Chapter 71: Darkness Control

In the middle of the night, Jace tossed and turned in his room, unable to sleep, not only because of the incandescent wounds on his hands, but also because of the fear that things were falling apart.

He muttered in a low voice, “It’s over, Saeuno, it’s hard to not use magic and lose your life, and when you do, you’re going to be found out.”

Sëanor poked his head out of the pouch and said quietly, “I don’t understand, master, why are mortals so afraid of demonic power? Look at how kind and gracious I am, how much I look out for you, I am a good friend to mankind.”

“I’d like to know …… what kind of magic you actually used on top of the tower to enchant my sword with flames? Was it that simple?”

“It’s as simple as that, master.” Saeuno said, “But the flames affected your mind, I could see that, maybe, it was your mind that affected the flames. Your heart may be darker than a demon like me, and that scared me!”

“It’s bullshit.” Jess said.

“As you can see, master, I am indeed speaking nonsense, for I could never be frightened!” The little ghost laughed wickedly.

Jess immediately pointed at his nose and said, “Keep your voice down! Do you want those priests down there to hear you? A holy light will kill you in seconds you little brat.”

Sëanor immediately covered his mouth and retreated back into the bag, not speaking again.

I don’t know how long he slept, but Jace woke up from the aches and pains in his body and opened his eyes to the afternoon.

He found himself covered in bruises, as if he’d been blasted and hammered all over his body, and his muscles ached wherever he pressed.

Orange sunlight shone through the windows, splashing the entire house with gold, and Jace felt a wave of panic brought on by uncertainty that was oppressive as hell.

He knew why he felt the way he did, because so much was still up in the air, so much was unclear to him.

Was the power that finally killed those jackals last night fueled by the darkness inside him? Could the Kid be right?

Thinking back to each past outburst of powerful Shadow power, whether it was against Gagin in the streets, the wolves in the forest, or last night, it seemed to be cushioned by extremely strong emotions.

Could it be that these emotions were the very source of his outbursts of exaggerated Shadow power?

He recalled a conversation he had had with a priest in that small building in front of the square of the Cathedral of Light, and that priest had said that the Shadow could be fed by negative emotions.

He had also read in books that some ancient followers of the ancient gods were able to utilize the negative emotions within themselves, or others, such as fear, anger, sadness, etc. to extract shadow energy for their own use.

So what were your own emotions last night.

Hate? Madness? Or …… something else. Or was it the staff?

The Staff of Talon, which Sëanor had said was Eredar’s staff, lay beside the table, with no evil emanating from it, and it looked like it had little mana, plain as a black wooden stick.

Jace had been carrying it on his back last night and hadn’t fought with it much since, and whether or not the stick had actually done anything at the end when his own emotions got the best of him, he didn’t know.

He said it was unclear.

Jace sat on his bed, reflecting on what it was that made him that way.

Perhaps, just an intense thirst for life.

He wanted to live, he didn’t want to be slaughtered as simply as that apprentice had been, he didn’t want to just die in obscurity on an inexplicable tower and be forgotten ever after.

Therefore, he wanted to live, no matter what, and this desire to live was actually ignited by the evil fire and twisted into such a terrifying power of darkness.

Jace didn’t want to be controlled by these things, he wanted to control them in turn, he had to manipulate his emotions and release them when they should be released, and he had to be calm when they shouldn’t be.

For any normal wish or thought can twist and completely deform the desire into an obsession that drags him into hell. And the forces of darkness would then use these gradual mutations to take control of the host in turn, turning them into dark creatures worse than demons.

A wave of pee came up at the thought.

He rolled out of bed, only to realize that there was no urinal in the house.

Limping, he pushed the door open and saw that over the corridor, Morgans was hurrying this way.

“Mr. Jess Sesso, how is your health, I was just about to call on you.”

“It’s okay, Master Morgans, I’m actually just a bit more injured in my hand, nothing else is wrong.”

“That’s good, I have some questions for you.”

Jace hesitated for a moment, had he found out his secret?

Normally, he might have been a little flustered and worried, but now, he found that he wasn’t in any particularly out-of-whack mood, either.

He would have to slowly learn to calm himself and face whatever came his way calmly so that he wouldn’t be backslidden by this path.

“Then I’ll get straight to the point.”

“Yes!”

“I want to know about the sword that was burned last night.”

Jace’s heart raced for a moment as he stopped his hand and said, “You’re asking why the sword I’m holding is burning, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t know, Master.” Jace said, “I was fighting a jackal with that sword when all of a sudden it burned, and all that fire hit my hair, and I didn’t hold it for long before the sword burned out.”

“The magic that ignited that sword was black magic.” Morgans coughed twice and said, “Do you have any understanding of that?”

Jace said, “I heard from the soldiers, they said it was the Jackal’s dark spell that burned the sword.”

Morgans nods slowly, then asks, “Did you hear …… or see, before the sword burned up, any strange noises, such as whispers, or any jackals performing strange postures?”

Ah, so you’re in the same rut, this Morgans turns out to be engaging in the same thing as himself.

Morgans also wanted to find the jackal and learn the black magic they had gotten from who knows where, and we were all really in the same boat.

He was also finally relieved that the other party hadn’t realized that he was actually a warlock of sorts.

The Kid Summoning technique of the Slaughtered Lamb gang had also made Jace overestimate the level of the black magic researchers in the Sorcerer’s Sanctuary. But since a Shadow Practitioner of Morgans’ level would be expelled from the Sorcerer’s Sanctuary, he wouldn’t end up any better if he was discovered.

After all, he is no longer a simple black magic practitioner, and now if he summons a child, he can be characterized as a “devil worshipper”, Gagin has really tied himself completely to the group of the slaughtered lamb.

“I’m sorry Master Morgans, I was so focused on the enemy in front of me at the time, as I was almost killed, that I didn’t have time to hear anything else, and as you know last night was a real mess.”

“I see.” Morgans said, “The Darkskin Tribe is involved with the orcs that once occupied this place, and they learned the Fallen Spell from the orc warlocks, and the threat is very great. If we can learn what they have learned, we will be able to find a way to counter it. I heard about your battle last night, rest well, it is very difficult to recover from the Shadow Flame burns. Don’t look too lousy when you face the king.”

After saying that Morgans was about to turn around and walk away, the last sentence confused Jace and he immediately asked, “Wait, Master Morgans, the King? I need to see the king? Where?”

Morgans explained, “My apprentice has received a letter back, King Varian will be coming to Stone Castle soon, he has learned of the Jackal attack on Stone Castle and plans to personally visit the injured soldiers and officers here, including you of course. Behave yourself and you may be blessed by the disaster.”