Disciple of Madness

A thousand years later - or maybe more, everybody had lost count of it anyway- the war came to a sudden halt. Creatures of similar breed came together and segregated themselves towards isolated spots and thus,the era of a proper civilization and progress began once again.

Whether it be humans or demons or the vilest of creatures, nobody waged a war after that; even the many unintelligent species...their instincts screamed at them to stop the war...or go extinct. Among all these species, humans progressed the fastest. Their resilence, intelligence and their adaptability surpassed all the other species. Few centuries later, smaller skirmishes broke between humans and other creatures whom the humans now referred to as 'monsters', and soon these became common. Fewer human lives and several lives of monsters would be snubbed every single time.

Humans started feeling pride for this newfound dominance over every other species they met. Soon this pride gave way to a new zealous emotion among them - glory. The survival instinct of humans now shifted to glory; it was even the basis of humans judging other humans. This however only continued for few generations. After that, humans had formed a biased opinion that the world revolved around their own decisions and thus renaming their insecurities as wisdom, they once again started the war...which continues till date.

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He laid his figure flat on the ground. Holding the top of the semi circled shaped narrow slit, he propelled his legs inside the cave.

His forehead wrinkled with a slight frown as his legs dangled in the air inside the cave. From his position on the ground, he couldn't see anything inside the cave even as he tried peeking inside it.

Sighing he let his feet drop but they touched nothing. Having no other option, he entered half his torso inside the cave with a low grunt.

He wasn't claustrophobic but the too narrow space which was barely letting his body enter almost made him feel a nausea of claustrophobia. Soon only his head was out and yet his feet hadn't touched any ground.

'I need to hold this edge after entering and light up the space to see the interior. Only then could I make my next stage of plans.' He thought in a internal tone full of seeping wisdom.

"Akkk--" His sage like thoughts were cut by a strange welp as his head suddenly got stuck in the entrance.

In a haste, he tried pushing out his head. But his head had entered the cave in such a way that the high cheekbones which were the most bulged out area of his face had entered inside, but got stuck just at his eye-level.

As a result, the moment he tried pushing out his head a feral howl escaped his lips in a sudden pain as his cheekbones protested against the action. Small pieces of rocks and dirt fell on his exposed eyes. He shut them quickly but the irritation from the foreign particles followed.

Somehow dabbing his eyes, he was able to rinse them out his eyes. He sighed in apparent relief...only to realise he shouldn't have done so.

His breath had allowed a layer of dust to enter his opened mouth. He coughed, trying to spew them out.

"Yuck, my plan sucks! We are made from dust they said...and yet I can't taste my kin. Blasphemy!"

He gathered all his strength and in one moment pulled his head into the cave followed by a momentary blinding pain.

He lost his grip on the edge...

And fell down.

"Holy shit. My bones feel broken. I wanna cry now...waahh." He shifted his body from one place to another on the ground several feet below the opening of the cave.

[Just wake up...I can't take your self-absorbed sorrowful act.] A flat voice made Adrian's face fall blank.

'I forgot she can see through my eyes and even hear me...' A sudden rush of crimson rose to his cheeks catching him off-guard. He coughed a little, composing himself and trying to forget his loss of dignity.

Then he stretched his body as the joints plopped into its place.

[Fire Breathing: Aflame]

A dagger lit up in the dark space, flames playing on the surface of the deadly weapon but not consuming it. Any weaponsmith would probably be aghast at this blatant disregard for a weapon.

He raised his dagger and scanned the area. Rocks, outgrowths of shrubs. There wasn't anything of importance around him except for those and the fact that the cave was this deep in the ground.

He reached the middle of the place. Crouching, he took out the several aetherite crystals and placed them on the ground. Then he stabbed the dagger on the ground below his feet.

Securing the source of light, he turned towards the crystals. They shimmered beautifully in the faint lights in the cave, the blue jewel glimting at the sharp corners and drawing in mana from its surroundings.

Adrian was here to create a Node. One that could increase someone's level by a massive number.

Though it came at a cost.

Lack of experience as one jumped several levels. That was something raw power couldn't compensate for and also the reason why nobody cared enough to create a Node like this.

Unless they were...desperate.

Adrain smiled knowing his victim would come to retrieve it.

It wasn't a matter of if he would come but rather a debate of when he would come. It was a huge gamble Adrian was about to undertake, given his quest was about to end in three days.

Two, if one considered that today's night wouldn't exactly be giving him much of a result.

[ So what's the plan here? You didn't even tell the Eighth Seat of what you would be doing here, up in these lifeless mountains. ]

Adrian scrambled the crystals, cleaning them to perfection and checking for any damage they might have. "And yet, you shall still be watching over what I do?"

[That's my right. I can observe whenever I wish.]

"Even when I bath?" He smirked.

[W-what?! Just how low do you think of me? I would never ever do that, not even in your dreams.]

"Hopefully so." He dryly chuckled. The arrangement was done. All the defective crystals with even a single scratch on them were kept aside. The rest of them were huddled together, polished to the core and shiny enough to make jewelers salivate at the marvel of the gem.