Chapter 45: Control

Right in time! Five minutes before the agreed time. Isha made it quite clear that it was of utmost importance that I was here. So, not risking blowing it up, I decided to log in earlier.

“Right. Let’s go.” Huh? Isha? I shake my head from left to right, where I find her standing.

“Oh, you are early too?”

“Yes, we do not want to be late,” she dryly answers.

Why is she so insistent? I’ve gone several times to the Governor’s, and it’s the first time she acts like this. Hell, we even went there unannounced multiple times.

Following her quick pace and not uttering a single word, we soon find ourselves standing in front of the mansion.

“Where are we going?” Seeing that we don’t take the usual stairs to the Governors’ office, I can’t help myself and ask.

“You will soon know. Please, follow quietly.”

“Uh” I did not mean to make any sound, but given the situation, I blow some air sarcastically from my nose while hinting at a smile from exasperation.

Downstairs? I didn’t know this mansion had a basement. The descent along the spiral staircase reminds me of those old medieval towers—tight to the point you can’t extend your arms properly; if two people were to come from opposite directions, one would have to undo his way. Decadent, with a musty smell and gloomy, barely a few light sources here and there, all riddled with spider webs.

Three minutes of walking after, the ambient not changing the tiniest bit for the better, we reach the underground floor. No decoration whatsoever, still plunged in darkness, the smell of mold. Every single clue points to the mansion’s dungeons, the city prison.

As we pass through several chambers enclosed by iron bars, my mind wanders to dark places. Why would they bring me here with so much urgency? No way they want to imprison me, right? No, no. It wouldn’t make any sense. Why make me come voluntarily then? They could easily capture me and drag me here.

“Kyaaaa! Urgh!”

As we go deeper, muted screams begin to reach us from far away—inhuman screams. You can almost feel the pain and sorrow from them. Like needles puncturing my skin, my whole hair stands on end.

“Kwuaah!”

With the screams getting almost deafening, Isha stops and looks at me.

“Compose yourself. We are going in.”

Fuck! Going in? To the source of those screams? Is it indispensable? I audibly gulp and try to straighten my back. As if my joints were rusty and lacking oil, I hear several cracks coming from my shoulders. My muscles, tensed beyond their safety point, ache as they obey my commands.

Isha pulls the handle of the solid metal door in front of us, and everything comes at me at once. Anguished screams, yellings of despair. The scent of urine mixed with blood and sweat. Corpses without heads and heads hanging from the ceiling. The clinking of metal chains. The sound of a hammer relentlessly hitting on wood.

“Ha, ha… Haha ha-” My hand involuntarily moves to my front. My head hangs down and sways from side to side. “Hahahaha.” Uncontrollable, loud laughter leaves my body, my stomach threatening to burst out at any moment.

“Mark! Pull yourself together!” Isha’s voice somehow reaches me, although distant and almost unintelligible.

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“Haha! There it is! Hahaha-” My finger points to a wooden bed, lying barely above my waist a few meters apart from me. Well, bed might not be the best word to describe it. Rather, a torture station. Wheels on both ends. Multiple structures to hang and hold several kinds of knives, pliers, and tools whose name I don’t know but surely are not used with any good intentions whatsoever.

Half a step later, my brain processes what my finger was already pointing at. That fucker!

“Ha, ha… Serves you good! Suffer for all that you did! Torture it until it is beyond recognition” My laughter already subsiding, I manage to pull a whole phrase. “If I were t-”

Plaf!

[You have lost 100 HP]

[Your Madness has increased by 1]

“Aah!” I scream as my eyes close into a line and stare at Isha. Has she just slapped the fuck out of me? Wait. Fuck. Just now… As if waking from a dream, I start to recall all that has happened in the last few moments. Fuck me. “Isha…” I say with a low voice, almost unhearable, “thank you.”

And I genuinely mean it. Just now, that wasn’t me at all. I’m so fucking ashamed; how has this even happened? Focus now. I can’t lose myself to this madness again. I must regain control.

“Sorry about just now,” Isha says in the general direction of all my spectators.

“Ah, don’t worry.” The man waves his hand in a gesture signifying it was of no importance. The… man. FUCK! That’s the Governor! I just went total lunatic in front of him. “In any case, it’s just what all of us think, isn’t it?” He says and winks at me. Huh. I’m… saved?

“Mark, there is a reason why you are here.”

“There is?” I answer back to the Governor, perplexed at the sudden change of theme.

“Indeed. You see, the king here-” if looks could kill, then no longer would be a rat here, “- is quite stubborn.”

“Huh?”

“We need information. Namely, who orchestrated this attack, the mastermind behind all of it.”

“Yes, I understand. But… How can I be of help?” I couldn’t even see him fighting, and I’m supposed to get intel out of him?

“It has come to my attention that you have some rather unusual abilities. The stunt you pulled with those ogres, you were controlling them. Well, their souls.” Oh, I see where this is going.

“Indeed, I have certain control over the souls of those that die.” The Governor’s face is a strange mix of emotions. His eyes, one semi-closed while the other full open, seem to scrutinize me, evaluating if I’m telling the truth. His mouth, curved into a smile, speaks of his evil desires. And his wrinkled frown denotes the importance of the situation.

“Then, you should know what I will ask next and the reason you are here.” I nod my head. I do. “Could you do it?”

Can I? I take 5 seconds to think before answering. “In all honesty, I am not too sure. There are a few factors that impact whether I will be able to dominate its soul. For example, our strength difference might be too high. Even if I succeeded, I can’t guarantee it would be in a state where we could make him talk.”

“I see…”

“I am sorry to disappoint you, Governor.” Which is evident just by looking at his posture, no longer standing high but somewhat overwhelmed by the exhaustion accumulated.

“No, no. Mark, your contribution to his battlefield has already been enormous. This was but a long shot, I was wrong to have you involved here, and for that, I’m sorry.”

The honesty in his words catches me entirely off guard. Mmh… Maybe… “Sir, I do have one proposal.” I take his slight eyebrows raising as a positive signal and continue. “I might not be strong enough now, but this is bound to change soon. Keep him alive and, when the time comes, I’ll enslave him.”

“Mmh…” His hand caresses his chin. “We can’t delay it by much. We don’t know who our enemy is nor when they might strike. At most, I can give you a month.”

“I-” A month! This will be hard... can I even get to that beast level in so little time? “I will do my best.” And as soon as that is clear, I turn around to leave. “Then, I shall let you proceed with the… eh… interrogation.”

“Wait!” Is there more? “Today, at 12, we will celebrate the victory. I want you and your team to be present, standing next to us on the main stage.”

“Wha-, next to u- us?” I repeated, spellbound and unable to form any decent answer. “I… it would be an honor, sir!”

“Good! Then you shall go now.”