"Argh!"
A strong pain shook my eyes open. A familiar ceiling.
"Stay still."
A voice entered my ears. It was my Master's voice.
My eyes slowly rolled towards my Master. He was sweating and panting. What was he doing?
I looked over my body. Needles, lots of them. They were deep in my skin but they didn't hurt.
'This…'
This was probably the acupuncture I heard about.
"Huu… done."
Master let out a sigh of relief. What was he even doing?
Master's face relaxed and he started to take out the needles from my body.
"Ugh…"
It stung at best.
But when all of them were out of my body, another bout of indescribable pain came over me.
"ARGH!!!"
It was from inside me. Something was shaking violently, breaking and rioting.
"Fuu… it's going to hurt a little so bear with it."
Master
"...!"
A little? This was killing me!
What was it? What the hell was happening to me?
"AHHHHH!!!"
Sparks.
I could see sparks crackling around Master's body.
My abdomen was illuminated in a blue hue. A masterful act was happening.
The sparks were not hostile. They were dancing around Master's arm.
"AHHHH!!!"
But I was in too much pain to admire the expert in front of me.
The lightning entered the orifices of my body, drawing a streak of blue luminescence.
"ARGHHH!!!"
It hurt. It hurt so much.
What was he doing?!
"AHHH!!! FUCK!!!"
The pain passed the point of being bearable a long ago.
I could literally feel my body being roasted from inside.
"AHHHHHH!!! STOP!!!"
"Just endure it for a moment!"
"UGH!"
It was painful. Death was a lot better than this.
My body was in chaos. It shook up and down from agony.
"Just a little more…"
"AHHH!!!"
The lightning streaks continued to pierce my skin and roast my insides and the torment kept on increasing.
"There we go…"
The sparks disappeared and Master fell to the floor, panting heavily.
"Haa… Haa…"
The pain was gone.
Deep breaths escaped my lips and my mind floated around as if it was in a trance.
Then, something floated in front of me.
{Curse uplifted- 3%}
"Haha… it has been a while since I pushed myself this much."
Master's voice rang out in my ear for a long while. My Master, who was probably one of the strongest in the Tower, had pushed himself to only lift the curse up to 3%.
'The person who has cursed me… they must be a monster like Master as well.'
"Argh…!"
A sharp pain flashed across my head.
"Are you doing well?"
Master asked, his body still catching a breath on the floor.
"No… obviously not."
In fact, I was still confused by all that.
'What was that? Those scenes and voices…'
There were voices of people I had never seen nor heard of. Those were unheard memories.
'And then there was that cliff…'
The cliff where I woke up in a pool of blood, the cliff where this body gave up on his life. That cliff was also there in the memories.
{Synchronization completion- 100%}
{You have gained 'Relive'}
{Relive} (Grade-9)
-Memories aren't meant to be felt. You don't physically feel anything while recalling memories. You don't live in the memories. But this skill eliminates that fact. You can feel, experience and live in memories for a limited time.
-The extent of the world in memory and the duration will be expanded depending on the user's mastery of the skill.
There was this too. Before I had to go through all that pain, this thing popped out and then began my hellish experience of memories.
I had a hunch, and that was probably the correct hunch.
'The things I saw… and felt… were this body's memories.'
I closed my eyes and tried to recall those memories again, the recent ones to be precise.
'And that's how it is. Get out of my sight and never appear before me anymore.'
Lenin Yulen, one of the high rankers.
This was the memory of when this body was getting thrown out of his house. It was a grand house, no, a mansion.
But I had no admiration for it.
There was something stinging my heart.
It was… I had no idea. A feeling that was nostalgic and sad. I didn't know what it was.
"Hic…"
I had no control over this body but I could still feel the bitter sensation rising from inside of me.
The boy was trying to cry but couldn't help but let out a muffled sob.
Bam!
A kick flew straight to his chin, sending him flying.
There was a tall ceiling, a ceiling that this boy couldn't hope to reach.
Blood trickled down his lips.
'I am pretty sure I said this before.'
It hurt. His intimidating presence made it hard to breathe. It was even hard to look into his eyes.
A leg fell on this boy's guts. It hurt again, so much.
'I told you to never show those tears in front of me, you bitch! You don't even have any talent, and you dare cry in front of me?! GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!'
The father told him to never cry, but how could this boy hold his tears for that long? He was getting abandoned by his family in a world where he was treated as nothing more than a scrap. How was he supposed to not cry?
'Get out and never show your face before me. You are not a part of the Yulen from this day onwards.'
'Ah…'
The sound of something shattering. It was a familiar sound, a sound that I had experienced too.
He was kicked out.
He was beaten ruthlessly.
He was disgraced.
He was broken.
'It is a sin… I am sure now…'
It is a sin. Being weak is a sin.
'Hold back, don't cry. This is a very special moment, so don't cry. You just have to take a step and it will be over.'
A single step and you will be freed.
'This sensation... '
This sensation…
'It's despair.'
It's despair.
'It is beautiful.'
Thump!
***