章 2: Sequence 9
As he raised the cauldron to his lips Vilkar hesitated for a moment. While he fully expected to advance without any problems there was still a small spark of uncertainty.
Vilkar thought of what it would be like if he failed, would he turn into a monster breaking out of the room and killing his staff which he hasn't met yet? Would he fall to one of the official beyonders?
What a sad story it would be, but still it would be worth the risk. Vilkar remembered how in the story old Niel said to Klein to drink a cup of wine, smoke a cigar, whistle a relaxing tune, dance an upbeat court dance, and lastly play a round of Gwent.
Vilkar remembered the first time that he read Lord of the Mysteries. Truth be told first time that he read it first few chapters were captivating as it was the first novel of that genre. It was unique and special, and ever since other creations of a similar type just could not compare.
"I can't wait..." Vilkar said to himself as he thought of the future that awaits him. Of all the possibilities that can he experience, all the adventure, the pleasures, and of course mysteries to explore.
"Books..." Vilkar did not remember the last time that he looked forward to reading educational literature but now the idea of reading books about mysticism excites him to no end.
'First thing first.' Vilkar thought as he started to drink the concoction. At first, his nostrils were assaulted by the stench of it, then the liquid touched his taste buds.
A warm, and sickly sweet feeling filled his mouth, as a sirup-like substance passed through his neck and into his stomach he could feel his insides start to twist in opposition.
His whole body started to feel like buckets of cold water were being continuously spilled on him, which interestingly was the opposite of what he felt inside. There he felt molten glass passing through his veins and skin.
Vilkar's muscles convulsed and hardened with each heartbeat which resonated like a drum throughout his whole body. Then his brain opened letting a wave of knowledge about a variety of criminal skills and abilities enter.
He was now able to pick a lock, and pickpocket without being conspicuous about it. Vilkar was now able to use a variety of weapons regardless of type be it a sword, a dagger, a longbow, a pistol, a rifle, or even a machine gun all would be highly deadly in his hands.
But that was not all as Vilkar felt a sudden release as if shackles were taken from him. Free to move to revel in his desires, in all kinds of pleasures of life.
Just as he was at a high of his freedom he felt cold shackles slithering around his arm, up to his chest burrowing into his flesh right into his heart. Vilkar looked down in his still mind-numbed state but he saw nothing out of ordinary.
But on inside he felt as those desires that promised freedom latched themselves around his heart around his being and started to wail a hymn of desire.
"revertere ad nos... revertere ad nos... domine peccati"
"revertere ad nos... revertere ad nos... domine peccati"
"revertere ad nos... revertere ad nos... domine peccati"
He felt a sinking feeling, a pulsing force dragging one's mind and soul to a place smelling of sulfur and fire, and yet it felt empty, hollow. As if everything that was supposed to be there was drowned away by the corrupting presence. As vertigo started to pass away Vilkar looked up to see his body being disconnected from him, and the only thing keeping them together were twisted dark chains.
Not even a moment passed and he was being dragged back into the body of Hector. Into its proper place made just for him. Vilkar started to breathe heavily while he tried to calm down. Changes started to subside and he could breathe a sigh of relief
"That was... something. Hahaha," Vilkar laughed without any worry in the world. He did it, he became beyonder the world of not of his own, in the story of Lord of the Mysteries.
Soon he fully calmed down and started to inspect his body, while there were no physical changes his muscles felt so much stronger. He felt like he could do anything that he put his mind and body into.
Don't like someone he could tear them in half, rip their heads, and beat them to death with their own limbs. "Magnificent," he said excitedly.
While not that great of a change he felt slightly more flexible, he wouldn't become a gymnast or acrobat but still, it would be a great help while scaling buildings or in the middle of a barfight.
While he examined his body he thought about his vision which changed somewhat.
His smile widened even more as he remembered what he should do next, "Cogitation! Yes, let's see how it went again?" Vilkar tried to remamber.
"First imagine an object to divert your attention to turn the energy seepage inwards... Let's try glove." He closed his eyes and imagined a white glove. While thinking his stray thoughts started to subside and his mind became more clear.
"The next step is to exchange the object in my mind with something that doesn't exist in the world." When he said those words to himself Vilkar lost his image of the glove.
Vilkar never was especially good at thinking of nothing and instructing himself on what to do next hehe.
"So the next thing is to transcend the concept of 'I'. And connect with the universe to see the truth, it should be called a mystic experience if I remember correctly.
Vilkar wondered what type of object he should imagine. Something that doesn't exist in the world. He remembered that objects from his home wouldn't work, so the next best thing was to go into the realm of absurdity.
For start, he thought of spherical rings of light onto which he imagined translucent blood-weeping eyes adding more eyes into the rings of light. Unfortunately his stray thoughts of 'Is it working?' had invaded his mind making him lose the image.
And so he repeated the process until he was able to go through the process until his mind calmed down. Then he extended his spirituality little by little until he looked at the rings. After he was able to wholly sense them Vilkar started to take them in.
As he continued he felt an old memory that he forgot to resurrect, it was the name of his home city Presborg. How could he forget such a thing, up until now he did not even realize that he was missing such a crucial memory. It made him wonder what else he had forgotten.
While he thought about it he heard a noise coming from the table. Vilkar hurriedly looked over and saw how the cauldron which he previously used started to disappear. Followed by plates and papers, then the rest of the objects.
Soon after the whole table started to break apart. Vilkar didn't wait for the rest of the room to break so he turned around taking the formula with him as it seemed to remain whole.
When he got to the door bricks in the room started to crack but thankfully Vilkar was able to open the door easily. A moment after he got out he could hear something breaking behind him as the room which he just stood in collapsed on itself.
After he turned around to see what exactly happened he was shocked to see or more precisely to not see anything. No room or door was present, just an empty brick wall at the end of the basement.
Vilkar then took out the key from his pocket which for some reason remained but lost its warmth, and yet it felt like there is more to it still.
Soon after Vilkar decided to return to his room, if someone saw him in the basement in the middle of the night it could create rumors. Such explanations could contain that he is sleepwalking or has the desire to drink some alcohol. Neither was exactly something he was interested in saying so he hurriedly left the basement and returned to his room.
After walking up the stairs to the ground floor he could see that night would be coming to an end soon. Vilkar wondered how much time he had as he still wanted to learn spirit vision before facing his staff.
Vilkar then walked towards the window to close the blinds so light in the room would darken.
Then he raised his hands before his eyes with index fingers facing each other. Next, he focused his gaze on the spot behind his hands and started to move his index fingers while still keeping them in his vision.
Soon he started to see color between his fingers which should be his aura. Once he stabilized himself Vilkar shifted his gaze somewhere else. Vilkar's spirit vision wasn't the best as he was of the criminal pathway but better than nothing.
Once he was done attuning to it he started to look around. While nonliving objects had no spirituality and there were no beyonder materials with remnant spirituality he saw not much of a difference.
Soon he started to feel mild discomfort and decided that it was enough for now, then Vilkar entered a cogitation state.
"With enough practice, I should be able to use it for longer periods," Vilkar said to himself while sitting behind his desk. There he started to practice activating his spirit vision with a simple tapping on the side of his right ear.
While it wasn't a complicated exercise it still drained him not mentioning his previous consumption of potion and recent transmigration. Vilkar decided that he should rest for a little bit.
But before that, he still wanted to look through the desk. After opening drawers, he found pens, a stack of papers, a few pounds, and a golden pocket watch.
"I remember, Hector's father gave it to him for his birthday when he was younger. They celebrated together with a small party, just three of them Hector and his parents, which is not that common in Backlund, especially for a banker like his father.
"What was it that he says, ah yes 'Here my son, on this day you have grown to be a man, from this day forth you bear the name of our family to the future. Through you, our ancestors will be remembered and feared.'
"Looking at it through my own eyes I must say it is something weird to say. Especially that pocket watch has a big letter 'A' at the front and on the inside is carved 'Hector A. Carnivil'
"Which once again in Vilkar's eyes looks like one big family secret that Hector was too dumb to notice over the years." After thinking about it a little more Vilkar remembered another memory from his childhood.
"It was when Hector was about 6 to 7 years old. His father had just opened his bank and became somewhat successful when certain businessmen whose name Hector did catch at the time, stated his desire to buy shares in the bank.
"At the beginning, it was just a normal business offer but his father wanted to keep it all in the family with very few silent business partners. In retrospect, if he agreed to have shareholders he could have more capital for the bank but for his father what was important wasn't the size of the bank but that his family would retain full control of it.
"Vilkar could remember a few times when he was told that it wasn't the best decision his eyes changed they became darker and... Hector did not know how to describe them but it was the only time that he ever feared his father.
"But back to reminiscing, said businessmen after being unsuccessful at persuading Hector's father to sell some shares became not violent but threatening.
"He could remember how his mother used to worry about it, and how his father comforted her saying that everything would be alright.
"It all ended on one of the nights when Hector used to watch Moonrise. On that day he recalled that his father called the family butler to his office, his name was Alberth, still is as he now works for Hector. Alberth served his father before he ever moved to Backlund.
"In the corner of his eyes, he saw Alberth leaving their family estate. At that time Hector didn't think much of it but now, Vilkar realized that it is aligning with no more propositions about selling shares from said businessmen. Actually, Hector never saw or heard about him ever again.
"After that, everything returned to normal, everything except that for about a week Alberth was uncharacteristic smiling and chewing something.
"When Hector asked what he was eating Alberth said some long pork from Leon colonies, after that Hector no longer thought about it"
After this long monologue where he realizes that there are secrets in his family that he will get to figure out. For Vilkar it was reading the synopsis of an interesting book, primed to be read.
But for now, Vilkar's main goal is to become stronger to revel in his desire. "So how do we start, burning some criminal's hideout to the ground or nailing thief's hands to the wall? Oh, I'm excited."
"But the first thing is to digest criminal potion, then to advance." Vilkar thought about it and beyonder gatherings would be the best course of action.
"In the long term Tarot club would be the best option, but to get there will be either super easy or very hard, whenever I think about it I get a strange sensation from the key so who knows? And it's not like I know when Klein stops being Klein and gets replaced.
"Other options would include a gathering led by Eye of Wisdom, to that I will need to pay a visit to Bravehearts Bar. Kaspars would be the one introducing me if everything would go as I want it to. But what would I tell him? Maybe some other member introduced me... I don't know if he would believe it.
"Then there is one which was mentioned in the letter not that far from here. For this one, he knew all the information. When it will happen, where it will happen, and what the code to enter is." After thinking about it he stood up and went to his bed so he could get at least some rest.
But his thoughts weren't without worry as there was still the problem of acting as Hector. Fortunately for him at the time of death, Hector didn't have many servants who knew him for long.
Most were relatively new, and strangely enough, he had no personal manservant, nor did his father have one. Hector's father always said that they were just a set of eyes that spread rumors behind their master's back.
The only one who could potentially be a problem would be his butler Alberth, but that is something that he will deal with later.
"How to act as a criminal without breaking my convictions and moral compass. I would prefer to not harm innocents as much as possible, only when they would stand in a way that would make them no longer innocent. Such a dilemma.
"At the end of the day, I don't want to lose my humanity as that would lead to a much greater possibility of losing control. So anti-hero path it is...
"But...
"I don't know at heart I see myself as a good person so I should eviscerate only those that I don't like, and torment only those that I deem deserving to. What exquisite screams they will sing, and how beautiful their eyes filled with terror will be."
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