69. The 5th gate

Mack, seeing his aim of attracting a lot of 'people' was accomplished, raised his two hands and touched both palms together as if he was praying.

A red flash of light came from him, and everything stopped moving.

Mack put his right hand over his sword handle by the belt and started walking into the city.

No one stopped him.

It was not like they could, anyway.

While walking, Mack gave a look at the faces of those men and women. And they seemed a mix of warriors and mages and common people.

'Maybe that's how a small city looks like outside Earth.'

Mack saw this and with a glance understood what his ancestor was aiming at this gate.

For him to understand the ins and outs of power structure in a mage city.

~sigh~

Mack could not believe the naivety of his ancestor.

The only power structure in the world was power itself. The more you had, the more you can demand from others.

For Mack, power had no face, could be money, could be strength, could be influence. But Mack knew, once you have one, you have all.

There was no need for him to try to mix and learn how mages interacted or their own rules, etc.

He only needed to be powerful.

And the rest was for him to take or destroy.

Thought Mack while snapping his finger.

And like magic, all people around him vanished into thin air.

They were all light constructs. And Mack was tired of fake people.

'Come to me'

Thought Mack, and all the red Essence in the town came back to him while the pendants and armors and clothes fell to the ground because Mack was deactivating his Domain Runespell.

Mack waited a few seconds and as expected there were no powerful mages here like the Archmage from the previous gate.

Mack took a few steps and entered the now deserted small town.

He only removed the light constructs while all the rest he left intact.

After walking a few meters inside the town, Mack saw a restaurant and moved to it.

Finally, he could eat something different from those warlock's burritos.

Entering the restaurant, Mack looked around and seated at a table. The still warm and untouched food of someone else was there.

'Lucky finally'

Thought Mack, already grabbing some metal sticks by the side of the plate and devouring the food.

[If you keep this behavior, you will learn nothing about mages]

'Please, do not spoil my food time.'

[Your ancestor devised this gate to train you while also testing you. You can't keep going like this.]

'Petty tricks and charades. I'm tired of it.'

The Arcane saw all that Mack went thru since they first met. But it also knew the importance of the tests.

The problem was that Mack was tired of this tower and tired of tests. He just wanted to leave. And anything associated with a test would make him enter a state of pure and unconscious rage.

He now hated in the same weight the tower as he hated the mages.

And Mack never in his life hated something so much as the mages.

That was pure hatred. No choices or second thoughts. He hated mages to the bones. And now Mack was feeling the same about this tower.

For him, this was like a giant prison. It was not anymore about tests or gaining strength or knowledge. It was just a well-elaborated kind of torture.

And Mack was here for over three years already.

He wanted to go back to Earth and eat and drink and feel the warmth of a real sunlight touching his skin.

Rage consumed him when remembering everything he was deprived of, his blood boiled under his skin, and like a curse that never came alone, the memories of his father came to him, and the hatred for mages once again resurfaced over his heavy heart.

The metal sticks in his right hand broke under the pressure of the grip, but the rage inside Mack did not cease to grow.

Rage for all that was taken from him.

Rage for not being able to have a normal life neither enjoy the true love from a girl, rage for so many pain in a single life, not only physical pain, but pain for knowing his father was going to die and not being able to do anything, powerless, weak, coward.

Mack's face distorted under the rage. His once green eyes were bulging with veins, as if at any moment his eyes would explode.

His neck became red, while his face became pale. Rage consumed every cell of his body, his arms became harder, and his lungs stopped breathing.

His right arm dropped to the table, breaking it in several pieces.

Mack unconsciously raised from the metal chair and kicked the rest of the table, but that action did not stop his rage, it only made it worst.

Mack put his hands in his face to calm himself, but his mind seemed to not listen, and like a ghost haunting him, all his regrets stabbed his heart, one after another.

And this man had many regrets, always trying to shove them under a carpet made of sarcastic humor.

But today something triggered him.

All his emotions flooded inside him and he could not stop it anymore.

Essence congregated around Mack and as if it was a child listening to his father, it destroyed all around Mack, because inside Mack's mind there was only hatred and an intense desire to destroy everything.

Even himself.

Mack was unconsciously commanding the surrounding essence. It was like he was connected to all essence in this gate. The problem was that Mack was out of his normal mind.

Rage consumed him, while all the building he was inside started to shake.

The windows had long gone been broken, and the doors kept being slammed open or close making a sound akin to a gun fire when striking the metal walls of the restaurant.

The remnants of the chairs twirled in the air around Mack like he was in the eye of a storm.