Hyden looked down at the ‘Young Master’ staring defiantly back at him through his blood-soaked bangs. One of his guards, Tomas, struck the boy in the face with his gauntleted fist once again. The boy, once he managed to shake the dizziness off, slowly turned his face back up to Tomas. He was sneering! Hyden felt like, despite the situation this ‘Syron’ found himself in, he was still looking down on Hyden like he was trash.

That’s a Forrester for you. Even if he deserves it, he can take it alright. Hyden thought to himself as he gestured for Clyde, another guard, to strike one of the Knights that was captured in the plaza. The man took to it with gusto and furiously beat the young woman, reminding Hyden to get him some time at a brothel to curb some of his more extreme tendencies.

“Mayor…” The boy said through a rather mangled smile.

Oh, so now he’s talking huh? Not that I ever needed him to say anything to me in the first place. I was just curious how long he’d keep his mouth shut through the pain.

Hyden stepped a bit closer to the boy, sliding slightly in a pool of blood he felt was perhaps a bit too far away from the child, but he had been roughed up rather thoroughly. He shifted his rather sizeable girth to properly reclaim his footing, and got his face close enough to the boy to smell the urine.

“What?” Hyden asked coldly, though still taking the time to breathe a puff of smoke into Syron’s face. The boy looked uncomfortable for a moment, but otherwise pretended it didn’t happen. Hyden couldn’t help but smile.

Shame he turned out an illusionist. This kid’s got some real fire in him. Not quite the same way I do of course!

“I’m confused by your actions, Mayor.” The way Syron slurred his words made Hyden realize he was probably working through a pretty serious concussion. Though, the way the boy said ‘Mayor’ still contained all the petty disregard one would expect from a high class noble.

“What about this confuses you, boy?” Hyden played along, trying and failing to keep the crap-eating grin off his face.

Surely you know what your existence represents…

“Well, it’s just… if you wanted a funeral with an empty casket, you should have just requested it. No need to earn it with such vigor. My mother is a very giving lady, you see.” Syron’s face split into a horrifying smile after he managed to finish his message. Hyden couldn’t help but shudder slightly. It wasn’t the blood, of course. Hyden had naturally done his fair share of casual interrogations, so he was no slouch in the endeavor. No, what made him shiver was the reminder of exactly what he was risking by attempting to take matters into his own hands concerning the boy. Yes, the kid had to die so his mommy dearest would get her act together. Pretty much everyone in high society agreed on that. However… none of them wanted to stick their necks out to do it themselves. Patricia Forrester was not an existence to take on lightly, after all. Or at all, assuming you valued something that could be taken away. And then given back. And then taken away… ad infinitum. The process was quite torturous if she wanted it to be, Hyden had heard. There are few things as horrifying as a healer well versed in torture.

As a fellow hobbyist, Hyden felt he had been given the wrong aptitude. The world could be quite unfair to people. Hyden gestured to Clyde and he took another swing at one of the Knights. She cried out and spit out a tooth, but otherwise just looked to the floor and wobbled like she could barely keep herself upright.

“Well kid… it’s like this. What your mother doesn’t know won’t kill me, ya know? Unfortunately, after arriving at the city gates this afternoon, you turned yourself invisible and was never seen again. Poetic, don’t ya think?”

Hyden smirked to himself, wondering how long he wanted to keep this event going. Putting an end to the brat immediately would be the smart choice, of course… but isn’t it more exciting with the risk of getting caught? Hyden couldn’t help himself… he had another Knight beaten.

“Why do this?” Syron managed to get out, though with the blood loss and concussions he was getting further and further from clear enough to understand. At this question, Hyden couldn’t help but laugh uproariously.

The brat really doesn’t know! I can’t believe he’s so sheltered that he really doesn’t have a clue!

“Lemme think… because it’s fun? Because you’re an illusionist and deserve ten times this? Because I’m going to be rewarded quite handsomely for your head? Pick one, since all three are of equivalent value to me.” Hyden said, his pudgy face flattening with his smile to make him look like a toad.

“Who would pay for… my…” Syron could barely get the question out now, as he was starting to totter back and forth rather dramatically.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Ha! Who wouldn’t?! I imagine the King will give me the highest price, though perhaps I should go with any of the other three Houses and just have the King name a day after me!” Hyden was still giddy from before and barely got his words out between his laughter. Hyden looked down once more at the boy that had stopped wobbling and got his hopes up that he had found his second wind. After several moments passed, the whole room changed like dust was being blown off a window, depicting a very different situation that what Hyden was expecting.

For starters, his men were all writhing around on the ground clutching their eyes and blood leaking out of their ears. The knights his men had captured looked exactly the same as they had before the interrogation of the boy started, so their wounds were superficial at best. Finally, perhaps the most jarring change was in Syron, as he was still kneeling on the floor in front of him, but he was no longer bloodied. In fact, other than holding his head like he was fighting off a severe hang over, he didn’t seem to be in any pain at all.

“Bummer. I about ran out of juice again. It’s important to leave some in reserve, I’ve learned recently. Don’t you think it’s weird how you have a set amount of willpower you can exert on your magic channels naturally, but then you can just reverse the direction and you have basically a whole other well of power at your disposal? I mean… I know that isn’t how it actually works… but it effectively is, you know?” The prideful young man that was sneering through the blood and pain only a few minutes ago was now playfully talking to his ‘torturer’ like he was merely interested in what had just happened from a scholarly point of view.

“I… uh… what?” Hyden looked around again, noticing that the lady Knights that had once been bound were actually all untied and holding his own guard’s weapons.

“Um… I’m a little unsure of the law, but what exactly is the Mayor’s punishment going to be for this, hrm?” Syron asked a nearby knight that was rubbing her wrists where she was bound only a few minutes ago.

“If he is taken before a judge, execution after extended incarceration. If he is taken before the Grand Duchess… immediate execution.” The knight said without delay, a vindictive smile playing over her face. She was one of the knights unfortunate enough to get roughed up a bit before her Young Master had arrived to save them.

“This can’t be happening… it wasn’t real?! I knew you were an illusionist, but this level of power should have been impossible! How could you have tricked all of us and still managed to subdue my guards?!” Hyden screamed as he started to move towards the tired looking Syron. Within a fraction of a moment, four blades were held at his throat.

“Are you really interested? I’m happy to show you how, if you like. Just give me a minute to get this headache under control. I let the game go on longer than necessary because I wanted to find out who wanted me dead. Turns out… everyone. That was kind of a bummer, if I’m being honest.” Syron said quickly with a wry smile forming on his lips.

Hyden just balked at his new situation.

“Let’s start with my lovely Knights, shall we? When I first arrived in your… office… torture chamber… place, I was happy to realize that all of my knights were alive and accounted for. I quickly told them as such, despite them being tied up and a little more tenderized for my tastes.” A few of the knights managed a smile at this comment, though even Syron realized he was being a bit blasé about their torture before he arrived. He couldn’t help himself, though.

“Well, once I let them know that things were going to be alright and I just wanted to reverse interrogate you a bit, they eventually consented. It was rough going, but since I spent all day practicing modifying my own body’s image, it was pretty easy to shift that into me getting rather mercilessly beaten. I was a bit worried you’d catch on because that douche over there kept hitting me with metal gauntlets.” Syron gestured his thumb over at a heavy armored man that had been rendered unconscious at some point, though Hyden couldn’t figure out how or even when.

“The interrogation went perfectly. You told me everything I wanted to know, especially how you were a depraved monster. I don’t mind condemning you to death in the slightest… strange how that came to be… I never thought I’d be the type to just be like ‘yep! I don’t care if they die screaming’. I’m a bit shocked at myself, you know!? I guess I’ll at least show you some mercy and spare you death row.”

The color drained from Hyden’s face.

If I’m being spared death row… that means I’m going straight to the Warden…

“Yeah… I know… I know… what kind of kid encourages his mother to kill people? Well, you have got to understand something. I’m actually really freaked out right now, you know? I’m not handling this whole attempted kidnapping and torture thing very well. I’m shaking pretty hard right now, if you hadn’t noticed. I think I understand why you give trauma patients a blanket now… I could really use the comfort and warmth right now. Do any of you have a blanket I could use…? No? Well, that’s really unfortunate. I’ve got the magic hangover from hell from fully expending myself, and I’m pretty cranky about having my day out interrupted too. Really, I’m starting to wonder if coming out today was even worth it? Ha… haha ha?!” Syron said all this quickly and with sharp, quick breathes when necessary. The knight that wasn’t currently holding a blade at Hyden’s neck came and rubbed his shoulder gently. He smiled up at her while tears started to drip down his face.

“I… oh, I haven’t explained how I immobilized his men yet… the suspense will kill him before my mother does at this rate…” Syron said and he tried standing and found his knees too weak to do it well. He closed his eyes and took a few deep breathes before standing anyway.

“Ladies, please remove the blades from his neck and take a step back. If he goes to use magic, feel free to take his head.” They immediately did as he said, though they did appear to be a little concerned.

As soon as the sword tips were far enough away, Hyden lunged at Syron.

“Flashbang.”

Hyden’s entire world became white, blinding pain and cacophonous explosions in his head before Syron strode forward and kicked him square in the jewels.

“See… now you can tell people is was self-defense.” Syron faked cheer as he strode out of the room.