Chapter 20 20:Death Begets Death
"Your hands which had been stained with blood will be the reason for your agony and suffering."
"You will rot in hell."
"Hahahahaha!"
A bloody sinister laughter echoed in his ears.
In the eternal darkness, he was suddenly surrounded by the blood from which a bloodied demon appeared, wrapping its hand around him and pouring out the whispers, singing the sins of his evil deeds trying to pull him into the abyss.
However, before the blood could completely engulf his vision, Lucas woke up with beads of perspiration trickling down from his forehead.
Breathing roughly, he glanced at the familiar at the same time an unfamiliar white room with a bed, desk, and some other furniture.
"Haaaah."
"My insomnia is getting worse."
His hands darted toward the glass of water which he chugged down to quench his thirst.
Gasping heavily, Lucas mumbled trying to contain his urge to curse.
It had been four days since he enrolled in Horizon and almost a week since he had come to this world but the only day he had slept well was after the fight with the Direwolf which was on Saturday.
When he walks through the corridor, sits in the class, and listens to the lecture, he always has an inkling that he does not belong to this world.
On top of that, he was troubled by sleeplessness and nightmares. He would dream of his previous life which was filled with laughter and mirth, however, everything would vanish abruptly and he would find himself sinking into the abyss with Diral whispering the punishments for killing him.
Lucas tried to overwrite his guilty conscience saying that all of this was for the betterment of the world still somehow it felt bad.
While he was greatly troubled by all this, at the same it also makes him feel aware of his goodness proving that he is not some depraved, insane, cynical, or a broken individual
However, this made him ask himself another question.
Just for how long can he keep his sanity intact?
Every time he will kill or gets used to this, he will surely lose something…
Surprisingly, there was no remorse for killing Direwolf. It might be because he had not deemed it to have an equal value to human life.
Similarly, how we kill hens, pigs, and goats to consume, the life or death of animals does not influence many.
Unfortunately, this was not the only thing he worried about.
He misses his parents greatly. He knew he would overcome this feeling over time but for a moment, he felt that this was what makes him feel alive and proved that he loved them greatly. That is why it\'s hard for him to forget them, and at the same time, all of this uneasiness proves that he is not in a nightmare or mentally ill.
In short, he was suffering from an identity crisis, and with no one to share his burdens, he could only bottle up his feelings inside.
"I should buy the sleeping pillow and see if it calms me down, otherwise I have to buy that drug candy."
Lucas got up and stood before the mirror.
His image reflected in the mirror, and looking at it Lucas started to question himself.
"Who is telling you to go through all this?"
"You could just run away and leave the Academy or you could find a way to expel yourself."
The mother of this boy loves him and she didn\'t even want him to go to the academy.
He could stay with his parents, work somewhere, marry, and live a good life.
There was no need to take any risk by staying here and putting your life on the line while worrying every moment about the looming death.
So why....
Lucas asked himself repeatedly and the answer would always be the same.
Because he does not know the end of the novel....…
Is it practically possible for him to stay unaffected by all the trouble?
What if he was spending his time with his family and one day, a demon appears and kills them, or what if a psychopath bastard decides to destroy a city that might be his current home?
Could he watch them getting killed helplessly and just die pathetically?
Dying once and being unable to enjoy his life to the fullest, had stimulated his desire to live a long and happy life.
He had lost his parents once and he was not going to lose them twice. Even if they are different still they are his parents indirectly and their similar names might not be a coincidence.
"Instead of waiting for danger to come to me, it should be better to prepare for everything."
"The society and the beautiful world of today are not built over the garden of ethics and values, rather it is built over countless corpses and their blood."
"If you ought to die, trouble and death will come knocking at your door no matter what."
"Praying and hoping for safety is useless."
Lucas during his childhood lost one of his friends due to physical abuse who had always hoped for a better time to come.
After his death, he cried for days and thought if he could have done something. If only he had asked his parents for help, then the outcome might have been different. If only his friend talked to him openly instead of hoping and praying to go.
There could have been countless scenarios if only he acted instead of hoping…
As his mother said…
Hope is a beautiful thing if only it is fulfilled otherwise the same hope will become a poison that would neither let you die peacefully nor let you live happily.
And it was the same with the dreams.
So, instead of putting your hopes on others and hoping for the best, you should prepare for the worst.
"One month from now, there will be a field test where the group of villains named Omen will attack and 20 students will be killed. If I don\'t do anything not only priceless lives would be lost, but I might also be one of them."
Lucas\'s golden eyes shone with the resolute will to live and burnt with fighting spirit.
"I will survive..."
"No matter what, I will survive and lead a long life."
....
"Did you see the report?"
"What do you think?"
Ami took a sip of the coffee and stared at the man who was scrolling on the tablet seriously.
The man seemed to analyze something while looking at the profiles of the students and the data collected on them.
His eyes lingered on a particular boy.
He closed the tablet and put it aside.
"Hmmm!"Harris frowned as he saw the evident displeasure on Ami\'s face.
"What?"
"I remembered, I asked you something."
"Ohhh!Sorry, I was thinking about something else."Harris a vague response.
"Now that you have gone through everyone\'s profile, do you want to add something? And what about that unfortunate one."Ami spoke, pursing her lips.
"At first nothing stands out. Honestly, I did not know that someone like him was in the class until you showed me."Harris spoke with an embarrassed expression.
"He looks ordinary. His body doesn\'t look like that of an awakened one. I wonder how he passed the academy test. In terms of presence, he has none."
"However, even after this, he survived the attack of a Direwolf which might be an ordinary matter but it is not, considering the skills of this boy. And on top of that, he was also able to bring down that Half-Demon."
"Which made me conclude on the thing?"
"Insight. He had a good insight. He makes his enemy lower his guard with his ordinary presence and then strikes back without giving the other person to retreat."
"Still, if this is a coincidence or not, only time will tell."
Ami nodded and murmured"We have got some great students this year. And most of them are quite conceited."
"What do you expect from narrow minds? One needs to roam the world to know its vastness."Harris muttered and stood up.
"I think it\'s time to do a reality check."
"Are you going to do a sparring session today?"Ami asked, then laughed.
"Yes, we should have a reality check today."
Seeing that crooked smile on Harris\'s lips, Ami shook her head.
Tomorrow might become a nightmare for some.