Kai’s mind had gone black with unconsciousness, but his body moved his hand, grabbed the medallion around his neck, and then it changed and shifted. The metal morphed and flowed elongated into a thin pole. At the end of the pole, a long curved blade grew out of the side a scythe had formed. The scythe was black with a dark vibrant red making up patterns and the bottom half of the blade. The scythe wasn't the only thing to change. Kai seemed to stand taller than before. He was no longer shorter than the adults, but somehow he towered over them.
His mouth widened into an open mouthed smile, and his skin seemed to be tinged red. His eyes changed the sclera changing from white into an absolute black far deeper than anything should be. Something expanded out of him, an invisible force that could not quite be seen or felt, yet was still present. Everyone felt a feeling of absolute and utter nothingness of their final end pressing down on them.
“Finally a vessel.” The voice that came out of Kai’s mouth was not his own. It was deeper and soothing with the hint of dark joy. This voice was not that of a man or boy but something dark and sinister.
The scythe was swung carving an arc in the air. That arc traveled out as a phantom blade destroying and killing everything. Kai slowly stalked through the halls, the scythe destroying everything with the dark phantom blades it created.
Researchers fell to him dead before they could escape panic spread as the dark nothingness spread and seeped out slowly filling the mountain and beyond.
Kai came across another researcher, his scythe swinging down, but it stopped as if another force was restricting it. A voice spoke out of Kai’s mouth, the voice of a child.
“This is my body.” The scythe swung down burying itself into the man, but this time, it was not the invading force that killed the researcher. It was Kai.
“This is my body. You are my vessel child now stay DOWN.” Kai’s mind was forced down, and everything changed. The being continued walking, but it was not the easy gate of before. It was now halting and slow as if he was fighting something.
Kai’s vision shattered after the being had pushed him down, but he still fought on. The world changed, and Kai looked around. He was in a world where everything was red. The grass, the sky, the two suns, the weapons, and the bodies. It was not a natural color but that of dried blood. The weapons had not rusted, and the corpses had not rotted. Everything here was dead, and life was not permitted. Not even the rot that would break down the bodies.
“Child, your body is mine now. Submit and your mind will not be tortured.” On top of a mound of corpses seemingly frozen crawling up one another towards the top a demon sat on a throne of black metal decorated by deep vibrant red. The demon had skin slightly tinted red, four pairs of horns growing out of his head, a black leathery cloak draped behind him, and his sclera were black instead of white.
“This is my body. Leave and you will not be crushed, demon.” Kai did not know how he would do it nor did he care about how he just knew that he would.
“I am no lowly demon. I am Seth, a true devil and your body is mine.” Seth stood, and his throne shifted and flowed changing into a black and red scythe matching Seth’s height.
At the same time, Kai gripped his medallion. It shifted and flowed changing into a black and red scythe matching Kai’s height.
Seth moved forward, his scythe flashing down towards Kai black energy surrounding his scythe forming into a phantom blade that shot forward. Kai’s scythe swung up meeting the phantom blade and destroying it before meeting the real blade. Their blades met each other and sent out waves of energy that rippled out and threw everything back including Kai and Seth.
Seth rushed Kai, his scythe sending out black blades. Kai responded by destroying every single one with his own blades. Blades that Kai found that he could somehow summon if he used his scythe. Seth’s scythe flashed down. Kai swung his scythe to block, but Seth's scythe moved past Kia’s, slicing into his chest, but he wasn’t the only one hurt. Kai’s scythe sliced open Seth's stomach cutting through flesh.
Seth‘s voice echoed out over the battlefield as he cast a spell. “Cold embrace of death. I summon you to your place of birth. Death field.” Black energy washed over everything staining it black, and a feeling of impending doom could be felt pressing down on Kai. Seth swung his hand, and a black mist rushed out. It infused Seth’s weapon and the ground with a faint black glow. ANd behind Seth, the leathery cloak flared out revealing it to be a pair of dark membranous wings.
The wings looked less like those of a bat and more like the membrane had been stretched over top of skeletal wings. Seth flapped the wings, launching himself forward. His scythe swung under Kai’s slicing into him.
Kai fell back bleeding and hurt his body ragged despite only being hit by two attacks. And yet despite the pain, Kai got back up. He would not give up, he would never give up. Seth attacked, his scythe coming down to cut into Kai. Kai dodged, swinging his scythe toward Seth's back. Phantom blades flew out of Kai’s scythe, but Seth’s armor was unaffected. His scythe slammed down, yet it couldn’t even scratch the armor.
“You think that a mere boy can defeat me? I have lived longer than your empire, and I will not be taken down by you. Behold my power.” Seth began to mutter under his breath as something surged around him. Black mist gathered into circles containing shifting runes . Tens and then hundreds of them formed. Then they stopped moving, and Seth stopped muttering. The circles shifted and broke apart before flowing and changing forming into figures. The circle had been split, half on the ground and half in the air. The half on the ground changed into dark mantis like creatures accentuated by deep vibrant red patterns. Their scythe-like blades gleamed red, the same red as Seth's scythe. The circles in the air changed into hooded and robed skeletal figures. They had dark membranous bat-like wings, and each held a scythe eerily similar to Seth’s.
For a second, no one moved. Then they charged, mantis and reaper wings spread blades at the ready. Kai’s scythe swung down, and phantom blades flew out chopping into the horde of enemies. He dodged the attacks he could, but most of the time he could only mitigate the wounds. Throughout the fight, the smile on his face never fell. Over and over, again and again, he fought and dodged, he cut and chopped, he sliced and hacked. Kai soon found that somehow he was flying in the air with nothing supporting him. He didn’t question it, he simply accepted it. For somehow, he knew that to question and not act would lead to his death.
Kai tried to use these other spells that Seth used on him, yet he was only able to use one. “Cold embrace of death. I summon you to your place of birth. Death field." He swung his scythe, and black mist settled onto the battlefield enhancing Kai’s ability to fight.
“ENOUGH!” Seth shouted before shooting forward joining the fray. His scythe swung down catching Kai off guard, and slicing into his chest. Kai was blown backwards into the ground where he left a crater. Kai’s body was covered in cuts big and small, his body was filled with pain, and a storm raged inside him ready to burst forth. Kai got up pushing through the pain that wracked his body, not allowing it to stop him. He prepared more phantom blades ready to attack.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“How are you still moving?” Seth asked his voice, conveying shock and disbelief.
Because this place, this pain, this is heaven compared to the hell that has been my life, and how can I not bask in the glory of heaven? As his words faded, something new resounded throughout the world. Cracking and then shattering could be heard. Looking up, Kai and Seth saw something unexpected.
Cracks ran throughout the sky, and through those cracks, something massive could be seen slithering through the void. It pushed through one of the bigger cracks pulling it open, widening the hole, and allowing a figure to step through.
Out stepped a beautiful woman with striking silver eyes and silver hair that fell down her back, weaved through her hair were strands of something small and silver. She wore a beautiful silver dress that was accentuated by silver chains. The chains were all over in her hair, and on her dress were chains. There were so many that it should have been overwhelming yet they somehow weren't.
Trailing behind her were even more chains reaching out from under and on her dress from the chains around her neck and wrists and the chains woven through her hair and dress.
“Seth you have overstepped.” The woman's soft beautiful voice resonated through the space.
She waved with her hand, and the sky was stitched back up by tiny chains. And with another wave of her hand, chains rained down on Seth binding him and preventing him from moving. Yet he didn’t seem to be bothered by them; he just smiled at her.
“You think that you can fight me? You are weak, only a tier two spirit trying to bind a tier one devil. let your arrogance be your folly.” Seth said, disdain clear in his voice.
“It is not my arrogance that will be my folly, at least not today it is yours.” The spirit waved her hand, and something floated up a small medallion made out of metal on it. The design of a black and red scythe could be seen. It was Kai’s medallion, the one that had previously been made out of stone.
“I, Arthaya, invoke my birth right as a spirit of bindings. I bind and seal the devil Seth for daring to break his contract in front of me. I bind you with the terms you agreed on and I seal you in the body of he who you should have served.” Arthaya said chains expanding out of her and wrapping around Seth.
“WHAT?” Seth roared. “This boy is not a descendant, he is not an appointed inheritor. He can not possess my power. I am not bound by those oaths.“ Seth said.
“You are right that he is not an official inheritor appointed by the family's leader but he is a descendant and as the only living person of the family, he is by default the inheritor. For these reasons, you can not be bound as tightly but nevertheless, you are bound.” Arthaya said as the chains finished wrapping around Seth.
Chains wrapped around Seth, pulling him up onto the pile of corpses chaining him to the throne that had reformed. Floating in the air, the medallion shifted, the leather necklace changed to a chain, and a design of chains flowed and formed on the metal, wrapping around the hilt and blade of the scythe.
Arthaya slowly floated down her feet, settling on the ground as she looked at Kai and smiled. Kai felt a connection to her as if they were in some ways one being yet not one being. He felt motherly and comforting feelings flowing from her though he could not explain how.
Kai backed up from her. “You're that ball of chains.” He said, his voice calm, but his body low as he had been taught - scythe clutched tightly ready to fight.
“I am, and I am sorry for what was done to you. That room was designed specifically to forcibly bind me to you. Your resistance held me off, but the ritual was stronger than your mind causing it to shatter when you didn’t give in. I did what I could to put your mind back together. I hope you will forgive me?” Arthaya said bowing to Kai.
“Did you do it willingly?” Kai asked her.
“No, I was forced.” Kai watched her before relaxing slightly. “The victim is not the sin.” He muttered to himself. “Who are you two, what is this, where am I and what's going on?”
Arthaya sighed. “Let's answer those one at a time. First, I am Arthaya, a tier two bond armament and binding spirit. That is Seth, a tier one bond armament and a death devil. “
“Before you continue, what’s a bond armament?” Kai interrupted her to ask.
“A bond armament is a type of weapon that houses a spirit inside of it or other similarly powerful being. Bond armaments have a myriad of uses, but their biggest use and most obvious use is being a weapon. Is that a satisfying answer?” Arthaya said
“Yes.”Kai said.
“Ok then what and where have the same answer. Most bond armaments are weak and have a nascent spirit inside whereas the stronger ones have a true being inside. As for where we are - this is a part physical and part metaphysical reality that houses the being, and it is different for each being. There are a total of five tiers any armament that is tier one or tier two has a true spirit and any armament tier four or tier five does not for tier three around 80% are nascent spirits and 20% are true beings. Is that a satisfying answer?” Arthaya explained.
“For now.” Kai said.
“As for what's going on. A bond armament can only bind to someone under one of two conditions. The first condition is a shared element, or an oath made by armament and a human. How the armament can bind to the human depends on the oath. Every now and then, there is an oddity that pops up. Our bond is an oddity. We were bonded due to the scientists using a sort of feedback loop that took advantage of my nature. I am a binding spirit, so binding is a part of me that room was mostly dedicated to forcing my nature of binding to bond with you making the impossible possible. As for Seth. your blood carries an oath given he would bond with someone of your family. In return, they would use him to kill powerful beings. He did not realize that your blood carries that oath and attempted to harm you to obtain your body. Part of the oath states that he cannot hurt your family. The reason that he could bond with you is also the oath. When you tried to take your body back, he sent you here where he hurt you. The process of hurting you broke the oath. I am a binding spirit, and I can enforce agreements. So I did by sealing and binding him inside you. Any questions?” Arthaya asked after she was done explaining.
“Yes two. First, how does blood carry an oath?”Kai asked.
“Magic follows its nature, and part of an element's nature is what it represents. One part of blood’s nature is family blood. This is what allows the oath to be passed down. Another part of it is that it being passed down is a part of the oath's nature.”
“Ok, then why do you bond with someone.”
“That is simple, humans are one of the easiest ways to get aether and prawna. Everything is made up of three different kinds of energy. The first is mana. It is the simplest and most abundant type of energy, and it makes up nearly everything. The second is aether. It is similar to mana being a basic building block of reality. The biggest difference is that it is far scarcer. It is also far stronger than mana in every way. The amount of energy or how much that energy it has and what it can do on a fundamental level is also far superior. Finally, prawna is to aether as aether is to mana. Prawna is extremely rare, and the most abundant source of it are humans, even though less than 1 in every 10,000 might have aether, and prawna is even rarer.”
“The reason that most things will bond with humans is because it is something that we need to grow and get stronger. Beings such as me or Seth, we have one element that is the core of us and what our very being is tied to. For him, it is death. For me, it is binding. By completing the nature of this, we gain strength. For example, he gains strength from killing things. The stronger they are and the longer they have lived, the better. For me, it is binding things. The stronger that thing is, the more strength I gain, so binding him does a lot for me. Does that answer your question?”
“When you said that's why most things bond with humans, what do you mean?”
“That is something that you can learn about later. For now, you should return to your body and use what power remains.”
“What do y-” Kai fell backwards, upwards, and sideways all at the same time. The world spun, then he was in a cave. Spread out around Kai was carnage, the walls were splattered with blood, gore and viscera. Stone debris was scattered everywhere and the halls were collapsing and power was coursing through his veins.