Words could not express the sheer terror he felt. He had hoped that all of this was only a nightmare, that he would wake up any moment, but he would never wake up. No. This was no dream, this was a cruel reality. Feeling the warm grip around his neck Soren was petrified, incapable of doing anything.

  “Today is a special day… For both of us!”

  His father’s voice was laced with excitement, and even a hint of humor. It was as if the gruesome scene before them had no effect on him. The opposite could only be said for Soren, he could not take his eyes off the bloody pool his siblings resided in.

  His father followed his gaze, once his eyes landed on the sight of his massacre, the twisted smile on his face vanished.

  “You need not worry about them my son. They are alive… They have to be after all.”

  Shifting his attention back to his father, one question had been plaguing him.

  “Why?”

  …

  There was no response initially, Soren’s question was met with a blank stare. Then the hideous grin reappeared on his fathers face.

  “There is so much you don’t know my dear Soren…I only wish I could have shown you more, but sadly we are both out of time.”

  Suddenly he felt a heavy blow to his abdomen, looking down he saw a ghostly blade piercing through his stomach. The blade shined with an ethereal white light, the light of one's soul.

  ‘How? Where did that thing come from? He had no weapons before, when did he-’

  The immense pain had finally hit him. It was like a raging fire was in his stomach, it burned, and it was only spreading. Never before had he felt so much pain, It was excruciating. He could feel the warm stream of blood trail down from his wound.

  Without warning he was tossed down onto the pool of crimson liquid. He was barely able to turn his head back to see the wicked grin his father bore.

  “This world holds too many mysteries. A person can never truly witness them all… Our lives are simply too short, not to mention the years wasted by using runes… Doesn’t that seem unfair?”

  His vision blurred, as his body felt weaker by the moment. His eyes followed his father as he began to circle around him and his siblings, taking long drawn out strides. The sound of his footsteps drowned out by the ringing in his ears.

  “Being a scholar means that you give up your future for a glimpse of the truth, you sacrifice years of your life to know only a fraction of those mysteries.”

  Killian kept circling the bloody pile, his movements speeding up, becoming more frantic and erratic. His voice was growing more irritated.

  “It is seen as a noble path, an honorable one, but that is only true for those who lack real ambition! I am destined for so much more! I have wasted thirty long years, being at the mercy of those damned families. I go where they tell me! I do what they want! I give them whatever they ask! No more! I have wasted so much of my potential… Now, you all will help me reach a power not even that bastard Lucian could dream of!”

  Soren did not listen to much of his fathers words, no, instead he had been solely focused on reaching his family. With all the dwindling strength he had in his body, he dragged himself through the crimson pool. His breath became more and more labored, his heart was beating too fast, the sound drowned out his father’s manic rant.

  He reached his hand out as far as it would reach, desperately trying to grasp Alicia’s blood soaked hand. With one last push he reached her, weakly shaking her arm, he opened his mouth to speak. Sadly no words escaped his lips.

  ‘Please! Please get up, Alice! I need you. I… I can’t do it.’

  Tears began to fill his eyes, as he clung to her arm. He stared into her glazed over eyes, the light that had once filled those brilliant golden eyes, had dimmed. Now, they looked cold, unfocused.

  ‘I’m not strong like you, and I'm not as smart as Vincent… I’m weak! I’m a coward! I can’t save you all. Please Alice, get up. Get up!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  The tears he tried to hold back finally fell, cascading down his pale face. His trembling hand kept its grip on hers. Pulling himself closer he finally managed to speak, his voice was quiet and shaky.

  “Alice… Help!”

  Her once distant eyes briefly focused on him, they narrowed slightly, then they seemed to grow a bit brighter. Her muscles tensed, as she struggled to move her body. It seemed as though she was attempting to push herself up, Just as she lifted her body up slightly, a heavy foot slammed her back down.

  “One day, you will have to learn how to solve things on your own. If you keep relying on others, then you will remain weak.”

  She had stopped moving, the brief strength she had found, had been snuffed out in an instant. Soren’s heart shattered, his last hope had been ripped away from him. Now, all that remained was despair. Staring at the unmoving figure of his sister, all he could do was utter a single word.

  “... Why?”

  There was no emotion on Killian’s old face, only a disturbing calmness.

  “That question requires too much time to answer, far longer than you have… But, if you truly wish to know, then I will tell you. Consider this, your birthday gift.”

  Removing his foot from Alicia’s back, he stepped between Soren and her. Slowly he lowered himself closer to Soren. The charms on his strange mask swaying, and shining with a faint glow.

  “There are powers in this world mortal men should not possess, let alone know about. Beings beyond comprehension, monsters of unfathomable horror. Humans are ants in comparison, even with runes and sequences, we still can’t hold a candle to them. But that doesn’t mean we have to be bound to that fate.”

  He calmly reached his hand down, placing his palm on the stone beneath the blood.

  “Help me shed this meager existence… Let us embrace it, together!”

  Beneath the crimson pool, an incandescent white light shone, as a myriad of runic symbols. The same array he had seen before. The entire room shook, as the light grew brighter. Streaks of white lightning shot upwards from the array. The streaks grew rapidly in number, some shot into the bodies of his siblings. They formed like strings of light, connecting to Killian.

  Then those same streaks of radiant light found their way to him. They shot into Soren, searing his skin. The pain was immeasurable, it was like the core of his being was being ripped apart. The agonizing screams he produced could not drown out the hysteric laugh of his father.

  As the streaks of light dug themselves deeper into him, he felt like they had clung to his soul. It felt as if they were drinking from him, stealing the light of his soul, the future he looked forward to, his very essence. Just as it felt like he would be drained completely, he felt a warm sensation spreading from the center of his chest. He couldn’t explain how, but it felt like his soul was growing brighter, hotter. The radiant light that had dug into his soul grew dim, then vanished.

  Though, the pain that had nearly driven him insane subsided. In fact, the pain from his wound was also gone. The same could not be said for his father. He was writhing around in utter agony, flailing his limbs around. He rolled to his hands and knees, coughing up heaps of blood. His body began to convulse, it almost seemed like he was growing.

  ‘... I don’t understand, what’s happening? It felt like I was going to be ripped apart, but now.’

  The sound of flesh tearing, and bones snapping, shook him from his thoughts. Killian’s body seemed to mutate. His skin grew into a pale grey, his limbs grew longer. His hands now had long boney fingers, with sharp black claws at their ends. His legs ended in the same black claws, but now they resembled that of a canine. His clothes were reduced to shreds, not able to bear the strain of his transformation.

  He did not seem human anymore, no, now he resembled that of a demon. Slamming his claws into the stone, shattering it, he stood up, towering over Soren. The creature slowly turned around, now Soren could take in the full scope of the monster before him. The deer skull that had once adorned his fathers head seemed to be fused to him. His long grey hair draped down his shoulders. There were no words, no gestures, no sound. The beast stood there, the dark vacuum that filled the eye holes of the skull, were fixated on Soren. They were unreadable, no light existed within them, it was like staring into an abyss, one that sought to devour him.

  ‘What the hell is that thing? This can’t be real! What happened to father, what did he do?’

  …

  His eyes left the horror before him for just a moment, and in that moment he saw the charred corpses of his siblings. They had been reduced to nothing but husks, smoking piles of flesh. He couldn’t hold it back any longer. Hunching over he let out a spew of bile, the confines of his stomach emptied themselves.

  “The smell! Oh gods, the smell! Please don’t be true… Please!”

  His voice was desperate, he wanted nothing more than for this all to be some horrible, sick dream. Please, anything but this. He couldn’t bear to look again, then his eyes widened. He spun his head back to where the creature had been standing. The gruesome sight had distracted him from the imminent threat he faced. But as he returned his gaze to where it had been, there was nothing. Without a sound, in an instant, it was gone. As if it was never there, leaving no trace of itself.

  Awestruck, Soren could do nothing but sit there, his body bore no injuries, he felt no pain. Yet the agony he was in, could not have been described. He was drowning in a sea of despair. All he could do was stare blankly into the distance, unmoving, unreactive. A hundred years could pass, but this night would be forever burned into his mind. He was filled with grief, and utter heartbreak, but within those emotions, another began to brew. It devoured his fear, using it as fuel.

  ‘Hate.’