Crimson Core

She stood in the small space; she seemed to be in a cell.

“Save…me…” A small, weak voice was heard behind her. That was odd because she had scanned the room before she heard the voice and saw no one.

Now a child was crying in the corner of the room. “What is the problem?” Samantha was really compassionate. She felt the boy’s pain.

Meanwhile in the room, Samantha was sweating profusely. It appeared that she was expending a lot of energy and effort keeping it together.

“Will she be, okay?” Darcy was worried about her. Kai could see that the two girls had bonded over time; it was good.

“Yes, she would be fine. I trust her.” Formerly, Kai had unexpectedly trapped King Sullivan’s soul into the scythe after Lord Marshall had killed him.

Although he was trapped, King Sullivan’s soul was strong. It toiled and tussled all the time; it wanted to go somewhere. Initially Kai had left it because he did not actually see any use for it; he had planned on giving Samantha the scythe like that.

It was not until recently that he found a way to tame it. In his vast knowledge, he came across a book that spoke of it.

That part of the book talked about blood weapons and everything about them. It showed that if a weapon was forged from the blood of a mage, it took on the abilities of the mage, no matter what weapon or object was forged.

Another part of the book also said that when the mage with which the weapon was forged dies, the forged object acts as a magnet for that mage’s soul. The moment that the mage dies and their soul enters the weapon, it ceases to be a peak gold rank weapon but steps into the rank of the gods.

Kai kept studying that book. It showed him how to calm the souls of the mages with which the weapons were formed, as they tend to be aggressive after death. Kai went with the instructions of the book and forced his consciousness into the scythe.

The moment he penetrated the weapon, he entered into a tedious and draining confrontation with the soul of King Sullivan. Although in an actual sense Kai’s soul was at least two thousand years old, it was dormant for most of the time, giving Sullivan an upper hand in the battle of souls.

It also turned out that King Sullivan also had his soul fused with one of the clone souls of God, king Amal for longer. That fact alone nullified Kai’s trump card.

The battle went on between the two souls for a long time, at most a couple of hours. Or so Kai thought.

Sullivan appeared to be winning this fight, but it was not all that simple. If Sullivan won, he would take over Kai’s body, and Kai would stay within the space. The thought of Kai never seeing the light of day and the thought of never seeing Chelsea again simply drove him mad.

Kai went berserk at the last moment. It was at this time that his two thousand years of being a stone came back to him. The days and nights, the weeks, the years, the centuries—all the time he spent in that forest haunted him... He never wanted to experience that ever again.

As he witnessed Kai’s rage, King Sullivan was overcome with fear. His thoughts had become muddled and distorted, and he began to experience delusions about his previous encounter with Kai before his death. The memory of Kai’s sinister smile and terrifying voice left Sullivan deeply shaken. Despite his reputation as a fearless leader, this experience was a powerful reminder of the true meaning of fear.

It didn’t take long for Kai to beat the living daylight out of him. Kai had become victorious over Sullivan. Something else happened as he looked at the soul of Sullivan; he began to reduce in size and age backwards visibly.

The young boy was so timid that he just folded himself up and stayed in a corner. It was a heartbreaking sight to witness; one who had not witnessed his transformation would surely take pity on him. Kai looked upon him with a smug expression; he had done his part.

Next, Kai took Samantha under his wing and trained her in the art of the scythe. He didn’t actually teach her; he just had some warrior teach her. He wasn’t omnipotent.

Unexpectedly, Kai had spent ten days in the enclosed space; it seemed to distort time. Kai deduced that every hour spent in the sky was equivalent to a day in the real world.

‘This would come in handy someday.’ Kai said to himself after he had deduced that fact.

Back to the present, Samantha had a calm expression on her face as she had her consciousness inside the weapon in her hand.

“Why don’t we leave her. Come with me; I have something to discuss with you.” Kai said to Darcy.

Darcy’s expression had softened when she saw that Samantha was no longer profusely sweating. “OK.”

Kai and Darcy left the room. Before Darcy closed the door, she threw a cursory glance at Samantha and sighed before joining him.

Kai said nothing as they walked. He walked down the hallway with his hands folded behind his back. Kai’s broad back was all Darcy could see; seeing him in front of her gave her a sense of safety.

Kai had grown into the shoes Syther set for him. His soul had been corrupted, and the feeling of pride was second to none; he wanted to be above all… Even though it was unintentional.

Originally Kai had been fighting it, although his grip on his soul was slowly slipping away but he still held it strong until that day. He was only strong enough; the uncontrollable emotions he experienced when Chelsea had died took away all the constraints he had on himself.

He didn’t express any emotions, not because he did not want to; he just did not know how. The feeling he had that day was beyond anything he had ever felt before; it was more intense than anything he had ever felt.

That day he let himself go, giving Cipher the liberty to change Kai from inside out. Kai and Darcy arrived promptly at the garden where Lord Marshall was known to spend his time. In preparation for their arrival, two chairs had already been set up for them.

“I need you to sit with me. There are important things that we need to discuss.” Kai was rather delicate with his words; he seemed to pick his words one by one as he spoke.

He pointed towards a seat beside the one he was sitting on for Darcy to sit on. “I am all ears.” Darcy was tense.

“Tea?” Kai had to calm her nerves; he could see she was already tense. To distract her, he offered tea.

“Oh, yes; I would care for some tea.” Darcy understood what Kai had In mind as he offered her tea. Despite his attempt to calm her, she became even more tense.

Kai pored her some tea into a tea cup and handed it to her. “I see that you are tense; don’t be.”

Darcy was about to sip her cinnamon tea, but hearing his words, she stopped. “you noticed?”

“I did. It’s hard for you to hide things from me, you know,” Kai said as he sipped his tea. “The scenery is beautiful, isn’t it?”

The question was odd, but it dawned on her that she had not actually taken the time to look at the view before her. The view was not simply beautiful; it was breathtaking.

“It—it is; it is very beautiful.” Darcy finally said.

“You didn’t notice this beautiful scenery before you; do you know why?” Kai asked as he too looked towards the large expanse of green land.

Darcy was smart; she knew what had prevented her from absorbing the beauty of the scenery before her. “I was too focused on finding out the reason you called me out.”

Kai was elated that he did not overestimate his first mate. “Very good, but what else?” Darcy was thrown off balance by that question; she had not expected it. How was she supposed to know what Kai was thinking? After a few moments of silence, Kai decided to speak up. “It’s alright, I didn’t expect you to answer that; I just wanted you to think critically about it.”

“OK.”

“Look at this; this beautiful scenery was right before you this whole time, but you didn’t notice it. Not because you didn’t find it beautiful but because you had been distracted. There are things in front of you but the things you want are obstructing your path.” After saying this, Kai kept silent to let the information sink in.

After some time of thinking, Kai said, “The things you want are meant for you from the beginning, but with whom it comes from or who you do it with can differ. But your fate is yours, your dreams are yours, and your ambitions are yours. Decide carefully how you want to use it.”

Darcy was silent; she wanted to understand fully what Kai was implying. His words seemed to cause a bit of unrest within her soul.

Kai let his words sink in; he kept silent and sipped his cinnamon tea. ‘This place really is beautiful,’ Kai thought.

The view was truly magnificent. The scenery before Kai looked like something that came out of a painting.

“Thank you. I will think deeply about them.” Darcy whispered, but loud enough for Kai to hear it.

“Mm hmm.” Kai simply smiled as he hummed his agreement to the words that came out of Darcy’s mouth.

The two mages sat in the garden as the sun was close to setting. The orangeish-red rays of sunlight gave the whole garden an illusory fire; it looked surreal.

Kai had definitely found some relaxation now. He had been tense since he and Darcy walked out of Darcy’s room. He was worried that Samantha would not make it; he was scared that she would be dominated by Sullivan’s soul.

If she failed, she could try again, but if she was dominated, that would be a near-unsalvageable situation.

“Let us go; she is back,” Kai said.

Darcy was oblivious to Kai’s words. She was so close to a higher assimilation of the fire law. Kai saw this and decided not to disturb her; only a few blessed mages could attain a higher assimilation of their elemental laws.

This phenomenon was so rare that even amongst the blessed mages, the majority of them had experienced it once in their lifetime. Legend has it that the blessed mages who assimilated a part of their elemental law were revered as unstoppable forces of nature. Their name and deeds echoed throughout the ages, inspiring countless generations to pursue the same path of greatness.

Time seemed to fly past as he watched Darcy. It didn’t seem to take long before Darcy’s eyes had a tongue of fire in each of them.

Although it didn’t seem like much, Darcy had just gone ahead of every fire mage presently alive in the aspect of potential. Kai had a smile on his face that said I couldn’t just wait to see how this would turn out.

After a bit of time, Kai and Darcy were on their way to the room where Samantha was. They opened the door to see Samantha floating in the air, and a non-existent wind was blowing her hair; it looked as if she was possessed. The tiny scythe Kai had given her had expanded and was now floating vertically beside her.

The red scythe beside Samantha gave off a sinister and bloodthirsty aura. This was a god-rank weapon; the sinister aura was their trademark.

“Stop! Don’t do what you are thinking of doing,” Kai held Darcy’s hand to stop her from going to Samantha’s side. “…If you get close to her, you will be torn to shreds. You won’t even know how you died.”

Darcy had cold sweat run down her spine. The fact that Kai held her hand to stop her instead of calling out to her to stop meant that it was very serious.

Kai noticed the change in Darcy’s appearance and decided to let her go. ‘She is wise.’ Kai had a smile on his face; he had not made a mistake.

Soon enough, Samantha stopped floating and fell on her bed slowly… Kai’s subordinates had been reborn.

“You can go to her now.” Kai urged Darcy; he could see the longing desire to check on Samantha in her eyes.

“Thank you,” Darcy said as she rushed to Samantha’s side. All of a sudden and out of the blue, Darcy stopped in her tracks. There was something wrong; Darcy was frozen in place. She was simply scared sh*tless.

“Come on, it won’t hurt you. I am here.” Words of assurance came from Kai, who was behind her.

Kai’s words gave her strength; she steeled her resolve and walked towards Samantha. Darcy walked so slowly; she was delicate with her steps. She walked as though a gold-ranked beast was sleeping beside Samantha. If only it were that easy.

The scythe beside Samantha was intricately shaped; the inscriptions on it seemed to pulsate, as if the scythe were a living being.

Darcy stopped looking at it and rushed to Samantha to see how she was doing. Fortunately, Samantha was well, at least she was well physically; she was just exhausted.

“Take care of her... and don’t touch the scythe. I would not want to get a new subordinate.” As Kai walked out of the room, he had a huge grin. It looked like he was feeling really happy at that moment!

Darcy was mortified; she knew what he meant. She knelt in place and didn’t move for some moments; she had to let the possibility of what could happen to her sink in.

“Darcy? Is that you?”

Darcy was drawn back into the present as she heard Samantha call out to her from below her, “Yes, mm... It’s me. You are really OK; how do you feel?” Darcy really tried to hold back her tears.

"Actually, I feel great; I made a new friend!” Samantha was beginning to gain color; it seemed Darcy was worried for nothing.

“Oh, you made a friend?” Darcy said with a smile. A single teardrop fell from her eye as she held the vibrant Samantha.

"Yes, I made a friend; maybe you can meet him later. He is shy. At that moment, Samantha saw that Darcy was sad.

Samantha didn’t know what had made her cry; she was only gone for a few minutes, or so she thought. Samantha took it upon herself to console Darcy for whatever reason she was sad.

“…Darcy,”

“Yes, Samantha? Do you need something?”

“Yes, I need something.” Samantha was subtle with her words.

Hearing that she needed something, Darcy asked anxiously. “Tell me what it is. What do you nee—ughff.”

Samantha had suddenly hugged Darcy; she had not expected this. “Shh… I will always be here with you. I won’t leave you. I promise.” Samantha held Darcy even tighter to let those words sink in.

It had been a long time since Darcy felt this warmth within her. Although subtle and unnoticeable, something had changed within her; for the first time she felt connected with someone other than her sister; it felt good.

After some time of hugging each other tightly, Samantha finally let go. For a brief moment, their eyes crossed, and they were locked onto each other. Time stopped as they looked into each other’s eyes; they gazed into each other’s souls for a brief moment. Unexpectedly, Darcy started to heat up; her face was beet-red.

“We need to go and eat dinner.” Darcy said with her head facing the other way.

“Oh ri—right… Wait! What?! It is evening already?” Samantha’s stupefied expression was real.

“You didn’t know? You were in that state the whole day.” Darcy had the expression that said, I thought you knew! In all, Darcy still could not look Samantha in the eyes.

“I really did not; I thought I was like that for a few hours at most!”

“Our Lord would explain it if we asked him about it. Sigh…put away your weapon; we need to go have dinner,” Darcy pointed out.

Hearing Darcy’s words, Samantha’s attention was drawn towards the scythe that lay beside her. “Oh… Let me get it.”

Samantha’s hand instinctively reached for the object that was beside her. As she grasped it, she felt the cool metal and the weight of the dark red scythe in her hand. The blade was sharp and the curve made it perfect for cutting through tough material. Samantha took a deep breath, steadied her grip, and prepared herself for whatever lay ahead.

The scythe in her hand was simply made for her; the weight, its girth, its length—it all called to her… It was a perfect fit. Samantha looked so grim as she inspected the scythe in her hand.

Samantha closed her eyes and clenched her fist around the scythe; it didn’t take long before the scythe in her hands reduced to its former size. “Let us go! Am starving!!”

“Yes…” Darcy was taken aback, Samantha always seemed laid back and childish. This was the first time she had seen Samantha so serious and the next second she was her cherry self; Darcy needed time to take it all in.

Before long, the two girls were on their way to the dinner table, The walk to the dining room was a rather long and endearing one. The girls had an awkward silence between them; both wanted to know what the other felt about them but didn’t know how to ask.

“Took you long enough; I thought you guys were not coming. Samantha, How do you feel?”Kai noticed that something was wrong but was too dense to sense something so off the charts.

“I am well, thank you.” Samantha said as she sat down beside Darcy.

“eat! Eat! You will need it; where we are going, you won’t have such a luxury.” Kai laughed heartily.

“OK… OK.” Samantha was quick to start eating.

Throughout this, Darcy was silent; she kept to her food. Kai thought it was rather normal; he just dumped some wisdom on her. If Darcy was not silent or as deep in thought as she was, that would mean that his words meant nothing to her. Or so he thought.

Kai still could not eat human food. His dinner was funded by the citizens of the city. A few months ago, there was an announcement made in the kingdom that Lord Marshall needed blood. The citizens, who held great love and respect for their Lord, immediately came forward to offer their help.

Each one of them willingly provided a sample of their blood, hoping to contribute to their Lord’s recovery. However, little did they know that the situation was not as straightforward as it seemed.

“Shh… Kai, we are at the dinner table. It’s bad manners to talk with food in your mouth.” Lord Marshall had a stern expression.

The expression made by Marshall had caused Kai to laugh hysterically within himself. “OK, OK, I won’t talk any more.”

It was a seemingly complete family gathered around the dinner table, but it was clear that each member carried a weight on their heart.