Chapter 208 Volume IV - Chapter 53: A Dark Hand Offering Hope
A light, not very bright, but one I had seen for a long time, caught my eye. The door opened slowly. Then a dwarf came in.
It was the same dwarf, the same person who had visited me before. His hands were behind his back, he had that cold look on his face. His beard was shaved this time, and for the first time, I noticed his pale green eyes.
"I want to tell you something, Aiden Tenebra."
The dwarf narrowed his eyes. Something seemed to be bothering him.
"Why are you so stubborn? Is the secret you're hiding really that big? Are you even willing to die for it?"
He bent down, knelt, and put his hand on my shoulder.
"I get reports about you every day. You're scared, crying, screaming, but you keep quiet. You don't even try to lie, you just shut up. Why?"
He curled her lips upward and smiled.
"Let me tell you something."
He waited a while, looked back. He sighed and closed the door, which allowed light into the room. Darkness enveloped the room again and he leaned against the door as if he didn't care.
"You're more important than you realize, Aiden Tenebra."
I don't know if he was manipulating me to his will or if he really thought I was important, but I was strangely intrigued, so I involuntarily listened to him in the middle of the nothingness I felt.
"What I want from you is not what you used in that battle. What I want from you is not why you helped Dorhud Gen'dai, not how you knew him. I want you to tell me the story of your life, Aiden. I want to hear everything you remember from the day you were born, everything you've been through to this point."
He paused, and for the first time, I saw emotion in his expressionless face. It was impatience, a little excitement.
"If you do what I say, Aiden, we will not only win this war. If you tell me what I want to hear, we can rule this world in the future, and you... You can have a steady job in a huge mansion earning millions of wels while all this happens."
He stretched, even if slightly, and continued solemnly.
"I swear on my honor as a dwarf, on my name, Kahdun Sou'hard, all you have to do is give me what I want and you will be free of this hell. Once the South Holar rule the whole Lunerra, you can live a decent life, even with your family and friends. You don't have to fight, you don't have to struggle. A happy life with them."
A smile appeared on his face again. He stood up from the door he was leaning against and approached me. Then he looked at me with hope and expectation.
"End this stubbornness and live a happy life for the rest of your life."
I took my eye off him and turned it to the wall.
A decent life...
I can forget this place. I can get out of here. I don't even have to work to get stronger. I can live a peaceful life for the rest of my life with what will be given to me. With my family. With Clara, maybe Sue.
I paused, and an image flashed through my mind. An image of me sitting in a small room in a mansion. I had a smile on my face, I was at peace.
I opened my mouth, and the hope on Kahdun's face became clearer. His lips curled higher than ever.
Then something appeared in my vision. A pair of glowing, purple eyes.
My mouth, which I had opened, just stayed open. I stiffened in an instant.
Kahdun Sou'hard continued to stare at me for a while. He gripped my shoulder tightly, waiting for an answer.
Seconds passed. Maybe a few minutes... We both just waited.
Kahdun said nothing, he finally stood up and headed out without looking back once. Before he left, though, he spoke in a particularly harsh, precise tone.
"I will find your family, Aiden. I'm putting it at the top of my to-do list. I'm going to organize a group for your sister and your friends right now. You will have no choice but to give me what you want... When you have nothing left to lose, you will have no choice, I won't even let you die."
After the door closed, after the darkness enveloped my body again, my mouth closed. I swallowed involuntarily despite the pain in my dry throat. I cried silently as tears welled up in my eyes again, as thoughts flooded my mind again.
Adrian, Julian, Alexander, Lucia, Celine, Sue, Clara...
I... I put everyone in danger.
They'll all get caught because of me.
They'll all die because of me.
Because of me.
Because of me...
Because of me...
I...
I paused.
Why am I still alive? Why am I still hurting the people I love? Here, all I do is keep quiet, but why do my friends get hurt again and again because of me?
Why...?
Something happened. I felt something breaking inside me, and right after that, I felt something sprouting in my mind, deep inside.
No, it wasn't sprouting. It was like a flower blooming. It was the blossoming of something that had already sprouted. It was something strange blooming in the midst of all this darkness, all this pain.
Then, suddenly, a voice whispered in my ear, as if it had been waiting for this all this time...
'Do you want to escape, Aiden?'
I heard a voice, my old voice, whispering but also echoing throughout the whole room.
'Answer me, Aiden. Do you want to survive? Do you want to get revenge?'
Do I want to get out...?
Can I... can I get out of here?
No... it's impossible. Even if I do, only worse things will happen to me, to others.
I paused, then another thought came to me.
Shouldn't I... just die?
'Aiden, I'm asking you.'
In front of me, in this room where there was nothing but dirt and darkness, something materialized. Someone with purple eyes and dark brown hair. He was serious, not smiling. He was also determined.
'Aid- No, Ethan Subter.'
Ethan... that was my name, wasn't it?
I... I had forgotten it again, in this hell... I had forgotten my name again, trying not to think about anything.
"What did you come to this world for?"
For what...
I came here to be happy, didn't I?
Happy?
Hahaha... That's... kind of funny.
'I guess you don't care about yourself. But are you sure you don't care about your sister? Or the girl you love, are you going to ignore her too? And your friends? Celine?'
I paused, feeling the thing that had been brewing in my mind slowly spreading through my body.
'Now, do you want to get out of here, not for yourself, but for them? For a better future, in the end, to be happy with them when it's all over.'
I...
I want to.
I want to get out of here...
I want to escape this hell.
I don't want to suffer.
I don't want to die.
My friends, Sue, Clara, Celine... I don't want anyone to get hurt.
I... I want to leave this cursed place.
With that, my wiera side reached out his hand to me. This time with a slight smile on his face. And I, looking at his smile, accepted his offer.
A purple glow slowly appeared in the dark room. I felt a warmth inside me, right in my chest, and then this warmth slowly spread all over my body, moving toward my hand. My vision slowly turned purple, the caora spread from the heat in my chest, enveloped my whole body, and then gathered in my right arm.
When the chains melted and released my right hand, my emaciated hand, missing the ring finger, fell to the ground.
It was hard, my whole body was on the verge of collapse. My infected wounds were hurting me. But I tried anyway. I forced my arm up, and then extended my hand toward him.
Caora, meanwhile, wrapped the bracelet that seemed to have merged with my skin. It melted it as if it were nothing. As the mana began to flow through my body again, I felt my weakened body regain some strength. Then one notification after another appeared in front of me.
Notifications that I should have seen before but couldn't because my mana was restricted.
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Congratulations! Your Endurance statistic has increased to D- due to your willpower in the face of pain!
Congratulations! Your Vitality statistic has increased to D thanks to your success in holding on to life despite your condition!
Congratulations! Your Stamina statistic has increased to D for resisting despite the amount of poison you were exposed to!
Congratulations! Your Vitality statistic has increased to D+ thanks to your success in clinging on to life despite your condition!
...
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Wiera side of me grasped my hand tightly without waiting. The smile on his face suddenly, for no reason at all, grew wider than ever.
"Well done, Aiden."
He looked happy, like he had achieved his goal.
In the midst of all these notifications, after that strange feeling in my mind; a new notification appeared.
I looked at the notification with a strange emptiness inside me as the whole room was covered in a purple glow, as the caora enveloped my whole body and spread throughout the room, corroding everything in its path.
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Congratulations! Your [Absolute Mind(A-)] skill has improved to A grade due to the countless times you have pushed it even beyond its limits by exceeding its limit so many times!
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