(Arc: Vainum) Fall from grace

The Smith household was established on the outskirts of Vainum, as a result, the trip took almost an hour. The manor was by no means in the same league as the Anderson castle; the walls were made out of mossy cobblestone and the house was relatively paltry. Bizarrely, there were no guards patrolling the area, so I utilized the God-given opportunity to sneak in.

Droplets of water landed on my shoulder and out of the blue, there was a heavy downpour, harbinger of doom. The manor seemed completely void of life, that was until I sensed two people in the great hall. I trudged carefully to the room. My palm pressed against the door to swivel it open.

One of the individuals was the smith family's head and the other man was at a glance, an indescribable powerhouse on par with grandfather. His sole presence impeded my movements, I simply couldn't do anything against this man. His red eyes gazed at me in disgust. He donned a black button-down shirt and a white double-breasted coat. His long and greasy hair extended past his shoulders; his unkempt beard and cavernous wrinkles portrayed a macho image. That man was the patriarch of the Ellis family, Von Ellis.

"Poor boy, you only have yourself to blame for being born an Anderson," he said.

Now it dawned on me, how was I so oblivious to all of the signs of a trap; the lack of security and staff should have been a red flag. Arrogance would ultimately lead to my demise. My chances of survival were slim but I couldn't accept death with open arms. I gripped my hilt and unsheathed my sword. I'd rather have a courageous ending than a cowardly one. All of my bodyweight shifted to my front leg as I pounced towards the man and thrusted my sword hoping to at least leave a scratch on the behemoth.

A smirk appeared on his face as he effortlessly raised his arm and grasped my wrist. Every bone in my hand was crushed as he progressively applied more force.

"I have a plan that should hopefully be loads of fun. Can I tell you my deepest fantasy?"

"I've always wondered what it would be like to take away a young man's bright future right under his eyes."

From his ludicrous statement, I braced myself for the worse but nothing could have prepared me for what I was about to be subjected to. His smile became even more sadistic as he took out a dagger from his coat. In the blink of an eye, he thrusted his weapon into my left eye and twisted the blade. My vision became blurred as blood cascaded out of the wound and blanketed my face. I gritted my teeth as I furrowed my brows and stared at him.

"That's no good, you're still able to fight back even in this pitiable state. Just look at those eyes, full of vigor and hope."

He plunged the dagger into my shoulder before downing the blade straight through the joint. My severed arm plummeted to the white tiled floor staining it crimson red. I jumped forward baring my teeth as a last ditch effort to bite him but as I was an inch away from his abdomen, his leg appeared in front of me and I was kneed away. My ultimate attack only resulted in a broken nose and a fractured skull.

The patriarch walked towards me at a leisurely pace; my torment had seemingly not reached a finale.

"He was truly resilient and a wonderful toy. Cast his body in the 'Pit of Deadman'."

"Understood sir," the Smith head replied.

With one hand, he lifted the cold and lifeless body of Rohan and journeyed to the pit which was found ten hours away from Vainum. The cave acquired its infamous title as no man who entered the cave was able to leave! The hole seemed to lead to eternal darkness; the man heaved Rohan and tossed his corpse into the abyss. Bats darted out of the murkiness as his body plunged into the cave. As soon as a loud thud echoed throughout the pit, he turned around and left while still wearing an expressionless face.

* Gasp *

What Von Ellis did not anticipate was that I'd stop my own heart to trick him and oddly enough, it worked to a T. The chances of me actually dying were high but I managed to pull through. Now onto the bigger issue at hand, I couldn't move at all. My legs were broken at several points and my arms, well should I say arm, was also fractured. My body was plastered with deep cuts, not a single inch was left untouched. Breathing was a challenging task as my lungs were punctured. My head rested against the cold and humid floor of the cave. The acrid smell of decaying corpses was the only sensory input that I received.

The only thing on my mind was revenge. Not a single member of the Ellis family would be left unscathed.

Back in Vainum, my absence was noticed by the children who went to report to Carlos. A search party which included both father and grandfather was dispatched to look for my traces. They scoured the entire city for any sign of my presence and eventually marched towards the Smith residence. As they entered the great hall, my father's knees smashed against the floor as tears rolled down his cheeks.

The room was in a horrific state. The previously white room was dyed red; in the center, there was a pool of viscous red liquid. On the wall adjacent to the entrance was the letter 'E' painted in my blood, the signature of the Ellis family. Grandfather couldn't bear to look at the scene and quickly exited the premises.

'I will get rid of those who made my grandson suffer even if it's the last thing I do.'

"I'm sorry darling, I couldn't take care of him even when he came back. I'm so pathetic, aren't I?"

I was officially declared dead.

I did my best to absorb as much energy as I could to recover from my wounds but my efforts were in vain. The flow of energy was not sufficient enough to heal my injuries. The amount of energy someone could hold was a key factor when gauging how strong the individual was. The more energy you had, the stronger, faster and more durable you were; even your healing speed was increased.

I concocted another nifty plan to remedy my lack of arm, but that would also require me to increase my energy levels so I should tackle that issue first and foremost.

Days seemed to fly-by as I rattled my brain to come up with a feasible solution. There were two main issues; the size of my energy source and the rate of absorption of energy. Initially, my thought process was along the lines of finding a way to forcefully increase the amount of energy that was being taken into my body, but that was not viable as my source was not substantial enough.

On the spur of the moment, I had an epiphany. If my energy source was the issue, how about I altered my body and organs...even though this was considered a serious taboo amongst martial artists, I couldn't care any less.