Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) by V.A. Lewis (autobiographies to read .TXT) 📕

But listening to Karna speak made me realize something: there were far greater worries out there than mine. Not that my worries were unimportant; they mattered a lot to me.

Both were important. Yet they could not be equally important. So which mattered more? I still did not know.

However, not knowing did not excuse inaction. Trying to figure something out— learn what is best as you do it— was better than doing nothing.

Same went for what I wanted.

I wanted revenge; but I was scared of killing. I wanted to fight alongside Karna, Gerritt, Ihsan, and Victor; but I did not want to be in the wrong. Were these really antitheses to each other?

I did not know.

But I had to find out.

So that night, I made my choice.

And I hoped— truly hoped, for myself, and for those around me— that it was the right decision.

Chapter 35: Fort Conon

"Hey, what’s this?"

"Why’re you asking me? It’s your house!" the girl said with folded arms.

The boy pulled out a book from the shelf. He lifted the tome with both hands, carefully setting it down on the floor. He dusted off the cover, and ignored the girl as she leaned over his shoulders.

"What does it say?" she asked. "I can’t see!"

He read out its title slowly. "It says… ‘The Darkness of Light."

The girl cocked her head to the side. "What does that mean?"

"I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the Goddess?"

"The Goddess? Why— oh, because it’s about light."

"Exactly. Goddess grace us, this book looks old." The boy gently flipped through a few pages, trying not to damage its ancient scripts. "And it's even in the Venerable Language— see, it uses symbols as characters and not letters!"

"Boring!" The girl rolled her eyes. "Why do you like these boring things? How did you even know that?!"

"Shut up, it’s interesting!" the boy said defensively. "If you don’t want to read it, fine! But don’t disturb me."

"Lame. I’m going to talk to your sister. She’s three and she’s more fun than you."

"Whatever."

"Are you reading that stupid book again? Why don’t you do something else. Everytime I come to visit now, you won’t even greet me at the door."

"Because you’re annoying," the boy snapped back. "Go away if you’re just going to annoy me."

The girl sighed. She sat on the bed next to him, and peered over. "...what’s it about?"

"Well, if you really want to know," the boy sniffed and shut the book. ‘It’s about the history of magic."

"Magic?" She blinked. "But that’s… heresy!"

"Apparently it’s not. The book explains why that’s wrong. Look here." He turned to a page a quarter of the way through. "Read this. The Goddess never cared about magic. Being good just meant you were strong. And magic made you strong! But everyone else feared the Demons because of that— because they got too strong. So they called magic evil, and labeled them heretics."

"But that’s… wrong! Being good means to be kind, and to show compassion. That’s why the Goddess is the Goddess of Light!"

"That’s just what they want you to think. Why else would the Goddess make some people stronger than others? Give individuals dominion over the world? Because strength is justice."

"W-what about Hell?! Have you not heard of what it’s like? They destroyed the land! No one can live there anymore. That’s what magic did to the world. That’s why Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and all the other species’ in the world waged war with them in the first place!"

"Do you really believe that? If no one could live in Hell, how did the Demons survive for thousands of years?" the boy scoffed. "Oh, and not the entire world went to war with them. The First and Second Holy Wars were just Humans and Elves. The other species’ only came to help when they started losing."

"I-I see…" the girl trailed off. She looked at the boy as he continued. And she did not know what to say.

"It’s fine if you don’t get this at first. The Church has been doing a good job at covering this up since when this was written 2000 years ago—"

"Look! Watch this!" the boy exclaimed.

He raised a hand excitedly, and a light flashed. The girl stared in shock as a magic circle formed around his hand. As the wind picked up, nearly blowing the hat off her head.

"T-that’s magic— that’s… you shouldn’t be doing that!" She yanked his arm down.

"Why not?" The boy frowned. "I explained to you , didn’t I? There’s nothing wrong with—"

"But you can’t! You’ll get in trouble! They’ll… kill you ! After what happened with—" The girl paused, then leaned forward and spoke in a hushed voice. "After what happened to House Corinna. After what happened with their heiress. Now, you won’t just be locked up in a dungeon like before! They’ll actually kill you!"

"Please, what happened with Lady Valeria—"

"She’s not a Lady anymore!"

"Fine. What happened with the Fiend"— the boy glared at the girl as she gave him a look— "was entirely different. Just because I can be executed for magic, doesn’t mean I will be."

"But your family will be disgraced. Your father is only a Viscount. I-if this gets out…"

"It won’t get out," the boy said confidently. Then he looked at the girl with a cocked brow. "Not unless someone decides to snitch."

"I-I will never! Lady’s honor!" The girl flushed. "But your servants— they’ll surely notice something!"

"Please. The common folk are too simpleminded to even notice, let alone care." The boy waved a hand off dismissively. "Trust me on this."

And the girl really wanted to trust him.

"This is an obsession, Victor. You