Prologue Part 18
Later that night, Matteo was in his room preparing for bed. He brushed his teeth, changed into his night robes and was nestled in his bed with a storybook on his lap. As he read the words he couldn't help but feel a pang of loneliness, I mean after all, his mother used to read and tell him stories before bed, and she always made it so fun as well. Each night was a completely different story that brought with it a different mood and method of storytelling which always kept him entertained. But it was all over now. Reading these pages now made him feel bored and sad.
So shortly after picking up the book he closed it, put it away then got back into bed and tried to fall asleep. But before he could really make himself comfortable, his body was once again hit with that excruciating pain and he howled and shrieked, making noises no human should even be able to make. Sylvia and a few other servants burst through the sliding door and were met with him screaming and crying on the floor, with all his veins popping out. They all gathered around him and helped him up but the pain would not leave. Soon, he was coughing up blood and Thomas had to be called.
***
"Matteo, control your spirituality!" Thomas instructed him. "I-It hurts!" Matteo cried out. "Of course it hurts, this was what you wanted remember!? Now hurry up and control your spirituality!"
Matteo closed his eyes and tried to focus on controlling his spirituality. And after a few minutes of hard struggle, he finally managed to get himself under control. "For the next few days you are prohibited from sleeping. You are only to focus on controlling your spirituality at all times. Once I have finished with work I will begin training you to avoid corrupting yourself." Thomas said as he left.
Once Matteo's pains had cooled down, he was sat down on his bed and given a glass of water. Sylvia stayed behind to take care of him for the rest of the night. "Please explain to me what happened." She asked as he gulped down his water. Matteo paused for a moment then replied, "I just started planting the Heart of Seneva, mama's Spirit Seed. But… It hurts. It hurts really bad."
Sylvia pitied the poor child. She didn't have any knowledge or experience on the Spirit Inheritance system or any of the seeds, so the only thing she could do was say, "I'm sorry." She got up to replace his glass of water and now left alone in his room, not allowed to sleep, he decided to go back into his Spirit Tree to get some more of his questions answered. He sat on the floor, relaxed himself completely and focused solely on his spirituality. A few moments later, he had completely lost consciousness and entered his Spirit Tree
***
Now back inside, Matteo was too focused on his objective to take in the surroundings again. He walked up the steps past the two pillars but just as he passed them he heard a voice calling from behind him. "You foolish child." Matteo looked back but he didn't see anything new. He then looked up from behind him and right there sitting atop one of the pillars was the ghost.
"You're back." Matteo said, hiding his relief. "What were you thinking planting the heart of that monster?" The ghost said as he pointed to The Heart of Seneva. Matteo replied, "It was mama's seed so I wanted it."
The ghost hung its head and sighed, "To think humans were such pathetic beings. Truly disappointing."
Something snapped inside Matteo.
"It's your fault that my mother died so shut up!"
"Watch your language, child." the ghost said with a gasp. Then it began laughing at him.
"What's so funny?" Matteo demanded to know.
The ghost took a few seconds to calm itself down before replying, "You are such an entertaining little thing. I could play with you for centuries."
Matteo grumbled, completely powerless against the figure before him. The ghost asked, "Why are you here?" Matteo replied, "This is my Spirit Tree, so why are you here?" The ghost sighed, "Unfortunately I cannot answer your question."
"And why not?" Matteo became even more annoyed. "Last time you said that I had a limit on the questions I could ask. I only asked you one question so far, so answer me". The ghost smirked before answering, "All right, fair enough. However I really cannot tell you. It's still too dangerous for you to know something like that."
"Why?" Matteo snapped. "You have two more questions left to ask me, so think very carefully about what you want to know. I can tell you came here looking for me so you definitely have something that you want to know. Are you really going to waste your limited chances on irrelevant knowledge?"
This calmed Matteo down a bit. The ghost was right after all, Matteo had come looking for it. And the reason he was looking for it was because he mainly wanted to know,
"Do you know what my special seed is?" The smirk returned to the ghost's smoky lips. "There we go, just what I've been waiting to hear." then it continued, "Yes, I know exactly what your special seed is, what it does, how many others there are and how you can attain and plant all of them."
Matteo lit up with curiosity, he almost asked how many of them there were, but knew that he was on his last question. So, he had to think about what exactly he wanted to know next, especially since there was a chance the ghost wasn't willing to answer him for whatever reason. After a few seconds of pondering, he decided on his final question for the time being,
"Well, can you tell me what one of them is?"
The ghost paused for a moment, seemingly in thought then replied, "There is no point in me answering that right now. You decided to try and plant the Heart of Seneva without telling me so now we have to wait until you finish before we can move on. Thanks a lot, you foolish child."
"Stop calling me that!" Matteo protested. "Why should I?" The ghost answered back, "You are a fool and so I called you a fool. If you don't like me calling you that, then maybe you should stop acting like one."
Matteo grumbled again but before he could say anything else, the ghost beat him to it. "Well, I guess our meeting ends here. Your questions are done so there is nothing else we can talk about now." The ghost disappeared off the pillar then reappeared just in front of Matteo. "I will not be coming back here until you finish planting that seed. Try not to die before then. Bye bye" it waved with a smile before disappearing finally.
Now all alone with no reason left to be there, Matteo exited his Spirit Tree and went back to the regular world. Even though he wasn't allowed to sleep, he managed to negotiate an hour of rest with Sylvia.
However, a few minutes into their sneaky little nap, Matteo's sliding door slammed open, nearly giving Sylvia a heart attack as she jumped up from her sleep. But when she saw who opened the door, her chances of heart failure skyrocketed with each passing second. "U-um, my apologies, Lord Dumont. I know you said he was not allowed to sleep after what happened, the child looked so exhausted that I just couldn't deny him anymore. B-but I promise nothing happened."
Thomas didn't respond to her and instead stretched his palm out to Matteo. Soon, water slowly formed around his palm. He threw the water at Matteo, who shot up from the shock of cold water hitting his body. For a second, he thought might have been dreaming, the splintering pain that came from his chest as he choked said otherwise.
"Did I not tell you that you were forbidden from sleeping for the night?" Thomas finally said. Sylvia interjected, "Um, I'm sorry, my Lord, but he was just so tired, I-I had to let him sleep even if just for an hour or so". Thomas faced her and said coldly,
"I do not believe that this situation has anything to do with a servant such as yourself. You have already disobeyed my orders once, so get out of my sight before I lose my restraint."
"Y-yes sir!" Sylvia ran out of that room. "You, get up. Come with me to the Pavillion right now." Matteo got up and stumbled multiple times while trying to keep his balance. His mind was still dizzy and so were his perceived surroundings. But he made it to the pavilion.
It was so unbelievably dark outside and the sun showed no signs of making even the faintest appearance any time soon. It was so unbelievably cold as well, especially for Matteo who had just been splashed with near freezing cold water. And it was so unbelievably quiet, that every step he took, and every shiver that came from his body echoed across the entire Pavillion.
Another set of footsteps sounded from behind him as Thomas entered. "Alright, listen up. You've now put the both of us in quite an annoying situation. If you don't get a hold of your spirituality and plant that seed of yours, you'll die. Do you understand."
Matteo still shivered, "Y… yes." (Slap!) The back of four cold fingers slammed against the side of his face at blistering speed. "That's yes sir to you, understood?" Matteo nodded as fast as he could "Y-yes sir."
Thomas continued, "Do you want to die?" Matteo shook his head slowly. "I can't hear you!" "No sir." Matteo whimpered.
"Good" Thomas continued, "From now until the day you die, you will train. Not just to help you control yourself but also to make sure you become the strongest and most perfect version of yourself. You harbor the greatest potential inside you. Greater than anybody I've ever trained or worked with before, and I will make sure that potential is fully realized by any means necessary. You are Matteo Dumont, heir to the Dumont family, the sword, spear and backbone of Callistéa. You are also the direct successor to the greatest and most powerful human there's ever been. Do you understand?"
"Yes… s-sir."
"Stand up straight!" Thomas shouted. Matteo reflexively fixed his posture, standing upright with both his hands at his sides. His teeth clattered, his arms were covered in goosebumps and his entire body trembled.
"Now, let us finally begin. You will start with a three laps around the house, then you will move on to push-ups, pull ups and squats," he chuckled a bit, "You can be lucky you're still a baby. That's all we'll do for today. Now begin!"
Matteo began sprinting out of the Pavillion, aiming to circle across the entire house to complete his first lap. However his initial burst only lasted a few seconds and he was stopped by his already exhausted body.
"Why are you stopping? You didn't even leave the pavilion, move it!" Matteo had no choice but to comply. He forced himself forward but struggled to do any more than jog. "Faster! You're still here!" Thomas shouted from behind him.
The cold air hit Matteo in all over. He had the nastiest stomach cramp and had to clutch at his side while now basically speed walking. He was freezing cold and exhausted, but he couldn't stop, not even for a second. He wanted to scream and cry and run away from there but he was too scared to, who knew what would happen to him if he did.
Just as he was about to exit the Pavillion, his little under grown body finally gave out . Matteo now gasped for air on the cold wet ground gasping for air. This was the first time he had ever done physical exercise, and it was clear he wasn't as proficient at that as he was at mental exercises like learning.
He stayed on the ground for a few more seconds, his hearing was muffled and he was so thirsty, he licked the wet grass. But then, just as things were finally starting to get better, he was struck lightly on the head. He covered his head and turned his body to see Thomas standing over him. He didn't need to speak for Matteo to know he had to get up immediately.
He dragged himself up, took one last big breath and ran out of the Pavillion, dreading whatever was to come after his "warm-up".