like clouds slowly parting to reveal a clear sky I felt my consciousness begin to slowly return, my sense of mind became clearer and clearer. A warm, comforting energy seeped into my body, I could feel it permeating through my blood, skin and even bones. An anthesis to the cold, desolate energy I felt earlier.

“GODS!! Are you alright Tene!” Once again I felt myself being embraced in a nostalgic pair of warm loving hands, my mother's sapphire blue eyes looked down at me worriedly as she gripped on to me for dear life. Ugh, and I just came back too.

Lita was present next to her, gently holding on to one of my hands. I could feel a warm, gentle energy slowly being poured into me from her fingertips, a direct anthesis to the cold emptiness I felt moments ago. Her eyes were closed and her face held a look of deep concentration.

“Relax Zara, she'll be fine. I made sure there would be no lasting damage, Lita should be able to clear off the remaining shadow essence. Truly the cruelty of that thing still baffles even me.” standing above us with a rare serious expression clouding her lethargic face was none other than Lizette, who I had yet to see make an appearance at the ball.

“HAGAKHAK, well I knew I had to get your attention some way Lize, no way the kid would croak with you around, right? If I wanted a dead kid, I would have made one already.” A familiar playful bone marrowing tone entered my ears as the founder of the voice stood carelessly in the same position I had seen him in before I lost consciousness.

Looking at the skeleton that had put me in such a miserable state, a growing seed of anger sprouted within my chest. He toyed with my life just to call over Lizette?

As I glanced at the tear stains that painted my mothers cheeks, then looked back at Obitus's uncaring form I came to my first major decision in this life. I'm going to pay this guy back for what he did today, this body is still far too weak and I don't even know how strong this skeleton even is. But I'll stake it on my pride, I'll pay him back.

“Disgusting, traitorous thing. Samel, I warned you that Zanek was not to be your primary concern. You still have a habit of trying to find the good in everybody you meet, no matter how miniscule that good may be” reprimanding my father, Lizette appeared to be completely ignoring Obitus who still stood at the centre of the guest hall. I couldn't help but feel a slight snicker rise up within my heart. Serves you right.

Glancing around the once tranquil ballroom the unconscious bodies of guests littered the tables and floors, nobody was spared. Even the family that had made my mother and Lita so emotional were enraptured in a deep sleep-like state, limbs spread haphazardly across the tables and chairs. Strange, where was that red haired boy? Looking at the table, his parents appeared to be asleep, but he was nowhere in sight.

My father, now standing at the ground floor of the ballroom, a couple of feet away from Obitus, was glaring deeply at him. “Relax on the glare Samel. I just said I wasn't trying to kill her right?”

I honestly couldn't believe what I was hearing. Is this guy insane? He didn't really think he could just attempt to kill a man's daughter and completely ruin an event and receive some kind of gift? No, he had to be trying to shame my father.

“You guys can write me up as a bad guy or whatever but we all know the king would have demanded far more. I did say I had to come back with something right? I'm happy to take—

WHAM

A sudden and violent collision reverberated through the walls of the room, causing tables and guests alike to be thrown to the side by a powerful gust of wind, the skeletal figure of Obitus vanishing into thin air. Despite the chaos, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement as I awaited the aftermath, half-expecting to witness the scattering of bones across the room.

“Well, that goddamn hurt” A soft chill rose up within my spine, somehow, Obitus had casually appeared beside us on the balcony, His footsteps echoed ominously as he approached Lizette, growing louder with each step he took.

Obitus let out an exasperated sigh and spoke, "It's been a while, Lize. Is that how you greet an old friend? By trying to smash them into pieces?" His tone was laced with a hint of irritation, and the way he referred to Lizette as an "old friend" seemed to imply that their relationship used to be amicable. Lizette, friends with this scumbag?

“I'm not going to hold back this time, leave my sight this instance. Traitorous scum.” I could hear deep felt anger and hatred in Lizette's voice. Well at the very least, it looked like they were no longer amicable.

My mother cautiously looked up at Obitus, shielding me from his presence. Lita, eyes now open, stood up and blocked the path between him and us, entering a battle stance, her body tensed in anticipation of a possible attack, ready to defend us at all costs.

“Relax, I don't plan to harm any of you guys anymore. I swear, is Samel the only sensible one in this family? With Lize here I couldn't even if I wanted too” exaggeratedly raising his arms up in surrender, he took a couple more steps towards us.

WHAM

Once again, the sound of an impact echoed throughout the room, this time louder and closer to us. I couldn't help but notice that the force behind this attack seemed to be more restrained, as the resulting gust of wind wasn't nearly as strong as before. It looked like Lizette had taken us into consideration and was deliberately holding back.

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“Ok, I'll just stay down here then. Guess I'm not wanted much up there” He re-appeared once again on the ground floor, no injuries in sight. just what was he doing to do that? Was it something similar to my fathers void?

“Your not wanted much down here either” for the first time in a while, my fathers spoke. It looked like he had been helping the guests, strewn across the room half haphazardly, they were now all lined up against the wall to the side of the room, sound asleep. He was currently holding up the still unconscious prince.

Hah, was this skeleton an idiot? At what point had he just thrown the prince on the ground again.

“I thought you more sensible Obitus, there were better ways to gather Lizette's attention than to harm my daughter. You're no fool, why did you really do it?” true enough my father spoke what I'm sure everyone had on their minds, it just didn't make any sense to harm the daughter of somebody you were trying to negotiate with.

“....” What followed was just a long silence from Obitus, clearly refusing to accept or deny my fathers claims.

“Forget it, it doesn't even matter, the fact stays that you harmed my family, the consequences won't be light, Obitus.” Interestingly, I think it's safe to say that this is the first time I've seen my father being truly angry. It wasn't a brazen loud anger, but a calm, almost controlled anger that would be difficult for the casual observer to notice. I could tell that if he had the chance, he would destroy Obitus here and now.

“HAKHAKHAKHAK, that's more like it, now you're truly sounding more like your mentor, you raised him well Lize. revenge is it?” completely forgetting my fathers earlier comment he seemed to thrive in my fathers hatred. I was beginning to think there was no method to his madness and he simply wanted to bring my gentle father to anger.

Pointing towards Obitus with his free hand my father replied “To you? Nothing.”

oh I see.

“Nothing?” Lightly dumbfounded, Obitus's gaze finally focused on the prince in my fathers arms.

“I'll let your king handle your punishment for me”

“...”

Before anyone could react. The prince in my fathers hands vanished from existence, and not in the same way the prince or Obitus had masked their presence. I could tell the prince had been completely erased from our immediate surroundings, now truly nowhere within the room.

“Are you trying to exterminate your family line Samel?” It seemed like even Obitus was unable to track down the prince after my father made him disappear, falling to threats Immediately.

“No, it seems you and your king have forgotten just why our family survived this long. You're going to go back to him empty handed and request a full pardon, then I might just consider handing the prince back.” Crossing his arms and looking down on Obitus, my father replied to Obitus's threat with a request, his tone leaving no room for negotiation.

“....”

“A congratulations from the king on my daughter's announcement as the next head of the family would be nice too of course” my father added, bullying Obitus on his weakening position. I couldn't help but need to hold in a snicker from escaping my mouth.

“....”

His skeletal limbs, folding in on themselves, made a relatively bizarre sight as Obitus began to hold onto his belly, his back scrunching up and his body crunching down into a ball. Strange sounds reverberating from him from time to time.

Then like a damn being released.

“HAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAKHAK” Loud laughter mixed with the clattering of bones filled the desolate room. Rolling in on himself from side to side, arms still clutching his stomach, he continued laughing in the middle of the ballroom, time seeming to crawl by at a snail's pace.

Regaining his composure after what felt like an eternity, slowly standing back up he then began to slowly make his way towards my father, his footsteps resounding as he drew closer step by step. “damn Lize, you sure did a great job raising this guy, I'll hand you that at least. I'll give it to you straight Samel, looking at your status, you greatly overestimate yourself, that's for sure. Doubt you would even last half a lire against the current king.”

Now facing my father, abyssal black holes in place of his eyes looking at my father eerily as he spoke, It honestly would have made for quite the frightful appearance if not for his earlier outburst. “All that's gonna happen if you send me back is I'll return with the remaining two to handle Lize. Buuuut, you probably already knew that didn't you? What exactly are you planning Samel?”

“...w–” cutting off my fathers response Obitus held out his skeletal hand.

“Actually don't answer that, wouldn't want to ruin the fun now would we? I Just thought it would be more fun if you actually had a plan, wouldn't want it to be too boring now.” turning his back towards my father he began to walk back towards the centre of the room.

My father looked up towards Lizette, their eyes interlocking, signalling about something.

“Alright well, looks like you don't plan to change your mind, so getting to the king as soon as possible should reduce his anger a bit. Gotta show, some, seriousness I guess. I also got to see you face again Lize, so overall, pretty worthwhile trip”

Walking casually towards the doors of the room, his presence began to slowly dissipate again, actually watching how he disappeared unfold, I could see or notice his presence more than before. I could tell that before at this stage he would have completely left my field of perception, but now I could see him clearer than before. It didn't last long though, as the double doors once again began to open as he entered their range. As my concentration slipped, his form completely disappeared from my sight.

"Don't disappoint me too much Samel" Leaving behind an eery last message, that seemed to carry through the large hall and enter directly into our ears, softly but chillingly, the heavy doors shut close.

[Unlocked skill - Illusion discernment]

“Haaaaaaaaaaa, we nearly messed that up badly, Samel. He could have killed Tene!!” After a moment had passed and my mother was sure of the skeletons' departure , a huge sigh of relief escaped her mouth, followed by a shrill scream of anger at my father.

“Nearly killed him. Had to hold back” Litas nails were once again digging into her palms as a rare look of anger flashed briefly across her cold face.

“I greatly underestimated him, Obitus of the four Sages. If Lizette wasn't around, We would be nearly powerless. I was powerless to stop him as he cast his curse on Tene.” my father ramming his fist into a nearby wall, dejectedly applied all the blame on himself.

Tell me about it, Losing my life in such a ridiculous way would have been terrible. One thing I just couldn't understand was why constantly provoke him if this was the case? Knowing your enemies and when to provoke them was the wise thing to do. I wouldn't try to fight Obitus now even when he nearly killed me, but would instead bide my time and handle him when I was stronger.

“Well don't be too hard on yourself Samel, as much as I hate that fickle bag of bones, he's extremely perceptive. There was always a risk he would just kill everyone in the room except myself, king's orders or not. At the end of the day we should just celebrate that nobody… we didn't get hurt and for the most part, the plan succeeded.”

Plan?

Wait, are you telling me that everything that just happened now was a part of some plan from my father?

“I checked everyone's Soul signatures, their fine, just out cold. He really just wanted to get your attention by harming Tene. How ridiculous” my father spat out the last words, anger clearly still present on his face. I couldn't tell if he was angry at Obitus or himself.

“The most difficult part to predict was if the prince would fall to his [seed of divinity] or not, Zanek level headed would be near impossible to control, Obitus’s unpredictable nature isn't much better either, you took a serious gamble here Samel. It could have been far worse” Lizette seemed to be attempting to cheer him up. If there was anyone that could cheer up my father, it would be her after all.

Holding me gently, my mother and Lita began to make their way down towards my father. Perhaps my mother began to feel a little guilty for blaming him earlier, but she no longer said anything negative towards him as she made her way to him.

“Still, we're not completely out of the woods yet, Let's start waking up the guests. I'll take Tene with me to my study to watch over her in case Obitus still attempts anything more tonight” Lizette said, more or less putting an end to my presence at the ball, nobody disagreeing with her, she picked me up carefully from my mother and began exiting the room.