Alexander Smith was a suspicious man by nature and so with clear proof within his grasp in the form of an old picture his suspicions against the young Lily Seasaint increased tenfold, as he stood beside his oblivious first born he began to wonder why his youngest looked nothing like him or his late wife. It took him longer than it normally would to discover that the little beauty, now known as Willow, had once again escaped without a trace and his eldest was stood with a face like the bottom of a black pot, it was easy to see that the animosity between the siblings was caused by the girl Shawn had brought to him not too long ago and so without another option he exited the room with journal and picture in hand to search for the boy constantly on his mind. With much effort and more than three days of searching and asking the staff around the mansion he finally learned of the place the boy frequented most, there were many common patterns on the boy’s choice of dwelling but the most obvious one was the lack of people or noise. He was quite impressed that the boy had somehow found the key into the abandoned south wing of the mansion but quite angry the boy had to live in east wing when he too was a young master. Not wanting to disturb nor invade the boy’s private space he decided he would head off to the battlefield where he would try to sort out the fuzz of memories in his brain, that or he’d go meet some of his old friends.

With that last thought swirling inside his chaotic mind he headed towards the palace where his old friend king Edward Vanheim would no doubt be sat bored out of his mind as he listened to his old ministers drone on about money, it had been a good few years since he’d last spoken face to face with the man and he was looking forward to it. Luck was not in his favour for as soon as he arrived at the gigantic palace situated in the very centre of their vast kingdom he was met with news of the king’s absence, Edward had gone on a trip to a neighbouring kingdom for peace negotiations so they could work together to fight off their enemies in the north. Not having anything else to do and the fact his mind was still very much fuzzy he decided to head to the northern battlefield, the one place capable of sorting through his ever tangled mind.

After the incident with the picture Willow came to believe that their suspicious father distanced himself from Lily and headed off to the battlefield, no one had seen the ever elusive Willow in weeks and Shawn couldn’t care less about anyone but Lily so didn’t notice these odd changes or so Willow deduced from the fact he hadn’t seen his brother in a long while. Willow was in fact still hiding out in the library with Zaphion but instead of wasting his time he practiced the Dark Arts magic, he practiced like crazy and finally reached level 1 effectively restricting what powers he would be able to use in this world "huff," he was quite angry at his own weak constitution and would huff and puff most of the day "my how fun," Zaphion whispered as Shawn entered the library with a slightly angry yet determined facial expression, Willow just laid on the floor and fell asleep for the first time in three days for he didn’t care about Shawn at the moment.

'Willow hasn't been seen in days not even by the servants' Shawn worriedly thought as he headed to the only place he hadn't checked, south wing was equally as devoid of life as east wing but it wasn't abandoned at least. There was a very large library on the first floor that spiralled like a tower three floors up that took up most of the wing and also some unused offices now used to store important documents, Alexander’s office was also situated in this wing so it was forbidden to enter most of the rooms leaving only the library. He pushed open the library doors and saw a mountain load of bookshelves filled to the brim with books of all shapes and sizes, at the back of the room was a faintly glowing object that quickly caught his attention despite the conviction he felt in finding the young Willow 'I wonder what that is?' he got closer to the source of the light to see it was a used magic summoning circle, the circle was stronger than most but only piqued his interest for a moment. Satisfying his curiosity with a prod here and there he turned back to look around the big room, his eyes finally resting upon a sleeping figure in a black cloak laid in the middle of several books strewn about upon the floor "Willow?" he sighed at the sleeping boy’s stupidity and picked him up carefully, inwardly astonished at how light the boy was as he carried him back to east wing despite his reluctance to leave the boy in that room.

When Willow woke up again he was back on his bed in east wing with no one in sight 'useless brother how could you leave the youngest in such a room' he pouted in disappointment then sat up to stretch his sore muscles, turning towards the headboard he sat for a while then began scratching the place the original had put his name on the bed making it deeper as if he wanted to forever remember it and engrave it into his soul. When he finally snapped out of his trance he noticed his fingers were bleeding and full of small splinters 'the original really did have strong feelings for this' he thought and touched the name now engraved deeply into the wood and washed with blood 'when you get corrupted it's hard to remember things such as your real name' he remembered how he himself couldn't remember his original name and smiled at the name on the bed before getting up and changing his clothes, he attached his cloak once more and headed out to the garden for some much needed rest. He sat in his usual spot and thought 'the father wasn't enough to change this world’s fate too much' his face was calm and serene but his mind deep in thought, he needed to change the world’s fate but he wasn’t sure how with his current abilities and the limitations placed upon him.

After getting rid of his splinters and wrapping his whole hand in bandages he headed back towards the library, he couldn’t figure out what to do and he just wanted some company.

Shawn headed back to Willow's room and opened the door to see it empty again; as he turned to leave with a deep frown set upon his face he smelled the slight trace of blood and headed back into the room to look around for the source. He once again arrived at the headboard of the bed to see the name now engraved deeper, in front of the name was the letter 'M' and after the name was another letter 'W' but they were both barely noticeable. Fresh blood soaked into the wood and large amounts that had collected in the indents began dripping down like tears, Shawn watched for another minute or so before walking out of the room and heading off to look for Willow.

One year later:

Willow stayed hidden and practiced his Dark Arts magic for a whole year; Shawn didn’t find him again after the day with the bloody headboard but gave up looking after a while anyway to be with Lily. Zaphion tried talking to Willow but always got ignored making him huff in frustration at every chance he got, their father was set to return in around a day or so but had been writing letters to Willow everyday. Willow still felt indifferent about everything and only read the letters because of the host’s relationship with Alexander, he only concentrated on levelling up. His icy expression never wavered when people were around him but alone he was carefree and always so deep in thought that Zaphion had given up trying to hold a conversation with him 'interesting' he smiled a little as he monitored the change of the world through the ring’s only useful technique 'looks like getting father on side worked a little' he was happy when he saw the holographic display before him show a small bar around a quarter full, the ring flashed out a new task as he closed the display [confront Lily, lose the battle and sustain heavy injuries, 5 hours] after reading the task his face twisted a little before it was quickly masked and he forced his body to complete it "Zaphion I'm going to do this task so I'll see you later," he talked to no one in particular and without much enthusiasm but knew Zaphion had heard him, he pushed open the doors of the library to see Shawn stood there about to enter.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

When Shawn looked towards him he looked shocked at Willow’s sudden appearance, Willow however just carried on walking as if he didn't even see him 'now is the perfect time' he thought as he passed Shawn without a glance. Slowing his pace he glanced back at his brother then revealed a look of hurt and love in his eyes, his face was still icy but Shawn noticed and looked on with slight regret as Willow sped up his steps again. It was only a split second of emotion but it was enough for Shawn to see his younger brother's sincerity, it was enough to change his mind and water the seed of doubt placed in his mind one year ago.

Lily was in the training yard with a few of her goons; as usual she was practicing white magic and pretending to be a diligent white lotus. Willow strode over confidently and sneered at Lily "silly little bitch, playing with white magic when in reality hypnotism is your thing," he spat at her and her face distorted into revulsion "little wretch, you have no idea what I'm capable of," she stood up off of the chair and mocked "oh I know perfectly well which seabed you crawled out from," he laughed coldly "impossible," she stumbled a little in shock then pointed her finger at him "don't speak with that revolting mouth of yours, you only know how to spew out lies," she was angry and began chanting magic as soon as she could. Willow chanted his white magic back but he was of a lower level than her (as his Dark Arts magic was lower than his white magic he could use it without destroying his foundations), she hit him repeatedly whilst he only scratched the side of her face. It rapidly healed and was replaced with bluish green scales which she quickly covered with her hand then magic, he noticed though but then her goons jumped in and attempted to stab him ‘why do I have to be in pain again?’ Willow instantly complained then let a few of the less lethal knives stab into him. By the time he finished chanting his Dark Arts magic spell hidden within a white one he was oozing blood from many places; both his arms, one of his legs and his stomach leaked the red substance onto the floor which then seeped into the dirt underfoot. Lily looked pleased but was then hit with the Dark Arts magic spell "you bastard how the fuck do you know that kind of magic?" She cursed as she hunched over and began throwing up, the magic was too weak to hurt her at her current stage but it could cause illness. Shawn walked out to see Lily throwing up and rushed over to help her 'eh? You rush passed your injured brother because your slut threw up' he cursed in his mind but fell to the ground face first and began crying in pain 'fuck it really hurts' he complained and started to really cry. The loud thud from him falling to the ground alerted Shawn to his presence "what the hell Willow, how could you?" he seethed before he noticed the large pool of blood around his brother's body which was steadily expanding outwards.

The familiar beep sounded in Willow's head before the ring flashed again [your father took notice of you and headed to the battlefield to clear his hazy mind; you forgive him and await his return. He arrives back early to see you on the ground covered in blood and takes you up to treat your injuries, tell him who did it] there was no time limit as it was more of a narrative on how the world changed but it still told him what to do, the ring's enchantment was beginning to break meaning he could escape soon. Just as he finished calculating his time remaining in this world his father arrived with quick, light steps and stood before Shawn. He looked good for his age of 34 "what is the meaning of this Shawn?" he seethed at the oldest when he saw Willow on the ground bleeding out 'crazy old man I'm going to die of blood loss if you just stand there talking' he thought angrily "father?" he questioned weakly as he lifted his head to see, his vision was blurred and red from the blood pouring from his head that he’d hit on the way down "oh my poor Willow, who did this to you?" he bent down and spoke soothingly, as he picked him up Willow winced in pain making his father's face contort in rage and sorrow "Lily and her goons, they did it again," he whimpered "SHAWN!" their father shouted sending chills down everyone's backs even Willow's 'dam this man is scary' he shivered and clutched onto Alexander’s military jacket tighter. Shawn visibly shrunk back in fear but Lily stood her ground obviously seeing herself stronger than the man before her "get out of my sight," he turned to walk away with Willow in his arms, a beep and flash went off at the same time [stay with your father, you are now the 15 year old child you should be and want to make up for lost time, 2 years] to say he was surprised was an understatement he was baffled by the world's rapid change, if he'd known just breaking the female lead’s spell would succeed in changing the world this quickly then he would have done it sooner.

His father took him to his room in east wing and looked around in guilt and disgust before carefully placing the still bleeding Willow down onto the bed; he exited the room and returned a few minutes later with a bowl of water and some bandages. By this point in time Willow was on the verge of losing consciousness and small black dots had began dancing in his vision.

After his father patched him up Willow spoke sadly "father ..." he began but was interrupted by the soothing voice of the man before him "I'm not your father," he paused deep in thought "Ashleigh and I took you in when you were just a baby, your mother died from sickness and your father died on the battlefield not long after, I promised them I would keep you safe if anything ever happened to them," he explained with a sad sigh "just call me Alex from now on," he smiled warmly as he stroked Willows now tangled hair 'well that was not in the original plot' he was laughing inside but on the outside his icy expression melted away and was replaced by a sweet loving expression "Alex thank you for believing me," he let the original’s tears fall and then smiled making Alex rush to hug his now upright form, it was in fact quite funny watching the fearless leader of the battlefield get this flustered over something so insignificant.

From then on Alex visited Willow everyday until he could walk around on his own again then he helped Willow pack his meagre belongings and moved him to the north wing were he stays, to top it off he made the younger boy stay in the same room as him and would panic if Willow was gone too long. Lily and Shawn had been glued to each other since the incident and neither of them will even look at Willow; Alex kept Shawn from approaching Willow meaning even if he’d wanted to see the younger boy he wouldn’t be allowed. Despite the suffocating circumstances Willow didn’t feel suffocated in the slightest, in fact he felt at ease and calm as someone was finally showing him love and caring for him so embraced his life with Alexander.

"Willow where are you?" Alex came striding into the library with a happy smile plastered upon his face "what is it Alex?" Willow popped his head out from under the table he was sat under with a book in his hand "there you are, I have excellent news for you," he beamed "what is it?" Willow was pleasantly surprised and got up from under the table to stand in front of Alex "Shawn is going to the northern battlefield in a few days and won't be back for at least two years, Lily is moving to be closer to him so you won't have to worry anymore," he smiled down at willow "I don't care as long as I'm with you," Willow happily replied and hugged the unsuspecting man 'such a handsome man, making me want to fall for him even though I hate him' he gushed to himself but on the outside he was blushing a light pink as Alex laughed and patted his head 'oh well I'll just act like a clueless kid who's in love' he thought ‘it isn’t that bad anyway.’

Although Zaphion was silent Willow could tell he was silently laughing at him for having to pretend to love someone he clearly hated 'why is life so unfair to me' he pouted and pulled Alex out of the library and away from prying eyes. Zaphion in fact wasn’t laughing at him but he did have a smirk on his face, he knew something Willow hadn’t yet figured out.