The Villain's Story

“How did death feel?”

The voice asked, and I could not answer. Not because of any unknown power that kept my mouth shut, any presence I could not define that made me go silent… But because I was at a loss for words.

I didn’t know what to say. The voice asked me once more.

“How did death feel?”

This time, it was almost like a demand. It wanted to know the answer, and I could not help but oblige. Something came to mind.

“Pain… It was painful.”

But that was not the end, I still had more to say, the words simply flowed out of my mouth hurts, despite being in what it felt like the bottom of the sea.

“Unexpected, painful, and… Helplessness.”

This time, I could feel as if the owner of the voice, most likely Ariel, smiled.

“The mind is a great, powerful weapon.”

The topic changed, I listened attentively, I had no choice but to do so, albeit I was still a bit confused as to why the topic changed so suddenly.

“It trumps the soul, gives it purpose, it overpowers the body, gives it direction.”

There was something in her voice… It was pride. Strangely enough, even I was filled with pride the moment she said that.

I didn’t know, but the pride in her voice was palpable, and my blood responded to it as well.

“The mind of a determined man is hardly afraid of death. But it does no forget it.”

“But the body and soul are different. The mind looks at the chasm, the cliff with a determine gaze, to fall is to die, but to succeed is to thrive.

It does not believe, it knows it is the truth. But does the body and soul follow?”

I wondered where she was going with this, but with each passing second I could feel the excitement in her voice rise, pride overflowed.

“The mind is ready to jump, but is the body ready to jump? Is it ready to take the risk of death, a fear implanted in all life?

The mind believes it will succeed, but the body instinctively feels it will die. It is afraid of death, it is afraid of parting with life.”

She was imparting a lesson, a very important lesson.

“But the mind can grow to control the body and soul, to stomp over it.”

Her pride had reached the peak… As did mine.

“Tell me, when all is lost, when desperate times come, can you make the leap over the chasm of death?

The cliff you need to jump over, the bottom of which is undoubtedly your grave?

Will the mind falter or will it steel itself to jump? Yes, it will certainly.”

There was no doubt in her voice, as if she was sure the mind would do exactly as she said.

“The mind will always be ready to jump at that moment. But will the body be able too?

Will you be able to gather strength in your shaking legs? Will the tremors stop? The shaking breath, will it calm itself?

Will you leap? Or will you fall before you even attempt to do so?”

I gulped, it was as if I was in the very situation she was talking about, looking down at a chasm filled with darkness, the other side uncertain and my body shaking with fright.

“The mind, has and is able to defeat the body and the soul, it has ruled it before, and it can do so again.

It is your greatest weapon to overcome your worst fears, even death…”

The arms holding me loosened their grip and disappeared, Ariel left with some parting words…

“Overcome, but never forget.”

She left after that, but I couldn’t help but feel as if… During the lesson, she was associating the words mind, body and soul with something else.

They still held their original meaning, but there was something else as well…

But what?

Unfortunately, the next thing I knew, I was at the platform, my eyes wide open and my throat dry.

****

The platform was in a state of strange, eerie silence. Maxwell, Emma and Alice rushed to each of the three who had just been revived.

Maxwell went to Alan, Alice towards Kazikato and Emma towards Alexander, Emma had cast a healing spell, whilst Alice offered Kazikato a potion.

Maxwell, meanwhile kicked the side of Alan’s head and inquired.

“You good?”

Alan remained silent, his thoughts convoluted… And then that was when it happened.

“AHHH!”

Alexander screamed in terror and pain as he got up, grabbing the frightened Emma by her shoulders, his screams continued.

“FUCK! FUCK!”

Accompanied by a flurry of curses, Kazikato stood up, his face full of fright and beads of sweat trickling down as he clenched his chest. His breathing was heavy.

Azmakul offered a compliment as he watched on.

“Very good, both princes showed a lackluster reaction, unlike the mutt.”

The sound of his clapping shook Alan out of his reverie. Only now did he just remember that he had been ripped in half and his heart had been destroyed.

He didn’t know how Alexander or Kazikato had died… But he had a feeling Alexander didn’t have a quick death.

Well, who was he to talk? He probably had the most brutal death out of them all, but his reaction to it betrayed it.

It could not be helped, he had grown too accustomed to pain. His lackluster reaction was not due to disbelief or something else… But because he was pretty confident he had felt worse pain than that a lot of times.

It was nothing to be proud of, but it helped him in the current situation. He stood up, but remained silent.

“What happened in there?”

Maxwell asked with a tinge of curiosity, Alexander and Kazikato were still not in their right minds, so asking them anything was out of the question.

Alan broke out of his daze and gave Maxwell a deep look as he answered in an annoyed tone.

“What do you think, genius? We died.”

Maxwell only let out a whistle in response.

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