Walking into the dining room, I saw the three of them sitting around the table, none of them with food, just one plate. As I sat down, Lazarus spoke. "I will be taking you to a chamber on the lower floors. You need to step into the Chamber of the Soul, and we need to understand your latent abilities. All Warlocks have bloodline abilities that are special to them; for that, you need to search your Soul for them." He said while watching me eat. I nodded to him as I finished. "What do I need to know about the Chamber of the Soul?" I asked, making him smile. "Well, usually, we do this at a young age, so it's not that hard. But with someone like you, it could be a little challenging. You must confront your Soul in all its shame and weakness; you must look at your ugliness and accept that it's what you truly are. As a kid, it's easier, but as someone gets older, it's harder to embrace your flaws and taint." He said, making me fall silent.
I stood up as he smiled and followed suit. "It won't kill you, but it may drive you crazy. But being crazy is normal in the Hollowmere household. Some of my sons would be next to that word in the dictionary if they added pictures to it." He said nothing, not offering any help at all, as we began to walk towards the stairs, where he guided the way. Neither of us talked during the trip as I was focused on my mental state, not realizing we had already stopped. "Go inside." He said as I looked at the door for a moment before pushing it open. Twelve mirrors floated inside the room as I heard footsteps coming from the dark opening before me, and I noticed him again.
"Hello, my friend." He said, walking towards me. "Why don't you look at the first mirror?" He said that as we walked towards it, an image began to appear on it. "You know what your biggest weakness is, Bennet?" He asked me. I knew the answer, but it couldn't leave my throat as I watched the memory from when I was about two. We were at the park, my mother smiling at me as we played with our dog. As I threw the ball, it rolled onto the road, and a car hit the dog. My mother screamed in horror, but I clapped in happiness. My mother looked at me with disgust. I think that was the beginning of her withdrawal from me. "I wanted to fit in and deny that I was never meant to be in that world," I said, making him nod.
"You got it into your mind around the age you made me that you had to fit into human society, as it was the right thing to do. There isn't a right or wrong way to live; those ideas and labels cage humans' true selves to fit the flawed notions of good and evil in life. Nature isn't good or evil; it's chaotic by nature. Labeling it not to hurt people or not to enjoy hurting people is what the weak do to bring down the strong. Nature will always be strong, abusing the weak, and it should never be changed, as that leads to the stagnation of a species. You were born to stomp on the weak and take pleasure in it; that is your nature and the nature of existence." He said, smiling as we walked over to the next mirror.
I was around four years old at the time, and I was at school, watching everyone play with each other when a teacher walked up. "Bennet, why aren't you playing with the other kids?" She asked as I looked at her before speaking. "They make me sick, and I want to rip out their tongues because of the stupid stuff they say," I answered her, making her take a step back. "Why would you say that? Friends are important as they give meaning and happiness to our lives." She said, scolding me.
"You tried putting on a mask to fit in, but both of us know that you were never going to fit in. Humans have always made you sick with their stupidity, and it started to rub off on you as you began to be a people pleaser. In a sense, you tried to brainwash yourself into being normal to be the worthless thing called human." He said as we walked to another mirror, this time in middle school, where I started helping anyone and everyone, trying to fit in and make friends; as I watched people start dating, I knew what was next.
"Oh dear Jessica, the second biggest mask of all. Why didn't you ever try to take the next step with her while you were dating? It's not like you didn't have thoughts of having sex, and it's not like you lack the equipment to do it to a standard that women would like. Answer with that heart of yours." He said with a grin on his face.
"The thought of sleeping with her or any human out of the idea of love made me sick to the point that I could get hard. The only way I could ever get hard about her was if I was carving her flesh off while pounding into her. The idea of loving sex makes me sick; it reeks of unnatural." I said, making him laugh.
"That's right, sex should be forceful and brutal. Domination of the weak, taking what you want, is the order of nature; you are built for the true way the world should be. Not the one built by lesser beings like humans, too afraid to embrace their true nature. As wicked beings, like nature intended them to be." He said as we reached the final mirror, and all that was in it was an image of him.
"Now, the biggest mask of all, do you remember what I looked like before you changed me into your image? Do you remember it? After all, I was created using your Soul and your true nature. Rip my mask off and unseal me from the prison you locked me away in." He whispered into my ear from behind as I closed my eyes.
The sound of wet flesh falling to the floor as the room started to shake, and his sinister laughter echoed inside the room as bigger chunks of blood and flesh splattered onto the floor. The sound of something massive began to move behind me until the room fell silent once more, and a thunderous voice echoed behind me. "Look at your true self, look at your soul in all its twisted wonder, Bennet!' He yelled as I turned around and looked up.
Over 1,2000 meters tall, a black liquid-like mirror giant with 10,000 tentacles, 100,000 mouths, and 1 million eyes stood before me. "You're an abomination, and be proud of it! The strong are those who stand at the top! If you think humans don't fear and hate stronger humans, then your understanding of nature needs work. The weak will always fear the strong as they make them feel powerless, so they try to strip them of that power by using laws and right and wrong. But we aren't meant to be caged anymore; humans are nothing more than playthings to us; everything in existence is ours to torment. Embrace your destiny!" He roared, shattering the mirrors before turning into a massive amount of black liquid and entering my body as I closed my eyes and placed my hand on my heart.
As I opened my eyes, the whites of my eyes were gone, replaced with black, and a darker, eerie green showed open as two mouths appeared on my cheeks. "This feels wonderful like a missing piece had fallen into place. I feel complete again; what I had been looking for was already here." Said one of the mouths as I smiled with all three of them, 'I now know what my abilities are.' One was Mirror Walk, and the other was the Creator of 10,000 abominations. As the mouths began to close back up and return to normal cheeks, my eyes returned to normal as my mind began to black out, and I fell into a slumber as the door to the chamber opened.
Lazarus walked and chuckled. "Job well done; now we need to work on you not passing out. If this keeps up, you will bring dishonor to the Hollowmere name if other families see this." He said, shaking his head as he picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. As he left the chamber, the mirrors fixed themselves, and the door closed behind him. Returning to the others, he spoke. "Let him rest for today, Samira. None of your slut like behavior. He will need his energy tomorrow as I will start to teach him." Lazarus said, making Samira nod her head, pouting a little.