Chapter 112: Shining beacon in the dark (1/2)

From that point onwards, Igor's memories were full of darkness and vile. The intoxicating feeling forever tainted his soul, and later he officially joined up with his mysterious employer, later becoming one of his Guard Captains when he opened up The Pit.

The memories kept flashing in front of Aiden until it finally got to the last day of Igor's life.

He watched as they brought his chained sister, Lily, and entered the Warden's office. He saw as the man tried to push himself on her but failed and got punished in the end.

He watched as they took her away and as the group of 7, the very same guards he just murdered, vented their frustrations on her for hours. They couldn't enjoy her body to the fullest as their Master has warned them that she has to be kept intact for the auction after the match, but that didn't mean they couldn't torture and humiliate her.

Aiden clenched his fists as the moments of her humiliation and torture kept playing to him. How they ripped off her clothes and beat her with a whip. How they kicked and punched her chained body until it was bloodied. How she could do nothing but hold her tears and voice, how she tried to defy them, and not give them any satisfaction, only to anger them further.

Eventually, the torture ended, and they threw a low-grade healing potion on her, that was just enough to put her in fighting shape, but not enough to remove the scars and bruises from her body.

The scene didn't play for too long after that, it was just minutes before they heard his howling and rushed into their own deaths.

As the vision ended, his raging heart was interrupted by the sound of the System's notification.

[Assimilation complete!

Memories processed, System updated!]

Although the message was relatively vague, Aiden still got the gist of it. As he consumed the guard captain, besides his life essence, he also gained his memories.

As he checked the new Map, he also understood that as the System processed these memories, it also updated itself.

'This whole thing is just way too bizarre…' he muttered. The System he was 'blessed' with kept making decisions after decisions without bothering to ask for input from his behalf. He previously thought that this was the work of Enya, but it seems that was not entirely true.

Regardless, this turn of events was beneficial for him in his current situation. He now had a complete layout of the underground tunnel system, with all the relevant names marked as well.

He got more and more anxious, as the seconds passed, while he continued to scan through the names on his map. He couldn't find Lily's name anywhere! In the end, he found a cell named 'The Vigilante' that he remembered being mentioned in one of Igor's memories.

He wasn't sure who this nickname meant, but he could remember the bits and pieces where this name was mentioned in Igor's last days. His master wanted to capture this person, as it caused a significant setback for his business.

As he concentrated on the memory, he also remembered how they wanted to lure this Hero of Justice into a trap by capturing the owners of the General Store behind the Marketplace. Aiden remembered that kind elderly couple that used to live there. He could only hope that nothing bad happened to them… The captain had no memories of them, so most likely he never went to that place. He wasn't part of that part of the plan.

As he finally settled the raging tide in his mind, Aiden stood up, and marking the location of this person, he stepped over the dead body of the guard captain, looking towards the direction of the open-space room, that they used to rest in-between shifts.

Taking a step forward, he once again stopped in his tracks and turned to face the mutilated carcass. Crouching down next to it, he took the set of keys that hung from his belt.

”Thanks!” He thanked the dead body and stood up. Although he could probably get into any door he wanted to, he didn't want to trigger any potential alarms or traps. Although, as he looked around checking all the carnage he left behind, people probably already know about his presence.

Turning away, he looked in the direction of the room once again. Turning his head sideways, he looked down at the ground, in the still open eyes of the man. Opening his mouth, he only whispered his next words.

”And I'm sorry for what happened to your family. Hope you could finally be reunited with them.”