Lutiel stood next to the window of his room, the skies engulfed by the brittle glimmer of stars and a murky shroud of clouds. His hands befell through the empty space while the right hand glowed with a singular, blue line.


    He had already finished his last lesson about demons with Raeyine after going back to the mansion, and as usual, she provided him with more of the same. ‘As she said, they are no different from us, especially the horned demons and human nobles. It’s almost as though I''m hearing about the nobles of the imperial capital.’ He mused while the imaginary sword fell, grunting audibly and gritting his teeth through the pain.


    ‘Am I starting to feel for them? For the demons? I don’t know anymore.’ His solemn eyes scoured through the bare space, glancing into the past. ‘I’ve seen the atrocities you’ve all committed, I’ve slain so much of your blood, so why now?’ The thought roared as he hailed the sword above his head, slashing down as the words formed internally.


    ‘Why are you so normal all of a sudden?! Why? You were supposed to be heartless monsters, so why is it the opposite?’ His jaw clenched itself as the fake sword fell vigorously. Nonetheless, nothing formed out of it other than his pain and confusion. Had he gained a new perspective of them? Or did his slumbering self change without him noticing?


    ‘I don’t understand. No, I can’t understand.’ Under the statement flowing through his head, he fell to the floor powerlessly, convulsing as the right hand twitched blindingly bright. With ragged breathing, his jaw clenched itself to utter as little of the moans as possible.


    ‘Has anything truly changed?’ Lying on his side as the jaw eased up, his arms lifelessly hit against the panels. ‘Be it the church or the empire, I was only their tool waiting to be used. As much as I hate to admit it, so far, a demon lord has treated me better than they ever did.’


    His bare skin clung to the floor as the emotionless eyes stared into the walls. He hadn’t moved a hair’s breadth from his position. ’Raphael, Byrde, Kylli, Daine, only you allowed me to live a truly free life, yet your own freedom vanished because of my stupidity and selfishness. I’m sorry.’


    Suddenly, clenching his fists, Lutiel briskly supported himself off the cold floor before sitting his back against the frame of the bed. Raising his sight towards the dark, pale ceiling of the room, countless thoughts formed and disappeared each breath, always dissipating away before he could grasp them.


    ‘I’m truly sorry. No matter what, I swear I will repay you. I will achieve what you always wanted and more. I will lead our world to a better place. Empty of the imperfections that take up everything and belittle all of us.’ Declaring while clenching his fists once more, Lutiel raised himself from the ground speedily, walking to the middle of the room before gripping the air in front.


    With both hands tightly grasping the handle of a longsword he imagined, Lutiel closed his eyes while moving at a steady, peaceful pace. ‘Still, I will have to fail you one last time. Although I’m just their slave, they don’t truly treat me as one. Unfortunately, the demons we were taught of by the priests aren’t remotely close to the real ones. Only the influential and wealthy ones hold human slaves, just like our own nobles did. The church, no, the whole empire is lying to its people, and I will make them pay for it.’ He mulled over the matter, his eyes changing vaguely as he stared off into the empty space.


    Even if his body hated them on its own, his mind finally understood something. The demons weren’t some unholy beings he always categorized them as. From the way they lived their daily lives in the city, to even their language, they weren’t monsters. They were people, just of different origins and circumstances than humans like him.


    The thoughts poured through him without breaking, conversing with the past as though it was right before him. With a forceful swing, he pushed his body down, light on the knees while performing the slash. One streak lightened up through his hand, but the itches lessened down to the point of the man completely bearing with it.


    ‘Sorry for not speaking up earlier, but there was a lot hazing my mind, and I also didn''t know how to face you. So, I won’t disturb your sleep any longer. Rest calmly; you don’t even have to watch me from up there. Just know that I won’t visit you without trying my best.’


    Unbeknownst to him, as he once again repeated the motion with the thoughts clouding his mind, a faint crease adorned his lips.


    Reminiscing of the past, basking under the verdant springs of Aseun, Lutiel recalled the undulating hills he always stood on with the golden-haired girl. Swinging the sword through the dark room, with each time he performed the slash, the glyph around his hand eased up the prickling.


    At some point, as his breaths faltered and his movements started to hinder, all of a sudden, the painful vibrations stopped.


    Opening his eyes to the darkness, Lutiel’s heavy breath caught the surprise, staring at two of the four streaks blossoming with light.This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    Immediately, he fell to the bed, creaking under his force, but he had little care for that. Sprawling his sweaty back and arms on the duvet, the chest heaved up and down as he stared calmly at the ceiling, his mind somewhat eased up off prior burdens.


    Having talked his soul out helped tremendously, and the man only wished he had done it sooner. Nonetheless, after lying there for a few breathful moments, he finally walked closer to the jacket he had hung on the chair.


    Rummaging through the interior pocket on the left side, his nails scraped against the smooth surface, promptly taking out the folded page. Bringing it closer to the bed, as he sat down on top of it not yet washed up, Lutiel ruminated on the note for a while.


    Judging from what the man said, opening it would inevitably change him, and he had no idea how.


    Seconds turned to minutes as he glanced at it without moving, the glistening sweat already dried off. ‘The bubble has given me a second chance at life, then what would this give when it calls to me the same way?’ He pondered for a futile answer.


    ‘Haa, how would I even know?’ As he thought, before long, the paper in his hands opened up, but unlike his expectation, no grand light came off it.


    Instead, in the very middle of it, there lay a small, blue word.


    ‘Me…rai,’ he thought at the same time as reading it, realizing that it was in the demons’ tongue. However, as he did read it, he quickly turned the page, trying to see if there was anything else. Yet, there was nothing.


    ‘He got me yet again,’ he thought to himself, banging his head against the hard wall before bringing up the note once again. ‘Was anything that he said true, then?’


    Staring at the text, his eyes went over the word a couple times, but it was always the same, plain black scribble. “Hmm? Wasn’t it blu-?”


    Uttering the sentence, he failed to complete it, his lips staying wide open as he suddenly clenched his arms and stomach, the flesh inside tensing to a paralyzing degree.


    Locking himself of any motion, Lutiel’s eyes strained out into the darkness, the veins around his neck protruding visibly outside of the collar. Falling onto the bed audibly, the vision around him contorted, absent of clarity. ‘What did he give me?’ He mused, but no reliable answer came.


    At the same time, he wanted to clutch his chest, feeling the blaring heart inside of him. Beating as though it wanted to get away from his body and rip out through the ribs, moments later, all the other organs replied.


    The body convulsing, his internal organs shook without stopping, his eyes sharing their fate as the room around vibrated. Tightening up, cold winds pierced through the skin all around, only adding to his quivers.


    “Argh,-” he spoke with a spluttery, unmoving tongue as the mouth remained parted. “Ah, agh,” he voiced, only reaching himself.


    Even his thoughts began to differ apart, drifting away from his common sense. Mingling with the darkness, his eyes slowly conveyed the countless images as he began to recover some of the fleshly control.


    With a nippy grasp, the right arm pounced him off the bed, promptly falling onto the floor. Crawling atop the panels while on his forearms, stains of crimson fluid were smeared on the ground. They flowed down through the clenched fists, the nails digging into the palms from the sheer pressure.


    Biting onto his lips, Lutiel’s teeth prickled through them before faint droplets of blood fell down the floor, together with the previous spots. His lungs were already long since exhausted, but his current state only added additional strain. Panting breathless, the man begged for it to stop as he closed his eyes, however, nothing appeased the wish.


    Shivers grazed past his back as the cold wafts around the skin intensified. His jaws rocked against each other, on the verge of breaking his teeth and splitting apart the tongue. Falling to the side, Lutiel grabbed himself by the arms, trying to fight the crawling, bitter cold. His heart worked twice the beats to correspond, but none of it worked.


    From the inside, his organs felt as though they were going to melt while his skin meandered over freezing still.


    Before he could be aware of it, his mouth opened itself, a mucky fluid filled with pebbles of partially decomposed food falling down his fists. Continuing to barf for a few moments, he covered himself with the slightly blackened vomit.


    Finally, as he stopped, something inside of him began to recede. The palpitations of the chaotic heart started to move on course, beating with a regular, decreasing speed. Meanwhile, his insides no longer churned, nor did they scald.


    His skin following the same path, it stopped causing him to quiver ceaselessly, but the hard goosebumps remained for a while.


    Once again, he supported his back with the bed’s frame, breathing like a madman through the calm of night. ‘How much blood have I puked out?’ The thought busied his head as he wiped off his lips, but looking at the puddle of the dark substance, his appetite for knowing plummeted. Quickly, he moved his right hand towards the middle of his chest instead.


    Tracing along the surface of the metallic imprint, Lutiel’s fingers stopped as he felt the beats of his heart, pounding with an eerie vigour.


    Regardless, knowing that his heart beat carefully, he simply stood up with his head lowered at the pile of barf beginning to slowly taint the panels and seep through their minute nooks. Scratching along his nape with a finger, the slave stayed there for a few moments before finally getting into the shirt he omitted for training.


    ‘Despite all of that hellish pain, I don’t feel an ounce of difference. Just what the hell is merai?’ He pondered while the shirt flowed down onto his skin. However, as he thought of the word, all of a sudden, Lutiel stopped.


    Letting the cloth descend unruly, he turned towards the window, stars engulfing his eyes. ‘Magic,’ his mind pondered as the sky seemed to take on a deeper shade of blue.