Chapter 21 Becoming with pain

Chapter 21 Becoming with pain
Because the task and orders from the Codex required some form of sacrifice for it to be complete, Jorren had to sleep with his wounds on his thin pallet before treating it. It wasn’t a specific instruction from the Codex, but Jorren had already gotten used to the rhythm of the Codex.

The morning of the next day seemed eager to take over the day, but Jorren wasn’t eager to wake up. The weight of everything that had happened the night before hit him hard, and he wanted to be lost on his pallet. It wasn’t exactly comfortable for him, but compared to the pain he had to endure yesterday and the sacrifice he went through, he thought he could use the rest.

Until the Keeper tapped his staff against the floorboards harshly, forcing him out of the sleep weakness and making him sit up.

“You got a great deal of burn yesterday,” the keeper continued, his voice void of sympathy. “But I’ve prepared a bath for you with some minerals. It should help your body heal.”

With reluctance, Jorren got out of his bed and headed towards the basin at the back of the house. When he got close, he saw a green basin of water, and judging from the looks of it, he was supposed to be immersed in it.

Jorren looked at the Keepe beside him and the old man nodded. Then Jorren striped down to his pants and got in.

As he dipped himself into the water, his skin exploded into a frenzy of pain more harsher that what he felt last night. He gritted his teeth as his heart grew exhausted, abut he stayed put, closing his eyes, imagining the fire from the palm of Epaphras.

“This bath will not just heal your skin,” the Keeper said. “But it will intergrate with the new nature of your soul to strengthen your skin. Your skin will be able to withstand the blast of any kind of essence, and all you have to do is absorb and convert.”

Jorren thought that for every progress he made with his fractured soul, the codex required a higher sacrifice than the other. He had accepted it though. It was better than being known as the boy who broke the soulwell and is treated with plain disgust. 

Because of the Ascension, he was a variable now, a wrong equation interrupting the existence of the system. He wasn’t just a tier zero practitioner now. He was the shadow the system didn’t know existed. He didn’t depend on the system to survive. He didn’t have to. 

The pain around him was so much that it consumed his senses, overpowering him and making him weak. He tried to distract his mind from the pain, but it was impossible. When he attempted to cry out, a gurgle came from the water.

“Do not try to resist the pain,” the keeper growled as he noticed his figure trashing slowly in the water. “Become one with the pain. You are a negative resonance. Each time you try to fight off the negative, you will fail. You must become one with the negative force around you.”

Slowly, Jorren relaxed, letting himself free and embracing the pain around him. For a brief moment, he felt like his heart would explode, but he held on. The pain pushed against his will and his resolve, threatening to shatter him. But Jorren was ready.

Then slowly, the pain morphed to something else. At first, it felt like a million needles pressed against every single part of his skin at once, then it evolved, the pain reducing to a soft cushion of hard sand against his skin. When he could no longer feel the pain anymore, he pulled his head out of the water, gasping.

Before him, the Keeper stood with a small mirror, giving Jorren a chance to look at his reflection. The black patches and char on his skin had totally disappeared. His skin looked too polished, almost akin to a smooth marble like surface. 

Jorren pulled the rest of this body out of the water and pulled a towel from the rack closest to him. 

Away from him, in his corner in the room, the codex glowed. Jorren was about to walk towards it when the Keeper obstructed him by pushng the staff against his torso. He turned to the Keeper.

“Not the book,” he said. “Your arm.”

Jorren looked at his arm. The mark on his arm that glowed the other night was still luminescent, but not by much. It was at this point that he realized that the burning sensation in the area of the mark had significantly reduced by half.

He flexed his arm, then looked up at the Keeper.

A faint ghost of a smile crossed the Keeper’s face, almost invisible that Jorren almost missed it. 

“You are making progress,” he said. “And soon, you’ll become fully so in charge of your life that you’ll become an  opposite side of the system. You’ll be so attached to it that an attempt to severe you from the system will ruin the system.”

Jorren didn’t nod. He didn’t smile. His mind went back to the words the Keeper used while he was in the water.

Become one with the pain…

“Does that mean I feed from the system’s resistance,” he asked. 

“Yes and no,” the keeper replied. “But you need not bother yourself about those questions about the system resistance. You will know in due time.”

Jorren nodded.

“You should rest and eat,” the Keeper said and headed towards the door. “And if you need to take a walk, keep your head down. I’m sure you have caused a lot of roars at the lower tier enough to make the Evaulation Spire launch an investigation on you.

As the Keeper made an end of speaking, he walked through the front door and down the streets. 

Jorren stood glued in one position, wondering whether to spend the day lying down or taking a walk down the lower tiers to see Solaria. He still had a lot of questions that needed answers, but there was also a strong need for him to keep his head low. He decided against reaching out for Solaria yet.