Sun hanging over the head, showered the gentle rays of the sunshine filling everything with warmth and mirth. However, contrary to the pleasing weather, the atmosphere inside the horizon was bleak.
Like dark clouds shadowing the sun, darkness prevailed all around the Horizon making the air squelched and suffocating.
At the corner of the garden, resting against the tree Lucas stared at the sky with inexplicable gaze.
His feelings were even strange to him.
Should he be happy for escaping alive or feel sad for being unable to save many because he did not try harder?
Instead of guilt, he felt he was fortunate not having too many acquaintances.
The loss of losing a friend was something he had gone through in his last life. After his friend's death due to his abuse of his parents, for many days the memories of him haunted Lucas.
Eating, walking through the corridor, sitting in the classroom, or sneaking out during class time, the memories lingered inside him till today.
This is why he fears getting too attached. This world is cruel, much crueler than one thinks.
Today the person laughing beside you might end up in a coffin tomorrow.
Trying to avert his strange feeling, he thought about another matter which had been stirring his heart lately.
"Something is wrong with my body. Previously, when I lost my reasoning due to anger, I dismissed it as a work of hormones but this thing happening often is not a coincidence."
Getting over many battles, Lucas also noticed a certain abnormality.
Anger and feeling the looming death might often change one personality still it might not to that extent.
When infuriated to the extreme, Lucas's mind after getting clouded instead of losing himself in anger becomes calmer than ever. There is no substantial increase in strength or power but his guts grow quite big.
Once anger takes over, a feeling akin to being invincible starts to sprout within him. His behaviour also changes completely.
"Parth and many other jokes about me having a dual personality but what if I had some kind of mental disorder? Maybe I have been influenced too much by badass MCs that subconsciously I become badass."
For a moment Lucas's eyes brightened with excitement thinking about this.
"Badass my foot. The only thing you can be is a bad mess."
Lucas glared at the person who mocked him.
"Nothing good comes out of that foul mouth of yours," Lucas said, angered by this guy.
"I only speak facts which are hard to swallow, for some, "Parth took a righteous stance.
"Then let me also tell you some facts."
"Girls try to avoid guys who spout too many bullshits. You will die single if you keep spouting bullshit."
"Khummm!"
Parth choked hearing Lucas reply.
"We should move. The appointed time is already near."Frederick stepped in, knowing that these two may banter for years if he left them.
.....
The embrace of heaviness touches with such a gentle fondness that the sound of silence weighs upon with numbing loudness of the tap, tap sound of footsteps reverberating across the room.
In the dark room, a boy cuffed, gagged, and blinded sat on a chair.
Sighing heavily in exasperation, what thoughts had been growing inside him were only known to him.
Being left alone, unknown of the passage of time, even the piercing sound of steps comforted the heart rather than the somber silence engulfing the heart in fear.
The blindfold and gag stuffed in his mouth were taken out, letting him take a few gulps of fresh air.
The chest rose up and down heavily, eyelashes flickered, and a dimly lit light pierced his eyes making his pupil shrink, dyeing his vision in light.
"David...David Art, how do you like the treatment?"The man addressed David with utmost respect and uncuffed him.
"Arghhhh!"
"Bastard, let me go. Don't you know who I am?"
"I am the second son of the Art house. You dare touch me. If a single hair of mine is harmed, my father will skin you alive."
David roared violently and lunged at the man wanting to tear him down but he was subdued easily.
"Poor David..."
"Calm down, we are not your enemy. Instead, we saved you from getting trapped in that deceptive world."
"What bullshit you are speaking?"David raised his chin and saw the man's sympathetic gaze directed at him, dazing him off momentarily.
"Poor boy, you are too naive to think that your family is looking for you."
"Wha...What do you mean?"David shuttered a bit.
The man patted David and then pointed up toward the ceiling.
"Look at the recent happenings."
A small screen over the wall lit up.
Various news about many significant matters happening around started to play out.
David's eyes dimmed on seeing the news about his older brother Tim David being attacked when he was on disaster management duty. The more he watched, the more ugly his face was back.
"Did you get it? In case you don't, let me sum it up for you?"
"No news about the attack on Horizon is broadcasted. Do you know what that means? It means they don't care whether you live or die?"
"You lieee..."
"Why would I lie in this situation? Listen, we planned to kidnap some prominent noble children and ask for some hefty ransom but even after many days, we still haven't got any ransom?"
"The news about other people kidnapping and attacking is broadcasted but what about you all, they don't give a damn."The man shook his head with pity.
Words struck in his throat, and David wanted to refute him. He wanted to believe in his family but he knew his circumstances more than anyone else.
For his family, except his brother, everyone is a commodity with a certain value to it. If you lose your value, you will lose the favour.
David, whose performance had been bad in Horizon, was already left out of his family.
Still, it was too much. He was their son, their own flesh and blood.
'Why don't you look for me?'
'I have been afraid of being tortured in this place yet you all don't even look for me.'
Tears leaked out from his eyes.
A grin appeared on the man's face seeing the change in David's expression.
"It's okay David. Instead of lamenting, think of the good side."
"What good side?"David asked sorrowfully.
"It showed you their true face."
David kept mum unable to speak anything.
Staying silent for a moment, he finally asked"Who are you all, and what do you want from me?"
"I already told you about the initial goal but since that failed, I just want you to be free."
"Freee..."
"Yes, free.."The man stood up and, sitting on the chair, took a solemn expression.
"David, have you ever wondered why bad exists?"
To his question, David just shook his head.
"God and the Church preaches goodness. They also say God created us. That means they also created evil so why did they discard evil so much?"
To this question, David just stared at the man blankly with an absurd look" I don't know."
The man smiled at his answer.
"The answer is very simple."
"If there is no evil in the society, goodness would lose its value. Why do people admire others?"
"Isn't this solely because of the good deed they committed?"
"But have you ever wondered if there is no evil, no conflict, no greed, and nothing such as sadness, would these so-called heroes have a chance to act all mighty and tall? Can they earn fame when the problems they solved never existed?"
"Th...They would just be left in the dust."David murmured as he came to a certain realization.
"It seems you got it. Nature is unfair, it treats everyone partially. There is nothing called karma, David. Evil and people with twisted beliefs are born like this since birth. A situation doesn't turn a person evil, rather it gives a human a chance to accept their dark side."
"David, you are also the same."
"A being who finds pleasure in other misfortunes."
"I don't."David refuted.
"You are David, you are."The man squatted down and stared straight into David's eyes.
"I can see that primal desire to stand above others in you. You are born with a curse, just like me...just like us."
"This suffocating feeling that you suppress will grow, twist, and morph as the feeling of greed, anger, sadness, and suffering will fuel it."n0Velusb.c0m
"This is a curse, David. A curse that we can't cure."
"We can't run neither can we hide. The more you deny, the more you will sink into the abyss of evilness ."
"Denying yourself takes you to hell, accepting it will give you the taste of heaven."
The figure of the man started to crawl into David's eyes, and with the glow in his eyes getting dimmer, his heart began to beat faster as his mind became cloudy with many adverse thoughts crawling deep from his soul.
The man nudged David making his voice grew louder and louder which started to echo inside the room.
"Accept it, David."
"Just like us, accept your true purpose."
"There is nothing to be ashamed of. We are just accepting our true self that the world endowed us with."
"We are the beings cursed with evilness by God itself."
"We are the conveyor of darkness."
"Born, bred, and brought up by it solely for the creation of chaos and mayhem."
"We are the ill Omens of the world."
"We are Omen!"
[End Of Volume 1]