Chapter 53: A nightmare.
Then, in the distance, after taking in the scenery, he saw a woman dressed in white. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized her… It was Ada Baal.
She was standing with her back to him, her long dress flowing like silk in the wind, her dark hair moving gently with the breeze. Vergil smiled, taking small steps toward her, but something felt off.
As he got closer, he realized she wasn't alone…
A man, with an indistinct appearance, stood beside her, holding her hand with an intimacy that made Vergil's stomach churn.
'What the hell is this?!' he screamed internally. He wanted to run, to shout, but his feet were stuck to the ground, as if the world around him was preventing him from acting. He was nothing more than a spectator.
All he could see was her smile.
The man turned to Ada, and she smiled at him—a smile full of love and tenderness, the kind of smile Vergil knew well, the one she used to reserve only for him. The stranger then knelt down, pulling a ring from his pocket. Vergil's heart tightened as he saw the golden ring gleam in the sunlight while the man held Ada's hand.
"Will you marry—" he proposed in a soft, gentle voice, so low that Vergil couldn't catch the full sentence.
'She wouldn't…' To his utter despair, Ada accepted. 'No…'
She smiled again, and her eyes sparkled with a happiness Vergil recognized but now was forced to witness as an unwelcome intruder. The man slid the ring onto her finger, and Vergil felt a deep pain slash through his chest, as if the act itself was tearing something apart inside him.
The scene shifted.
Now, he found himself in a grand, golden hall, with soft music playing in the background. Ada stood at an altar, her wedding dress gleaming under the candlelight that filled the room. The enormous doors opened, and the man she had agreed to marry entered, dressed in a flawless suit. Vergil stood among the guests, like a shadow—silent, invisible, unable to act or intervene.
'A dream…'
The man approached Ada, and the two exchanged vows, their words intertwined with promises of eternal love. Each sentence was a stab to Vergil's heart, folding him inward. He tried to scream, tried to run toward her, but his voice was trapped in his throat, suffocated by a silent despair.
He was powerless, condemned to watch the woman he loved marry another man, as though living through a cruel joke of fate.
'It hurts so much…' Vergil muttered, as his body felt like it was about to explode.
When the two kissed, sealing their union, Vergil felt the ground open beneath his feet. The happiness on Ada's face was undeniable. Her eyes gleamed with a pure, intense joy—a happiness Vergil knew she deserved, but not with that man. Not like this. Not without him.
Whatever was happening… It slowly began to crack, the sound of glass breaking echoing in Vergil's ears as, once again, the scene shifted.
Vergil saw it all as if looking through a distant window, an intruder in someone else's life. He wanted to break that window, to kill that man. But she seemed so far away, so happy in a world where Vergil had no place.
'A future where I die and lose Ada?...' he thought, as it was the only path he could see...
Time seemed to speed up now. He watched as Ada and the man built a life together. They traveled, laughed, and shared intimate moments that tore Vergil apart inside. She looked so whole, so secure in the arms of another. Every smile, every laugh was a punishment, as if fate was torturing him with glimpses of the life he could never have with her.
Then things began to change.
Vergil watched as the joy in Ada's eyes slowly started to fade. Small cracks appeared in her happiness. The man she had married began to grow distant, his words colder, more detached. Ada desperately tried to keep the harmony, but it was clear something dark was lurking beneath the surface.
He saw her cry alone at night while her husband was away. She waited for him at the dinner table, his plate untouched, the silence of the house broken only by her sobs. Vergil wanted to run to her, to comfort her, but once again, he was powerless, unable to touch or speak.
Her pain echoed in his own soul, as if they were bound by an invisible thread of shared suffering.
The scene shifted once more.
Vergil now found himself on top of a hill, looking down at a large mansion in a part of the Underworld where Ada lived. He saw the husband arrive home late, embracing another woman.
'Took long enough...' Vergil felt his blood boil, his rage building in ways he'd never experienced before.
He wanted to destroy that man, to rip him out of existence, to make things right for Ada.
But the deepest pain came when he saw Ada at the window, watching it all unfold, her face desolate.
She didn't confront her husband. Instead, she walked away, broken inside, too shattered to fight back. Vergil wanted to scream for her to run, to not endure that betrayal, but fate cruelly spun on, dragging her deeper into an abyss of despair.
The final scene came slowly, devastatingly.
Ada lay in a large bed, pale, her face etched with the agony of betrayal. The man, now older and crueler, stood beside her, holding a knife in his hand. He didn't hesitate. He stabbed her in the chest, the blade sinking into her heart, and the sound of steel cutting through flesh echoed in Vergil's mind like thunder.
"NO!" he screamed, his voice finally finding release in desperation. But it was too late. Ada's blood soaked the white sheets, her eyes wide with shock and pain. She reached out as if seeking something—or someone—to save her, but there was no one.
Vergil fell to his knees, the scream caught in his throat. He tried to move, but his legs wouldn't obey.
He was trapped, forced to watch the woman he loved be murdered slowly, helpless to stop it.
His fingers stretched toward her, but they were an eternity away.
'Do you hate everything?' A voice, similar to his own but slightly distorted, echoed in his head.
'I hate...' Vergil whispered, feeling the hot blood pool around his knees.
'Do you want more power?' the voice asked again.
'Yes... I want it...' He agreed.
Ada's final expression was burned into his mind as the world began to collapse around him. Her eyes closed slowly, her last breath slipping from her lips. The man stood up, tossing her body aside like a discarded object.
Vergil felt something tear inside him, a pain so deep it felt like he too had been stabbed.
"Kill them all..."
"Yes... do it..."
"Kill everyone who dares to oppose us..."
"Kill, kill, kill!"
Distorted voices echoed in his mind, overlapping and growing louder.
"She is my wife... and no one else's!" Vergil screamed. This time, the sound came out, sharp and filled with pain, echoing through the walls of the macabre scene. The world around him began to crumble, everything becoming a swirling mass of shadows and darkness as he screamed her name over and over, trying to hold on to any trace of her presence.
And then, everything went black.
Vergil woke up.
the-place-MVLeMpYr
His body was drenched in sweat, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he tried to get his bearings. His heart pounded in his chest, as if he were still trapped in that nightmare. But as he looked around, he realized he was in his room, the soft morning light filtering through the curtains.
He ran a hand over his face, trying to calm his racing thoughts. "It was just a dream," he whispered to himself, repeating it like a mantra. But the weight of what he had felt, the depth of the pain and loss, still pressed down on him like an iron vice.
Turning, he saw Ada lying next to him, peacefully asleep. Her soft breathing was a reminder that she was there, alive, with him...
"Thank God..." he murmured, but just as he was about to relax, he froze.
'Wait, why is Ada here?' He stopped to think, 'Wasn't she imprisoned by her mother?' Vergil's mind raced until...
"Wuaaa," Ada yawned loudly, stretching her arms high above her head. She looked at him with a carefree expression.
"Good morning, sleepyhead," Ada murmured, her voice soft and casual, still stretching and blinking as she adjusted to the light. The gentle glow of the morning sun illuminated her face, and for a brief moment, she seemed as real as ever, a comforting sight after the brutal nightmare Vergil had just endured.
"Ada...?" His voice was hoarse, filled with confusion and worry. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm here with you, where else would I be?" Ada giggled, reaching out to caress Vergil's face. Her touch was warm, soft... exactly as he remembered it, but that only made him feel more uneasy.
-------
<Author's Note>
Hey, remember to use your Golden Tickets and Power Stones to help the work reach new heights!