Rise Of The Godking - Chapter 151 Awakening

Awareness flitted around Noel’s mind like a fly intent on evading capture, sometimes even blinking in and out of existence, making him fear that he would never catch it.

Vaguely, he could feel time passing, but there was nothing he could do. It was as though he was submerged in wax, surrounded by a sea of flames that blazed, at times, melting enough to allow him to move before winking out suddenly, causing a blizzard to appear that would strengthen the wax once more and erase whatever progress he had made.

All along, the memories of what had happened inside the dream that was not a dream haunted him, already having finished their task but still lingering around, as if to ensure that their effects would last for as long as possible. Many dreams came to him, but thankfully, he could tell that they were actually dreams, governed by nothing but his own consciousness. Yet, he couldn’t do anything to stop it from dwelling on all that pain, and that moment of realization when he had been plagued by the essence of all the death and torture he had inflicted all through his life compressed into a single blow that was still fresh in his mind, always ready to remind him of the lesson it wanted to teach.

Around the corners of all that was happening, he detected scraps of himself in the few, precious moments when he was able to retain a modicum of self-awareness. In those moments, he saw that he had a choice: he could either double down and choose the path that he had been walking on until now, trusting it to protect him even though that nightmare just now was the very antithesis of what it represented, or he could rely on something else, something he thought he had forgotten from the earliest memories of his childhood, something that had shaped him, but had been misshaped over time until it was almost unrecognizable.

The former’s very existence puzzled him, but he soon understood that it was there as poison could be fought with poison. Many times, he was tempted to go down that path, to tell himself that there was nothing wrong with pain, and that the nightmare he had been forced to go through could be wiped away by inflicting even more suffering and enjoying himself. This path called to him, but even though the other did no such thing, he found himself drawn to it, drawn to those times when he had been regarded as nothing but an inquisitive child, nothing but a young member of the family who could go where he wanted, do what he wished, and be who he was.

He remembered the times when he had been cared for by his mother and father before their duties had grown too much for them to give any time to the fancies of a kid who was already growing into an age where he was expected to train, fight, and kill. He inadvertently smiled each time this happened, and for a few moments afterward, he was always able to stay away from the call of cruelty.

The path filled with death was familiar, and it also promise him revenge against whoever had made him experience so much pain just now. The other made no promises, at all, but it represented that moment of realization, and as he thought about it now, he saw that something had dawned on him then which he hadn’t really pondered on until now.

He was still unable to figure it out, so Noel started to move to the other one. It felt right, as it was something he had steeped himself in over all these years, but at the last moment before he gave himself up in its embrace, it also felt wrong, and this gave him pause.

Turning around, with the yawning pit of his own mercilessness waiting to swallow him up, he looked behind him and saw something far away.

It was a single memory, something that had almost ceased to exist, buried under everything else that was so different from it. It was that of a little boy holding the string of a kite that flew in the air, hoping and skipping along a marbled path right outside the mansion that belonged to the family.

The kite was lovely, studded with precious stones, enchanted with spells that let it soar like a hawk no matter who held its reins. It had been the little boy’s gift, and for an entire week, he had been completely enamored by it, playing with it day and night, forgetting everything else and everyone else.

He seldom saw where he was going, but this time, he happened to look down the path and see that an old, destitute man with his skin barely hanging on to his bones was trying to shamble across the path.

Due to his gifts of birth, the boy knew that he could barrel right through the old man. The kite had already gained so much speed that if he changed his forward motion, he was relatively sure that the string would snap, and it would fly away.

He could either smash into the unlucky obstacle, or say goodbye to this gift that he still loved.

The answer seemed simple. He had seen many of his peers not caring at all when faced with such choices, so he made the decision to just keep moving.

At the last moment, though…he suddenly recalled seeing his mother, once, not hesitate from even hurting herself to save some people who had stumbled on to an experimental spell she had cast.

Her smile had been radiant when she had succeeded. He suddenly found himself wanting to smile in that way, too.

He jumped aside. The string was severed. The kite flew away, and he looked at it with sad eyes.

But when he turned to the old man who looked scared, he grinned, and the thankfulness he saw in those eyes was a wonder to behold.

That same radiant smile reappeared on his face in the present, and Noel made his choice.

He blinked, feeling the warm sunlight on his face. The air he breathed in was salty, and nearby, the sound of waves slowly lapping reached his ears.

He got up and was startled to see that he was standing on a metal board. Beside him, his guard stirred, too, and both of them gaped as they looked all around, finding no signs of the island they had entered what felt like ages ago.

Noel frowned. Something had changed within him, but he didn’t know what it was. He did know that he needed to get to the family and give a report, but when he turned to the guard, something that made his face go blank happened.

Mondo, who had never spoken a word since he had known him opened his mouth and said, “If it’s alright with you, let’s not repeat what happened here. We can say that the island was below the sea by the time we arrived.”

His voice was a bit high-pitched, not really fitting his burly image, and after a few seconds during which all he did was stare, Noel nodded, then smile again. The edge of Mondo’s cloak was submerged in the sea, and seeing this, he bent and picked it out before casting a quick spell to dry it out.

The simple gesture made his guard blink and look at him with widened eyes, as if he was seeing the most improbable thing in the universe. Although Noel could tell that there was something significant in what had just happened, he wasn’t in a mood to study it.

The bright sun shone down on them, and for what felt like the first time in a long time, he felt…good. Folding his hands behind his back, he nodded, and spoke the first thought that came to his mind.

“It’s a wonderful day, isn’t it? I’m hungry. How about you? After we deal with the fallout, I’ll give you a treat. You did your best, after all. But first….the patriarch won’t be pleased, so I sure do hope that whoever did it gets away.”