Chapter 164
## THE FORGOTTEN FIELDS (NOVEL) – CHAPTER 164
### Chapter 164
That Nameless Tomb
—There is a terrible beast lurking inside my son’s body —his father said in a dismal tone.
His pupils, clouded by fear and anxiety, scanned his face quickly before turning back to the old priest clad in liturgical robes—. Do you not know it very well? That curse that runs through the veins of the Shierkhan family…
The father’s voice was suddenly tinged with a deep loathing:
—My grandfather possessed the “Demon’s Eye”. He could see not only the hearts of men, but also their destinies. Everyone feared and shunned him, but I knew the true nature of that power. It is nothing more than… a cursed and evil force that escapes the will of the Creator.
The father’s bright eyes turned toward the altar of the prayer room. The white marble platform was engraved with the images of the heroes who had contributed to the foundation of the Roim Empire, and of the pagans who had fought against them.
His father gazed at it intently and continued speaking as if confessing his sins:
—In the past, our ancestors tried to use that power to dominate nations. They wanted to crush other peoples with the force of dark magic and shed their blood to offer the energy of their life force as a sacrifice to the spirits of the earth. They believed that the land thus stained with blood would belong to our clan forever.
His father paused for a moment and looked up. The light filtering through the glass window added a strange glow to his pupils. His father looked like someone possessed by something.
—But the ancestors’ ambitions were pitilessly shattered before the envoys of the Creator. Considering the sins committed by the people of “Khan”, we should have become slaves to the victors. However, the merciful Creator of existence took our guilty people into his flock. As a token of gratitude for that mercy, the Shierkhan family swore allegiance as a member of the Empire.
His father’s pupils descended toward him once more. He could understand that all those words were directed at him and not at the priest.
His father continued with the delirium of his laments while looking at him for a long time with eyes inhabited by bitterness:
—To this day we have respected that oath, fulfilling our duties as believers of the Imperial Church and devout subjects of the court. But the lineage of heresy that runs through the blood of the Shierkhan family has not been completely extinguished. It appeared in my grandfather, and now in my son…
His father’s thin lips trembled slightly. His face reflected the desperate effort to suppress something rising from deep within him.
He wondered what the true nature of the emotions his father was swallowing might be. Was it disgust? Or a bitter sadness?
His father paused for a moment, as if sorting out the whirlwind in his chest, and finally raised the main matter with a firm face:
—I want to excise the wild nature that this child possesses and mold him anew into a perfect heir. And to achieve this, I desire that the Church grant me its assistance.
The old priest, who had been listening in silence, spoke, manifesting his hesitation:
—The child is still very young. As custom dictates, it is better to wait until he grows up a bit before he receives instruction…
—That is not enough —his father interrupted the priest nervously—. A large part of the inhabitants of the East still have not completely abandoned the beliefs of the past. If I allow him to grow up among them, he will completely lose his identity as an imperial citizen. He must be removed from this land as soon as possible.
The priest looked at him with an expression filled with doubt. He seemed to wonder what could be in that small child, whose height barely reached his waist, to cause the ruler of the East to sink into such anguish.
He wondered too. What had his father seen in him to have reached such certainty?
As he looked at him in template astonishment, his father’s pupils became as dark as an abyss.
—I know it. Something that inhabited the bodies of my ancestors now also inhabits inside this child… If my son grows up according to his nature, this land will plunge into absolute chaos.
With those words, which sounded like a prophecy, his father’s figure melted strangely, like melted wax. And the resplendent light that enveloped the prayer room vanished in an instant to transform into a grayish tone. The world turned upside down accompanied by a ringing in the ears. A dull thud was heard, as if an iron door had closed somewhere.
In the next instant, he understood he was confined in a cell so cold it froze the bones. They brought him here time and again because he ignored all the rules of the monastery and sowed doubts about the teachings of the priests.
He did not know why he repeated that useless rebellion. The only result he obtained from his foolish resistance was severe physical punishment. He knew with his mind that feigning obedience was the most sensible thing to do, but something in his chest refused to submit.
Perhaps that wild being his father spoke of urged him to continue torturing himself. Because of that, he had to suffer endless pain. If he did not correct that which inhabited within him, he could never leave this place.
He resisted against himself, refusing to be broken. And he fought against himself, desiring to fight with violence. He decided that if there was a terrible beast lurking inside him, he would destroy it with his own hands.
That violent longing opened strange delusions before him. One day, he faced a colossal monster in a suspended time. That monster was the source of his pains. Every time they confined him in a narrow, dark room, and every time he suffered a brutal beating, he approached the monster to execute the resolution he repeated in his mind.
Suddenly, he found a completely white blade in his hand. With it, he stabbed the chest of the monster that was gazing at him. The colossal body, throbbing with warmth, shook violently. He continued wielding the sword inside the heavy body that agitated with violence.
Finally, the colossal body covered in black fur collapsed weakly. However, the six red eyes continued to stare at him. He extended his trembling hand to touch the blood-stained body; the heart, frozen and hardened, no longer beat.
Would he manage to free himself from the pain with this?
Suddenly, he felt something slide down his cheek. He touched his face and found it bathed in tears. He did not know why he was crying. He looked down once more with confused eyes.
The six-eyed monster had disappeared, and in its place lay a blonde boy. He turned the inert body and saw his own face, frozen and whitish.
Drops of cold water began to fall upon him, but the tears of lament dried up in an instant, and the illusion vanished shortly after. When he opened his eyes again, he understood that something inside him had died forever.
A smell of blood emanated from somewhere.
Varkas woke up from a light sleep and cast a dry glance through the entrance of the tent. The pale morning sun, which was beginning to rise, scattered a cold light. He observed it trying to calculate the time, then rose from his place, took the scabbard of his sword, and went out.
His view was filled with the military tents lined up in order and the military base built as a temporary solution. He crossed between the soldiers who crowded the place and approached the defense line.
On the wooden palisade that the soldiers had raised, the heads of the traitors whom he had executed with his own hands days ago remained hanging. He contemplated for a moment the empty eye sockets, which appeared to have been pecked by birds, and then climbed the ladder to inspect the occupied region.
Before his eyes appeared the walls of Beldis, one of the most important military enclaves of the North, and the plains that stretched toward the west. Due to the nature of the rugged topography of this land, riddled with valleys, Beldis was one of the few open spaces where large forces could concentrate to fight a real battle.
Most of the supplies and the large troops heading to the southeastern regions of Balto had to pass through this area. In other words, by occupying this place, it was possible to effectively isolate Balto.
“Soon I will be able to push to enter peace negotiations.”
He leaned his body on the railing and opened the waterskin hanging at his waist to moisten his mouth. The nobles of the Northern Alliance, realizing that they found themselves in a dead end, would soon abandon the forces that had led the rebellion. They would try to resolve the situation by choosing a new ruler who sympathized with the Empire.
If he could then convince the imperial court to sign a peace treaty, he could put an end to this tedious war of attrition.
“In a period of two months at the earliest, or three months at the latest, I will be able to return to Kalmore.”
He let out a long sigh and rubbed his messy hair tightly.
More than two years had passed since the civil war broke out. During that time, he used to visit Laidgo Castle whenever the opportunity presented itself; however, since the actual fighting began, he had no choice but to monitor the situation inside the province through messengers.
The last time he had seen her was half a year ago. And even back then, he could only observe her condition from a distance. This was the first time he left the castle empty for such a prolonged period, so he experienced a deep uneasiness. He received periodic reports on her condition from the head of service and his subordinates, but the lines written on the paper were not enough to reassure him.
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