Chapter 71: Adversity
In the darkness of Lucas's mind.
[Lucas, a powerful existence is coming for you, we should leave now...! Lucas can you hear me? We need to leave NOW! Lucas, stop ignoring me. I was just joking with you earlier but I'm serious now. We got to go! Lucas! Lucas! Lucas!... What, can't he hear me? LUCAS, LUCAS, LUCAS! I can't feel him anymore... He is still alive but I can't feel his consciousness. Where are you, Lucas? I don't like this darkness, it hurts.]
Suddenly light lit the place up and Thea could see Lucas. But the Lucas she was looking at was a younger version of himself. He didn't have dreads. He had a clean number one haircut. He was in a room with white walls crying on a single bed. It was the only bed in the small room. Looking at Lucas crying Thea felt like breaking down herself. Somehow she could feel everything he was feeling. It was an amalgamation of dreadful emotions. So like a ghost Thea floated towards the boy crying on his bed. She so badly wanted to console him but there were more pressing matters she needed to get across to him. So she reached for his shoulder trying to get his attention but like a spirit, her hand went right through him. Scrunching her face in frustration she tried again. But yet again her hand just slipped through. Once she saw this wasn't working she tried shouting again and waving her hands like a mad man trying to get his attention.
[ LUCAS! LUCAS! We need to leave! Trust me I know what you feeling. I feel it too. We can work on this later but it will be nothing if you die! We need to go!]
In the middle of Thea's plea for attention. The door in Lucas's room violently flung open smacking the wall and returning to close again. However, a hand stopped it before it closed completely. Slowly the door reopened. As the door got closer and closer to a 90-degree angle more and more of the person behind the door could be seen. When it was fully open Thea could see the person behind the door. This person was black and not black as in the race but just completely black. It just stood there under the bridge of the door. This person had no eyes, ears and no nose only arms, legs and a mouth. The only thing Thea could tell was that it was a female. Thea could tell by the curves of the outline.
As little Lucas gazed upon this person, Thea could feel his emotions raging even wilder. Little Lucas's pupils dilated. His heart began pounding so fast that it sounded like it was flatlining. Staring at this person little Lucas's cries grew louder. It seemed like Lucas knew who this person was. Little Lucas kept crying until the mouth of the person started moving.
" STOP CRYING or I'll give you a reason to cry. Ugh! I hate your guts you know that! I HATE YOUR GUTS! But I'll be free of you soon. The orphanage is full at the moment by they assured me you will be next."
Thea couldn't see her facial expressions. But her tone was enough. Thea had thought that it was over but then she saw the beings mouth curl up.
" And when you leave I can finally get out this Godforsaken country and marry the man I love."
When the being saw little Lucas had stopped crying she left.
When Thea saw the being leave she focused her attention on Lucas. She was really concerned because all the raging emotions from Lucas she felt moments ago were gone. They were not replaced, just gone. No rage, not hurt, just nothing. She looked at Lucas and saw him staring into space. His eyes looked lifeless, devoid of anything, soulless. Thea concentrated on Lucas and suddenly she saw a candle where Lucas's heart was. There was no flame, in fact, it was smouldering. The was wick was still red but it was losing colour, slowly. As she concentrated on this candle the room turned dark again and all Thea could see was this candle that was barely alive. Even Lucas disappeared.
Thea sat and watched this candle struggling to stay alight but losing colour slowly. Until something bizarre happened. At the candle, sparks were dancing around the wick. After two miss sparks, a small flame grew on the candle. When that happened the space brightened up from the candle outwards. Once it was big enough Lucas could be seen again. The candle was still burning where his heart was until it disappeared and the whole room lit up.
Looking around Thea saw that little Lucas was in a kitchen. He had a knife in his hands. She felt his heart was racing again. Holding the knife he cut into a potato. He was clearly unskilled and had no idea what he was doing. Until the lady next to him cutting up the tomatoes for what looked like a salad said.
" No, Lucas. You need to hold the knife like this... And your fingers should be like this otherwise you can really hurt yourself."
Little Lucas looked at the woman helping him and smile came upon his face. It was a smile Lucas hadn't made in a long time. Thea felt every bit of that emotion. Then Lucas took the knife and imitated her to the best of his abilities. He frowned when he saw his level was nowhere near hers.
The woman smiled brightly, " Don't let it get you. The only way you can get to my level is through practice."
Lucas nodded fervently and with determination in his eyes.
" That's the spirit. Because of that, you can have the big piece of chicken. If anyone complains they will have me to deal with." The woman said revealing smile.
Lucas smiled again revealing his bright white teeth. Then he focused on the potatoes that he still needed to cut. And then began cutting them up.
At this moment a cluster of boys Lucas's age and older swarmed in the kitchen. They were all protesting against the idea of Lucas getting the biggest piece of chicken.
" That's unfair!"
" I'm the oldest I always get it. It should be mine!"
" That's favouritism."
Twelve other boys protested. But all the complaints got shot down with one response.
" Lucas has been helping in the kitchen. What were you guys doing? Playing PlayStation, playing rugby?" As she said this the look on all the boy's faces turned glum as they looked at Lucas's smug smile.
The woman looked at their reactions she also saw little Lucas's reaction, " It's not easy to make a Sunday lunch for 13 boys. So, of course, I'm going to reward Lucas for wanting to help. But if you want a bigger piece of chicken. Then come help me in the kitchen." As she said that all the boys exited the kitchen. Getting a bigger piece of chicken wasn't worth working for it.
Once they left the lady looked at Lucas smiling and said, " Thank you for helping me out. I hope you will continue to help me until you old enough to leave this place."
Lucas looked at her with his eyes gleaming with hope then nodded his head. When he did the size of the flame increased again. It wasn't big but it was a lot more vibrant than before. There was will in the fire. As the fire increased the room became white again. In this white room, all you could see was a candle with a small flame floating in the air. After a while, the white light disappeared and now little Lucas was standing by the gate of the orphanage. He was standing in front of a red car. Inside the car was the woman who had taught him how to cook. There was a bunch of bags full of clothes and other items in her car.
The lady honked her horn at little Lucas trying to get him out of the way but little Lucas refused. He wasn't going to move. The only way out was through him. When the lady saw little Lucas was not going to move she climbed out of her car and walked to him. She got onto her knees and looked Lucas in the eyes.
" Lucas, I understand that you don't want me to leave but this is wrong. You can't force me to stay."
Little Lucas looked at her with determination in his eyes, " Then how do I get you to stay?"
She let out a long and painful sigh, " Unfortunately, I can't keep taking care of you boys it's sapping my vitality. I have to go."
Lucas's will began wavering and so did the flame in his heart. It was moving about like wind was blowing at it, " Then what about me? You said you would need my help until I left. I'M STILL HERE." Lucas said breaking down in tears.
At this moment the housemothers of other houses came out to see what was going. The lady then awkwardly smiled at them, " Nothing is going on. Just having a small argument."
Still, on her knees, she looked at Lucas and held his shoulder. Then she said in the most caring voice she could muster, " I understand but I'm not taking care of just you. You, I can handle, but your brothers. I just can't stay here anymore with them."
Still with tears streaming, " Then don't stay for them. Stay for me."
Seeing that this was going nowhere she stood up and then looked down at little Lucas, " Look, I love you just..."
At that moment Lucas understood. He realized that if he fought any longer it would leave a bad stain on their relationship. So he removed himself the gate. He took a few steps to the right and stood on the grass. Now the gate was wide open. The lady looked at little Lucas and saw the fire in his eyes was waning. So she tried to hold him but Lucas looked upwards and glared at her with the coldest eyes she had ever seen. Getting the shock of her life she quickly climbed in her car and drove away.
Lucas sighed and then mumbled, " I love you, just not enough right..."
At this moment the candle in his heart lost its fire and it smouldered again. The place went dark again and all you could see was the smouldering wick. This time the red glow was disappearing at a faster speed than before. Until again sparks could be seen. This time instead of taking two missed sparks to light the candle it took 4.
As the candle lit up the room Thea looked at Lucas. He was much older now. If before he was 12 now he was 14. Once she saw the difference in his age she looked around to see where he was. Thea saw that Lucas was in a park. The skies were blue, there were children playing around and laughing. The air smelled fresh and the birds were doing there courtship rituals chirping their love songs trying to woo their mates. In a sense, Lucas was doing the same. Next to him was a beautiful girl. She wasn't what society would call gorgeous but there was something about her that Lucas found irresistible. Lucas and she were sitting together on a blanket looking at the few clouds in the skies.
" What does it look like to you, the clouds?" Lucas said pointing upwards.
" Mmm, doesn't it look like a fish?" She said looking upwards.
Looking at her Lucas laughed but she wasn't looking at him. Lucas looked at her hair fluttering in the wind and boom his heart started beating. Looking at her it felt like everything was slow motion, " It does hey."
Still looking upwards she said, " You know with all the blue and small patches of white it kinda reminds me of that line, ' There is plenty of fish in the sea." Then she looked downwards at Lucas.
As she looked at him Lucas felt all his emotions rush at him like a gust of wind. Lucas took a deep breath, ' I am going to tell her.'
Lucas looked deep into her eyes, " But this one, this one is mine."
' Oooh dammit, I went and said it. Was that too cheesy?'
The girls cheeked turned red as she blushed. Then she quickly avoided eye contact with Lucas. A moment later, she innocently looked at Lucas. Looking straight into his eyes.
Suprised at her reaction, ' What is this? Was my advance well received?'
Lucas looked back into her eyes. They looked into each other's eyes.
' I'm going to do it!'
Lucas closed his eyes and leaned in for a kiss. As he did she did too. When their lips connected Fireworks exploded near the candle that was now burning brighter than ever. As the candlelight kept increasing in size the room went white again. Until the white disappeared. And Thea could see Lucas again.
He had aged now. He looked a lot more muscular than before. He looked around 15 years of age. Thea looked at the candle and just like she expected it was being blown by the wind. On the verge of being blown out. Lucas and his girlfriend the same girl from the park were in a heated argument. Thea had no idea where they were. It was just them two in a white room.
" I'm sorry it won't happen again!" The girl yelled.
" What do you mean AGAIN. It already happened."
"The previous incident meant nothing to me."
" You had SEX with another guy! You haven't even gone that far with me!"
" It meant nothing but you mean everything to me. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I promise it won't happen again."
Lucas took a deep breath and then breathed out heavily through his nose, " Fool me once, shame on you; Fool me twice, shame on me."
"Lucas! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" She pleaded.
"Just leave. Get out of my face! " Lucas said pointing to the door holding himself tightly with the other free arm.
Unwilling to leave she made another stand, " Lucas, please! I love you and only you."
After hearing those words something broke inside of him. He looked at her and was overcome by rage. He wanted to hurt her so badly. Not physically but he wanted to make sure she felt the entirety of what he was feeling. He looked at her with his eyes shifting between anger and coldness " You disgust me! Every part of my body is rejecting you. I'm so glad we never slept together. Truthfully, I was worried about getting another guy's sloppy seconds. But then again you were tainted from the beginning. You are sick. You are a liar. You disgust me... You know what get out my face. Just get out."
Listening to what Lucas was saying the girl broke down in tears. But her fire had yet to be extinguished so she tried to touch him. But Lucas jumped back and screamed, " Don't touch me!" Then he regained his calm and pointed to the door. She finally complied and left.
Once she was gone. Lucas fell down to the ground and just broke down. The more he cried the smaller the flame became. Until he stopped crying and the flame once again diffused. Leaving only smoke. The red glint was still there but it was disappearing even quicker now.
Thea watched the same thing happen over and over again. Another 12 times to be exact. It wasn't always mother figures that abandoned him or a girlfriend that betrayed him. Sometimes it was teachers at school. Or someone he thought he could confide in. Sometimes it was his fault for a relationship that went haywire. But the one thing Thea noticed was that the number of sparks needed to reignite the flame was increasing with every incident. She also realized that the people and places that weren't identifiable were people Lucas's brain was blocking. For they were painful memories that were so deep-rooted that Thea couldn't access them.
Lucas had been hurt so many times that after a while the wick stopped catching flame. The red glint was still there but no matter how many sparks popped around the flame, it wouldn't budge. Thea was getting worried because the only thing that was keeping the glint alive was the people Lucas thought of as brothers. Another contributor was a woman he called Tannie Estelle. The woman who fought for him and kept him inside the orphanage when he and his brothers came back drunk. But no matter their contributions the flame never lit up. To make matters Lucas left the orphanage, the place where his pillar of support was. But even if he was going to another city he could always call them. However, that was not how it went down. Before he could reach the other city he died. Then he got reincarnated to the new world. From this point, Thea knew what happened but she never understood. At this point in time, her system level was far to low to understand complex human emotions. So even though she knew what was going to happen, it was a fresh experience. Watching from a new perspective, Thea feared for Lucas even greater than before. For now, Lucas was in a whole new world. He could no longer call his pillars for support but to her surprise, Lucas seemed just fine. She surmised that because of all he has been through, he had learnt to adapt quickly. Hence the glint never died out but it never increased either. In fact, it was back to losing colour.
Then Lucas received the quest to save a girl. Thea remembered that quest, it was the only quest she did not give herself. This was a quest the God of the multiverse had said she had to give. Now that she had a clearer view she couldn't understand what the God of the multiverse was doing. Did he not realize all the pain, Lucas, had been through because of women? But of course, he did. Thea knew better than anyone how omnipotent he was, so there was no way he didn't know about Lucas's condition. But yet he sends a girl. Thea sighed and hoped that she doesn't destroy what is left of the glint in Lucas's heart. She had no idea what was going to happen if said glint would die out. Would he commit self-suicide? Would he become a serial killer? The possibilities were limitless but none of them were options she was looking forward to.
Thea watched Lucas save the girl and run off to the forest of Talem. But just like she had expected since her arrival. The glint was disappearing at a faster rate than before. Thea watched Lucas and Layla Palmer talking in the forest at night with the beautiful GFP ( glow in the dark) plants around them.
" So what you were like some kind of chef" She looked at his face to see his age again ' In training I presume." Layla Palmer said
" No. But I dabbled in a bit of cooking here and there. I needed something to impress..." Lucas immediately stopped speaking. He was afraid if he continued there would be a misunderstanding.
Thea remembered this conversation but now she understood it.
" Impress what?" Layla Palmer said despite seeing his reluctance to continue speaking.
" It's nothing..." 'By the way, I've been meaning to ask you. When we first saw each other you didn't even flinch. Are there black people in your world too?"
" O yeah, there is and a lot. My world had blue, black and white skinned people. And different colours on other planets. "
Amazed Lucas said, " Other planets? There were lifeforms on other planets?"
" Yeah, we had like 6 different planets that we could travel to at any time. There were more planets with intelligent species but they were much further away." Layla Palmer said nonchalantly.
Thea sighed when she saw how excited Lucas was getting with her. From Lucas's past relationships she realized that nothing bonds like common adversity. In her moment of grief, something bizarre happened. Something she hadn't seen in a while. A spark had reached the wick and a flame was burning. It only lasted five seconds but still, there was a flame. Thea's had never been so happy in her life. She couldn't believe it. There was a flame. But then it happened again while Layla Palmer was eating the braai meat for the first time. This time the flame lasted longer than before. It lasted the whole duration of her eating the food and then trying to act as if she did not like it at all.
Thea was ecstatic. She was really happy for Lucas. But when she came down from her high, she remembered what happened before. There had been other flames before and look how they turned out. It was because of them that Lucas was like this. Then she heard Lucas say.
"I don't know if you already know this but we won't always be together. As you already know, this world does not have any people with my skin colour. With that alone, I stand out. Truthfully, you are extremely beautiful and will gather much attention. This is the last thing I need right now... So you have two choices... Either go to the next kingdom. Join some Academy and have them train you in a class that you want to become...Option 2, is to train with me. Gain some sort of strength before entering the big bad world... So what option do you want to choose?"
Thea nodded her head at this decision. Clearly, Lucas is done with girls, his heart can't take any more disappointment. In fact, she had hoped that Layla Palmer had chosen option one, this way she would be out Lucas's hair as soon as possible. She wondered why he even gave her the option. But then again that was a quality that made her like her journey as Lucas's system. Even though she hated the word "system".
Thea continued to watch as Lucas and Layla Palmer kept training. She saw how invested Lucas was into making sure she was getting the best of the best. She saw how much joy Lucas got when Layla Palmer gobbled up the food he made. It was as if all the hours at the braai and being in the kitchen, mastering the arts of culinary were just so that Layla Palmer could eat good food. Every time Lucas saw her satisfied expression a flame would dance and then disappear. This kept happening over and over until one day the flame never died out. As Lucas kept training Layla Palmer, the flame never died. As they fought countless beasts, together or apart, the flame continued to burn. As they spared with each other, the flame continued to burn. As they fought and bickered with one another, the flame continued to burn. The flame never increased in size but the heat kept increasing. This was something she had never seen before. It was at this point that Thea accepted Layla Palmer. It was at this point that she understood why the God of the multiverse had sent her to him. She was crucial.
Then there was the time that Layla Palmer ate the apple of longevity. As the burning apple rid her of all her impurities her beauty skyrocketed. Even Thea as an A.I could tell just how attractive Layla Palmer was so Thea knew Lucas had to be feeling someway as he looked at Layla Palmer. But to her surprise, although his face said he was flustered his heart wasn't moved. Her increase in beauty did not make him like her any more than he already did.
But then Lucas went and said goodbye to her. Thea could not understand what hell he was doing. Well, she understood why but now she objected to the idea of them splitting. She tried to screaming telling him to change his mind. But of course, to no avail this was memories it wasn't time travel she couldn't change what already happened.
When Lucas left her the flame in his heart started losing its heat but it never died out. It burnt endlessly even till this day... As time passed it got colder but still alive.
Once all the memories had passed by. Once all the hurt had played out. The world went black and when the light returned Thea saw the current Lucas for the first time. She saw how he was swimming and trying to reach the top to get a breath of fresh air. She saw how the seaweed tangled him. While this was happening she shouting on the sideline trying to encourage him to keep fighting. Even though she knew, he couldn't hear her, she wasn't going to sit and do nothing. Then she saw him cut the seaweed and was swimming to the top. Thea cheered him on and then she saw the top disappearing. Her anger was evident in her voice. It was unfair. But she was happy to see Lucas hadn't given up as he kept swimming to the top. But it happened again, the top disappeared and he was down below. Despite that Lucas still kept trying to swim upwards. Until she saw his last moments where a lot of bubbles came out his mouth and his body was floating motionlessly in the water.
Thea screamed, [NO!] But then as if Lucas's consciousness had disappeared Thea got kicked out the world of Lucas's mind. She was now in a separate dimension. The same dimension she had always been in. Time flows differently in each dimension. It was then that she still realized that the demon was still on his way to kill Lucas. She realized that Lucas wasn't in any state to escape so she would have to do it for him. Without deliberation, she initiated the teleportation spell which would send him back to where he started it.
Berroth Zul'ras saw the white lights around Lucas and he knew that it was a teleportation spell.
" Oh no, you are not escaping from me. I'll make you pay for defiling my sister's body with those vile eyes of yours. I will make you beg for mercy and then I will deny you."
Berroth Zul'ras now ran at a faster speed than before. It was so fast that the trees around him couldn't withstand the wind he was generating; he was uprooting them while he got closer to Lucas. Then he protracted his dagger-like nails and jumped into the air.
Watching the demon get closer, [ C'mon, just a little more time before we disappear. I won't leave you to die Lucas! We can make it. We can make it. We can make it.]
Berroth Zul'ras saw the white light around Lucas and realized that he can't capture Lucas anymore. The teleportation was to fast. But if he switched from capture tactics to simply hurting him it would suffice. It wasn't what he wanted but it was better than nothing. So the demon sliced downwards at Lucas using his dagger-like nails. His nails made contact with Lucas's torso and left 5 deep wounds on it. But that was all he could do before Lucas disappeared.
Once Berroth Zul'ras landed on the ground he licked his nails clean of blood. Then he looked around at the environment and realised he had overdone it. Within 30 meters of himself, there was nothing absolutely nothing.
Then he returned to his sister and his servant.
" So where is the human? Aren't you going to take him to your torture room?" Janath Zul'ras said.
" He escaped... But I still got a clean cut on him. I could have killed him but that would take away from his suffering. He will never escape from my Demon King Eye's especially him. He has way too much darkness in his heart. Ugh! I was hoping to torment his physical body, mind and soul. It's not enough. But it will do. If I ever see him again, I will show no mercy." Berroth Zul'ras said.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Lazareth
Lazareth So I re-uploaded these chapters specifically for this chapter. In my next story, I'm trying to write an emotional story for my mc. I wrote this and I think it's pretty good but I'm not sure. What did you think? Did it make you feel some way or not at all?
Hope you understood the world-building.
— New chapter is coming soon — Write a review
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