Once they put the cold metal cuffs around my wrists, they led me to a carriage they out front. The guards threw me in and slammed the door.
Seems like they already had everything planned. This must've been the outcome the king foresaw.
"Carell Kain, huh." I murmured to myself.
The carriage lurched foreward. I jolted from the suddenness of it.
The trotting of the hooves on the gravel, the sound of the crunch of the gravel, and the murmurs from people outside, all of it scared me.
I chose this. I'm doing it to face what I've done, but… it wasn't only that. I was doing this for those 3, so they wouldn't be branded as traitors. I have to see it through, not only for myself but for those 3 as well.
The carriage stopped and the doors opened. Two guards came in and grabbed me by each arm. They guided me out and took me inside a building.
I was staring at my feet the entire time so I didn't get to see what the place looked like. From the marble tiles that made up the floor, the marble stairs, and the marble walls, I could tell this place was of importance.
"Whoever owns this must really like marble." I mused while still looking at my feet.
"Do you think now is a good time to crack jokes." The guard holding onto my left arm said.
"Just trying to lighten the mood." I finally looked up at the guard. I smiled calmly at him, no light was reflecting in eyes.
He flinched back.
"What's wrong with you?" He asked.
I said nothing as we continued to walk in silence.
They finally got me to my cell. The guards tossed me in and I fell, slicing my hand open on the sharp stone floor.
My cell vastly different from the walk here. Damp walls, sharp stone floor, and a cot that looked as hard as rocks.
The two guards looked at my hand then back at each other and nodded.
"We'll call a healer to get that cleaned up." The guard who was holding my right arm said. His voice was monotone. I couldn't sense a hint of emotion in it.
They left and shut the cell door with a clang.
"I thought you'd be more interesting, boy." A voice said. I couldn't pinpoint where it came from.
"Don't you remember my voice?" I thought back and it hit me like a freight train.
"It's you." I said as a shadow manifested out of my body and morphed into the Zerx girl.
"Ah, so you do remember me?" She said her voice had a hint of displeasure.
I didn't say anything, I just nodded in response.
"You could've easily killed those guards out and escaped, but you didn't, why?" Her voice had even more displeasure in it.
"That would contradict why I'm here in the first place." I said, my expression tightened before I continued, "I'm here to face what I've done. If that means rotting in this cell for however long I have to, then I'll do it."
"You're no fun anymore. I miss the boy I met back in the cellar. I saw glimpse of that boy in your fight with that Leon guy." She paused, "The way your eyes were dead, like everything that lived inside of you was snuffed out, your very soul."
Just then we both heard footsteps coming back to the cell.
The Zerx girl flew back into my body.
Both guards appeared in the doorway.
The one with the monotone voice spoke up.
"Your sentence will be 8 years, also, they said you don't deserve a healer, but from the looks of it," he paused and looked at the cut on my hand, or where it should have been, "it seems like you don't need one." For the first time his voice wasn't monotone.
"Huh? What are you talking about?" I looked down at my hand and it was healed, all that was left was a little scar in the shape of a cut.
"I took the liberty of healing you." The Zerx's voice said from within my head.
I must've been to focused, talking to the Zerx, to even realize. I thought.
"You do know I can hear your thoughts, right? That's how I've been communicating with you." She paused waiting for a response, but when I didn't answer she continued, "I didn't know it was possible to not think about anything."
"Shut up, Zerx" I retorted.
"I have a name you know, it's Remy." She shot back.
I stopped communicating with Remy and looked back to the guards.
The one who flinched when I smiled at him had a bewildered face, but the one with the monotone voice had a disinterested expression.
"You will also not be allowed visitors, that is all." The monotone one said and walked off. The other one lingered a while longer, but when he didn't see anything he follow suit and walked off as well.
Remy then reappeared from my body.
"Why are you even living in me?" I asked.
"I told you, it's because you're interesting, or at least you were." She scoffed.
"Well at least I'll have someone to talk to for the next eight years."
She sighed, "You know, I could leave anytime, we have nothing to bind us together, like a contract. I just thought it'd be fun to watch you, seems like I was mistaken though."
"So what, you're gonna leave me then?" I asked
"Who knows."
You should know, I thought.
She didn't say anything, does that mean when she is outside of my body? Or did she hear it and decide not to say anything. Thinking about it, she said we had nothing that bound us together, so it would make sense if she could only hear my thoughts when she's inside my body.
She flew back inside my body, so I let my mind go quiet.
About 3 hours later the guards came back with some food. If you could even call it food, it looked like slop.
"Ew, that's foul." Remy said flatly.
I pushed it aside.
"You're not the one eating it." I quipped.
"Doesn't look like you're going to either." She shot back even faster that I had.
The guards left so she flew out of my body.
"You have a lot of thoughts flying around you're head all the time, it gets tiresome. I guess that's normal for a boy who's killed an entire family though. Maybe I was wrong about you not being interesting anymore."
I decided to just ignore her and started focusing on my newly awakened mana.
It wasn't stored anywhere, it was circulating through my body though.
Where do you get mana if it's not stored in your body.
"You get mana from the atmosphere around you. Mana is what makes up a majority of the world. Close your eyes and focus." She said as if she read my mind. She was outside my body though.
I did as Remy commanded. I started seeing little dots of blue, red, green, yellow, purple, basically all the colors that make up a rainbow.
"Since you're a Zerx, you have an affinity for water magic, ice magic, and fire magic. However that doesn't mean you can only use those three types. Those three will just be your strongest."
"Ah, ok. So anyone can use any type of magic, but everyone has different affinities that make that magic stronger." I opened my eyes. "What is a Zerx exactly, you said they were demons back in the cellar, but you never went in depth."
"Correct, if you want I can teach you." She said, happily, "After all, you are one of us, and there's not many of us."
She avoided my question which made me think even harder about what a Zerx really was.
I threw that to the back of my mind, was was more pressing was the fact she was willing to train to me. I thought about it, since she was outside my body right now and couldn't hear my thoughts. I'm kind of surprised she didn't zip into my body after saying that to hear my thoughts. She doesn't seem like a bad person though, I'll have to keep an eye on her though.
"Well, I have nothing better to do for the next eight years, might as well." I decided.
I wasn't going to sit in this jail cell while Arya, Sophie, and Lyla got stronger.
However I technically wouldn't be facing what I've done.
"Alright, you're my first student, so you'll be taking my student virginity." She chuckled.
"Student virginity?" I asked with a confused look.
"Oh right, I guess you're only ten, you wouldn't know about that, hehe." She said playfully.
I was about to speak but then her expression turned serious, I flinched back not knowing what was going to happen.
"I'll be taking you with me…" she let her words linger, as if to let me take them in before a big reveal, "to Hell."