Daring Plans

"Where is it?" yelled the rat for the third time.

"Ouch…" Anna landed on the floor. She had been tossed around for the past hour, had been drowned in the mist many times and had been dragged around by the priest countless more.

She refused to tell them where the ring was. Angus needed one of them.

"Enough!" the priest raised his voice to stop the rat from torturing Anna anymore.

"Let her rest or she will die."

"Tsk!" the rat paled but did not continue. His powers had lowered significantly since the start of this. In the beginning, the wounds it could inflict on Anna were severe making her unable to stand up for a good while. Now, half the mist dissipated and his powers to play with Anna decreased significantly.

'What human enjoys torture?' thought the rat glaring at Anna. A sheltered noblewoman as herself should have broken a long time ago. No. she should have broken the second she saw herself in this situation. Blood, stench…torture. No child like her should withstand such terrible treatment.

She should have been begging him to stop, crawl by their feet and cry her weakness.

But she did not.

It vexed the rat so much that he wanted to cry out of desperation. They had little time left. The rat eyed the priest annoyed. He did not trust the priest to do a good job of finding the rings before he will disappear.

There was a way out. The rat could go back into the ring and conserve his energy. Once in, he could only hope that the priest would find them soon enough to replenish his energy. Otherwise, he would be stuck in the empty space for eternity. When the priest dies, he would too.

A shiver ran down the rats back. He clenched his jaw imagining how a god as himself was relying on the mercy of the humans. If it wasn't for the task assigned, he would not have done a contract with this priest. The priest was a branch family, not even the main Family so his blood was so shallow of the energy he needed that it made it almost impossible for him to use his full force.

'That witch, she knew he would be so useless.'

If not, he could have easily controlled the priest a long time ago. Besides not being of much use to him, the priest was also very demanding, expecting everything to be done the way he was ordered from above. Not once did he think for himself or dared to question the orders coming his way. Kidnapping the princess, killing the thugs, burning their corpses, and keeping her restrained here were all someone's orders.

The man contacted who the church told him to, when and from where. He did nothing but follow orders and yet he took pride in his job. Being a pawn in a chess game is nothing more than dying for no reason. Gracing yourself with the illusion that you are important but forget who you really are in the eyes of the player.

'Should I kill him?' thought the rat. His face brightly shined at this idea. If he were to kill the priest, the contract was annulled, and he had a span of some minutes to find a new vessel.

His eyes landed on the girl plastered on the wall. His grin widened and his idea sparked insanity in his heart.

'The pawn will die eventually anyway. She was known for burning weeds from the roots.'

Unknowingly, the priest moved around the room looking for the rings once again but could not find any of them. It is as if they disappeared into thin air. The man glanced at Anna who was currently barely breathing. She lay rested on the wall, supporting herself up from waist upwards.

The stench of blood made the priest sick and he wished to leave this dammed place as soon as possible. That was not an option, however. Not without the rings. He had lost all hope of finding them this way but without them, the rat could not stay outside for much longer.

Their contact has been broken and so he could not maintain his form in this world longer than half a day. The priest was not dumb, he knew what the rat can do with his mind sober. Once insanity crawled in his mind the rat won't stop at anything to get what he wants.

'I should call for help.' The priest placed his hand in his pocket. A light green gem warmed his hand when touched.

"Crack" the stone shattered into glass pieces with no colour but remained deep inside his pocket. The rats head darted at the man.

"What was that?" questioned the rat suspiciously.

'It's ok. He doesn't know.' thought the man calming himself and freezing his mind.

"Nothing. I stepped on a pebble." Said the priest after taking his hand out of the pocket. He rubbed the back of his hand after he turned around pretending to be searching for something. His hand reddened from the heat of the gem that he broke earlier.

The rat cannot sense any energy when their contact is lost. He won't sense the magic released by the magic gem as long as he is in this state.

The rat's eyes were agile, and he was quick to see the wound. His eyes shook in response.

'I have to take care of him then.'

In the corner of the room lay a small girl with bloodied clothes and wounds on her body. She had been silent for the entire time, oblivious to the schemes occurring under her nose. Anna took those mere minutes as a break to recover, although nothing substantial was recovered. Her wounds were still bleeding, and her head was throbbing in pain.

But she managed to regulate her breath and slowly she raised her head. The mist had dispersed by now, only the cloud that the rat sat on was intact. His murderous aura scared Anna the moment she lay her eyes on him.

'What is going on?' thought Anna scared that the gaze was directed at her.

"Shall we continue?" asked the priest. The rat nodded but no one did a single move. They were frozen, each waiting for their adversary move. The priest flinched and turned halfway, fidgeting with some of the books on the floor. With the corner of his eye, he attentively watched the rat and he himself gathered a small stone from his pocket.

'This will give me the power to defeat him.' In truth he knew it was not so. The rat was a god and what he held in his hand was, but a small gem infused with magic. It was his ultimate attack, his only way of saving himself in a dangerous situation. The rat was not using his full power so it gave him a chance.

The bloodlust directed at him made him use it. Neither of them had plans of backing down. It was too late, no way of reconciling after scheming behind each other's back.

The rat gathered his strength and invoked his mist once more. He only had a couple of more moves before he ran out of energy. He could not miss.

A whip appeared before them. Anna's eyes popped out of her sockets but could not move so she flinched, closing her eyes and expected to be hit. The crack of the whip passed but there was no pain that came along with it. Anna opened her eyes and saw the horrific scene before her.

The priest was surrounded by a yellow translucent shield and was not harmed by the whip. The shield had a small crack on its surface. The priest was smirking at the rat whom out of frustration gathered his powers once again. A second whiplash landed on the shield this time it cracked the shield even more.

A little spiderweb formed on the protective barrier around the old man. He continued to smirk but this time his expression was visibly forced. He tried to keep calm but under the thundering power of this god his confidence was slowly crumbling into pieces.

"What is this all you can? You, old senile man!" the rat gritted his teeth.

"Haha!" the man laughed a bit forceful but nevertheless it provoked the god.

He sent a whiplash of air towards the shield cracking it even more. He looked displeased by the little progress he was making.

"Let go of that shield!" commanded the greenish creature. The priest continued to laugh not caring for what the rat said. He knew what awaited him if he removed the shield for just one second.

"How dare you disobey me?!" yelled the rat. He cannot continue any longer. His energy was running out of energy.

"You are a human. You should be grateful I kill you." Furious, the rat gathered all his energy. Veins popped on his body and his eyes were blood red.

The priest paled, even Anna who did not possess any magical energy felt an immense pressure on her lungs. She was struggling to breathe as it was, but now that the rat's aura increased tenfold her breath hitched in her throat.

"Kukk" Anna vomited blood trying to withstand the pressure. She lazily watched the fight between them to distract herself from the pain.

"Ha! You are also a no-one." Said the priest running towards Anna.

"Coward! Fight if you can, but wait you are a Clemente!" laughed the rat.

"You are nothing without us. She would not be there if it weren't for my family ancestors!" yelled the man back offended by the rat's statement.

"What's me to do with her? Why would I care if she died then?" roared the rat angrily.

"Ha-ha! You are nothing but a slave to her. Always have and always will!"

"You! How dare- very well! It seems you want to die with her here?" screamed the rat approaching the shield. The priest's back tensed and awaited his death. He could only hope that a miracle would save him.

It has been minutes since he contacted the Main Branch, but they did not show up.

'What is going on? Why are they not here?' the priest's mind began spinning.

'Could it be that they left me here to fend for myself?' he closed his eyes tiredly and gulped, cleaning his drying throat. The did indeed leave him, how could he forget. He was nothing but a tool for them.

They had approached him, an insignificant branch member, to aid them in a mission and he had been blinded by the rewards. He did not pay enough attention to the position he was in, forgot to worry about himself.

He knew the ones from the main branch were cunning, mischievous ones and only cared for themselves. They call themselves the Clemente family, they all carry the same name blood and tasks and yet they are a family only in name. In reality every member it's on its own. No support, no mentorship, and no love. That is what they say makes a perfect family member.

The gem he got was most likely a signal for death not calling for help. He had been tricked by them and now it was too late. If it was not for the magic gem, he bought a while ago, he would have been dead by now.

'What a great fate I have.' Thought the priest. He looked behind his back at the girl they had been experimenting on for the past months. His eyes ice as cold, he felt no emotion for her, he long detached himself from such useless emotions that don't help him.

"You're the same." He murmured.

"Hmm?" Anna felt an intense gaze on herself, so she raised her head and looked the priest in his eyes. Like him, Anna had long since renounced her emotions, her hollow eyes glared back at the man.

"You're not loved either." He said. Shaking, Anna raised her head higher to take a better look at the man.

'What does he mean by this?' Anna asked herself. How does he know that? It's true her father and sister don't like her, but her mother had been taking care of her for the past years. She loved Sleda and it showed in everything she did.

Before she could ask the man anything a loud crash echoed in the room. The shield full of webs had by now completely shattered and the man had been tossed into the wall, inches away from Anna's spot.

"Kuk-hh" the man vomited blood, his withered body could not withstand the power of the head-on collision. The power had also affected Anna, who was now on the floor crawling back up.

The man had been tossed in the same wall he had crashed three days ago. Debris fell from the wall, and pieces of stone landed on the man injuring him more.

"Prepare to die!" laughed the rat. Gathering less energy this time he rushed towards the man with a crooked smile on his lips.

"Plop"

Silence.

A small pouch landed on the floor and rings of different shapes and sizes landed on the floor. Time seemed to have frozen, no one moved.

'It's the ring.' Both the priest and the rat recognised the ring. The priest had forgotten about his bad state and reached his arm in order to grab it.

Anna who was the closest did not know which one to pick but she also stretched her arms watching the priest's hand. She couched blood and she wiped it with her dirty robe.

The priest's hand hovered over three rings, all decorated with purple rings. Anna was no fool however, she saw the priest eyes look at his right where a small and simple ring spun after it landed on the floor.

Anna stretched her arm, did not care for the unbearable pain it caused her and snatched the ring. The priest face fell and the rat who was frozen into place woke up.

"Give it to me you worm!" yelled the rat rushing towards Anna. The priest raised his hand, where he held a rock large enough to kill her.

'This is it.' Said Anna. Tears run down her face washing the dirt off and itching her skin. She would die here it seems. She closed her eyes and exhaled exhausted.

"Wh-hat? Who are you?" the priest's face panicked when he saw a blue mist covering the entire room. It was powerful, he could feel his blood boil in excitement at the aura before him.

"Might ask you the same question." Said Angus in an authoritative voice.

"Lord. no…" the rat trembled in fear seeing the black snake. He backed down, while he lost all his powers. The rat fell on the stone floor and ran towards the door. It's nails were scratching the ground and he was sweating but was not making any progress.

"Where do you think you are running?" asked Angus.