HideousGrain
patreon
Sample Chapter - Arcane Beast Master
🕑 Added 2024-10-15 13:00:13 +0000 UTCZeke shot up from the bed and looked around. His breath was heavy, his clothes drenched in sweat.
What was that?
Countless images flashed before his eyes, but Zeke couldn’t decipher them. All Zeke could remember were fragments. A river of blood, the desperate cries of frightened people ringing in his ears, and death. Death was omnipresent in the fragments tormenting his mind. But so was the scourge.
Zeke ruffled through his disheveled hair and looked at the clock on the nightstand to his left. It was barely 5 am, but Zeke was not tired anymore.
“These nightmares are going to kill me at some point.” He cursed in a whisper while escaping the comfort of his bed.
It hadn’t been long since nightmares started tormenting him. Of course, having nightmares wasn’t anything new, but the most recent nightmares were life-like and repetitive. However, even worse was that the nightmare worsened every time it resurfaced. More fragments etched into Zeke’s mind, ensuring he would remember what happened.
Unfortunately, the most recent addition struck the hardest. The last nightmare was worse than usual. The crimson sun flashed before his eyes, only to disappear a moment later. The sound of beating wings rang through his ears before the sun disappeared, darkness engulfing him.
Something covered the sun.
Zeke groaned, hating how much he could remember from those nightmares. Every night, a fragment of the nightmare etched deep into his mind, tormenting him more every day. It was scary.
Zeke shuddered suddenly, an ear-deafening crunch ringing in his mind, and agonizing pain flooded his system. It lasted no longer than a moment, but the pain surprised Zeke. Something like that never happened before.
He stared down at his trembling hands, his hair standing up to its end.
This can’t be normal. Do I have to visit a psychiatrist? No. I can’t afford that.
Instead of wasting his precious money, Zeke circulated mana through his body. It wasn’t much, but the soothing warmth of mana calmed his nerves.
Zeke pressed his hand against his wildly beating heart and closed his eyes. A moment later, Zeke appeared in his mindspace. It wasn’t anything special, really. His mindspace was small, the background darkish-blue with faintly glimmering stars illuminating the mindspace’s edge. But Zeke looked at the fist-sized sphere at its center.
The sphere was translucent, with a faint golden rim, and could be mistaken for a bubble if not for the grain-sized prismarine crystal levitating midst. Zeke focused on the crystal, the vibrant energy accumulated inside it, to be precise. The mindspace around him turned blurry as his full attention pulled to the energy. Zeke released it smoothly.
He pulled the energy out of the crystal, merged it into two equal-sized strands with some effort, and intertwined them neatly. The process was slow, but no incident occurred when Zeke inserted the intertwined energy strands back into the prismarine crystal. For a moment, it felt like the crystal hummed as if excited, but the sensation left Zeke almost immediately.
Still, Zeke checked the crystal once more. It wasn’t glowing anymore; the energy within was consumed to temper the crystal, but he discovered something interesting.
The bottom is already glimmering.
Zeke opened my eyes in surprise, leaving the mindspace.
Scratching his nose, Zeke got up and turned the light switch on. He squinted his eyes as they adapted to the flood of light spreading through the small room and headed to the desk. Countless sheets were spread all across the desk, but Zeke knew what he was looking for. He was the master of the chaos he’d created.
He wouldn’t have a problem finding what he was looking for.
Zeke looked through the sheets for a good minute before he found what he was looking for. He nibbled on his lower lip while his finger brushed gently over the smudged lines, “This worked much better than expected. Forming two soul power streams and intertwining them worked smoothly.”
It was something he did on a whim, following his instincts, but Zeke was glad he did it. The Soul Crystal showed signs of recovering even though he didn’t spend hours tempering the Soul World. A glance at the digital clock on the nightstand showed it was only 5:36 am.
“Maybe I should wake up this early more often,” Zeke murmured but shuddered a moment later, “Experimenting is nice and all, but I’d prefer all of this without the all-inclusive nightmare package.”
It had only been a few weeks since he started experimenting with his Soul World. At that time, Zeke had been in dire need of distraction. The life-like nightmares had only started tormenting him at that time.
Just thinking about it gave Zeke the shivers.
He slapped his cheeks firmly and focused on the burning sensation before turning to the keyboard buried underneath the papers and turning his computer on. There was still some time left before his shift would start, but Zeke didn’t want to be idle. The images of the nightmare would return to torment him whenever he wasn’t focused on something. It was the worst in the morning after the nightmare expanded.
The computer turned on, and the search engine opened after a moment. Yet, before he could proceed, an advertisement popped up.
[Origin Watch – Zepther Galactus XVI – will be released in six hours. Check the Super Zepther and purchase your piece of happiness now!]
“Bullshit,” Zeke grunted, angrily clicking on the ‘X’ in the top-right corner, “Who purchases an Origin Watch costing 50,000 Credits?”
My rent is only 1,000 Credits, but a watch like that is…
His room wasn’t anything special, yet it was all he could afford. It was enough for him.
Depressive silence filled the room. Zeke was painfully aware that he wasn’t wealthy, but advertisements like this nonetheless felt like a slap in the face.
It’s okay. Don’t worry. Ignore the ads like always. You don’t need an Origin Watch, do you? You survived without one for 20 years!
He took a deep breath and nodded. Nonetheless, his mood had been soured, and the happiness of seeing his balance this morning was dampened. Zeke still opened his online banking account to take in the numbers.
[Balance: 19,651 Credits.]
“Once I get paid, everything will change,” His heart skipped a beat. The nightmare and the advertisement were all forgotten.
Zeke smiled faintly. It was only a matter of days before he would complete the first step on a long list of goals. All he needed was 20,000 Credits.
So what if others receive financial support from their family, or earn enough money to run around with origin watches? I earned every single Credit in my bank account through hard labor. Nobody helped me. It was all on me!
That was supposed to motivate him but left a sour taste in his mouth.
Zeke was alone. He had nobody to rely on.
Memories Zeke had long since buried in the deepest part of his mind surfaced again. They didn’t belong to the life-like nightmare but were equally terrifying.
A heavy sigh escaped his lips.
“Stop!” He growled as if that was enough to dispel and bury the old memories again.
Unfortunately, it didn’t work. However, what worked was to seek distraction at work.
Zeke removed his clothes, except for his underwear, before he shot to the ground. He started his workout with push-ups, tormenting his body with as many as possible to clear his mind. That didn’t work right away, but his mind drifted away as he continued with the grueling workout.
His body wasn’t grateful for the thirty minutes of hell, but his mind was at ease once Zeke’s short workout session ended.
He jumped under the shower and washed up properly before getting ready for work.
It was not even 7 a.m. when Zeke decided to leave the apartment. Work wouldn’t start until 9 a.m., but he was unwilling to stay in the apartment, where he would be alone with his thoughts.
Zeke stepped into the hallway and reached the elevator to the first floor in no time. A minute later, he was outside the building, where he was welcomed by a fresh breeze, various spices, and the smell of freshly made food from the vendors on the other side of the street. The smells struck his nostrils like a punch to the nose, reminding Zeke that he was hungry.
But he didn’t cross the street to purchase breakfast and turned to the right to stroll through the empty streets. He walked past several large buildings and took the world around him in for a while. The air was fresh, and the streets were clean enough to eat from, though Zeke wouldn’t recommend that anyone do so.
At some point, Zeke eyes flicked to several dark, wobbly masses slithering through the gutters, removing specks of dirt and leftover food.
Disintegration Slimes. The Sanctuary’s garbage disposal. Despite their power to disintegrate everything they’ve consumed, they’re weak Common Beasts. Maybe they would be more interesting if their potential wasn’t nonexistent.
Even though Disintegration Slimes were weak, they were essential for the Sanctuaries. They could be found everywhere and helped the residents greatly with their natural abilities. That was how Sanctuary Xelton, and probably every other Sanctuary, was kept clean.
Sanctuary Xelton was where Zeke was born and raised. It was a rather small Sanctuary, but due to its location, it was affordable.
Zeke’s attention lingered on the Disintegration Slimes for a while, but his head flicked to a shoulder-sized wolf walking next to a middle-aged woman when they stepped out of the building before him. The wolf pushed its chest out and walked around pridefully like a king while the middle-aged woman patted him lovingly.
The pair walked past Zeke, unaware of his presence or longing gaze.
Their bond was tight. They were like family, maybe even more than that. The bond with a Soulbound runs deeper than a family’s connection. At least, that was what everyone said.
Why am I envious of them? There is no need for that. I will be the same soon!
Zeke spent gruesome years tempering his Soul World, expanding it slowly while putting aside money. He might have only one chance at this, but Zeke was certain he wouldn’t mess it up. Not after all that had happened.
He gathered his thoughts and counted the last few days of his demise. Everything would change soon.
Zeke strolled through a few streets until he appeared before a familiar sign.
[Regis’ Café]
How did I end up here?
His shift wouldn’t start for another hour, but there he was, standing before the café, unsure what to do with the rest of his time.
“Zeke? What are you doing here?” A familiar voice rang out from behind.
Zeke turned to see his colleagues, Frederik and Max, standing behind him. They were heavily loaded, carrying several bags of ingredients and other necessities.
“I didn’t sleep well and woke up too early,” Zeke shrugged, “I didn’t know what to do…so I decided to come and help out a little.”
Normally, the unlike duo would start teasing him now. They would mention his drive to earn money and make fun of him for trying to become a full-fledged Ascended at his age. Sometimes, they would mention that he was digging his early grave for taking up multiple jobs for a lost cause.
But not today. Frederik and Max looked at each other and back at Zeke, a look of pity flickering in their eyes.
Zeke was all too familiar with that type of gaze.
His mind turned blank for a moment, his eyes dilating as the screams of a young boy echoed in his ears. Blood was everywhere, alongside three dead bodies. A family, all dead, torn apart by something. All of them looked at him, their dead eyes staring deep into his soul.
“Zeke…Zeke!!” Frederik grasped Zeke and shook him firmly.
“I’m good. Everything is fine!” Zeke responded defensively.
“You don’t look good, dude,” Frederik said, while Max added, “You’re as white as a piece of paper, bro!”
Zeke shook his hand dismissively, but his mind was a mess.
It was the second time these memories resurfaced today. However, this time had been much worse.
Why though? Why would they resurface now? He hadn’t thought about that day for…a while.
The chimes behind him rang out, and everyone turned to a bulky young man.
“Boss!” Max greeted the young man, whose eyes lingered on Zeke.
“Good morning,” Zeke greeted.
“Morning, Zeke. You don’t look so good,” He tilted his head and studied Zeke for a while. At last, he smiled, “In that case, this might be for the best.”
He cleared his throat and patted Zeke’s shoulder.
“You don’t have to work today. In fact, you won’t work here anymore.”
That didn’t sound quite right. Zeke’s eyes narrowed, and his lips parted, but his boss was faster.
“You’re fired. Effective immediately.”
