[Cursed Chain]

He opened the window and inhaled the fresh summer breeze.

He looked down; they were on the second floor.

He had a spell that would've been useful to jump down, burning some of his energy in exchange for strengthening his legs. 

He also could've resonated the damage he would've taken to someone else with another curse, as he fell flat to the ground.

But it wasn't necessary, he used the chains coming out of his hands, tied to Aura's legs, and jumped down. 

Her body was quickly pulled toward the window as he came down.

Once he got close to the ground her body followed through the window. 

She used her arms, hanging by any means to the window, trying to get back inside.

"Please, let me inside," she pleaded.

"Let go of the frame."

She fought against the pain, but eventually gave up, falling on the grass next to Mori.

She was groaning, and wriggling, the chains still tightly attached to her legs.

The fall barely scratched her. The sun, however, was slowly making her wither.

It looked like layers of her skin kept burning, revealing another layer underneath.

There wasn't much space around, directly around the mansion was only grass.

A little further, the forest started. He slowly walked toward it dragging Aura on the ground behind.

Once he reached the trees, Aura's painful groans diminished, the shadow cast by the leaves relieving some of her pain.

He let go of the chains, coming out of his hands, they simply fell to the ground.

He cast it again.

"[Cursed Chains]".

This time, they went around a tree branch, then straight for her hands.

They pierced them, then bound them together while she screamed.

"Stop it," she pleaded, her eyes teary.

He pulled on the chains while marks appeared on his body like tattoos. They were purple, and a slight mist emanated from them.

He raised her against the tree, hanging from her hands.

The tip of her feet barely touched the ground.

He attached the chain around the tree, ensuring she would stay there.

"Why are you doing this..." she asked.

"Would you have stopped butchering my neck if I asked you?"

"But I did," she said, her voice shaky.

"Only once I was about to die so that you could repeat the process."

She was debating with the chains, but every time she pulled, it pressured her pierced hand.

"My father..."

"Yes. 'My Father', 'My Father'," he mocked.

He walked a few meters further and picked up a large branch.

He broke it, keeping around thirty centimeters of it.

He got the tip of a chain out of his right hand, using the cone-shaped end to strike the branch.

He was making a stake.

Aura peeked down.

"What... You can't kill me, I've done nothing wrong..."

He ignored her, taking his time with his amateur woodwork. 

He looked up at the window he jumped from. Someone was looking at him, he could tell.

Once the pointy end was done, he started carving symbols into it.

"Listen, I'll let you go, I won't tell my father, please," she said.

"It's too late, he knows," he said.

"I'll explain it to him..."

"Yeah, I'm sure he's quite the good listener."

She kept debating with the chains. Despite the lack of direct sunlight, she was still burning through layers.

"You weren't supposed to be here. Normally, it should've been your mother."

"You know my mother?"

"A version of her, at least."

He could still feel that person watching him from the window, calmly waiting.

"This isn't against you," he continued. "I knew Griswald was challenging, but he's old."

He had finished carving the stake.

"He's old, weak. As long as I waited for daytime, I could've gotten away with stealing the ring. Hell, I know he's also keeping Firestone potions in the same room, not the smartest man."

"How do you know that?!"

"I'm not the only one to know, a lot of people who arrived in this world possess knowledge even I don't have. I'm just the only one who started here."

"What? You make no sense! Someone must've sent you... One of Amosdael's minions, I bet."

"I know he's drinking your blood," said Mori.

"What? No he's not, he uses it to find a cure."

"Is that right? Griswald? Are you close to finding a cure?" yelled Mori.

A shadow grew in the window, it quickly went down and reached the ground.

Draped in a black cloak, a man with extremely pale skin and short white hair walked toward him.

His eyes were glowing red, and his expression betrayed his anger.

"Father, I'm so sorry..."

The man didn't bother looking at his daughter, sustaining Mori's stare.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Not from this universe," replied Mori.

"That's why you know so much."

"So it was true? Father! Tell me it wasn't."

He kept ignoring her. "I was told yesterday some people from your universe happen to know a lot about ours. Talk about an unfair advantage."

"Are they already in action, the ones from my world?"

"The human kingdoms are in turmoil, although that doesn't change much from how humans usually behave."

"Yeah, I expected as much."

Griswald took a step forward, but Mori took a step toward Aura, raising the stake to her torso.

Griswald stopped moving, raising one hand while his expression was frozen.

"Don't."

Mori smiled.

He walked around her, holding the stake to her body.

"Do you think he wants to save you?"

"Obviously-" started Griswald.

Mori pressed the stake against her chest, making her squirm. 

"He's keeping you weak on purpose, whatever he's been giving you has been weakening you. Didn't you think it was weird that feeding me your blood didn't fully heal me?" asked Mori.

Aura frowned, as she looked at him, then his father.

"Why is it, you think, that he got upset beyond control once you were the healthiest you've ever been, after drinking my blood?"

"Aura, everything I do is for your sake," said Griswald.

"He needs you, Aura."

Mori caressed her neck with his fingers.

"You see, your kind lives extremely long, but eventually your powers become weak until you have nothing but your physical body remaining. He's using your blood to keep some of his strength, but it's a downhill battle isn't it?"

Griswald didn't answer.

"Is it true?" asked Aura.

"Oh, it is, and furthermore, he's planning to sacrifice you. He would've done so with his wife, normally, but in this world, I guess you're the lucky one."

Aura's tears started flowing, quickly drying up as they left her face before reaching the ground.

"So for the past hundred years, all of this..." she said.

Griswald took a step back.

He emphasized every word. "I need the girl alive." 

Aura had stopped struggling against the chains.

"I am close to done. All I need is a little time. Give me 10, or 15 years, and the ring is yours. The ring, money, whatever you want."

"Yeah, that won't be possible..."

"Listen."

Griswald's tone had become somber.

"Even if you kill her, I can find her useless mother and drag her back here. You, on the other hand, will end up a dead man."