A Vow.

When the boy was brought back to his room, the hands on the clock were approaching midnight. He looked around, there was nothing left in the room that was really dear to him. Neither an easel, nor a set of brushes and paints, even colored pencils and an album with drawings, were taken by order of his father.

He rubbed his palms against each other, the marks from the stick reminded of the last punishment with red spots. The boy looked out into the corridor and, making sure that none of the servants were nearby, closed the door.

Marcus walked into the corner of the room and pushed aside a small table, leaned to the floor and pulled one of the planks of parquet with his fingers. The plank moved to the side, and he easily took it out, under it, in the floor, there was a deepening - his cache in which he kept his valuables.

The boy stuck his hand in and pulled out a bunch of pencils tied with a ribbon. A happy smile shone on his face, even if his father had thrown out all his tools, they certainly would not have guessed to find these ones.

Marcus dimmed the lamp so as not to attract too much attention and sat down at the table. He gently tore out one of the blank pages of the notebook and picked up a pencil.

Subtle and graceful strokes layer by layer turned into the silhouette of a girl, lit by dim candles in the twilight of a dark room. He wanted to capture the moment when they were together, when he first realized his feelings for her and when he realized that they were unrequited.

He wanted to draw Polina as beautiful as he had seen her in reality and wanted to give her this drawing so that at least she remembered this important moment for him.

A sharp pain pricked him in his temples, the boy raised his head, and the room swam before his eyes. "I got infected after all," Marcus sighed, by the growing pain in his throat and in his head, he realized that he had caught Armand's cold when he was looking after him.

The boy got up from his chair, hid the notebook, a drawing and pencils back to his cache, left the room and sauntered toward the kitchen. All the servants in the house had already gone to sleep in a separate house, which was located next to the main building, so there was complete silence in the corridor.

"Ahaha, Sigmund, this is great news," an unfamiliar male voice sounded across the corridor. Marcus lurked around the corner and hid.

Soon, he could see his father who was accompanied by a man whom he had never seen. But what surprised the boy the most was the girl following them.

"Polina?!" Marcus nearly shouted out loud but restrained himself. The suspicious company proceeded towards Mr. Taubert's office, and the boy hurried after them.

Fortunately for him, the door was not closed tightly, and he could observe the whole scene taking place in the room.

A stranger approached Polina, waved something in front of her face, and the girl fell unconscious on the sofa. The boy clenched his hands into fists. He wanted to break into the room and save her from insidious adults like a brave prince, but he was small and weak in comparison with them. All that remained for him was to observe further, in the hope that they would not harm his little friend.

"Whiskey?" Mr. Taubert suggested to his guest, to which he gladly agreed. Marcus noticed that his father used his favorite glasses, which meant that the stranger was an important guest.

"Preceptor Teser, as you predicted, everything happened just like that," Sigmund smiled and sat down in the chair.

"My friend, you should not be so official, just call me Mark. Moreover, the surname Teser belongs to my wife, it's such a stupid tradition in their family for the husband to take his wife's surname," the man shook his head, in his opinion it was the height of idiocy, but to be involved in such an influential family, he could make such sacrifices.

"Well, at least your wife has benefits, unlike mine," Sigmund raised his glass and waved his hand toward the portrait of his late wife.

"Ahaha, yes, these women are mostly useless, except for household chores, physical satisfaction and the birth of children - there is nothing more to expect from them," Mark Teser was a supporter of the radical patriarchy and tried to bring his views to life in the most possible way.

"I was incredibly lucky that Clara Teser was such a naive fool. She was so delighted at our meeting, she said that in her family when a woman meets a man destined for her by fate, she feels a pleasant tingling sensation at her fingertips with every touch. I then thought, what a crazy woman," the man laughed, describing the first meeting with his wife. It was only later that he learned that she was not a simple person, but a descendant of a powerful clan with special abilities, which came in handy in the implementation of their plans.

"Did she notice anything suspicious?" Sigmund asked him.

"No, everything is under control. As I understand it, she is not the strongest medium, compared to her ancestors, I would even say she's weak. But that is enough for us. Those drugs that you gave me are enough to put her into a trance. And in this state, she gives me the future for the next six months straight ahead, remembering nothing about it in the morning," the man said. Thus, over the past year and a half, they have used the predictions of many events, which significantly strengthened the power of Germany within the country and in the world.

"Hitler is very pleased with the results and sends you a personal gift," Sigmund took a leather briefcase from a desk drawer and handed it to a man, hundreds of brand new Reichsmarks lay in several tight rows inside.

"The only thing he worries about is how long can you maintain such a source of information?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. My wife will be able to see the future until she gives birth to a child because when a child is born in the Teser family, all the power passes to him by inheritance. Since in this case, she will be useless for us, I ordered a special powder to be added to her food, the powder which reduces the possibility of conception. Therefore, Herr Hitler can be calm. Clara Teser will be a puppet in my hands until the Third Reich wins a triumphant victory in the coming great war, after which we can calmly get rid of her and raise a new descendant who agrees with the principles of a pure Aryan nation," explained the man with a pleased look on his face.

With these words, Marcus's heart went cold, he didn't quite understand what the adults were talking about, but he understood very well what the man meant when he was talking about the woman and her not yet born child.

"Mark, according to your wishes, we created the Ahnenerbe Association, Himmler agreed to head it, but Hitler does not support this idea, he says that the theory of the superiority of the Aryan race has insufficient justification. Are you sure it's worth developing this idea?" Mr. Taubert asked.

"Hah, you can not doubt it. Our Fuhrer still does not see as far as it is allowed to us. Be sure in the coming years, Ahnenerbe will gain such power that no one will want to argue with us. I got some information from Clara, and she told me that in one of the visions, the Ahnenerbe expedition brought secret relics from Tibet. As soon as we get them in hand, we can create our own super-powerful man. And this teeny-tiny thing will help us with this," Mark Teser pulled out a chain with a pendant of an unusual shape from his bosom and handed it to Sigmund.

The man wanted to pick up a piece of jewelry in order to better examine it, but then he pulled his hand back, "What the hell is this? Is it electrified or something?!" notes of sincere surprise sounded in the voice of a cold-blooded German.

"Ahaha, one may say it is, this is not a simple pendant, so you won't be able to touch it," grinned Mark, "To my convenience, my wife trusts me so blindly that I easily took possession of this priceless thing," he twirled the pendant in his hands, made several manipulations and the top cover of the jewelry opened, causing Sigmund to gasp in surprise.

Although the man was from a wealthy family, owning many expensive things and antiquities, he had never seen anything like it in his life. "W-what is this?" he asked, not taking his eyes off the object that was hidden inside this unpretentious-looking trinket.

"This is called the 'Heart of Infinity'," Mark answered and slammed the pendant, "But you can't look at it for a long time if you don't want to go crazy," the man hid the pendant under his jacket, "In our case, the pendant itself is enough for us, to activate relics for the experiments we need. Are you sure you are ready to use one of your sons in this?"

Sigmund added a portion of whiskey to his glass and looked at the amber liquid with a satisfied grin, "More than that. Hitler is too emotional and conceited, he does not have enough patience to see the essence of things. If what you say is true, I can make my descendant a leader who can subjugate and control millions. By the time all the necessary tools are in our hands, I'll just bring up the right candidate for this," devilish sparkles flashed in the eyes of the man, it was a wonderful plan.

A chill ran across Marcus's back. What were the adults talking about? To educate a leader capable of subjugating the whole world? Was he really talking about Armand? The purpose of all this cruelty was precisely this?!

"I am very glad that our worldview coincides, Sigmund. You have nothing to worry about, this girl has a pure and open heart, she will help you determine the right candidate," Mark Teser nodded towards Polina, unconscious lying on the bed, "My hypnosis is very deep, so she herself won't even know that she's playing according to our rules."

"I think I already know who this candidate will be. In any case, this is good, I do not want unnecessary problems and questions, it cost me some effort to expose the death of my wife as an accident. This stupid woman found out about our plan and began to threaten that she would run away with the children, so I had to silence her," Mr. Taubert yawned lazily, talking about his dead wife made him apathetic.

BAM!

The cabinet door opened wide, a boy with tears in his eyes and shaking hands appeared in front of two men.

"You! You killed her! You killed my mother!" Marcus rushed at his father, desperate to express all the anger and pain from realizing this cruel truth.

"Oh you, whelp! You dare to eavesdrop, like a vile rat?!" the man's hand went up, and with all his strength he hit the child, who flew to the side.

From a harsh sound, the girl's body flinched, and she regained consciousness, Polina sat up on the couch and looked in dismay at two adults and a boy lying on the floor.

"Oh, look who's here" Mr. Taubert took a long whip from the table, which was usually used for horses, but in their house, it was the most used educational tool. He waved his hand and the whip hit the boy's legs, "That's what happens for breaking the rules! And now it's your turn," said the man and went to the girl, who was pale as a ghost, and could not utter a word.

She did not understand how she ended up here and what was happening, horror fettered the body of the child, and Polina was trembling like a little kitten thrown out in the pouring rain.

"No, don't hit her!" Marcus shouted, the boy backed up to the floor of his friend and, overcoming the pain, rose from his knees and stood in front of the girl.

"She broke the rules and took food without permission, after which she entered the basement. You know, for breaking every rule there are five hits, ten in total. Or do you want to share this guilt with her?" the father asked the boy.

"She did it because of me, hit me!"

"Hooo, what do I see? Do you really cherish this little punk, my son?" The man said with malice.

"Yes! She is my friend and I like her!" Marcus shouted in response, his eyes were dark with pain and temperature, intensifying due to the common cold, and he felt that a bit more and he would fall down exhausted.

"So you like her? Hmm, what big words... And what do you say? Do you like him too?" Mr. Taubert turned his eyes to Polina. The girl understood that this was a trick question, and if she told the truth, she would only anger this terrible person even more. This man had a clear favorite and it was not Marcus.

"N-no, I don't like him," Polina replied, barely audible. Something tightened in the boy's chest, tears themselves appeared in his eyes.

"I like Armand," she added and lowered her head.

This was the answer that Sigmund Taubert was waiting for, obviously, he was right when he chose Armand as his main successor. If Mark Teser said that this girl would choose the best, then among the two Armand was a worthy leader, one who could subjugate the whole world.

"And you are a smart girl," the man grinned and handed the whip to Marcus, "So be it. Five strokes, you will do it yourself."

"Wh-what?" The son asked, still not completely realizing the truth after hearing these words.

"I am not so generous to forgive misconduct. I already reduced the number of strokes from ten to five. Choose - either you or I do it," the man handed the child a whip, and looked defiantly at Marcus.

The boy knew very well what the hits of his father tasted like, for such a fragile girl like Polina, it would be too severe a test. And he, a child weakened and barely standing on his feet, what is his power in comparison with his father? The choice was too obvious.

He picked up a whip and turned to the girl, Polina looked at Marcus with a frightened look and moved back, but there was a sofa behind her, and she had nowhere to go.

"Sorry," he whispered, closed his eyes and waved the whip.

"Stronger!" The man shouted when it seemed to him that the blow was too weak. Marcus squeezed the base of the whip in his palm and gritted his teeth; he had never experienced such strong emotions in his life. It was hatred, deep and all-consuming hatred.

With every blow, he mentally swore that he would become stronger, become so strong that he would not allow to humiliate or hurt anyone else he loved. That he will become stronger and make this man on his knees beg for mercy.

A whip slipped out of his hands, and the boy fell to the floor, through half-closed eyelids, he saw a man named Mark Teser, leaning towards him and whispering something in his ear.

After which the child fell into a dark and deep abyss.

When Marcus woke up in his room the next morning, he tried to remember what happened last night, but could not. From that day, his father practically forbade him and Armand to spend time together and even transferred his younger brother to another class. Polina began to avoid him and they no longer communicated as before.

The drawing, hidden in a cache under one of the floorboards of the parquet, which depicted a beautiful girl whose face was lit by a flickering candle, remained unfinished.