Chapter 63 - The Mind
Craig Rothburn
What had happened to him scarred him. Deep down he would never be the same. His shining light and his reason for living had been taken from him. He always knew that the world was cruel but this was something beyond that.
The fact that this scenario was designed, was manufactured, broke him more than if it was chance. Craig Rothburn spurned at the thought of other people in this tutorial who were living.
Why did they get to live while his family was killed? Why did they get to survive while his family did not? It drove him to madness. Wandering the forest with the group of refugees he had led was difficult.
Every day thinking it would be his last. Every waking moment was spent struggling to survive. The only benefit that came out of it was his increase in power. If he was being honest with himself, which wasn't often anymore, it started long before that fateful night.
He lost his family, almost lost his kids, and watched his world burn. It started then and only got worse. The anger and hate at what had happened ate at him and twisted him into something he was not.
His wife, bless her soul, was what held him in check. His two little girls pushed him to be better. Now they were gone. Now there wasn't anyone to stop him from the path he set himself on.
Anger and hate manifest in different ways for different people and his manifested in ways his past self would balk at. Leading his group of survivors gave him skills that he wasn't sure he wished he had.
[Mental Inhibitor] sounded so wrong when taken out of context. What did it matter that he was aiding people who were stressed and broken like he was? Calming the minds of people who had lost everything. Easing their burden.
[Mental Suggestion] presented itself as an evil skill filled with misuse. He came to know better though, as all would. It didn't usurp their minds like they thought it did. It only stoked the fires of what was already there.
His class was the worst part. But like all things, it was a matter of perception. He didn't break the minds of people, he led them to the right conclusion. The broken and wondering people who had lost everything, like him, needed a new purpose.
There was enough blame to go around. He blamed himself for being too weak to stop it, he blamed his family for the same. Who he blamed the most were the others.