Eragon's POV

The castle, the throne, even the room that I lie in. None of it was meant for me but here I am, waking up only to wander and think to myself at how different things should of been. I've been wishing for something for quite sometime, something that not just anyone can give me nor can I give to myself.

But as I pick up a simple comb, I can't help but shake in...excitement? Fear? Whatever it may be, I want more, more of whatever that man made me feel in that moment. I secluded us in this land in order for me to think for myself, giving me more time to discover Aluca's whereabouts but I would know better than anyone else...she's no longer within my grasp and she hasn't been for quite some time. With her blood running through me, I can tell there's a spark of life somewhere, albeit faint and near undetectable...she is there.

My only hope was finding Adam, and so Mael stayed behind in an attempt to discover what he could. Keeping both a watchful eye on him and Aluca. And yet...not a single memory he had was relating to them. He was there for years, waiting and manipulating people into feeding him so he could barely survive. But every time he emerged from that dark space, he passed through something that blurred his goal, forcing him into a cycle of pure survival as he'd forgotten himself through the passing time.

My poor older brother who made his own choices in favour of his people, left to rot and slave away at the subjugation of another that came far before our time.

"Eragon?" Ira's voice calls through the door.

"Come in" I respond without turning around, instead continuing to face a mirror as I talk to him through the reflection.

"You wanted to see me, right?" He asks, keeping his posture tight to himself out of respect, as always.

"What do you think of me, Ira?" I ask honestly.

His lips move a little bit as his heart rate jumps, an obvious struggle that makes me laugh inside. This man that has the last of my brother's blood running through him, an abnormal turning that should never of occurred. "Sit" I gently kick one of the chairs to him and despite the reluctance, he sits for me.

I stand over him, looking down until eventually sitting just across from him on my bed. "How about another question, what do you think of Oracion?" I ask.

His face brightens even despite the sleepless bags under his eyes, "Brave, annoying, reliable, childish...a brother I guess?" He laughs for the first time.

"Half of those were insults." I respond, noticing how easy it was for him to reminisce about him.

He looks away at the realisation but I click my fingers, wanting him to stay focused on me. "What's your oldest memory with him?" I lean closer.

He begins thinking, moving his eyes around the room as he questions himself. "I-...don't remember? Maybe back when he was first starting to help around the Veil?"

He said that last time.

"Because you had these things you called Shadows appearing from it, correct?" I want to confirm.

"Yeah, he'd help to reduce their numbers and what not. He was doing that for far longer than the rest of us so it's only natural he'd know his way around a sword." He speaks, "Even though he kept breaking them." He scratches the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Who would keep making him weapons just for him to break them?" I ask.

"His brother, Aeron." He answers quickly, only making me question more and more.

"Blood related?" I question but he sort of tilts his head to the side as if not expecting it.

"Of course? He's always been beside Oracion, and they're similar in both personality and looks."

He watches in silence as I reach under my bed, picking up the book I took from Oracion's cell. For a while now, I've been reading it but was unable to undo two pages that were seemingly stuck together by blood. I've read the rules of the book and I know what the person writing this can and cannot say. But over my time of owning it, I've been placing my blood into it, eventually being able to delicately force the pages apart with my own authority.

But these two pages, however it happened...the writer almost broke every rule. "Who is Freya?" I ask him.

His eyes widen for some reason, "She's...important to Oracion, why?" He tries to return a question but I ignore it.

"I see" I simply close the book, placing it onto Ira's lap. "When the time comes, tell Oracion to read those two pages for me."

He looks at me strangely, attempting to open it but I stop him by placing my hand onto his. "When the time comes." I remind him.

We both stand up as he prepares to leave but I stop him once more, "As someone who was just previously human, do you believe what I'm doing is wrong? Trying to make those with similarities live together even despite their differences?"

"I mean, 𝘸𝘩𝘺 are you even doing this?" He answers with another question.

I look away from him, looking at the endless snow through the tinted glass as if some sort of image would appear in front of me. "They...just looked so happy together." I sigh a little bit, knowing what's about to occur.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I solidify the blood mist, gripping the handle to gradually close it myself. "Goodbye Ira." Shutting the door to my room and leaving myself alone once more.

-

Oracion's POV

I kneel down with the vial in my hands, cupping it together as my ears blur out the sounds of blood splatter and screams. "You're being used again, you do know that right?" Aeron's shadow appears to the left of me, leaning casually against one of the piles of gold.

"You don't even need it, you know that as well, right?" He kicks off the pile, causing the gold to shift and roll across the floor. "I feel like you've always known these things though." He crouches just in front of my face in order to stare up at me just as a finger rolls beside me from one of the siblings.

But he covers it with his hands, forcing all my attention back onto him. "All you've ever known is control. Birthed into it and sworn by it." He laughs, placing a his hands along my face to open my mouth. "You might not need it, but it's just easier this way." He takes the vial from my palms, placing it into my mouth. "Easier for me." He whispers, dissipating as Clementine's face slides into view

"ORACION GET UP!" She yells at me as I delicately close my jaw.

I look up to see Tyron holding Noah by his throat, "You were both concealed by Eragon, avoiding conflict and protected from the itch of the sun. You two wouldn't know what pain truly is." He mocks with a disappointed expression, throwing his body just to the side of me.

Clementine hurriedly picks me up with my arm, aggressively placing me to my feet in a rush before running over to Noah. "And you." Tyron walks up to me, wiping the blood from his hands before sucker punching me in the jaw.

A sharp snap resonates through my bones as the force sends me crashing through a wall and into a a garden full of light...sunlight. The roof torn off as the large open square resides almost dead centre within the castle.

Through the blind, I find my hand grabbing something all too familiar. Something that my hand refuses to let go of ever again as I thought I'd never get the chance see it again. "C'mon get back inside where we can have some fun?" Tyron tries to persuade me from afar as I place my other hand across my broken jaw, lifting my face up to the sky and noticing the bladed pieces inside my mouth are gradually trickling down into my stomach with the help of blood.

"Eragon never let anyone here, not even me. So what was so speci-..." His face partially comes out from the dark, acknowledging the unorthodox light as if he didn't expect it. "He told me he destroyed that blade you brought in. Why do you have it? Why is it still here?"

"CLEMENTINE!" He runs towards her, grabbing her by the hair and bringing them both towards the light. "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?" He spits in her face.

Even despite the situation, she laughs with an answer. "Does anyone know what Eragon truly wants at this point?" Her laughter only grows louder even despite Tyron raising her with ease, leaning his arm back as he prepares to throw her.

"NO!" Noah screams as he desperately tries to claw his way up Tyron's arm.

"You could help." Aeron's shadow whispers from behind them.

"But I won't." I finish, letting him toss her as Noah chases after her through the blinding rays.

"They've got about a minute given their heritage" He remarks, preparing to walk away but I find my hand upon his shoulder with nothing more than a blink of time passing. "Pretty fucking fast aren't you?" he comments.

I click my jaw back into place as the blood from the vial fully enters my system, memories gradually fill my head with an equilibrated pace as if intentional. I punch him with as much force as I currently can, feeling a few ribs crunch against my hand, but I keep him within my grasp.

Again, I punch, and again, and again. His face, his arms, his legs...there's just so much untouched space left for me to explore. It's almost like he's letting me do it, as if he's enjoying it...or he isn't. I can't tell much from the expression of no teeth.

"This...won't...kill-me." I feel his attempt of getting away as I dig my elongated nails into his shoulder, welcoming him back into my grip.

"I'm aware." I continue punching, letting go so that I could eventually trip him up and stomp onto his joints. First the legs, then the arms, all of it just needs to go...he doesn't need them where he's going.

"Trust me, this is hard for me too. You're just leaving so much blood everywhere and I'm really trying to avoid tainting my skin." I try to comfort him, showing him he's not alone in this...we're suffering together.

Even despite the previously shadowed room, ever since bringing in Aeron's sword, there's this everlasting glow trailing behind me. For how long it has been enthralled in light? Only Eragon knows. "You took my time" I poke a limb with the sword, watching as it pops into ash instantly.

"You gave me pain" I poke two more.

"You fed me like an animal and whipped me like a beast" I burn up his final arm.

His pale face has remained full of pain up until this moment...until the moment I dropped the sword onto the broken ground. "I have a better idea for you, Tyron." I smile, lifting up his torso with his head.

It's only when I place my face closer, does he finally express something new. I sniff his neck out of passion, "I'd honestly ask if you just wet yourself if I didn't just cut off the half with your dick. I guess that's just fear, huh?"

"Ora-" He tries to speak.

I place my finger across his lips to hush him, "You're ruining my first time...shhh." I lick my newly grown fangs, sinking them into his flesh and draining whatever intoxication runs through his veins to where he thought I wouldn't eventually claim what's due.

As the blood flows into my mouth, I can't help but wonder how many he's done this to, how many souls am I truly swallowing here.

"Oracion-" Noah drags himself to the broken space, lifting up Clementine's partially burned body towards me.

I hesitate before dropping Tyron's corpse to the ground, grabbing Clementine and pressing her face against the open wound I created so that she can drink from Tyron as well.

"WAIT!" Noah screams again but I ignore it, forcing her to wake up with the scraps of his body which jolts her into a coughing fit.

"Noah..." Clementine wipes her mouth after pushing out of my grasp as she makes her way towards her brother.

I on the other hand look for Tyron's clothes, finally being able to partially clothe myself.

"Why isn't he standing up?" I ask her.

"His legs...are gone." She answers with sudden guilt.

"Oh, alright let's go then." I encourage her, placing the sword around my waist and preparing to leave.

"ORACION LOOK AT ME!" She screams, reaching for my arm aggressively and attempting to pull me, but she can't. this time. "What did...I do." She mutters to herself, backing away from me slowly.

"You didn't do anything, you made me do everything. Just like you wanted, I was your opportunity and you took it. Remember?" I remind her.

"You shouldn't have that eye colour, Oracion it doesn't matter if you somehow drank from Tyron or not. You should not have already turned, not that fast and not in that way!" She scampers around the room, eventually finding something metallic and shiny to show me my own face.

"Guess they are red, but you wanted that right? You wanted me to free you from this all?" I gesture to the castle.

"Oracion..." She murmurs, sitting back down with Noah. "I can't leave without him, not after he saved me."

"Look." I grab my sword, splitting Noah's head into two. "Problem solved, we're leaving now right?" I again, get up to leave but she jumps at me like an animal. I grab her by the throat, "You people took everything from me. I do not want to hear complaints about the decisions you made for someone else."

I drop her as her tantrum finishes, forcing herself to silently walk beside me. As they all should.