Chapter 81: Asaemon and Daylan
In pain, Daylan’s soul was to be born—not in peace, but in the thorn. To love pain was to be pierced awake; to fear it was to stay wise. Yet what shattered him also shaped him, and clearly, he could not love without first knowing pain.
"Yes, I fear pain," Daylan muttered, pressing himself against the floor as he forced his body upright after taking a blow from Asaemon.
His legs trembled as blood trickled from his nose; his skin was paler than usual, and his once-muscular body now looked no different from a skeleton.
"Who said I can’t love it too? I get it... if you fear it, you keep yourself from ever feeling it again. But if you love it—well, you accept it... and maybe even enjoy it."
He raised his head and stared directly at Asaemon. "I fear pain—and I never want any of my loved ones to feel it. Ever." His eyes narrowed. "But can I?"
"My ribs are crashing as I stand before you, my head on the verge of exploding. My lungs are crushed, and I can taste blood in every breath I take. I’m nearly crippled, and my vision is stained with red."
He finally stood upright and smirked. "Pain is inevitable—emotional, physical, or psychological. No one escapes it. That’s why I fear it, that’s why I love it... and above all, I respect it."
He began moving forward, taking each of Asaemon’s tentacle strikes—yet refusing to fall. "Pain shapes, builds, creates... and after a week of enduring this torture—realizing I was weak for running from it—it remade me. It created the one who respects pain."
The moment he finished speaking, he collapsed to the floor. Asaemon’s glowing eyes dimmed as he stepped forward and checked his pulse.
He let out a heavy sigh and carried Daylan into the living room. Prompting Blind, and with his permission, Medora began to heal him.
During the past week, Daylan was never freed from his torture. Asaemon repeated the same words to him every day, while Medora and Blind visited from time to time to chastise them.