"What are you talking about? Who sent me?" She grabbed his wrist, prying his hand off, "I found you drowning and wanted to help you─"
Lucian's hand glowed red, his temperature rising.
She screamed in response, her legs kicking the air, trying to get away.
Yet his grip didn't loosen. If anything, it tightened more. He thought he would go down by dying, but it turned out they wanted his body to be used for their purposes. So he tried to drown himself instead, just to be pulled out by this person.
He squeezed her neck until her brown eyes rolled back. She wasn't breathing anymore, the burns on her neck severe enough to leave a permanent mark.
Lucian dragged her body to the sea and threw her in, letting the waves take her away.
He jumped back into the ocean, swimming deeper and deeper until his body began to go numb from the cold. He hoped the pain would fade faster this time, without anyone to stop it.
Lucian choked on the salty water when a mass of tentacles coiled around his waist and neck, pulling him toward a monstrous face with glowing yellow eyes.
The beast swam up to the surface, bringing him with it, and threw him on the same shore he tried to escape from. The impact knocked the air out of his lungs as he bounced on the rocks and hit his head.
The beast's tentacles towered over him, dripping water like rain. It was as big as a ship, its skin a dark shade of grey with patches of green. Its many eyes focused on him, blinking at different intervals.
Lucian laughed internally at his rotten luck. He scratched at his arms, trying to get rid of the feeling, but it only made it worse. He wouldn't die of hunger or thirst. Only madness could claim his life, and that was exactly what they wanted.
Lucian leaped to his feet, charging at the beast. He kicked its head, and it shrieked from inside its body, the sound echoing like a trumpet.
Its long tentacles grabbed his leg and threw him again. This time against the cliff wall, the back of his head hitting the stone with a sickening crack, his legs giving out under him.
The beast tried to grab him again, and Lucian clawed at the tentacles like a cornered animal, kicking and punching it.
The beast coiled around him, squeezing him until his bones creaked under the pressure. His strength was nothing compared to its monstrous body.
The beast crushed his ribs and tossed him aside like a rag doll. He slid across the rocks, leaving a trail of blood.
"Kill me already..." he groaned, his hands shaking as he tried to get up. It only took a flick of the tentacle to send him flying again, hitting another cliff.
He fell on his stomach, his vision doubling from the impact. His own blood was pooling under him, the smell of it mixing with the sea.
This fate was worse than death. The only way to get rid of the shackles was to become like his father and kill Celine. He would lose his shackled powers, and finally die. The prophecy would be fulfilled.
Everything was set up to lead him down this path. No matter if he remained as himself or became an awakened shackled. It would always lead to his and Celine's ultimate demise.
The beast hit him again. It didn't kill him, but it was making him wish he was dead.
'It's just a kiss, I can stall it long enough—' Lucian hit his forehead against the rock, the blood from his head wound trickling down his face. No. He would just be buying more time to them than himself.
Blessings continued to come his way, Glory didn't stop depleting their resources to strengthen his body. As if every second he stayed alive, the price to end his life increased.
'Celine…'
He felt many blessings except for hers. He could sense her curse as if she wanted to kill him herself. It was like she knew he was in trouble and instead of helping him, she wanted him to die quickly.
'Take me,' Lucian whispered, welcoming the darkness that was closing in on him, 'Take me, before I lose my mind.'
His body fell limp, his head heavy on the cold rock. The beast seemed to lose interest in him and slithered back into the sea, leaving him alone to bleed out.
He didn't want to leave anything to Voice, and handed everything to Celine, his assets, his people, his legacy, his heart...all of it.
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Days passed, turning into a whole week. He spent the time crawling around the small shore like a crab, eating what the sea provided, and drinking the rainwater.
Lucian severed all connections with the outside world. He learned how to cut the blessings off from his body with an astral skill he developed to shield himself.
He healed his body enough to move again, but his mind was deteriorating rapidly. He was starting to hallucinate and see and hear things.
He tried to sleep, but even in his sleep, he couldn't escape them. The shackles were watching his dreams and memories, feeding on his fears and regrets.
Blinking at the moon in the sky, Lucian slowed his breath as the night grew darker.
'Octopus scewers...I could go for that right now.'
The image of a giant octopus on a stick, sizzling over a fire, made his mouth water.
If he couldn't die, he might as well hunt the shackled beast and make a meal out of it. A simple little goal that felt impossible to achieve at the moment.
The woman he had thrown into the sea came back to the shore. She was not dead, and that meant she was their puppet.
Lucian picked a rock as stealthily as he could, but she could still sense it with the way her head snapped in his direction.
So it's true easterners could sense the smallest of vibrations in water and living things' movements, even if they were far away.
She was surprised to see him still alive, "How...?"
Lucian swung the rock, aiming for her head. The woman dodged, unsheathing her cutlass. Her blade clashed with his next rock, sparks flying.
She must have thought that he died, with his heart rate so low. She didn't anticipate the fight.
"Ungrateful bastard," she cussed, her cutlass swinging at his arm, "I dragged your sorry ass out of the water, and this is how you repay me?"
Only northern women could use curses, so he wasn't worried about this one.
Lucian managed to grab her arm and flip her over his shoulder, slamming her on the ground. A kick to her ribs, and another to the arm that held her sword, made her growl in pain. He took the sword and pressed it against her neck, "Strip."
She gaped at him, her eyes widening.