“Pathetic, that’s all there is to say about you”, the voice was deep and haunting, even worse than the one of the demonoid. Leo found himself inside of an endless void with nothing in sight. It was as if he had closed his eyes yet he knew they were still open. The seconds ticked by without any change in the environment until a little dark-purple light sprouted from the ground beneath him and climbed upwards like a growing tree.
Although it was beautiful Leo couldn’t help but to be scared and confused. When it reached the same height as the boy it halted and began to shape itself. Tentacle-like lights spread around and began to weave themselves together. When it finished, a simple purple humanoid figure stood in front of him. It resembled a human child with the exact same traits as Leo himself as if it was a mirage of hos body that lacked details.
“Truly, is this the bearer of my legacy? This pathetic being? A human child on top of that? This time I don’t even have a choice.” the deep voice now came from the figure in front of Leo. There was pure fear inside Leo’s soul, he stood there shivering with every part of his body.
What’s going on? Did I die? Is this the afterlife? The boy began to panic. As if the mirage was laughing with him, a sigh escaped it’s mouth that was shaped from purple light. The sound of the sigh was accompanied with a strong burst of wind inside the endless void that made Leo’s hair fly back.
“Not only are you weak, you’re retarded as well. I can hear your thoughts fool, of course you’re not dead. You are inside your own soulrealm, the place I am sealed in. At the moment, your physical body is being controlled by your desires and instincts so don’t worry, when you are in this state you are able to utilize my sealed power. The desire that has currently taken over you is survival, although it is strong it will do anything to survive. It means that your opponent is probably already dead.
Now, mortal boy, listen well. I have watched upon you since the moment you came out of your mother’s womb. I know you better than you know yourself. Generation by generation I have always watched over the tribe leader’s first descendants. 34 generations have already passed by and none of you have ever earned even a grain of respect from me. All of you were lazy, weak, dumb and unworthy of my powers so I never borrowed them to any of you. You are a prime example, wasting your time over stupid hobbies instead of training. I didn’t make contact with the unworthy people of your tribe, only when it was truly necessary. It had gotten to the point that you people forgot about my existence. I split up into 54 different parts to guard your land and maintained power by absorbing souls from those who had fallen. Now for the first time in 500 damn years I am unified into one body again.
I can’t just watch you die but my power is limited as of now. I also have wishes which I would like to fulfill just like yours for revenge. If you were to die now, my existence would also fade into the abyss because your royal bloodline would have stopped. My power only allows me to survive with your specific bloodline but as you don’t have brothers, sisters, or parents anymore I am in a tight spot.
What I’m trying to say is that we’re stuck together. Prove to me that you are worthy, worthy enough to survive. You’ll need my power but it comes with three conditions you must meet to begin wielding it without suffering too much. I don’t want my host to become a soulless entity that goes around destroying everything in sight. The first condition is to conquer the illusion curse I placed upon you that you see in your dreams. Just reach the end of it. The second one is that you must awaken your aura and mana before going to the awakening ritual. This might seem impossible but it has been done before, look at elves for example. Third is to complete the awakening ritual without getting a single deep wound. I’d rather die than let someone unworthy wield what I worked millennia for. If you think this is impossible then just give up on getting revenge boy. Those who want to conquer must be willing to win. Once you get back to reality you’ll suffer the cost of using a power that’s not yours. Good luck surviving out there kiddo, don’t disappoint your ancestors.”
As Leo disappeared from his soulrealm the being which controlled the mirage of purple light sat down on the ground. “Now that I made a copy from his body I realize how lucky he is… Is it luck though? For a human to withstand this much damage in such a short span of time. Maybe times changed from before. Even with my powers in his blood this is absurd. What kind of persistence does a kid need to have to survive what he has been through. I have fought dragons filled with pride yet even them would never have enough mental strength to do what this little thing has done. The humiliations, the deaths, the suffering. Truly alike to you, Venor”
Flashes of purple smoke entwined with Leo’s body until he could see nothing. When they faded away the boy found himself on his knees back inside of the cage. All his open wounds were stitched in the same disgusting way as it had done for Akino, using body hair as the threads for the stitch. As if his body was placed in the bonfire again, his skin felt as if it was being cremated. Tears rolled down his cheeks while an unbearable pain made him unconscious. Leo had only returned to reality for a few seconds before leaving back to a nonexistent place.
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This time there was no dream, just a vision of a stone obelisk that had words inscribed in them. Leo had no body in this world, just a vision. He focused on the words and read them. At the top it spelled the words: “Seal of absoluteness”
“When living, we fear death.
When we are dying, we fear what lives on.
When we lose ourselves we want to win.
When we win we fear to lose it again, losing ourselves.
The cycle repeats.
Only when you stop fearing the opposite will you teach yourself.
We are capable of more than we should, yet we limit ourselves to what we are now.
Open your eyes and witness it all, see what is in front of you, not what you are looking at.
Absoluteness or permanency don’t exist in a world where corruption reigns.
Only when someone changes this will you be saved from what is sealed in the North.
-Venor Stormborn”
Immediately he spotted the writer. Stormborn? Isn’t every last name with the word storm it part of our tribe? Hours upon hours Leo read the text out of boredom. He was trapped inside of this dream world without anything to do except thinking and looking at the stone object. Thoughts of what had happened in his soulrealm and how he should fulfill the conditions were common. Every now and then his mind drifted back to the seal in front of him. He knew the words had a meaning but he couldn’t completely grasp it.
The first two lines make sense. Humans are known to fear death by nature. When you die you fear life and the infinite stream that will forget about you in a matter of time I guess. The third line talks about a desire to be acknowledged and to stand above others. Then it talks about how we get greedy, narcissistic and arrogant when we finally achieve something. The sixth line is pretty weird but I guess its something about perspective? The seventh makes sense and the eighth and ninth are also pretty normal. Everything is understandable except for the last line. Saved from what? What’s in the North? The sea?
The boy had realized this seal was probably the vision he had seen when the reapers had entered his body. This seal was made by one of his ancestors and had marked the start of the storm clan.
Only after what seemed to take days was Leo awoken from the dream. He woke up in a soft bed for the first time after the destruction of his home. Immediately he opened his eyes and tried to sit up right but he was bound with chains around his torso to the bed. A male voice spoke: “You’re awake? Good. Although you’re a great fighter it seems you’re a great sleeper as well.”
“Oh, yeah sorry, I’ll remove those chains. I didn’t know if you’d turn into that… thing again in your sleep.” Two big hands removed the chains and helped Leo sit up right. The man in front of him was in his mid thirties and had long black hair in a ponytail. He wore very expansive clothing and had a blindfold on which only two thin eyebrows above them visible.
“Who are you? What happened?”, Leo asked the man. “You don’t remember? We’ve met twice now… Well I guess it can’t be helped, maybe it would help if I remove this.” The man removed his blindfold revealing his piercing red eyes. Instantly Leo remembered who they belonged to. “Y-you’re the boss here?” The man smiled. “Yeah I guess I am. I’d like to introduce myself; I’m Eden Cronig, leader of The Exiled”
Leo gulped not knowing what was going to happen. He was beginning to get tired of being so dependent on fate. He realized he longed for control, control over what was happening to him and those around him. The boy knew you’d either need money, power or a slick tongue to get that and at the moment he had none of that.
If this man wanted me dead he would’ve killed me in my sleep. “I see”, Leo said. The man’s smile widened. The boy had already begun to create instinctive distrust towards strangers.
“By the way, you slept for quite some time. There’s only two days left until we’ll have to get going towards the trials of catastrophe. Just rest the remaining time.”
Leo nodded, still trying to find a reason for the man to be this kind to him. How could I possibly trust a man who went from using me in cage fights to acting all friendly in a matter of weeks? After a short silence the man spoke again: “Leo, I can see it, the desires burning in your eyes. You’re searching for something although I don’t know what. I’ll help you achieve it, to the best of my abilities. You resemble my younger self a lot. You’re a very, very rare gem that has yet to be polished and I would like to help in that sculpting. I have decided I want to teach you, to guide you. But before that, can I ask you something?”
Leo was confused by his words. The man in front of him was very powerful, not on the level of royal guards but still very powerful. He has a very fluent tongue, if I wasn’t wary of him I would’ve already accepted the offer. A man like him won’t even bother to think twice to betray those beneath him for a bigger profit. “Sure ask me, but teach me? You? Uhm I know it is a great opportunity but I have to think about it. I’m lacking, I know. I just think I want to find my own strength.”
Eden laughed halfheartedly. “Alright. What I was going to ask you was if you know what that thing inside of you is?” Leo didn’t expect this question. The boy had his assumptions of what it could be but nothing was sure.
Eden continued: “I’ve wandered on this continent for many years when I was younger but I’ve never seen something like that. The aura it gave off was… Unique. What you morphed into was something so impure that even the gods won’t want to look at it, something that even the brightest stars won’t shine upon. Enough about that, I’ll take my leave, I wouldn’t want to postpone a reunion or a certain someone would start yelling. It was a stupid question, of course you wouldn’t know.”
Reunion? Before Leo even had the chance to realize or ask Eden he was already at the door and opened it. The wooden door swung open and something the height of Eden’s belly wormed itself between the Exiled’s leader’s body and the opening. At a great speed it sprinted towards Leo. The boy smiled unknowingly as he realized it was Akino.“Leo!”, she shouted excitedly as she jumped in his arms. When Leo embraced the girl and looked up at the door Eden had already left.