Chapter 2

Child of the night, part 2

His red eyes opened slowly. It had been more than an hour since he had stood there motionless. During that time, he had been aware of what was happening around him. Only when he heard no sound or any movement around him did he dare to move.

He tried to get up, but his body was numb and he could barely move. Even when he opened his mouth, only a hoarse sound came out, as his throat was too dry to speak. The dizziness and darkness prevented him from being able to see anything, and it took him a few minutes before his vision improved. In some corners of the room, both the light from the crystals and his vision seemed to be useless as it was pitch black. To make it even worse, every time he turned his gaze a little he could see out of the corner of his eye how something was slowly creeping towards him, making itself unnoticeable as soon as he looked back.

The child moves his numb legs slightly but only after a few minutes he was able to get out of bed. His legs were so weak that he could barely stand, so he used the wall for support as he crawled through the darkness. It was a small room, with only a bed and a table, and no windows, only a simple door. His slightly trembling hand fell on the icy door handle, that made him flinch at the unfamiliar sensation. He took his hand off the doorknob and looked at it in confusion. A vibration from the walls made him looked back, saw something moving in that dark corner, and decided that he would not stay there any longer.

The adrenaline had made him open the door without thinking, but when he had to get out, he halted and stood there for a few seconds, not knowing what to do. His heart, eager than ever, was beating wildly in his chest, but his mind suddenly froze, filled with dozens of questions. Should he get out or stay? Scared, he looked down the empty hallway leading in one direction and felt a sense of déjà vu.

He took a small step and poked his head out, just to look around. The hallway was empty, and nothing could be heard nearby, so he went out. It was still quite dark, but this time there were more crystals that lit up the surroundings. The wall had a sandy, warm texture and seemed to react to his touch with a faint vibration. It didn’t look very solid, seeming to crumble under his touch. But he didn’t care for that moment.

He walked endlessly, but he didn’t seem to reach the end of the tunnel. Frustration, maybe even anxiety, slowly crept into his mind as the tunnel seemed to shrink so much that he thought it would crush him at any moment. He paused for a moment to catch his breath and then, as he narrowed his eyes, he noticed something in the distance that looked like a door. At that moment, he quickened his pace, almost tripping. Not even his weakened body or blurred vision could stop him.

The door opens, and the child freezes. In front of him was a female figure dressed in black, slightly hunched back, staring lost into an ink-black thing that moved like a wildfire. The room he entered was quite spacious, with a large metal table in the middle, on top of which sat a lifeless body. On the walls were hung dolls made of hair, many of them with a dark red color. Besides the sinister dolls, the room had a strong metallic smell, which made him suddenly enthusiastic.

“Are you awake? If I’d known you’d wake up so soon, I’d have left you more remains. ” Deep down, he wanted to believe that the woman was crazy and talked to herself, which is why he slowly turned around trying to escape. But the tunnel from which he had come had disappeared, and all that remained was a dead end. “Come closer. I want to see your face.”

The old woman took off her veil and put her hands on his cheek as if it didn’t seem real to her. It was only then that he saw several vessels with suspicious things that had a strong and distinct odor. That's when he got hungry, which Rhea couldn’t help but notice.

“It’s not much, but it’s still better than nothing. Won’t you help this tired old lady get rid of some bodies? All my imago are full, completely useless until tomorrow.” His mind, eyes and interest fell on the tumour on the left side of Rhea’s head, which had an interesting smell, something he hadn’t noticed before she took off the veil. ‘That’s not food,’ she said quickly before the young voratomores tried anything.

“Oho... That’s a pretty big boy.” The guest’s voice made Rhea cover her head again, which only resulted in a chuckle from him. “No need to be shy, high priestess Rhea. I’m just curious about your little problem. If you let me take a look, I might even be able to help you.”

Rhea glanced at the guest and almost wanted to ignore him. Instead, she put on a fake smile and answered as calmly as she could, hoping it would end quickly. “Thanks for the offer. My illness is not something you can treat with a herbal tea and I doubt someone as young and inexperienced as you can do anything else.”

“Well, if you don’t want it now, I’ll take a look after you die,” he laughed innocently.

The old lady turned her gaze to Mana and pulled a small pendant from her pocket. “This is for you. A little souvenir to remind you of this place. ”

Rhea handed him something that looked at first glance like a compass. Both Mana and the man were quite confused and couldn’t figure out exactly what it was. It was inscribed with the four cardinal points but had the needles of a clock, one red and one black. On its back were carved two words that neither of them could read.

Before Mana could look too closely, the man took the object from his hand and inspected it. ”Is this some kind of magic instrument?”

“No. But if you don’t believe me, you can check it yourself.” After checking it several times, he throws it into Mana’s hands. “Take care of it. It’s a gift from my husband who died a long time ago. Most likely, I will follow him soon and because I don’t have any children, this will be yours.”

He watched the scene unimpressed and seemed eager to leave. And he wasn’t the only one. Bianca slipped in beside her uncle with a large bag. Her face was as blank as ever, though always with a polite smile. Her face was tired and pale and the powder couldn’t hide the black bags under her eyes. Even her body had become frailer and weaker since he had seen her.

“Does she know?” whispered the man.

“She knows, but I don’t know if she’ll let me go.”

“Leave that to me.”

Rhea turned to the two and replied sharply. ‘No. I have no other disciple and I am not willing to leave this temple in the hands of a stranger.”

“Do you want her to spend her whole life here like you?”

“Did you tell him what you did? You...” The old woman slowly approached her and raised her hand, ready to hit her, but stopped. “You expect me to let her go?”

“That’s why I’m taking her there. To learn to control her powers so she doesn’t kill anyone else.”

“You’re ignorant if you think a child can control such a powerful parasite. It’s going to kill someone. What are you gonna do then? As long as it stays here, that parasite will be weak because it won’t have anything to eat.”

“That won’t work for long. You know very well that Bianca has a stronger soul than most people, enough to feed a parasite like that for a few years until she’s useless. In this situation, you can’t kill the girl or the parasite. All that’s left is to find her a master to teach her how to control it. ”

“Does it look that easy?”

“No, but it’s not impossible either. Don’t forget that most powerful sorcerers have had a strong fatum. It is their ambition and their resistance against death that make them so feared and tough to defeat. In other words, I won’t leave her here and you have nothing to say as I have received her father’s consent.”

Though she was a young soul, the little girl had more spiritual power than many advanced sorcerers, which worked only to her disadvantage. Raw power without discipline, without a healthy body and a healthy mind, was only poison to the soul. A sorcerer had to advance spiritually not for power but to destroy his fatum, in other words, his death. Fatum was the destiny of a soul, the vicious circle that repeats itself in every life until the individual destroys it, or being destroyed by his own fatum. For most sorcerers and ordinary people, destroying the fatum is impossible, but through training they are able to weaken it so that they can have a normal and long life not only for this life but for the next. But because humans are not equal even in the sight of death, some of them have the misfortune to be born with a strong fatum that will bring them diseases and violent fates that will be repeated from one life to another. When the power is too great and the soul is young, the fatum becomes powerful and takes the form of a spiritual parasite called a parca or a death fairy which is quite rare and Bianca was one of the few cases alive whose soul given life to a parca from the very first life.

At that moment Rhea remained silent, aware that there was nothing more she could do. Her expression did not have bitterness, hatred or even sorrow. It was just the same polite smile, the same detached look she gave to strangers.

“Then I wish you good luck.” With these words, the woman opened a tunnel and left without looking back.

The man opened a portal that led to a small camp where children were brought from all over the world to be recruited by experienced sorcerers to guide them in the arts of magic.

“My disciple should be here shortly. Stay here. After I’m done with him, we’ll have a proper talk.”

Once she stepped out of the energy vortex, the portal disappeared. They left the girl alone in a valley at the foot of the mountains, in a camp that would be her home for a month until the summer solstice.

The first thing she did was to take off her shoes and walk on the soft grass, enjoying the pleasant feeling it gave her. She had not seen grass and vegetation for a long time since the temples of death were not allowed to be in populated places or near crops and forest. The entities that formed the temple often extracted minerals and water from the ground, turning any place in into a desert. They could not stay too long in one place and were forced to change their location every month to let the place heal.

A few children were around, many of them looking confused, maybe even scared, as they all gathered in front of a large campfire. She had spent years in deserted places far from any human settlement surrounded only by imago and corpses. Now that she saw so many people, even children, she felt strange, lonelier than ever because she knew she had to keep a distance from the group.

“You look half dead. Are you okay?”

The girl turned only to see a tall, dark-haired teenager sitting next to her. It took her a few seconds to recognize him, but as soon as she saw him; her face lit up. “Felix!’”

It had been a long time since she had seen him and she almost didn’t recognize him. His green eyes and the mole under his left cheek had been the only thing that gave him away.

“How’s Mana?”

“He’s awake. My uncle took him somewhere. Do you know anything about?”

“Most likely, he will introduce him to the other gods.”

He wanted to be optimistic, but even he was nervous for the meeting, especially because he knew how much they hated him. The only thing stopping them from killing him was the god Anki, but he was alone against many gods and daemons.