The third sector of Alfino was like the belly of a living beast.
A deep mine,
its walls black and cracked,
the sounds of hammers mixing with the groans of slaves.
Riley and Askaron worked side by side.
Two heavy rocks on their backs,
hands cracked from endless labor.
Despite the exhaustion…
Askaron broke the silence.
Askaron:
"Riley…
if you ever had a chance to escape hell… what would you do?"
Riley didn't lift his head as he worked.
Riley:
"I don't know…"
Then he added in a low voice:
"Even when I escaped in my previous life…
I didn't know where to go."
Askaron paused for a moment.
Askaron:
"You didn't go to a village?
Didn't become an adventurer?
Didn't hunt monsters?"
Riley shook his head.
Riley:
"No…
I don't even know the name of the region I was in.
I only knew the forest."
Askaron froze.
He looked at him in genuine shock.
Askaron:
"That's impossible…"
He lowered his voice:
"You left the castle at nine years old…
and lived sixty-six years without knowing the world?"
Riley swallowed.
Askaron sighed deeply, then said:
"The region where you were born is called
Alstaria."
Riley looked at him with interest.
Askaron:
"Two noble families rule it:
your family… Askronom.
And the Jib family… a noble house that relies on magic."
He paused briefly, then added:
"And in Alstaria… there is one of the greatest magic academies.
From it come the greatest mages and swordsmen,
and from there they head to the largest adventurer guilds."
Riley's eyes widened.
But before he could speak—
A scream tore through the place.
A slave had stopped working…
fell to his knees, begging.
The slave guard did not hesitate.
A black blade flashed…
and a head fell to the ground.
Blood flowed between the rocks.
The guard looked directly at Riley and Askaron.
Guard:
"Work."
Both of them lowered their heads immediately.
Fear dragged them back to reality.
After the shift ended…
They sat in a dark corner of the sector.
Their bodies were exhausted,
but Askaron was focused.
Askaron (in a low voice):
"Now…
I'll teach you how to touch your element."
Riley looked at him expectantly.
Askaron:
"Close your eyes.
Imagine a black void…
and in its center, a white sphere floating calmly."
Riley closed his eyes.
He tried…
and failed.
He tried the next day…
and failed.
Days…
weeks…
and he saw nothing but darkness.
Frustration began to consume him.
Riley (in a broken voice):
"Maybe… I don't have an element."
But Askaron didn't back down.
Askaron:
"Keep going."
More long days passed…
And one night—
He saw it.
A white sphere…
weak…
floating in the darkness.
He reached out with his mind…
and grasped it.
But—
The sphere changed.
It darkened.
It turned into a dense blackness…
deeper than darkness itself.
Riley opened his eyes, gasping.
Riley:
"Askaron…
its color… is black."
Askaron froze.
Askaron:
"Black?"
He grew uneasy.
"There is no black element…"
Fear began to creep into Riley's chest.
Riley:
"So… does that mean I have no element?"
Askaron hesitated, then said quickly:
"No…
Try releasing a spark.
From your finger."
Riley focused…
felt a strange heat in his chest…
And suddenly—
A very small flame
came out of his finger.
But it wasn't red.
It was…
black.
Askaron's eyes widened.
Then he smiled faintly.
Askaron:
"Fire…
but in a color I've never seen before."
He placed his hand on Riley's shoulder.
"Congratulations…
your element is fire."
Riley's face lit up for the first time since entering hell.
Riley:
"Finally…"
But suddenly—
A voice came from afar.
A strange voice…
calling:
"Riley…
Askaron…"
They froze in place.
The darkness around them moved.
And the chapter ends.