Chapter 20: Layla’s Reward
****In a cave not too far from the village****
"Who are you?" Layla said with fear evident in her eyes as she stared at the floating figure in front of her.
"Who or what I am doesn’t matter in this scenario, does it? What matters is what can I do for you," the figure responded in a condescending haughty voice.
He looked at Layla’s swollen eyes, disheveled hair and her overall state before shaking his head in pity.
"Poor thing, that idiot really did a number on you,"
"How about it? I have decided to give you an opportunity to grasp destiny that was never meant to be yours."
Layla watched the man with extreme vigilance; she had been awaiting Morden’s return for a bit to ask him about the village, but instead of Morden, this strange floating man had appeared, and now he was offering her something that didn’t even make sense.
"What do you mean?" Layla asked.
"I mean, I will give you the chance to Obtain power so you don’t have to fear anyone or anything anymore, and in return you only have to do a single thing for me."
"What is that?"
"Oh no no, the time for that hasn’t come; all you need to do now is accept the offer."
"So.....pathetic child, do you accept me?"
Layla wanted to open her mouth to reject such an offer immediately, but something in her stopped her. A deep unknown though, or even an urge. An urge to seize control of her own life.
She wanted that too; she wanted to feel how it is.
"Yes, I accept," she responded in a firm tone.
Hearing Layla’s response, the man couldn’t help but smile confidently before stretching his arm forward.
"Come pathetic one, bow before me and this, shall be your reward"
****Back in the Village****
Morden laid chest down on the sound almost completely immobile except from the occasional twitching showing he was dead yet.
The injuries on his body were still most present, the purple bruise was still there but the wound on his arm was now covered with clotted blood.
For quite a while silence reigned in the surrounding area, and even in Morden’s mind, he wasn’t thinking of anything; he was just blank.
But as time passed by, a tiny trail of tears flowed down from one of his eyes as a thought surfaced in his mind.
’They are all dead,’
’The young, the old, the middle-aged, all gone because of me.’
Morden wanted to cry out, he wanted to shout or at least hit something to lessen the burden he was currently feeling but he couldn’t.
’That man, I will make sure he pays for this.’
’This burden he had placed upon me, he will surely have to pay the price.’
After that, his mind went silent again.
The Wind rushed by, hitting the body that had its chest cut open laying just beside Morden and sending the pungent smell straight into his nose.
’He is still here; why didn’t he turn into dust along with them?’
From thinking of the Mountain Lord’s face, he slowly started thinking about the weird creepy village, the victim layla and finally the trial as a whole.
’What exactly does the trial aim at,’
’It can’t be just to kill me, right?’
Not wanting to just lie there anymore, Morden tried his best to move again, and this time something seemed to change.
He was able to raise his arm, albeit being accompanied by a lot of pain.
Though he hadn’t been paying too much attention to it, with his new Intelligence stats Morden was able to pay more attention to what was going on in his body.
He had noticed his vital energy slowly revolving around and healing his injuries; it can be considered fast in a way, but it was actually happening.
With signs that he would be able to move soon, Morden decided to push the feeling of guilt he was feeling currently deep down and focus on the present.
"How much time do I have left?" he muttered before deciding to pull up his status screen.
[Name: Morden Tales]
[Race: Human]
[Attributes: The One who Shouldn’t be]
[Innate Ability: Gene Evolution]
[Genetic shards: 3]
[Status: Emotional chaos (Beware)]
[Total Genetic Slots: 1]
[Occupied Genetic Slots: 1]
[Ability obtained: Boost (Uncommon grade)]
[Strength: 15]
[Speed: 17]
[Durability: 22]
[Intelligence: 10]
[Stat Points: 10]
[Assigned Mission: Completed (Awaiting Assessment)]
[Temporary Mission: Completed]
[Time Remaining: 3 hours, 25 minutes]
[In Inventory: Empty]
Though he had intentionally intended to check how much time he had left, Morden couldn’t help but stop to check the other changes that had occurred on his status screen.
’What is an attribute? and why is it the same name that bastard called me?’
"What the hell is The One who shouldn’t be mean?’
’Does this attribute affect anything?’ he wondered.
He tried thinking about it for a bit more, but Morden quickly realized he wasn’t going to figure it out anytime soon, so he quickly shifted his focus to other things.
He noticed his status had also changed, and the current status was something he was willing to accept because, at this moment, he didn’t even know how he was feeling, but the beware warning behind it made him a little apprehensive.
He quickly skimmed through the other parts of the status screen, he noticed the presence of the new Mind stats, he also noticed his unused stat points.
"Why didn’t I use this," he muttered.
He felt the urge to add it to his mind stats, but Morden quickly decided against it. He did another scan of the screen before ultimately closing it.
At that point, Morden could feel his body was already in a better state; he could move now.
Ughh!
He groaned while forcing himself up, after getting up, he looked in a random villager’s direction and started walking towards it.
He didn’t have a destination in mind; he only felt like it.
He moved from house to house, checking inside one at a time; in some he found large rocks he had thrown previously, while some were completely empty.
After every house he checked, a little disappointed look could be seen on Morden’s face as if he was looking for someone, something or even anyone.
He kept repeating the rounds, checking the same tents over and over like he was in some sort of loop.
It finally reached a point where his injured body couldn’t take anymore and he collapsed to the ground with his eyes furrowed and him biting hard on the lips.
And finally, what he expected to see appeared.
[Time Up]
[Mission Completed]
[Return journey Initiated.......]