Stygian Mage

A middle-aged woman was looking at Soren as he came out of the house. Soren was also surprised to see her standing just outside the house like she was waiting for him. She looked like an average housewife with her food-stained clothes and a dirty apron.

She looked at Soren as he came out and then took a peek behind him. She saw the grave inside which Soren had created and read what was written on it. She then turned to look towards Soren and said, “Do you want something to drink?”

Soren was first surprised to see her standing in front of the house and then furrowed his eyebrows as she asked for that.

“No, thank you. I have to go now.”

“Come on in. Have something to drink then you can go your way. You must be thirsty after all the work; one glass of water would not delay you by much.”

Soren was going to reject her again but she didn’t give him a chance and went inside her house, which was just beside the one Soren came out of.

He thought of just going away but after thinking for a bit, he decided to hear what she had to say. She obviously knew that Soren had killed Kazel so he wanted to know what she was going to do with that information. Soren was not a blood-thirsty killer but if she threatened him with that info…..

Soren followed the woman inside her house while bracing himself to take her life on a moment’s notice.

Entering the house, the first thing he saw was an average-sized hall. There were two rooms connected to the hall which seemed like a bedroom and a kitchen. The house was not big but it had a homely feel to it.

The middle-aged woman asked Soren to sit down on the couch and then she herself went into the kitchen. Soren nodded and walked towards the couch while looking around the house.

As he sat down, the woman came with a glass of water in her hand which she offered to Soren.

“Thank you….for fulfilling his wish and creating a grave for him.”

She suddenly bowed and thanked Soren. He was taken aback by her sudden actions and the glass almost fell down from his hands. He hadn’t expected her to thank him for what he did. He had played many scenarios in his head but this was definitely not one of them.

She couldn’t see Soren’s expression because of the disguise but guessed that young man in front of her was quite surprised by her words. She then understood that he didn’t know anything about this matter.

“You don’t know his full story, do you?”

Soren put down the glass on the table and waited for the woman, who was sitting in front of him, to continue.

“You must have seen the pictures of his family in his house, right.”

Soren nodded as she continued on.

“He had a wife and a daughter; his daughter was around your age.”

Soren was still in his disguise; covered by his hood and collar. But the middle-aged woman could still figure out his age, probably from his voice.

“He was working for the Liston Family. I don’t know what he did for them but he earned enough to keep his family happy and satisfied.”

She then picked up the glass that was meant for Soren and gulped down the water; he hadn’t drunk it.

“One year ago, his daughter was selected by the ‘Initiators Academy’ and even got a scholarship as her Mana Aptitude was quite good. As her father worked for the Liston Family, she became acquainted with other people who were also related to the Liston Family.”

Soren listened without interrupting her.

“But luck was not on her side. *sigh*….She got involved with the daughter of the Liston Family and her group of monsters. In the end, she ended up offending someone from that group.”

Her hatred was evident in the tone of her voice as she called those people ‘monsters’. She gritted her teeth and continued speaking in a sorrowful yet hateful voice.

“One day, that group of monsters brought some of the men and came to his house.”

She pointed towards Kazel’s house as she recounted the events that happened that day.

“I still remember it clearly; her screams and their laughs. They all raped Kazel’s daughter, one by one, and then moved on to his wife. They continued doing this for hours; she and her mother kept asking for mercy but all they got was more violence and more laughs. When finally, they had their fill—they chopped their heads off, one by one, and hanged them in front of their house.”

She started shivering and her voice started trembling as she remembered those horrifying events. According to her, this had happened a month ago and she still couldn’t sleep properly. Red blood gushing out like a fountain from their chopped necks often came in her dreams and kept her awake. She clenched her fists and took a long breath to calm herself down. She had witnessed everything up close so it affected her even more.

………..

Soren had a calm expression under his disguise as he heard the story. He already had some guesses about why Kazel defected to another Family and why he was still living in his own house after betraying the Liston family. He couldn’t guess the details but he had a hunch that it was somehow related to his family.

He knew that the man had a death wish but also wanted revenge. He was weak and was unable to hurt them so he tried to take revenge by selling Liston Family’s information to their opponents, but he also knew that nothing would come out of it. He knew that the moment he had made the decision to defect, his death warrant was signed.

So finally, he just accepted death as it came to his doorsteps. The name of his death was Soren.

The woman looked at the disguised young man in front of her after finishing her story. She was waiting for him to act the way she wanted him to. She had a clear motive behind telling him this story. She wanted him to take revenge against those who did it to Kazel and his family. This was the motive behind her invitation.

Soren had also expected this as he looked at the woman with calm eyes.

“Do you want me to take revenge for them? I am afraid that’s not possible.”

The woman was shocked after hearing Soren’s reply. She had expected him to say that he would take revenge for that man’s family but instead, she only heard ‘not possible.’

She had thought that anyone with a beating heart in their chest would do the same and fight for that man; more so, if that someone had gone out of his way to create a grave for him.

“I ended his life painlessly and created a grave for him but I did all that because of myself. I don’t want to explain my reason to you, so just know that I am not so stupid as to run around taking revenge for the people I don’t even know.”

Soren had done all that before because of his own personal reasons. He had no obligation towards that man or his family. It was just because that man’s pain had reminded him of his own sorrow; that man longed to see his family and meet them once again, which was something Soren could easily relate to.

Soren was all alone in this strange world, trying to survive. He also wanted to meet his family and see them but he couldn’t. That man had at least thought that he could die and see his family once again but Soren couldn’t even do that; if he died, it would be game over for him. He had to survive and get stronger, so that he could one day see his family. He had a long path ahead of him, on which he had barely started to crawl.

………

Soren got up from his seat and silently walked out of the house under the shocked gaze of that woman. She kept staring at the back of this young man; she was sure that after hearing the tragic story, this young man would help get them revenge. But her expectations were betrayed beautifully, which left her feeling empty inside.

Soren also made the decision not to kill the woman. She never hinted at blackmailing him using that information so in the end, he decided to let her go. He knew that he might regret it someday but at this point, he didn’t want to kill more than he needed to.

Soren walked out of there and first contacted the cleaning team to confirm his job. He hadn’t taken a picture of that man after killing him, so he had to make those people confirm his kill before receiving his reward. His reason for not taking a picture of his kill was very simple: he didn’t want to disrespect that wish; the wish to meet his family.

But his actions created a very contradictory effect. Because the only way that the cleaning team could confirm his kill was to dig that man’s grave and then check it thoroughly.

Soren also knew this but he did it anyway. It was simply because Soren had already fulfilled that man’s wish and then even created a grave for him, but that’s where it ended. He didn’t do that because he owed that man or he felt sorry for him. No, he did that for himself—he did that because their wish was the same and he wanted to…..or needed to see that wish fulfilled.

But now, he couldn’t care less if that grave was completely overturned.

……….

He sent the message to the cleanup team and then went on his way. As soon as he got to his hotel, he got their confirmation message. He had already removed his disguise on the way and was now wearing his casual clothes, so he just went inside the hotel.

He saw Leah behind the reception desk as he got inside and greeted her. He didn’t have anything particular to do, so he just hanged around and chatted with her.

Soren talked while leaning on the desk as she tended to the customers that came in once in a while. There were not many people coming in so they got to talk a lot.

“I am going to my room now. See you later.” Soren ended the chat after a while and said goodbye to her. He waved her goodbye as the elevator door closed.

He needed this outlet sometimes, as it made him relaxed and happy. He had no friend in this world and had no one that he could really trust. Leah hadn’t really earned his trust but neither had she gone against him; she was the closest person he had as a friend.

………..

Soren woke up the next morning and got ready to head out. He was going to the Liston Family to receive his rewards and accept another mission. He had already made some inquiries about the average price of anything rare being sold in that auction. The amount he had right now was nowhere enough, so he was planning on earning Mana Crystals by doing some more assassination missions.

It didn’t take him long to reach the mansion. He then went inside and moved towards the Administration Building. The place was totally empty except for the old man who was now sleeping with his legs on the table and his torso spread on the chair.

Soren could hear his snores even before he entered the building. He went closer to the counter desk and called him a few times but in the end, failed to wake him up. He tried a few more times with much louder voice but still failed. Realizing that he had no other option left, he just kicked the old man on his chest and pushed him down the chair.

BAM!!

The old man fell down with a loud noise and suddenly woke up with a startled face. He made some weird noise and looked around to see what had happened. Soren kept staring at the old man, who was now looking like a startled dog on drugs, with a completely innocent look on his face.

The old man finally gathered his wits and looked at the most possible culprit who might be the cause of his fall.

“Senior, you should not sleep on something so unstable like a chair. You will fall down.”

The old man made a surprised sound and looked at the chair which was now upside down.

“Ah!”

The old man was finally satisfied with finding the culprit even if it was a chair. He laughed embarrassingly as he stood and picked up the chair. If only he had looked down at his own chest, he would have noticed the shoe mark which was made by the real culprit.

“Confirm my mission and pay me.”

Soren quickly said, so as to divert the old man’s attention from his suspicious fall.

The old man nodded and checked the mission details. After checking the message sent by the cleaning team, he confirmed the mission and then paid Soren 550 Low-Grade Mana Crystals.

Soren confirmed the amount and then kept the pouch in his inside pocket. He then opened the panel on the desk to accept another mission.

He looked for a while and decided on one. He checked all the details about his target and then accepted the mission. Though, this time, it was not a high-priority one.

“You have already completed your first solo mission and even a high-priority one. You can now accept multiple jobs at once if you want.”

The old man explained to Soren as he saw him accepting another job.

“But try not to overdo it with the assassination missions. If many people are killed left and right, even the Vultures won’t be able to cover you; if there are too many bodies discovered by the city guard, even the Captain might have to get involved.”

The old man also warned him about the consequences and told him to stay within the limit. Soren nodded with a smile on his face and thanked him for the warning. As he was now allowed to take multiple jobs at once, he proceeded to take more of them and then closed the panel.

“Don’t worry! I won’t kill them all at once.”

Soren said to the old man and then went out of the building. While walking, he checked the details of his first target on his communicator. He flipped through the heaps of information as he made his way out of the mansion.

………

“Denise, you were seriously amazing back then. You even rejected him in public.”

“Of course, he is nowhere near Denise’s level. How could he even think to have Denise as his girlfriend?”

Soren heard a girl’s voice followed by a male’s voice as he was getting out. He looked up and saw a group of people walking towards the main gate. They were all dressed in a similar uniform which was the symbol for the Initiators Academy.

Soren had heard about this Academy before and had thought that its name was a little weird; as there were also Non-Initiators studying there.

He looked at the group as they came closer. He realized that he was standing in their way, so he just stepped aside and then tried to walk away, but things were not going to be so simple…..