During the night Markus called Mona to his chamber. She came in wearing a white nightgown and nothing else. Her eyes looked emotionless and looked like she had closed off her heart. Markus looked confused why she was dressed like that and also uncomfortable almost.

"Why are you wearing that?"

"My brother made me wear it. Said you asked me for the night and that I should not displease the prince even if he had a weird taste in women," Mona said without any emotion.

Markus went to the closet and got a coat. He gave one to Mona and sat on the bed.

"I believe we should have continued with our talk yesterday," Markus said and smiled at Mona.

Mona just stood there silently and still.

"You still didn't tell me what you truly desire."

"I don't have any desire."

"Don't lie to yourself. Everyone has a desire even when they are at their lowest. I also for a second once forgot what I truly desired when I thought I had lost it all. But then my eyes were open and I feel so free when I can live with it freely."

"Sounds nice, but I have never had any. I am a tool. A tool I wished that would have never been conceived."

Markus got up and placed his hand on Mona's forehead.

"I think you do know, but you also just haven't realized it and need some outside help just like I got," Markus said with a smile.

Markus poured inside Mona a small amount of his divine power. Mona's eyes rolled back and she started to scream like she was in agony. The world around him vanished and she left reality.

~ ~

In her head, she lived through her memories again and again. She looked up as she was a child. The world looked big like she was small. Her mother looked down on her. She pinned her down on the floor and raised a hot iron on top of her face.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"If only you wouldn't have been born. If you wouldn't have been born the affair would never have seen the light of day."

Her mother with the hot iron rod made the vision of Mona go black with a child's scream being heard in the background.

~ ~

In another vision, she was taller. She had the body of a young girl now. She was given no weapon but given the most basic and bad armor. A man pulled her to the battlefield. She was kicked to the heart of battle and the man looked at her. It was her father.

"Why did you have to be born. You have only created misery for me," her father said and pushed her into the middle of a battlefield.

A man rushed in with a large club. She was hit with it in her face and again the vision went dark.

~ ~

The third vision began. She was now at her current age. She looked at her meal. She looked at a small bowl that had only some gruel. There was barely any food. She was feeling extremely hungry and almost couldn't stay up. Then her half-brother, Tankred, came and kicked the bowl of her hand.

"If you can't be killed on the battlefield just at least starve or something," Tankred said and went to sit with the other mercenaries.

The other mercenaries laughed at her. They didn't feel any empathy toward her. Mona fell to the ground and the vision blurred from lack of food.

~ ~

Mona lived through these many times, over and over, just like Markus had. Tens, hundreds, thousands of times she lived through the same memories. It was like she lived hundreds of years in a span of a short moment.

~~

Markus let go of Mona's forehead. Mona's eyes rolled back. She hit back to reality. Immediately she puked on the floor. She was breathing heavily and the veins started to pop out.

August walked into the room. She looked at the puking Mona on the floor.

"What happened here?!" August asked with eyes wide open.

"Winds of pandora are a truly amazing divinity. They are born from raw emotions, death, and despair. They help people clear their thoughts and see the world as it truly is in their eyes. It will show you what you truly want. A true mirror into once true desire," Markus explained while looking at the puking Mona.

"How were you able to pour some inside her?" August asked.

"Since the winds of pandora can go inside a person why couldn't it go inside another I thought. At least it was a good test. If it had failed it wouldn't matter that much, but now that it did I am even more pleased."

Mona turned on her back. She had her eyes completely wide open.

"So, do you now know what you truly want?" Markus asked at a gasping Mona.

"I WANT TO LIVE!" Mona yelled.

Markus smiled.

"Tell me more."

"I WANT TO LIVE! I WANT TO BE THE LAST PERSON ALIVE! I WANT TO LOOK DOWN ON THE ENTIRE WORLD AND LOOK DOWN ON IT LIKE IT HAS DONE TO ME! I WANT TO LIVE!"