The Twelve Apocalypses: A Damned Soul's Path to the Abyss

None of the scenarios I thought of could possibly apply to whatever was going on between me and Mercutio. I wasn’t old enough, for one thing. Besides, I had absolutely no memories of him.

Then why did I hate him on first sight?

For that matter, why did he hate me? His hostility, particularly the anger I saw in his eyes when I advanced to basic mage, confirmed that I was missing something about the situation. Worse, I was so caught up in my theorizing that more than half the night slipped by before I remembered Glaustro’s mystery gift.

Even then, I hesitated. Whatever it was, I wasn’t exactly in the best state to deal with it. My thoughts were starting to get muddled from exhaustion, and my body ached from the day’s events.

Thankfully, I did have a way to make myself feel better!

With a genuine smile, I wiggled around into a more comfortable position. Then I let myself sink deep into my mana.

Directing my attention to my core, I found it merrily spinning away, constantly drawing in ambient mana. If I relied solely on this passive absorption, I would need decades to progress to the next layer. Still, the constant trickle of mana would provide a perpetual boost to both my magical and physical endurance.

Once I was done admiring my core, I jumped into the process of refining my body using the method Glaustro had permitted us to learn. Wherever my mana went, the rejuvenated flesh was rid of exhaustion, aches and weakness. The subtle pain also did wonders to banish any lingering desire to sleep.

I couldn’t keep pushing myself using the method forever, but I hadn’t lied to Mia. With my mana operating at this new intensity, I really would be fine in the short term.

I completed the normal circuit, then hesitated. Thus far, I was always very careful to cover my bones, skin, muscles, and even most of my organs when performing the refinement. But our trainers had explicitly warned us against using the technique on our brains. It was possible, but inadvisable, at least until we had more control over our mana.

Did advancing to the level of an official mage count as achieving that threshold?

I did feel that my mana was easier to handle. This more refined version of it was even more responsive than what I was used to. The elevation of my soul’s quality, however minor it may have been, had also increased my control. As such, I strongly suspected that I was capable of enhancing my brain the same way I did the rest of my body.

Before I could chicken out, I committed fully.

I gathered mana within my chest, then sent it racing upwards towards my brain, twisting it into the weave specified by the refinement technique.

Whatever I was expecting, this wasn’t it. Instead of passing out or screaming in agony, I just felt my brain… fizzle, sort of.

And then my perception of reality shifted.

Colors took on unusual hues, and I could taste them on my tongue. Sound transformed into the mad, incomprehensible chanting of eldritch entities, and the scent of their words made me simultaneously sick and giddy. Smell rang out, spilling all its secrets to me in loving whispers while it brushed against my skin.

I fought to maintain control over the technique and just barely succeeded, only because I knew it would destroy my brain if I let it run rampant. Thankfully, my mana perception didn’t waver or change during the whole procedure. It was the one point of familiarity in a world rapidly descending into a slurry of chaos.

When it was all over, I spent a long few seconds trying to calm my breathing. I nodded once to celebrate my success.

Then I bent over so I could lose my last meal all over the grass.

There wasn’t much there, just some dry travel rations and a lot of bile, but the smell and lingering taste made my lips curl in disgust. I quickly fetched my water skin and washed the taste out, but there wasn’t much I could do about the steaming puddle of puke unless I wanted to wake Mia and relocate our setup, which would be embarrassing.

At least the attempt wasn’t a total wash. It was a minor improvement, but I could definitely feel it. My thoughts flowed more readily, and when I tried to remember something, it came to me just a touch faster than it used to.

My smile was a thing of pure bitterness. After all, the fact that it worked also meant I had no excuse to avoid doing it again and again until the returns weren’t worth it anymore, which probably wouldn’t happen for a very long time. Potentially never, if I continued to advance steadily in my mana quality and capacity.

But with that done, and my mind strongly refreshed, I could finally sate my curiosity. One last look around confirmed there was no one nearby or watching.

So, carefully, I extracted the ’something’ Glaustro had slipped me.

At first glance, I was disappointed. It was a folded piece of parchment, just large enough to fit into my palm. It bulged slightly, so I quickly set about unfolding it to reveal a letter wrapped around a small item. The item slipped away from me, making me curse as I hunted for it in the grass.

When I found it and snatched it up, I was looking at a small, coin-like amulet. On one side, the demonic rune for ’1’ glistened. On the other, the sneering visage of some demon stared back at me, looking distinctly unimpressed.

I clutched the amulet, then let my eyes drift back over to the letter.

I was just about to start reading when I froze. It wasn’t because I heard a suspicious sound or caught sight of an intruder lurking at the edge of our camp. No, the sudden jolt of shock came from the fact that I could see.

There was not a single fire still burning inside the camp. We were hours away from dawn’s gentle caress, and the moon was a mere sliver overhead. The stars, while numerous and very pretty, weren’t particularly bright either.

In other words, I should have been blind as a bat.

Instead, I could casually pick out details in my surroundings, like I was standing in bright sunlight. Come to think of it, I hadn’t even noticed when night fell, not really. I was vaguely aware of the cloying darkness, but seeing as it didn’t bother me, I had been content to ignore it. Now, that became impossible.

Fumbling for my sword, I drew it to use as a makeshift mirror for the second time that day. When I caught sight of my eyes, my breath stuck in my throat.

They gleamed, reflecting the light of the stars like eerie twin mirrors. I had the eyes of a cat, spooky eyes that would easily haunt a person’s nightmares if caught on film with a flash.

But… why?

It was my first time messing around with my brain, sure, but it definitely wasn’t the first time I messed with my eyes. The refinement technique had a whole section on handling those, and while it was painful and unpleasant and left me temporarily blind, the process shouldn’t have yielded such an odd result. The only effects it claimed were better visual acuity and correction of lost eyesight. Creepy reflective eyes that gave night vision were so not on the list.

Oh, I wasn’t complaining! Night vision was an amazing advantage to have. The light refraction effect was also intimidating, which could be a boon if I had to fight in the dark and wanted my enemies off-balance. What I didn’t like was my lack of control. I didn’t choose to give myself cool cat eyes, so the change felt at least partly unwelcome.

I can spiral later. For now, focus.

With one last deep breath, I managed to corral my attention back to the parchment.

Hayden,

I hope this letter makes it to you without any difficulties. I try to be subtle, but it was never my strong suit, and I have often paid for it.

If you did manage to avoid the notice of your new commanding officer, who is an asshole of supreme order, by the way, I have a few words of caution for you.

First, be careful of how you handle your emotions. You pushed your ascension too far, too quickly, and that has consequences. Most of the changes you’ll experience will be beneficial, but this is the one you need to be particularly careful of.

If you fail to reign in your feelings, they can and will ruin you.

You can also expect various changes to happen to you over the next few days, or even weeks. Introducing so much demonic mana to your body always requires an adjustment period, but this is doubly true for the jump you made.

I can’t predict what is going to happen to you. Every demon is unique, including the naturally born kind. What demonic traits you’ll start to exhibit and how visible they will be is entirely dependent on your physiology, consciousness, and soul, and their interaction with the Abyss.

What I can warn you of is this: the effects of this process will be more exaggerated in you than they would be in a regular recruit. You chose to start training in mana accumulation, which is a good thing, but it also means you have more demonic mana in your body than most, and of unusually high quality.

But I believe you will conquer this challenge. So long as you don’t give up, you will join us one day as a proud demon yourself.

Finally, keep a close eye on your new commanding officer (if you can, keep referring to him that way, it will annoy the fuck out of him). The man is supremely unpleasant, but he is also deceptively powerful. His father was a very high-ranking officer in the logistics division when this invasion started, and I’ve heard rumors that he has taken full control of that division by now.

This makes his son nearly untouchable within the legion so long as you don’t have a legitimate and serious accusation to level against him. If he decided to murder recruits en masse, it might be enough for him to lose his standing, but at this point, I doubt it. The general himself would have to get involved for this asshole to suffer repercussions.

More importantly, he asked me about you, by name. He deflected any questions about why and mentioned hearing about you in reports, but those reports were never supposed to reach the logistics division. Even if they did, no demon would ordinarily choose to dig into information on a mortal.

Be careful.

I’ve included an amulet with this letter. It is a minor object of power, and as such should pass undetected by your new commanding officer. It will protect you from a lethal spell, but only once. Consider this my thanks for the timely warning you gave us.

Best wishes,

Your Commander

In spite of all the subtle and outright warnings listed in the letter, I smiled. When Glaustro took over, I never once thought that I would build such rapport with the grumpy demon. Get close to wanting to kill him? Sure. Miss him enough to consider offing my current commander? Definitely not.

This gave me an odd sense of hope that I might be able to do something about one of my current problems. The mortals that made up Mercutio’s freshly formed army were a scattered bunch, out for themselves and only themselves. Some of them had allies they might be willing to risk life and limb for, but I knew that would be a rarity.

The situation, as it currently stood, gave Mercutio even more power over us than he would normally have. If he put in a minimal amount of effort, he could whip us into a frenzy and then watch as we tore each other apart.

I had to find a way to fix that. After all, if I could get a demonic sergeant to like me, surely I could get a bunch of mortals to listen to a couple smart suggestions, right?

Just asking myself that question gave me a headache.

Somehow, I had a strong feeling that the mortals surrounding me did not have the same good sense and self-preservation instincts that Glaustro could boast of.

Of course, above and beyond all my other problems loomed Mercutio himself. I refused to think more deeply about the potential link between us. Whenever I did, I instantly felt that same rage ignite again somewhere deep in my soul. If I gave into it, I just knew that I would try to rush the man with my sword.

I already had enough problems in my life without committing involuntary suicide.

Sighing, I tucked the amulet safely into my pocket. Then I sat between my tent and Mia’s, looking around through the darkness with my new reflective cat eyes.

Really, all I wanted was to ride out the rest of the invasion and get a couple more souls. When did things get this complicated?