Stygian Mage

The fire was blazing around; the smell of the burning flesh filled the air, burnt dead bodies lying around on the ground and blood soaking the ground red. In the middle of this scene which resembled hell, a man in a red coat was standing there, smiling.

Soren, a simple guy who had never witnessed a severe case of violence, was hyperventilating standing there in the bush. He forgot to hide, run, or even scream. His mind was completely blank from what he just witnessed. He was panicking from the scene of red all around him.

“No-No…W-What is this.” He muttered slowly in a shaky voice. After gaining a moment of clearness he stared at the dead bodies and the man in red standing there in the middle like a devil’s incarnate. Soon he bent to the side and retched, puking his guts out.

……..

After emptying his stomach out, he started panting trying his hardest to breathe. He felt like he was submerged deep under the ocean, suffocating. The weight was crushing him; it was not just the murder but also the methods which had left him aghast.

Suddenly the red-haired man looked at him smiling and said, “Welcome, Traveler.”

Soren, not in his right mind, could not register what the man said but the voice roused him from his despair as he slowly looked towards the source.

He could feel the danger coming from the man’s cold eyes; he felt like a weak prey standing in front of an apex predator.

He backed away a few steps but soon stopped as he glanced at the man in red.

The red-haired man slowly started walking towards Soren. As he reached halfway, he stopped.

Smiling, he said in a friendly voice which was a drastic contrast to the surrounding, “Let’s meet halfway, shall we; I mean you no harm. As you could see, I was the victim of a robbery here. If I startled you I apologize. Let’s talk; I am sure you have a lot of questions.”

Soren didn’t believe a word this man said but wasn’t confident enough to run away from him either. Most of all, he had no idea how this man could shoot fireballs from his hand like that.

Was he still dreaming?

He couldn’t muster the courage to defy the incarnate of the devil so he just followed what this devil said.

Soren, still afraid, slowly started to walk towards the man in red. Trying to form words in his mind, he started talking.

He said in a shaky voice, “I did not see anything; I swear! I will not say anything to anyone. You don’t need to kill me; p-please don’t kill me.”

The red-haired man frowned upon hearing Soren’s reply. Then he smiled and said, “If you didn’t see anything how could you say anything. Don’t you think your words are rather contradictory?”

Soren was stunned upon hearing his words. He started stuttering, “I—I--I.”

The red-haired lifted his palm signaling Soren to stop speaking. He then said, “You are in a panicked state right now so let me speak. Once you gather your wits you can reply me.”

He smiled at Soren and beckoned him to get close. He said in a barely audible voice, “Hmm, he looks like he just arrived and hadn’t had the time to know about this world. From what he was saying before it seems the world he comes from is rather peaceful and murder is not allowed.”

He looked towards Soren and said, “Okay let me explain now; Come close.”

He took out a water bottle and beckoned Soren to take it, “You must be thirsty, have some water first.”

Soren started to calm down as he moved towards the man in red trying his hard not to look around him. He took the water bottle with shaky hands and started gulping water, mouthful after mouthful.

He removed the bottle from his mouth after a while and released a deep breath, wiping his mouth using his sleeve. After satisfying his thirst he returned the bottle to man in front of him meekly.

He looked at the man in red and said in a weak voice, “Thank you.” He was still quite shaken but was able to hold himself together.

He also had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the water as the man in front of him could kill him with a wave of his hand; why would he waste time with poison?

The man in red smiled and replied, “Have you calmed down now.” He looked at Soren sizing him from his toe to head.

He said, “You must be feeling cold in those clothes. Here let me warm you up.” He moved his hand towards Soren.

Soren suddenly flinched and backed away a few steps.

Feeling Cold? Fire is burning everywhere around us right now!

Soren thought in his mind as he backed away.

Upon seeing this, the man in red was not angry but smiled and said, “You still don’t trust me; I get it. I wouldn’t either from what you just saw here. But let me tell you this—If I wanted to kill you, do you think it would be hard.” The words falling from his mouth chilled Soren to his core. He could see that behind the smiling face existed a cold-hearted demon.

Although he didn’t want to get close to this man, he had no other choice but to follow his order.

He slowly moved towards the man in red while trying to keep himself calm. The red-haired man slightly smiled and patted Soren’s shoulder gently.

Soren suddenly felt a warm sensation filling his body. His body suddenly relaxed and he slowly let go of the tension and let the man in front of him take control. Slowly the warm sensation spread to every corner of his body and started moving upwards his neck, soon reaching his face and then his brain.

Seeing this, the red-haired man curled his mouth upwards in a content manner.

His eyes gave off a glow of greed and soon he started breathing heavily as he said, “Bloodline!! HAHAHA, a bloodline in its infancy; finally, I also have it....hehehe-hahaha. FINALLY! I ALSO HAVE A HIGH-GRADE BLOODLINE.” He started laughing like a madman.

As the warm feeling reached Soren’s forehead between the eyebrows, he felt a suction force coming from that area.

The red-haired man stopped laughing and stared at Soren’s forehead in a crazed manner. He then muttered slowly, “Good-good, it started. I will suck the bloodline off his body and will finally gain a high-grade bloodline. Hahaha, a Bloodline Talent of a Traveler, I can’t wait to see what it will be.”

Suddenly his expression changed. His face became pale, devoid of any color like a corpse.

His face twisted and soon he coughed up blood. The warm yet disgusting blood fell on Soren’s face but he stood still, not even flinching as if in a trance.

The suction force which should have taken Soren’s bloodline started working in an opposite direction. A swirl formed between Soren’s eyebrows seemingly able to suck everything that came close to it. Yet the only thing getting sucked in was the red-haired man’s energy.

The swirl kept sucking the energy from the red-haired man while Soren stood there with a blank mind.

Suddenly a sharp sound rang in Soren’s mind which made him gain his senses. As he sobered up he saw a bunch of words forming in front of his eyes.

[Insufficient energy; Internal energy source unable to satisfy the requirements, going into hibernation mode until an ample energy source is found]

[External energy source detected! Checking for any unstable element… No unstable element found.]

[Starting the process….]

[……]

[Bloodline Activate - Activation complete]

[Bloodline Talent found!]

[Talent type: Auxiliary [Passive]]

[Bloodline Talent taking effect]

[Error: Bloodline Talent could not take effect totally; partial bloodline talent taking effect.]

After a bunch of messages flashed in front of Soren’s eyes, he gained a moment of clarity. But soon he started getting a headache. The pain escalated till it felt like his brain was splitting.

He started groaning and panting in a painful manner, “Ugh...Ahh!”

It was unbearable but he had no choice but to grit his teeth and bear through it. It continued till what felt like a lifetime to Soren. After a while, the pain subsided and soon he felt a cool sensation spread in his brain.

He fell down on the ground as he couldn’t hold himself up.

He lay there on the ground completely defenseless, soaking in the feeling of that cool breath spreading in his mind. He felt much more clear-headed than he ever was.

As he slowly opened his eyes he saw something like a white mist slowly moving and then dispersing. He was startled by the sudden change but was able to stay calm. He could see many things extremely clear now; his vision had improved significantly which left him flabbergasted.

Slowly he adjusted his vision and started to get up.

After getting up, he started looking around and what he noticed made him panic again.

There was a body lying in front of him. Although he had seen multiple dead bodies today, this body had him so astonished that he could not close his mouth for a while.

The body was completely dried up like someone inserted a straw in and sucked everything out. The dried mummy had red hair which now looked like a dried red straw grass.

Soren noticed this and said in a low voice, “Is this him? Did I do it? No-no must have been something he did that went wrong.” Suddenly words started to form in front of his eyes again.

[Process Complete; Partial Bloodline Talent Activated]

He suddenly noticed this and again he felt his world turned upside down.

“W-what is this.” He said. He lifted his hand trying to touch the words but his hands phased through them. “Wait! Calm down first. STOP FUCKING PANICKING EVERY TIME!” He yelled at himself.

He then took a deep breath and focused on the issue before him.

Okay, let’s see. It seems like a message box that you see in a game. From what I saw before and adding this now…where is this place? Some kind of fantasy world! Am I not in my world anymore?

As he made this conjecture his fast heartbeat gave away his fake calm demeanor. He breathed hard and his eyes turned red; tears rolling down his cheeks.

“No-no calm-calm down” He scolded himself while sobbing. But no matter how much he consoled himself he could not bring himself to calm down. Soon he broke down and started crying and wailing in despair and panic.

“NO-NO, Mom…Dad…Brother…this must be a dream…I must be dreaming right now...that’s right, this is a dream!” He completely broke down unable to believe what he was experiencing. He cried and cried and cried.

Tears fell down his chins on the ground. He kneeled on the ground wrapping his arms around himself and sobbed with a heart-wrenching sound.

He continued to cry without stopping. Panic, Disgust, Sadness, Despair, Fear; every emotion that he had felt before came out in the form of his tears and coarse wailing voice.

After a while he started to feel weak and couldn’t hold himself up; he fell down on the ground in a fetal position slowly drifting to sleep. Slowly the sobbing voice died down and the jungle once again fell silent.

……..

The birds chirped, the wind blew and the forest turned serene once again. The loud silence returned to the jungle once more. The wind blew over the ground taking the tears soaked soil with them.

But it couldn’t change what had happened as the dead bodies lying there was proof.

Soren lay there completely still like other dead bodies but the breath flowing through his nose indicated otherwise.

This path which cut through the forest rarely had any human traveling here but wild animals passed through here very often. Maybe it was a stroke of luck or the red-haired man’s aura; today, no creature appeared here, leaving Soren sleeping in peace.

Soren felt like he was in a dream which he didn’t to wake up from. After waking up, he had to face the cruel reality.

He saw his parents and brother in the dream. He saw his mother smiling at him and telling him that food will be ready soon; He could even smell the aroma coming from the food made by his mother.

He saw his father, whose hair had turned slightly gray showing the toll that time took on him. He could see the strict love in his father’s eyes as he yelled at him to come on the table for dinner.

His parents had a very contradictory stance when it came to him and his brother. His mother generally had a gentle presence but became very stern in certain situations. His father always kept a strict look but when it came to it, he was the one always spoiling the brothers.

He saw his brother sitting there eating the food from Soren’s plate; telling him to come quickly or otherwise he would finish everything.

He was once again reminded of the time spent he spent with his brother. Good or bad they carried on together. His brother had always been his shield and Soren had always aspired to protect that shield.

This was the brotherhood they shared, wanting to protect each other through tough times and enjoy life together in good times. As he saw the familiar faces, his eyes turned red and tears automatically started falling.

“Mom…Dad...Brother...” He muttered in his sleep with tears falling from his eyes. Slowly his hazy mind turned clear.

He started remembering every detail of what happened after coming to this world. He slowly thought of everything and looked towards his parents and brothers. They were looking at him with eyes filled with love, expectation, encouragement. It was as if they were telling him not to give up...ever.

Soren kept looking at them; memorizing their appearance, presence and everything of them and recording in his mind permanently.

He took a deep breath and slowly started speaking, “I will come back to you no matter what it takes: I will come back.”

As he said those words, his family’s images started fading; turning into mist and dispersed into the air.

This was a dream he didn’t want to wake up from…ever.

But the reality was always cruel. If he wanted to achieve anything he had to wake up and move forward, wherever his path may lead to.

He opened his eyes slowly, gazing upon the serene forest. This time his eyes were not confused. They had a calm and serene look but he knew….it was only a cover.

It was just a self-protecting measure.

Under that calm eyes hid a scared young man, all alone in a strange world. He was weak and alone, standing on the starting line of a path.

He had no idea about where this path would take him but he had no other choice than to walk on it.

He slowly stood up dusting off his clothes. He looked up at the serene forest with unwavering eyes as he stood there contemplating all the events he went through.

Slowly he took a deep breath and braced himself to move forward— move forward and face the cruel reality.