As Arya reached the end of the hallway he saw a desk with candles on one side and on the other was a strange contraption that he couldn't see at first due to the angling. The contraption was made of a silvery metal and looked like a cross between the electric chairs used back on earth and an IV drip that was used in hospitals.
The darkness seemed more dense around the chair, as if the chair were a magnet. As the old man dragged Arya to the contraption Arya could see traces of blood and other presumably human body fluids all over the machine.
The whole time the voices in Arya's head had been bickering, Arya was trying to focus on his magic. However that wasn't possible, it wasn't just that he was unable to properly focus on drawing the mana in front of his palm, it was that there wasn't any to begin with. Sure the voices in Arya's head greatly hindered his focus, but as Arya searched for mana to manifest his ice magic he found that there was none.
It was as if all the mana were being drawn else where. As Arya was unbound he tried hitting the man and making a run for it, however it was hopeless. A four year old boy could never hope to over power a fully grown man, regardless of how old or bony the old man was.
The old man man-handled Arya and strapped him onto the machine. "See that wasn't so hard now was it boy? Now just sit tight and wait for the process to be over. It will hurt but only for a short time, than you will never have to feel anything ever again." said the old man as he began drawing magic symbols around the machine.
The symbols looked like ancient runes kind of like a mix between those used by the Mayans and those used by the ancient Egyptians. With every rune the old man drew he would chant something and the rune would light up. Once he was done the room began trembling and the darkness began to swirl around Arya and the old man.
"Darkness head my call, transfer what once was his and give it to me. So that I may ascend and do your will." chanted the old man this time loudly. As the old man began to chant Arya became more and more desperate, as he felt some weird force enter his body. "Brother something is here." said both voices in Arya's head.
As the force was about to fully enter Arya's body it was suddenly brought to a halt and the seal that had been placed on Arya began glowing. "What happened? Why are you still alive and why haven't I become a one star mage." asked the man furious that his plan had failed.
"Tell me bo-." the man was about to say when he noticed the glowing markings on Arya's back. "A seal? Why would a child have a seal?" mumbled the old man to himself. "It seems that I have discovered something quite interesting, my breakthrough can wait a few more days. I have to find out what the boy is hiding." said the old man to himself as his anger subsided like it was never there to begin with.
The old man sat on a chair close to the nearby desk and began writing something in a black book . As the man continued writing Arya felt weak, whatever had happened had sapped a lot of Arya's strength and he could hardly stay conscious. "I told you we should have slaughtered everyone in the orphanage while we had the chance." said a voice in Arya's head. "No use regretting it now, I'm 100% sure that Arya is a Deadman." said the other voice. "Could you two please shut up." Arya was about to say when he saw Teressa peaking from the door.
"Spying isn't good etiquette, go back to your cell right now." said the old man without looking up. He seemed to be able to sense Teressa's presence but was incapable of discerned whether she was one of the weird humanoids from the cells or someone else. "Didn't you hear me." said the old man as a knife came flying towards his face. The old man being caught by surprise didn't manage to dodge the knife and it struck him right in the eye.
Blood dripped to the floor as the man turned around confused by what had happened. "Brother this man is definitely insane. He is easy pickings, kill him now before he has time to recover." said a voice in Arya's head. "I do agree with you on the insane part, which is all the more reason that Arya is a Deadman. I bet he will kill you in the most gruesome way possible. Better play dead before he releases his anger on you." said the other voice.
The old man having realized his mistake chanted something and the darkness carried Teressa towards him. "Hmm so there was another survivor? It's about time I replenish my life force and mana anyways, you're a little small but you will have to do." said the old man covering he eye with one hand as the darkness around Teressa tightened.
The old man closed his eyes and a black aura came from his body, he seemed to be using a breathing technique to cultivate more mana and life force however what was odd were the screams coming out of Teressa's mouth. She began wailing as if someone were melting her skin.
"DO SOMETHING!" shouted a voice in Arya's mind. "What can he do? I told you he is worthless, he wasn't even able to protect his father twice. What makes you think he would protect a random girl." said the other voice.
Although Arya hardly knew Teressa, she was the closest thing to a friend he had. And right now that was the only thing he had. Arya tried focusing the mana from the surroundings into the frontside of his palm, however this method of magic could only use the elemental components of mana in the surroundings and currently all of it was converted to darkness magic. The only way for Arya to use magic was the traditional way, however Arya still had the seal on and was incapable of drawing mana into his body.
"Fuck this!" shouted Arya as Teressa's screams intensified. Arya focused on inhaling all the mana he could into his body, the seal activated burning Arya's back but he ignored it and continued. With every scream Teressa let out Arya would push even harder causing him more pain than he had ever felt before.
Just as Arya was nearing his limit and sweat literally soaked his clothes wet, he felt something inside him break and mana flooded his body. It was akin to a dam breaking, the mana that flooded his body caused him so much pain that he nearly collapsed. Arya quickly remembered one of the spells he had read in Luca's book and chanted "Child of water heed my call, freeze my enemies." chanted Arya as the tier 1 ice spell chilling wind froze the old man from toe to neck.
The strain caused by the breakthrough and the use of the spell caused Arya to collapse, rendering him unconscious. "Not the time to be sleepi-" a voice in Arya's head was about to say but Arya was already gone.