《The tale of the Devourer》 Prologue: The end Pain. He felt pain all over his body. To a normal person this pain would have cause them to faint, but for him it was like an old friend. He stood up and inspect his wounds, there were too many to count. Small cuts across his body - he ignored those, burns on his right arm, missing left arm, etc¡­ He looked like a walking corpse. Ignoring the superficial wounds, he turned his attention to the large hole on his side. Using the last of his psion, he mended the wound. It slowly closes and turn a bright pink in color. He looked around the large hallway littered with corpses and slowly moved forward through a large doorway. Inside he found what he was looking for. ¡°Elena?¡± He uttered weakly towards the woman lying on floor as he try to rush to her. ¡°Elena, oh Elena. I¡¯m sorry.¡± Tears weld up in his eyes as he knelt in front her. Her beautiful face was marred with bruises and cuts. Blood was trickling down from her mouth. Once again, the man felt pain. But this pain was different, it wasn¡¯t a simple physical pain that he has gotten used to and welcomed as a friend. This was a horrible pain, it was pain that is consuming him, eating away at his very heart. He hated this pain. Never in his life has he even imagined that he would someday experience this pain. But then again, he had never imagine he would love someone as much as Elena. ¡®She¡¯s dead you know. Holding her like that won¡¯t bring her back.¡¯ A mocking voice sounded behind him. He eased Elena¡¯s body back to the ground then slowly turning around. His hateful eyes caught the sight of a tall man wearing a black uniform of the Imperial Guards. The man was tall with dark brown hair. A handsome face that would make any woman swoon over him. An annoying smirk can be seen across his face. A smirk that he would personally wanted to wipe off. He knew this man. ¡°Why did you do it Jason? Why her?¡± He asked weakly. ¡®Isn¡¯t it obvious? To hurt you. A monster like you wouldn¡¯t know physical pain so slowly torturing you is useless. Killing you is too kind. But hey, we couldn¡¯t have done this without you. If you hadn¡¯t gotten close to this little whore, this would have never happen. So thank you.¡¯ Jason said with an evil grin as he stretch out his arm and did a slight bow. Anger poured over the man as he lunged towards Jason. But before he could even touch him, Jason flick his hand and the man was thrown against the wall. It was a simple telekinesis and under normal circumstances, the man wouldn¡¯t even be affected by it, but he was too weak now. Fighting through a horde of psyker as well as two Ascended has left him severely weakened. Jason moved closer and punched the man right in the stomach with enough force that would¡¯ve killed a regular person. But the man didn¡¯t even flinched, he had experienced far worse. ¡®Ahh that felt good. I¡¯m feeling really good now. Do you know how long it took to get all of this together? You should feel honored that I went through all of this trouble for you. But it was all worth it, the look on your face is priceless.¡¯ This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. ¡°¡­¡± ¡®But you know, I got to give credit where credit is due. I had planned to let the two Ascended beat you to a pulp and drag you to her dead body but I would¡¯ve never imagined that would be able to kill them both. Man you really are one hell of a monster.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± ¡®What? Cat got your tongue? No matter, once we get you back to lab you¡¯ll be screaming a top of your lunges.¡¯ ¡°¡­¡± ¡®What, you didn¡¯t think we would simply kill you now did you. No, no, no. Do you know how much money the Empire has poured into making you? No, we are going to get our money¡¯s worth. We will dissect you piece by piece and rebuild you as a perfect killing machine. This time, there won¡¯t be any sympathetic nurse to help you escape.¡¯ Jason smirk as he turn to look at Elena¡¯s corpse. ¡°¡­¡± ¡®That¡¯s fine, you don¡¯t need to talk. The Imperial Guards will be here in just a minute. Meanwhile I get to have some fun with you.¡¯ Jason smiled evilly as he brandished a small energy knife. Unbeknownst to Jason, the man was preparing a spell. He¡¯s gathering what¡¯s left of his psion and condense into his psionic core. The man was careful not to let Jason sense what he was doing. He was thankful that Jason¡¯s bloodlust got the better of him as he was focusing solely on beating the man bloody. Approximately thirty minutes passed and the room was now filled with Imperial Guards. The man looks like a corpse now. His blood were all over the wall. Cuts and bruises were all over his body. But during that thirty minute long torture, he didn¡¯t say a word. But now, a smile can be seen on his face and it didn¡¯t went unnoticed. ¡®What are you smiling at freak? Has the pain gone to you head? Whatever, guards take him to Lab X66 and prepare a transport back to Terra.¡¯ But before Jason could turn and walk away, a bright light emanate from the man¡¯s body. Jason¡¯s smug face turned to horror as he comprehend what was happening. He assumed that the man has exhaust his psion and never sealed his power. He has forgotten the one move the man can take, psionic implosion. The man overloaded his psionic core ¨C a suicide act. Before Jason could get away, the world turned white. ¡°Elena, I¡¯ll be with you soon.¡± *On September 8th, 3254 the Imperial Prince Jason von Terra and his contingent of Imperial Guards was killed on Elysium 12. Preliminary investigation suggested the rebel group Liberty¡¯s Children as the culprit. The group detonated a small fusion bomb when was corned by his Majesty. The Emperor has issued a national mourning throughout the Empire and has vowed to bring his son¡¯s killer to justice. Elysium 12 is currently under martial law and the Imperial Fleet has blockaded the planet. The Emperor will held a press conference later this evening. Stay tuned for further development, only on the Imperial News Network.* Chapter 1: The beginning * Author''s note: I decided to switch from a third person perspective to a first person one. Third person made me feel too distant from the story and I''m a sucker for multiple POV so expect that more in future. But first chapter hype! Hope you guys enjoy reading this and any feedback is welcome. As the man open his eyes, all he saw was darkness. He tried moving his body but nothing responded. He looked down and he saw nothing. No body, no hands, no legs. It was like he was in one of those ancient first person shooter game. ¡®What is this place?¡¯, ¡®Is this the void¡¯, ¡®Heaven?¡¯, ¡®Hell?¡¯ Questions after questions flooded his brain. After settling down, his mind wandered to his earliest memory of his parents, of getting kidnapped by the Imperial Guards. He remembered the labs, the experiment they did on him to enhance his psion. The people he was forced to kill in the name of the Empire. And of course, Elena. His beautiful, wonderful Elena. She was a nurse in one of the labs. Her job was to make sure the test subject be fit for the numerous experiment. But she was a kind person and after a while she couldn¡¯t bear to see human beings tortured. It wasn¡¯t long until she resolved to help the test subject and she came to him. Amongst all of the subject, he was the most powerful. His psionic power was unimaginable and his control over it was impeccable. To control him, the scientist implanted an inhibitor into his brain and Elena manage to deactivate it. They soon freed the test subjects and escape from the lab. They traveled across the galaxy to find other facilities to destroy. They founded Liberty¡¯s Children to combat the Empire and rally dissident to their cause. They fell in love. She awoke emotions that he long thought were gone. She followed him to the ends of the galaxy and now she is dead, because of him. After escaping she had begged him to go into hiding with her, to live a simple life but he wanted revenge. He wanted to hurt the Empire and now she is dead. He cursed himself, he curse his powers, curse those who had break his body to give him this power. But at the same time he wanted more, he wanted more power. Maybe with more power he could¡¯ve saved her. In his frustration he tried to scream out but nothing came out. There was only darkness. After what seemed like an eternity floating around in the darkness, he saw a bright spot. It was so small, it might as well be a speck of dust. But in this perpetual darkness, it was as bright as the Sun itself. He willed himself forward towards the light. Slowly but surely, the speck of light grew larger and larger. Once again, a plethora of questions bombarded his brain. As he got close enough the light that it looked like a giant plant, he stop. He hesitated for a moment, contemplating what to do. ¡®What do I have to lose¡¯ He thought to himself and entered the light. (MC POV) Once again, I was surrounded by darkness. But this time it feels different, I can feel my body. I feel my hands, my legs and I also felt something soft holding on to me. I tried to open my eyes but was immediately bombarded by bright light. ¡°********* ****, ** * ***¡± ¡°**** ***** ** *******¡± I heard many voices but couldn¡¯t understand a word they were saying. I tried to slowly opening my eyes again and was greeted by the face of a beautiful woman. She had long blond hair and deep blue eyes. Her features were soft but well defined. She looked exhausted with sweat covering her face. However, it didn¡¯t diminished her looks one bit. She looked at me with a smile that made him feel warm and safe. A kind and loving smile. Then I was taken from her arms. A man picked me up. He had a very stern face with a full set of nicely groomed beard. He could be said to be handsome in a manly man¡¯s way. What was disturbing was the way he looked at me. I knew that look, I had seen it before. It¡¯s the look that many of the scientist have given me. A look that was devoid of any affection. The man looked at me as if he was looking at a tool and assessing how much use he can get out of it. I hated that look. ¡°**** ******* **** *¡± The man said something to the woman and handed me to her. Soon, he exited the room. By now, I had a vague idea of what has happened. After my death, I was somehow reborn and this woman here is my mother. I wonder how that man fit into this, maybe he was my father, maybe not I couldn¡¯t really tell. But I don¡¯t like him, he gives me the creeps. The woman was still holding me in her arms while saying gibberish stuff to me. I guessed wherever this was, the people here didn¡¯t speak the Common tongue. I then looked around the room. It was a medium-sized room with white walls and ceilings. There were some furniture around the room made out of wood which meant that this planet was on was pretty low tech. Maybe this is some world in the outer colonies. No, even they don¡¯t build furniture made out of wood anymore. The entire place looked old, like something one would find in a museum. As I pondered these questions, drowsiness overtook me and I soon fell asleep. It has been several weeks since my rebirth and soon several things became clear. The world I was on isn¡¯t part of the Empire. It wasn¡¯t very advance in terms of technology. My best guess was that this world¡¯s technology would be at the same level as Terra¡¯s Middle Age. There was no electricity so lighting were done mainly with fire but sometimes I would see a servant holding a lantern that was too bright to be lit by fire. Same thing with the lighting in his room. I would later find out that they were lit by magic. Over these past several weeks, I came to understand the language. At first it was all gibberish but soon the words make sense in my brain. I could now understand most of the conversation being held around me. I learned that my name is Kaiser von Makarin. My father is the Duke Gaarim of Makar, the man that was there during my birth. My mother Mara is a mistress hence the extra ¡°in¡± in my name to symbolize that I am the child of a mistress. Although I am the first child of my mother, I am the fourth of my father. I have two brothers - Valian von Makar (the eldest) and Raarth von Makar, and a sister named Dalia von Makar which is the second youngest. All three are children of the legal wife the duchess Evana von Makar. I haven¡¯t met any of them, except for my father, and only know them through tidbits of conversation between the maids and from my mother. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. In all regards, my mother is an angel. In my previous life, I couldn¡¯t remember much about my parents. That¡¯s due to them working all the time. Before my kidnapping, I would spend the majority of my time with the nanny drone. While it wasn¡¯t terrible, it was sorely lacking in terms of parental affection. Now that I am showered with affection from my mother, it all seemed surreal. ¡°There¡¯s my little boy. Who¡¯s the cutest baby in the seven kingdoms? You are, yes you are.¡± More baby talk from my mother. She does this a lot but I always humor her and do a cute baby laugh. Her eyes always lit up when I do. It¡¯s been several months now and I have gotten use to the world. The lack of technology is certainly annoying in terms of comfort but I hardly think about it as I enjoy spending time with my mother. I would think about Elena from time to time and every time it would make me tear up but my mother would always be there to soothe me and I would be fast asleep. By this time, I have been aware of the existence of magic. It happened when I rolled around in my crib and bumped my head really hard. My mother was immediately there to cast a sort of healing magic on me. I thought it was psion manipulation at first but the way my mother chant the word out immediately made me change my mind. ¡°I need to learn more about this world¡± I thought to myself after the healing magic incident. But first I have to regain my motor skill. Being a baby isn¡¯t exactly comfortable. I have no control over my body. I can¡¯t walk, I can¡¯t even grab things of my own will. Sometimes I throw up randomly and even worst I have no control over my bladder. I need to survive in this world and rather start now. It¡¯s been a couple of weeks and now I can start to walk. At first I tried to crawl but as soon as I did, I just stood up and walk (Though I did fell down a couple steps latter due to balancing issue). But after a few tries I had master the art of walking. My mother was thrilled, she was astonished by my mastery of walking. Apparently walking by the time you are 8 months old is a very fast development rate in this world. Of course mother would not let me walk for long and always have me in her arm whenever she is able. It¡¯s kind of nice to be loved. It helps put my mind of the whole love of my life being murdered and me being tortured. The second thing on my agenda is assessing the magic situation. Is it the same as psion or is it different. Maybe they don¡¯t understand psion and simply called it magic. If it was the same as psion then I am in luck since I count myself as a very capable psyker in my past life. However, seeing my mother doing her chant every now and then to use magic quickly dash away that hope. Using psion didn¡¯t require chant. So many question and no one to answer them. I had thought of asking my mother about it but how weird would it be for an 8 month olds baby to start asking about magic. So whenever possible I try to sneak away to explore the mansion in hopes of finding a library of sort. The furthest I got was to the kitchen and before you know it some maid of sort would whisk me back to my room saying it¡¯s dangerous to wander about. One time my mother caught me trying sneak away and gave me a very stern look. I didn¡¯t what she would do to me so I simply said ¡°Sowwy mommy¡± while putting on my cute baby face. Unsurprisingly it worked wonders. ¡°My child can speak. At such a young age. Kai you are a genius!¡± My mother said in an excited voice while hugging me. After a couple more attempts I gave up. It¡¯s too much of a hassle and one can only get so far with saying ¡®Sowwy¡¯ and putting on a cute baby face. I hatched a new plan to learn about magic by encouraging my mother cast spell. I constantly ask her to do ¡°Pwetty lights¡± and she always oblige. From what I can tell I retain some of my gifts from my previous life. I can see the mana formation ¨C that¡¯s the equivalent of psion in this world, and it helped me gain some rudimentary understanding of mana. It¡¯s not psion per se but it¡¯s not that different . However, this can only get me so far. I need to grow up faster to get access to some more information. And that¡¯s how I spend my baby life, walking around to get use to the body and ask mother to perform magic. And before you know it, I¡¯m one years old.