Danso woke up with his back on the floor. His head started aching as if all the thoughts of every single person in the world were being stuffed into his brain. It hurt him. Danso groaned and fell to the floor. He tried to get up, but he wasn't successful. He knew if he was even a minute late, his friends could be in a horrible situation. After all, he completed the trial just to have a chance to save his friends.
Suddenly, voices started being heard in Danso's mind. Words accompanied by memories started to fill his brain. Tears ran out of Danso's eyes. How painful were these memories? Whose memories were these? The answer to those would be found by quickly scanning the new information he had gained.
In an era in the distant past, there was a kingdom. Its name was Yukrich. The kingdom had a king, a queen, and two dukes who would fight for the throne. At birth, one of the dukes was exiled from the castle due to the king having an affair with a farmer in the poverty-stricken district of Xaxeilous. The exiled child was born with blonde hair like the father and green eyes like the mother. He was named after his father, Vegiatous I, so his name was Vegiatous II. As a child, he learnt to live with the struggles of the lower class of the kingdom. His mother was caring and gentle, but her existence could disrupt the entire kingdom. Therefore, one day Queen Pixilia ordered the execution of Vegiatous II's mother, Sarah Emrolo. One cold, rainy night, I went to Sarah's house. They both were talking at the dinner table with Vegiatous II fast asleep.
Vegiatous, I looked like a strong man, a perfect warrior with blond hair and black eyes, while Sarah looked the opposite. She looked like a fragile human whose touch was gentle and could change the cursed hearts of criminals to pure, innocent souls. She was fair with long green hair with green eyes. They were both contrasts of each other.
"So why did you come to see me?" asked Sarah.
"Isn't it obvious?" replied Vegiatous I.
"If you are here to kill our child, I cannot permit such tragedies to occur," said Sarah, turning that gentle smile into a cold, threatening look.
"What do you expect me to do? If Pixilia finds out, she will burn the whole kingdom," stated Vegiatous.
"Who did you love first? Me or her?" asked Sarah.
"I never loved her, I was forced to by the kingdom's rules," replied Vegiatous I.
"Then this child is proof of true love, isn't it?" said Sarah.
"I don't know what to do," said Vegiatous I.
"Instead of our child, kill me," said Sarah boldly.
"How could I?" stuttered Vegiatous I.
Sarah patted Vegiatous I's head and ruffled his hair. Then she smiled and said, "As long as you take care of the child, I am fine with death."
Vegiatous, I cried as he stabbed Sarah with the knife. Blood leaked from her stomach, covering the knife and the floor in a dark, marooned red. Vegiatous II woke up from Vegiatous I's crying and came downstairs. The child was a mix of both of them and ran towards his mother.
Vegiatous II started screaming and crying but Vegiatous I made him faint with a sleeping spell and mouthed the words 'I am sorry' before leaving him and the lifeless body of Sarah on the floor. To further protect this secret Pixilia framed the murder of Sarah on Vegiatous II and he was treated as a disease in the village for the rest of his childhood.
That same day, Vegiatous I had disappeared and was never found in ten years. Even though there were many search parties, the king was never found, and he was assumed dead. To further hide the issue, Pixilia blamed Vegiatous II yet again, claiming that he was mentally insane. When Vegiatous II reached eighteen years old, Pixilia ordered a public execution for him to pay for his crimes he did not commit. Vegiatous II cried to himself every night. Thoughts were spiralling in his head. 'Why always me?' 'I should die' was the common thought he had.
On the day of the execution, Vegiatous II stood on the platform while many people cheered as Pixilia walked onto the stage. She quickly ordered the guillotine to chop Vegiatous II's head off. The guillotine went down. It slipped and rushed down following gravity.
The negative thoughts in Vegiatous II's head quickly left him. 'I don't want to die,' cried Vegiatous II. Yet, it was too late. Suddenly, a green slimy creature appeared on top of his head and stopped the guillotine from executing Vegiatous II. The entire crowd started booing, and some were even shocked. Out of nowhere, a mysterious man appeared and took Vegiatous II away. Vegiatous II squealed and tried to get rid of the man's grasp, but couldn't.
"Look, kid, I just saved you here, so be grateful," said the man.
Vegiatous II said nothing. Deep down, he was happy and ecstatic. That day, he learnt the value of life. The man continued to speak.
"What's your name?" asked the man.
"My name is Vegiatous II," said Vegiatous II.
"You have no last name?" questioned the man.
"My father left as a child, and my mother died when I was young," said Vegiatous II.
"Looks like you've been through a lot," said the man pitifully.
"Who are you?" asked Vegiatous II.
"I am the Ruler of the Soul Slime," said the man.
"You mean the soul beasts that were appearing more and more frequently in the kingdom?" said Vegiatous II.
"Correct! As a child, you intrigued me; therefore, I followed your journey," said the man.
"Why didn't you do anything?" asked Vegiatous II.
"What do you mean?" replied the man.
"You watched my life and saw how painful it was…Why didn't you help me?" screamed Vegiatous II.
"Explain to me one thing, what is your goal in life?" asked the man.
Vegiatous II thought and thought and eventually reached his conclusion. His eyes lit up like the plasma and fire on the sun.
"I want to become so strong no one can treat me like a pest," said Vegiatous II.
"If I had interfered in your life, you would not be a man seeking strength, right? After all, you would be a weak dependent human being with no sense of pain if I had interfered," said the man.
Vegiatous II instantly shut up and neither of them spoke for the entirety of the trip. Eventually, they reached their destination. A city that was made of emeralds. A city in which Soul Slime lives in harmony with the nature surrounding it. The man made Vegiatous II get introduced to a weapons master, Xyric. He also introduced him to a housekeeper, and in that house, Vegiatous would live. The next day, the man made Vegiatous II wake up in the early morning when the sun was just rising. Vegiatous II groaned and woke up.
"What is it?" asked Vegiatous II.
"Didn't you want to be stronger?" asked the man.
"Of course, but what does it have to do with waking up early?" asked Vegiatous II.
"It builds discipline. Now go and start training under Xyric. He will teach you the way of sorcery," said the man.
Over the next years, Vegiatous II trained under Xyric and sparred regularly with the man. Xyric treated Vegiatous II as his son, and the Soul Slime accepted him as one of theirs. However, the only thing on Vegiatous II's mind was the identity of the man. It had been three years, and he still did not know. Eventually, he asked Xyric.
"Sir, I have a question to ask you," said Vegiatous II.
"Yes, Vegiatous, ask me anything," replied Xyric.
"It has been three years and I still do not know who 'the man' or the Ruler of the Soul Slime is," said Vegiatous II.
"Even I do not possess the answer to that question," Xyric replied abruptly.
After a week, a human wandered into the woods and found the Emerald City (The land of the Soul Slime). The human instantly escaped and reported this discovery to the queen of Yukrich, or Pixilia. Pixilia started invading the Emerald City. Then the man had to sacrifice himself to save the city and drive the forces of Yukrich out of the city. Vegiatous used his first stage of sorcery to beat multiple of the army generals in a long and death-infested fight.
The man on his deathbed told Vegiatous one thing.
"Vegiatous II found Xyric and asked him to tell you everything," said the man.
Vegiatous II mourned the man's death and confronted Xryic.
"Who was the man?" asked Vegiatous II.
"He was your father," replied Xyric.
Vegiatous II's heart stopped. The words lingered in the air for a long time, and eventually Xyric broke the silence.
"He was the King of Yukrich, and he was a Soul Slime," said Xyric.
"What?" replied Vegiatous II.
"He left the kingdom for his homeland, and he could not see his son because he was ashamed of himself. He killed your mother because Pixilia ordered him to, yet he never forgot you. Your mother was the first person Vegiatous I loved truly, he was forced to marry Pixilia to create a treaty between the two kingdoms," said Xyric.
Pixilia, Pixilia, Pixilia. This name rang in Vegiatous II's mind. He wanted to make her pay in a way even she would not be able to recover from. Vegiatous II quickly became the new Ruler of the Soul Slime and attacked the Kingdom of Yukrich. He killed Pixilia by using a guillotine and came back to the kingdom all bloody. Was this what he wanted? Murder and guilt lingered in the rest of his life. Vegiatous II wanted to keep the city safe, to ensure that he sealed the city and sealed his soul, waiting for someone to find his tomb and pass the trial of the Ruler of the Soul Slime.