Life Delusion Chapter 1: Chapter I: The Exile

Read chapter 1 of Life Delusion by The_lite on NovelPedia.

Aqua's eyes snapped open. The first sensation that hit him was a sharp, throbbing pain behind his temples, as if someone were taking a hammer to his skull. He was standing in the Great Hall of the tribe, a place where the scent of burnt meat and heated stone usually lingered, now heavy with the metallic tang of sweat and cold, suffocating tension. "Enough of this farce, Aqua." Zordrux, King of the Red Demons, didn't bother looking up from his throne. His fingers drummed rhythmically against the armrest—a gesture of impatience that Aqua knew all too well. This wasn't the first time they had stood on opposite sides of a dispute, but this time, the weight of the silence in the room was absolute. "Father... you can't be serious," Aqua said, forcing his voice to remain steady. "The tribal laws exist for order, not for pointless purges. I only used the fire magic because—" "You used black magic, Aqua," Zordrux cut him off, his voice as cold as a whetted blade. "For years, we have upheld these laws. You chose to ignore them. Now, it is the law's turn to ignore you." Aqua knew better than to argue. Logic was a foreign concept here, a casualty of the tradition they claimed to protect. The heavy doors to the hall slammed open. Rose, her hair disheveled and her eyes burning with a familiar, reckless defiance, strode in. "If you're going to exile my brother, then you're exiling me too. I'm not staying here without him." Zordrux let out a long, weary sigh, closing his eyes as if the sheer irrationality of his children was more than he could bear. "Rose, stop this. Guards!" Before Rose could formulate another plea, two hulking guards in heavy crimson plate armor emerged from the shadows. They grabbed her by the arms. She struggled, kicking and shouting, but the physical disparity between her and the tribe's warriors was too vast to overcome. Aqua just watched, the world crumbling around him. Minutes later, he too was shoved past the threshold of the territory. There was no ceremony, no final words. Just a cold, brutal ejection. ^ A few days later ^ The blizzard was relentless, a white wall that reduced visibility to nothing. Aqua stumbled through the mountain pass, his body numb and every step feeling like an insurmountable labor. Suddenly, a sound pierced the howling wind—a heavy, crunching noise, like claws sinking into deep snow. He spun around. Two massive white bears, their eyes glowing with a predatory hunger, blocked his path. Aqua's heart hammered against his ribs. He ran. He didn't know where he was going, only that he had to move. But the mountain was treacherous; the edge of a ravine was hidden beneath a treacherous drift of snow. One wrong step, and the world tilted. He fell into the dark, silent abyss. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by an unfamiliar warmth. The scent of burnt wood and dried herbs. "So, you're finally awake." Aqua struggled to turn his head. An old man with red horns and black eyes sat by a small, dying hearth, watching him with an inscrutable expression. Aqua recognized him instantly: a demon exile, just like himself. The old man rose without ceremony, gesturing to a small table in the corner. "I know what you're thinking. Yes, I was exiled years ago. Now... let's see what you're made of. Get up." With the old man's help, Aqua stood. He was guided to a strange stone orb resting in the corner of the hut. "Place your hand on it. I've coated this orb in a layer of black magic. The amount of force you're pushed back with will indicate your mana capacity. Just try to..." Aqua placed his hand on the orb. He didn't even have time to brace himself. A blinding crimson light exploded within the hut, and with the sound of cracking stone, the orb shattered into a thousand pieces. The shockwave slammed Aqua into the wooden wall behind him. Silence filled the hut. The old man stared at the shards of the orb, his hands trembling. "Impossible... you were an exile. How could you possibly possess that much mana?" "I...