Enjoy the pain.
It has been two days since the day Ariel got his Eldris force. Ariel has spent these two days in pain and suffering. He has been crying for the past two days, non-stop. He has been in bed for these two days, so he can get a second of sleep, but he hasn't been able to. He ate everything possible but, couldn't get rid of hunger, drank hundreds of jugs of water but couldn't quench his thirst.
Masir enters the room, with food in his hand. Ariel was trying not to cry or scream but, his face and eyes gave it all away. "You chose pain." Masir puts the plate aside and sits on the chair backward. "Why? You don't have anything left and you said you won't seek revenge. Then why did you choose the way of pain? Eldris gives a choice after telling the risk, you can leave or hear two choices. What motivates you?"
Ariel struggled to speak; in a distorted voice, he answered "Motivates? Yes, I don't seek revenge. And I don't have anything to live for, but there is one question that has always troubled me, I want to know the answer to that, so I can die peacefully."
"A question, you chose this so you can find an answer? Now, I am curious what that question might be for which you are ready to do anything?" Ariel struggles to pick himself up but, somehow he stands. And then he walks towards the plate that Masir had brought. While eating a large piece of bread Ariel in his distorted voice says
"You can't answer it, so no point in asking. I will ask this question to just one man, so I don't get puzzled with two answers. I will ask someone who has lived his life and has nothing to look forward to but his death. You have revenge to take." Masir with a calm but cold look stared at him. Ariel stood there, his hairs tangled, eyes bright red and face gloomy like a dead body, eating bread like an animal "So, you would do anything to find that answer? But, a while ago you said something about motives and how they manipulate us. Will it be right to say that you are also being manipulated by this question?" Ariel gulped "Maybe, maybe not. No one knows for sure. My dad said it's an enigma. Even if we know we might just ignore or deny it." Masir stood from his chair "You will join Prodigy Knights. And you will find hundreds of people who have nothing to look forward to except death. You might find your candidate." After saying this he turns around and walks through the door. Ariel finished the whole meal and was still hungry. But, now he just couldn't hold his scream. He fell to the ground and started crying loudly. Masir was not far away, he teleported to the room, and without using any portal he just vanished and appeared in Ariel's room. "So, you were just acting tough, huh." Ihaan busted through the door with Doctor Anika and Anus. Ihaan asks Masir "What happened?"
"He just fell; I think the pain is increasing." Anika put her hands on Ariel's chest. They started glowing, and after a second or two she picked her hands up. "He has no injury but, I can feel his pain. Every single muscle, bone, and organs are in pain. There is no body part where he isn't feeling pain. He is hungry and he needs sleep."
Ihaan pushes Anika aside "Yeah, but he can't so he has to bear it. His mind will have to forget the meaning of pain." Ihaan puts his hand on Ariel's head. "Everything hurts." Ariel cries. Ihaan pulls his hand back rests it in the air and then slaps Ariel. He stops shouting or crying. "Shut up." Ihaan says with a subtle tone; "You are not a little girl, be a man. Men don't cry. They don't feel pain. They bear it." Then he goes on "Pain will leave you once it's done teaching you. Now, stand up and if I hear you cry I will kill you." Ihaan said to Ariel with a smile that he always has on his face. The way he said it, the threat looked harmless (But a slap wasn't harmless). Anika grabs Ihaan by his collar and pulls him backward. "What the hell are you trying to do?" Ihaan picks himself up and stands up. Masir steps up and defends Ihaan "He has been crying for two days straight. It's about time he learns that men don't cry. At least they didn't use to. Now, they have become weak and pathetic, he is just a perfect example of how humans are turning into cowards." Anika looks at Masir with anger "Oh, it's about humans, because they killed your family and took the life of your lover?" The second those words reached Masir's ears, the room turned black nothing in sight just darkness. Masir's eyes turned full black Ihaan shouted but before his words could come out, Masir's hand went through Anika's chest. He grabbed her heart, but before he could pull his hand out he felt something on his neck. It was a black rusted sword, Ihaan was wielding it. "Move a muscle and I will kill you." It was the second time he threatened someone in just one hour but this time he wasn't smiling. "Stand down, both of you." A voice said. The second they heard the voice, Masir pulled his hand out without the heart and Ihaan pulled the sword down. They found themselves in Ariel's room once again. The darkness had lifted. The headmaster comes near both of them and asks "What were you both trying to do?" Anika was on her knees, blood streaming through her chest but suddenly the blood started moving in slowly, she was coughing. "Nothing, Headmaster, we were just playing a game. It's called 'Let's see who gets the heart first'." Ihaan answers with a big smile. Masir without answering rushes out with anger. Anika was on her feet and all the blood was gone and the wound had also healed. "Stop joking around, idiot."
Ihaan looks back and then forth "You only call me by that name when you are angry." The headmaster looks around the room, Ariel is standing behind Ihaan. His eyes were closed and his face calm, yet troubled.
"I want some days off," Ihaan says while having that arrogant smile on his face. The headmaster asked the reason. "I want to train him."
"You are so kind."
"Cut the crap, old man."
A strange look in the Headmaster's eyes; "Okay, I approve. Anika, Anus let's go."
After they left, Ihaan closed the door. Ariel's eyes were still closed. "Trying to bear it? It doesn't work like that. To bear the pain you must accept it, and enjoy it. Don't think of it as a curse. Pain is a blessing. A man, who enjoys pain, has nothing to fear. He becomes invincible." Ariel opens his eyes. "Enjoy pain? How can someone enjoy pain?"
Ihaan comes near him and kicks him in the stomach; Ariel flies to the wall and falls to the ground. "Pain is something every being fears and feels but not if you enjoy being in pain. Find thrill and excitement in pain. Don't avoid or cry in a thunderstorm, learn to dance in it. Nothing will go as you expect it to go, just smile and show the middle finger to problems. If you are afraid just smile and laugh and feel the rush of pain and suffering. Become a demon who never bends down to a little pain, he takes power from it."
Ariel wipes the blood coming from his mouth and stands up. "Power from pain, doesn't it make us weak."
"Yes, it does. To the people who live without hope. To the people who have nothing to look forward to. People without dreams feel pain and find a weakness in it, you chose the way of pain so man up because it will become harder and harder every second." Ariel's face turned red and he looked less like a zombie now. He forced a smile. Suddenly, they heard a voice as if something had fallen and cracked. Ihaan and Ariel looked towards the door; it was closed but, just a bit opened. A boy was standing, his one foot on a plant pot and head stuck between the wall and door. The second his eyes met Ariel's he ran away. "Anyways, now start practicing it. Accept the pain and restlessness. I have something to do."
"Okay."