Ruler Vol 1 Chapter 30
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Author: Anit666
【Shiggurath’s POV】
I left my room and went towards Sam’s room. I had earlier asked the maid who had shown me my room about where Sam’s room was, and found out that it was just the room next to mine. So I was already standing in front of the door.
Should I knock? But doing that would wake him up, so let’s not.
I quietly opened the door, and slipped inside. What I saw was….. a normal room, similar to mine. The room didn’t have much things, save for the basic necessities. I looked towards the bed. Sam was sprawled out on it, and was sleeping.
Geez.. he hasn’t even changed his clothes.
But he had taken off his mask, which was lying on the drawer beside his bed.
Come to think of it, this is the first time I’ll see his face, isn’t it?
I sneakily got close to his bed, taking care not to make any sound while walking, and took a peek at his face. His face was average looking, but with the right grooming, he might look handsome.
He was sleeping with a really tranquil and peaceful expression on his face. Looks like unlike me, he isn’t haunted by nightmares in his sleep. Is that even possible though, given what he’s constantly feeling in his heart? I still remember it, the day I met him, and how things had proceeded. Wait, it was just yesterday, wasn’t it?
I was lying beside the lake in my place of dwelling, trying to sleep. But as usual, I was unable to. Recently, I had started considering forming a contract with a human, and redo everything. Perhaps, that might give me salvation?
I opened my eyes, and looked at the sky. The sun was about to rise.
Looks like this day is also going to be uneventful as always. Or so I’d thought, but it turned out that I was wrong
I had been using a presence detection magic that covered the whole mountain, and it had detected four people entering the forests that cover the mountain. Moreover, they were walking on the path that led right up to this summit. This was rare.
Why would someone be coming here? Did they want to request something of me, like most of the beings of this world did? Or were they coming with the intention to drive me out of this place? Come to think of it, there is a palace at the foot of this mountain, isn’t there? So that means that they want me to leave this place. Hmph! Filthy humans, doing whatever they want. Fine! Bring it on! I’ll pulverise everyone one of you!
After waiting for some time, four people finally showed up. They were standing on the edge of the cliff, and were looking over this forest and lake that I’d created. I got up, and flew towards them. After coming to a stop in the air front of them, I spoke with the authority of a dragon.
“You elves, what have you come here for? Answer wisely, for I might destroy you depending on your answer.” (Shiggurath)
Or more like, I threatened them. I purposefully stopped hiding my presence in order to intimidate them. If they were here to fight, then this much ought to be enough to break their wills.
Three of them were elves, while I couldn’t identify the fourth one as he was wearing a strange mask on his face. Moreover, he’s a Hero, isn’t he. Damned filth of the Goddess Phiria. What has he come here for? He should be busy while preparing to fight Regina, shouldn’t he?
I channelled mana into my eyes. Doing so allows me to see just what my target is feeling towards me in the form of a glow that surrounds their body. Different colours of that glow represent different emotions. Now, let’s see….
Hmm, as expected, those three elves are full of awe and fear towards me. Let’s check the Hero……… huh? Contrary to what I thought, he only had a mild interest in me. There was no fear, no awe or any other emotion. Just slight interest.
He pinched the elf besides him, which caused her to scream in pain. She then hurriedly prostrated on the spot, and spoke in a desperate tone.
“O Ancient Dragon, Shiggurath. I’ve come to beg you to save my sister. She’s suffering from a disease that can only be cured by you. Please help us!” (Cornellia)
Just as I thought, they are here to make a request of me. Unfortunately, I have no interest in that.
“Go back, elf. I will not help you. I don’t have time to waste……….. on………….” (Shiggurath)
I continued observing the Hero while refusing the elf, but something strange happened. The interest that he had in me till now, suddenly vanished. What replaced it was…. absolutely nothing. Yes. He wasn’t feeling anything towards me. To him, I probably had the same value as a stone lying on the side of a road.
I had met many people in my life, and I had seen the emotions they held towards me. Awe, fear, respect, love, hatred and many more. However, that was the first time I had seen someone so disinterested in me.
Fuelled by my puny pride, I had thought.
Preposterous! He isn’t feeling anything towards me, Shiggurath?!
But that’s when an idea struck me: isn’t this perfect? If I were to form a contract with this human, then I would be able to achieve my goal without getting too involved with him. Since he isn’t even interested in me, our relationship would never progress further than just a dragon and his rider.
After contemplating some more, I decided to form a contract. It’s better than doing nothing and wallowing in despair after all.
Good. Let’s do this. There’s no harm in trying it anyway, is there. But, let’s not talk about that in front of these unrelated people. So, I took Sam and took to the skies, and flew till we reached so high that the mountain looked very small, he spoke.
“So, what’s the condition? Why is it that you specifically asked for me?” (Sam)
And so I told him that I wanted to form a contract with him, and then explained what a contract is. He had his doubts about why I would want to form a contract with him. But I pacified them by saying that I was just interested in him.
He then agreed to form a contract, but his emotions towards me were still stuck at ‘slight interest’. And so I told him about how we’ll form a contract, which is by kissing.
Though he didn’t like that idea, and so we decided to form a contract by drinking each other’s blood. It would have allowed him see to my emotions, but I didn’t think him to be capable of understanding them, or that he would want to understand. I transformed into my human form to draw out my blood more properly. But this shocked him. He had thought that I was a male. A mistake that everyone makes.
“Now we have to drink it. You go first.” (Shiggurath)
He complied, and gulped down my blood. I was slightly interested in how he would react after feeling the emotions that are buried at the very bottom of my heart. But…. he didn’t even flinch. He slowly opened his eyes after some time, and spoke.
“I drank your blood, and felt your emotions. You sure have it hard, huh…. Anyway, drink my blood and let’s complete the contract.” (Sam)
Huh. He had spoken as if my emotions weren’t even worth considering.
This guy’s quite cocky, isn’t he?
“Don’t pity me, child. You are far too young to comprehend my emotions.” (Shiggurath)
I reprimanded him and started drinking his blood then. After gulping down all of it, I closed my eyes. Let’s take a look at this guy’s emotions and desires.
What I felt was……
I felt, rage. At the start, it was very little. But then it continued increasing, to the point that…..
No, rage, wrath, such lukewarm terms cannot even describe this. It was as if all of the hellfire was burning inside my heart. My chest was burning, and my mana had started running wild. And, it hurt! It hurt so much! I’d never felt so much pain in my life! It was as if all my organs were twisting inside my body, my heart was being gouged out, my limbs were ripped apart, nails being driven in every pore of my body, the blood flowing being replaced by sand. Only for this process to be repeated again and again and again and again, till eternity.
Bewildered by this sudden development, I had managed to think.
Just what the fuck is this?! How can he live after feeling all of this?!
I lost control of my magic, and started falling down. But Sam soon caught me in his arms. I couldn’t even open my eyes, or even move my body due to the agonizing pain. The rage kept piling up.
At the rate the rage was increasing, I had thought that I would go mad! But thankfully, that rage soon subsided. And what replaced it was………. despair.
Bottomless despair and remorse. Despair that would make even the gods lose all hope, and grief that would take away your very soul and heart. And underneath all of that, lied a madness. A profound madness. I instinctively knew, that this madness would make anyone lose himself. And yet, this man was calmly holding me.
The peace in this world is a mere deception that can be easily stripped away, and I instinctively understood that his madness would bring despair back to this world.
The most frightening thing was that even after feeling all of this, his heart and soul weren’t crying out for help. His soul, his heart, every fibre of his being was driven by a blinding madness that would swallow everything in its wake. All they wanted was the destruction of his enemies no matter the cost.
That’s why I couldn’t accept what Jack told us about Sam. For if is that is the truth, it would mean that Sam is capable of detaching himself from his emotions and act purely on logic.
That’s a feat not even the gods can achieve.
I can’t understand it even now.
How? How can he be so calm after feeling all this? How can he still live without losing himself or the sight of his goals? And just how much does someone have to go through to feel all of this? Just……. who is he?
I even started feeling guilty about using someone like him as a tool to resolve my own emotions which, in all honesty, couldn’t even be compared to his. But the contract had been formed. There was no turning back.
And so I decided that even if I use him for my own benefit, I’ll help him in return in every possible way, no matter the cost. This was the least I could for him.
And that was my first meeting with Samuel Hayden.
I once again looked at him. He was still peacefully sleeping.
“Looking at him sleeping like this reminds me of her…….” (Shiggurath)
I unintentionally leaked out what I was thinking.
“Is that so?” (Sam)
Eh?
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