Vom let’s out a sigh as he releases Triad from the hug and smiles, his eyes drifting over to his sleeping wife as he does. “She always overdoes it when she’s stressed, not that I need to tell you that.” Vom says, tilting his head back towards Triad but keeping his eyes firmly on his wife. “I know it’s going to take some time for you to forgive her, but I want you to remember that if we had any other option.” Vom sighs again and rubs the back of his head a few times. “No, no more excuses. Your mother and I did what had to be done, and if the consequences of that is you hate us, then we’ll have to accept that.”

“Umm, Dad. Why did you have to do it?”

“Huh, did we not tell you that? Gods we are bad parents aren’t we.” Vom answers, tilting his head back and letting out a long, tired breath. “Ok, lets start with the basics. There are two types of magical items in this world, mana stones and vessel items. Mana stones allow the user to store and capture magic and use it when they run out of their own mana. Vessel items on the other hand are prisons for beings of great power, like that snake thing or like…” Vom pauses as his eyes drift over to his old stone imbedded in his son’s chest. “Like the quiet one.” Vom says, bowing his head and clasping his hands together as if in prayer.

“Dad, are you ok?” Triad asks, throwing his legs over the bed and touching Vom’s hands.

“Hey, easy there. Try not to wake your mother ok?” Vom says, getting up from his chair and reaching out a hand for Triad to take.

Triad lifts his sword arm up to take his father’s hand. “Oh, right. I keep forgetting about that.” Triad says, placing it back on the bed and grabbing his fathers hand with his left hand.

Vom pulls Triad to his feet, places his hand on his back and starts to guide him out of the room. “It’s ok buddy, you’ll get used to it. You know, I had a friend who lost an arm back in my younger days. Last I heard he was working as court magician for some hot shot noble some where.” Vom says with a smile as he leads Triad out of the room and closes the door behind them.

“Dad, you still haven’t explained to me why you guys did what you did.” Triad says as he allows his father to guide him to a stool in front of the fireplace. Triad stairs into the fireplace, a few rogue coals the only contrast to an otherwise black void.

Vom places a few new pieces of wood on to the coals and with a wave of his hand creates a gust of wind that breathes new life into the dying remains of the fire. “Malac is evil Triad, as evil and wicked as any demon or monster that has ever existed. Your Mother was forced to be his servant when she was 10 and he tormented her for over 20 years. Her father did awful things to her.” Vom swallows hard and lets out a long slow breath. ”So he could break her will before they made their contract.” Vom hangs his head and takes a long breath through his teeth. “Their deal was, as long as your mother held that blade, Malac had total control over her body." Vom shakes his head as he pokes at the coals, trying to get the new wood to take. “Did you know we met after a battle between our peoples? She was laying with the dead and that blade had been sown into her hand. I was a battle field medic back then, never been good with offensive magic but had an abundance of magic power.” Vom waves his hand again, creating another gust of wind that manages to get the fire going. “My orders were to kill any enemy survivors and heal any of ours I found still alive. But killing someone who had a sword forcibly attached to them… It felt wrong. So, I cut her free and healed her.”

“Dad, I… I didn’t know.”

Vom raises a hand and shakes his head. “Because we never told you, you were never supposed to know. But things are different now, you’re different now and you need to know this.” Vom stands up from his stool and squeezes at his temples with the palms of his hands. “Because If you don’t the quiet one will take advantage of that.” Vom runs his hands down his face before sitting down again and staring into his sons eyes. “My stone contains what people call an angel, but they’re little better than demons. The only real difference is angels have the power of creation, while demons have the power of destruction.” Vom wipes away a tear from his eye and places a hand on Triad’s shoulder. “Sorry, I’m rambling again, I’ll get back on topic. So, your mother and I came up with a plan while you were asleep. She would try to break Malac’s will. We had already been starving him for years and we had hoped that with one final push you might be able to get a contract with him on at least 50/50 terms. But to do that…” Vom hangs his head and turns back to the fire, giving it a few hard pokes. “We had to do something unthinkable.”

Triad shuffles in his seat as he tries to take in all of this new information. “But… But why was she happy? Why did it look like she was enjoying herself so much.”

Vom smirks and shakes his head. “Because she wasn’t fighting you Triad, she was fighting Malac. She was fighting the monster that ruined her life. A monster, that with our son’s voice, threatened to steal you away from us.” Vom’s smirk fades away from his face as he turns his head back to his son. “She was fighting to save you Triad, but she was also fighting for herself. To get revenge on something that took so much from her. That’s why she looked happy, because she was winning against her demons and making sure you wouldn’t have to go through what she went through.”

“I thought we were going to have this talk as a family.” Comes Zuthi’s stern voice from behind the two of them.

“You were sleeping, so I…” Vom is interrupted by Triad jumping up from his seat and pulling his mother into a tight hug.

“Thanks for fighting for me mum. I’m sorry you didn’t have parents like I do.” Triad says, resting his head against his mother.

Zuthi raises and lowers her arms a few times before returning the hug. “I do anything for you my precious boy, and your parents could do a lot better.”

“Not sure about that, have you tried my mum’s boar meat stew? That stuff is awesome.” Triad says a little too loud, causing Zuthi to wince.

“Well it looks like your father already has a fire started, why don’t I make us up a batch while we talk a little more.” Zuthi asks ducking under triad’s arm and heading towards the fire.

“Awesome, I’m starving and I want to see how many bowls of food this new body of mine can fit.”