They Called Me FIVE

LANCE

I laughed. "That's crazy. No way that's possible." I said.

"It is. And believe me, being immortal is not nice." Magnus said gravely. 

I was surprised by his reaction. He was an immortal Ranker back in the magical realm. How come he sounds so unhappy to be immortal again. I look down to my hands. To the grey walls that seems to choke me in the neck. 

Maybe he's not the only one whose unhappy about it. 

"If you're that dissatisfied, let me take your place. I want to be immortal too." Fake Seven said. 

"Why? Wait, I forgot to ask, if you're not the real Seven, what are you?" I asked. She fell silent.

"An Alpha Beast." Magnus answered for her.

"Oh…" I tucked the blanket so my feet won't feel cold. "You mean like the first beast?"

"Gah! Refill your vocabulary loser! Alpha Beast are the leaders. The great commanders among the Beasts! We can change into any form, resume any appearance and just blend in like I'm the real person I impersonated." 

Magnus snorts. "Of course, you can. Provided neither Lance nor I met the real Seven. If, we ever did, if I have known what 'specie' you are, I would've submerge your head into boiling water and pluck out your hairs like chicken feathers."

I couldn't help it, I burst out laughing at Magnus's comment. I actually picture out a smaller version of Seven glaring under the steaming water as if saying, 'how dare you treat me like a disgusting poultry?'

"Kay, bully me all you want, Seven will hear about this! I tell you when she wakes up, I'll ask her to hang you both in the world's tallest tree by your neck! Make you sing soprano for a week! Just you wait." Fake Seven threaten.

"Or we could strip you in front of your Beast friends. Make you the next internet sensation for Beast's social media." Magnus said.

"They have social media?"  That's the first time I'm hearing this.

"Yep. Beasts aren't actually just brainless monsters with bellies as big as human size ferris wheel. At least, not here in the human realm. They kind of operate as Faeries tech smith. They do the armor crafting, computer designing, experiment testing, in exchange for freedom and half of the 'mana' Faeries receive from the human souls."

"That's…" I couldn't finish my sentence. Nothing really comes to mind. After all they put me through, I didn't feel 'that's terrible, I need to stop them' drive when I heard the 'human souls' anymore. Am I being coldhearted? Possibly. Does that mean I'm no longer human?

I forced my eyes shut. Ever since the Mark of Five appears in my arm, it's already decided that I'm no longer human. The end. No going back. No making the deities above consider it twice.

"Hey, doesn't that make Fake Seven our enemy?" I asked.

"I'm loyal to my Master." Fake Seven said in defiance. Right. Her Master was the real Seven. 

"So, how does that happen?" 

"Kekekeke," I don't know if that's a creepy squeak from squirrels with sore throats or crows with Pharyngitis but it hurts my head hearing it from Fake Seven's end.

"Stop that, ugly poser. "Magnus snapped. "Anyway, back to the topic."

"I'm so glad you ask loser, in fact it was ten years ago when I met my –"

"Change topic." Magnus interrupted her.

"Oh, shush. The loser wants to hear my memorable moment with –"

"No, he doesn't want to hear it. Cause he doesn't care. He's just asking because he needs proof you're really not an enemy. Now, if you don't want to be killed by his death wave through our telepathy session, shut up." 

Fake Seven make an audible whimper. 

"Magnus…I think that came out harsh." I said. The longer I'm involved in their conversation, the more I'm convinced Fake Seven is actually a spoiled arrogant kid with kickass Mommy as backup.

"Nah, she's fine. Anyway, we've come long way off from our real purpose here. Lance, I'm gonna ask you this. Are you ready to leave this place?"

I looked down to my hands. The black swirling smoke like shadow dance in my palms. 

"I am." I said.

"If I tell you we'll escape tomorrow, are you willing?" 

"Of course." I did not hesitate. In fact, I'm more than ready. I'm willing to test my power to the limits. I'm itching for some action. I want to give back what they did to me. I want to feed those skully warriors to the Beasts. Hear their screams as their body parts were chunk off by its teeth.

I would do everything if I could hear that bastard Lista sing 'Hallelujah, have some mercy' for months in my feet. Dad too. I won't stop. I will not have mercy. I pleaded for mercy for days and they did nothing. They looked at me like I'm a butterfly they slowly pluck out the wings with. Watching me writhe in pain at each pull.

Have pleasure watching the life sucked out at my eyes. A smile dancing on their lips, eyes filled with obsessive streak to do it more. Inflict suffering more. I snuffed out the black shadow and said.

"I'm more than willing." 

Magnus detects the change in my voice. I'm sure he must have imagined what's in my mind right now. What kind of playback we will do to those bastards who hurt us. And how we'll enjoy every minute of it.

"Magnus, who will take care of bigshot 'boss' that just arrived today?" I asked. He sighed.

"We can't. Not yet. That bastard is a Dark Elf. We can only take him on when we gather the others. For now, that's our priority. The rest…well, we can have our fun pounding holes on their ugly skulls." 

I grinned. If he say we can't take on that bigshot yet, that's fine with me. I have nothing against him anyway. But Lista and Dad…tomorrow, I swear I'll end their pathetic life. I don't give a damn if he's Magnus's father.

He already gave up his right for that by siding with the enemy. Dad too.

"Aren't you forgetting the most important thing?" Fake Seven reappeared.

"And what's that?" Magnus asked.

"My Master's location. We still don't know where she is."