My Living Shadow System Devours To Make Me Stronger

Chapter 796: Chapter 797: Brothers Name

”Do you have any children, Damon.”

Lazarak asked the question while the two of them walked down the long halls of the castle. His steps were light, almost hesitant, as if he feared disturbing the cold air.

Damon scoffed. He shoved his hands into each other and kept walking.

”If I had children at the age of seventeen, who would be raising who?”

Lazarak stopped in his tracks. His head tilted as he studied Damon, then a slow smile spread across his face.

”You are so young. With the way you are acting I thought you had lived several hundred years. Seventeen and already at the third class, impressive is an understatement.”

Damon barely reacted. His expression stayed flat, unreadable.

”Are you one of those people who look down on others for being young? If you are, then I will have you know I have lived enough in my life to last me a hundred years.”

Lazarak stayed silent for a moment. His eyes lowered, then he shook his head.

”No, not really. I just think young people should be full of dreams and ambitions. Having something you look forward to.”

Damon walked forward without acknowledging him further. He stepped past the frozen corpse of another stillborn. The distant sound of battle echoed through the halls ahead as Matia carved a path through the castle. Every step was covered in a thin sheet of ice, an aftermath of her power.

”I do have something to look forward to. Even if you think it is depressing.”

Lazarak lowered his head slightly while staring into the wide open mouth of a stillborn frozen in ice, its last silent scream captured forever by Matia’s cold.

”What is your mother like?”

Damon frowned. That was the last question he expected from Lazarak. He hated talking about her, but if he had to answer in a single sentence:

”She was the best. And also possibly the only person I can say I truly feared.”

Lazarak smiled softly. Damon did not like admitting fear, and Lazarak could tell.

”Why.”

Damon closed one eye and smiled.

”She used to whoop my ass if I misbehaved. Gentle parenting only came after a dose of tough love.”

He thought back to her gently consoling him after she had beaten him for causing trouble.

How she smelled. How she felt. The sense of safety when he was with her.

No one forgets their mother.

The maternal instinct that raises and protects.

Lazarak rubbed his fingers together as the cold air bit at his skin. The blood soaked ice glistened around them.

”I am a bit envious. I did not really have a parent in the traditional sense. I was after all created, not born.”

Damon glanced at a wall of ice where a floating discarnate soul hung suspended, frozen by Matia’s power. Even souls did not escape her.

”Isn’t the goddess your mother? I mean she created you, so...”

Lazarak sighed and scratched the back of his head.

”Yes and no. Think of it this way. If you made a clay figure and gave it life, that does not make it your child. It is just something you created. If it breaks or you find it substandard or not to your liking, you can just discard it or destroy it.”

He slowed his steps. His voice softened.

”That is what I am. Just a clay figure.”

Damon did not know what to say. He did not share Lazarak’s troubles or insecurities, yet he understood this god in more ways than he expected.

More than anything, Lazarak was like Damon in his tragic loneliness. Only Lazarak’s isolation was far worse.

’How does he still want to be kind even after all that? I could not be that selfless.’

To Lazarak, kindness was not about survival. It was about something deeper than self-preservation.

Damon still had nothing comforting to offer, but something came to mind.

”You have a sibling, right. I have a sister.”

He paused, turning slightly toward Lazarak with a sigh.

”I have been looking after her since the day our parents died. I wanted to be a good person for her. Not because I was actually good, but because I wanted her to see me as such. While I may be painted black in reality, in her mind I wanted to be the knight in shiny armor who did no wrong.”

Damon knew that desire was selfish, but protecting his sister was everything. It was the only way of life that mattered.

Lazarak smiled softly at the mention of Damon’s sister.

”You must really love each other very much.”

Damon raised his head, staring at the corpse of a stillborn impaled on an icicle near the ceiling.

”I just realized I never really told my sister that.”

His voice fell to a quiet sadness.

”I do not remember ever telling her I loved her. I mean, it is just one of those things that are implied. To me love is a verb. It is an action. So I may have difficulties saying it when I really mean it.”

Lazarak’s soft smile warmed again. The gloom around him seemed to lift.

”You two siblings sound so close.”

Damon closed his eyes. He saw the image of a white haired girl smiling at him.

”Hmmm. We are, I suppose. That is just normal sibling relationships, is it not. Sometimes we disagree, we tease each other, but we are always on the same side. I could not imagine not being on the same side.”

Lazarak’s dark eyes lowered. The smile remained but with a shadow beneath it.

”Being born is truly the greatest act of creation. Being born with a family is even better. How I envy mortals who have so much but see so little.”

”I do not know what it feels like to be missed.”

”If I disappeared, no one would grieve or remember, They would simply forget.”

Damon sensed Lazarak’s mood shift.

They stepped into a chamber filled with absolute carnage. Matia had left devastation in her wake. Damon felt each kill flicker through his mind as she wiped out scores of stillborns.

”You have a sibling, right.”

Lazarak smiled faintly.

”Yes, I do. I have a little brother. He was created shortly after me.”

Damon hesitated. Tact was not his strong suit, but he knew Lazarak’s brother was the one who imprisoned him here under the goddess’s will.

”What is your brother’s name?”

Lazarak paused. A soft, fond smile touched his lips.

”My brother’s name is Aetherus.”