Chapter 63 Pain, An Unexpected Liberator
The most traumatizing experience for Northern were the days he used on the prison mine.
A spineless teenager, captured by a monster and thrown into a prison where he was forced to mine red crystals continuously for nights.
The only times he had to rest was when the monster guarding him went packed out the heaps of mined crystal shards.
His food tasted like shit.
He almost died… and promised himself he'd kill these two monsters that caused his life to be a living hell.
Then one night, under grey sky as other nights, he was marched to the battlefield, not given any choice but to serve as meatshield for the monsters of the Red Mine.
Earning, them barely a minute to fight.
As his body shivered from the pain caused by the red crystals, Northern felt the fog shrouding his mind being torn through.
Overwhelmed by so much pain, his mind tore apart, making it easy for the desperate memories to resurface.
The feeling of nostalgia clearly invaded him as the sound of the metal continued.
And in came, a torrent of memories rushing into his head.
He survived! Somehow, he had survived until now.
However, Northern couldn't tell if he was to be proud of himself… or to even call this a survival.
His widened eyes creased into a frown.
For how long had he been lost inside himself?
Northern tried to stand but his movement was restricted by the shackles.
He peered his eyes through in darkness.
'Tsk… disgusting'
Being shackled was an 'all-too-familiar' feeling. One that was not exactly pleasing.
And here he was again…
Northern warded the thought off his head and tried to calm down. After breathing in and out for a couple of seconds. He summoned his clone.
A pale figure in dirty armor appeared next to him. Despite how ragged he looked, Northern's perfect copy still radiated a fearsome chill.
The clone materialized a silver sword, stepped back; Two hands held the hilt.
The silver sword arched across the wind and destroyed the chain binding one of Northern's hands; momentarily, shrouding the chamber in a resonance of steel.
Quickly, three other attempts followed—as Northern expected that the monster that stabbed him with a crystal could be coming anytime soon.
He rolled away from the platform, falling to the ground. Resting at the base of the concrete wall enclosing the opposite end of the chamber.
He pulled out the crystal, groaning. Then smashed it on the ground, shattering it to splinters.
His clone stood in front of him, facing the entrance while he picked a few small shards of crystal and swallowed it.
Just as he did, footstep began to approach.
Northern's clone blurred forward, blending into the darkness that loomed in between the cocoons.
As the monster walked past, the clone appeared from behind; with a clean sweep, the silver sword flashed and the head of the monster rolled into the air.
<You have killed a Calamity Beast - Shoremonger>
<You have gained an item>
[You have slain a Calamity Beast - Shoremonger]
[You have gained +6 talents fragments]
Northern felt a slight surge of strength course through him. Now it was more palpable. Why? He wondered and decided to see what he had been missing.
The last thing he could vividly remember was how tired he was… his death angel's demise.
'I looked forward to ending him with my own hands but it didn't feel right doing it…'
The monster died a hero… he couldn't even hate it anymore.
Since then, he remembered giving himself to ceaseless mock battles with the monsters.
And he remembered always going to war.
But what happened during war and after became a blur. He couldn't make an image of them in his head.
"My profile" he muttered.
[Access granted]
[Profile]
Name: Northern Longguard
True Name: [not yet received]
Attributes: [Formless]
Soul Rank: [Walker]
Talent Fragments: [911/1000]
[Owned Talents]: [1/1]
[Owned Items]: [Mortal Blade], [Eternal Twilight], [Silver Sword], [Death glare] and 23 others.
His mouth dropped.
"Crap! I received so many items?!" He unknowingly blurted out and held his mouth together afterwards.
He looked around to be sure if there was no one after him and looked down again. Sparks of surprise were still dancing in his eyes.
He dismissed the panel and frowned his brows.
What bothered him the most was…
'Everything was going on fine… if I am winning them wars… why did they capture me?' Northern inquired internally.
He turned around to look at the cocoons of monsters that arrayed the room, spreading out to the left and to the right, growing above the ethereal glows of Red crystals.
Then something occurred to him.
'I've seen this before!'
That's right. This was not his first time seeing this place, then he had sent his clone to inspect where the red crystals were going.
And this was where it was traced to… and that was where he also discovered that they were creating several other Night Terrors.
'If my memory serves me right… Those were the same bastard that attacked me.'
One of them joined him during the war, maybe he didn't think about it quite deeply but now that he did Northern was sure.
'That thing is not the night terror I know… and the other two that attacked me too… they seem equally powerful but they are not it.'
He sighed.
'This is so confusing, I don't even know what is what anymore. What is the kingdom of Red Mine? What is going on in this place? Is there a reason for war or are all these monsters consumed by and mad hunger for blood?'
Northern probably knew the answer to the last question, after all, he had been there.
To be consumed by insanity such that one loses their soul. If such an effect was to weigh on a monster, wouldn't it result in a more drastic effect than it had on him.
Then that would explain why all the monsters in this rift continually fought each other.
But another question arose at that moment.
Northern had a basic understanding of rifts and what to expect of them.
A rift per appearance was a manifesting of a particular dimension, which meant that all the monsters that would be encountered in a rift would be related to that dimension.
From their physical appearance, to habit to mechanisms and goals.
But here there were not just two but four distinct kinds of monsters.
Always battling for dominion.
Wasn't it weird? That even when the monsters from the kingdom of Red Mine claimed victory every time. They never made an effort to besiege the enemy.
And the enemy had never reached as far deep as their kingdom gates to lay it to waste, not even an ambush.
It was just the same thing over and over again.
The horn blows, they go to war, they win, they come back, they celebrate.
The horn blows, they go to war, they win, they come back, they celebrate.
Over and over again… in a never ending loop or so it seemed.
Sooner or later Northern's mind was bound to be consumed by the madness that attached itself to the unreasonable quest for blood.
Pain was the only liberator that could have set him free from those arduous shackles of darkness.