A Guide to Kingdom Building

Adaloun could've just ignored the pleas of the young girl. Why not? He did it once before during one of his reincarnations because the king said it was all for the gods. His memory flashed before his very eyes. The slaves were whipped in front of them in the banquet because the gods requested it to be so. He did nothing for those slaves, a regret he brought with him until now.

He followed the wailing echoes across the hallway. Adaloun hastily ran through the dark corridors, turning at every corner while continuously tracking the voice of the poor girl. He heard it again, this time it was louder. He knew that he was close to where the girl was. He made another turn until finally, he arrived at the end of a hallway where there was nothing but a single door on sight.

He kicked the door as hard as he could that it caused a thunderous bang. For some reason, nobody noticed him, the screams didn't stop. He entered the room and saw what looked like torture devices inside the room. From the walls hung chains of different sizes and shapes. There were also torture coffins and oversized pincers that Adaloun didn't want to know where it was used for.

As he moved further inside, he noticed an opening with hanging strips of tattered cloth separating him from the maniacal redhead whipping a small girl chained to posts at the center of the room.

The scene was horrible to look. The whip tore the girl's back and made it into a bloody canvass. Torn skin and pieces of flesh splattered across the floor as the ruthless and crazed 305-M mercilessly whipped the poor girl.

"NO MORE! UNCLE PLEASE! AURGHHH!" The little girl cried. "I-I…SORRY! SORRY! PLEASE…I'M—"

"Silence! You dwarf!" 305-M whipped her again. "If it wasn't for your intermission, I could've made a new discovery!" The mad redhead stopped hitting the poor girl and instead grabbed her by the hair and kicked her back as hard as he could possibly do.

The kick made a loud thud on the poor girl's back as she screamed and beg for forgiveness from something she didn't do. At that point, the girl passed out from the terrible torture her uncle put her through.

Adaloun couldn't contain himself any longer. In a rage, he punched 305-M with a wide swing. The red-headed slave fell on the floor unconscious. Usually, he would've stop with just that punch, but for some reason, there was an urge inside of him to beat 305-M into a pulp. With every punch and kick that he did, the more it was becoming blissful to him—to the point of maddening. After realizing that, he restrained himself from hurting 305-M further.

His mind was still clouded with madness, but he managed to calm himself down. As a warrior for almost all his lifetimes, he was never the one to lose to rage, but this one was different. At that moment of beating the redhead, someone or something was whispering in his mind trying to make him lose himself to the rage and madness.

"U-uncle? U...Uncle, w-what's happening?" The girl's weakened and trembling voice echoed as she slowly regained consciousness. Her frailty stabbed Adaloun's heart. "Who's there? Uncle, please don't leave me!" She asked but she didn't get any response.

Adaloun saw how the poor girl tried to look back at his fallen uncle. But she was too weak from the whipping and the wounds on her back seemed to be deep that it caused her a lot of inconvenience just to move her head.

He removed the girl's chains and caught the girl's fragile body before she dropped face first to the ground. Her body was very light for her assumed age. She's as light as a sack of dried leaves. She was also thin and malnourished, Adaloun could feel her ribs from his arm.

He laid her on the floor and tried to cover her body with the cape he grabbed from the table adjacent to the post. He tried to wrap her with the cape as she continuously shivered from the pain and wounds on her back.

As he was about to cover her with the clothing, the young girl jerked and with here eyes wide open, she crawled back as fast as she could while screaming her lungs out.

"Agghhhh! Get away from me!" She pleaded.

Adaloun understood her predicament. The sheer trauma she had to go through possibly every night could've taken a toll on her psyche. He tried his best to calm her down. But the child kicked and punched him.

"Agghhh!!! Get off of me!" She said. "Whoever you are! Don't come near me! I plead for the gods' protection…I plead for the god's protection!" She closed her eyes and prayed.

Adaloun was taken aback, "What do you mean by that?" He asked but the girl just kept on screaming. He tried to grab the girl, but something happened. His hand passed through her body.

"What's going on?" He looked at his hands. He could see them clearly, but when he tried to touch her hand, it just passed through.

He saw a book on the same table where he found the cloak. He tried grabbing the book and was able to. Adaloun thought he was dreaming. He tried picking up the hand of the unconscious redhead and he was able to. But the more he did that, the more the young girl screamed in terror. She would close her eyes every now and again; praying whoever it was in front of her would vanish.

"W-where are you?!" The girl asked him. "I…I-I'm n-not af…afraid of you!" Her voice cracked.

He was just standing in front of her, but it seemed like she never noticed him there. Judging from the girl's fearful expression, she seemed to be telling the truth—the terrifying truth. She looked around as if trying to feel where he went. Her bloodshot eyes twitched as she looked around quivering in pain and in fear.

"I'm right here!" He shouted. "Young girl, please relax!" But the girl never seemed to notice him or hear him.

It was only when he grabbed another book when the girl reacted in fear. "Wwho aaare you? S-stay away!" She crawled towards her uncle, trying to look for some solace, even at the hands of her abuser.

Adaloun was confused and tried to look for some answers. He saw a small glass mirror mounted on the wall. He looked at himself and saw no reflection on it. His jaw dropped along with the book in shock of what he just witnessed.

He looked at the girl once again who shrieked at the sight of the dropping book. Slowly, he moved closer to the mirror hoping to find some answers to the mystery. Suddenly a face formed in the mirror. It wasn't his face, rather it was of someone he recently met.

The menacing grin, the slitted eyes, and the grossly growing horn on its forehead surprised him so much that he broke the mirror with a swing of his sword.

The little girl finally fainted. Unfortunately, her frail body had given up to the pain and madness she had just experienced. Adaloun was quick enough and tried to catch her head before it hit the floor, but his hand just passed through it.

The poor girl, on top of being flogged and mentally tortured by the experience, hit her head on the floor and there was nothing that Adaloun could do to stop it. He watched as blood gushed out from a small cut on her left eyebrow.

He tried his best to lift her, but there was nothing he could do. His body couldn't do it. Some wicked spell was hindering him from helping her. He gnashed his teeth in frustration.

"Aaaareeeellliiiiinnnnnn…." The lights suddenly went out and a sudden coldness filled the air.

He felt it again, the dreadful feeling he experienced when he dealt with the Obscurii on their first encounter! He looked around and saw nothing but the darkness of the room. He began to sweat, and his mouth ran dry.

"This feeling, this aura…" Adaloun calmed himself down and readied himself for what was to come next.

A pale green glow lit up the room. The ethereal light was followed by a thick cloak of fog that crawled from the corners of the room. The door violently opened and a spectre came hovering towards him. Adaloun covered the girl with a cloak immediately and stood up to face the ghost.

He looked at the spectre's gaping eyes and waited for it to move closer to him, but it didn't. Instead, it smiled to him before opening its wide jaw unleashing a swarm of dark insects he had never seen before.

The insects stung him as he tried to fend them off using his blade. It wasn't causing any damage at all. The little bugs would just swerve away from the incoming gladius, even if he tried it was too agile to be hit.

Adaloun was left with no choice. He had to use his abilities or else, it might go worst for all of them, especially because, the bugs seemed to prick and bore into his flesh. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

His body began to glow all of the sudden. The exousia pathway formed beautiful patterns of glowing swirls and lines on his skin. His eyes glowed a pale shade of blue as his power grew inside of him tenfold.

With his powers awakened, he emitted a ring of light in his radius. The halo of warm light instantly killed the insects while it blinded the spectre. Seeing this opportunity, he lunged at it and tried slashing it in half. The blade hit the spectre and instantly vaporized it.

The apparition faded along with the green-tinged glow and fog, but something was still not right. Adaloun was still on the defensive. The last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard. A voice broke the temporary silence with its screeching laugh.

"HAHAHAHAHA! Very good! You're more impressive than what my Lord has told me!" A shadow walked into the room. "I would've liked to do some more trials, but my Lord already had enough of waiting!"

The shadow suddenly sprung in front of him, baring its sharp white teeth while looking at him dead in the eyes with its glowing red eyes. Even with Adaloun's fast reflexes, the shadow caught his blade-wielding hand by the wrist and immobilized him.

"Come, follow me, please." It screeched like two metal sheets rubbing each other. "My Lord won't take no for an answer."