Chapter 5
The silence stuck to the air like glued wood.
Lucas's consciousness burdened by the vicious presence of the entity before him. His mind was in a blank disarray.
The thoughts ceased to exist, blending in with the emptiness of the white void around him.
He simply stared wide- eyed at the robed figure, his face gradually grimacing in ugly pain as he bit his lips, drawing a slight trickle of blood onto the milky floor and scarring the sanctity of the image of calmness in the air.
He didn't know how long they had been starring at each other. Time seemed to flow like a steady stream, trickling along his jarred senses in a disorientating fashion.
Minutes seemingly passed and just when he thought he was beginning to make sense of the numbing feeling in his head, everything suddenly weighed lesser on his being.
His body and mind had finally been slightly unwrapped from the squeezing grip.
His legs buckled and his body plummeted to the ground, the oxygen in the air was vigorously being sucked into his body as he took deep quick breaths to steady his senses.
Having your senses stripped away was a mind numbing experience, but to have them suddenly returned was like a bomb of contractions within his soul.
It took everything in him not to succumb to the explosive spasms within his muscles. Apparent by the subtle labored trembling in his arms and torso.
He thought this was a stupid dream.
If the figure had something to say to him then why not speak up. Like some dictator hung on power he decided to show dominance by pressuring Lucas and stripping him of the feeling that helped him live.
What an unreasonably unnecessary show of dominance it was.
If he had a free flowing temper like Helios, most definitely Lucas would have faced more than just this. Lucas had anger but he wasn't stupid. Anger towards a mountain meant nothing if you had no tools to bring it down and bend it to your will.
So he slightly raised his head to look at the robed man's feet in his peripheral vision.
He might as well ask questions, otherwise what was the point of this unusual dream.
"A-are you a god?" he incoherently asked, raising his head slowly. Damn it, the fears making me stupid.
He grimaced and blinked the nerves back to their ravenous caverns.
He couldn't allow such emotion to fester within him. So, he stood up straight on his knees. " What I meant was…who are you, and what's your purpose here?" said Lucas with slightly narrowed eyes.
The banging in his chest was his only response and the whispers of silence made him involuntarily shudder.
The man in the white robe stood still. His white robes fluttered in a windless grace and he kept his hands behind his back. Staring.
The silence was unnerving. Lucas had to swallow heavily if he wished to keep his calm further. A heavy task that was.
Why was he just staring at Lucas. Didn't he have a message to bring. Surely such an invasion of his sleep would prompt his assaulter to speak. Or were his views on the matter akin to an ant to the man.
Most likely so.
But did that mean he didn't deserve answers. This was his head. So it was his issue.
Contrary to the feeling of fear he'd have expected to paralyze his mind at the sight of an unfathomable existence-to kneel and beg and grovel as many in his situation would- a vicious sense of pride swallowed all it felt beneath it in his consciousness.
Leaving only the freedom of a bubbling frustration home within him. His expression morphed from one of worry to one of slight disgust.
The muscles in his jaw protruded, and he clenched his teeth. Unable to bear the figures arrogant display, he clacked his tongue and spoke. " Do you find this amusing behind that mask…You, a higher being toying to this extent with one such as me. Doesn't that mean you don't like me."
He chuckled." I wonder what I did to draw such a lowly attitude. Well, if you hope to keep this up in future...Just kill me now. You're wasting your time here."
Any man his age saying such a thing would be found as a liar in the end.
Words that drew death must be said with the expectation that it would be carried out.
No matter the time.
These were words his accursed father tended to ram into his head at a young age.
Tch. Looks like the legacy of House Morningstar shall remain unburned.
Raising his head to the sky and closing his eyes, a sudden calm washed over him. All the anger. All the disgust, vanished in an instant. Ah, what a refreshing feeling he thought.
The sound of footsteps approaching shook his soul.
He knew his words had some sort of effect. The sound of light thuds resounded with an unnatural shake throughout the white landscape. Each closing step elicited a tremble from Lucas's kneeling body.
In a few moments he felt the wind scratch at his face. The footsteps came to a halt. An enshrouding stillness once again fell upon Lucas's ears.
It must have been a final prank.
Trying to get him to lose his cool again. He couldn't help but let out a chuckle.
Time slowly streamed across the distance between Lucas and the figure. Vast amounts of it. More than the previous few iterations of their interaction.
The calm that sat in his heart beat with indifference. An unusual change which Lucas would never indulge in. It made him…different. More unattached. More at peace.
Curious to the slug like pace of his
execution, he slightly opened his eyes. In his vision only one thing was blatantly apparent.
A face littered with vast galaxies rotating slowly in glorious magnificence bore down into his gaze.
Lucas simply blinked in indifference, his face almost unperturbed.
The figure stared for longer but perhaps sensing Lucas's change in reaction, instead stretched his hand out slowly towards Lucas's face.
This was it, Lucas's thought.
A thought said he should have feared this fate more than a mere blink of the eyes. Though the change was sudden, he didn't mind.
Perhaps it was for the best. He was tired of all his emotions.
Lucas felt the figures touch. The tips of the mans fingers touched his forehead.
For a few seconds nothing happened. Was this all?
Lucas was beginning to question the figures intentions, when a sudden boiling heat barreled it's way into his brain. Warming his brain and jolting his head backwards.
"Akh-"
He tried to jerk backwards, but a binding power forced him still. His muscles exerted as much force as possible to get him away.
Unfortunately, all his struggle remained infantile in the face of overwhelming power.
The heat cut at his nerves, a deep seer sticking his brain to his skull. The pain overwhelmed him. He had to relieve it and the only way was to scream. And so he did.
A gut wrenching wail shot from his lips, his vocal chords raking in burning pain and straining from the vibrations he put them through. It was too much. He couldn't hold on.
A sudden bright light shone from the accursed figure, the light enveloped Lucas's body, additionally burning his skin as he became encased in its deathly radiance.
Every sense he had lost its voice.
The brightness of the light morphed into a dark blur. He was losing consciousness.
But before he could, words of an unforeseen nature rocked his soul a final time.
" A worthy child, you are. Just as I expected."
What? Worthy. Of what?
Lucas's thoughts disintegrated continually as he tried to find sense in the words.
Failing as the light burned it's brightest and scorched him to silence, the final whispers of the voice fading with his consciousness.
" Trust in the guidance of the light and you shall be set free-"
…
Helios POV
Insides hurt, Helios thought.
His arms had been bandaged a day ago in thick bandages. The pain was severe. He felt like his stomach continually boiled with hot acid. That his mana pathways were raging in an infernal heat. This was nothing like he had ever faced before in his village.
Why would it? Having an insanely durable body that people mistook for a second tier knight, gave him an advantage in hunting stronger prey than himself. A talent of his people that grew as they reached higher ranks in power.
He sat on the bed and looked around the room. The smell of soil and ground herbs mixed thoroughly in the air and the yellow cobblestoned walls gave off a warming feeling to him. Even the bunny poster on the wall next to him, made him smile each time he awoke to it.
A cough beside him drew his attention. Nicolas had been keeping him company and talked to him about what he'd missed in spellcasting class in these few days.
Nicolas leaned his hands back on the bed. " Basically firing a crude 'bolt' spell would have you running amok around the field" he chuckled softly." Witnessing scatter brained idiots sprinting from master Thorns rage was quite the sight."
Helios smiled. Nicolas had been someone he met because of Lucas. The guy was funny in his observations and opinions ,but most of all, he couldn't help but grow fond of the talkative lavender man.
He had a way of easing worries and respected the fact that he didn't talk much.
Unlike the other fools who saw him as a barbaric animal or the dangerous minority that thought he was something to be controlled. He hated such situations. They didn't have to say anything. He could smell the ugliness within them.
Nicolas watched Helios's expression. At reaching Helios and speaking with him, he tried many means to get the boy warm to conversation. To wait until enough of a rhythm rose in the air so that Helios could be judged.
Mentally dissected.
He waited until the time was right to finally get to the purpose of his mission. And that time was now.
"Helios.." he delayed. " How do you feel, now?" he asked, concerned.
Helios sighed." Body feel bit broken. Arms tired and mana small." He gestured to his bandaged arms." But not fully broken. I feel better than before."
"That's excellent…" Nicolas smiled. " But you know that's not what I asked. I'm talking about you and Lucas."
Helios frowned, his eye remained locked onto his bandages.
Nicolas followed his gaze. " Look Helios, what Lucas did-"
"What he did almost break me." Helios sharply interrupted.
" You ever feel burn like the sun. But inside your skin." Helios looked up at Nicolas." My body strong. I know. But…Lucas beyond me.
"Nothing I can do anymore…why even do anything, I done"
Helios was angry at Lucas.
But more so, he was furious with himself. He had always thought his people to be the strongest. Who wouldn't when that's what he'd seen all his life and from the sweet lies the elders fed the children each day.
His pride had grown immensely in his youth. Leading to dangerous arrogance. The same ugly arrogance which wiped out his entire village, leaving him the sole survivor .
Only left with a void in his heart and a renewed pride to grow stronger. He lived on only for strength.
Nicolas's gaze changed at the statement but quickly returned as he offered a smile. " He is beyond us both. Though I don't value physical strength much and yearn for better knowledge, the one thing I can acknowledge is that comparing ourselves to that fool is useless." He put his hand on Helios's shoulder.
" From the six months of our friendship, I can say with certainty you're also an anomaly in your own right. The best measure of your progress shouldn't be by getting brutalized by him but by who you are now compared to who you were before."
A small silence pervaded the room after those words.
That…made a lot of sense to Helios. Although Nicolas put it in a bit of a confusing manner.
If he kept this up he would break the only bonds he had since entering the academy. Lucas helped him gain better control over himself even when it wasn't his responsibility .
Even when he pestered him unnaturally. That had to be worth something.
Though he still had some anger in reserve, he knew he had to see his friend tomorrow. To speak and move forward together was the best option for them both.
He looked lost for a moment, looking past at his bandaged arm. His gaze was deep deeper than just his arm, deeper than the skin that held charred flesh and deeper than the pain that filled his physicality.
True, I must be doing better, he thought, blinking himself back to reality.
Grabbing Nicolas's shoulder he chuckled." You very good friend..and very good speaker. I appreciate that."
"Ha! I know, you should tell Lucas that. That fool doesn't acknowledge the vastness of my wisdom" Nicolas said with a scowl.
"Then we must make him acknowledge." Helios persuaded, lightly tapping Nicolas's back and standing up.
"That we must my friend" he said, shaking his head and standing up.
With some understanding built and a few feelings of guilt bubbling, Helios left the infirmary with Nicolas and walked along the halls to his room.
While listening to Nicolas's absurd ideas of ruling a nation of birds and the like.