This time Red didn't dream. There was only the infinite darkness of unconsciousness. The boy didn't know how long he stayed in that state, but soon awareness started to return to him.

 

Red opened his eyes and was greeted by the cave ceiling lit with a soft purple glow. As he moved his body, the excruciating pain the youth had been expecting didn't come. Red still felt a lot of his body aching, but the agonizing sensation that had emerged from opening his acupoints had disappeared.

 

His hand reached down to touch his wounded leg. The cut was still there, dampening his fingers with blood and medicine. However, the pain from the injury had lessened substantially. Red was eager to try moving again, but then he remembered where he was. Such worries could be addressed later.

 

As the boy sat up from the ground, he looked at the dark blob. The creature's mouth was still present in its round form, and he once again felt as if all of the thing's attention was directed towards him. Red kept on looking at the being for a long time before he finally decided to break the silence.

 

"You almost killed me."

 

"Hardly." The blob responded. Although its voice still seemed to belong to a child, its tone seemed far more serious this time around. "I kept my end of the deal and provided you with more spiritual energy than usual in exchange for meat. Any other practitioner would have killed to train under such conditions. It's not my fault your body couldn't take it."

 

Red didn't believe its words, but he felt suspicious over another matter. Something had changed in the way the being spoke and the boy wasn't able to tell exactly what.

 

"...I'm leaving." The youth stated out of nowhere.

 

"So it seems." From the tone of the blob's voice, it did not seem surprised.

 

Another long silence prevailed over the cave.

 

"...Are you not going to eat me?" Red asked.

 

"Eat you?" The dark being appeared amused at the question. "You don't seem to understand something. Not even the corpses of all the humans in this hole put together are enough to fill the space between my teeth." The blob smirked. "As for you? The energy I would spend chewing you up would not be worth what I would gain from it."

 

Red's suspicion only increased.

 

"Then what was the point of all of this?" The boy asked. "The food, our deal... If it was never of any help with your recovery, was it all just a joke?"

 

"Not at all. It served a purpose, just not the one you might have guessed at first..."

 

A sound came from the cave's walls as the creature's tentacles slithered around the room. Smaller appendages started to grow from the bigger ones like the branches of a tree. This sudden expansion continued until every surface of the room was occupied by the blob's limbs, even the exit. The feeble purple light now became a dazzling sight to behold and the youth had to block his eyes to adapt to it.

 

The tentacles stopped just short of Red, leaving the boy isolated on his own rock island. The slave was alarmed by the sudden movement, but he didn't panic or try to escape. After a long day of seeing truly strong beings in action, Red was able to tell when he was completely outmatched. The youth could only stand still as the appendages slid all around him.

 

"We are very similar and yet very different at the same time, human." The blob continued. "We both seek to gain our freedom from these shackles that the world has put on us... But I have the power to do it, while you do not."

 

"...If you were truly capable, you would have escaped this place a long time ago." Red shook his head. "I might not be as powerful as you, but nothing is tying me down here or looking to kill me out there."

 

"Oh, human, how pitiful..." The being's childish voice was filled with sadness. "Your prison is far bigger than just this cave..."

 

The boy's eyes narrowed in puzzlement.

 

"...What do you mean?"

 

"This is not something a lowly mortal like you can possibly fathom..." The blob continued. "Whoever put you down here was intent on doing good for you, but they just unknowingly exchanged one evil for another one far worse than they could imagine... You're not a prisoner of this cave, you're a prisoner to your own fate, human."

 

"...Speak plainly." Red's face remained impassive, but concern was forming in his mind.

 

The dark being's words didn't make much sense to him, but it was the closest the boy had ever come to learning about his own forgotten past.

 

"How can one speak plainly about matters the listener cannot understand?" The blob seemed frustrated. Nonetheless, it kept speaking. "You are cursed by powers beyond your comprehension, human. Even if you escape these caves, what awaits you on the surface is more suffering and despair. The life you are expecting to find up there does not exist... Nothing you do will change that, not even practicing spiritual energy. This idea of grasping your own fate with both hands is merely an illusion. So many times you will think you're close to being free from this curse, only to be proven wrong again and again..."

 

The blob sighed.

 

"The moment you set foot in this place, your destiny ceased to belong to you. It's what happens to every being down here."

 

Silence returned to the chamber. Red stared at the dark being, slowly trying to process this information. It was almost too much to take in at once, and the boy didn't dare to believe whatever the thing said at face value either. Still, something at the back of his mind kept reminding him of certain memories. The day he awakened in this place. His strange dreams. The conversation he had with Viran. Gruff's last words.

 

No matter how much Red disbelieved it, the boy couldn't discount the possibility of a curse either. He thought back to the technique Viran had taught him. The man was always much stronger than Red would probably ever be, so what did he need the help of a child for? Just to counter that green spiritual energy? That didn't seem likely. Even if Red had many more veins open, the boy still didn't think he would be able to take on another monster that opened its Spiritual Sea.

 

Viran had told him he would learn the rest by himself once he reached the surface. Was this what the man was referring to? As possibilities mounted on the youth's mind, he finally spoke to the blob again.

 

"Why are you telling me this?"

 

"Didn't I say already?" The dark being answered. "I have the power to free you from those shackles, human."

 

The tentacles around the room slithered with renewed vigor, the purple glow in them intensifying.

 

"I can give you the strength to resist this fate. You will be able to dominate this world and fight against gods and devils alike... Nothing will stand in the way of your ascension, not even the strongest curse your enemies can throw at you." The blob's voice seemed to change from a child to something far more sinister.

 

"...And what do you gain from it?" Red's cautious nature didn't let him put his guard down just because of a tempting offer.

 

"It's simple." It replied. "After a thousand years, your body and mind will be mine to control, and the being known as Red will be no more. Both of us will get our freedom this way."

 

Suddenly, the blob's intentions became clearer to Red.

 

"If you want my body then why didn't you just take it?"

 

"How do you think I ended up like this, human?" The creature responded, irritated. "I tried to break the rules of this world once and paid the price for it... Now tell me your answer."

 

Red still felt befuddled by the blob's explanations, but he understood the essence of it. It couldn't force the youth to accept the deal. One thousand years of possibly being the most powerful being in this world in exchange for giving his body to this strange alien once the time arrived.

 

It was a very good deal. Red couldn't care less about whatever the blob did with his body after his mind was wiped out from existence. The boy didn't even know if he was going to survive the next day, so how much better were one thousand years in comparison to that? To be able to explore the surface and do as he wanted. To train Spiritual Energy and fulfill his promises to Viran. To find his purpose in this world.

 

Purpose.

 

Red was reminded of when he started training with Viran. The feeling of grappling with the acupoint opening. The sparring sessions with the old soldier. The life or death fights against the bloodthirsty underground monsters. There were so many failures, so much struggle. But then, there was the sense of accomplishment at every victory or breakthrough, no matter how small. His successes were all earned through his blood and sweat.

 

Luck might have played a part in it. However, if the boy wasn't as smart or didn't work as hard as he did, he would never have made it this far. Being a slave, it was the only life Red knew. The constant struggle for improvement and survival.

 

While others, older and stronger than him died, he was still alive. What he achieved, no matter how insignificant, he achieved with his own two hands.

 

And that was the best feeling the boy ever experienced.

 

"I refuse."

 

"...Why?" The blob seemed confused.

 

"I want to do this on my own." Red replied. "To get out of here, to fight against this curse. I want to prove to myself that I don't need any shortcuts to accomplish the things I want to..."

 

The youth looked up at the blob.

 

"Even if I die, that is the kind of life I want to live."

 

"...There are fates worse than death, human."

 

"You might be right." Red nodded. "But both the failures and successes will all belong to me at the end of the day. It's all I could ever ask for."

 

The creature was silent for a long time. Suddenly, all the tentacles around the room started slithering over each other and slowly headed in the boy's direction.

 

"Foolish creature, you'd rather spend a short life of suffering than one thousand years of living like a god?!"

 

Its voice was furious, echoing inside Red's mind. His eyes continued to stare directly at the blob's heart.

 

The youth was resigned to his fate. In front of such an otherworldly being, no amount of struggling or weapons would make any difference.

 

At the very least, Red had remained true to himself to the very end.

 

"No." The blob said. Just as abruptly as the tentacles started moving, they began to retract.

 

The purple light in the chamber diminished. The many branching appendages retracted into the larger tentacles, and a few moments later the cave looked exactly like it had a few minutes ago.

 

"I admire you, human." The creature's voice returned to its child-like tone once more. "Foolish as it may be, this is what makes you mortals different from us..."

 

Red didn't stand up immediately.

 

"Are you not going to kill me?"

 

"For what reason?" The blob replied. "Both of our fates are tied together now that you have seen my true appearance. If you don't die here, one day you will learn that my words were true. That no amount of pride or independence is worth the suffering this curse will inflict upon you. When that day comes, remember this..."

 

The creature smiled.

 

"The deal still stands."

 

A flash of purple light erupted inside the chamber. Red was blinded momentarily and had to block his vision.

 

When he opened his eyes again, the blob was gone.