Chapter 111: Memories

Images kept flooding Aiden's mind, filling his consciousness. He saw all the important moments of his life, starting all the way from the moment his newborn hazy eyes first met with the light of the outside world. 

The look on his mother and father as they greeted their newborn child. 

"Welcome to the world, Igor." Were the father's first words to his son.

Then, their happy, tear-stained faces as they watched him take his first uncertain steps.

The images kept flashing, as one moment played out, it was quickly replaced by another, playing the next. He saw his first spar with his father as he trained him with the ways of the sword. His first test showed he has no affinity towards any element. The sad look on his parents' faces, as they tried to console him. 

Aiden felt the man's determination at that point. That moment was the first of many that shaped his life and ultimately led him to his demise as a guard captain working for a shady underground organization, beating, torturing, and selling slaves.

The videos kept playing in Aiden's mind, soon the small boy was in his late teens, happy and proud. He was marching towards the City Guard Barracks. After years of training with his father who held the rank of Sergeant, he was sure he would be able to pass the test and join up. 

Ever since he failed the magic affinity test, he was pushing extra hard to be an exceptional swordsman. He hated the sad look on his parents' faces, he was determined to never experience it again.

Opening the door into the building, he was stopped by the entrance when a familiar, and very much hated voice came from behind.

"Where do you think you're going, Igor? This is no place for talentless weaklings like yourself!"

His hand still on the handle, Igor turned his head sideways to catch a glimpse of the red-haired, freckled young boy behind him. He was wearing the city guard's uniform, reflecting the fact that he already passed the test that Igor was just attempting for the first time.

Snorting in contempt, he pushed on the lever and slowly opened the barrack's door. Just before he took a step inside, he contemptuously snorted at the boy.

"It has nothing to do with you, Ginger. Fuck off."

Leaving the boy fuming in anger, he entered the building. However, before he could take another step, he was stopped once again by a booming voice coming from his left.

"Stop! Who are you and what business do you have here?! This area is off-limits to civilians!"

Turning to the left, Igor faced the owner of the voice, a large man wearing a set of hardened leather armor over his chest and legs. He had leather gloves on his hands and a matching leather head cap at the top of his head. 

His weapon, a pike, was resting beside him leaning against the wall. 

Igor respectfully bowed his head, as he spoke. 

"Sir, I'm here to take on the test and join the ranks. I wish to be just like my father, a City Guard!"

Looking at the boy, the man hummed as he grabbed his chin, contemplating over something. After several seconds, he snorted and posed another question against the boy.

"Who is your father, boy?"

Igor audibly gulped to swallow his fears, and respectfully answered.

"It's Sergeant Rex Collins, from the 5th Group, Sir!"

"Hmmm… So, you are Collins' brat… A'ight, then!" He said, then he hit Igor's back causing the boy to almost fall on his face by the sudden force. He took several steps forward to resist the power behind the casual hit.

Seeing this, the man roared heartily, enjoying the boy's misery.

"Ahahahaha, oh boy… Listen, boy! Go to the right and walk straight all the way to the end of the hallway. Knock on Captain Hills' door, and state your business, he will sort you out!" He said. 

Igor nodded. He could still hear the guard's hearty laughter echoing through the corridor, accompanied by the last words he threw towards him. "I hope we will meet again over lunch someday!"

The scene ended as Igor knocked on the wooden door of the captain's office, and it was replaced by another scene that shaped the deceased man's life.

It was a rainy evening. Igor, who was already wearing the City Guard's uniform, was nervously rushing towards his family home. He was gripping his sword in his hands. His blade was still red, stained by the blood it tasted just minutes ago.

Rushing through the streets, he knocked over several civilians that stood in his way. Nothing mattered anymore.

As he reached the family home, he stopped before the wrecked gate. He was late. They have already arrived.

His face turned gloomy, and he fixed his grip on his sword's hilt. Taking a deep breath, and exhaling he refocused his senses. 

Walking over the splintered wooden pieces that were the remains of the gate, he took one quick glimpse on the ground where his childhood friend, his dog, Mackie was lying dead in his own blood. There was a large cut on his neck and a footprint on his belly. Probably he was kicked to the side after they slid its throat. 

Approaching the door, the sound of steel clashing and the cries of a familiar voice reached his ears.

'There's still hope! He is still alive!' Relieved by the realization, Igor donned a small smile, as he pushed on the door, only to have it frozen in the next second.

Just as he pushed on the door, he saw as the red-haired, freckled young man, his hated nemesis stabbed his father in the back while he was busy defending against another thug.

Looking at the door, his father gasped for air, shocked at the realization that he was defeated in such a way.

"Noooooo!" Igor shouted as he watched the blade penetrate his father's back. The red-haired man delighted that Igor came in just at the right moment, looked at him with a cruel grin on his face. 

"Look at your father! Look him in the eyes as life slowly leaves his pathetic body! Look how he dies because of you!" 

He kept moving the blade inside the man's body, wreaking havoc everywhere it reached.

Rex, Igor's father coughed up a mouthful of blood, spitting it on the thug's face that he was just battling a moment ago. Then he slowly turned his face towards his son, and with a fading voice, he spoke.

"I'm sorry… I wasn't strong… enough…" 

He coughed another mouthful of blood as the red-haired menace kept thrashing and slicing his organs. With one last kick from him, his body fell to the ground with a loud thud. 

The man motioned with his sword towards Igor, and the two thugs that kept battling his father approached him, while the red-haired boy turned towards his mother crying in the corner of the room. His voice carried a familiar contempt, something that Aiden recognized from the previous memory.

"You know… You should have never crossed me. I gave you a chance to fall in line, but you refused. Now, you will watch as I take everything from you… slowly…"

As the man approached the crying and desperate woman, the scene faded and was replaced by yet another. 

The scenes, the moments of the man's life kept playing inside Aiden's mind, revealing all his dark and closely guarded secrets. He learned as to how that moment of despair forever marked his soul and changed him. 

The light, the justice failed him, and he lost his father, and shortly after, his mother. They left him there, watching as his nemesis brutally violated his mother and killed her right in front of his eyes. 

After that moment, he no longer felt compelled to fight for justice. Shortly after he quit the city guards and started working as a mercenary. During one of his gigs years later, he met with a man that offered him the chance to enact revenge and join him, which Igor gladly accepted. 

Strangely, Igor had no memory of the man's face, it was a black blur in all of his memories. The red-haired man, who Igor refused to even remember his name, was later promoted and became the leader of the 5th Group, the same group his father and himself used to be a part of. 

With the help of his mysterious new employer, they managed to lure the red-haired freckled man and his thugs into a trap and capture them. He personally finished off all the thugs but kept the red-haired man chained and alive for weeks. They captured all of his families, and Igor spent each and every day to torture and kill off every last member of his family clan right in front of his very eyes. The young, the elderly… none were spared. 

He kept the man alive to watch as all of his relatives, his son, and his wife was brutally murdered right in front of his eyes. The feeling as Igor saw the despair and craze shroud the man's eyes was euphoric to him. 

He felt invigorated!