LUCIUS
'What was that? Thunder Zone? As in Mana Zone?!' I immediately questioned internally, as Zero Dawn- I mean—my new lord and saviour—mumbled something vague to himself. Although I did hear the enchantment, I couldn't quite register the last word he muttered, simply unable to catch it.. As if I were prevented from hearing that particular word, or sequence...
The same light that Zero Dawn had wrapped around himself burst outward in an instant—probably even less than that—as it easily blinded my eye and deafened my ears... The entire realm around me? Poof. Gone, disappeared just like that.
The sequence that followed was strange even to notice.' The brilliant light was exceptionally quickly replaced by darkness. Absolute darkness. So black, it felt like someone had painted a whiteboard with pitch-black paint—instantly, within a millisecond, lightning fast, just like Zero Dawn.
I wasn't even sure if I was truly seeing what unfolded before me. The entire darkness felt eerily familiar yet undeniably foreign. As if it had been forged from both known and unknown—mine and theirs.
That strangeness, however, gave me a moment to reflect. A moment to understand and analyse the conversations and events I had just gone through.
To think—the Mighty Dragon Emperor of Verdun was still alive... Were the myths and legends simply wrong? Or misleading? Or had they just assumed Zero Dawn died alongside Acronis, because he never returned from the battlefield?
I guess those old legends and storytellers were just as ignorant and clueless as the rest of the population, both from a thousand years ago and the masses now. Idolising this son of a bitch like he was some god...
And to think I had once idolised this guy myself. My own glorified saviour. How stupid of me. And of everyone else who shared the same blind belief.
This man was just as vile as the emperor before Ashoka—the one responsible for tormenting both commoners and Nmanas beyond human limits...
'...' I sighed, or at least did the whole motion of sighing... 'Who am I kidding?' To think I dared compare the Dragon Emperor to that guy of all individuals...
No—Zero Dawn didn't really hate them. In fact, he seemed to hold a bit of sympathy for the Nmanas when I mentioned the Wraiths might have been Nmanas—before reawakening or transforming or whatever the hell made them so dark and terrifying...
Still, in the end, I got what I wanted. I did ask for another chance—even half a chance—under any condition, and I succeeded in pursuing the great lord of the dragons.
But truth be told, I didn't expect him to act the way he did. Especially not after I kept believing those glorified shit-stories about him being some mighty yet humble, considerate emperor.
No, this guy simply bestowed me the chance, just like I had asked, begged for, with the very same conditions I had allowed him to knot me with.
And now that I think about it... It's not even his fault.
I mean, I was the one who basically screamed: "Make me your fucking servant if that's what it takes for you to even consider giving me another chance at life—even a half-a-consideration!"
And guess what? He did exactly as I asked of him... Because without something to gain, Zero Dawn wouldn't bother with someone like me either. Plus, the fact that he's been my Guardian Demon for almost a decade now... Why? Why look after me? He already mentioned he wasn't my parent or someone who cared about me, so then why protect, guard, and even guide me for so long?
Those questions, along with a thousand more, can only be answered by him—when I meet him again, in his own domain this time, after a month of my awakening.
Awakening, huh? I wondered, as my body felt like it was floating inside this ocean of darkness. No sensation around my body—just an internal voice inside me keeping me occupied. Though something had changed, I could tell. I was lying down, horizontally, as if I were on top of a water body, floating freely in this completely dark, blinding... yet somehow peaceful environment...
"So, I get to live, huh?" I remembered, as I felt the faintest amount of happiness brewing inside me. I'll get to meet my loved ones—my Sara and Sia—again. I won't have to die in that cursed region... And for that fact and bestowal alone, I'll spare Zero Dawn from the thousand curses I had pre-planned to make him experience—half of them invented after his supposed demise.
As the moments passed, I felt a slight twitch around my chest region. It was faint, but undeniably present... even remarkable, as there was nothing else to notice or observe except the endless seas of darkness... Though what was that? I asked myself, as I tried to focus again, not allowing my sole functioning organ—my brain—to drift elsewhere.
The sensation returned after what felt like an eternity. Then once again. Then again. And again. In a proper sequence, each one takes less and less time to return, to repeat.
"...Is that my heartbeat?" That realisation alone confirmed that it indeed was my heartbeat, as the realisation itself triggered the sensation a few more times, this time with excitement.
Although my heartbeat was becoming more and more significant and evident, it wasn't the only thing resonating in my chest anymore, as the following sensation cruelly reminded me of my condition—my actual condition—thanks to that damned Chimaera, as the heartaches were the next to follow and reintroduce themselves.
My mind quickly went from "Let's fucking go!" to "bloody hell!"—switching almost instantly. And of course, that wasn't the end of it. Slowly but surely, I could feel each and every part of my body returning, with a ton of pain, and only a fraction of happiness.
I get to live. Another chance at life. Another shot at becoming the one for my loved ones... and even my empire.
But at what cost? I asked myself, as the pain kept growing, becoming excruciating.
And when such pain only keeps increasing, without the ability to yell, scream, or roll around, it becomes pure, undeserved agony. A dry, tearless cycle of pain that just gets worse with every passing moment.
The pain was also creative, twisted enough to let me experience different forms and stages of it. My entire body had been smashed, bashed, burned, and poisoned—then smashed again. Tossed around, hurled against trees, sliced and torn apart by that Chimaera—over and over.
Just remembering those events almost made me wish I were still stuck inside that dream. The one I had created. Where I was happy and void of this pain.
Yet this was exactly what I had talked about—the absence of pain and dread, both essential in my life and in reality.
Within the next few moments, I had almost regained all the senses I possessed—just like every other human. And with that, came the reminder of my lost arm—in the most agonising way possible.
I kept feeling the terror of losing it—sliced off my body—a thousand times over.
This time, I at least had the luxury of being able to cry and scream with all my heart. Almost making my throat collapse into itself—sinking deep into my chest, just above my burned and poisoned lungs.
Breathing was just the cherry on top. A repetitive process like the heartbeat, just as agonising and cruel.
Though unlike my heartbeat, I could at least control it to some extent—ease it slightly for a brief moment. Depriving my body of oxygen but also blessing it with pain, just a fraction less than what it was enduring moments ago.
"God, I miss that realm now," I mumbled to no one in particular, as I remembered just how fortunate I had been to escape this pain and suffering.
The next—perhaps the last for today—was the dessert. The syrup you add after putting the cherry on top.
My mana core.
Every single cycle, every circulation I experienced inside it was simply...
You know what? I won't even bother explaining. Repeating the same stuff again and again and... again.
Though I can say this, it got much more livable once I gained the ability to activate Absolute Zero.
Immediately halting the cascade of pain that should've crippled me from within a million times over.
The consequences? I don't give a shit about them. Because I know for a fact, my mana core was already gravely injured.
Sustaining multiple internal slashes—before Forza had even arrived to finish the job.
"Oouu..." I managed to mumble to myself amidst the internal chaos, unsure of how things are gonna turn out from here onwards. Still, I'm glad it was subdued, for only Gods knows how long.