A servant went to fetch Harlan.

“Sir Fomoria, your sister requests your presence. I shall guide you to her if that is acceptable.”

“Alright.” Harlan was finishing up his 8th set anyway.

They walked through the winding halls of the mansion until they reached a guest room.

The maid opened the door and stepped away with a bow.

“Harlan, I wanted to wish you a good morning, and… talk about something.”

“Good morning to you too!” Harlan felt like nothing could bother him.

“Do you hate Jaramis? He… Well he has some issues with you being, well, what you are.”

Autumn was awkward, trying to say he isn’t human, she thought that was horribly offensive.

“I didn’t, he did what he did because he was ignorant, I see that he still is.”

Harlan stormed out of the room, he was bothered. He was back home, he was trying to be nice. He had already forgiven Jaramis since things worked out in the end. Now he wanted to just find him and punch him like that kid who turned their apple juice into hard cider.

But he stopped, he thought.

Wouldn’t that just prove him right?

A different plan formed, one based on impulse, that was more dangerous than any other thing he had done so far.

He went back to his room. He locked the door. And it started cutting pieces of his soul away, his anger, his stress, he made it so he couldn’t feel these parts, he knew they would grow back anyway, but as a sort of reset it should’ve been fine. Then once his anger had faded he looked at it clearly, this is a very bad idea, but he couldn’t just put them back in. He thought about how his nieces or nephews souls were forming, he had a base already with pieces of his soul, he just needed to find a vessel.

He heard a knock on the door.

“Sir Fomoria, a package has arrived, it is your signet ring. Shall I wait here until you are ready?”

“Uh… no, I’ll be right there.”

He opened the door, thanked the servant, and then closed it. Startling the woman.

He stabilized the soul, adding new parts to it making it whole. And then he placed it in the ring to let it grow to size and wake up. He watched it slowly eat away at the magic already inside the ring, he hoped it wasn’t ruined already.

When it was done the ring had no magical signature at all, but it was like a small sun to his soul searching.

He slipped the ring on, wondering about the effect it would have.

And then it spoke, first incoherently, rambling like when he found out the king had sent those assassins.

Then more parts settled into it, the anger dispersed mostly when he was putting copies of his memories of his time with Zella and Relly in it.

“What am I?”

Harlan didn’t know what to think.

He made a new being using a human soul, for all intents and purposes this was a human, in the body of his ring.

“What am I?”

“I… I don’t know.”

“You are master? Father? No… No masters…”

“I don’t know”

“You will teach me?”

“I… I just need to think.”

Another knock on the door.

“Sir, it is time for breakfast, will you be joining the rest of the household?”

“YES” the ring answered.

“I shell set your place at the table.”

If the maid had known his voice this would’ve been an issue.

He got lucky this was a different one.

“Why did you say that?”

“I am a sir”

“Are you?”

“I think… yes I must be. I am a sir. I am… I am not you… I will think. I will be quiet.”

Harlan awkwardly fidgeted in place the entire breakfast, wondering if his new ring… son? Was going to start yelling something.

Autumn thought she knew why, he was sitting across from Jaramis.

There wasn’t anything more than small talk until breakfast had ended, then Count Redwall spoke.

“You shall receive training in etiquette and swordsmanship for your stay here, if you have experiments regarding souls I am willing to pay for materials if you explain the process to me.”

“Huh, oh, yes. That would be just fine, I want to see about making items for myself and my family. So they are safe.”

“A splendid idea, after dinner perhaps?”

“That’s fine.”

Harlan returned to his room, quickly, drawing the attention of the others.

“Are you awake? Did you decide what you are?”

“I am Balor, I think I am your brother, you are not my master, you are not my father. So you must be my brother.”

“Why Balor?”

“I saw the name written on the –”

“The what?”

“– You can’t hear it can you? The words I am speaking? I will speak of it no more, my name is Balor.”

Harlan would’ve questioned it more, but the incomplete geas wanted him to forget.

Another knock on the door, Harlan would’ve been angry at being interrupted so many times, but the experiment earlier had worked.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Sir, You are requested for weapons training.”

“I know the way, I will be right there.”

Harlan felt something moving into his mind as he walked into the training room.

“I thought it better if we were connected like this, you seemed so worried about others hearing me, why?”

“I don’t know, but this is… strange, it’s new. It’s like me… I think it is better that you stay secret for now.”

“I understand.”

“You do?”

“I am in some way you, but not. What you were before I was born is part of what I am now.”

Harlan had been standing outside the training room for part of their conversation, not wanting to enter while talking with Balor.

Ava was there, training with Breken when he walked in.

Harlan hadn't known that she would be there.

“You must be Sir Fomoria, I am Breken, your swordsmanship teacher.” he bowed at Harlan.

“Oh, yes I heard about you from Ava, thank you for teaching her.”

“Only good things I hope.”

“Yes.”

Harlan couldn’t see it, but Breken had gained a slight smile before returning to his stoney face.

“Now, the first step for any swordsman is to find the right sword, 2 handed or 1 handed?”

“Um… 1 handed, I want to use my other hand for magic.”

“Good choice, thrusting or slashing?”

“... slashing?”

“Heavy or light.”

“Heavy, I’m stronger than normal people.”

“Yes, I’ve heard.”

Breken started with a normal broadsword, though because it was sized for a grown man it was large for Harlan.

“Hit those training dummies.”

Harlan cut into them without much issue, the real issue was his swords kept breaking or chipping.

Breken went back and forth with him to figure out why.

“Hit me hard, I want to feel this.”

Breken took the full brunt of Harlan’s strike and both their swords shattered, Breken having to pick pieces out of the air to stop them from hurting anyone.

“Freak of nature I tell ya.”

“Sorry about your sword.”

“Don’t be, I don’t have a custom one and I go through them like you wouldn’t believe.”

He never carried less than 3 on his person.

Breken pulled out some different weapons, longer swords, shorter swords, thrusting swords.

Harlan didn’t take to any of them though, anything strong enough to handle him felt awkward and Breken could see it plain as day.

“Wait, I think I have the thing for this.”

Breken was gone for 15 minutes finding something, Harlan wanted to talk to Ava while he could, she seemed awkward around him.

“Ava, are you alright?”

“I’m glad you’re ok.”

“I don’t blame you.”

She hung her head, Harlan hit the nail on the head.

“Was it that clear?”

“I had a lot of time to think. If I did this to you, I’d never forgive myself. But I’m sure you’d forgive me instantly.”

“Don’t you have a bit too high of an opinion of me?”

“Distance makes the heart grow fonder.”

She punched his arm.

“I’m sorry.”

“I know you are. I guess I’ll need to talk when Amber gets back too, don’t I.”

“Maybe… I think she took it a lot better than I did.”

Breken returned with a dark blade in his hand, it was single edged with a thick back, its tip was squared though still sharpened.

It looked closer to a giant cleaver or a tool for cutting brush than a sword as they knew them.

“I forgot all about this thing, took it from the hands of a Fomorian chieftain I killed. Brutal thing, not the blade of a noble at all. A perfect fit for you.”

Harlan couldn’t be sure how much it was meant to be an insult but he could tell Balor was offended.

“Can I really take this?”

“I don’t even know why I kept the thing, better in your hands than mine. Maybe you won’t break this one.”

Harlan took to striking the training dummies, it sunk in more deeply than the other blades so he had to use his foot to pull it back out but it felt right.

The other swords were just things, this felt like an extension of himself.

“This feels good.”

“Great, now, as a baseline we are going to spar for a time, do whatever movements are natural to you. I will only be deflecting hits.”

Harlan ran at Breken and swung, and then fell on his back.

“You need a firm stance, that blade is heavy, think of the momentum. Now, again.”

Harlan this time went for a jumping strike, Breken deflected the blade, sending him off balance and crashing into the floor again.

“Use your head, use your hands, a firm grip would’ve stopped that. A quick wind spell might’ve let you recover into a roll, Again.”

Harlan noticed Ava was barely holding in a laugh, Breken did too.

“Work on your forms, the kid would still beat you.”

Ava’s smile faded at that, she started grumbling about unfair natural advantages though he wasn’t telling the truth.

The rest of Harlan’s morning was spent being unsuccessful at landing a hit and then landing on the floor.

“Good first day, she took 3 days before she stopped hitting the floor, you might take 4. She has you beat on talent with a blade. You people don’t sleep though, feel free to come down here and just swing that thing around. Combat form scrolls are behind that door, left for 2 handed weapon forms, right for 1 handed, forms meant for heavier blades are on the higher shelves.”

Harlan had another idea.

“Balor, can you use magic? Balor?”

“I was... Thinking, yes, I can use magic.”

“Do you remember what Rosewell’s sword could do? Think you could do that from your ring?… body?”

“Hmm… yes… I will do that.”

“How about one more Master Breken?”

“Don’t start on the master stuff, you aren’t technically a noble really, so I can train you right. But yeah, one more.”

This time Harlan went for a slow swing, only to have it rapidly speed up as Balor boosted it.

Breken was taken off guard, but he still had decades more experience, if a little trick could beat him he would be in a grave already.

He deflected the blade, nearly throwing Harlan off balance, but another burst of wind kept him upright, then the blade reversed, like its momentum was flipped.

Breken grinned.

They played this game until Balor said he was tired. Harlan gave up without swinging again.

“Interesting, but I thought this was a 1 on 1 fight. Whatever you just did was cheating though. I’m just a little surprised you found the time to enchant that ring with a soul, I’m not going to find that some poor maid is missing am I?”

Balor lost it.

“HOW DARE YOU, YOU HAVE SPENT THIS ENTIRE TIME INSULTING US, SAYING YOU PEOPLE, YOUR KIND, NOW YOU INSINUATE WE ARE MURDERERS ALREADY?”

“And here I thought those new items didn’t really have a mind. You his pet?”

“I AM BALOR, BROTHER OF HARLAN, YOU, YOU KNAVE.”

Breken just laughed. Ava was terrified though.

“I… I can explain, it was an accident. But this is Balor, please don’t tell anyone about him yet.”

“OH, NOW I AM AN ACCIDENT?”

“That isn’t what I meant, Ava, can you try to talk him down.”

“Hello… Balor?”

“I… May have overstepped my bounds, I shall sleep now.”

Balor didn’t want to yell at Ava, he was, in a sense, Harlan afterall.

“Great, Ava, you hurt the ring’s feelings!”

Breken was trying to push his buttons, he liked to see what the breaking point for his students was.

Luckily they were saved by a servant telling them it was time for lunch, and then Harlan had etiquette classes.

----------------------------------------

A man looked over a field of roses with his wife, the Darkness was back again, she had another candidate, the man already knew this, while most were beneath the view of the gods, he was not a god.