian sat up slowly, careful not to wake Evelyn. His body ached from the dream, his muscles stiff and sore as if he had been fighting for real. He rubbed his eyes.
'Who was she?' He couldn't stop thinking about her, about the way she had looked at him, the sadness in her eyes as she accepted her fate. And that name—what had she been trying to say? Why couldn't he hear it?
It was clear she was calling him, but it wasn't his name. If it wasn't his… then who?
He shook his thought as he knew he couldn't get the answer right away. He glanced at the clock. It wasn't even 6 AM yet—still too early by most standards, but the dream had left him too rattled to go back to sleep. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling the sweat that still clung to his skin, and made his way to the bathroom to wash his face.
The cold water did little to calm the racing thoughts in his mind, but at least it jolted him awake. As the droplets ran down his face, he stared at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were tired, and there was a heaviness to his expression that hadn't been there before.
'Focus, Damian,' he told himself. There were too many unknowns right now. He needed something to clear his mind.
After drying his face, he left the bathroom and padded down to the kitchen. Cooking. Maybe that would help settle his thoughts. He wasn't a chef by any means, but years working as a bartender and kitchen helper had made him pretty handy in the kitchen. Besides, he'd been flipping through those books earlier and had come across a few recipes. He'd picked up some ingredients when he and Evelyn went to the market. Maybe he could try one of those.
Damian opened the fridge, scanning the contents inside. His eyes flicked over the ingredients they'd picked up at the market the day before. The glowing moonberries caught his eye, their faint glow reminding him of something out of a fairytale. He hadn't paid much attention to them before, but now, they seemed almost inviting.
'Moonberry pancakes,' he thought. That was one of the recipes he'd come across while reading the magic books. Soft, fluffy pancakes topped with rare moonberries, said to enhance clarity of mind and sharpen focus for the day ahead. It sounded simple, but after the night he'd had, clarity was exactly what he needed.
He reached into the fridge, grabbing the berries and a few other ingredients—milk, eggs, flour—setting them down on the counter. He cracked the eggs into a bowl, his mind tried to wander back to the dream. But he refused it.
Damian sighed, mixing the batter, trying to push the thoughts away. 'Focus on the pancakes,' he told himself. 'Just focus on this for now.'
Once the batter was ready, he heated the pan, the sizzle of the first pancake hitting the surface immediately filling the kitchen with a comforting warmth. The aroma of the moonberries was subtle but sweet, a faint glow emanating from them as they sat in a small bowl next to him, ready to be used as a topping. It was strange, watching them glow like that.