Stygian Mage

More than one month had already passed since the day Soren was taken to the Black Chamber. The winter had now arrived in its true sense. The snow had covered the town like a cold blanket. Streets were filled with people trying to remove the snow to clear the pathways. Some were clearing the thick snow from their rooftop; some were fixing their already broken ceiling. It had snowed heavily in the last few days. Although it hadn’t gotten to the point where people would start dying, it was still a big nuisance for them.

Yet, at the same time, the white snow also brought a poetic and romantic theme for many people. This was the time that saw the most confessions of love in the entire year; some succeeded, some failed miserably. This snow had seen it all; from the warmth of a human body in heat to the warm tears filled with sadness.

…….

The Liston Family mansion, while still covered in snow, hadn’t seen many changes during this time. Everything went on as usual. The Royal Princess, Miss Azure, had already gone back. Towards the end of her stay, she had successfully recruited some of the Initiators from the reputable families around that area. Wayne and Kyle, from the Liston Family, were also amongst them. Kyle had broken through to Rank 1 and had actually volunteered to go with the princess. As of now, the amount of Rank 1 Initiators around that area had decreased by a lot.

That said, there was one change in the Liston Family mansion that had confused many people. This change was the sudden appearance of two new people inside the mansion; one male and one female. Not only that, but the female was seemingly pregnant with a child. Many rumors were starting to spread around about this topic; one amongst them that most people believed to be true was that this child was Ervin Liston’s. 

“Dad, I want to go to the Black Chamber with my friends.” A sweet female voice filled one of the halls in the Liston Family’s Mansion. This girl was Denise Liston, daughter of Ervin Liston. As they were alone right now, she called him in a casual manner, the way she usually did. She only used ‘Father’ when there were others present; at that point, she had to be formal.

“No, you and your friends are not going anywhere near that area,” Ervin replied. He could easily tell what this group of stupid and spoiled kids was planning to do. He couldn’t let that happen, not again.

“We are just going to capture some of the Beasts’ cubs. I want a Snow Fox, there are many in that area. It might take some time so I wanted to ask if we could stay in the Black Chamber.” Denise pleaded with misty eyes and an innocent face.

But none of it worked on Ervin as he said, “I’ve already said no. You guys are not going anywhere near that area. If you want a Snow Fox, go buy one.”

“But dad, I want to capture one by myself.”

“Denise, don’t make me repeat myself. Now go, I have some work to do.” Ervin firmly rejected her and sent her away.

As such, Denise walked out of the room with a dejected expression and decided to go meet with her friends to see what they could do now.

…

Ervin lay back with his head supported by the long neck of the chair. He released a defeated sigh as he thought about his only daughter. While thinking like that, he slowly started reminiscing about their past, and how it was like when his wife, Denise’s mother, was alive. Denise was a very sweet and kind child back then. She couldn’t even bear to hurt insects, let alone a fellow ‘Intelligent being’. Ervin had always tried his best to shelter her from the cruelty of the world, and he had succeeded…..up until that one point. That incident had changed everything for them.

*Sigh*

Another defeated sigh came out of his mouth, but this time, it was filled with sadness and grief. Passage of time had no effect on his sadness, it was a wound that just could not heal; he had to suffer from it, until death. But this wound was his and his alone. He could never let his daughter suffer from it. That’s why he never told his daughter the truth about her mother’s death. He could not destroy the image of a loving mother she had in her mind; it would be too much of a shock for her.

He had always felt guilty towards his daughter because of this. He had tried his best to compensate for the fact, but it seemed that he had overcompensated in the end. His way of caring for her made her spoiled and changed her, little by little. This always weighed heavily on Ervin’s mind. He had thought of many ways to discipline her, but, in the end, he just could not bear to do it. He knew about every misdeed that she and her friends had done, but he had overlooked them all. Even when he slapped her before, it was only because he had lost control due to the matter involving a ‘Traveler’; he had regretted doing that, later on.

………

“So, what are we going to do now?” Marie, the girl who had stabbed Soren in the stomach, asked while feeling annoyed. Although Soren’s situation was not a secret, these people had only found out about it a few days ago.

“Can’t we just go? It’s not like someone will stop us there.” Boyd, another one in the group who had attacked Soren that day, said.

“Yeah, I think so too. We can sneak out of here and can just go there directly.” Eve said.

After the case with Soren, they all had been reprimanded quite a bit. Now, they wanted to let off steam and release all their frustration on the person who was the cause of that; Soren.

“Let’s go. If my father finds out later, I’ll deal with it.” This time, it was Denise who said it. All the others smiled once they heard her. She was the only one amongst them that would not suffer any kind of punishment even if they got caught. And now that she had said that she would take responsibility, nothing was going to happen to them.

As such, these people finally decided to go to the Black Chamber.

………..

This last month had been extremely hard on Soren. There wasn’t any spot left on his body that wasn’t injured at this point. Except for his face, his whole body was covered in bruises, cuts, and burn marks. The pain never left him, so much so that this pain was starting to become a normal thing for him. At some point, he even came up with a method to reduce the pain; he started to cut himself off, mentally. When he used this method, he felt like he was an observer inside his own body; he witnessed this familiar body of his experiencing all that pain from the point of view of a third party observer. Of course, this was not a proper solution to his problems. Putting aside the fact that this method could not work for long, it also did not work when the pain crossed a certain threshold. But regardless, Soren persevered and tried his best to survive.

During this time, ‘talking’ to the little white fox and Isaac was his only solace. Other than that, his actions during the night time also gave him some hope and kept him going through the pain and screams. He had almost accomplished what he wanted. He had already succeeded in removing the bricks from the wall and had already started to create the pathway which he was going to use for his escape. Of course, he couldn’t do all this by himself, so he used his undeads to do it. Whenever night fell, he finished his routine like a programmed robot and then started to work on the escape path. Even the dirt that was dug up by the undead creatures was spread in the cell evenly so that no one would notice anything strange. The cell never got any proper lighting so it was almost impossible to notice this difference anyway.

Faron had also started to check Soren’s cultivation level during the torture session itself, so the only ones coming to this cell, apart from Soren, was the person that was stationed in the Black Chamber. That was also when he brought Soren food, and came to bring Soren to the torture room; with his cultivation level though, it was nigh impossible for him to notice anything strange.

So, with these conditions being in Soren’s favor, his work progressed fast and without any hiccups. Furthermore, his CP had also increased a bit during these days. Although it could not compare to the increase he could have achieved on the outside, it was still something, considering the situation he was in.

….

Yet another ‘usual’ morning had arrived for Soren. He weakly opened his tired eyes while expecting another day full of pain and screams. He couldn’t even tell anymore which wound was paining more and which was hurting less; everything was a mess on his body. The only thing he could feel was the sensation of pain coming from all over his body.

Time passed by, and his first torture session of the day ended.

As Soren was carried back to his cell, he looked up towards the small window. But the shadow of the little fox that he was expecting wasn’t there today. A wave of disappointment hit his body as he figured that he wouldn’t get to ‘talk’ to the little fox today.

…….

The little fox ran through the jungle and finally came upon the small hole under the wall. This was the hole he had used to enter the area and had finally met that person behind the window. Things went on as usual as he entered and ran towards that window. But suddenly, a person showed up in front of him and picked him off the ground. This person was a female and had a nice subtle smell which the little fox liked quite a bit. This person gently held the little white fox in her arms while making sure not to hurt him in any way. While being held, the fox lifted his small head and looked at this person’s face. The first thing he saw was this person’s gentle eyes, filled with love and kindness. Although these eyes made him drop his guard, he still fiddled around in this person’s arm, trying to get down. Regardless of what this person was like, the little fox still wanted to go ‘talk’ to that person behind the window. A strange bond had formed between these two at this point which could not be explained in plain words.

Suddenly, a long howl came from outside the walls. The little fox flinched upon hearing this sound as he stopped moving and looked towards the source of it. He could easily recognize this sound, no matter where he was; this was his mother’s call. The white fox had to return home at once after hearing this howl. Even if he wanted to ‘talk’ to the person behind the window, he could not do so anymore; because his mother was calling him.

The little fox started fiddling hard, trying to get down from this person’s arms. This person also seemed to realize what the howl meant as an expression filled with yearning appeared on her face; yet, this yearning was soon shrouded by hatred.

This person was Denise Liston. She and her friends had just arrived there. As she got off the vehicle, she had spotted this little fox trying to enter through the hole under the wall. She had always loved furry animals and Beasts, so she could not resist and picked him up in her arms. As for the howl, it had reminded her of her mother. Unlike how her father thought, she actually knew everything about her mother and the circumstances involving her death. She had no misgivings about that woman who had sold her own family for the person that she thought she was in love with. She betrayed her husband; her daughter; her family; she betrayed everyone just to be with that man. She leaked all of the Liston Family’s secrets to that man without even caring for what it could do to her family. In the end, that man sold all the information to a rival Family and received a hefty sum for it.

Denise knew all about this incident. She even knew of her mother’s last moments and how she died. Even till the end, that woman had tried to protect that man. Enraged by her betrayal, Ervin had slain them both where they stood. Her blood covered his hands as Ervin’s hatred was slowly washed away with her fading breath, only to be replaced by grief and regret; something that he would have to live with all his life.

Denise knew everything, and she hated her mother for what she did. Yet, under that hatred was a hint of yearning; yearning for a mother’s love, something that she never received.

…

Denise let go of the little fox and let him run away towards the hole. She never meant to capture him; the talk with her father about getting a Snow Fox was just an excuse. Small furred Beasts were her weakness; she could never bear to hurt them, let alone force them away from their family.

Seeing that the fox had already gone outside the wall, she turned around and went inside the building with her friends.

Soren had already gone through two of his regular sessions of the day and was now resting in his cell. Although he was disappointed before about the absence of the little fox, it did not hinder his mindset in a big way. He was already very close to finishing his escape route so he was focusing on that right now. And just to be on the safe side, he had decided to extend the escape path so that the exit would be outside the perimeter wall. Of course, nothing was set in stone and this plan could also change accordingly. For now, though, he just had to survive through another one of those daily sessions and start his regular routine after it got dark.

Denise and her friends had arrived inside the building just when Soren had finished his second session. The fact that they had come here regardless of how they were not allowed to, meant that they did not care about the rules set for the situation regarding Soren. As such, Soren was destined to not get any rest period between the second and the third session today.

All the people stationed in the Black Chamber worked for the Liston Family. This meant that they worked for Ervin Liston. And that, in turn, meant that they could not deny Denise Liston. Thus, they dragged Soren out of his cell and brought him to the torture room once again. Soren could easily guess that something was different this time. The fixed routine that these people followed all this time had suddenly changed. Obviously, this change was not a good thing for him.

Many guesses went through his mind as he was taken to the room, but the moment he reached there, he understood the reason for this change. This was because he saw Denise and her friends standing inside the room, glaring at him like he was their prey.

.…

Marie was a common girl who, like Denise’s other friends, was fortunate enough to be related to the Liston Family. Of course, she did not belong to the main family; in fact, her family branch was quite low on the hierarchy level. That meant that she did not have the main bloodline of the Liston Family, and such, her orders would not matter to those who were bound to the Liston Family by Blood Contract. This fact had caused a seed of hatred to grow inside her. She hated the Liston Family; she hated Denise Liston who seemed to have everything; she hated Ervin Liston who ordered her parents around; she hated her parents for being so weak. But while she hated all these people, she knew that she could not do anything to them. She understood that she was just as weak as her parents; perhaps, even more so.

And so, all this hatred of hers was diverted towards the people that she could bully. Those who appeared weak became her targets; Kazel’s daughter and wife were amongst those targets. Marie could not stand the fact that Kazel’s daughter had been selected by the ‘Initiators Academy’ and had even received a scholarship. In the end, Kazel’s family was completely destroyed due to her jealousy.

Soren, who was a slave in her eyes, also became a target for her. The fact that he attempted to resist the Blood Contract with his meager strength had ignited a spark of derision inside her mind. And it did not take long for this spark to develop into something big, as she let everything out at Soren. This fact was proven true when she had attempted to stab his eyes before; something that could have even killed him.

Today, she saw Soren once again as he came in the torture room. Unbeknownst to her, that small spark of derision had already turned into a huge fire by now. In the end, that huge fire engulfed even the last bit of her rationality as she suddenly lunged at Soren. At this moment, she did not care about anything else as she thrust the small knife she had picked in the torture room towards Soren. Her actions shocked everyone present in the room, regardless of who they were. But the one who was the most shocked of them all was Soren. He could clearly see the knife coming towards his face in slow motion, yet, he could not do anything about it. His body was covered in wounds and was not capable of dodging an unexpected attack like this at all. As such, the only thing he could do now was to watch helplessly as the knife pierced his left eye.

The image of the pointy knife turned into darkness very soon; his left eye had been stabbed with the knife. Blood mixed with the intraocular fluid and dripped down his cheeks. Pain was the only thing he knew right now as it came to him like a sea wave. It was something that had crossed the realms of anything that he could manage. None of the methods that he had developed to deal with the pain could work here. Now, only one fact remained—his left eye was gone.

Maybe it was his reflex or maybe it was his instinct, but fortunately, he had moved his head back and had prevented the knife from going in his brain; resultantly, surviving through this ordeal.

……….

Soren was currently lying down in his cell with a vacant expression. Because of the extreme pain, he had fainted soon after being stabbed. When he opened his eye again, he was already in his cell. He remembered very vividly what had happened at that time, but every time he thought about it, a surge of despair would wash over him. He tried his best to not give up but it was becoming very hard for him.

He knew he had permanently lost his left eye, and this fact engulfed his mind as he could not think about anything else. While Initiators had the ability to regenerate organs and limbs, it was only true for the ones with a huge amount of ‘Vitality’. Not to mention Soren, whose ‘Vitality’ was damaged, even normal Rank 0 Initiators could not regenerate anything with their meager amount of ‘Vitality’ stat. At the same time, it was also not possible for Soren to regrow an eyeball in the future when he would have enough value in this stat. That was because once he was healed and the wound on his eye closed, it would not regenerate on its own; no matter how much ‘Vitality’ he had. The only way he could recover his eye now was to either find any miraculous medicine in the future or change his body through Soul Possession. Of course, the second option was something Soren would not consider at all for many reasons.

The consequences of losing an eye varied from one type of Initiator to another. If Soren was a Warrior type of Initiator, this loss wouldn’t have caused many problems to him. But alas, he was a Spellcaster; the type of Initiator who utilized depth perception the most. All his spells required him to gauge the distance of the target, which was only possible by using two eyes.

Soren had already realized this fact; as such, he was now truly and thoroughly falling into despair. Tears trickled down the right side of his head as he ended up crying without any sound, despite trying his best not to. His power as a Spellcaster had given him the confidence to live in this cruel world. It was like an armor surrounding him that gave Soren a hope for survival. But now, a chunk of that armor had been completely destroyed; and with it, was destroyed Soren’s confidence. Without having the ability to perceive the distance of his targets, Soren was basically useless as a Spellcaster.

And so, Soren just lied in his cell, forgetting everything about the routine that he followed every night. He was slowly losing all hope and was very close to giving up. The only reason he hadn’t completely fallen was because of Isaac, who was constantly repeating all the information he had in his database in an effort to distract Soren. But this damage to his eye had truly broken him. This was what the Liston Family was trying to do, and they succeeded; but, in the end, everything was for naught. This was the reason they didn’t want to permanently damage Soren; they wanted him to work for them, and any permanent damage to him would drastically decrease his value.

….

The moon was already up in the sky, shedding its moonlight over the white snow.

Soren was still lying in his cell, without moving even an inch. His right eye was slowly losing its light as the tears dried up, leaving marks on his skin. Isaac was still repeating whatever information he had in his database, trying to divert Soren’s attention from what was happening to him. But that too was slowly losing its effect.

Just as Soren was on the verge of giving up, a little figure entered the hole in the perimeter wall and limped forward with unstable steps. This figure was the little fox that had been coming to meet Soren every day. Only today, it was a very different situation. Right now, this little fox was covered with wounds all over. The bone in his right front leg was broken, and multiple scratches and teeth marks covered his body.

However, the astonishing fact about this was that the cause of these wounds was actually his mother. His mother had abhorred humans since the day her partner was killed by them. It had taken a deep root inside her mind. She hated and loathed anything and everything about humans. Even the slightest resemblance or the smell of humans could trigger her as she would then start attacking. And that was the mistake of this little fox. He had returned home carrying the smell of a human; it happened when Denise had picked him up in her arms. While Denise did not mean any harm towards this little Beast, she ultimately became the cause for everything; and now, he was heavily injured and homeless. His eyes had also lost all hope after being abandoned by his mother. The only thing that he wanted to do now was to go to that familiar figure in that cell.

In a very coincidental manner, Soren and this little fox had shared the fate of being heavily injured on the same day and at the same time. Maybe it was that or maybe it was the strange bond they shared, but they both were about to become a beacon of hope for each other.

The moment the little fox arrived at the window and looked at Soren, he started barking with everything he had left in his body. The sight of that familiar figure ignited hope in him as he wanted to tear the window and jump in. Similarly, the sound of his barks broke Soren out of his despairing trance as he looked at the heavily injured figure of this little Beast. Combined with Isaac’s effort, the image of the little fox dragged him out of his current mental state, and slowly started reigniting the confidence he once had.

Multiple thoughts filled Soren’s mind as hope slowly returned to his eye. This was not false hope though. He had actually realized something from all the information that Isaac had repeated. This newfound hope of his was backed by that realization; it was something that he could use to make up for the disadvantage of having only one eye. And this ‘something’ was a spell that he had purchased in the auction. Earlier, his mind was not clear enough to notice this fact. But now, he could clearly see the spell filling in for his lost eye. This spell was the <Elemental Sense> that he had bought for the purpose of sensing his surroundings. Although he currently did not have enough mastery level in it, that would change over time. And one day, this spell could fill in the gap created by his lost eye.

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