Side Story: Ivan [Part 1]

Beyond the streaming waters of Elisbonear and the floating lands of Atirior lies the largest country is known to humanity. An expanse so vast, even God could not bless it. Monsters and humans alike roamed the terrains of the great wastelands. Like mere beasts of the wild, they ate the weak and served the strong.

Deep within the wide soil of Dalmore lay a single house. None ever went in, and none ever went out. There may have been legends lest someone knew of its existence.

The house was cramped and shady. Ages of filth settled over the thousands of books and tools that infested every corner of the place. No one could have survived the place for more than an hour before being infected by every disease that is known to man. But that mattered not to the old owner of the place, for he was the greatest, the only Grade-10 mage that ever existed, a god in a human's form.

Ivan, the old owner of the house, was in a most pleasant mood on this day. His entire existence had been for the sake of magic. Studying magic, developing magic, he honed his magic to the point of going crazy. Yet, for all his life, he had never seen something like what was in his hands right now.

He didn't remember where he got it from and how many he killed to take it. That was trivial. Ivan merely looked into the purple eyes of the silent child in his hands with excitement. He didn't even acknowledge the baby as a living creature.

Just what is this thing that has no magic? Such were the thoughts in his head.

A nostalgic feeling he hadn't felt in a long time enveloped Ivan's chest. His breathing grew heavy, and his heart grew hot. The old man who had long lost his curiosity was drowning in the elation of wonder once again.

Ivan sat on a seat and tried coursing his magical energy through the child. Nothing, he added more and then some more. Blood oozed out from all orifices on the child's body from the sheer force of the energy, yet the child never made a sound. Scratches appeared all over him. Soon they expanded into cuts and then gaping holes on the child, but Ivan never stopped. Only after the child started inflating did Ivan finally let it go. No magic went through the thing in his hand.

"[Grade 8 Holy Spell: Complete Reconstruction]" With a simple wave, Ivan cast one of the most difficult spells in existence. "Heh, this thing will entertain me for a long time! Haha!!" He broke into a hysteric fit of laughter.

He was filled with anticipation of what was to come. Ivan, the man who knew all there was to know about magic, was now faced with a new conundrum. Nothing could excite him more.

Since that day, old Ivan did what anyone in his shoes would do. He someday skinned the child and someday amputated him. The atrocities the mage committed are too vile to mention, but he did what he wished with no one to stop him. All the while, the child never uttered a single noise. Not a peek escaped the child's mouth as he lived in a cycle of being injured and healed.

Without either realizing it, three years had passed...