Aimless Ascension

I watched the leaving figure of Joseph for an extended time, standing before the entrance of the quarter. I knocked just to let him know I wasn't just wasting time, but only being polite.

Something that bastard needed to learn.

"Come in," a voice said in the native language of this world. Saarya taught me the basics of the native language for me to understand that much. Well, I could understand it a lot more than that.

I only entered when I found the fella covered a respectful distance.

the inside of the quarter was a one long hall room with things cramped together in an unorganised manner. Tables and shelves were full of all kinds of ingredients, emitting a pungent aroma that seemed to linger in the air.

The temperature was on the colder side as well, leading me to think this laboratory was built for a different purpose altogether. And probably sealed with all kinds of enhancements like soundproofing, spirit energy conditioning, if that was a thing cause I felt a lot refreshed just getting inside, and whatever else was there that I could barely sense.

The room is dimly lit, with only a couple of light constructs providing enough light to see by. The walls were lined with shelves that were crammed full of various jars, bottles, and vials of all shapes and sizes. Some were labelled with strange symbols and markings, while others seemed to be completely unmarked.

The centrepiece of the room was a long, stone table that dominated the centre of the space. It was covered in a chaotic mess of books, papers, and various tools of the trade, as well as various flasks, beakers, and test tubes, scattered irresponsibly, as if no one else had come to this place other than the owner.

Other than all that, there were a couple of things that caught my attention the most. First was the large furnace, bubbling away with a cauldron full of some mysterious concoction in the corner of the room. Complementing the chaotic surroundings, I can't help but wonder what kind of magical experiments and elixirs were created in this mysterious and fascinating laboratory.

The other was the person standing next to it. An Oldman with gray hair and wrinkles on his face. Although the face wasn't all that familiar to me, and the thick-framed spectacle was a new addition, I remember it all too clearly in my mind.

Theodore. The Oldman who healed me and almost killed me for assaulting him in my early days in this hellhole.

I swallowed my breath, unconsciously, finding the Oldman narrowing his eyes at me.

"Sit down," Theodore told me.

I just looked at him foolishly, even though I understood him.

Theodore clicked his tongue and pointed towards the seat next to the centre table. My expression was enough to remind him, I didn't know his language.

"I sit there?" I asked in English. Although the Oldman wouldn't be able to understand English, he could figure out my language pretty easily.

He nodded, as slowly I moved to rest my butt a few paces away from him. When that was done, I found the Oldman returning to his magical concoction.

Hmm, that jolted me awake, remembering those chilling healing potions he fed me. How many of those were in this room? I scanned the whole room to mostly find raw ingredients, a lot of fire crystal reserves, and not many vials of the completed product.

After I finished my inspection, I returned to pondering over my summoning here. A chill ran through my spine as many ideas came to my mind. Most of them weren't looking good for me.

Could they have suspected something about my survival and decided to test it? I mean, they were already suspicious of something from the beginning, putting me through the hellish process of beating and healing for a week.

They discarded me thinking I was a completely lost cause. But that wasn't the case at all. I'm a practitioner of spirit arts like them now. A Fatebearer, whatever that term meant.

I only heard it in Saarya's mouth, and when I asked her about it, all she said was that I bear the fate of two worlds.

No, there was no protection from fate and some other shit, I could easily die like most low-rankers. God, even the lashing could kill me if it was simply executed for killing people.

As if noticing the change in my expression, Theodore turned to me, inspecting me once again. His eyes seemed to linger on my left arm which was still wrapped in a ragged cloth.

Unconsciously, I found myself hiding my left hand with the right, clasping them together. That was probably the most suspicious thing I have done. And god damn it, it piqued the Oldman's interest as he regarded me.

Theodore came forward to stand face-to-face with me. He pointed to the cloth in my left palm and said something in his native tongue. I didn't know what he said, but I could understand it pretty clearly.

He wanted me to uncover my left wrist.

A troubled look appeared on my face instantly as I tried to play confused. It didn't work.

It seemed my behaviour revolted the Oldman as the next movement he came out flaring his Qi at me.

It was like a hard slap impacting my whole body, sticking me to the seat altogether. If I tried, I mean, if I really tried, I think I would get out of this, pretty easily.

But that would release my cover.

Theodore caught my left palm and started uncovering the cloth roughly, with no sentiments. My entire world crashed onto me when I found the look on his face when he discovered the fate mark on my wrist.

His face was ravenous. A savagery craze, eager to take irresponsible measures to get his way.

'Oh my god, he's going to kill me,' I cried inwardly. Even if he didn't, I'm not feeling any goodwill out of him. He was going to do something to me.

'What do I do? What do I do?'

Theodore proceeded to inspect the make of my palm, introducing his Qi into my wrist. A cold craze got over me as he drew his energy into me. My mind chilled with violent ideas, ideas that could help me get out of this situation.

Theodore's Qi came into contact with the fate mark, and like what happened with Uncle Phillips, the mark devoured the Qi like a glutinous demon.

A frown crawled up into the oldman's wrinkled brows. He poured more energy into the mark, trying to bypass its control.

That was his first mistake.

The mark didn't rest its devouring. It was autonomous, and the suction force became all the more violent when I willed it to happen.

Theodore jolted, trying to take back his palm, but I didn't let him. A small portal to the other dimension opened as the Oldman's palm lost into it, sucking in with overwhelming suction force.

"This isn't right. This can't be happening!"

Theodore yelped, raising his Qi to break the volatile spatial manipulation. I was completely free of his manipulation and jabbed my fist into his face.

It felt like I hit a fucking tree, but I continued with it, punching him with all my force, flaring all of my Qi.

Theodore had only one arm free, but he managed to stop me, strangling my neck.

I struggled, the little portal becoming even more volatile at my trouble. A sudden whiteness filled my eyesight as I searched for anything to hold onto.

The only thing I found was a flask of liquid. I wasted no more time and rammed the flask into his face.

Theodore's superior body gave him enough protection to evade any damage that could come from the glass shattering in his face. Thankfully, he wasn't free of all the damage.

The red liquid burned into his face. A thick pungent odour reeked around them. Theodore screamed his eyes burning out. He let go of my palm as I kicked him in the midsection, performing many of my ball-crushing rituals.

Theodore dropped onto the ground. I grasped and found the little portal was no more, but it caused much damage to the Oldman's arm, which seemed to have gotten hard and unfeeling.

"I will kill you," Theodore screamed. "Bardi! This is going to be you--"

I didn't let him finish, clutched whatever was on the table, and threw them at him. Within a couple of throws, I somehow managed to make fire. It ignited into his thick robes.

Theodore rolled on the ground to put off the fire, as I continued to throw stuff at him.

It didn't take me long to understand the flasks weren't doing anything anymore. And Theodore was already recovering some of his nerves.

I launched himself at him, ramming my fist into his neck. I infused all the Qi I could control and empowered my fist to jab into his neck, tearing neck muscles and shattering his spinal cord.

But that wasn't enough. I rammed my elbow next, trying to break his windpipe. I strangled him on the ground with my elbow, screaming furiously.

Rage and indignation crashed my mind as I put the Oldman through all the misery I felt in this hell.

All the misery they caused me felt liberated as I hurt him.

I felt sick that it felt so good. I felt my stomach churning, but there was no going back to what I started.

I stabbed my elbow in unrelenting motions of back and forth, even when I found no struggle from the old man.

He's dead.

I stopped and stared at the act of violence I committed.

Oh, Mother, I'm a murderer!