Ancient Pasts - Tbate

Pain and Suffering

Cathan Leywin Pov

"Die!" The old man yelled, swinging wildly at me.

Spinning around, I dodged his attacks and swung Rupa, splashing blood. The human kept swinging wildly at me, but I kept avoiding his attacks. He lifted his greatsword high in the air and brought it down, trying to smash my head.

Earth mana moved according to my will, and a stone pillar rose from the ground, smashing into his chest and breaking a few ribs while sending him flying away. He hit the wall of a nearby building and vomited blood while trying to stand up.

"Answer my questions, or I'll destroy your soul." I threatened, conjuring a ball of blue flames above my palm.

"Eek." He yelped, trying to crawl away. "W-What are you?"

"I'm the one asking the questions here." I quipped, firing the fire at his shoulder and evaporating it entirely.

"P-Please spare me!" He pleaded, smashing his head onto the ground in a bow.

"Do you know what ki is?" I asked.

"It's... It's the energy source I u-use. When I asked the o-others here, they said they use something called m-mana." He stammered.

I nodded. "Do you know someone by the name of Arun?"

The man immediately paled after hearing this.

"S-Sir, Arun?" He stuttered, finally recognizing me.

"You look terrible, Merlin," I replied with disgust.

"But you look-" He started but stopped while clutching his severely wounded throat.

"Athena, did Miras finish it?" I asked, turning towards the floating black rod.

"Yes, I am able to connect to my real body," Athena replied.

Smiling with tears, I asked. "How are they doing?

"They're doing alright as of now," Athena replied. "Amber is currently asleep, and it would take a while for her mana core to form. Claire was depressed for a while, but she's okay now thanks to Tessia's help."

"That's good to hear." I smiled, sitting down on the mountain of corpses.

"Won't you talk to them?"

"No." I shook my head with a sad smile. "I don't really want to tell them about what I've been through here. While I could lie, I'm not really sure I can make a believable lie."

"Do you want to talk to them?" Athena pressed.

"Of course." I closed my eyes and hid the tears that welled up in them.

Athena kept quiet for a few minutes before asking another question. "How long do you plan to keep up this facade?"

"For as long as I have to," I asked, not wanting to think of it.

"It's not good to bottle up those emotions," Athena stated.

I let out a tired sigh. "I know, but I'll bottle up those feelings until I'm sure everyone is safe."

"Those visions again?" Athena inquired.

I let myself onto the mountain of corpses and curled up into a ball with tears in my eyes before muttering. "They never go away..."

"We'll find a way to stop it from coming true, I promise." Athena consoled.

"It's been ten years, and they still haven't gone away..." I started sobbing.

"If fate wants those visions to come true, then we will defy fate," Athena stated. "You're not alone, Cathan."

It took me a while to calm down. Those visions kept repeating themselves over and over again. Hell was a walk in the park compared to what those damned visions showed me.