Chapter 66 - The White Prism (2)

Had she died from using death magic?

I sifted through my memories, trying to figure out the pieces to my puzzling situation. After a few seconds, it hit me. He had called me bodyguard! That one word had revealed many connections.

I remembered what the Third Minister of War had said to me. “When comes your turn to roll the dice of fates, do it with the belief that you will die tomorrow.” He had then imparted after some praise: “I also commend you for accepting this task without hesitation, or even knowing what is to come.”

I was now very sure as to what had happened to me, but I figured I should make sure of my guesses while Veena's father was still in a mood to answer.

“Tell me, is the Third Minister of War working for you?”

His eyes widened a little at that. “Strange that you would know that...ah well, it does not matter. The Serle family and all that is related to him will fall soon anyway.”

“I am unsure of one thing, father of Veena. Why did you send assassins after me, even before I was chosen to become Calina's bodyguard.”

Veena's father gave a small chuckle. “The girl must not have told you that she has been wanting you as a bodyguard for quite a while even before you went on your little subjugation task.”

Strange, I thought to myself. Why had she tried multiple times to make me leave then. Was it because she decided not to put me at risk due to assassins?

“What is this death magic you speak of?” I asked.

“I am disappointed. You do not seem to get the bigger picture of what I have told you.” Veena's father gave a small sigh. “Ah well, no matter. That death magic you speak of is just a little magic that works through our family magic: Dark Fealty. You must be regretting forming a bond with my daughter now, eh? I would love to see the face on you had you met her, but alas, she is dead now. It is alright, though. She was just one of my many expendable daughters. And my gamble with her has succeeded in luring you here.”

“I see...”

“I found something interesting though. It seems, from the reports of some of my spies, Veena had a sort of fixation with you after you chanced meeting her and defeating her at the Tournament of the Wolf. I had planned on using her to get closer to the Serle family.”

Veena's father let out a small chuckle before staring at me. “Is it not strange how fate works out sometimes?

He continued looking at me with curious eyes, though his voice was colder than ice as he spoke. “I must admit, it is quite a nice feeling to tell a monster a few of my plans. Feels quite good gloating, haha. Now that I have answered a few of your questions, you should answer some of mine. What are you? And why are you so fixated on my organization? It is unbelievable that a monster like you is mixing among humans in our lands.”

“Knowing that I will die, why should I tell you anything, human.”

There was a pause before Veena's father addressed me. “I can see that you are determined. Very well, I shall leave you to think upon your words for a day or two before coming back. Hunger and time alone does a lot of things to a man, or should I say, monster. You have, after all, been sleeping for two days straight.”

Veena's father then left the chamber, softly laughing to himself.

Once more, I was entirely alone in this small, empty underground chamber lit only by a few torches. My fists were raw and bloody from beating at the white prism, but the blood had already dried and the wounds healed—from the beating, I found out that I was a fast healer even in my human form. This was the only optimistic thing in the dreary situation I had gotten myself into.

I had been an idiot for trusting Veena. I should have abandoned what had remained of my human sentiments when I had become a dragon.

Anger, cold in nature, flowed through me as I continued beating at the white prism. My fists rained down upon the prism like a storm, but in the end, they were all ineffectual, only reopening the wounds on my fists. The white prism did not even shook from my furious assault. It merely remained floating, as if laughing at my futile efforts.

My sense of time became distorted as the hours passed by. The only change in the scenery in which I was stuck in were the hooded guards who quickly came in to change the torches, and hurriedly left as quick as they had come in.

I felt powerless. My magic was cut off from me and all of my strength as a dragon was useless before this mysterious white prism. Veena's father had said it was completely resistant to physical attacks, so I assumed that the prism would break under a magic attack. But as I was now, cut off from my magic, I could not do anything without outside help.

There was no one to help me. I doubted even my brood-keeper knew where I was since I was effectively cut off from all magic. The invisible blood mark on my stomach was as useless as everything I had done. I also had doubts about the eldest helping me even if he knew where I was.

Fully realizing the situation I was in, my cold anger left me as suddenly as it had taken over me.

I sat down uncomfortably inside the white prism, thinking of what to do next. Nothing came into mind, however. There was not a single thing to do except wait until Veena's father came back. That, and beat at the prism ineffectually.

What was this white, transparent prism anyway? Was it some sort of magical trap? If so, it was one of unimaginable strength.

Nothing could be fully immune to physical attacks though. It was too mind-boggling to imagine such a thing. I could only assume that Veena's father had been lying in suggesting that. I took a short breath—I could only try.

An hour passed by as I continued beating at the white prism with my fists while ignoring the constant stinging pain. For variety, I also kicked at it, but it was less effective. The small amount of space inside the prism left me only able to half-kick at it. There was just not enough space to maneuver, let alone sit comfortably.

A small red puddle was forming at the bottom of the white prism as my scarlet blood continued dripping down heavily from my fists, legs, and feet. My entire naked body was covered in red patches, a few of them dried, but most of them still wet. Still warm.

My skin had torn from the relentless assault upon the prism and the whites of my bones were showing. I grimaced in pain as another punch connected my bones to the prism.

A few more minutes passed before even the hardness of my bones failed against the white prism. The final punch had chipped off pieces of the bones, a few of which had fallen into the growing puddle of blood beneath my feet.

All during this time, as the sound of loud smacks from my assault on the prism pervaded the air, not one person had come to check on the noises. It made me believe that no on one was guarding me. It was laughable and only just, for I could do nothing to these humans, trapped as I was in this unbreakable prism.

Hunger was also beginning to rear its full head at me. Along with the pains from my wounds, there was now also the pain of hunger to consider. Laudable, really.

“I guess I shall die trapped in this white prism,” I said, finally admitting to myself of the reality of my situation.

I stared at my blood dripping down the transparent wall of the prism. I stared as my blood dripped down in a steady flow from my multiple wounds, most of which were showing the whites of my bones. They fell down smoothly, contributing to the growing blood puddle beneath me.

Hah, I thought to myself. If I did not die from hunger, then I would drown in my blood.

My headaches were continually getting worse. A few more minutes passed by as the pain grew worse and worse.

Then I fainted, the pain, hunger, and blood loss finally catching up to me.

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I opened my eyes and found myself surrounded in a sea of pure darkness, where not one speck of light reached me.

Was I dead?

Then I felt my flesh tingle with fear and this fear flowed through me as the pure darkness enveloped me like palpable fog that had took hold of me, binding me tightly. The place finally dawned on me. It was the place of my other self, or so he had called himself.

Two glowing, red eyes came into view in front of me, just a few feet away. They were, like last time, the only source of light in this darkness.

“So once again, you are at death's door,” my other self said. His voice was intensely cold, dark and seemed to come from all directions, as if the sea of pure darkness around me had been given life and voice. “And to think that I believed we would only meet until you had given up your foolish humanity and have embraced death.”

An area of darkness around me disappeared, shedding a small light, and revealing a shadowy figure that had all the proportions of my human form. His whole body was made out of darkness except for the pair of glowing, red eyes. And they gazed at me with indifference.

“Each time you are near death's door, I gain a foothold. This time, you are even able to see the outline of my form. Your human sentiments, your emotions, all of them make you incompetent. Now watch as I have watched you.”

The shadowy form of my other self raised his arm, pointing his hand at me. Out of nowhere, chains made out of darkness bound themselves to my legs, arms, chest, and waist. My whole body was trapped in chains. I could not even move an inch. I could just barely breathe. I felt suffocated. Even worse than what I had suffered in the white prism.

“I shall be the one in control now, and I shall be the one to get us out of this situation.”

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Bound in the chains of darkness, I watched through the eyes of my other self. Our memories and vision were connected, I discovered. It felt strange. Eerie. I experienced all the sensations as if I were back in my body, yet I wasn’t the one in control.

No... the one in control was him.

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[266 Days Remaining]

I flexed the fingers on both of my hands, and stretched out my legs as much as I could inside the small space of the white prism.

Good, I thought to myself. They were still in working condition.

And for the most part, the wounds on my body had also stopped bleeding, though the whites of my bones were still showing.

I could already feel vestiges of my magic flowing back into me, despite being cut off from it by the white prism. It was laughable that my other self could not use even half of our potential. If he could, we would have never been in this situation in the first place.

Even I had not explored the depths of our magic and power. But for the moment, it was enough to break through this weak trap. I felt a small amount of contempt that my other self—my weaker self—could not even hide his magic.

That bitch assassin, Veena, had been faking her reactions from the start. Since our first initial meeting, she had already sensed the magic within us. It was in plain view for anyone trained to sense magic. If my other self could have hidden his magic, only others of the same level as him could have sensed it.

Feeling that a sizable amount of magic power had returned to me, I summoned the flames which were probably unique only to us. The jet-black flames covered the entirety of my right hand. They were unlike normal flames, giving out a slightly cold sensation.

I placed my palm on the surface of the white prism, and the black flames spread quickly, covering all of the white prism in a few seconds. Then the prism disappeared, as if it had been devoured out of existence. Then I dropped about two feet down, landing lightly onto the floor of the chamber.

One of the many unique essences of fire—

The Flames of Interitum, a fire that obliterates all that stands in its path, a devourer of life and existence itself.

I did not know where my knowledge of this stems from, but I did not really care. Unlike my weaker self, I was not very curious.

Power was power.

And I would use this power to kill everything and everyone that stood in my way.

Starting with Veena's father—the one who had put me into this situation. Though I was a little grateful, for it had allowed me to gain a foothold.

But it was not enough. I still did not have much of a hold. My time here was limited, but I would make use of this limited time.

It was plenty.