The feeling of weightlessness overwhelmed Phil, the biting cold of the dark embraced his bloody body. He lays unconscious in the ever-expanding darkness. But suddenly a bright red glow tore the peace that was brought by the endless dark.
"AHHHGGGG!!"
Phil clutched his left eye which was throbbing in pain.
"AHH!! Why is this happening, I...I thought I was dead."
I remembered being stabbed by a knife in my left eye by Sonja and I died. GAAAHHH can you even feel pain even you are already dead. This sucks.
Steam rose from his left eye as the high temperature slowly but surely melted his eye.
"AAAHHHH!!! STOP STOP...IT HURTS."
The searing pain numb his mind as moments later his remaining eye was blinded by a bright red light.
"AAAHHHHH!!!"
Phil passed out once more.
Phil slowly woke up and discovered that he was lying down on a cold floor.
"Ughh, where am I."
I remember my eye hurting. No, it was more than hurting. I felt it was melting.
Phil shuddered upon remembering what had happened prior to his awakening. Phil clutched his face and felt his left eye.
'Sigh'
He sighed in relief after realizing that he had not lost his left eye. But strangely his left face was warm.
"What happened to me?"
Phil tried to recall what had happened to him, but oddly it was as if his memories were merely illusions that were implanted in his mind.
"You're finally awake, boy."
A deep and brute voice echoed inside his head.
"Wha?! Who are you?"
"Hmmm? it seems you had a lapse in your memory."
Phil, confused about what the voice was telling him frantically tried to look for cameras or something that can prove that he was being pranked by some people.
"Stop your nonsense boy! Look around you and try to recall where you are!"
Phil shuddered in pain as the voice yelled inside his head. After he recovered he tried looking around him and finally noticed a golden barrier protecting him from the wretched miasma.
Wait that's right. I...I'm currently trapped inside the abyss of dreams. I remember the golden barrier it must be Eclaireuse.
Phil looked for the sextant as he started to organize his jumbled memory.
"Eclaireuse!"
Phil shouted with glee at the floating sextant.
"Glad you were able to return, kid."
"Return?"
Phil tilted his head as he tried to make sense of what Eclaireuse had said to him.
Return? Right, Ferox was trying to train me to better use my energy.
Phil glanced towards the bottom part of his vision and soon became surprised at the number that was projected to him.
Holy, 125/125. What happened? Why did it suddenly increase by 100 points?
"Hey Ferox. What happened to me? Why did my energy suddenly increase by 100 points?"
"It seems you finally remembered. Good. Well, first of all, congratulations on surviving the trial of madness and successfully branding the sigil of cruelty."
"Madness? Cruelty?"
"Yes. As Enthymema had mentioned before, this is the way to increase your energy and create a foundation for you, although he did not specify what the trial would be, and neither did I."
Phil's mouth was wide open as the static of his memory inside the trial replayed inside his head.
*OWAAAGH.
Phil wretched upon the cold cavern floor, but thankfully since he was in his soul form no food or bile was regurgitated.
I...I murdered my family.
Phil started to panic, his hands kept on shaking as tears started to stream down his face.
"What did you do! I killed my parents! And Sonja, she, she killed me as well! I should be dead by now!"
"Calm down boy! That was merely an illusion brought by the trial. Although it was strengthened due to the introduction of the miasma. And you don't have anything to worry about, you have En who has the blessing of the being to help you if things had gone wrong and you were lost inside the trial. But luckily you had succeded with your own power, which was interesting in its own rights to see."
"I killed my love ones for your amusement?!"
"STOP YOU'RE SLANDER BOY!! I know the normal trials would only present you with a massacre of farm animals, but your energy would only increase by ten points. Look at you now. Look at your energy. A whole 100 points is directly added into it, plus you had manifested the sigil of cruelty. The normal way would not do that."
Phil was tonguetied upon hearing Ferox's sound argument.
"It looks like you are still unconvinced. Do know that even if we had gone the normal way, you would still need to experience the cruelty of killing your loved ones to successfully manifest the sigil of cruelty, and at that time you would need your own strength to do it, you might even not return and remain inside the trial as a mass murderer since En would not have the power to rescue you if ever that happens."
Phil hung his head down after realizing Ferox's motives in having him experience the horrendous event inside the trial.
Uhg, although Ferox is right this doesn't seem right to me. What is the sigil of cruelty even anyway? It sounds important that it had a rather steep requirement to successfully activate.
"Hey, what is a sigil of cruelty anyway."
"Hmmm? Didn't you feel it after you successfully conquered the trial? A seeing pain like a part of you is being melted as it was being branded by the sigil?"
Phil touched his left face upon hearing what Ferox's just said.
"You mean my eye? I remember Sonja, my childhood friend stabbing me in my left eye and after I thought I was dead, I felt a searing pain like my eyeballs were being melted."
"Yes, that should be it...Wait did you say you felt it in your left eye? Let me see."
Phil opened his eyes wide, shocked at the reaction of Ferox, although he was confused on where to look since he could not really see the voice inside his head without diving inside his mind.
"HAHAHA! Oy, Enthymema! Look at this! The sigil of cruelty that this boy has manifested is almost complete! I told you in the past that this should be the way we should do it and not a slow gradual process. Here look at my proof HAHAHAHA!"
Phil heard Ferox as he tried to converse with someone that Phil could not hear.
"Casualties? BAAHH!! Look at this, this is perfection. Well almost since I am still here. HAHAHA!!!"
Ferox's laugh echoed inside Phil's head. He tried to cover his ears to lessen the noise but sadly the voice originated inside his head.
Ugh, this guy is so noisy.
"Well, boy. Let's see how well your sigil performs."
Phil tilted his head in confusion.
"AH! My bad. Sorry boy, I forgot to tell you what the sigil is. HAHAHA!"
Another hearty laugh echoed inside Phil's head as he winced from the loud volume.
"Okay boy. I will only tell you this once so you better listen. The sigil of cruelty is a supernatural power that is inside every people. Yes, you heard me right, every people, and even some rare precedence it could be found in some animals as well. Although normal people can't willfully activate the sigil, its existence of it is still there. Since you are a holder of a seed, the sigil of cruelty acts as another form of battery for you. The sigil expands your energy limit by another 100 points for now."
Phil, upon hearing Ferox's explanation was filled with happy emotion, since he could escape this prison even faster.
"I see you are very happy with this but do know. Using the sigil would drive you mad, your head would be filled with murderous thoughts and if not kept in check, it would take over you. Like what you had experienced in the trial but in reverse. You would hear insistent whispering for you to kill until it would take over your body to commit mass murder."
Phil shuddered upon hearing it.
"Then what should I do to control these urges."
"Simple, learn to control the sigil so that it would not activate in the slightest provocation. Meditate and control your mind. Although you are a kid and impulsive. You need to learn how to have a clear mind and have a lot of patience. Think of it as carrying a time bomb in you wherever you go and it would blow up in the slightest thought of hurting someone."
"Wait! isn't this bad. Giving such power to a 13-year old I mean."
"Well yes, but you don't really have a choice do you. HAHAHA! Would you rather try to control your emotions or be stuck inside the deepest part of the abyss until you are 14?"
Phil sighed as he felt powerless.
"Ugh, I would rather have the time bomb."
"HAHAHA!, THAT'S THE SPIRIT BOY! Don't worry I can give you a lot of advice to control your murderous intent. You could not ask anyone who is more capable to teach you, except me the Cruel Incarnate! HAHAHAHAHA!"