Chapter 124 - The white flame awakened

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It was that the time I got a taste of my first serious loss in this world, where I actually believed in my own powers that I wouldn't be subjected to weakness, yet this white-haired gold-masked man came so nonchalantly and fought me at my strongest state like I was a kid.

The feeling of that loss stung my heart that I began training and meditating on the problem like a monastery monk, secluded from the world.

The problem at hand was simple to understand, but where was my approach wrong? I was like you, Nius, without a straightforward target. All the training I did just accumulated in a part of my body, my tissues, bones, and joints, but never reached my inner core where the inner energy was slumbering.

I had some theories and thought about how I could approach awakening my inner energy from its slumber, and by chance, my blood powers, along with this cursed power of mine, conferred on me the ability to look deep inside of me.

While I meditate, I could bring myself into a serenity state that would feel close to one's death and start approaching my theories without actually harming myself.

In this state, I can interact with my blood powers and darkness powers, manipulate and simulate things, even increase my control in using them, but there was still one thing inside me that would react strongly whenever I would approach it. When I state it would react strongly, it's degrading the actual fact that cursed shit would even try to blow my head.

My first try was like this, my brain felt that it would explode along with my skull because I tried to force my way toward that light inside my body.

Could you imagine that, Nius? No? Neither do I. I had to wait 3 months before even having the courage to linger in proximity to that light.

However, this was when I was 15 years old, so as you speculated, my body needed time to accumulate enough energy until it would awake by itself? Yet, I didn't have much time at my disposal, I had important people to look after, and any mistake on my part would spell the end for everything I worked to build. From my dear Sofiya to those good servants I stumbled and who I never had the chance of encountering in my first life, everything could have gone wrong.

Thinks seemed to stabilize inside of me as more time passed, I still used my ability to look deep inside of me and try to approach that light only to the amount that I could adapt, and for as long my ability allowed me, which was of 30 minutes once a day.

It was when I turned 16 years old that I began feeling a change inside of me. That light would never let me approach it finally reacted, and I could make progress in my advancements.

Days passed, and I was making baby steps toward that bright light, weeks, and I could see myself actually walking toward that light, and with my months of spending adapting to that pressure and force pushing me away, I could finally see what hid inside that bright light. It was an ancient passageway that looked similar to the ones belonging to my world made by the great Romans.

The first step I took in that passageway, I felt that my world was spinning around, and I could see all sorts of visions, one of my first sad moments, from my childhood, to even seeing little Zagreus harsh moments in his young life.

That vision felt like a challenge sent by whoever was on the other side of the passageway, which was easy to pass. However, with each of the steps, I would move forward, just like when I was pushed by the light, I could see new visions that felt harsher than the first one.

All sorts of people I have never met appeared in my face who would stare at me with indifferent eyes. Some even laughed at me. I could pass them however, whenever I did that, I could feel the pressure on my body getting stronger.

New people appeared in my face who, this time, didn't react like most of the people I passed in the past. Those people felt like real people.

There was an early middle-aged tall man with tanned skin who had red hair and a distinct scar mark on his eyes. The most distinctive aspect of this man was that he stared at Vlad with a curious expression as if this vision had a life of its own.

I stopped from walking toward those visions, and from nowhere, I felt that a sword similar to Nemesis appeared in my hand, as if I was part of a story. Not long after I grasped the sword in my hand, this red-haired man drew his sword from his sheath and, with incredible speed, moved to strike me down.

My only instinct in those moments was to defend, and defend I did. My movement in this vision felt smoother, my senses also increased exponentially, and this red-haired man's speed was something I could also achieve.

Sword strike kept flooding my defense until I saw a moment of carelessness in this man's action sent a kick straight to his stomach that created a distance between him and me, and with a switch of my stance, I moved toward him like a ghost.

Just when I was about to cut this man down, I felt a pressure running down on me, similar to the willpower of certain people, and in that short time, my movement slowed down, the red-haired guy with a smile on his face took his longsword and moved for a strike.

In those moments, even if this was a vision and I couldn't receive a response from this red-haired guy, my only comment to him was.

"You also know how to fight dirty. This will make this fight even more enjoyable."

Using a weird stance, I stabbed the ground with Nemesis and pushed myself from harm's way, while the red-haired guy nodded his head as if he liked my move.

"Hmph, young man, you are still a long way before actually killing me."

As I said that, the fight inside this vision continued with me sharing blows with this mysterious red-haired man who actually was so shrewd to even see between my tricks. The times he evaded finishing blows in this long fight couldn't be counted by hand, but nor could he count how many times I evaded his killing blows.

This fight continued until the clarity of this vision began dimming down, where I could see everything stop in time, frozen down.

Finally, I saw myself inside the ancient passageway, but my breath also was taken completely, sweating hard, as if my energy was devoured by something. Taking my time to recover, I began moving forward, and with a prepared mind, I could see that my world started spinning hard like something worse was prepared for me.

Calming my mind, the world that shifted hard began settling down, and I could see the face of a young woman who had light peach skin and small, sharp dark brown eyes with thin eyebrows. Her hair was long blue-tinted silver hair styled into two braids, one that covered her face and the other one who hung behind her head down past her shoulders.

This woman's voice sounded very sad and a bit weakened, but he could hear her sweet, warm tone when she started talking to him.

"My little Zagreus, I'm sorry for everything that you will have to endure in the future. Mommy is a failure. She couldn't protect dad or find a safe place to watch over you as you grow."

What this young woman said to me felt shocking, but I could hear a cry belonging to a baby, which for sure wasn't me. Yet, as this cry came, the woman brought me closer to her face, and using her own cheeks, she caressed my own.

"Don't cry, little Zagreus. You have to be strong and brave, just like Lucius. Mommy will leave her own Vivre Card with you, and I also made one for you, so mommy will always know you are safe from a distance."

Suddenly I could see the woman's expression changing, turning scared and pale and beginning to move toward a place. I could see the familiarity of this place and buildings and then hearing the knocks on a door.

"Who is it?" asked an old voice belonging to a woman, familiar to me.

"Madame, please take care of him and also take this pendant." said the young woman with a paled and scared expression on her face while placing the young me in the old lady's hands.

"Huh!? Girl, is everything fine? If you need help, tell me."

"I don't have time, madame. Please, I beg you, please take care of my son." said the young woman while her face turned desperate with the seconds passing as she prepared to leave.

"Wait, girl, your son, what is he called?" said the old lady while looking at me, who began crying hard, and at the young woman who also started crying.

She turned her face at the old lady with tears in her eyes and said with a sad, desperate tone.

"My son, my son is called Zagreus. Please don't change his name. Always call him that. It is the name his father chose for him before being born."

While I cried without much control over my emotions, like I was a spectator living in a dream, my soul began aching hard. From the entirety of moments I lived in my arduous life, this moment reminds me of the weakness that is my youth.

I could hear the old lady say with a sad tone while looking at where the young man was before running with incredible speed.

"Such a young woman, what in the world is going in her life to give her son away? Some dangerous people are after her? Sigh, yet another child abandoned on this small island. Now, now, come, little guy, don't cry. You will meet your mom again in the future if she comes back."

Still, my younger self still cried a lot without showing signs of stopping, and the old lady walked back into the house. However, something surprising happened to me, my soul exited from the child's body, and without my own volition, I moved like a ghost to a place in the island where a dark portal appeared inside and with that portal the appearance of a man wearing dark clothes, close to some robes.

This man who appeared was a handsome young man who was 2.10 meters tall with jet black hair with horns on his head, whose eyes were different from a human. He had dark sclera and golden irises, while his skin was white pale.

Looking around himself, with a cold, emotionless voice said to himself.

"Maria, you will never escape my watch. To think you would be hiding in that old kingdom, Kaysang, and even acting as a maid for some low life. Isn't this humiliating to your status to hide like this from me?"

Vlad could see that this man began using some light steps shrouded in darkness and climbed to the sky. Still, with his golden eyes, which focused hard, overseeing the island from the sky, he shook his eyes.

"She left this island not too long ago. Ahh, Maria, your [Dimension Walk] ability sure is troublesome to counter, but I will soon catch you."

As he said that, I could see him touch the sky with a hand shrouded in some dark smoke which created another portal that he later entered inside casually.

The atmosphere around the village slowly turned to normal, like the oppressive atmosphere of this man who appeared from nowhere didn't happen, yet I saw everything.

After the disappearance of this young man, I could see the vision crumbling and, after a while, finding myself inside a white room, where a white flame was ignited in the center.

"So this is what was hiding from my gaze for so many years? This is my inner energy?"

That was the only question I could ask myself out loud while staring at this gentle light white flame.

But, like it sensed my presence, this white flame was burning with a gentle flame, began increasing with intensity burning bright inside this room as if taunting me, giving me a final test.

"Heh, you showed me all those visions, yet you still don't accept me?"

I began moving toward the white flame with steady steps, and I could feel it on my skin as the temperature increased in intensity.

"YOU WILL NOT STOP ME, FLAME! I AM YOUR MASTER!"

I roared while moving toward the center of the room where the flame was. My body began suffering burning marks in the process, and once I got close to the white flame, my hands, some body parts, and my face started feeling like they were lit on fire.

Yet without even stopping, the white flame kept burning brighter, which instantly melted the flesh on my body.

In this clash, the room began sending dark crimson sparks, while the flame showed its arrogance and began giving its last stand.

My focus and consciousness began turning blurry when I was just some steps away from the flame, meanwhile the flame didn't change in intensity.

"I have to stay awake. There's only a bit, and I will be finished."

Saying that to remind myself, I kept moving like some possessed person who didn't resemble a human at all from outside. My body probably looked like some monster from hell, who had his skin and flesh burned and whose bones could be seen.

Finally, after I thought I would burn to ash, I grabbed to touch this white flame, and with my touch, I could feel its gentle warmth.

"Hahaha, to think you would be so gentle to the touch. Unfortunately, my hand is only bones, thanks to you."

Laughing like someone told me the funniest joke, I began laughing while my two hands were on this white flame that no longer felt so menacing and domineering as when I first entered inside my inner world or when first entering the room.

This white flame turned down in its intensity, and my clarity came back. Along with that, my burnt skin and flesh began regenerating like magic.

"Little guy, are you by chance my immortality source? No, I doubt. Your energy fills the description of the inner energy."

Just like I said this, I could feel my body feeling lighter, quickly feeling it stronger than when I first stepped inside, along with that my heavy mind which now seemed to be full of energy, but from all these changes I was subjugated, there was something in my mind that got connected to this white flame.

"Hmm, what is this? Why do I feel my mind is linked to you now, little guy?"

Yet, there was no response from the white flame. It kept burning with a gentle flame in the face of my questions.

"Well, I think I will need to go out to check on what really happened on the outside. There shouldn't be any problems for me entering here anymore."

.

.

"Now you know what my awakening process was like. I tell you, old man, my head is a mess. There are so many things inside of my mind that you would have a heart attack. Sigh, I even saw my mother in one of those visions, and she seemed to be hunted by that horned guy."

Nius, who listened to Vlad's story on how he awakened his haki, could only think in his mind.

'This boy for sure experienced a lot and also seems to have some unique abilities that he isn't aware of. Future sight? Or prophetic vision? I really can' tell, but these abilities seem to be quite versatile.'

"Kid, once we finish this war, you can go to search for your mother. Don't be tied down to the kingdom's fate yet. You are still technically young, and you should experience more about this world. There's a lot of things you still might find out to shatter your own initial ideas."

"As for who that horned guy is, I have no idea, but for sure, he seems strong for having a traveling ability that would let him get to different points of the world.

Your mother, too, I never would have thought that your father would hit on a mysterious woman who was hiding her real identity and intentions. Sigh, that foolish boy, he was a stubborn boy, who was hard to convince otherwise." ended Nius while staring at Vlad's calm expression.

"You know, Nius, sometimes those foolish and stubborn guys who have big ambition for their future would reach great status. It is unfortunate that he found his death while young and a sad thing for little Zagreus, but I am different. My beating heart experienced many things that sometimes made me detached from certain news. I also don't like to focus on the past too much.

For myself, only the present matters. And I say this after having my own share of failures and successes." said Vlad in his calm tone while Nius could acknowledge some of Vlad's points in his mind.

When they got closer to the wooden houses, Vlad added to Nius.

"Old man, if you still wish to discuss with me about my thoughts on haki while I am still on the kingdom, I will be available. There's also another idea of mine regarding the devil powers that I need to consult with you."

"Sure, lad, I also have my own experiences with haki. I will share it with you after this war ends while we can relax a bit."

"Ahh, relaxation. This is such a beautiful word to my ears. This is something I hardly get since I got out from Kalerna mine." said Vlad while chuckling a bit as he slowed down.

Nius laughed too and commented with a sarcastic tone. "Don't tell me, kid, you liked to be a slave more than being a prince?"

"To be honest with you, being a slave gave me a stable schedule. I could feel some relaxation inside of me, but now? I have a hectic schedule, where I don't even know what will happen the next day. All I could do is speculate and anticipate certain events."

Walking toward his house, he stopped all of a sudden and like he remembered something he said to Nius.

"I also have to call another guy to start preparing his ships."

"Who are you referring to, lad?" asked Nius with some curiosity in his tone.

"That guy is the marine officer stationed inside the kingdom, Commodore Kirin. Quite the interesting person, if everything goes well and he stays loyal to Kaysang and Vermilion, he should be a good ally to have." said Vlad while his eyes turned a bit sharper while he took a snail dial from his pocket.

"Hoh, do you plan to raise him up in ranks and use him?" asked Nius with a shrewd expression on his face, as if he could guess Vlad's plans concerning the marine inside Kaysang.

"That would be a side project and also will be a proposition for him. If he wants to raise in the echelon of the marines and world government organizations, I could assist him from the shadows."

Nius could see Vlad's evil grin and could only comment before stopping after seeing Vlad start his call.

"Little Vlad, you sure are a tricky guy to work with."