The Sensation of Death

When Stigma suddenly fell ill, all the people present were alarmed. The guards who were changing shifts midway came to a halt when they heard Stigma hit his head.

Felix was nearest to him so he checked his conditions, frowning upon seeing his pale face and had a severe fever. He then checked his Zen energy and it was still fine, so he assumed it was due to physical health issues.

All cultivators develop a unique sense of discovering Zen energy as it was considered life energy for cultivators, so it was not difficult to tell if one was stronger or equal to the other. It can also tell if they are sick or not, they would have to see the Zen energy inside them if it changed erratically.

"Get Vepos here, now!"

"Here!" An elderly man with a medical kit came in and rush to Stigma's side and began his treatment.

Vepos was by far the weakest in terms of combat ability in the group. However, his position in the team was the second most important in the group, since he was one of the few healers in the Boars clan, an herbalist.

Most of the time he takes routine check ups to the teams physical health and reports Felix, since they were still suffering from minor paralysis that had not subsided. So when the time comes, they will always come and rely on him when they find any plants and medical journals.

After doing some basic checkups, he turned to Felix and gave a relaxed expression.

"He is suffering from a fever and appears to be exhausted, it must due to anemia..."

"...Is he going to be ok, Vepos?"

"...Applying some cold soaked in cold water should do and having him drink some liquids should help, along with him getting some proper sleep should do...but do you believe he was one of 'them'..."

All the men heard the story and how Stigma described his event and came with the same conclusion.

"It appears so, if he cannot remember his memories, then he must be... a 'war child'..."

War child, a term used to children being born during war or living in an environment that have experienced war, because of the severe living environment a child can get traumatized that they would forget themselves.

There were common after their constant war with the Phanter's since they have included their battle had been pushed through other areas that had villages, so it was no surprise to seeing one.

"...I think you are all already aware of this, but Stigma's carries no ill will towards us, but stay vigilant."

The guards all nodded. Stigma intentions was to get them to take residence here and also keep watch over him, and in cases like this happen they would protect him. Since he was alone he no one to really on, so he made a silent deal in letting them use the place as long as they protect him and become his house sitters if he left from time to time.

They had heard Stigma's story and came to a conclusion that he was near the borders of the Naga clan and wandered here. Although he had a strange, he asked anything that was general knowledge, so they all believed he was a 'war child' since they saw common symptoms.

Even if twelve years have passed they cannot wash away their crimes of war.

They all felt guilty, since all of them took part of cruel battles that involved non cultivators who were unwilling to join.

Especially Felix, during the conversation he was watching Stigma's eye movement and gesture to tell if he was remembering or trying to lie. So far, Stigma's was not lying in his story and was nothing to be alarmed from.

Then he remembered him saying he was ten years old, so he cannot lie. Eventually he had guessed that Stigma had lived with a village which had suffered a lot in the past, and they had taken out their frustrations on the younger generations like him.

After going back to his story, he claimed to have traveled about five to six days to get here and the Naga's arrived shortly afterwards, so it was still not in the clear if he had connections. So just to be safe he had to keep them apart.

'His claim about entering here and causing a scene matches the time when I heard the news.'

While his guards have been busy checking supplies to buy, Felix had been checking areas like the inns and where the guards are stationed, then he happen to hear about someone causing a scene in the gates not long ago.

'It wasn't a coincidence...'

Then he recalled other story about a cultivator who brought a sac full of Heavenly Beast Cores that arrived before Stigma and he said the same thing, he claimed to have found a dead man's treasure and found a field full of corpses which matches Stigma's story.

All points prove that it was Stigma, and he had arrived not long ago.

As for the following questions were answered vaguely so he could still couldn't take any risk in thinking Stigma was not dangerous, and so he had him placed on the bed with three guards looking after him, while the rest began sleeping and alternated schedules in guarding him.

***

'Cold... so cold'

*soo... COLd, sooooo o o cOLODLC, soo CccccocLDsdfc*

Stigma, who had passed out, was currently going through a strange development that felt all to familiar to him. Everywhere around him was a blanket of darkness, a sense that made him feel out of place, he was being spirited away again.

Unlike his physical body, he was going through a different type of unease.

The cold erie sensation passing down his body along with not feeling one's limbs made him feel the sense of helplessness and the rising sensation of wanting to regurgitate. He can't even tell if he can breath from the oppressive sensation. And the whisper of nonsense was not helping him one bit.

'How long am I going to go through all this...Make it stop already...'

*.maKe iiiiiIiIittttt STOP....MAKE,iT, sToP... MAKE IT STOP!!!!!!!*

The whisper was like hearing a bad reception to a radio getting him nowhere in understanding what it was trying to say.

Like how he encountered the strange realm, he was falling, only this time instead of falling downward he was falling upward in a reverse position head first and felt like he was underwater.

All around him, he was feeling the pressure of the invisible water surrounding him, along with an extremely cold sensation that prickeled his skin. He had already felt this, it was the sensation of death.

'Fuck! If I stay like this! I'll die insane.'

With his last effort he started to release his Zen energy without reserves to remove the sensation of being choked, only to run out after five minutes.

He was about to pass out until the voice stopped coming into his ear, and a notification came up.

***

*Bing!*

[Congratulations, the demon infant has now developed and gained a conscience. Meeting between souls has now commenced]

[Take note, that demons being formed have already gained knowledge from current host, due to absorbing the 'Soul of Impurity' demon has gained the ability to produce curses.]

[From now on, the sensation of life and death is shared between you two, one half shall suffer the fate far worse than death, while the other half shall bear the weight]

***

'Demon Infant, why does that sound familiar...Ah! The thing I got when I first absorbed the 'Soul of Impurity!!!'

Demon Infant. It was not as though Stigma forgot about it, it was because no matter what method he tried, he had no idea in how to summon it much less check on it development progress. Eventually he gave up in finding out about it and had lost all interest.

From what he can remember, the Demon Infant feeds on energy, then produces a presence that draws hostility to the surroundings that didn't make him any less happy when he was already an imbalance beast. What he was really after, was the ability to allow Stigma to gain the mastery of using curses he had yet to master.

He had tried cultivating to feed it but had no idea if it was working, if the little bastard was inside his body, then it was just waiting to be feed. He also tried producing a sacrifice to summon it, but nothing happened and made look like a fool in Hilda's eyes.

Multiple times he had tried and had wasted to much time in trying to figuring it out ,than to do something productive and practice. So he gave up on the idea in finding it and moved on to his skills he can use.

And now, the forgotten little demon had emerged again, and yet had no idea on how it had developed. Now he had gained a cryptic message with a double meaning, so he had no idea what to expect.

While his continuous thought clouded his head, he failed to notice the whisper was getting louder. When he lifted his head, he finally saw a small light at the end of his decent, but he also felt the pressure around him getting thicker, like he was facing a thick layer of tar and was being pulled in by an invisible force.

When he made contact, he felt like he was sinking at hot tar, and it was trying to burn him alive. The sensation of pain came to him but he had to hold his will together, if he passed out now, he can tell that he will suffocate under the pressure and die before he can reach the end.

'Closer, closer, closer, closer, closer!'

He wanted time to faster as each moment passed, his body was going through a burning sensation that was close to being boiled alive and he wanted it to end. Gritting his teeth, he can only see the ending with the light, teasing him with his far reach.

The deeper he got the more painful the sensation of heat he was feeling, but he still powered through. The more he tried to endure, the more he felt like he was insane for attempting to go through with it.

When he looked around, he noticed that the concept of time may not exist here, he can't even tell if he time had passed or not.

After losing the sensation of his arms and legs, he saw the light before him was getting closer within arms reach and the pressure slowly disappearing. After going through so much he had finally he got to the light and passed out, with the light blinding him.

***

Stigma was passed out of the floor, but the sound of music suddenly entered his ear, when he was inside that void he could even hear his own voice, now he heard the sound of a classic melody that could mesmerized the masses.

He stood up groggily and dusted himself, then he realized the pain had disappeared as if it was an illusion.

"What the hell!....Where am I."

Stigma was currently in a different location, completely different from the dark abyss he had gone through. The entire room gave the elegant feel of someone who had lived in class.

But the place could be described as devoid of life. The entire room could be similar as the lobby of a western mansion, the entire floor had a velvet carpet, from the walls he could see a pattern of black and red, when he looked around he noticed that there were no windows, but he could see some picture frames but they had nothing on them.

On the ceiling, he could see about three chandeliers, one large one and two small ones emitting some light to the room, if not, the room would be too dark to tell. There were some red curtains with golden ropes hanging by the walls, but it seemed redundant since there was no windows, but it did give the room class.

The other features he can see were some pillars with some runes etched on them, but he can't make out the writing due to the light.

In front, he sees a staircase leading upward and some stairs leading downward, he can't tell the entire outline since the lighting was to dim, but he could see a long corridor with multiple doors.

Beside the stairs, he saw large stone statues of headless figure with spears and shields at hand aiming at the stairs as if they were trying to prevent anyone from entering.

From where he was standing he could see both sides he could see other corridors with stairs leading who knows where, he could see some statues based between each entrance to give it appeal but other than that he can't tell.

When he turned around he saw a huge door with intricate details of two figure trying to reach each other, but noticed there was a huge iron padlock. Clearly whoever owned this placed wanted to keep anyone in, and Stigma was the poor soul.

He then went to the left side of the rooms lead to anywhere, but the strange thing is, all the rooms were locked including the opposite side. He decided to avoid the staircase leading down since it was too dark.

He didn't feel like he was alone, since he can hear someone playing some classic music leading to the stairs above. The music echoed throughout the room, echoing the empty spaces and increasing the strength of the beat once he heard it.

"Whoever lives here does like to live in style, and it looks like he is inviting me"

The more he waited the music continued to play, and suddenly he heard a voice that he heard from before.

"COME IN! COME IN! LET US HAVE A CHAT, WALK TO THE END AND WE SHALL MEET."

He had no idea how he knew, but if he ignored the call, he would be stuck here forever.

Since the voice had the sensation of Death.