As Rolan bent his body, forcing the chain taut around his slaver's neck, he pulled with all his might. He instictually forced all his mana into his muscles, using a crude mana art. He managed to hold it down for 4 full seconds. Unfortunately, it didn't matter.
All Alex did was force some mana into his muscles, and hit Rolan into his side. He flew forward, crashing into the rock wall with sickening sounds of bones cracking and the smell of flesh getting burned into nothingness by the friction.
Alex started breathing heavily, taking in the cold air, and rubbed his neck. The chain was so cold it tore off pieces of his skin, making them stick to it. His mark lit up, and the wounds slowly started healing.
"Y..You insolent pet! How dare a HUMAN turn against it's owner?!"
Alexander screamed, his voice sore and rough, sounding less like an distinguished young man and more like a wraith from hell itself.
Rolan was in so much pain. He was pretty sure every rib on his right side where the impact landed was broken. He could barely inhale, and when he drew in the pitiful amount of air, he would start coughing and wheezing, hurting even more and forcing him to inhale. He wanted nothing more then to close his eyes and sleep. He heard the enraged screams of the Prince, but he didn't care. Everything hurt. The right side of his face where he hit the rocks didn't have any skin left. It burned. He wanted to sleep. He wanted to rest so bad. But he couldn't. He had to avenge his mother, he had to! He didn't even know this drive existed within him, but it pushed him forwards. He got up to his feet shakily, when an icicle pierced his neck.
"Serves you right you damn...Damn WRETCH! To think I wanted to give you the honour of being my pet! Die, DIE, DIE, DIE!"
Alex was indignant. Alex was furious. His neck hurt so bad! How dare he! He was going to make him a pet of a royal! He was going to treat him well, and this is how he responds?! By the Spirit, what a fucking human.
Rolan closed his eyes. The pain was gone. He found himself on his feet in the tunnel he was just in. There was no slaver, no chain, no blood, no cracked wall, just him and a familiar figure. The supposed "Spirit of Humanity". What a joke.
[We meet again Rolan. Will you actually respond this time?]
Rolan looked at the figure. It was inherently shapeless, faceless. But it wasn't because it had no shape, no face. It contained every shape of every human that lived, and every face of every human that lived at the same time. Rolan's scowl turned into a full-on grimace when he saw his mother's face within it.
"Why bother recruiting me? I'm dead. You tried, and lost me. Go and make someone else a homocidal maniac."
[Rolan, you-]
Rolan burst with anger.
"Dont you fucking call out to me! I died because of the...the BULLSHIT you fed me every damned night! And you know the funniest thing?! I knew you were lying. That my mother's life had value! I knew she was a human like me! I knew we didn't deserve anything, I knew we were a waste of space, a blight, but dammit it took me over! You did! Because of you I DIED! YOU KEPT SPOUTING ALL THAT BULLSHIT ABOUT WILL AND WHERE DID IT GET ME?! IM DEAD!"
[Rolan. Youre not dead.]
"...What?"
[I summoned you here in the nick of time because you finally had enough will I returned to a fragment of my power. See, we Spirits get power from various sources. I get it from will of humans to survive. You wanted to survive and get revenge, and so I got some power. You're on death's door, but not dead.]
"N..no...I'm not listening to you no more! I almost killed someone! You did the same thing to us when the True War! We did all of that because of you!"
[Me? Me? I told you that you had worth. I told you they were manipulating you, making you all fear them and hate yourselves. I told you your mother will be killed like a damn dog, because to them, you're NOTHING. That's the truth. So dammit, if that's me making you do it, then yes, I did make you do it.]
Rolan looked down on where his physical body, soon to be corpse, is in the real world.
"...Why even summon me here? I did your bidding, I tried my best, but he's on an another level."
Rolan swallowed hard. He looked at the Spirit, seeing his father look at him with compassion. He closed his eyes, shaking.
"Arent you dead anyways?! Why are you here?!
[They can't kill Spirits. They spread that lie so Humans would feel weak. Listen, I can't keep you here for much longer. I can help you.]
"Help me?! We had enough of your help! I don't want-"
[You can avenge your mother.]
Rolan's eyes widened. He arms were shaking.
"No...no! I'm not! I won't!"
[Then don't.]
Rolan felt like his legs would give out. He was scared. When he was in pain, death seemed like an mercy, now it seemed like the worst thing he could imagine. He was mad too. Mad at Alexander for murdering his mother, mad at himself for attacking him, mad at the Spirit for existing, mad at the world for making him choose. Then, with a shaky voice, he said something so quietly it was barely audible:
"How?"
[Hm?]
"How do I...How do I do it?"
[You're a human, Rolan. Will it to be so.]