In life, second chances reside everywhere, in plain sight, without hiding, yet they present themselves only to those willing to sacrifice.
Despite Fraser's acceptance of death, even in his last moments, his meridian never fully blanked, flickers of ambition resided in his heart, just this minor ember of perseverance that remained, contributed to the appearance of this second chance.
"What do we do with this one?" the voice of a tall, muscular tier two sorcerer entered Fraser's ears. His name was Elias Knightworth.
"Haha! Keep him as a slave like the rest of them." a chubby shorter man emitting a similar tier two aura chuckled. This man did not have a second name due to complications in his family, he went by Old Lord Gareth.
"Are you sure? He's missing an arm and his spine is broken, what use could he possibly have?" worry flashed in Elias's eyes.
"Fair point. But it would be a waste to leave him here to be dinner for the wolves, throw him in one of the spare cages in the back." Gareth decided to leave some pity for Fraiser, believing in his value.
Fraser heard their conversation with full clarity. His gaze rapidly focused on the surroundings. It seemed this merchant's transport carriages had happened to pass by during his final moments, narrowly saving him from an imminent doom. He was extremely grateful, but the grief from the extermination still haunted him, and he wasn't in much of a better position than he was before, they were planning to enslave him, if not for his grave injuries, he would be plowing fields for masters right now.
His left arm was still missing, and his spine felt like it was on the brink of collapse. The wounds on his thigh and the charring on his face were completely healed by the healing sorcerer onboard. The tier of this sorcerer didn't seem to be high, considering that his arm was still gone and not even his spine was recovered. However, the sorcerer managed to numb Fraser's pain in both areas.
Fraser was satisfied with just being alive at this moment, the severity of the wounds were irrelevant to him.
A tier three sorcerer, appearing to be the strongest in the carriage and Gareth's guard, held onto Fraser's chains, pulling him harshly; rashes appeared on Fraser's wrists from the friction of the metal shackles. He was thrown into a small cage like livestock, he was stripped of all his belongings and left with cheap rations for food, barely enough to keep him alive.
After removing his shackles, the sorcerer locked the cage door, "My name is Ingram, I will be checking over you every evening at sundown, so behave." A chilling feeling came over Fraser from Ingram's tone.
But he didn't waver from simple intimidation, Fraser helped himself to the low quality rations, which sickened him, he wasn't used to such a poverty-like environment and food. After eating most of the food, he sat down and began scheming.
Fraser was never like the rest of the new generation of the Whight clan, they considered him a prodigy. Since birth, Fraser continuously amazed the elders with his intelligence and proficiency in combat. They named him the next heir despite him having an older and more mature brother. This brother, Cyril Whight, wasn't as talented as Fraser, and didn't receive the same treatment as him due to their difference in natural talent. Fraser didn't know what happened to him during the extermination, he assumed that Cyril was dead, most likely, he was.
Fraser spent the next couple of days scheming, plotting, and cultivating. He realised his lack of strength long ago. During these quiet days, he deepened his connection with the Void, and worked on refining his meridian into higher levels, on the fourth day after being detained, Fraser reached a breakthrough in his cultivation.
Sparks crashed against each other in the arcane spark meridian, emotions, heavily influenced by Fraser's difficulties up until this moment, acted as a catalyst for the reactions in his meridian. Fraser focused, understanding the profundities of these reactions, his connection to the Void tightened, pulling him closer as he reflected on his previous sorrow.
A quiet ignition took place in the meridian, as a gentle ember emerged within the chaos of sparks flying across his heart.
Tier two cultivation!
Flickering ember meridian!