Leaving Silas in the midst of his pointless sales pitch, I ventured deeper into the building.

With every step, the strange pull within me grew more distinct.

The feigned luxury and perfumed air of the upper floors faded, giving way to something older, more primal.

It was like the ache of a thorn sinking into my heart; an echo of an ancient void in my soul, one I had forgotten for centuries.

That feeling, now heavier than ever, guided me.

It led me to a section of the building hidden from normal customers, to a simple iron door that opened to the ground floor.

A lone guard stood before it, his drowsy eyes scanning the surroundings.

Bypassing him was child's play.

I blended into the surrounding shadows like a whisper, my presence all but erased, and slipped past him like a breeze and through the door.

The ground floor stood in stark contrast to the garish brightness of the floor above.

The pitch-darkness was broken only by a few light crystals set into the walls every few meters, emitting a smoldering, faint glow.

The air hung heavy with the stench of mold, despair, and long-unwashed bodies.

On either side of the dim corridor that stretched before me were numerous iron doors sealed with complex runes.

Each door likely housed the establishment's most "problematic" or "valuable" slaves.

I continued down the dimly lit corridor.

All these sealed doors were meaningless to me.

The faint signs of life or waves of despair emanating from them were nothing compared to the powerful pull from within.

What called to me was a single room at the very end of the corridor.

With every step, it felt as if the indescribable longing in my heart grew, as if I were about to be reunited with a part of myself I had lost for centuries, a part whose very existence I had forgotten.

When I reached the end of the hall, I stood before a smaller door, covered in runes far more dense and intricate than the others.

Its size was deceptive; its protections were clearly formidable.

The pull from within was so intense it felt like a physical force, drawing me toward it.

There was no doubt.

What I was looking for was behind this door.

I hesitated for a moment.

The logical part of my mind screamed danger.

I didn't know what awaited me. Perhaps it was a cruel game played by the Crown of Madness or that damned Goddess.

I should stay away from this room. My reason commanded it.

But I felt that if I didn't open this door, if I didn't see what was behind it, I would carry the regret for the rest of my life.

My decision was made.

I placed my hand on the cold iron door, its runes humming faintly.

I unleashed the pure, uncontrolled energy that could unmake the universe itself—the Chaos Flames.

The ancient runes on the door and the thick iron beneath them vanished silently into nothingness in mere seconds.

No smoke, no sound, no flash of light. Just a pure void.

As if the door had never been there at all.

I stepped through the empty space where the door had been.

The room was almost entirely bare.

Only in the center, on a pedestal raised slightly from the floor, sat a glass cage about thirty to forty centimeters in size, covered in yet more runes and emitting a hypnotic green light.

I walked towards the cage.

With each step, I felt my breath catch. My heart hammered against my ribs.

Inside the cage was not some monster that could pose a threat to me. Quite the opposite... it was a tiny, defenseless girl.

She was no more than fifteen centimeters tall.

She must have been a pixie, but the delicate wings that should have been on her back were gone. Most likely, they had been cut off by those wretched merchants. Pixie wings fetched a high price on the black market due to their rarity.

From amidst her lush, forest-green hair, a pair of small horns, like elegant deer antlers, emerged.

Her emerald-green eyes, however, were looking directly at me. They were trembling, bearing the marks of her suffering and the tears she had shed.

In that moment... something indescribable, something I had never felt before, happened in my heart.

My throat went dry. I wanted to speak, but no sound came out. My breathing grew strangely rapid, then slow.

Before I could understand what was happening, I felt a warm liquid stream from my right eye. I raised my hand and touched the single tear rolling down my cheek.

Why... why was I crying?

Why was I feeling these things for this tiny creature before me?

Suddenly, a pure, unadulterated hatred for everyone who had caused her this pain, who had locked her in this cage, began to course through my veins.

I wanted to burn them alive, to tear them limb from limb, to listen to their screams.

Were these truly my own emotions? I doubted it.

These feelings were at once as profound as if they were my own, and yet as strange and uncontrollable as if they belonged to a stranger.

The little girl inside the cage placed her tiny hand on the glass.

As if mesmerized, I reached out and placed my own hand over hers.

At that very moment, the entrance door to the ground floor burst open.

Silas's furious voice and the thunderous footsteps of the several merchants and guards he brought with him echoed down the corridor.

They stormed into the room where I stood.

Their weapons, arrows, and spells were aimed at me.

Silas's face was contorted with hatred. "Sir! Is there a reason you have trespassed into an area containing our private property and, on top of that, damaged our building? If not... we will have to declare you a thief and kill you right here!"

My mind was clouded with the alien yet powerful rage I was feeling.

Their words, their threats... they were all a meaningless buzz.

I didn't answer.

The only thing I gave was pure, unadulterated violence.

Two sharp lances of ice erupted from the floor, piercing through the hearts of the two merchants beside Silas.

The men stared in shock at the blood gushing from their chests before collapsing lifelessly to the ground.

The guards panicked for a moment in fear and shock, then charged at me with a roar.

I didn't even move as their swords swung toward me.

Before either of them could reach me, they were struck by chains of Chaos Flames that erupted from the floor. The chains coiled around their bodies like serpents, melting their armor and corroding their skin like acid.

The men fell to the ground, writhing in agony.

A mage in the back of the room came to his senses and sent a sharp blade of wind at me, backing it up with a volley of fireballs. Next to him, a larger guard, having barely shattered the chains that came for him, charged at me with a massive axe.

The moment the mage's spell touched me, it was swallowed into nothingness by a shield of Chaos Flames that flared into existence around me.

As for the axe descending upon me, I shifted into my Stormheart mode.

My body and all my reflexes were instantly amplified many times over.

As the axe came down toward my neck, I deflected it with a simple movement of my hand. The large man was thrown off balance.

In that instant, I grabbed his thick neck and, with a single motion, twisted it completely around.

The sickening crack of breaking bone mixed with the screams in the room.

His head now faced his back.

His lifeless body crumpled to the floor.

In the next moment, I was behind the mage. I thrust my hand through his back and into his chest cavity. I seized his heart and ripped it out through the mangled flesh.

The still-beating heart pulsed once in my hand.

The mage collapsed, terror frozen in his eyes.

I walked slowly towards the two guards still writhing in the flaming chains.

They tried to scream in fear, but before they could even open their mouths, their lips were sealed by a suddenly formed sheet of ice.

I placed my index finger on each of their foreheads.

Into one, I channeled pure ice energy. The ice spread through the man's veins and flesh like a thorny vine, piercing his internal organs. His skin turned purple, and within seconds, he breathed his last in unimaginable agony.

Into the other, I channeled my lightning. The man was destroyed from the inside out, his veins bursting as his body convulsed and fell still.

Silas watched the entire massacre from where he stood, having pissed himself, his knees having given out.

He wondered what he had done to incur the wrath of such a monster.

When my gaze found him, he snapped back to his senses.

He scrambled on all fours towards the door, trying to escape. But the door wouldn't open. It was as if it were sealed by an invisible force.

Two black tendrils erupted from the floor, ensnaring Silas's feet and dragging him, screaming, back to my feet.

His time had come.

Silas tried to scream, but not a single sound escaped his throat.

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