The Realisation

As he mourned in self-pity, with thoughts that only depicted death, specifically his own, he sensed something behind the nearby white house, that wore a thatch, overhanging roof. Somehow, not knowing that how himself, he felt the presence of another person. It was almost like he had thermal vision yet it wasn't perceived through his eyes, but through his mind. Someone was behind that building, moving exceptionally slowly. In accordance, Felix sneakily pulled himself up upon the thatch roof, next using the white ledge of a window to step up and grab the next roof edge. With all his upper-body strength, his pulled himself up and climbed atop the roof. Hiding his presence as best as he could, he rummaged through his cloak for any weapons, yet…nothing. He only ever equipped himself with a dagger, yet he'd left that in his shack. Now, he'd have to pray on his casting skill, hopefully being able to use a sleep spell on the enemy; it was all hanging on the chance he got the jump on the enemy. As he began to slowly but surely climb down the other side of the house, being as quiet as humanly possible, he heard a muffled speech.

"Hfllpah"

Shocked by the sudden sound, Felix lost his grip and fell down the roof, crashing down on his back through the thatch overhanging door cover.

"Cuaghh" he coughed as all the air in his lungs was thrown out. Hastily, he vacuumed air back in through his mouth as he coughed some more whilst he attempted to regather himself. Soon after, he jumped back up, ready for combat…until he saw it, or rather them. Crawling hopelessly on the cold hard ground, Felix saw what he recognised as one of the Vlasgardians. Tears pouring from his eyes, splashing on the blood that he released and scraped on the ground, he looked at Felix with eyes devoid of life. He was one of the warriors of the village; one of the villages defenders. Looking at Halvard now, he looked nothing like the proud warrior that would bring life to the village, that placed hope in someone like him, even if it was lost along the way. Followed by a long trail on blood, he crawled on the ground with a knife placed through his throat. There was nothing he could do now but wait to die.

As he looked at Felix with colourless eyes, laced in wet tears, he used all his remaining strength to give Felix a final message.

"I'm sorry. This is…my fault"

Moments later, his body dropped harshly, as his tears stopped streaming, and the tight fist he left his right hand in was released. In that moment, Halvard died, his mind bleeding from guilt.

Slowly, Felix walked toward Halvard's now lifeless corpse and swiped his finger down both of Halvard's eyes, putting them at rest.

"There was nothing you, nor anyone, could have done" he spoke softly. Whilst this town had given him labels that he had hated and mocked him for his weakness, they had never skipped a day making sure he was fed and healthy, cheering him up after the heart-crushing news that he was rejected from the academy, even if it was slightly back-handed. They may not have been the best family, but nonetheless he considered them such as they had given him a second-chance after everything he ever had or loved was taken from him. And now, he was truly alone; nowhere to go; no home to return to; no people he could trust.

Steadily, he crouched down beside Halvard's body, placing his hand on his chest and activating his ability. While he didn't know what it was doing, it was doing something. Suddenly, the birth-given tattoo left his arm, swirling in the air until it formed the black snake from earlier. Hastily, it chomped at Halvard's open flesh, as it soon gained more size, returning back to his arm.

[-]

With no clear direction; no thought for destination; no place to go, he used his ability on every body he could find in Vlasgar. Perhaps he was setting them free. Something he realised is that as the snake bit into their flesh, the markings on their arms disappeared. Perhaps he was releasing them from their chains to this world, allowing them to pass on without struggle, he wasn't sure. From all that he had studied, of which he had done a lot before his family's passing, he'd never heard of any innate ability involving a black snake. It seemed that his innate ability could only operate when touching someone, and it had something to do with removing their innate markings…then it clicked. Whenever the snake removed people's markings…it got bigger. What if…and this was a big if, but what if he was taking their innate abilities. No…absorbing them into his own. That explained it; the strange way he was able to sense Halvard without hearing, seeing, nor smelling him.

In a moment of strong pondering, he hastily rummaged through his mind, skipping through all his memories, looking for any recollection of someone's powers…then it hit him; Halvard's. It was the most memorable of all; he wouldn't shut up about it; his Vendox clock, named after the beast that could make it's skin impenetrable, even if it caused it to go into hibernation soon after. Unlike the beast itself, when Halvard used this ability, it didn't force him into hibernation, instead he simply gained a huge appetite. For two seconds, he would become invincible. So now you wonder, why was he in a town of failure's like Vlasgard? Surely his ability would be the perfect ticket out of there. But you'd be wrong. Halvard's problem was he couldn't cast offensive spells, his abilities reaching their max at casting light or sparks. That was the reason he took up the sword instead, discarding his life as a mage and putting an end to his magic charade. No one wanted heavy baggage who's only good ability was protecting himself; saving only himself from danger, increasing his weight as baggage with the tuned up hunger because of it. But all of that was put to rest with Halvard. Now, it was time for Felix to see if this hypothesis of his was right.

Slowly, he envisioned the ability, the Verox beast itself with all six of it's arms; it's tall body; it's two great purple eyes; it's furry yet metallic skin that honed the ability to harden. Then, he imagined becoming one with it, focusing on the transformation of the metallic fur to impenetrable metal, he envisioned it on himself. Unbeknownst to him, the tattoo on his arm seemed to slip through his skin, into his blood stream, as a new black ink crawled out each pore to paint in it's place. Soon, a picture formed, a cross with an upward and downward 'c' that reflected on the horizontal line; it was just like Halvard's. As Felix excitedly opened his eyes, his face warped into disappointment as his skin seemed the same, until he saw the fresh, familiar tattoo on the thickest part of his forearm. In a state of euphoria, he suddenly felt a agonising pain within his left eye. With his eye erupting in excruciating affliction, Felix rushed to the nearest window, tugging at his shirt to cope with the agony. Peering deeply into his own reflection, noticing the dirt on his face, the small cuts, the scrapes that had formed on his robes, he soon noticed the new appearance in his left eye; a tattoo, and not just any tattoo but his own. Whilst the unworldly pain gradually exited, Felix stared holes into the tattoo swirling in his eye. He wished it away, and away it went. In shock, he wished it back, and back it came. As a titanic feeling of pure power rushed through his veins, starting at his feet, climbing; rushing all the way to his head, a beaming smile appeared on his face for the first time in forever.

"I can finally take back what's rightfully mine" he chuckled, drugged on adrenaline and new-found power.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Took a while to get the chapter out as I'd been doing this and that in the time being. I'm back in, submerged in the writing so should be daily chapters from here until around early September where I'll probably do every other day for a week or two whilst I get settled into my new flat. Cheers.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------