Lowly Ascent

Anders walked into a room. Alex and the rest were discussing something.  

He could see Alex holding a sealed report in hand.

"What's that?"

Alex was surprised to see him. "Oh Anders, this is the report of the prison...but I don't know if I should open it without Cain here. The team that came back looked shaken." She paused. "I'm afraid of opening it if I'm telling the truth."

Anders nodded in agreement, everyone had the same consensus that something changed with Cain.

"Where is Master anyway?"

"He said he was going to Ornate Palace, he left a few minutes ago"

"Well, then he will be gone for a while so we should just check the report."

Alex nodded and opened the report. Anders watched her read it, he watched her face slowly turn to horror.

Anders was startled and walked over to read it over her shoulder:

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We entered the prison shortly after you're departure, it was about 3 stories underground before we reached the main complex. Upon entering there were a few bodies that were beyond recognition.

As we headed deeper, we found piles of bodies.

There were red walls and a thin layer of blood on the floor, corpses were littered every corridor and we had to watch where we were stepping.

As we entered one of the prison's 3 atriums, they were at least 5 stories in size. The bottom of the rooms were something I don't think I can ever forget.

Clusters of bodies were made into a pile at least half a story high. They were still leaking like a natural spring...

All we could see was red, the ground had at least a foot of blood layering it. It was like a corpse pit, we went down and took a closer look and it was even more unnerving.

The bodies that were still intact held the same expression. They all looked like they had seen their worst nightmares. Tomas threw up and had to take a breather. The rest of us weren't feeling too good either.

Each atrium had the same scene, and it wasn't just the guards but the prisoners who were killed as well. There were thousands of dead by our calculations.

We then headed deeper and came across an intersection of corridors where the walls were one with corpses.

Dead men were plastered on the walls. Blood dripped down everywhere like it was a cave of flesh.

This is where Thomas had to go back to the surface.

The rest of us continued to the deepest part of the prison where there was a few rooms made out of some ancient stonework. Inside the last one was a chair attached to the ground, in the chair was a skeleton riddled with iron needles and bars stuck in it, as well as spikey scraps of rust above the pelvis.

The room had at least 50 different torture devices and a bag on one of the tables. It held some unknown serums. There was a puddle of blood on the floor, all we could tell was that it was a recently used cell due to some other factors.

The other cells were empty and seemed to not have been used recently or not at all.

We tried to find some sort of command room or warden office but we came up with nothing so we left.

That was everything we found.

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The more he read, the more Anders's face contorted in an unknown emotion. He looked horrified, he was scared for Cain, he was scared his master wasn't his master.

All sorts of doubts came into his mind reading the report.

He only came to when he realized that Cain wasn't at the base and his face grew more grim.

Anders said nothing and immediately ran off and left, it was not soon after that Alex had the same realization and did the same as the rest followed.

.......

A handsome man of average stature walked into a luxury inn. He was tall and had black hair and dark red eyes.

The man was asking around for the owner until he was directed to an office on the second floor.

He knocked on the door and opened it. Inside was a woman sitting at her desk, she looked up and her face slowly turned doubtful before turning to alarm and finally trepidation.

"M-Mister Cain! It's so good to see you!"

Cain said nothing and just walked forward, every step echoed in Lina's ear, causing a rise in her anxiety. Her terror quickly became something far greater.

"Wait! We can talk about this...I didn't want to! Victor forced me, please don't kill me!"

Lina sporadically pleaded as she got on the floor and begged.

She inched to Cain's leg, sobbing while clenching it. She watched as Cain's hand slowly and calmly reached for her neck, her body did nothing even though her mind was screaming to get away.

Her body refused to move, it was stuck in place when Lina saw inside Cain's eyes.

They were dark and pulled her in like a vortex, his eyes held something that could only be described as an animal seeing its natural predator.

Her eyes reddened as she sobbed even more, snot flowing down her face as she lost control of her body and a stream of yellow liquid ran down her leg.

Cain kept an apathetic face and slowly tightened his grip as he raised her from the ground. Over time, Lina slowly began to give up, her eyes dimmed and her arms and legs stopped fighting him.

She suddenly heard a yell coming from behind her aggressor and her hope reignited.

"Cain stop! What are you doing!" Alex and Anders were in the doorway followed by his squad and inn personnel.

"Tsk. Why are you here to stop me from killing this waste of space." Cain had a slight frown.

Anders stepped forward, his eyes wavered. Inside his mind, his belief that the man in front of him was his master slowly crumbled.

"Master! She had to, Victor forced her!"

Cain scoffed. "Really? Do you think so? Don't you know how quickly people can change, they easily change for money, for power. It's so easy to betray someone, it's so simple to just stab someone in the back and take what was theirs. Don't you know how the world works? It's just groups of people fighting, whoever has more power is morally right while the others can never voice their side.

"It's a cycle of hate."

He returned his gaze to Lina, she saw his eyes grow fiery and more chaotic. She felt his grasp tighten and her eyes dimmed before turning bloodshot. Blood seeped and ran out of her tear ducts.

The rest only heard a snap and saw a frail body hit the floor.

"This is the truth, people fighting for their benefit by stepping over others and pulling them below them. It's a cycle of carnage. People always fight under a false banner of righteousness! I had wanted to end this cycle and create a better world, but I now understand that to be impossible."

Anders heard Cain's speech and his face turned to disgust and his eyes bloodshot "What have you done! Why did you kill her! You are not my master, who are you!"

Cain fully frowned and then took a moment to think about Anders's words.

"I guess I am Cain, but also not. You could say that a part of me died, the fire that was my will to live, my purpose, was snuffed out and I took its place. But it doesn't mean I'm not Cain, I was always here waiting. With my old self gone, I can focus on more important matters."

He further explained, "It's a simple case of human adaptation, In simple terms, I finally found out how terrible the world is so I became even worse than the world. Or something less embarrassing to say...but you understand what I mean."

Everyone frowned hearing Cain, his voice held no emotion but his eyes showed a thirst for destruction that sent the weaker-willed spectators to the ground in fear looking at him.

"You lie! You're not my Master!" Anders didn't know how he felt, he knew the one in front of him had his master's face who would reluctantly but seriously teach him.

His master was someone who would spend time with him while grinning to the side, always secretly being proud. But now all he saw was a monster that relished in despair.

Cain sighed "I don't know why I'm trying to argue with a bunch of mere puppets....just start heading back to the camp, that's an order. I have something to take care of."

"I'll kill you!" Anders charged at Cain with his weapon. His emotions were all over the place but his rage was the most prominent, driving his actions, though Cain knew the real reason for such an outburst.

'Maybe I should have directed the conversation better....no matter.'

Cain shook his head in disbelief before moving swiftly.

Anders's sword shined bright and disappeared.

"I taught you this technique! Fool!"

Cain dodged to the side right before the sword reappeared in sight. Anders was wide open and Cain threw a simple uppercut to his stomach.

Anders gasped for air before flying to the ground unconscious.

Alex watched. She felt horror seeing Cain but his words sparked curiosity, "What do you mean by puppets?"

Cain turned to her, amused by the question.

"Well at least someone dares to ask for the truth, I won't reject your wish for freedom. The truth of the matter is you all are under something else's control, it manipulates the emotions you freely show it to reach its goals"

"And you're not under its control?"

Cain thought for a moment contemplating. "I suppose I am...but it's not to say I won't soon escape his grasp."

Alex observed Cain with doubt, what he was saying would be considered the words of a madman...but it was Cain speaking these words, they had merit to her.

"How would this thing control these emotions?"

"Not 'these emotions', you're emotions. He doesn't create emotions to control you but uses the emotions you already have." 

Cain pointed to his disciple on the floor. "Take Anders, he was just manipulated. His growing hate for me led to him trying to kill me abruptly which is out of character. It's not brainwashing but manipulation, you already have the thoughts deep down inside you but you're all openly showing it to him in his eyes, therefore you will always be under his control."

"Then why haven't we heard of this 'being'?" Alex asked.

Cain smiled, Alex almost got lost in his enigmatic grin if it wasn't for his terrifying eyes.

"Because the Union has been hiding him, he was sealed by the first plague doctors and has been sealed beneath the Union's headquarters for eons. You can go there yourself, but be prepared to die doing so. The Union couldn't kill him so they just forgot about him as he slowly began to influence Netherane again."

"Then why don't you stop him?"

"Pfft! Even Grade 4 maybe even Grade 5 entities couldn't stop him, he's already won it's only a matter of time now. I would rather escape.....though what you say seems nice too."

Alex was lost in thought as Cain walked out the doorway.

"I'll meet you guys back at the camp, I should be gone for only a few days. Make sure to not get caught on the way back. This is enemy territory."

Cain left Alex there, her eyes slowly turning to enlightenment.

'If Cain's right, then we're just fastening the pace of our destruction! I have to confirm if what he said was true!'

She steeled herself before getting Anders and returning to their hideout.