Jason ran towards the manor, his eyes wide in shock. He reached the entrance of the manor and dashed inside, his mind brainstorming the reason for the fire.
He broke into the kitchen just to see a horrifying scene happening in front of him. His entire family was in front of him, their bodies burning with flames.
Jason could feel an uproar happening throughout his body. His eyes were wide open, staring at the scene in shock.
[ Host, it isn't real! Don't get fooled by it! ] The system shouted but for some reason, its voice couldn't reach Jason.
It was ironic considering what the system had told Jason inside the room. The words seemed meaningless now.
Jason's knees became weak as he fell to the ground. His body raged with different emotions, numbing for the time being.
Suddenly, the entire scene was replaced by an even horrifying one.
The Syrward family was moving through the Kamizel forest again. But this time, Hecate chased after them with various mist creatures.
One by one, all of them were being soaked in by the mist, vanishing from their spots with terrified frozen expressions.
[ Fire, mist and losing all those you love. Haah… I should have known that this would be one of your fears. ] the system sighed sadly.
It thought that it knew Jason well but was wrong. Its host was still suffering from the same things he had experienced except now, Jason kept them buried deep inside his heart.
Many minutes passed by in this manner with different scenes playing in front of him. All of them included fire and mist.
'Get a hold of yourself, idiot!' Jason consciousness shouted. 'You think Risa and Issac are that weak that they will be defeated by plain fire and mist?'
That thought seemed to pull him back to his senses. Jason slowly stood up and took a deep breath.
"Its not real. I am not afraid of this." He said out loud yet unlike what happened with the room, the scenes didn't stop playing.
Jason stood still, thinking of the same words over and over again yet they had no effect.
[ Sometimes, admitting our fears doesn't mean that we are no longer afraid of them. We have just accepted that they are present there and they make us who we are. ] The system said in a soft tone, its voice sounding extremely close to that of a human.
Its voice somehow reached Jason's ears, making his eyes wide.
Jason was silent for a few minutes before asking, 'did you come up with those words or did you took them from somewhere?'
[ No, I just thought of them on the spot. Why? ] The system asked in a confused tone.
'Haa… I have heard them before.' Jason replied with a sad smile on his face.
[ Huh? ] the system wanted to check Jason's memories but it felt that it wasn't the correct time to do that.
Instead, it asked a question. [ Host, do you think you can beat your fears? ]
'I don't know. I have no idea what to do now.' Jason shrugged. He had done his part by not only admitting that everything was fake.
By admitting that he was afraid of things, he had also released a burden off his shoulders.
Jason simply sat down and watched the scenes play in front of him, one after the other. The pain he felt decreased the more he watched them.
He could even locate the wrong details like the wrong eye color of one of his family member's or how Hecate looked like a charming loli.
Jason didn't realize it but the scenes had slowly changed. In a few more minutes, he was laughing while watching Hecate turning into an old hag with a drooping face.
Slowly but steadily, the sky began to crack.
***
"Good job, Jason." Erebus looked at the scene with a smile on his face.
The only ones currently able to watch Jason fight his fears were Erebus, the system, Sancus and the goddess who had given Jason the ring.
Erebus could tell that all of them were watching Jason with curious eyes. Sancus and the goddess would've likely not watched the silver-haired boy if not for their divinities activating for a tiny amount of time.
Usually, a god's divinity would activate between five years of their follower being reborn. However, that wasn't possible with Jason due to having multiple divinities inside him.
Those with multiple divinities and a single patron god had to wait for some sort of triggering event for the divinities to activate.
'Sadly, I, a fallen god, am his patron. Not only that but Jason is a half-demon. Halflings are always troublesome. Under normal circumstances, Sancus's divinity should have activated after a few promises he made and completed.
The ring would have activated after he talked with three to four females between his age or ten years of gap. Sadly, th two divinities have barely sparked over the eleven years that have passed since his birth.'
Erebus could only sigh since there was nothing he could do. Despite being his patron, the god of shadows couldn't control such things.
He left things on the various gods and goddesses of fates and hoped that one of them might know a thing or two about Jason's future.
But if they didn't, no one could know what will happen in the future.
***
"I finally defeated my fear." Jason sighed in relief.
The silver-haired boy was lying in a clearing, his eyes staring at the new sky that had opened up in front of him.
The sky was deprived of the brightness he had seen in his previous fear. No stars were visible in the sky and the moon seemed to have vanished.
[ Host, you might still be afraid deep down. But now, you have managed to conquer your fear for a short time. That was what helped you clear that trial. ]
'Thank you for the words you spoke then. They helped me get a hold of myself and clear the trial.' Jason replied with a smile.
Minutes passed by before he finally stood up, his eyes fixed on the black sky. It was time to beat another one of his fears
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