A young man lay on the cold stone floor in the middle of the stone chamber.
His body was twitching, and his seven orifices were bleeding.
"Argh! Hukk!"
Screams of agony rolled in the air.
He felt like his mind was being split open. Someone or something was forcibly crushing his brain into a paste.
The feeling was horrible, to say the least!
Luckily, Kole had experienced something much more devastating than this before…
In order to understand the events we need to go back in time…
As Faneia descended, Kole followed behind. Carefully watching his steps, he followed the mother hen.
It took some time before they finally landed behind another door with a similar mural. Faneia stretched her hand and pushed the door open.
At the end of the small stone room, stood a throne on a platform.
She handed the oil lamp to Kole and gestured for him to light the lanterns all over the chambers, and Kole simply nodded and followed her instructions.
When he was done, he saw his mother seated on the throne, one leg over the other, looking down at him with an imperceptible smile.
"Mother?..."
"Have you ever thought why they say the difference between Akerse and Accursed is like the distance between shore and ocean?"
Kole felt his eyelids twitch. He has certainly heard of those rumors. But he chalked it off as nothing but arrogant remarks of jealous nobles.
As he saw his mother staring at him intently, Kole nodded and confirmed.
"They are not wrong…" Faneia muttered with an amused little smile, "Caroline was born with a strange power… which was a legacy of mine. It gave her excruciating pain ever since childhood until she learned to control it—For normal children, it would be nothing but a curse.
"That saved her from the agonizing pain and dangers one faces while their Ascendancy as she was prepared in advance. Unfortunately for you, you were born as a pure human. You don't have the privilege of facing pain since childhood. In fact, except for yesterday's event, I don't believe you have ever faced pain."
"..." Kole displayed an appropriate embarrassing smile.
Sometimes being fortunate enough is a curse, while curses are a blessing in disguise. It was truly a strange world. However, Kole believed it was correct even in his previous world.
Sometimes, diamonds were carved by hardships while those who live an easy life crumble under the intense stare of responsibilities.
"For the next 2 days, the doors of this room will remain opened." A sardonic smile stretched over her face. She raised her hand and snapped.
Kole, standing in the middle of the chamber, suddenly saw red complicated arcane symbols on the floor glowing faintly, with his feet as the center.
"You are supposed to stay in this room for 10 hours each. If you survive the entire 30 hours then the next process will be smoother."
Survive? What is happening?... For some reason, Kole felt a sense of foreboding.
"Mhm." Faneia tilted her head and tapped her chin discreetly, seemingly in deep thought, "Oh I forgot, you can ignore the engravings on the door. Just don't look at it, and it won't "look" at you."
"…" Suddenly, Kole noticed the glow on the symbols intensifying.
Why can't I get a f*cking break?!
It was at that moment; he knew he had f*cked up!
He screamed at the top of his lungs as he felt his brain being sliced and battered.
…
For the next two days, Kole would follow the same routine. Having breakfast and then morning exercises. After which he would relax a little and go underground to grunt like a grizzled beast despite being a noble.
At the same time he noticed, Faneia would just sit on the throne and watch the entire session with an unnoticeable smile.
He briefly wondered whether she was a sadist or not.
However the more he thought about it the more he felt it was highly plausible.
For some reason, he didn't want to think about Faneia anymore.
After all, only an insane person would torture their children.
Later on, he would eat like a glutton at the dinner table. He blamed it on his rapidly deteriorating psyche and revenge against Faneia so that she had to cook more!
Luckily, Faneia started cooking more food with no change in her expression as she saw him finishing everything on the table, which was the only saving grace and solace he could find in this world that was rapidly turning a shade of grey in his eyes.
…
After 3 days of torture. Kole stood in the same place with his hands behind his back, as a confident smile stretched over his face.
At this point, he had become indifferent to pain and it could be seen from the second day onwards when Kole would only wince a little once the painful treatment started.
He understood this was the basic preparations one had to make before Ascendancy and took this as a learning lesson—Nothing in the world is gained without paying a price!
"I am satisfied," Faneia said as she stood up.
Saying so, she stretched her hand, "Now, let's see the thing your little friend gifted you."
A small dark bead appeared in the middle of her palm.
A bright sparkle appeared in Kole's deep black eyes.
Finally the moment, he had been waiting for finally arrived! He could see a path of unending power in that tiny marble!
He felt like as long as he could get a hold of it, he would become a God!
"The Creation Seed," Faneia muttered as a strange smile appeared on her face as she held the small dark bead in between her fingers.
Suddenly,
She crushed it.
Like a shattered crystal, the hopes of power for Kole fell on the cold stone floor.
Kole: "…"