I Can Copy And Evolve Talents

Fizziness didn't begin to describe what he was feeling, Northern's eyes blurred as he forced them open. There was a burning sensation in his left shoulder, he held it tightly as he let out a low groan while trying to sit up.

Northern lowered his head for a few seconds, the fog swirling around his head was as thick as ever, and it was reflected by the listless look in his eyes.

Then he raised his head to take in his surroundings.

The new surroundings were shrouded in darkness, underlit by glowing crimson objects.

His back was laid against a rocky edge, and the cold wind sneakily bit into his face. Most of his body was covered by Eternal Twilight so he didn't feel it as much.

He tried to stand up, but a sharp pain pierced through his left hand; with his shoulder impaled, his hand felt stiff and pale like a bloodless vessel.

The white tunic of his valiant armor was dark with blood. Not being able to stand up, Northern leaned back against the wall of rough stones, the only thing he could hear were the ragged breaths from his own breathing.

He stared blankly into the darkness for a while, and wondered where the crimson glow was coming from–it filled a part of the enclosure far away from where he sat.

The lower parts of the ground were also crawling with the same eerie light.

And there was something sickening about it.

Northern licked his dry lips and swallowed his saliva to wet his throat.

Even now, no thoughts formed in his head, nothing seemed to bother him. He just lay there like a human with a dead soul.

Before long, his eyes closed again to the cold embrace of slumber.

Clang

Clang

Northern was once again woken up, but this time, it was by a metallic sound, it also had a consistent rhythm.

It was like someone was either hitting a metallic surface or hitting a surface with a metallic object.

Each hit was strong enough to softly resonate through the dark enclosure.

And it was especially disturbing for Northern because, from the moment he was woken by the clanging of steel, he had been unable to take his mind off it.

In this lonesome darkness, it served as the only company he had. His mind found solace in following every intermittent strike of the metal.

And he was able to stay awake for much longer.

However, that did not seem to change his situation or save him from the darkness that enslaved his soul.

However, it does seem soothing… and peaceful.

After a few hundred clangor…it began to get unpleasant.

Just when Northern thought about it, heavy footsteps approached.

At this point, resisting was useless, the only thing that seemed to be awaiting him was death. With a nonfunctional hand, no weapons…

He sighed as the footsteps stopped in front of him.

With no effort, a four-eyed monster placed him over its shoulders and walked away into the depths of the crimson light.

Northern watched the pale darkness where he had previously laid go farther away from him until it soon became pitch black.

But at that point, they had entered a chamber with an ethereal red glow.

The chamber was filled with transparent cocoons, and at the base of every cocoon were glistening red crystals ground to minuscule forms.

Northern, with drooping eyes, observed that each cocoon was of the same monster; at least they had the same form.

At the far end of the chamber, the monster stopped and placed him on a platform.

The platform was rectangular and smeared with dried blood, there were four shackles cemented into it.

As the monster placed him down, it pressed down on his chest with one hand, while locking a shackle on his wrist.

Northern's complexion began to pale further, as he watched the monster chain his other limbs.

After it was done, it walked away, leaving Northern in the disturbing clangor of steel which was now louder than before… and more disturbing.

As each clang rang, flashes occurred to Northern. It was like the metallic sound was bogging down the foggy effect on his mind.

A harrowing memory was being dug out with each clang.

And it was very unpleasant.

Northern tried not to think, he closed his eyes but it was hard not to.

He didn't even need to.

With the passing second, the whole place resonated with the racket of steel hitting steel.

The racket made images flash across his mind. Those images brought a sharp pain to his chest and made his heart beat heavily.

Suddenly, he felt like he was in a place he hated. However, as far as his memory served him, he had never been in this chamber before.

He had no painful experience related to it that would cause so much fear, pain, and anger in his heart.

These feelings rising inside of him for unknown reasons were torturous, but not as much as the sound that entered his ears or the images that flashed across his mind.

And with time, it only got worse… he desperately did not want to see those images again, because they only brought unexplainable pain and torture to his heart.

They began to get clearer but with that clarity came an even more harrowing pain.

Over and over again.

And it was tormenting his soul.

With time he could make out a few things from the images he saw.

A bare-chested boy with white hair, holding an ax and painstakingly hitting a hill of red crystals.

Every swing of the boy's ax synchronized with the metallic sound that resonated around the room.

And only became more torturous.

As it became worse, Northern tried to move, but his hands were chained.

His mouth dried, and his stomach grumbled. There was barely any saliva left to wet his lips and throat.

And he just had to keep enduring the excruciating pain as his memories desperately tried to tear themselves away from the darkness enslaving his soul.

After a long time… another monster came, but this time, holding a crystal.

It loomed over him with a vicious look in its four eyes and, with a distorted grin, stabbed the crystal into his wound.

Northern let out a guttural cry as a sharp pain shot throughout his body making it spasm, and his mouth foam.

The beast watched with glee and left after his body had calmed down and he had stopped moving.

…

Overwhelmed by the pain from every muscle and nerve in his body, Northern stared into the dark ceiling in absolute silence.

The metallic racket was still resonating in the background.

However… his eyes were wide and trembling.

'...Crap.'