Chapter 5: Whispers.

When Aza'zel next opened his eyes, he felt as though he'd been asleep longer than he'd even been alive. Movements were such an extraneous task that elicited complaints not only from his brain but also from his bones. He could feel a ticklish sensation as though parasitic feelers incessantly brushed along his skeleton, and although he could not see it, his intuition spoke to him of a protruding bump on his chest.

"Easy now, Little Aza… Your body is still undergoing minor adjustments."

While panicking in the ever-present darkness of his perception, the familiar voice of Rebecca somehow provided him with a hint of calm. Indistinct whispers rushed to his head—there were millions of them at a time. These whispers came and went unpredictably, it is them that reminded him how he's still alive and not alone in his world of utter darkness.

Some things about his world, his body, and his psychic… Aza'zel didn't dare bring it to the light. These were little secrets that if mentioned, might redeem him in the eyes of everyone else as insane. Others might already consider him a monster… He considered himself a monster…

"Adjusting to what exactly?" Aza'zel asked in a feeble voice, not finding the energy to act all enthusiastic like the norm. It was an arduous task for him to exert the tiniest bit of force.

"Adjusting you to face the outside world," Rebecca replied, a damp piece of cloth in her hand descending on Aza'zel's sweaty forehead. The cold sensation relaxed his spirit considerably, and his thoughts quickly fell into an orderly line.

"Both you and Caidie have been to the outside world before, right?"

"Yes… Yes, we have. Though, the outside world Caidie and I are familiar with has become a thing of the past. We treat it like a memory, a distant yet precious memory that might one day resurface before our eyes."

"What's the difference between our world and the world outside?"

"There could be many differences, but it is also possible that there's none at all… You can tell me all about it when you return, I'll wait for you here."

"You're not coming with?"

"You only need my daughter, Caidie, to come along."

"Won't you feel… lonely?"

"Haha… As long as you keep me in your heart, why would I ever feel lonely?"

Aza'zel remained silent, as there was no way he would believe someone could endure such loneliness. If it were him, he'd be fine—he still had those unfamiliar voices, in the millions, whispering to him periodically.

"Let us not talk about me for now, and let me explain a few things about the outside world for you… My knowledge is limited so I can't tell much."

Rebecca said that, but she reached toward a side cabinet and procured a stack of yellowed papers from within. She flipped through them, one page at a time, and Aza'zel listened patiently to the sound of rustling parchments.

"Here…" Rebecca breathed calmly and said, "For reasons unknown, the world blessed the myriad races with a sliver of its origin power, now universally acknowledged as source energy. This 'source energy' allowed them to evolve limitlessly, and the more they evolved, the more it fed into their insatiable curiosity…"

Rebecca suddenly paused, and the dimly lit room descended into silence.

Aza'zel also noticed the sudden pause, asking, "And then what happened?"

Rebecca chuckled to herself, pushing the paper parchments back into the cabinet. Aza'zel heard the activities and could more or less guess what happened, but it only served to edge at his curiosity.

He wanted to ask again, it was an uncontrollable notion he found within himself.

However, Rebecca beat him to it and said, "Just like you right now, they succumbed to their curiosity and the latter controlled their minds, actions, and lives until eventually, they'd lost themselves…"

Aza'zel was rendered speechless. He wanted to say that everything was under control, but the more he thought about it, the colder he felt. He knew that were his eyes all fine and dandy; once given an opportunity, he might sneak into this room and read the paper parchments in secret.

"Exactly," Rebecca spoke gently, her gloved hand caressing the young boy's cheek. "Insatiable curiosity and limitless power make a wonderful, poisonous elixir once combined. Our ancestors back then tried to stop the myriad races before it was too late, but that decision made them into the common enemy of all, and ten thousand years later, here we are…"

Rebecca sighed, slowly standing up. Aza'zel felt heavy in his heart, knowing that this might very well be the last yet most valuable lesson Rebecca had taught him after all this time.

Rebecca didn't want to say too much.

She brought her hand to sweep past her imperial gause, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and said, "I've prepared a set of clothes for you… Well, they're also something I've found in a storage room here, so you should treasure them once you're outside."

Then, Aza'zel heard her light footsteps growing ever-so-distant, and he knew that she was providing him the time to think about his future from henceforth.

Aza'zel wanted to call out to Rebecca because he detested being alone. Whenever he was in the presence of someone else, the voices in his head would huddle into some unknown corner of his mind, but they would spring up like an evil surprise whenever he found himself in solitude.

They nag him on for vengeance, a promise of cold murder, and a desire to feast on hot blood. He knew that these voices were using Soulguider and Exsanguinator as mediums to convey their twisted desires, but what can he do about it?

Nothing.

He could only close his eyes tighter than tight, clench his fists, and grind his teeth.

Shut up!

He screamed at a million voices as one.

Leave me alone!

But they wouldn't listen.

You're using us!

The voices said collectively…

Sooner or later, you have to pay! You have to feed us! You MUST feed us!

…

It was a tumultuous decade that the low crimson moon had witnessed. The intelligent creatures underneath the sanctuary of its radiance erected a new calendar and called it the Skysplit Calendar, a name which was by far, self-explanatory.

As the continent was divided into seven regions, each overseen by an earl of aristocratic lineage and millions of subjects. There were orges, felines, vampires, goblins, and fey that resembled humans save for their pointed ears and translucent wings.

At one point, all of them were humans.

At one point, all of them evolved, undertaking separate paths.

The crimson moon witnessed it all, as this is where it all started, yet this is where they all returned.

The myriad races seemed to follow an unwritten rule where the further one distanced themselves from the known forbidden grounds, the higher the prosperity and population.

Those towns in close proximity to the locally acknowledged forbidden grounds were akin to abandoned towns for the desperate outlaws who failed to secure a foothold in the new world.

One of these repulsive towns infested with the malignant tumors of scum incarnate was Raksha, a town for the bedeviled people say.

Two newcomers to the new world entered this small town on the descent of yet another, horrendous evening.

A young woman in her early twenties and a young boy barely past the tender age of ten.