บท 4: Chapter 4: Warlock

Lucifer's eyes slowly opened but only met darkness. He was wrapped in a ziplock bag that prevented any light from passing through the cover. After some initial struggle, he managed to exit it.

As he came out, he found himself in the middle of a dump yard. There were trash and useless things as far as his eyes could see. A rotten odour pervaded everywhere, which made him want to puke as he stood up.

"I'm... still alive?" He muttered in confusion as he looked at his hands and legs to check if everything was fine.

There were no problems that he could notice with the naked eye. He tried to move and then tried to walk. He faced no issues with his body. Everything seemed normal. His body worked just as his mind willed it to.

"Did they throw me here because they thought that I was dead?" He guessed as he chose a random direction and started walking.

Hundreds of questions chaotically gushed into his mind as he moved forward, swirling in chaos as they clashed and fused into brand new questions, giving him a headache as the number of questions increased.

There was an old wooden table along the way that had a nail sticking out of it. As Lucifer wasn't paying attention to it, the nail managed to graze his hand, wounding it, causing it to bleed immediately.

"Urgh!"

Lucifer gasped as he looked at the wound that had started bleeding, but his eyes opened wide in shock, confusion, and even fear as he witnessed the wound healing by itself in an instant. There was not even a scar left. It seemed like he never got scratched. But how? His confusion only increased.

He soon thought of something.

"Imagine being able to heal from any wound instantly? How awesome would that be!"

His father's words echoed in his head. This conversation held special meaning in his heart as it happened on the day his parents left, never to return.

"This? Did I awaken the power my father talked about? Infinite Healing?" He exclaimed in surprise.

This time, he intentionally picked up an old knife that was lying nearby and slightly pressed it against his hand. The knife cut through his skin, and just as he had expected, the wound healed within the blink of an eye.

"It's the Physical Power of Healing that father used to talk about, it means I have a power now. Am I a Warrior now? I can become a hero like my father?" His face beamed with a smile, only to fade away the next second, as gloominess replaced it.

"Hero? For what? To save them? Those so-called humans tortured me to death. Should I really help them? No! My parents helped the world so much; still, I had to go through all of this."

"Why should I help them, just so my future generations could die by their hands? I won't be that naive anymore! I won't use my powers for anyone but myself," he muttered as he glanced at his hands.

He stared at the knife for quite some time before he made a decision.

"Father said that true healing could make a person immortal. Even cut-off limbs can be healed. Is my healing the same?" He wondered as a crazy idea popped up in his head, but he still hesitated.

"I've already died once. Why should I be scared of losing a limb?" He muttered as he decided to go through with the experiment.

He took the knife and cut off one of his fingers. Even though he felt some pain, it was nothing compared to the pain he went through when he died. It was rather bearable to him.

His severed finger was still on the ground, but another finger had grown up in its place, which was just like the old one. It only took a minute for it to happen.

"It is indeed amazing," he commented as his eyes sparkled. "It has to be the reason that I'm still alive. This should be why I hadn't died back then."

He was just about to throw away the knife when he noticed that the knife had started decaying already. He waited until it was completely destroyed. Within moments, the knife turned to dust.

"This? The Power of Decaying? Mother's power?" Lucifer exclaimed as he stared at the ashes of the knife. He had another power? What was happening? His shock only grew stronger.

"I have both a Physical and an Elemental Power? I'm a Warlock?" Lucifer muttered, and then tears spilled out of his eyes, paired with a soft smile.

It had been his dream to be a Warlock. He wished to be like his father ever since he heard stories from him. He still remembered the moment he had first heard about Warlocks. It was his mother who had taught him about them.

She had told him that there were many Variants in this world. But there were only a few Warlocks.

To be a Warlock, a person needed to have more than one power of each type—Physical and Elemental. Even his mother was not a Warlock. She was only a sorcerer as she had two Elemental powers and no Physical power.

On hearing about how great his father was for being a Warlock, he started desiring to be the same.

His dream was finally completed, albeit he had no one to share it with. The people he wanted to show it to were already dead. He had no family left.

He couldn't help but drop to his knees as tears filled his eyes. He stared at his hands for quite some time. His vision was already blurry because of the tears. His face was full of emotions.

He looked into the distant horizon as he said, "Thank you for the gifts, father, mother. Although you made me capable of living, I'm sorry that I won't be walking on the path that you had chosen. I am sure if you guys were here today, you too would want the same for me."

He remained in that position for close to ten minutes before standing up.

"I need to find mother's gloves, or everything I touch will keep getting destroyed," he decided as he moved forward.

Lucifer continued walking for over 7 hours before he saw the nearest town. His stomach had started growling long ago; now that a town was here, it growled more. It was as if it was telling Lucifer to eat.

He entered the town. There was still the lab's patient robe on his body which looked even dirtier than if he were a beggar.

He tried to look for a place to get something to eat. Seeing a small restaurant after searching for a long time, he decided to enter the place. As soon as he stepped inside the restaurant, he attracted the attention of the Waiter.

"What do you need, kid? This is not the place for kids to enter. If you don't have money, then scram out of here!" The waiter of the small restaurant told Lucifer as he walked towards him.

"I need food," Lucifer said to the guy, but the guy refused to even listen.

"Can a beggar like you even afford to pay for the food here? Scram out before I cut your legs!" The waiter bellowed furiously.

"My legs? Of course, what else can I expect from humans if not something like this?" Lucifer sneered as he glanced at the waiter like he was looking at the biggest waste on this planet.

"Hahaha, that beggar talks so big here. Waiter, is this the level of this restaurant? Any beggar can enter here?"

"Throw that kid out. I can't eat my food with him here. His dirty clothes will make me vomit!"

"Yeah, throw this bastard out. If he doesn't listen, break his legs!"

One after another, every person who was inside the restaurant started demanding for Lucifer to be thrown out. Lucifer didn't react, though. He simply looked at the waiter that stood before him.

Hearing the demands of the people, the Waiter also started getting smug.

"You dare look at me with that condescending look? How dare you raise your voice at me!" The waiter roared in anger as he stepped forward to slap Lucifer's face.

Bam!

Before the waiter even realized it, Lucifer caught his hand and threw him away as if he was a light feather. The waiter crashed on the wall. His neck broke instantly as he died right there.