15 Origin of the Black Daggers & Desire (1/1)

Shadow Monarch Aileus 31170K 2022-07-22

”Two breakthroughs in the span of one battle... what are you?” The Tiger King looked at me aghast, all I could do was simply smile in response; I had no answer for his question and luckily he didn't pry further or else I really would have no idea what to do.

After the battle, under the watching stunned eyes of the tiger clan we had walked back to the Tiger Kings cave - his wife who had previously harassed me before with her vicious sneers was now like a meek cat as she tried to make herself as invisible as possible in front of me; she could faintly detect that although my strength was still far from her husbands it wasn't that far. There were enough women in the clan for him to find another wife if she dared enrage her husbands guest.

As we walked back into the vast cave which more suitable should've been called a cavern my thoughts which I had suppressed earlier of the pitch black daggers resurfaced stronger than ever, as if they were calling to me I could vividly see the daggers in my mind; although with my recent breakthroughs into the Mortal Leaving Pinnacle stage my mind had been boosted to a certain extent it still wasn't to the point where I could see the objects as if they were in front of me using my imagination.

This was a different type of feeling - it was like the daggers themselves were projecting themselves into my mind instead of me imagining them, I had a feeling that if I reached out and tried to grab the daggers they would literally be in my hands rather than just shadows in my mind.

I felt some resistance as I tried to raise my arms, as if an invisible weight was pushing down on me; a feeling that with my recent training would've been extremely hard to achieve, I could only feel a cold sweat on my brow as I thought what this pressure would've done to me had I not endured the training the Tiger King had put me through in the last week. It was mentally and physically stressful but had served to strengthen both aspects to the limit of the human body, I couldn't be sure but I was fairly certain that my mind had already broken through to the Mortal Leaving realm; I wasn't even sure if that was possible or just a side effect of continuous breakthroughs in such a short amount of time leaving me with an illusion in my heart.

Pushing against the pressure that was relentlessly trying to push me to the ground I raised my arms and grabbed hold of the wooden hilts of the two daggers, what I expected was for my fingers to pass through as if they had never existed but yet what awaited me was the cold wooden feeling I had previously felt when I had tested them out before. Opening my eyes they were there, the Tiger King looking at me in shock as his eyes alternated between the daggers in my hand and myself, all I could do was give a tired smile as I tried to recover the energy I had just lost.

”I didn't expect them to truly be related to you..” His voice entered my mind, a clear tone of shock could be detected in his voice as she spoke to me - it was one of the few times that I felt proud that I could make this insurmountable wall in front of me feel shocked by an ant-like existence such as myself; although I had no doubt in the future that he would be the ant-like existence. A glint of excitement flashed through my eyes in an instant before being replaced by cold indifference as if what I had just done was natural and hadn't caused me to feel shocked in the slightest.

”Tch, what gives you the right to act so smug in front of me?” He gave me a knowing look before looking back at the daggers, ”They're called the Abyssal Daggers. A memento from something that invaded this world briefly before being annihilated by King; these two daggers were found in the vicinity of their fight shortly after, one of my clansmen brought them back and even I could feel the amount of pure raw power that coursed through them - I tried everything to harness that yet nothing worked, I couldn't even leave a mark on them with my measly amount of power.” A self-deprecating smile could be seen on his face as he looked off into the distance, out of the cave and at the blue sky on the horizon. A soft sigh escaped his lips, most likely acknowledging how weak he truly was in comparison to the rest of the world, the measly strength he had wasn't nearly enough to protect his own life let alone the lives of his clansmen.

”I suspected that these daggers belonged to that horrifying being, it was able to fight King to a standstill for four days and four nights before he finally called for back-up from his sect and ended the farce; even after all that everyone who had taken part was gravely injured and on the doors of death. It was truly lucky that King managed to come out on top or else we all would've died with him at that time, such is our fate to live and die with the ruler of this realm..”

A look of despair could be seen on his face as he turned to look at me, I felt nothing but sympathy and respect for this Tiger, even knowing his life wasn't his own he was doing everything he could to protect the lives of his clan, despite those who would scheme against him and take his position everything he did was for the good of the clan; he held no scheming thoughts or ulterior motives and only wished for a simple life where he could protect those he held dear, I balled my hands into fists as I looked at him; blood gradually dripping from my palms as I'd cut so deep with my nails that I had actually punctured my own skin in frustration.

Frustration that I couldn't do anything to help, frustration that I wasn't even strong enough to save myself and frustration that I may never have the chance to return to the outside realm and slaughter those who had plotted against me; if not for them I would never have been thrown into this world, I could've lived my life out like a normal human and never have had a chance to give a crap about any of this regardless of all the power in the world and the status that came with it. If I could turn back time and live that normal boring life regardless of giving up the chance to gain immense power I would do it in a heartbeat.

But now where was I? I was in the same situation as this tiger. I was trapped like a lamb waiting for slaughter; my life no longer belonged to myself as I was trapped on all four sides yet it was the most infuriating kind of cage, the type which you could freely walk out of but once you had walked past that threshold your life could be reaped at any second.

”I know that look in your eye Human, I had it myself once; a long time ago... Keep that rage, that anger and the despair of not having control over your own life and use it, push yourself with that anger as motivation to the peak and aim even higher - honour your words as a man and offer us redemption from this hell of ours where our lives are no longer our own but controlled on the whims of a mad man.” Burning rage and desire could be seen in the depths of his eyes as he looked at me, I saw a burning fire that even with age couldn't be extinguished; despite the years of living under the fear of having his life taken by King his desire for freedom had never been quenched, not even once.

After a couple of minutes of just standing there, the desire in both our eyes began to slowly die down as we suppressed it back into the deepest darkest recesses of our hearts. ”It's time to discuss where you will go from here human. There's nothing left for you to learn, your body has reached the pinnacle of mortal limits and to progress any further would need you to acquire a body strengthening technique which I don't possess.” He stared at me questioningly, ”So where do you want to go?”