Unsealing Emptiness

Blaze.

“Why did you do it?”- Ozul asked while looking down at the young man. He could already guess the reason, but he wanted to hear from the man’s mouth.

The man with the dead looking eyes stared at Ozul as he spoke;

“Why? WHY?! YOU ASK!? They all called me a Demon! They all wouldn’t accept me! Even my parents! Just Because of this CURSE!”-

The young man crazily began to shout as he pointed to the corpses scattered around him.

“Hm? So, you killed them all?”- Ozul asked confusedly.

“Huh!? You wouldn’t understand! You will never know the pain that I had to suffer from the day I was born!!” It seemed as though the man had truly accepted his defeat. He continued;

“You haven’t seen the stares that all those people gave me! You will not know how I had lived up to this day! You...”

However, just as he was screaming, he saw something that stunned not even him but also Raven, who stood beside Ozul now!

.....

Why? Because Ozul had a smile on his face! Of course, both of them were dumbfounded when they saw the heavenly smile. Raven was amazed, now more than ever.

Ten years of living with Ozul and the number of times that she saw Ozul smile could be counted on one hand. And here he was, raising the tally just like that. Though, she could not understand the reason for his smile.

The young man was stunned because he thought that the boy before him was just mocking him.

He clenched his fists as he spoke through gritted teeth;

“YOU!... Why are you laughing!?”- The young man would have already killed Ozul if he had the power to do so.

“Hm? Oh! I’m laughing at your idiotic reason.”- Ozul replied, the first time with amusement in his tone!

Ozul understood what those crystals meant. He also knew that he had found what he needed. It won’t help him find his answers, but there were other things that he needed help with.

“You said I wouldn’t understand?”

Ozul said as he folded over the sleeves and stretched the leg for the man to see his prosthetics arms and his left leg.

“You see these? ‘They’ chopped them off on the day of my birth.”- Ozul’s sudden statement not only startled the young man but even Raven! Ozul did not wait for anyone’s reply as he continued;

“On day one, They were chopped off by none other than my ‘Father’.”- He paused to let the young man digest his words as he went wide-eyed. Then he resumed;

“My mother died right after giving me my name... My ‘Father’ called me a Devil’s Spawn the first moment that he saw me.”- Ozul would pause from time to time as he began to explain his past.

His face reverted back to normal. At this moment, Ozul didn’t care about who knows about his backstory at all. He was strong enough to protect himself.

It was just that since all these years Raven hadn’t asked anything about him, he didn’t bother to explain. So, at this moment, even Raven was immersed in his painful past as tears were forming in her eyes.

She wanted to find out why would such an otherworldly being would be declared as a Devil’s Spawn on his birth!

“My ‘father’ locked me up in an abandoned barn. No one was there—no one visited me for years. I spent six years of my life covered in the ever-present darkness. Though it was a wonderful feeling.”

“I would have still been there if some bandits accidentally didn’t open the Magical Seal that bound me in the barn.”

“... I don’t understand your grief you say... Can you understand my pain though?” Ozul again had a small smile formed on his face as he asked this question to the young man. He still didn’t let him say anything and spoke;

“I was wronged as well, but did I start taking it out on everything I saw? No... what will you gain by killing some random ants?... Nothing. You will only gain true satisfaction when you destroy the cause of your suffering.”

Ozul said the last part pressingly. Even Raven was a little bit surprised to hear him talk so much in just a single day.

The man just bent his head in shame as he realized how much of an idiot he had been. All of this was ‘that’ man’s fault, but he couldn’t do anything to ‘him’ right now.

He opened his mouth to say something, but all that came out were whispers;

“What are you waiting for? Kill me already.”- Even though he mumbled these worlds, Ozul heard them clearly as he shook his head and replied;

“Why would I kill you? Don’t you want your revenge? You know, I am also in need of someone who can work for me...”- Ozul spoke as to let these words sink in.

“I mean, I am a Devil’s Spawn after all... A Demon is just what I need to burn everything on the path to my goals.”- Ozul said as he extended his prosthetic hand towards the young man.

The man was stunned when he realized the meanings of his words. But he did not have to think for much longer as the man before him not only understood his pain but was also willing to spare his life!

His dead eyes lit up as life came back to them. It was as if the hand extended towards him was not an opportunity, but a new life. He had to grasp it before it goes away!

A smile formed on his face as he grasped Ozul’s hand and stood up.

There was a reason that Ozul had decided to recruit the man. First, he needed capable men to do work for him as he was not able to improve for now. Second, he noticed the potential in the man.

Ozul knew that some people are born with a natural affinity towards certain Elements. But the anomaly before him was even above the ‘Gifted’ people.

The Element of Ice had actually fused a bit into the man. That means even among geniuses, if trained, this man would be a dragon among men.

“What is your name?”- Ozul asked when the man had swatted off the dust on his clothes.

The man scratched the back of his head as he felt quite awkward. He didn’t even resemble the man earlier that had lost his will to live. He said;

“Uh... They didn’t give me a name.”- All his life, people only called him a Demon.

“Hm? Okay.”- Ozul was about to turn around, but he saw the expectations in the man’s eyes as he eagerly looked towards him. Ozul knew what the man wanted, so he spoke;

“... I will call you Blaze... Just Blaze. Oh, and my name is Ozul,”- Ozul said after only thinking for a second. But the man, now named Blaze, showed his wide smile when he received his name.

“Yes! Master Ozul!”- Blaze bowed his head towards Ozul.

‘hmm? Master? Sigh... whatever.’- Ozul didn’t expect such an outcome, but he didn’t care either way. As long as Blaze can do work for him, Ozul was fine.

Ozul and Raven began to head back home while Blaze followed right behind them. On the way, Raven had given him some hat to cover the crystals on his forehead.

“So, tell me, who told everyone that you are a Demon?”- Ozul asked while walking forward. There was no way that people would link such artistic crystals to some Demon!

Blaze was surprised to see that Ozul had figured out that it was someone else that spread the rumour. He clenched his fists as his face became serious, he said;

“It was that damn Priest! The Priest came from the Church Of light! He was invited to check on me.”

“Just after the day he left, he declared me as some sort of Demon!” Blaze still remembered the day when everyone turned against him just because of the Priests’ words.

Ozul heard everything Blaze had said but did not bother to comment on it, and they continued their journey back.