Mutation

In a place with far more light and an abundance of greenery sat a boy. No, sitting was the wrong word, the boy was lying on the ground with his face down and an assortment of bodies lie around him. Some beast and one was human but only he was breathing.

Eventually the boy's body began to stir and his eyes began to flicker.

"Mmm..."

Marcus struggled to open his eyes due to the blindfold but he could clearly tell it was now morning due to the small rays of light that broke through the gaps in the linen cloth that covered his eyes.

"Nek....mmm... master are you there?"

There was no reply, and after waiting for about five minutes Marcus assumed his master wasn't present at the moment, so he started to stand to his feet.

"Ugh."

After Marcus recovered somewhat, he stood to his feet and observed his surroundings, but for some reason he now found it hard to see with the blindfold on, so he removed it.

He hesitated at first due to his master's previous order about not removing the blindfold, but figured it wasn't a problem because it was no longer night, and so Marcus assumed he no longer needed to wear it.

After removing the patchy and torn piece of cloth, Marcus's eyes took a moment to readjust to the light. As he looked around at the carnage that surrounded him, Marcus recalled the events of last night.

From his run in with the two martial artist, to the massive brawl than ensued between beasts and humans, and finally to him killing a man.

'I killed him.'

Marcus remembered every aspect of his final showdown with the spearman. He remembered the man's fierce expression when he tried to pierce him through, and he also remembered his surprised expression when Marcus was the one who pierced him instead.

Marcus even remembered as the man's blood fell on his face.

It was hot, but instead of making him feel warm, it only made Marcus feel colder.

While recalling the man's final moments, he didn't seem to feel much of anything.

Marcus was completely calm as he adjusted to the reality of him killing a man in cold blood and was caught off guard when he noticed tiny orbs of black mana orbit around his right hand.

His fists were closed and he was clenching them so hard his nails were digging into his palm, causing small trickles of blood to stream down his hand.

While Marcus was taking notice of this, a voice rang out in his head.

"Calm down boy and wipe that smirk off your face."

Marcus was slightly caught off guard by his master's sudden intrusion but was even more surprised at the fact his master said he was smiling.

He didn't realize this until he raised his hands to his face and felt his cheeks raised up slightly to indicate he was smirking.

Was he pleased with killing Tom? Marcus didn't know.

Or maybe he didn't want to know.

"Remember boy, don't let your emotions rule you. With the power you now wield it may lead to your undoing."

Marcus decided to take a deep breath and sit down before responding to his master. It seemed that in recalling previous events, he'd lost his cool and needed to take a moment to meditate to calm his mind.

Nekros did not interrupt Marcus and patiently waited for him to finish before continuing their conversation, and once Marcus opened his eyes he spoke to his master.

"Master, where did you go?" Marcus questioned.

"...That is not your concern. For now, explain to me in detail the events of what happened last night. I can tell by the amount of bodies around you that your night was much more eventful than mine."

Marcus internally scoffed at his master's attempts at changing the subject, but he was used to it by now and only went on to explain what happened.

For a while, Nekros did not speak and Marcus grew concerned. His master not speaking right away was usually a common occurrence, but right now Marcus felt that something about his silence was... off, but before he could question his master, Nekros spoke.

"So you say the spearman known as Tom allowed you to get away by attacking the ground out of nowhere?"

Marcus nodded his head to his master's question.

"And the vandal that killed the fire mage known as Callum completely disregarded your presence even as you sat their like a bump a log?"

A vein bulged on Marcus's head at his master's casual insult, but he once again nodded his head to his master's inquiry.

"This..."

"So do you-"

"Open your Terra."

Marcus threw his hands into the air, clearly exasperated at being cut off by his master and left out of the loop once again, but he obliged anyway and opened his status screen.

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Str = 25>26

Mag = 15

Dex = 15

Spd = 20

Def = 10>11

Res = 15

Lck = 0

Health = 500/500

Class = Unavailable

Rank: Elementary

Mage Arts: [Darkness Manifestation]

Constitution: Eclipsing Phantasm

Elemental Affinity: Darkness

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As Marcus gazed at his status page, Nekros began to speak.

'This can only be her doing,' Nekros thought to himself.

Nekros didn't enlighten Marcus to his thoughts, but he did inform him on his hypothesis regarding the series of events that happened last night.

"Both instances have to do with your constitution. As I'm sure you already know, you can devour those that you kill, and it also seems that you can influence those around you using illusions."

Marcus paused to think about what his master had said. He already drew a few conclusions regarding his ability to devour those that he killed, and it seemed straight forward enough for him to not bother thinking on it too much. However, the ability to create illusions was more complicated.

'Illusions?'

Marcus didn't understand at first, but after taking a moment to think about it, this made sense. Whether it was Tom's rampaging on the ground or the vandal ignoring him, illusions fit the picture well enough. That and the fact Marcus couldn't draw any conclusions himself based off what little information he already had.

"Also, your eyes have evolved like I presumed they would, though they possess some sort of mutation that I can only presume is related to your new... constitution," Nekros said inquisitively.

'Oh yeah!'

Marcus had forgotten about his night vision ability he'd gotten last night as it didn't show up as a mage art on his Terra, nor was it effective in broad daylight. However, after questioning his master about this, he told him that this was a common passive ability possessed by all those that wielded shadows and in his case, darkness as well. So it wouldn't show up on his Terra.

The only thing that stood out to Nekros and Marcus about his passive ability was that he could also somehow see the 'light' of an individual.

Marcus wasn't sure how to explain it, and so he only went along with his master's hypothesis. He'd have to look more into the specifics of said mutation when next he got the chance.