Lord of Annihilation

This was new. She had never seen another person, a humanoid not to mention, since her arrival in this place, thirty-seven days ago.

"Hello, sir!" Olivia called, reaching out towards the black-cowled figure. Having approached close enough, she stalled her sprinting to a walk.

Seemingly having not heard her words, the cowled figure continued to rigidly walk. His back was slightly hunched and his head was lowered to look at the ground. He held a dry, wooden branch in hand and dragged it against the ashen sand with each step. A knapsack similar to one worn by Olivia occupied his back except that it looked empty with a large, noticeable hole at its bottom.

Oddly enough, Olivia could not view his arms and legs. The black robe worn on his body descended until it covered his legs, while his arms, the part that was exposed at least, were covered in dirty, white bandages.

Fearing that the man might not have heard her, Olivia repeated her words. This time she put some force into her voice.

"Sir! Hello! I have a question to ask you." 

Again, she received no response.

'What should I do now?' she asked herself. She had already called out twice and received no response. Either the man was completely deaf or he was intentionally ignoring her. 

Either way, it didn't hurt to check.

Kicking off the ground once more, Olivia circled around to confront the cowled man from the front. 

"Please good sir, I come in pea—" 

Her words were abruptly caught within her throat, as Olivia caught a glimpse of the sight underneath the cowl. A whirlpool of darkness swirled underneath the hood as she caught a pair of crimson-colored eyes menacingly staring at her.

Startled at this sudden, unexpected revelation, Olivia stumbled a few steps back. She raised her fists threateningly preparing to guard against an attack.

It never came.

The man threw a cursory glance at Olivia before lowering his head once again. Ignoring her, he continued with his pagan journey.

Standing stiffly for a few dozen seconds, Olivia finally put down her guard when she realized that the cowled man had no intention of attacking her. She stood and watched dumbly as the man passed her by and continued to walk.

'Wow. He's totally ignoring me,' Olivia assumed. That had to be it. The cowled man was clearly aware of her presence–seeing as how he had stared directly at her–but for some reason was intentionally ignoring her. 

'That's just plain rude,' she irritably thought. But well, there was nothing that she could do. 

Or wait, maybe there 'was' something that she could do. 

'What would Lucius do?' Olivia immediately asked herself. A thoughtful grin appeared on her face, as she raised her hands one more. Only this time…she wasn't making a guard.

"Haap!" Shouting out a short cry, Olivia lunged towards the cowled man. Her right arm extended itself to deliver a punch aimed at the figure's head. 

Just as her fist was about to make contact with the man's head, Olivia heard a soft noise. A 'thud' to be precise. The next thing she knew, she was kneeling on the ground, a tremendous pressure bearing down on her shoulders.

『Why must you bother me, Mark Bearer?』

The cowled man directly staring at her with his ominous crimson eyes asked wearily. His words possessed the weight of time to them and were as dry as the ashen sand beneath her feet.

Although he spoke in a tongue foreign and far ancient to anything that Olivia had ever heard, she was strangely able to understand him.

"I-I just wanted to ask you a few questions," she replied, struggling against the weight bearing down upon her body.

『Haven't I made my intentions clear? I do not want to deal with anyone. Especially not with a Mark Bearer.』

"What's a Mark Bearer? Why are you calling me that?" Olivia ignored his opinion and focused on his unusual wording. 

While she understood that it was shameless of her to do so, she really wanted answers to some of the questions bothering her. 

Exhaling a heavy sigh, the cowled man shook his head and tapped his warped wooden branch against the ground. The suppressive pressure around Olivia vanished, causing her to collapse on the ground.

『Do not bother me.』

He turned around and continued with his walking. 

Taking a few seconds to gather her strength, Olivia jumped up to her feet and ran towards the journeying pagan. 

"Wait! Please, I beg you! I just want some answers! I swear I'll leave you alone after that!"

She ran towards the black-robed figure only to suddenly slam face-first against an invisible barrier. The sudden impact caused her pretty nose to turn crooked, as she collapsed onto the ground with pain.

Through her blurred vision, she saw the cowled man retreat farther and farther.

"No, wait! Sir, please! I only want answers! I'm willing to do anything in exchange!" she cried, struggling up to her feet. The cowled man, however, seemed to hold no interest at all and continued to distance himself away.

"Wait! Please, please, PLEASE WAIT! I just want to know how to escape this place!" 

Still nothing. The man had almost disappeared from her vision. 

In a final ditch attempt, Olivia gathered a fistful of her soul energy into her palm and chucked it towards the disappearing cowled man. A ball of violet-colored energy flew through the air, disappearing into the distance.

"Dammit!" Olivia punched at the ground. After thirty-seven days wandering this colorless, cinder world, the first person she met refused to interact with her, much less answer her questions.

'Where am I? How much time has passed? How can I get out of here?' She buried her face into the dry, hot sand. Tears streamed down her face. She could only put up a strong front for so long after all. 

'I want to go back. I want to see Lucius. I don't want to be here anymore!'

In this world where the sky did not change, where time did not pass, and the only color was the shade of fire as cinders fell from the sky…one could only remain so long before losing hope.

『Mark Bearer.』

A familiar voice called out to her. Olivia instantly jerked her head up and saw a pair of crimson eyes staring at her. The black-robed man had returned.

『Are you an Arbiter?』he asked, showing her the ball of violet-colored energy that he held within his bandaged palm.

Wiping the ugly tears from her face, Olivia nodded her head.

The swirling darkness underneath the cowl seemed to pause in thought for a second.

『Strange. I thought the Arbiters were made extinct by those mindless beasts under the False Gods? And yet, here you are.』

Her ears perked up at his absentminded ranting. 

"By False Gods, do you mean the Lords?" she asked. 

Olivia was a naturally curious person and her teacher was willing to oblige her. As such, she had received numerous history lessons from Ka'lor'ah–everything that she was able to share at least– rounding out her knowledge of the Universe.

Hearing her question, the cowled man scoffed. 

『Is that what they call themselves now?  How arrogant. But then again, I wouldn't expect anything more from a bunch of spineless, backstabbing cowards.』He spat on the ground.

Olivia visibly paled at his words. 

One thing that her teacher had mentioned to her countless times, during her studies, was to never insult the Lords. 'Directly' at least. It was fine to do it inside your head–Ka'lor'ah, in fact, encouraged her to do so– but never out loud, or through written words, paintings, etc.

'They' would always know, and will never let go of a single slight.

The cowled man, obviously, did not care for this. And judging from his tone, he even seemed to know 'them' personally.

'I need to stay out of this. I must focus on getting out of here first,' Whatever resentment that the cowled man had with the Lords, Olivia wanted no part of it. She just wanted to leave this place as quickly as she could.

"Sir, could you please tell me what this place is and more importantly, how to leave?"

『You don't know?』

Olivia shook her head.

『That's strange. But, you have a Mark.』 the man quizzically asked. 

The pair of crimson eyes flickered as a revelation dawned upon him.

『Unless you do–』

His words abruptly cut off as his entire body blinked in and out of existence for a second, akin to a sudden glitching. 

Heavily staring at Olivia with his set of crimson eyes, he asked.

『Are you an Arbiter?』

Olivia nodded her head, noticing nothing wrong with his question or with him. 

『I see. So the Arbiter heritage managed to survive. I'm glad.』 Pausing for an instant, he asked, 『What is it that you wanted to ask me?』

"Could you please tell me what this place is? And how can I leave it?" Olivia unblinkingly asked.

『Ah, a common query. Nevertheless, I shall answer you. The land that you stand on is the First Beginning, the Great Beyond, the Final Paradise where dead souls come to find new life.』

『You, young Arbiter, are in Limbo.』