Omega's Rebirth-Chapter 538: Shadow Tower ()

At this time of the day, shadow beasts prowled all about the dark lands and Azkar could hear their horrendous shrieks echoing from far in the distance.

Of course, while they lurked around Shadow Tower and the entirety of the dark lands, they would never dare venture into the Shadow Tower itself.

The gates were as far as they dared go, it was proof of just how intimidating the Shadow Tower had been in its day that the residues of its power were deterring even till this day.

Azkar walked at a slow pace, down the familiar path he had taken a million times in his childhood.

The cobbled pathway was no longer visible, now covered with layers and layers of dirt and shrub.

As Azkar walked, all he could see was the painful disparity between what he remembered from so long ago and what was before his eyes now.

The haunting silence that now rested over the towers.

Not everyone had been privileged enough to have known the Shadow Tower as Azkar did.

As loyal aides of the dark lord since their youth, Azkar’s parents had been renowned sorcerers, highly respected amongst his kind and Azkar had been brought up here, amongst the noblest of his kind.

Even so, Azkar remembered he had never inherited the excellence of his parents, much to their displeasure and the scorn of many of his kind.

Azkar had always been different, and never in a good way. Azkar was just less...less talented, less powerful, slower in understanding the arts, less brave, less convicted...

So much so that there was no hope Azkar would inherit his parent’s legacy, and Azkar had been reminded of it at every moment.

And so if there was one thing he could hardly forget even through his hazy memories, it was the feeling of his inadequacy ingrained into his mind.

That he was undeserving of the bloodline to which he had been born...

"But ultimately...there had been no one else..." Azkar murmured with a quiet chuckle. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

"You all died." He finished when his laughter died out, his tone reflecting a complicated and indecipherable emotion.

As one of the few who survived the massacre, Azkar had known the only reason he was able to hide amongst the humans for decades and conceal his existence was precisely because of his inadequacy.

Because his magical ability was so weak and insignificant back then, the dragons could not sense him, dark magic sensors forged by dragon loyalists had not even picked it up,

No one had taken notice of it and the few humans who had discovered the truth, they overlooked it because to them, Azkar could never be a threat.

Azkar had come to accept his inadequacy, it had saved his life, given him the chance to grow...grow into that threat they did not think he could become.

Azkar had eventually learnt it all by himself, it had taken almost a century to even be a quarter as good as his parents were, but time was a wonderful thing and with time, he had surpassed them all...

And centuries after, Azkar was now Lord of the Black Network, reviving the arts of black magic and he was amongst the greatest threats to the Stronghold and he had been for centuries already.

If the Shadow Tower still stood, Azkar knew he would have been worthy to stand amongst the most powerful dark sorcerers.

Yet with all his achievements, Azkar still could not find it in himself to hold his head up high here in Shadow Tower, he still could not shake off the feeling of inadequacy when he returned to his homeland,

For this reason, Azkar could count on one hand the times he had visited the Shadow Tower since the uprising.

The memories held in this place were bittersweet, not entirely horrible, but not without its own trauma.

This was the place Azkar had felt the most unworthy, yet it was the only place that could ever be home.

Azkar shook off his thoughts once again and decided to focus on the matters at hand. The sooner he could procure the item he had come for, the sooner he could be out of here.

Azkar had been walking for a while already and he stopped for a moment, his gaze roaming his surrounding.

Azkar had now arrived at the back courtyard of the tower where a large pond was and Azkar exhaled slowly as he set eyes on it.

Azkar walked slowly around the pond for a moment, mentally counting his steps and when he got to a spot, he stopped.

Crouching down, Azkar dusted off the dirt from the ground till a rune was revealed.

It was deeply engraved into the ground and had a faded red shade lining the outsides.

Every other water body, fountains and all else in the tower were dried up. This was the only water body that was still filled up,

But what it contained was not water, it was a strange liquid, almost a shimmering silver in colour but it had a different tint depending on the side one stood at.

Azkar slowly traced a finger over the rune, his flesh grating harshly against the hard surface that a trail of blood was left, drawing over the rune in blood.

When the rune was fully drawn out, Azkar retracted his hand and then he waited, studying the rune with a narrowed gaze.

A moment passed and nothing happened but Azkar did not relent,

This time, he pulled a small blade out of his belt and slit into his palm deeply, holding his bleeding palm over the rune.

Azkar let his blood drip down over the rune, the liquid trailing through the path created by the engraved rune.

Azkar’s gaze was fixed on the rune, his eyes narrowed in concentration as he squeezed his hand into a fist when the blood flow slowed, inciting another rush of blood to drip down on the rune.

"What are you going to do, Kaz? Drain yourself of blood?" A taunting voice sounded from behind Azkar, one he certainly had not been expecting.