“I’m the son of Heavens; greatest beneath the sky.”

 

The extremely arrogant words that the masked man spoke stole breath away from the students in other rooms. They scurried away from the wall as if running away from a typhoon. The hand of terror had gripped their hearts, clenching them tightly in its grasp.

 

Blasphemy!

 

The words that they heard were blasphemy and sin of the highest order. Such words shouldn’t be uttered by anyone other than the Reverent Stars. Only Gods were the children of Heavens. The students shut their ears tightly so as not to listen to any more of such words lest the Heavens get angry. The curiosity that had made them courageous enough to eavesdrop had come back to bite them back. Their bodies were shivering and their spirits were shaken.

 

In the room where the words of inordinate hubris were spoken, Mehr was applying healing arts to Marcus’ missing jaw. The bleeding soon stopped but the excruciating pain remained. The whimpers of the wounded person were audible in the room when Mehr clutched Marcus’ throat and pressed it with his thumb and stabbed it. The thumb stabbed in the throat compelled a scream but no sound escaped from Marcus’ mouth. Marcus had become mute.

 

“It wouldn’t be any fun if someone came due to your screaming,” Mehr said while applying healing arts to the throat to stop bleeding.

 

“Well then, the punishment should be equivalent to the crime committed. Quite unfortunate for you as your crime deserves a punishment far worse than death.” Mehr said in his low growly voice. His thumbs were hanging over Marcus’ eyes, gradually approaching them threateningly. 

 

“Let’s begin.”

 

Marcus’ agony lasted for longer than an hour. By the time Mehr was done with him, Marcus looked nothing like a human. His lower jaw was missing and the tongue was hanging out. His eyes were nothing but wriggling flesh. His throat was stabbed and so were the ligaments in his arms and legs. The calves in his legs were slit open and the bones were sliced with a knife made of mana. Every single joint in his body had been twisted terribly. Marcus looked like the scrapes of flesh after a butcher was done completing his job.

 

Mehr stood up while grabbing Marcus’ leg and started dragging him outside. Even in this condition, Marcus was still alive due to the timely healing arts that Mehr had provided. 

 

Mehr opened the door and walked out to the corridor, leading to the circular path that students took to enter the academy. He dragged Marcus to the circular path and created a solid pole with mana, stabbed it through Marcus’ leg and hung him upside down. Mehr stepped back a bit to marvel at the art he had created. But what was an art piece with no one to appreciate it? He had to share it with everyone. However, as every artist needed a mark of his, he also needed to create one. He formed a small orb of mana and sent it inside Marcus’ stomach through the passage of ripped jaw. The mark would be visible to the audience soon.

 

Mehr started walking away to his room, while also creating a giant ball of mana above the sky of the academy. He had to recede his senses from the dormitory but his work was almost done anyway. Also, he had this strange feeling within him. Ever since he had removed the pendant, he felt like a burden had disappeared. He felt… free.

 

Mehr put his entire focus on the oval-shaped mana ball, gathering mana to it slowly and gently so as not to alarm the professors. He knew he was nowhere near any of them in terms of strength and he had to be careful.

 

The oval-shaped ball of mana had a hole in the middle, large enough to fit an adult inside. The ball was slowly coming together, strands of mana being pulled in like a gluttonous serpent devouring its food. It kept forming as Mehr kept walking towards his room. 

 

Mehr soon reached his room and opened the door sneakily so as not to wake Sirius up. He removed the half cape that hid his face completely and went on to change his uniform. He wore his night-dress, got into his bed and covered himself with a blanket. If someone were to see him performing these mundane tasks, they would never believe that he was coming from torturing a human. 

 

Mehr had kept his blue pendant at the ready and connected his will to the gigantic ball of mana. He beckoned it down and like thunder descending from the enraged sky, the ball dropped down to earth with a noise loud enough to rupture ears. As soon as the ball touched the earth below, Mehr wore his pendant back inside the blanket.

 

However, Mehr would never have guessed what his actions would lead to.

 

Choices were often fickle. Some choices led to the end of life while some gave humans hope. After all, humans were nothing but the choices they had made in their lives. And Mehr had made a choice of using his real mana signature today. 

 

Several people throughout the world were eminently startled. Several places, in the mainland and even badlands, became thoroughly busy. Existences that covered the sky with their terrifying might were now turning their gazes towards the Academy.

 

******

 

In the Neer Republic at the Grand Library of Knowledge, an old man in a plain grey robe was walking down a corridor. The walls of the corridor were covered with ancient inscriptions that seemed to move as one viewed it. The old man kept walking without giving a single glance to the mysterious inscriptions. He walked up to the door at the end of the corridor and knocked it softly.

 

“Your Reverence, I apologise for disturbing you so late at night but an extremely important piece of news has arrived from Leklenia.”

 

“Come in.” A gentle voice flowing like flowers entered the ears of the old man. He opened the door and politely bowed to the blurry vestige of the woman who was sitting on a relaxing chair with a book in her hand. Her clothes were extremely elegant, in stark contrast to the plain robe of the old man. She closed her book and looked up slowly, her eyes glittering with a mysterious glow resembling the inscriptions on the walls outside. She looked into the eyes of the old man as if peering into his soul to carve out everything he knew. Every secret was revealed under her gaze.

 

“The King of Leklenia was killed by his most trusted aide?” She mumbled as her eyes gleamed. “Is it the Cult?”

 

“This has not been confirmed, Your Reverence. The culprit was swiftly executed by the First Prince. He has also taken the throne of Leklenia.”

 

The woman tilted her head upwards as her eyes glowed, trying to peer into the heart of Heavens albeit unsuccessfully. She sighed and closed her eyes while mumbling some incantations. The space inside the room started dissolving. Her words flowed in tandem with the laws of nature.

 

“Too many variables. Nevermind, for now-” She abruptly stopped as she whipped her head towards a certain direction.

 

“Your Reverence?” The old man looked flustered for a moment.

 

The woman’s eyes opened wide as she kept staring in that direction and her brows slowly furrowed.

 

“That’s not Sirius Frye. Did I miscalculate? Or…” She looked away from the direction of the Academy and looked up at the sky. Her gentle eyes turned sharp and killing intent slowly rose within her heart. A cold smile replaced the expressionless face and her mouth opened to spit out words laced with hatred, “How cunning, Heavens.”

*******

 

Deep into the western badlands, there was a giant castle hidden from the world. It existed in a forest with suspiciously thick fog that fooled the senses. The heavy fog always seemed to remain still like a stealthy beast waiting for its prey to come near it. Outside the castle though, the scene seemed quite lively. Blurry vestiges of little children could be seen playing around in front of the castle. The children were running away happily while a remnant vestige of a beastman was trying to chase them.

 

“Lord can’t catch us!”

 

“Lord is too slow!”

 

Behind them, a remnant vestige of a giant dragon was lying lazily on its belly. Several vestiges of little children were playing on the back of the giant dragon as they tried to tickle him and make him move.

 

“Grandpa Bal, take us flying.” 

 

The dragon snorted and opened one of its eyes to look at the mischievous children on its back.

 

“Who are you calling a Grandpa, you runts. I’m still young.” The Dragon twisted his body and shook the children off of him. “Go play with Ran. I’m busy resting.”

 

“Get off your lazy ass, Bal. You’ve been resting for over twenty years already.” The beastman, Ran, said as he tried to get rid of a child sitting over his head.

 

Not too far away, a little cat with three eyes was watching this scene quietly with a pleased heart when suddenly…

 

The Dragon, Bal; The Beastman, Ran; and the little cat looked in the direction of the academy at the same time. Their expression had gone extremely serious.

 

“My love,” Ran said, “Your successor seems quite hasty.”

 

The little cat jumped lightly and took on the form of a woman with long flowing hair and a third eye in the middle of her forehead.  She opened all three of her eyes and the fog surrounding the forest thinned considerably. The castle behind her shuddered with intent to move out on a single command as the woman kept looking in the same direction.

 

“Indeed.”

******

 

In the heart of southern badlands, the most dangerous place in the world, there was a region unfit for humans and devoid of Heavens’ eyes. It contained poisonous swamps covered with the wisps of the smoke of corruption and no mana could be found here. Deep within this region, there was a giant settlement. Small houses made from wood and flesh were littered throughout the region. Within them, creatures resembling the nightmares of horrors resided comfortably. They were doing mundane tasks such as fetching the swampy water and digging the poisonous soil for food. 

 

In the middle of the settlement, inside the largest house, a few creatures were kneeling in front of a behemoth. The giant creature had cracks throughout his body and his black skin seemed to have melted layers of boiling magma. The lump on the top of the body that resembled a head was a featureless decor. There were no eyes, no ears and mouth and yet somehow, the creature’s voice was heard very clearly.

 

“Any progress?”

 

One of the creatures kneeling raised his head and politely answered, “It is almost ready. It’s just…. I believe Elana Thorne knows of our plans.”

 

“Hmph.” The giant creature slowly stood up. “That bitch has been dead for a long time and still dares to keep tabs on me. These fucking Stars-”

 

The creature paused and tilted his body. The cracks on his body suddenly opened revealing thousands of red eyes. All of his eyes turned towards the north as he tried to peer into the distance. Elation filled his heart as he understood what that majestic mana signified.

 

“Finally….. Let me see if my attempt all those years ago was successful.”

 

The Cult of Old Gods had started to move.

*******

 

In the eastern stretches of Leklenian mountains, close to the border of the coalition of the six kingdoms, there was a small hut. Right outside of the hut, there were two small graves in front of which was a statue of a human kneeling down with his head touching the ground. On the two graves, two sentences in very polished calligraphy were etched.

‘Here lies Bran Faolan, the Fifth Star, in his eternal sleep unaccosted by corruption.

Here lies Ana Faolan, the sweetest daughter with the most charming smile.’

The statue kneeling in front of the graves cracked. Chunks of moss and dead skin slowly broke down as the human’s skin appeared. The human with dry red hair and wrinkly rotten skin slowly sat back up. He slowly opened his eyes and looked at the two familiar graves. His apology had finally ended and now, it was time for punishment. He tilted his head to look in the direction of the Academy.

 

“Seventh Star. Looks like Arthur was right.” The human closed his eyes as tears welled up in them. He looked at the graves again and bowed his head.

 

“Master, it has already been 700 years. You need not wait any longer.” His eyes turned deadly as he looked up to the sky. His tears turned to blood and his voice turned hoarse.

 

“Heavens shall answer for what it did to you! Your disciple, Gushan, promises this to you!”

 

The sky trembled and the clouds condensed over his head. Thunder bellowed as if threatening to burn down the world around him. Heavens was enraged. Gushan looked at the sky furiously for a moment before walking away.

 

Unbeknownst to the world, the greatest evil had woken up again.

*****

Somewhere in the world was a place hidden from eyes. Ocean waves crashed onto the large rocks at the bank here. A wolf was running around happily trying to catch the waves when it suddenly jumped up in surprise and ran to the young man sitting at one of the rocks. The man had long shiny white hair and bright blue eyes like pearls. He had a sorrowful smile on his face as he looked towards the open ocean with a fishing rod in his hand. The wolf came up to him and gently licked his cheek.

 

“Did I startle you, little guy? I’m sorry.” Sir Ghost stroked the head of the wolf. He was a little surprised when he felt that Mehr had used his real mana. It was a big deal. 

 

“Oh? It looks like he wore his pendant back. How odd.” Sir Ghost said after a while. The wolf was looking at him with its beady eyes.

 

“I wonder if he will be able to keep his greed in check now that he has tasted the power of a Star. Absolute domination is indeed a terrifying thing.” Sir Ghost stood up as he picked up the wolf in his arms. The wolf cried in happiness as it hugged him back.

 

“Haha. You’ve grown bigger now. It’s not that easy to pick you up anymore.” He turned towards the direction of the Academy of Baelor as he sighed.

 

“Well, let’s go pay Mehr a visit. It has been quite a long time, after all.”

 

---

 

 

Hi everyone,

I'm an amateur writer and this work of mine already has a small following on RR. So, I decided to gain some new eyes on ScribbleHub. I hope I'm able to entertain you with my limited writing skills.

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