Carn was walking through the streets of the town, enjoying the fresh early air and the cold breeze of the upcoming winter. Carn make a turn into a dark alleyway, no one suspects a thing. He walk down the dark and disgusting alleyway that stinks of urine and many other smells that he doesn't and wouldn't want to know
Carn avoided a puddle of piss and his face contorted in disgust. He went in further until he reach the slums of the town he's in. The slums were an unpopular spot for tourists because of… well, being obscured from the public's eyes are definitely a factor. And it being exclusively for the poorest of people in town, the place he and his mother would've been in if the innkeeper didn't take them in
This place is where Carn strolls around the most. Why? Because of it's energy abundant atmosphere, fear, despair and suffering is a common sight and so, it's the most optimal place for Fiddlesticks to grow and cultivate power. The way Carn found out about this place was from a rumor 4 years ago
He wander around with a smile as the people in the slums look at him weirdly. Carn doesn't mind and just look at them, to which they avoided his gaze. There's a weird sort of feeling they're getting from the kid as he walk, like a darkness is secretly hiding inside him
Some kids were playing in front of him, they were playing Hero and Villain, a very popular game even in other towns from what he heard. One kid was holding a stick and standing in a amateurish stance that has a lot of gaps for exploit, the other two was pretending as monsters. Fiddlesticks roared and groaned when he see the scene in front of them
'Filthy, disgust.'
It was his voice. Carn walk pass the kids but, he pull his hand out from his pocket. A shadowy mist secrete from his hand as he raise it above their heads when he walk over. When nobody's looking, he begin to control their perception and subject fear into them
Three kids one's afraid of spiders, shadow and height. He subject them to their worst nightmare and intensify it. They were seeing illusions, he replaced the one that feared spider and change his friend's images into spiders, making him hit them. The one afraid of shadows, he subject him to total blindness and the last one was afraid of height so, he was extra afraid when his friend hits him with the stick, as he is very high above ground
'Hahahahahaha.'
Carn's maniacal laughter resounded inside his mind, both Fiddlesticks, who's using his voice, and him was laughing. Carn lean on a building, watching the kid beat his friends to a pulp. But, someone got between him and his fun. A woman with brown hair and beautiful face. Carn shows interest to her as she take the stick away from the kid. Still being subjected to Carn's torture, he saw his own mother as a very disturbing spider standing on two legs
He pissed his pants. Carn held his laughter to some extent and hide his face away. But, some did leak out. This attract the woman's gaze and suspicion on him. She squint her eye as her own child back away from her slowly. When her eyes return to her child, he was fear stricken, his skin was pale and almost transparent like glass and his heartbeat accelerate to a dangerous level with his breathing quickening
When Fiddlesticks groaned and hisses, Carn stop laughing and look back at the scene to a surprise. The woman hugged her child even though he's dirty and disgusting, but something even more significant was happening
'His fear of spiders is vanishing.'
Carn click his tongue. He lost his joy and dispel the curse from them since he doesn't care anymore and leave the scene with a frown. The woman was still looking at Carn, sometimes taking glances at him
Carn walk for a bit more before the sun rises enough in the sky and so, he make his way back to the inn. But, while on the way, he's being watched from the distant. The stalker advances ever so little as Carn walks toward the nearest exit. She stare at him as a red eyeball form on his back, which makes the stalker's eyes widen
The eyeball disappear in black flakes as soon as he makes a turn. Now, a new interest was formed for Carn as he makes his way back to the Lullbay Night inn. On his way, shopkeepers were shouting out products and prices. He look around at the shoppers buying and activate his mist
He take his hand out and let it flow outward into the air. Most doesn't notice it and the mist infiltrate their nose, giving him a sort of understanding of them as it continue spreading through their mind, infecting it but didn't alter their perception because, that would cause mass panic and whatnot and it'll damage the inn's revenue if everyone were to be kept indoors, including him, by the orders of his father
So, for now, he's exploring their mind, looking through private memories. Their weaknesses, their vulnerability. Their sufferings. From what Carn has experimented with, there's two ways he could maximize Fiddlesticks' power extraction
First was what he did earlier. He would subject them to their worst fears, Fiddlesticks gain power and suffering would kick in after some minute of harassment. Then, the next step was despair, or what Carn likes to call, the breaking point
The other way is to subject them to physical pain and/or trauma. This works extra well for someone who has a fear for blood, pain and anything related to the body. Their suffering maximized and a tinge of fear as sauce. Then, the breaking point is reach
Out of all the three ways to gain power, despair is the one that allow him to gain more power. And Fiddlesticks like it as well
But, when Carn was walking, he wasn't paying attention to where he's going and bumped into something hard and metallic in front of him. He back off a little and place his hand on his forehead, the point of contact. The thing he bumped into was a plate of metal armor
"Are you hurt?" A feminine voice resounded from above
He look up and sees a blonde beauty standing over him. She was taller than him by over a head and her cold, expressionless face attract his attention because he could barely read her eyes and emotions. Carn belatedly answer
"Oh, Uhh, sorry, I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking."
"No need to apologize, I wasn't paying attention neither so it's both our faults."
"Well, Uhh, I'll go now."
"Alright."
Carn moves to the side and walk off while she looks at him with her expressionless look. Then, she look down as her expression turn to that of a lustful animal
"Ehehe, such a cute boy!"
She silence herself with both her hands and look around, checking to see if anyone heard it. She fix her riled up emotions and and resume her expressionless face as she continue to where she's heading at