“F..Father..?...you...” Zilan’s eyes instantly turned red with fury and just like a cornered beast with no care for his own well being, he desperately lunged towards Hertic. Bashing his head as well as pushing his entire body weight against the steel bars.

He then fit his slender arm through one of the gaps, as he tried to reach for the glass boxes.

“FATHER! FATHER!....” Almost like it was the only word he knew, Zilan continued to shout out for his father.

“You’re too noisy! I may not be as strong as Jibral but if I let a cripple like you touch me, then I might as well just commit suicide.”

When he finished speaking, a dark green aura exploded out of Hertic, effectively blasting Zilan’s small frame all the way to the opposite side of the cage. It then pushed him down, denying him any movement whatsoever.

“It really is bothersome, trying to control my strength. If I use even a little more force, you’ll probably die.” sighed Hertic, seeming genuinely troubled.

“Now then, what was I saying. Ah! I was about tell you about yourself and how I got this eye. You should know that there are less than ten people who know the true story, everyone else only have access to the lies I came up with..hehe.

The real story is much, much more interesting. Not even, One,Two or Three know the truth. Then again, they are just foolish, insignificant pets. You on the other hand are a game changer! Plus you’ve already paid a significant fee.” He flaunted Velman’s eyes once again when he said those final words.

Zilan tried to speak however, due to the pressure from Hertic’s aura even opening his mouth proved to be an impossible task. All he could do was furiously glare and make painful grunting noises as he prayed that the man in front of him would just burst into flames.

“There’s another reason I’m telling you this tale, but I think I’ll hold onto it until after I’m done.” laughed Hertic.

“Ok, lets start at the very beginning. You, Zero are not human! As far as we know, the scorched race originate from the Universe itself and thus can be classified as one of the “higher” beings.” He smirked as he said the words “higher being”.

“You should already know how great the abilities of your people are however unfortunately, you were created during a time when the Heavens ruled all. Spiritual power had already seeped across all the planes, giving the Heavens the ability to regulate everything from the weather to matters of life and death.”

.........

“After Zaum’s death, tens of Deities fought over his eyes which had the power to open the scorched gates. A certain powerful God, emerged victorious and managed to attain one while the other was regrettably destroyed. He then later went on to ascend to a level that I can only imagine.

What happened to the other Deities, you ask? Well, of course they went searching for Zaum’s descendants in hopes of attaining the eyes of the scorched. Luckily, our creator was the first to discover them.” Hertic’s face was filled with immense pride as he continued.

“He was travelling in the void, when he suddenly came across a world that had humans living on it. Strangely though, there were no records of any Gods visiting such a place and creating humans. So he searched, only to find the treasure of dreams. Zaum’s descendants.”

“Admirably, he didn’t kill them immediately instead he settled down and starting moulding the world. First by evolving the humans in his almighty image, then crafting the mountains and seas as well as adding other various special features. Then he founded our Order with the sole purpose of carrying out his and Heavens will.”

“By doing all that, the other Deities would not suspect him and he could monitor his treasure. As for us, our first mission was to make contact with the descendants of Zaum and work out a deal.”

“Things however, did not go as planned. Their leader at the time was your Ancestor and he refused to comply with our terms, opting to cut ties with those who wished to side with us. He escaped with only three people with him but little did we know that they were the true descendants of Zaum.

Naturally, our Order hunted them but as soon as they left the main group all four of them just vanished without a trace. Our God, Mungu personally searched every corner of this world yet still found nothing. It was only after questioning the remaining trash bloodline that decided to stay, did we find out about the Book of Path and its mysteries.”

“Even with that failure though, we still succeeded in creating a rather fruitful farm with the remaining trash bloodline. After a few thousand years, we had harvested three pairs of scorched eyes. Of course, all of them were only five star gems but still if other powers found out about such wealth, it would most likely lead to the destruction of our world. Not to even mention four star gems like your fathers or three star gems like yours.” Laughed Hertic.

Every time his father’s eyes were mentioned, blood would rise up towards Zilan’s throat.

“With the passing of time, we also managed to understand how to use the eyes and even how to transplant them. You see, the scorched eyes cannot function unless powered by the Universe’s energy however we mere humans are not capable of containing such pure energy in our bodies in large quantities like your race. So after years of experimentation, Mungu designed this glass container that could absorb the Universe’s energy and then charge the eyes. So all I would need to do...”

Hertic suddenly plucked out his eye ball, blood dripping from the socket. He then opened up one of the glass boxes, took out one of Velman’s eyes and then pushed it into his empty eye socket. After a few seconds of closing the eye, his eyelids suddenly parted revealing an extremely blood shot yet perfectly functioning eye.

“Just like this. Fully charged and ready to be used!”

Four stars appeared in his eyes as a look of both wonder and delight graced his face.

“Interesting. Hmm... Is there something you wish to say?”

“I..I’ll...KK..KiLL ..y.you!” growled Zilan as his nails dug into his clenched palm.

“Ha! You’d be surprised to know that you’re already the fourth member of your family to make that same threat. Which brings me to the part of the story that I hate the most.”

“Word of the direct line of Zaum that had disappeared long ago had already seized. For thousands of years your family kept silent, little did we know that they were just biding their time.

Mungu had been gone for quite some time as he went to recover from the injuries inflicted by the Beast King. It was at this time when we were at our weakest that the attacks from your Great Grandfather and your Grandfather started.”

Hertic’s voice grew icy as he continued the narration.

“The conclusion we had arrived at after examining those of the trash bloodline was that the scorched were a race that resembled an eagle that could fly higher than any creature in existence and could spot its prey from far away. However these eagles had no claws to shred their prey with, nor did they have sharp beaks to pierce and attack them with either. Useless predators!”

“But the arrival of your Great Grandfather and Grandfather changed that perception completely. We had underestimated the threat of their overwhelming knowledge and undying will. Your Grandfather especially, he had traversed the path of ascending the Heavens and somehow had reached a realm that had even surpassed the soul-compression stage. That should not have been possible, the restrictions of the Universe should have not allowed that and yet it happened.”

“If not for the sacrifices we made, our entire Order would have been wiped out in the span of a week by those two Monsters.”