Chapter 8: Found It!
Leston's voice boomed through the vents, his rage palpable. "You hear me, Oliver? If I catch you, I'll break every bone in your body!" His threats echoed, growing distant as Oliver dragged himself deeper into the metallic tunnel.
Pain racked his body with every movement. His ribs screamed with each breath, and his limbs trembled from exertion. He clenched his jaw, biting down a groan. The taste of blood was thick in his mouth. Weak. He hated it—hated how feeble he was, how helpless. The agony wasn't just physical; it clawed at his pride, his resolve. He couldn't live like this again. He wouldn't.
He had lived many years beneath thumb of bullies, bowed to it, gotten used to it, and then broke under it.
Was he too, not a person like them? Was he not born with potential like them? Why was everyone so interested in climbing to the top, but with his shoulders as their ladder?
Well, not again, not in this life.
In his heart, he could not forget what Leston had done. This pain, he would pay back many folds.
His fingers dug into the steel as he pulled himself forward, each inch reinforcing his desperation. He had to find the Alchemist's Seal. Only then could he change his fate.
At this point, he had almost forgotten a direction, just moving wherever his instincts led him, both far away from his step brother, and to a possible destination.
Then, a voice stopped him. A voice he knew too well.
His father.
It had surprisingly come from a vent he was very familiar with. After all, this was the one leading into his late mother's room.