Present
"I was an unstoppable force back then."
The dragon slowly nodded its massive head, understanding his words.
Zen smiled faintly.
"You were too."
For a moment, silence filled the air.
Then Zen suddenly began laughing.
The heavy tension that always surrounded him seemed to fade for a brief moment.
"After all… you're the only family I have left."
He gently placed his hand on the dragon's head.
"Indra."
The great thunder dragon lowered its head slightly as Zen began to pet it.
Its scales crackled softly with faint sparks of lightning.
Zen's eyes softened.
"After all…"
"We protected each other back then."
Zen stretched his arms slightly and looked toward his dragon.
"Let's go buy some Shantipatra for me."
The massive thunder dragon beside him slowly turned its head.
Indra let out a low rumbling sound, almost like a sigh.
"You humans…" the dragon said, his deep voice carrying a hint of annoyance.
"I will never understand why you like getting that high."
Zen chuckled softly.
"You already know my reasons, Indra."
For a moment, silence fell between them.
Zen's expression slowly became more serious.
Past
After the massacre…
Zen was never the same again.
Even though he had taken revenge on the village and the king, the memories never left him.
Every night…
Every moment of silence…
He could hear them.
Countless voices.
Some of them were begging for forgiveness.
Others cursed him.
Some screamed.
Some cried.
The echoes of the people he had killed never stopped haunting his mind.
It felt as if the battlefield still lived inside his head.
There were nights when he could not sleep.
Days when the memories returned so strongly that he could almost see the faces of those he had slaughtered.
And no matter how much revenge he had taken…
The voices never disappeared.
To escape those voices, Zen searched for something that could calm his mind.
That search eventually led him to a distant land known across the continent.
A peaceful kingdom.
A place where warriors and travellers went to heal their minds.
The Kingdom of Velmoria.
A land famous for its calm temples, silent forests… and one of the craziest doctors in the world.
Back then, I never imagined that I would meet someone like him.
To be honest…
I think he was the reason I managed to come this far.
The crazy doctor — Logan Chi.
A man who had dedicated his entire life to medicine.
Not for fame.
Not for money.
But for a single goal.
To become a doctor capable of curing every disease humanity had ever faced.
Many people called him insane.
Some called him a genius.
But everyone in Velmoria knew one thing about him.
If there was a problem with the human body…
Logan Chi would find a way to fix it.
And strangely enough…
He was the only man who wasn't afraid of me.
Even after hearing the rumors.
Even after learning who I was.
Instead of fearing me…
He simply looked at me with curiosity.
Like I was just another patient.
I still remember the day I first met him.
It was inside his small, messy clinic in the Kingdom of Velmoria.
The place didn't look like a normal doctor's clinic at all.
Glass bottles filled with strange liquids were scattered everywhere. Shelves were packed with herbs, bones, tools, and piles of messy notes.
The entire room smelled like medicine, smoke, and something burnt.
And in the middle of that chaos…
There he was.
The crazy doctor — Logan Chi.
When I walked inside, he was performing some kind of experiment on his own body.
Needles were stuck into his arm, strange metal devices were attached to his chest, and he was writing notes while examining himself like he was some kind of machine.
For a moment, I just stood there watching him.
Then suddenly he noticed me.
The moment our eyes met…
He started laughing.
Not a normal laugh.
A loud, excited laugh like he had just discovered something interesting.
I looked at him and asked calmly,
"Are you the crazy doctor everyone keeps talking about?"
Logan Chi wiped his hands on a cloth and smiled.
"Yes, mister."
Then he looked at me carefully.
"But may I ask who you are… and why you are here?"
"My name is Zen Amberfield."
"I came here for a checkup."
Logan raised his eyebrows slightly.
"Zen Amberfield, huh?"
"Well then, please take a seat."
Both of us sat down across from each other.
For a moment he just stared at me.
Then he suddenly started laughing again.
"You know… most people hesitate before entering this clinic."
"Some even run away after seeing my experiments."
I looked around the messy room.
"That explains why they call you crazy."
Logan smiled.
"Crazy?"
"No."
"I simply don't fear death."
He casually picked up a small knife from the table and twirled it between his fingers.
"I have experimented on my own body hundreds of times."
"Replaced organs, injected strange medicines, even stopped my own heartbeat once just to see what would happen."
He leaned back in his chair.
"When you live like that for long enough…"
"You stop being afraid of dying."
Then he looked at me with curious eyes.
"So tell me, Zen Amberfield."
"What exactly is wrong with you?"
I didn't answer immediately.
But he was already observing me carefully.
After a few moments he spoke again.
"Interesting…"
"There is something inside you."
I frowned.
"What do you mean?"
Logan leaned forward slightly.
"There is a suspicious demon inside your body."
"That demon is giving you infinite mana and power."
"But at the same time…"
He tapped the table slowly.
"It is slowly eating your soul."
The room became quiet.
Then he pointed toward a small pouch of dried green leaves.
"Shantipatra."
"Smoke it."
"It will calm your mind."
"It weakens the connection between your soul and the demon."
"It won't remove the demon…"
"But it will silence it."
He looked directly into my eyes.
"And those nightmares you keep having…"
"They will appear less often."
For the first time in years…
Someone had finally explained what was happening to me.
And strangely enough…
The man who understood it better than anyone else…
Was the craziest doctor in the world.
Logan Chi.
After that, three months had passed.
During those three months, everything about me had changed.
My skills had reached a completely different level. Every day I pushed myself harder than before, training my body and sharpening my abilities. The power inside me kept growing stronger, and with every passing day I learned how to control it a little better.
The nightmares were still there… but thanks to Shantipatra, they had become quieter.
Slowly, word about me began to spread.
At first, it was only whispers carried by travelers and merchants moving between cities. Then mercenaries started telling stories about a man who could wipe out entire groups of enemies alone.
Before long, my name had spread across the entire world.
Zen Amberfield.
Some people spoke my name with fear.
Others spoke it with curiosity.
But wherever I went, one title followed me.
"The Smoking Demon."
Because people always saw the same thing.
A man walking calmly through chaos, surrounded by the drifting smoke of Shantipatra.
Some people were afraid of me.
Some weren't.
But to be honest…
I didn't give a fuck about any of that.
Fear, rumors, reputation — none of it mattered to me.
All that mattered was moving forward.
And then one day…
I met someone who would change the direction of my journey.
One of the most powerful men in the world.
A Divine Warden.
The leader himself.
The King of the Kingdom of Flowers.
And that meeting…
Would change everything.