"He's still alive," the leader said, a wide smirk stretching across his face as he looked at Cassian's mangled, bloody form. Cassian's legs had been severed just below the knees, the stumps bleeding profusely. His hands were pinned to the wall behind him with long knives, and one of his eyes had been gouged out. Blood dribbled from his mouth, mingling with his hoarse cries of pain.
The leader approached Cassian with a chilling, deliberate slowness, savouring each of his victim's tortured breaths. Cassian's remaining eye was wide with terror, darting around as if searching for an escape that didn't exist. The leader crouched down, his face mere inches from Cassian's, and with a cruel, mocking smile, he pushed his finger into Cassian's empty eye socket.
Cassian's body convulsed, and he tried to scream, but the sound was a strangled, wet gasp. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound emerged. The leader pulled back slightly, observing the silent agony with twisted satisfaction. Cassian's tongue lay severed in a puddle of blood near his legs, the cruel handiwork of his tormentors. The absence of his tongue explained his mute suffering; his mouth was now a grotesque mess, blood mingling with saliva and dripping down his chin.
"Well, he's a real fighter. I'd have been disappointed if he didn't struggle at least this much," the youngest of the three men said, glancing at Cassian's bloody and mangled form.
Despite the torture, the necklace still hung around Cassian's neck. The trio had refrained from taking it, wanting him to give it up himself. But now, seeing him on the brink of death, the leader grabbed the pendant aggressively and said in a mockingly sad tone, "But alas, it has to end now. We can't risk someone catching us at our game."
But the younger man seemed unfazed. Kicking Cassian in the stomach, he sneered, "Let them catch us. We have enough time to play with them after discarding this one..."
Cassian's mouth released more blood from the blow, and the necklace around his neck was now drenched in it, turning its natural colour into a shiny, almost eerie red.
Cassian couldn't think straight from the blood loss. He had no idea what was happening to him or where he was. His body had stopped feeling pain, or perhaps his mind had broken so thoroughly that it could no longer process the signals his body was sending.
Cassian's mind was a foggy blur, his memories slipping away as a coping mechanism against the trauma he endured. He couldn't even recall what had happened an hour ago. Everything was a painful, bloody haze.
The leader approached, a sadistic grin spreading across his face as he grabbed the blood-soaked necklace. Using its sharp edge as a weapon, he aimed it directly at Cassian's heart. "Enough games for today. Let's go back," he said coldly, his eyes gleaming with malicious satisfaction.
With a swift motion, he plunged the makeshift blade into Cassian's chest. Cassian felt a searing, unbearable pain as the blade pierced his heart, and he let out a guttural cry, blood gushing from his mouth in a violent torrent. His vision blurred, and darkness began to creep in at the edges.
As his life force ebbed away, something extraordinary happened. The moment his heart's blood touched the necklace's gleaming surface, time seemed to freeze. The world around him fell silent, and Cassian was suspended in a surreal, timeless moment.
In this eerie stillness, a strange voice echoed in his mind. The words were indistinct, fragmented, and difficult to discern, but they carried an otherworldly resonance. The voice was devoid of any emotion, like someone muttering words without any thought or feeling behind them. It was both unsettling and oddly comforting in its neutrality.
Cassian's consciousness flickered, caught between the brink of life and death. The voice grew slightly clearer, though still cryptic, as if ancient and powerful forces were at play. He couldn't make out the exact words.
[True mana detected. Origin: Human...]
[Human detected. Compatibility with system: Confirmed.]
[Initiating connection...]
[Connection established.]
[Human assigned as Trainee Warrior.]
[Warning: Body incompatible for training.]
[Adapting body for training suitability...]
[Error: Body too injured for adaptation.]
[Initiating healing process...]
[Healing complete.]
[Alert: Trainee is in danger.]
[Providing temporary boost to fend off danger...]
[Error: Trainee unconscious, unable to utilize boost.]
[Activating safety protocols...]
[Safety protocol: Random teleportation activated.]
[Teleporting trainee to random location...]
As Cassian lay in pain and shock, barely able to comprehend what was happening, the people who had inflicted such injuries on him were stunned. The wounds they had carved into his frail body healed almost instantly, except for the gash in his chest, which took a bit longer. But even that disappeared before their eyes.
In one moment, Cassian was there, and in the next, he vanished into thin air. The three attackers trembled in fear as one of them stammered, "Someone teleported him..." His voice was shaky, knowing that teleportation wasn't something just anyone could do. Only a few powerful individuals could perform such a feat.
Realising the gravity of their actions and the potential consequences, the three men panicked and fled in different directions, not daring to look back.
Little did they know, there was no one around to witness their deed. Even if someone had been there, they wouldn't have cared about some unfortunate soul getting beaten in a dark alley. The three attackers were just wasting their breath, running away from nothing but their own fears.
Meanwhile, Cassian, the cause of their panic, now lay unconscious in front of the gates of an enormous castle. The gate was one of many leading to the castle, which had boundaries stretching as far as the eye could see. The surrounding area was filled with numerous other impressive buildings, some nearly as grand as the castle itself. But the castle stood out, towering above everything else like a mountain, its spires visible from miles away.
The entire castle was adorned with flags and symbols of a majestic golden tree, its leaves glistening as if wet with morning dew, and its roots spreading wide and deep.