"Hey, do you wanna hear a story? I—I promise it's a good one." Red's voice echoed beside him, interrupting his meditation like a doused candle flame.
Heaving a big sigh, Lieren lay on his back, spreading his arms under the shade of the Karan forest, and took a deep breath. Scant sunlight seeped through the cracks of the intersecting branches and leaves.
"Sure, why not… Not like I got anything else to do. My concentration's already been broken." He said, lampooning. Following, he said in a stammer: "N—no offense, of course. I was just a little… I don't know… mad, I guess?"
Red waved both her hands, her blood red eyes wide open. She said in stammer: "No, no. It's fine! I'm the one who made a request in the first place… it's not your fault, Lieren."
She smiled, and that was enough to make him calm down. After a while, Lieren continued. "…So, about that story. What's it about, exactly?"
She nodded with a smile, her fist closed and with a slightly brighter gaze. "Right!
"Long ago, before the world we knew it existed—way, way before the Gods, Devils, and other legendary existences roamed the continent… there was a woman. A single, unitary existence floated amidst the Sky Beyond."
Lieren interrupted, a little doubtful. "A… woman? How? If nothing else existed, then how did it live."
"That's the thing!" Red leaned down, her face and his so close that they were almost touching. Her eyes lit up with an ethereal luster. "According to the story, before the land of Vritra and Indrath even existed, their was said to be a unitary existence that roamed the Sky Beyond."
Turning his head away, the tips of his ears felt unusually warm. It wasn't harmful… just warm. "Uh-huh."
"Ahem!" Red leaned back and cleared her throat, continuing the story. "Anyways, where was I… oh, right.
"The lady, cold and alone, began to wonder… She began to Dream. When she did, worlds started appearing, mountains rose from the lands she imagined, and boundless planes of all elements sprouted and different planes of existence—which seemingly created themselves in accordance to her imagination.
"A fiery sea; a frozen mountain; a jade palace; a mute ocean; a world without a ruler. Lands and seas appeared just by her imagining it. All of it was in her grasp.
"Nothing was impossible; everything was possible. There was no wish she could not grant, no challenge she could demolish… all except for herself."
Lieren knotted his eyebrows slightly. 'Except for herself..'
He kept silent, waiting for Red to finish her story. He had already interrupted once.
"After all the worlds were made, she eventually stopped Dreaming. For some reason, she felt something was amiss, but no matter how much Dreaming she did or how much wondering she tried… the thought just never came to her.
"That was, until she finally visited one of her worlds—the jade palace. Only one thought stayed with her."
Lieren gulped, suddenly tense. 'What… what happened next?'
"It was empty, that's she thought. The world, the realms, the wondrous Dreams she wondered—they were all empty.
"And so, she had a thought…
"Maybe… maybe she can fill that world with something? Something beautiful. Something wonderful. Something fulfilling.
"Eons passed. It was said that, during that long, long period, the Gods were born in the image of her. Eons later, she began to wonder again…
"Isn't this world too bland? She thought. It was true. Though there were more of them, with their own lives and their own realms… there wasn't much to do other than wonder, create, and repeat.
"And so, eons passed. After a literal eternity, life was born. Not just Gods, but actual life. Ones that began, unraveled, and ended infinitely. According to some records, this was the moment that the first race was born—it was perfect, modeled and structured based on the Dreamer herself. They held beauty, influence, all talents, all knowledge, riches beyond comprehension and mystical powers beyond common sense.
"But she was not satisfied just yet. While at first she sought more, later she yearned for less.
"It's too beautiful! It's too powerful! It's too impressive! It's too wonderful!
"It was too boring.
"And so, she began to Dream once more, of a better world—one filled with all the delights and beings she could ever dream of. The Gods, in reverence to their true creator, respected her wishes and assigned themselves with their own domains, and continued to govern the world and realms.
"The Lady of Forgotten Dreams continues to Dream until this very day, with her children as her protector.
"Eons passed. Along with life, death was born, as well—and the Gods uniformly subjected all life to death, marking them for all eternity. However, other Gods interfered, and the balance of life and death teetered, granting some a long and prosperous life, while others short and wicked existences.
"This was how the new races were born. And how their descendants were created.
"And then… and then…" Red's voice trailed off, and after a while, Lieren saw this as a chance to finally say something.
Getting up from the wooden floorboard of the rickety wagon, Lieren flashed a smile. "And then what? What else did the Gods do?"
Red's blood red eyes sunk and looked at him with a morbid expression. "And then, the Gods abandoned us."
A long silence permeated the forest of Karan.
"Huh, is that so…" Lieren laid back down, closing his eyes and spreading his arms.
Red sounded a little exuberant. "You… you sound a little underwhelmed."
"Yeah, well, I would have guessed as much. If Gods really did exist, and if we truly are the descendants of this mysterious 'Original Race' you speak of, then yeah, I bet the Gods have long abandoned us."
"…Why?"
"Because we're terrible. Greed. Sloth. Envy. Vanity. Melancholy. Gluttony. Wrath. Lust. The descendants of this super race you told me are total idiots with their own reasons to continue living.
"They don't care about the Lady; they only care about themselves. It's like forsaking your own blood for just a meager chance to get what you want—it's blasphemy. The Gods must have been pissed about that, and chose to leave us ungrateful idiots.
"Not like I can complain. If you hadn't told me this story, then I wouldn't have even known that such a legendary event happened. I like to ridicule the amazing, you see."
Red rubbed her fingers together, looking down with an inexorable expression. Her blood red eyes seemed deeper than usual. Contrasted with her red maid's outfit, she looked nothing short of cute.
"You believe me?" Her voice was weak and shallow, as if she was drowning. Her eyes were downcast and staring at her fiddling hands.
Lieren used his hands as a pillow. "Sure I do. Adults act like they know everything, and that kids don't know anything. But I beg to differ. Time passes differently for people, and if that's the 'truth' you want to accept… then, yeah.
"I believe in you wholeheartedly. Us kids have to stay together, after all."
The edges of Red's lips curled up, forming a unique and warm smile. It was small and reserved, and it suit her the best most of all. Her face blushed ever so slightly.
…Until she realized something. "...Well, too bad it's just a story. Also, I'm definitely older than you!"
"Yeah, well, start acting like it!"
The two laughed like the kids they were, earning odd stares from everybody in the caravan.
◇◆◇◆◇
A humid and damp air knocked the winds out of Lieren, slapping him awake. When his consciousness first awoke, he felt cold restrains around his wrists, as well as familiar sense of footing he never knew he'd miss.
His arms were raised to his side, both wrists hung by iron shackles. A rune was embedded on the cold metal restraint, dampening magic.
Sizzle! Suddenly, his mind blacked out as scorching pain emanated from his ribs, drowning his nerves in burning pain. For a second, he almost found himself on Death's Edge. The voice that followed was hoarse and out of breath.
"What the… where am I?" Lieren muttered through batted breath. His sides felt like they had been burnt by a scorching ball of fire, thoughts muddied and slowed down to a snail's crawl. Everything was hazy, and by the time his vision readjusted, another wave of immolating pain reached his battered body, spreading like a sick plague.
A guttural scream tore from his throat. On the verge of asking for help and completely surrendering.
And then, his thoughts stopped altogether.
…After an unknown amount of time, Lieren woke up with his arms still bound, hanging by his side. However, this time, he wasn't suspended, but rather chained to the cold cyclopean wall behind him. It was cold and damp, the stench of filth, grime, blood, and rotting flesh mixing into a vile stench in the air.
Looking down, he saw that he was shirtless. Most of his body was littered with bruises and scarring wounds; a tapestry of his recklessness. For a second, he almost didn't recognize who it belonged to.
'…Right, this is who I am now.' Even he had to admit that he had been pushing himself too far. But how could he not? Retribution was a far away goal, possibly years or decades in the making. If he can shorten that time by even a second, at the cost of his own body, then he would be more than happy to.
He would do anything for his goal. Pulling on his shackles, a clangor resounded in the damp and disgusting cell. The darkness wasn't kind to his eyes, and found it hard to judge his location clearly. Checking his reserves, he found them almost untouched, as if guarded.
'That's more like it…' Lieren had always found his Magic Resistance a little clingy and rebellious at times, but it was not without its uses—one of which was the passive protection it provided against most malicious magic and illusory effects, like the bewitchment of the Witch of Envy it displayed through altering the perception of all those that bore witness to it.
Taking a deep breath, he sighed, and tried to release the meager pool of mana he had left. As soon as he did, he found his channels siphoned in two opposite directions—towards the shackles with a simple rune on them. Immediately cancelling the casting, he sighed, and analyzed the situation.
'…So, these shackles are more then they seem. Figures. Of course they would have anti-magic equipment; it wouldn't do for a cell to just suddenly blasted by a ball of fire all of a sudden. That defeats the point.'
'What surprises me more, however, is the fact that these shackles' anti-magic enchantment seem to pass through my Resistance unhindered… which is troubling. That's kinda my forte.'
'At the very least, I can keep my mana from being siphoned further by keeping it dormant in my reserves through increasing the density of my Resistance. Though, that does mean that I can't regenerate mana, either, since that requires me to break down my Resistance and create a somewhat mesh-like opening.'
'Hmm… I wonder if I can undermine the shackles? Maybe create a 'wall' of sorts to block out the mana from being absorbed… though that would require me to train and mediate to concentrate properly. Considering my current state — filled with lots of distractions — it would be extremely difficult.'
'Difficult, but possible. I should give it a try later.'
Creak! The hinges of the cell door suddenly opened, revealing a broad-shouldered man twice his height. He could have sworn he's seen that silhouette somewhere before…
Closing the cell door behind him, the man pulled out a metal rod—that's what it looked like, at least. With a rush of mana, the metal rod suddenly emitted a dim red glow, turning incandescent in matter of seconds!
Clenching his fists with a grimace, Lieren probed the man. "So, um, I didn't quite catch your name… I'm Aries, what's yours?"
A deep grunt, almost sounding like words rumbled. After a while, he finally learned to make sense of the mumbling and deciphered what it meant.
"Brad…" The burly man grunted. That was the only word he could make out. The burly man leaned over and reached with the incandescent metal rod in hand.
Sizzle! A guttural scream tore from his throat as a wave of immolating heat rolled across his skin and nerves, almost frying his brain from the sheer amount of fear toxin pumping into it. For a second, he almost lost himself, eyes rolling back into his head.
And then, he blacked out.
A deep silence followed.