Chapter 28:

Breaking Off

Zenzo the Cataclysm

The guard looked at me with pitiful eyes seeing my shaking, bloody hands, then called the doctor once again, this time for the gorilla.

Having arrived shortly after as usual, I could see him clearly.

Tall and slim, it was a very old man. He had kind, gentle brown eyes.

My initial impression of him couldn’t be more off the mark.

His bad posture and skinny hands screamed that he might be yet another slave, but he couldn’t be, for he was a doctor.

He looked at the unconscious gorilla with disdain, and at me, huddled near one of the walls.

After a moment of silence, where he seemed to be deep in thought, he spoke.

“I refuse,” he uttered.

“What?” asked one of the guards.

“I refuse to treat his injuries…” he said resolutely, staring back at the unpleased guard.

“Old man… don’t tell me you forgot your own place in here…” threatened the supervisor, “your son is under our care. If we want to, he can start feeling ill any second.”

What?

“Anyone who raises their hand on a woman, or child… is utter scum… he can pass on to the afterlife for all I care…” replied the old man, approaching me out of the blue.

Who was this man and what was his affiliation with this place?

He took my mangled hand and healed its pathetic state, repairing it in under a minute.

It was back to its original state…

I looked at him, bewildered, but grateful, “…thank you...”

His dark green eyes and face complexion desperately reminded me of someone, but I couldn’t remember.

He stood up and left the sector, “as for him… do whatever you want with that man.”

The others gathered their gazes on the unconscious body lying on the ground, effortlessly garnering all attention to itself, but not a lot of sympathy.

“Let’s get him out of here,” said the kind guard, who had a gloomy expression on his face, motioning for the other supervisors to help.

They lifted the gorilla, and did us all a favor by removing him from this place.

Quiet murmur and whispering filled the room, but I could finally relax.

I tilted my head towards the blue sky and got lost in thought.

…

A month had passed.

Everyone in the sector was wary of me and constantly avoided eye contact.

I remained in isolation just like I wanted to.

This was for the best. They don’t bother me and I don’t bother them.

I kept striking the hard rock with my battered pickaxe. The more I did, the more I realized that it was strangely familiar.

I was getting my form down pat, until a guard came by.

“Hey, you! Kid… come over here. It’s your turn to move all the gangue.”

I stopped what I was doing, and quickly came over to the guard.

“DON’T STOP WHAT YOU’RE DOING!” yelled the guard at everyone else, whipping someone and a squeal emerging from sector X as I walked away.

Most people hated this process and dreaded their turn, but I looked forward to it. I could finally separate myself from the rest and take my time moving the heavy waste to the discard pile.

It weighed a lot, but at least it was something different from the usual ‘striking the same place, 14 hours a day, 7 days a week.’

I climbed the steep slope of the mine and discarded the gangue little by little into the designated pile.

From this point onwards, someone else would start taking this pile even higher. And this would repeat until most of it was outside the pit.

That said, I’ve never seen where they go from there…

Deep in thought about what they could possibly do with it, time flew by.

On my 11th ascent, my legs began to tremble.

It was definitely not some ordinary walk in the park.

I stopped dead in my tracks.

Shivers went down my spine as I saw them staring at me without breaking eye contact even for a second.

I couldn’t explain what it was about these orange eyes that gave me such an ominous, repulsive feeling.

Alarm bells ringing, I figured that from this point onwards I was better off not looking at them directly, and to be vary of my surroundings, always keeping them at a distance…

After a couple more ascents, I finally got rid of the gangue, but not the stares piercing my back.

I went back to striking the wall and finished the day as usual.

Yet the routine quickly turned upside down, as I suffered yet another anomaly.

For the first time ever, I had a dream.

It was a nightmare.

A nightmare, I soon realized was all too familiar…

One I’ve suffered through dozens of times…

As if punishing me for forgetting him, there I was once again... holding grandpa’s cold, beheaded corpse.

My cold, sticky hands shaking, all of my strength was leaving my body.

A pool of blood encircling me, I started sinking deep within it, not being able to breathe.

I woke up in the middle of the night, drenched in sweat, hands shaking and my memories returned to me in full.

“…Zenzo… son of Froid…” I whispered to myself, clenching my fists.

But even though I was back to previous self, which I couldn’t be happier about, next morning everything changed.

Overnight, everybody in the entire mine learned about my identity and bounty.

And the cause was obvious.

Had they known, this would have happened already.

But they didn’t.

No one did except the orange-eyed scumbags that somehow found me in here.

As the sun rose in the sky, it illuminated a scary sight.

The lowest ring has never seen so many visitors.

Every single person except for those initially in sector X, no matter their status as a slave or guard, surrounded our designated area.

“…W-w-what… is g-g-going on…?” trembled the squealing man.

I sat against the wall, my mind racing.

I need my magic back…

If I don’t get it back, I am as good as dead…

“Give up the kid!” yelled one of the slaves with his disgusting spit flying all over the place.

The rest of the crowd yelled in agreement, eyes hungry for my bounty.

“What…?” asked the old man who was kind to me in the beginning of my stay. “What do you all want from him…?”

While he was distracting them, I sat in my place trying to summon at least one element.

I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me.

It wouldn’t work.

I tried using rex and saw thousands of fluctuating life forces…

All of them colorless…

“You don’t know?!” shouted one of the slaves.

Desperately scrambling around to find the reason, I closed my eyes.

Think…

Got here… met the leader…

I had an idea.

…please… tell me this is it…

I removed my ragged shirt.

“Know what?” the old man asked one of the slaves warily.

I took one of the sharp rocks lying on the ground and cut deeply into the most recent scar I received.

The branding mark.

“The kid is a criminal! I don’t care how, but he has the highest bounty on the entire continent!” he shouted.

Hacking at my own skin, I gasped from the pain.

But it wasn’t meaningless.

Powers surged from within me.

As everyone turned their bewildered gazes to me, I stood up shakily, ready to defend myself.

Now I knew I could do it.

“Don’t touch him,” the kind doctor said, coming out from within the crowd.

“You… you refused to treat my injuries caused by this brat…” said a familiar voice. “YOU CAN DIE WITH HIM!”

It was the gorilla. He wasn’t fully recovered but was able to stand by himself, supported by a stick.

The gorilla’s presence was rapidly adding fuel to the fire, because he had a lot of influence down here.

Blindly listening to his outburst, someone began running at the doctor with his pickaxe, prepared to kill.

“What are you —”

“DIE!” the slave swung his weapon as the doctor raised his hands to protect himself.

Calmly, I uttered the incantation.

“…divide…”

The wind element cut the hand cleanly off. It was as if my magic was never gone in the first place.

“AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH… NO… MY HAND!!!” cried the slave.

Unfortunately for him, he deserved it.

If there was someone worth protecting in here, it would be the old doctor.

From what I remember, they were holding his son hostage.

“What… happened?” the other people murmured next to the injured slave, losing their confidence in the blink of an eye. “Who did that to you…?”

“…IT’S HI—”

Before he could finish, I whipped my finger in the direction of the squealing rat, slicing his cheek, and giving him a serious warning.

Letting out a yelp, he quieted down, his knees collapsing on him.

Everyone stared in silence, as I slowly and cautiously came out of sector X’s sleeping quarters out into the open.

“Where is your son…” I asked the old doctor.

“I… I don’t know…” he responded a little fearfully.

Randomly finding him in the crowd, I met eyes with the guard that was also nice to me, “…do you know…?”

“…yes…” he responded quietly, “…are you breaking out of here?” he asked grimly.

“…I would rather you let me go… I don’t want to hurt you…” I said truthfully.

“No! I am not going to stop you, just take me with you!” he said quickly, “please!”

After pondering on it for a couple of seconds, I couldn’t see a reason why not.

“Alright,” I responded, then turning to the rest of the people who still wanted to kill me.

Suddenly, the three Zepsis members that infiltrated the mine ran out. Daggers in hand, they quickly leaped towards me from three different sides.

“CAREFUL, YOUNG BOY—”

I raised my arm and swung horizontally around myself in a semicircle.

Quietly, I watched three heads fall with a thud and roll across the ground.

Terror struck some of the slaves as they witnessed this gory sight.

Most of them threw up while others continued watching in shock.

“…how…” said the old man from sector X. “…you are just a boy… yet you didn’t even flinch…”

I didn’t expect anyone to understand.

I glanced at him, then looked at the ground below me, slowly being covered in red blood.

“…the day I hesitate is the day I die…” I replied darkly, “…the rest of you… if you don’t want to die, abandon the thought…” I looked sharply across the crowd.

“Lead the way…” I said to the speechless guard, whose face had turned terrified.

“…alright…”

He started escorting us towards the exit, climbing a rough slope.

They knew I was in here.

I’ll probably see a lot more once I am out…

I kept walking, looking at my own feet.

“Can I… ask you a question…?” asked the guard, “how… did you get your magic back…”

I lifted my head dejectedly.

“…I had a nightmare and got my memories back… then I cut open the branding scar…” I explained.

“Are you… a city-scale mage?” he prodded.

“I am a beginner in every element…” I responded.

The guard’s eyes widened, “what? …that can’t be rig—”

“…I don’t care… I am not in the mood right now…”

Even though they were Zepsis…

Even though they were evil…

It still felt sickening to end their life. I was going to throw up myself, any second.

I am not a murderer…

I don’t want to cause anyone harm…

So why am I forced to do that… time and time again…

Rising to the summit around half an hour later, we finally made it to the top.

Greeting us, was none other than the owner of the mine.

“I am afraid I can’t let you out, boy,” he said in his usual creepy smile, “that said, what might you be doing here with them…?” he looked wrathfully at the guard, who remained silent.

“If you don’t want me to end your pathetic life, you should —”

But before I could finish, a dagger came flying at me from the side. The source was this man’s troublesome subordinate.

Before he could throw another one, I condensed the air on the tip of my finger and shot it in that direction.

A moment later, he tumbled down, incapacitated on the floor.

The owner of the mine glanced at me nervously.

“How do you have your magic back?” he asked.

“Where is his son?” I asked about the old doctor.

“Who knows… maybe at the bottom of a lake by now…” he rasped, laughing.

“WHAT?!” the doctor exclaimed.

I swiped my hand through the air, cutting off a finger from the ringleader.

“AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH… NO, STOP!”

“Where is he?” I asked apathetically.