I was now just little more than a carcass. Death would have been a far more preferable option than holding on even one single second in this state. And yet, against all odds and even logic itself, I was still alive. And I spoke.

"W-why," I managed to ask, my voice almost inaudible.

Tobias sat beside me, entering my clouded field of vision. Then, with an unfocused gaze, he opened his mouth.

"A great battle is on the horizon and you are already part of it. I wish to give you a fighting chance. Prove yourself in a year’s time, or perish. You are now forced to accomplish either one"

After having spoken these words he stood up and left the building. Soon after he returned with a guard in tow. My weakened eyes wouldn’t allow me to make out their appearance.

"Bring him outside the Perimeter and leave him there. Feed him regularly. These are my orders," Tobias said.

The guard didn’t respond verbally, but immediately picked me up and started to walk outside of the building. Before we left I opened my mouth, my words resounding strangely crystalline, despite the state I was currently in.

"I promise you three things. First: I will return. Second: Someday, I will take one of your arms. And the third:"

At this moment, my voice became incredibly threatening.

"If you hurt Faye, I will take your head, your daughter’s head and the head of every single person of your clan"

"She looks like my daughter and her talents will prove useful in the upcoming war. I will raise and protect her, you have my word"

With this last bit of reassurance, I was dragged outside of the house. Once we stepped outside a barely audible “Dad!” coming from a familiar female voice reached me. It was probably an alarmed Lily, trying to make sense of the situation by searching for an explanation from her father.

After some time, I saw the obsidian pillars pass by. My skin, eyes and the inside of my lungs began to itch painfully. Now, not only I didn’t have the means or the strength to fight it off, I wasn’t even capable of seeing the mana that was slowly corroding me.

In the end, I was left on the cold hard ground. The guard didn’t speak a single word and simply left, leaving me here stranded lying supine on the ground, alone. I was now a trunk with a head and no limbs, full of injuries and unable to move around. It was basically a death sentence.

Despite everything, of the pain and the violence and the suddenness of all this, I could still make out its logic. Tobias had done all of this to me to keep me fixed in place, away from the protection offered by the Perimeter. After all, facing death while being exposed to mana was the only known way for a normal human to transition. He had destroyed my compromised foundation and now wanted me to rebuild it from scratch.

I could understand his reasoning, but I still couldn’t help but feel unrestrained hatred for Tobias. He spoke of a great battle and war, probably referencing the future war between archumans and geogenais which would sweep the world, but I couldn’t understand what that had to do with him basically dooming me to almost certain death.

The worst thing of all was that from his tone of voice and his words it seemed like he was doing the right thing, and that made me hate him even more.

Soon enough I felt my eyelids grow weary. I wanted to close my eyes but I knew that had I surrendered to that impulse, I wouldn’t wake up anymore. So, at death’s door, I forced myself to stay awake. The pain and sorrow made me immediately regret my decision, but I still held on to my resolve of staying alive and delivering retribution to Tobias.

The next morning two guards came. I could distinguish their features, but from their squeals, they seemed surprised to see me still alive. They helped me up and gave me food and water, which I mechanically ingurgitated, unable to savour them. Once they had finished feeding me they left.

The conditions were incredibly harsh. My reopened past injuries weren’t bleeding anymore, but my skin was slowly receding due to mana corrosion. I also felt my mind grow more and more numb with the passing of time. I tried to employ my brain as little as possible so that I would give fewer thoughts for mana to consume and I could save some more time.

My only objective, for now, was to survive at all costs, hoping that I would soon re-awaken to superhuman status. This body had already reached that state, so I saw no reason why it couldn’t do it again.

The days passed and I grew weaker and weaker. I got used to tiredness and pain. The only thing I could feel anymore was puzzlement, shared with all those people who came to take care of me day after day. I was an unrecognisable human junk, but somehow I was still breathing. This should have been impossible and yet it was happening.

I started to ponder, completely disregarding the danger of mana consuming what remained of my intelligence. The only thing keeping me going was my refusal to die, but it wasn’t like I was actually doing anything to prevent it from happening. Every time I felt like the end was near, I braced myself and somehow got through it, gaining another single day and struggling for even another single minute.

For some time I started to believe that I had become immortal, but I soon disillusioned myself. With each passing second, I could feel death approaching me. I was simply delaying it through some unknown means. I was also pretty sure I had not returned to being an arch, as I could still feel the mana try to dig into my flesh.

Strangely enough, even my decay had basically come to a stop. I could feel mana prickling my exposed muscles and bones, but they weren’t yielding to the attacks of the aggressor.

This status quo was maintained for quite some time, but with the passing time my senses were growing considerably and even my hate had begun to sizzle out. After all, you could hold on to your hatred only for so long when you were basically dealing with the grim reaper on a daily basis. Even my resolute refusal to die had mutated into a simplified ‘No, thank you,’ every time I felt my heart coming to a halt.

I had become mostly blind, I couldn’t hear anything anymore and my surface nerves were completely unresponsive, so I was completely isolated from the outside world. I had begun going through my memories, trying to find an explanation or a solution to my predicament.