From the days of the old, way before mana there was a great saying, 'He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you.'
You never know how true this saying is until you stare at yourself in the mirror and what stares at you is the exact monster you once hated… maybe even far worse.
Jensen felt the pain spread across his face as his father's hand made contact with his face.
His eyes reddened as he folded his arms protecting his face from the blows that followed.
The money he was trying to protect scattered onto the floor while his father laughed maniacally.
"Foolish boy, what did I tell you about hiding money from me?"
"After everything I have done for you, this is how you repay me?" His father kept screaming at him.
"I lost my path because of you… you, you hear me and you dare hide that money from me?" His father kept it going.
"You and this bitch owe your lives to me." He said as he finally grew tired, his eyes moved to the woman who was standing in a corner.
Maria watched her husband beat on her son but there was nothing she could do about it.
It wasn't like she didn't try but it just made it worse, so she gave up.
Her husband, Jack, used to be very good and kind man.
He was a talented Cultivator of the Mind Path. He majored in the telekinesis branch of the Mind Path.
It was projected that he would reach level 4 before his 30th birthday but that changed when he stumbled on a demon on one of his expeditions in the wilderness.
The demon traumatised him so badly that he regressed in his mind path, his trauma ensured that he never cultivated ever in his life again.
Since he was an adventurer and not a soldier the government never bothered to help him. That was 12 years ago.
Within a few years he squandered everything he worked for all his life on alcohol, drugs, gambling and prostitutes in an effort to drown out his trauma.
Once the money ran dry, they fell into debt fast, and they had to sell everything forcing them to move to this place that was no different from a slum.
Without her husband's knowledge this house they now lived in was passed down to her, she knew better than to let him know.
Whatever money she took for rent was secretly saved so she could send her son away when he came of age.
'Hopefully he is as talented as Jack was.' Maria prayed.
She heard his final word to Jensen as he turned around and began picking the money from the ground.
Jack took a few more swigs from his beer bottle but the feeling he hope for never came.
With his high consumption of all sorts of alcohol and drugs, he had developed a high resistance to them.
Jack gulped down the rest of the beer as fast as possible but still nothing.
He eyes moved around searching for an escape and his eyes finally fell on another perfect outlet.
A wide smile appeared on his face and began to pull off his belt from his trousers.
***
Jensen hated his father, he hated being weak, he hated having his things taken from him.
That money he had worked hard for the money, be it pickpocketing, transporting drugs for the local cartel.
It was his.
'I worked for it.' Jensen thought as he stared at his so-called father pick up the money.
'My money.'
'My money that I worked so hard for.' Jensen's eyes were bloodshot at this point.
'Do I want to keep going like this?' He asked himself.
'Where everything I work for gets snatched away?'
'No, it mine, it is mine.' Jensen thought at his stared at his father's moving form.
'I want it back.'
He stared intensely at his father back, something caused him to think, 'I want to kill myself.'
Jensen was surprised at this thought, it wasn't that he had never had a derogative thought about himself before, but it was never to this extent.
The main focus of his hate had always been his father.
His surprise transformed to shock as he saw his father freeze before he began to move faster towards his mother.
Jensen experience a feeling of euphoria as his mind connected to everything around him.
His mind became clearer, his senses sharper and everything around him seemed to move slower.
He could feel the energy flowing through him from the environment.
Jensen knew he had awakened to his Path.
Or should I say Paths.
The sharp smell that hit his nose in the next second brought his back to the present stopping him from being lost in the sensations he was feeling.
A wild smile appeared on his face as he stared at his father's back who was still moving towards his mother.
He tried to grasp that feeling again and immediately tried it again.
'I want to kill myself.' His father seemed to pause again and now Jensen was very much sure.
'Kill myself!'
'Kill myself!'
'Kill myself!!'
'Kill myself!!!'
'Kill myself!!!'
He could feel the energy flowing through him, flow out, however the mana the was assisting his awakening kept coming refilling the energy that he drained.
At this point Jack had already abandoned his plans for Maria and he gripped the cash tightly moving towards the door.
He didn't bother picking his belt which had fallen to the ground as he planned to head out to get some drugs to calm himself.
Before he could get to the door, another thought appeared in his thought overwhelming him once more.
'Knife!'
'Knife!'
'Knife!!'
'Knife!!'
'Knife!!!'
'Yes, the knife in the kitchen, I need it.' Jack thought as he raced towards the kitchen. He opened the knife drawer and rummaged through it.
He picked up the biggest and gripped it tightly, 'But what do I need a kni…'
His almost sane thoughts were suddenly overwhelmed again.
'Kill myself!'
'Kill myself!!'
'Kill myself!!!'
'Stab!'
'Stab!'
'Stab!!'
'Stab!!'
'Stab!!!'
'Stab!!!'
Jack did not know when he raised the knife and began stabbing himself in his chest. He kept stabbing until the repeated pain seemed to clear his head.
He looked down at the pool of blood and the knife stuck in his heart.
He didn't need to be told for him to understand that he had just experienced a psychic attack after all he had also been on the Mind Path before.
Any other time he would have been able to resist and even ignore the effect but not now.
Not only had his mind in a brink of collapse from the aftermath with the demon but he was also high and drunk not to mention he had also been suicidal for a long time.
He glanced back as his heart rate increased and his blood vessels constricted.
His eyes settled on Jensen and the smile turned his heart cold, "You…You awakened." He said in shock.
The feeling of weakness soon overwhelmed him as he fell on the ground.
***
Jensen smile didn't vanish as he stared at his father's body on the floor.
The feeling of happiness, joy and relieve spread through his body.
His eyes moved to his mother who was frozen with her hands in the band of her skirt ready to pull it down to allow Jack easy access.
He stared at her and his mind wandered; the only time he had seen his father happy was when he was either drunk, high and banging her.
He tried the alcohol from bottles his father leftover before passing out but they all tasted like shit.
He tried the drugs but they all made him feel weak and lightheaded, feelings that he hated the most.
Now, he wanted to try how it felt to bang so…
'Get on my knees.'