"...be silent", Kaden calmly told to some man chained down on a table.
He worked meticulously, despite his appearance. He had unkempt beard and disheveled long hair. His clothes were cheap and dirty and full of holes, cuts and stains. It was just that Kaden was very focused on his 'work'. While he himself appeared less than perfect, his work was far closer to it. His work was all he cared about.
Kaden did not like it when people screamed pointlessly. Death was coming for them, as was neccessary, and it didn't matter whether you howled in pain or not. He had kind of made it his trademark to sear a simple silencing formation his victims tongues, carving one on their skull, arms. Where ever he felt it was neccessary to have one. It was still a very weak formation and he needed several and they wouldn't last long.
So... just before he took his victims to some abandoned alley to hoist them up somewhere in grotesque poses and setting them on fire, he affixed these silencing formations all over them. Once they were set on fire, there would be no sound no matter how much they trashed about and screamed. They would be up there for everyone to see their silent suffering.
It seemed people of Corand had dubbed Kaden the Silent Fire killer.
Kaden himself wasn't entirely sure where he got the idea for his style, but he liked to think that since gods did not answer him, he would exact his vengeance in similar way. His voice was ignored, silent, as he suffered and so would his victims. Though, he viewed his 'victims' being at fault and so they were not exactly victims to Kaden.
Kaden was barely at Formation stage now years after the events that happened after he had been torn from his home. He had looted enough stuff to boost himself up there, but there his progress slowed down significantly.
Still, he had work to do. Strong or not, there were people that had to die. He would not stop.
Kaden had killed people that he felt needed to die after coming to Corand. He made his way there after being able to free himself after the battle where everyone he cared about died. During those times he had been extremely weak, but he pantiently targeted people, such as weaker soldiers, while they relaxing during their free time and were often drunk or something else. Kaden quietly made them disappear.
Still, it was difficult and Kaden became certain everyone was at fault for his suffering. His target choices widened significantly. One example was the formation master's apprentice from who he took the silencing formation. Not long after he perfected his modus operandi.
"You will burn", Kaden quietly said. The man no longer made any sounds. There were enough of the silencing formations. "Its your fault. You provide the military food supplies. Anyone who helps them is at fault. You must die. You must burn. You must suffer like I did."
One might think moving a living person, even if you knocked them out like Kaden did, would be hard and someone would notice. Indeed, it had been hard before and Kaden had changed where he worked after each kill just in case. He simply had not been able to move unnoticed too far.
After he had been able to advance to Formation stage, he had been able to work far easier. There were always some unused locations where it was easy to work.
Kaden woke up his latest target after dousing them with mana infused oil. It would burn and was hard to put out.
At first Kaden had just tied up the targets and pulled them up, but he found some enjoyment putting them up in different ways. This time Kaden used a classic. He had found a place where he could tie ropes to four different places and so he pulled the victim up and in cross position. Hands and legs pulled the sides.
There was only silence when Kaden snapped his fingers and lit up the victim. There was still only silence as Kaden walked away before anyone came to look.
That fire spell, which he used to light up his victims, was basically one of the few spells Kaden knew. It wasn't very strong and was essentially a Channel Opening stage spell. Kaden had not been able to get any better, but he was good with it. He had even tried using vengeance mana too after he learned about it, but he had not been able to make proper use of it.
Kaden hoped to kill someone who had something with them that he could learn to make himself stronger.
"Perhaps that smith that produces weapons for the military", Kaden mumbled to himself. "Anyone who helps them is at fault. The smith must suffer and die."
The smith might have fire spells available. Also tools for Kaden to make something. He had neglected the profession his father had taught him, but perhaps he could make use of it.
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Kaden quickly hid away by the time he heard screams when someone noticed his now dead victim. Authorities were investigating him, obviously. Recently more. Usually very few people cared about low level people like him and his victims, but perhaps someone had decided to take it up finally.
"Maybe I will find that person", Kaden muttered to himself once more. "Anyone who tries to stop me is at fault. They must suffer and die".
There were always targets. Always more people who needed to die. Kaden had at first tried to write down each new person he needed to kill, but he soon quit it. There were just too many. It was impressive how many people there existed whose fault Kaden's suffering was.
The more Kaden thought about it, it seemed basically anyone fit that description.
"Maybe once I grow stronger, I will have to burn down the city!" Kaden thought.
He imagined filling the city with silencing runes and watch it burn down quietly with everyone in it. It was a fanciful dream, but one he hoped to achieve one day.
"Ah... many people come to Corand from smaller villages", Kaden suddenly realized. "Its their fault too. Maybe I should go out and burn down these villages. Just like my own home that was robbed from me. They should know the pain too and then die."
Yes, there were always more people to kill.
"I will think on this", Kaden thought. He felt invigorated after discovering new targets. "Everyone... everyone must suffer and di...".
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"...KILL, I WILL EAT THEM AND MAKE THEM PAY!" Caden raged in the phoenix clan.
Caden was a young phoenix. His mother Anuu and his father Kranor. Anuu, Caden's mother, had barely survived back to Frika after producing Caden's birth flame in the No Man's Land near human territory. Unfortunately it seems his birth flame had become damaged during all the events.
Caden was born small and weak. The prideful phoenixes almost decided to correct that error, but at Anuu's request they let Caden live and prove himself.
And that was essentially what Caden did at all times. He was well aware of his situation. He had been aware of it his entire life. Always haunting him at back of his mind. If he was weak, he would die.
So Caden took every chance to fight and show his strength. He would be brutal and cruel. He would flaunt his strength to show that he was no error. He raged often and had more misplaced pride than he could handle. He would ensure he was always in perfect conditions. He would preen his feathers to perfect order many times a day. He would clean any possible stain of dirt. Caden would appear immaculate. At all times. There was no error. There was no error!
Yet, the awareness of his status in the clan haunted him. There were always doubts in Caden's mind.
Therefore he often unloaded his frustrations on some random weaklings outside of the clan home. He would always be cruel. He was strong and they were weak.
Caden's behavior would sometimes come biting at his feathers. Like this time.
This time it was bad. Before it was problems with others in the clan, but now it was otherwise. Some outsiders finally got involved.
While Caden has born as initial Lower Cari, just like all phoenix hatchlings, he had not grown up as fast as usual, so he was still stuck at that level even years after. Even so, he was still a phoenix and despite his supposed lack of talent, it was still more talent than most other Cari types had. So on the, bullying trips, or rather murder trips, he selected those who he viewed to be weaker than him. He did not see it cowardly. Being a coward was a weakness and he surely wasn't weak! No way that was possible. He was certain it was because he was just so much stronger and his opponents were no match to him.
Even so, something nagged back at his mind, a fear of the possibility that he did not even want to think about. Caden usually tortured his victims before eating them. He was strong and they were weak. This was his truth he repeated to himself. He needed to show it. He would flaunt his power so that everyone else saw it too.
These other Cari in the surrounding areas where Caden liked to roam eventually had had enough. They came together and tried to kill Caden! They had laid a trap! Caden barely escaped! His immaculate feathers were damaged in the process. He bled! The weaklings made him bleed!
"HOW DARE THEY! HOW DARE THEY TOUCH ME!" Caden raged in his home. He clawed at the walls and tossed around fire. They had made him feel weak! He had ran away. Ran away? RAN AWAY!? "HOW DARE THEY DO THAT TO ME!"
How humiliating! They made him run away! It made his rage burn!
That they dared touch him implied that they thought he was weak! WEAK! Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Weakness was death. Weakness meant he was imperfect. A failure. That was not acceptable!
Had it been anyone else, the phoenix clan might have sent out someone to incinerate sections around the clan home and kill those who dared to lay hand on one of theirs.
But Caden was seen as weakling despite Caden's hard work trying to show otherwise.
Basically he was let live, but he would have to show his worth and handle his problems without the clan interfering. He would either live and grow to correct his supposed weaknesses and be accepted ... or he would die trying and in that case he would deserve it and simply wasn't strong enough to live.
The Cari outside knew this now. It was the reason they dared to touch Caden. There would be no retaliation. They saw weakness and that weakness would allow them possiblity of feasting on a phoenix! A great boon for any Cari hoping to become stronger.
Caden would have to prove his worth or die.
--------------------
Zeruek observed Kaden.
What had been just at most a day for Kaden had actually been already week in the real world. Then again, in this state time really didn't mean much. Kaden could live lifetimes in a moment or a moment in dream could be years long. What mattered most was the rate he was using up his mana, essentially himself.
"He has plenty of time, but not forever", Zeruek said to himself. "At the rate he is using up his mana, I would say a few years, if nothing changes." He looked deeper into the ball of mana that was Kaden. "There seems to be some kind of division. Not unexpected due to his unusual nature. What will he do with these two sides?"