Raze was sitting in the cell along with his newly found partner from Alter, Anna. She wasn't like the others he had met from Alter.
If anything, she was more like him, someone from another world that had ended up in Pagna, and had no choice but to enter Alter for freedom and information on finding those that were like her.
Maybe this was the reason why Raze found it easier to be honest with her. Because she was in the same situation in this foreign world to them both.
Thinking about these things, Raze continued to play with the lapel of his blazer.
"How can that be possible?" Anna asked. "You're so young. Is it because you were from a noble family in Alterian? Did they force you into a marriage with another family?"
Anna was just pulling ideas from the air with what she knew, and there was something else she had picked up. With her hyper-sensitive ears, even though Rayna was a skilled middle stage warrior, she could hear her faint breathing not too far away from the cell.
Yet, Anna decided not to say a thing. She didn't know why, but the appearance of Rayna annoyed her somewhat, so she thought it was best for her to hear this, and see how she would react.
"Ha!" Raze laughed. "You said the same thing again, but you have no idea anything about me. My blood isn't part of some royal lineage."
"I was born in the slums. I'm sure many different worlds, maybe even yours, had a difference in status between the rich and poor, but Alterian was even worse than that of Pagna."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64ce79d606107d003c23ea27", id: "pf-5140-1"})"In that world, there were those that lived below, and those that lived above. We never even got to see sunlight; the food we ate, the lives we lived, it was as if the two came from different worlds."
Now Anna had realized, the words she had said before, why they might have angered Raze. Now, seeing the seriousness of the matter, she wasn't in the mood to crack jokes, and decided that she would just listen.
"You don't have to tell me," Anna said. "But if it can clear some of your pain, or something you want to say, then I will listen and keep my secret the same as before, to never tell a soul!"
She raised her voice when she said the last sentence, just so the one that was overhearing would know as well. In her mind as well, she wasn't breaking her promise with Raze either.
Raze continued to flick the lapel on his blazer.
"If I wore this tomorrow, it wouldn't be right to wear it to the wedding, something that was made by her," Raze said, staring into the air.
After a few moments, he clenched both of his fists that were hanging over his legs.
"You're right, sometimes it is good to speak of it, and I need to remind myself why I am doing what I am doing. Once in a while I tell these stories to myself to help me remember… as for telling someone else."
"I don't think I ever have done so. Still, I have to remember, I have to at least tell myself so I never forget why I'm doing this."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "64cc9e79c7059f003e4ad4b0", id: "pf-5109-1"})The words from Raze felt so heavy to Anna, even though he had yet to tell his tale. It was odd; it made her wonder how someone could have gone through so much so young.
"I don't know how much you know about our world, but where I am from, there are magicians that have great strength, you can think of them like Divine Warriors.
"But there is also a status even above them, those that rule the lands and worlds, the governments and practically are seen as heroes by everyone, we call them the Grand Magus."
"And my goal, the reason why I am doing everything, is to get rid of every single one of the Grand Magus, every single one of them that wronged me!" Raze gritted his teeth as he said those words.
"These are the five people I hate most in this world, the people that others treasure so much. There are some things that happened in my life that made my hatred grow for them."
"When I was younger, a mage used to visit me frequently, down below. I would be forced to do services I didn't wish to do."
"I don't remember much about him, apart from his clothing having the marking of a golden 'I'. Later, when the Grand Magus were created, one of them was named Idore.
"A strong mage but mostly known for the items he could craft, and each one of them would have the same marking of the golden 'I'."
"Still, although all of that happened, I managed to change my life; I became part of the upper world and left the world below behind. I changed my life and had become a professor at one of the top academies."
window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: "663633fa8ebf7442f0652b33", id: "pf-8817-1"})"It was then that there was an opportunity for me to become the next principal of the Academy. I was placed with my friend, Ibarin."
"However, a raid was made in my office, and illegal substances were found. I was placed on trial, and the person who I thought was my friend, testified against me."
"It was as clear as day that I was set up by him, but I had no proof. In the end, I lost my position, and lost my job, while Ibarin became the principal, and not only that, due to his further achievements, he had also become a Grand Magus."
Anna didn't want to say it, but things seemed to follow Raze around. Interactions on two separate occasions and both of them becoming Grand Magus. His enemies happened to be the strongest from his world.
There was something else as well; if he was a professor surely he would be an old man. Yet once again, looking at his face, Anna could tell that no lies were being spoken.
"When I lost my job, I myself felt lost, but there was still one person by my side, one person who had stayed with me the entire time no matter how hard things got."
"That is my wife. No matter how tough things got she stayed by my side through it all; she supported me. I ask myself why, why was I so obsessed with finding proof that Ibarin had framed me."
"If I just left that matter alone, then maybe things would have been okay…"
Raze lingered for a while, his head sunken in, but when he lifted his hand, just clenching his fist, a crackling sound could be heard as his knuckles clicked.
"It was because of everything that happened with her, I had become what I am today."
"I was a fool, to think that there was kindness, and to put my trust in others. I would have never imagined that all five of the Grand Magus were working together."
"Listen carefully, because I will tell you the reason for my hatred of all of the Grand Magus!" Raze glimmered with his Dark magic lingering slightly out of him.
