Chapter 104: Friend.

Chapter 104: Friend."You’re finally awake!" Lee heard Arax’s voice, but after opening his eyes, he couldn’t see anything.

They were surrounded by complete darkness, but the worst part was – someone was holding Lee up by the neck, his feet dangling below. Apparently he had been held this way for some time and his extremities felt weak and limp, and, even if he wanted to kick his way free, it was unlikely he could move a muscle.

Arax was strong and grip was as tight as Lee had imagined. Surprisingly, after the sudden aging, the man was as fit as before.

’What the hell!’ Lee’s first instinct was to curse, but he couldn’t make any sound.

His companion was in a talkative mood, though. Arax said, "You know, you’re really good. I even have some respect for you. But you messed up!"

’You don’t say!’ Lee though, but couldn’t focus enough to figure out what to do. He had hard time breathing, to not speak of analyzing the situation.

"I’ll tell you! It was in Haonia when you injured yourself by jumping down the cliff!" Arax said, "Everybody knows that the witches can heal themselves without any repercussions! They loose life force only when they heal the others and not regenerate on their own! That’s the compensation God granted for them taking care of others ... everybody knows ..."

Lee didn’t remember what he said back then, but it sounded logical. Wasn’t this what Tess and Ingrid taught him? Or he misunderstood them? And ... did it matter now?

"Your clueless complaining clearly showed you were a fraud!" Arax said, "We thought of turning you to the caretakers, but then you all healed up ... I was confused, but Thorax persuaded me that we misunderstood you."



Arax paused, and Lee felt hot and stinky breath assaulting his face. Apparently the guy brought him closer, as if wanting to look at him better, but in the pitch black darkness it was impossible.

’Strange. Is pretending to be a witch some kind of super-crime? A one that results in caretaker’s punishment?’ Lee thought, inwardly laughing at his own mistake.

"But when we taught Jiraxa, you began with the stupid questions!" Arax said, and his voice was full of anger, but at the same time he made it sound squeaky, as if imitating Lee, "... why the process is so quick? ... wasn’t there supposed to be a ritual? ... does everyone cut their chests?"

"DO! YOU! THINK! WE! ARE! IDIOTS!" The last part Arax roared in Lee’s face, and the latter almost passed out from the guy’s grip tightening.

Sadly he didn’t.

Arax shook him, as if making sure Lee was still conscious, and said, "Jiraxa didn’t like your smell from the start! I should’ve known better to trust her! Who would’ve thought that your race has these regenerative abilities! I’ve never heard of anything like it before."

’Come on!’ Lee thought to himself, trying to encourage the guy, ’Just kill me and let it be over with! It’ll feel good!’

Unfortunately Arax didn’t hear his thoughts, and continued, "But you’re pretty smart for the kid, I’ll give you that! Well, were smart. Hahaha! ... Thorax would’ve found the joke funny ... anyway, obviously you weren’t a witch, but imagine my surprise when I tore off your clothing and found out you weren’t an old hag, but a young boy!"

Then his tone turned serious, and he said, "You didn’t have the spark, though. No scar, no spark! I should’ve checked it earlier, back in Haonia! Thorax would’ve been alive, and Jiraxa too ..."

Lee stared in the darkness in disbelief. The guy actually was an idiot and thought people died because of Lee. Of course, he was idiot as well, but for different reasons.

"You know?" Arax continued, "At first I brought you here so you could end your miserable life like the cursed ones, deep in the mines, shackled. But when I saw how young you are, I realized it’ll take too long. I changed my mind!"

’Now we’re talking!’ Lee was finally relieved, ’Why couldn’t we have started with this?’

But the sudden wave of hate he sensed made him regret the thought. It was almost as if Arax’s feelings became tangible and began to invade his mind, forcing it to implode.

’So this is a real killing intent!’ Even though Lee was on the brink of loosing sanity, he was curious about the phenomenon. He heard there were people who could kill others, weaker minded ones, with a thought, but always took it for a myth.

Unfortunately, the somewhat chaotic flow of thoughts in Lee’s mind froze when he realized what Arax was about to do.

Out of nowhere, a bright light illuminated the surroundings, for a moment blinding them both.

When Lee’s vision returned, he noticed they were in a cave, or rather – in some kind of a tunnel. He didn’t know what was behind him, but in the direction he was facing, the tunnel went somewhere upwards in the distance. Maybe they were in mines.

"Initially I intended to keep this thing as a keepsake. I don’t think there is a higher quality earth spark than this ..." Arax said, and looked at the bright object in his hand. It was a tad larger than a plum and roughly shaped like a cube, but with round edges. And it shone like the brightest light bulb Lee had ever seen.

"But we’re friends! Since you wanted a spark so badly, you’ll get one!" Arax said, and laughed.

Lee was ready to die without a regret – at least in the current circumstances his consciousness was mostly clean. He was even prepared for death from the moment he stepped through the rift in Sunwell and landed in the damn Ashland.

But he wasn’t willing to go through another session of torture. And back then, during the New Year’s event, he was a small kid, and passed out relatively quickly ... he could only hope it would go that way again.

"Now then, my friend!" Arax’s expression turned vicious, "For killing my brother, for killing Jiraxa and Mirax, for pretending to be a witch ... I hereby sentence you to death! Goodbye!"

Then he squeezed Lee’s neck so hard, the latter involuntarily gasped for ear, but got the bright yellow cube showed in his mouth instead.



Lee was starting to mentally prepare for the approaching agony, but as it turned out, Arax’s hatred ran deep. He punched Lee in the face several times, but obviously held back even though he knocked out most of Lee’s teeth.

Then took one of Lee’s arms, squeezed it, and broke the bones, and the took the other one. He only stopped when all Lee’s extremities were broken, but even then he wasn’t satisfied. Unfortunately for him there wasn’t anything he could do without killing the kid in his grip.

Arax shook Lee one more time as if he was an oversized doll, and then threw him to the side.

Then turned to leave, and said, "Good! Now you can’t crawl anywhere nor you can bite your tongue to kill yourself. Have a nice life! Right ... feel free to scream. No one will hear you!"

Arax didn’t manage to go far when Lee followed his suggestion, and began to roar in agony. If Arax knew what pigs were, he would’ve compared Lee’s screaming to a pig getting butchered. Except the screams never stopped.

Lee wasn’t angry at Arax or blamed him for what he did. If Lee was honest with himself, he did at some point pretend to be a healer and knew it could have consequences. The problem was – he didn’t like those at all.

The pain he felt during the New Year’s event was like a tiny itch after a mosquito bite in comparison to the torment he was in now. And it seemed to be never ending. And Arax was right, he did want to bite his tongue off to end the suffering, but now he couldn’t.

Even with his extremities broken, teeth knocked out and the jaw fractured, that wasn’t the true cause for the agony. The pain came somewhere from deep inside, and assaulted his body and consciousness in waves – each one growing larger and more unbearable.

But then, for a moment, the pain dulled, almost disappearing. But before Lee could relax, it returned with a crushing force, as if the weight of the whole world had fallen on him. He couldn’t breathe, but at the same time, couldn’t pass out despite the lack of oxygen.

And the worst part of all was the dreadful premonition that this torment would last for eternity.