Chapter 4 || Bonds Forged in Blood

Damian felt as though he were standing at the gates of hell itself. The intense pressure and heat that radiated from both Veyn and Lord Windsor was so strong that he could feel it even from outside the barrier. Damian was horrified and repulsed by what he saw inside the barrier, yet for some strange reason he couldn't seem to look away.

"Teleportation AND a magic barrier? I must admit William, you've outdone yourself." Veyn said as he looked around at the barrier in awe. "All this just to stop little old me?"

"WE had a deal Veyn, leave my family out of this!" Lord Windsor shouted. Lady Windsor looked on in utter disbelief, unable to fully comprehend what was going on. One moment they were lying in bed and the next they had been transported out into the middle of the town square in their pajamas.

"We did have a deal, didn't we?" Veyn repeated playfully as he looked at his fingernails in a petty manner. "And if I remember correctly, you violated that agreement."

Lord Windsor fought hard to hold back his bitter words, in the unlikely event that Lawson was still in there somewhere, he wasn't ready for him to find out the truth. Not like this. "And what does my son have to do with it, if it's me you want then-"

"HE HAS EVERYTHING TO DO WITH IT!" Veyn lost his composure and let out a burst of rage and hatred so strong it was nearly suffocating.

*Ahem*

"But now is not the time to reminisce, you had a chance to pay your dues William, and now it's too late. I didn't come here for closure; I've come to collect your debt." With those words, Veyn's hand started glowing and he shot a powerful blast of wind magic at Lord Windsor.

Lord Windsor crossed his arms in an X-shape in front of him and projected a shield in an attempt to dispel the blast. The shield was only partially effective and although he sustained no damage, he was pushed back a few feet.

"You're getting sloppy William!" Veyn taunted as he launched another attack. "Why don't you show them what you're REALLY made of."

Lord Windsor grit his teeth as he jumped back to avoid the blast. "I'm not going to hurt my son Veyn! There's nothing you can do to make me fight you, just leave his body and we can sort this out between the two of us."

Veyn facepalmed. "You don't get it do you? YOUR SON IS DEAD YOU OLD FOOL!" Veyn's face took on a maddened expression as he informed Lord Windsor of the tragic reality he lived in. "But since you insist, I'll take on a form you're much more accustomed to killing."

Damian and Lady Windsor looked on in horror and disgust as Lawson's body transformed. His hair changed from short and grey, to long and a deep crimson. His pale skin darkened slightly to a more peach-like tone. His body morphed into a much more mature form, in mere moments Veyn went from looking 17 to looking like he was in his mid-twenties. His eyes went pitch black and so did his fingernails. A line of strange golden tattoos ran down the left side of his face. His body looked so healthy and yet, so unnatural.

Veyn surveyed himself for a moment, as if checking to ensure he hadn't missed any details. After he felt that he had sufficiently recreated his past form, he spoke.

"Miss me?" He exclaimed as he put his hands together gleefully.

Lord Windsor remained silent. His expression hadn't changed since Veyn first told him that Lawson was dead. There was a flat, almost emotionless look on his face, he had no expression, yet it felt as if some dark aura was looming over him. A demon fighting to be freed.

His sword shattered in his hand and a spear made from condensed winds materialized in its place.

"There he is!" Veyn exclaimed, excited to finally get the fight underway.

"Avenge our son my lord!" Lady Windsor cheered, in an effort to offer her support in any way possible.

"Don't worry darling," Lord Windsor tightened his grip on his spear. "I won't be long."

"YUCK!" Veyn proclaimed as he did a fake gagging motion. "You'll be with your son soon enough." His face took on a much more serious look as Veyn dropped his playful façade; he had done enough taunting and horseplay, now it was time to exact his revenge.

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Veyn smiled menacingly as he launched a crimson fireball at Lord Windsor. It seared the air as it traveled and melted a bit of the ground beneath it. Knowing he couldn't possibly take the hit head on, Lord Windsor jumped into the air and then suspended himself there using wind magic.

"My turn." Lord Windsor raised his arm and manifested countless wind magic spears in the sky around him. He then lowered his arm, unleashing a torrent of spears upon Veyn.

Veyn smiled even harder as he watched the spears fly towards him. "I've seen this move a thousand times!" He proclaimed as he effortlessly dodged the spears with surgical precision, careful not to expend any unnecessary energy. Lord Windsor sucked his teeth, creating a tsk sound as he raised his arm to prepare another volley.

"Then I hope you don't mind seeing a thousand more!" He lowered his arm and the downpour of spears continued to fall upon Veyn, who was slowly becoming fatigued and ended up being nicked by a few spears. Lord Windsor took advantage of this and rushed in alongside his flurry, hoping to land a deciding blow while Veyn was occupied with dodging.

Veyn saw through his attack and with a snap of his fingers, he engulfed the spears in crimson fire, leaving Lord Windsor charging at him alone. Lord Windsor tried to stop his momentum to no avail, and Veyn caught his arm. "Gotcha!" He said with a wicked grin as tossed Lord Windsor over his head and into the ground, shattering the cobblestone beneath them.

Veyn held out his hand which glowed briefly before unleashing a beam of crimson fire that incinerated the ground surrounding Lord Windsor, who had protected himself with multiple layers of magic shielding.

"My Lo-" Lady Windsor's words were cut short as Veyn used his free hand to blast a sphere of crimson flame, leaving a seared wound where her head used to be. Lady Windsor's body fell limply to the ground as Damian looked on in horror from behind the safety of the barrier.

"Two down, one to go." Veyn returned his gaze to Lord Windsor and used his previously free hand to unleash a second beam. The two simultaneous beams were slowly becoming too much for Lord Windsor to defend against and his layers of shielding were being drilled through at a near torturous pace. He grit his teeth, understanding that he had only one final option to avenge his family and protect what little was left of his domain.

"See you in hell bastard!" He shouted. Realizing that his time was coming to an end, Lord Windsor dropped his defenses and used the last of his mana to unleash a flurry of wind slashes all throughout the barrier, decimating the town square and leaving nothing untouched.

Veyn's eyes widened as his perception of time slowed down to a point where it was nearly standing still. He had expended the vast majority of his mana throughout the fight, and seeing as he was entirely focused on offense, he lacked the resources and reaction time to erect any form of defense. Instead, he opted to finish the job and poured nearly every ounce of strength and mana he could into the beams, doing everything in his power to ensure that he would not die alone. His eyes were fixated on Lord Windsor, who had somehow managed to die with a smile as the beams closed the distance between themselves and his skin. His nerves were fried instantly under the intense heat and his death was so painless it was as if he had died in his sleep.

Veyn's perception of time returned to normal and almost immediately he felt deep and numerous lacerations on every inch of his body. He looked at the small crater where Lord Windsor made his last stand in silence. His body ached and his sea of mana ran dry, but none of that mattered to him in that moment. For in that moment...

He felt empty.

His body was in agony, but the pain paled in comparison to the immense loneliness that resonated within. As the sun rose on the land known as the "Windsor Domain" for the final time, Veyn looked to the skies.

Not from joy.

Not from hope.

Not from triumph.

But from sorrow.

He had been betrayed by someone he once regarded as family. A wound so deep it left him unstable, bloodthirsty, starving for revenge. He had hoped that by satiating that hunger, the wound would close.

Yet it only seemed to grow larger and deeper.

And so, as he looked to the skies, Veyn fell to his knees and wept.

"He died smiling..." It was as if his mind had been cleared of fog for the first time in 23 years. The once cocky Veyn was replaced with something more remorseful, more empathetic, more...

Human.

"After everything he did, HE was the one who got to live out a happy ending." He tried to slam his fist into the ground out of anger, but his body wouldn't respond to him. So, there he rested on his knees, slowly bleeding out and waiting to succumb to his wounds. Veyn's vision blurred as he began to lose consciousness due to blood loss.

"Not like this..." Veyn sat there hopelessly as reality started to set in. He had so many dreams, so many goals, so many regrets. As his the last of his strength started to abandon him, the only thing that kept him from death was a phrase he repeated in his mind over and over again:

Not.

Like.

This.

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Damian gripped the sword firmly in his hands. He watched as Lord Windsor's barrier fell, the last of his mana vanishing from the world without a trace, as if he were never there. What was once a great town square was now rubble, and the great village surrounding it was reduced to little more than ash and a sea of blood.

He had failed.

Unable to protect the closest thing to family he had.

With tears in his eyes, Damian steeled his resolve and stepped into the war zone, intent on avenging what he failed to protect.

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As the darkness closed in around him, Veyn heard footsteps of someone approaching. Using the last shred of mana he had, Veyn blasted in the direction with a similar spell to the one that had put Lawson to sleep previously.

Almost immediately, he heard the sound of the body collapsing to the floor and removed his soul from its broken vessel as he attempted to invade Damian's consciousness.

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Damian awoke on the floor of an empty and endless void. Empty, except for Veyn. His confusion was immediately replaced with sorrowful rage and as tears began to flood his eyes, Damian attempted to ready his sword and avenge his masters, only to realize that his sword was no longer there.

"Where are we!" Damian snapped at Veyn. His tone was unnaturally demanding and authoritative. Veyn thought of replying with a snarky remark but couldn't muster the strength, instead deciding to keep things straight forward for once.

"Your own consciousness. This is my gift, my special brand of magic. Soul manipulation." Veyn's voice was hollow and faint, nothing like the man Damian had just seen from outside the barrier. "You have two options." Veyn waved his hand and materialized a contract. "You can either sign over the rights to your body..." Veyn's body started to become transparent, unable to maintain his soul within the mindscape. He paused for a moment, evaluating the state he was in.

"Or you can be trapped in your consciousness forever."

Damian's fury turned to sorrow as Veyn's emotions and memories briefly washed over him like a tidal wave. He saw brief flashes of the past he couldn't quite understand the context of, but he understood the emotion perfectly. He felt the confusion, the pain, the despair, everything. He could tell by the state of Veyn's appearance that he wasn't bluffing, as the transparency started to increase due to the faint amount of mana he had left.

"You can choose between dying now, or spending an eternity alone and empty in this void. Only I can control this space and once my mana runs out, you'll be trapped here; where time doesn't pass, and the end never comes." Veyn's tone was flat and emotionless. He couldn't play any mind games or use any tricks; his only hope was that Damian would choose to die rather than suffer.

The space was silent. Neither of them spoke for a while as the gravity of the situation started to set in. Both of their lives were at risk, in a situation where nobody could win. And yet...

"I don't want to die..." Damian broke the silence with this simple phrase. Veyn's eyes widened, and he looked at Damian in shock, his answer was so simple, yet it resonated deeply with Veyn, shaking his very core.

"Neither do I..." He responded. There the two stood, in an endless void with nothing but each other. Their shared fear of death was the only thing connecting them and yet they felt as if they were completely understood by each other. Their emotions were completely in line with one another, and it was as if they were in sync. Veyn thought hard for a moment, suddenly this young man's life had become just as important to him as his own.

It was the first real connection he had felt since his betrayal.

"Then house me within you." Veyn pleaded, desperate to find a solution that would ensure the survival of them both. "I'll siphon off a bit of your mana and then I'll leave to find a new host. I can-"

"Is that really what you want?" Damian interrupted Veyn's stammering with his cold words. Veyn grew silent as he realized it wasn't. He was tired of living as a parasite, jumping from host to host to survive. He wanted to feel whole, he wanted to belong again. Veyn looked down, dejected, realizing that his life would end with dreams unfulfilled as he grew increasingly transparent. He prepared to use the last of his mana to return Damian's spirit to the real world, until his thoughts were interrupted.

"Join me." Veyn looked up at Damian, shocked by what he had heard. "I'm a servant with no master, and I can't help but feel that you're the same way. I won't make it far on my own, I can't defend myself and I don't know magic. The only life I've known is that of a servant, and who would want someone who failed so miserably." Veyn was silent, Damian's words had gotten through to the very essence of his being and he was stunned, unsure about how to respond.

"I don't want things to end here, not like this." As Damian spoke these words Veyn's conviction was solidified and with a wave of his hand and the last of his mana, he changed the terms of the contract.

"Quickly!" He shouted desperately as he began to fade away.

Damian bit the tip of his pointer finger and hastily signed the contract in his blood, without reading the terms. The contract burst into crimson flames as Veyn disappeared into nothingness. Damian looked around anxiously for any sign of Veyn, only to hear his voice echo from the abyss around him.

"Pleasure doing business with you...

Damian."

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