A chill traveled down my entire body when the robed man looked at me. His eyes were hollow, but at the same time filled with a sadistic excitement.

This didn't stop me from continuing to curse and strain against my restraints. This fucker killed my best friend. I had to avenge Herald!

“You bastard, hell isn't good enough for scum like you!” I ranted and continued to spew profanities at him.

“Tsk, Tsk, young man, have you no manners? Let’s shut that filthy mouth for a moment, shall we.” The robed man said as he raised his hand and began chanting.

Upon his completion I found myself mute. I made the motions to curse and scream, but no sound escaped my lips.

“There we go, much better. Please do realize that you are powerless here, stop resisting as it will make it easier for you and me.” He said as he lowered the hood covering his face.

I was stunned as I recognized him. If I wasn't already silenced the shock would have made me speechless.

“Ahh, I see you recognize me! Who wouldn't? I mean, I am this city’s savior, Alistar the Wise!” He said while sarcastically striking a pose in front of me.

I struggled internally trying to make sense of it all. How could he be Alistar? Alistar was the Emperor's head mage and was known for his valor and kindness. He had been the deciding factor in the Empire's recent wars due to his mastery of the arcane.

“Now, you must be confused. Why would the great hero, Alistar, kidnap you? Why am I going to torture you and end your pitiful life? I’m supposed to be the good guy, right? You’re wondering, shouldn't he save me instead?” His sarcastic rant continued as he walked towards me.

“You see, that's all a show. I am not only a great magician, but also a fantastic actor.  I could care less about this insipid empire and wouldn't lift a finger to save anyone, if it weren’t for the deal the emperor and I struck. I protect the kingdom and am a symbol of his strength, in exchange he funds my experiments and turns a blind eye to my little enterprises. Basically, I go out and slay some monsters or bandits as needed, and in exchange I can do whatever I please. As much as I hate working for the old bastard it's a pretty good gig.” He said all of this with a smile that made him look insane.

“You see I am used to getting whatever I want. Quite adamant about it too. Now, the reason why you're in this mess and your friend is in a hole, is because you took something I wanted.” He said while striding up to me with a face full of fury.

I panicked and tried to scream out that I had never stolen anything from him, but nothing came out. I was still mute from the spell he casted on me earlier.

“Even worse, you bonded with it!” He screamed at me, lashing out with his hand.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

My head whipped to the side and instantly began swelling on the on the right side.

“If that weren’t bad enough, you don't even know what you wasted!” He screamed again and backhanded the other side of my face... Then he became eerily quiet and gently placed his hands on both sides of my now bloodied face.

“But you're so young, I mean you're probably around twelve aren't you? It's not your fault you didn't know what you were doing.” His face was so close that I could feel his breaths on my face.

I wanted to jerk forward and bite him, head-butt him, anything to get some measure of revenge, but I was paralyzed by fear. His eyes were so dark and cold that I found myself unable to do anything.

“I believe in honest mistakes and would have let you go out generosity as I by reputation am a noble person, but the thing is that you bonded with an artifact that is extremely useful to me.” He released my face and began to pace back and forth.

“I could try and remove the artifact from you, killing you and chancing that it will be destroyed in the process. No too risky. I could just let you go and try to create my own artifact after carefully studying you and performing various tests. No, no, that would take far too long and even then I might not succeed.” He continued to mumble on for a bit, listing various paths he could pursue, most of them involving my demise in one way or another.

“Ah ha! I got!” He turned to me smiling with pride evident on his face.

“It’s simple you see. The artifacts are magical tools, you bonded to my tool, so you’ll become my tool instead! A loyal follower controlling the artifact just for me!” I could tell by his voice that he had already had come to this conclusion before he had even entered this room, all of the theatrics were for his own sadistic pleasure.

I spat out at him in disgust, unable to show my protest in any other way, I would rather die than serve the scum who had killed my best friend. My bloodied saliva hit the maniac’s face causing his smile to disappear. I smirked knowing that I ruined his perfectly planned rant just a little bit.

He glared at me while using one hand to wipe off his face.

“I was trying to be civil, but I guess we can get right to it then if you are so inclined to start.” He turned towards me and began to mumble an incantation.

Upon finishing, the markings carved into the floor began to glow and I felt a burning pain on my forehead. My skin blistered and cracked and smell of my own skin burning caused vomit to rise into my throat. The pain began to spread and grow as intricate details were being etched into my flesh. I attempted to scream and thrash.as the pain grew until I felt like my entire head was on fire, my skull melting and the pain worming its way into my brain.

After a few minutes that felt like an eternity, the pain receded back to the center of my forehead and disappeared. I hung limp dripping sweat showing no trace of resistance. I looked into the pool of sweat at my feet and saw my reflection. On my forehead, directly in the middle was a single black symbol that filled me with dread.

I wanted to just hang and rest, but Alistar grabbed my hair and ripped my head up.

He looked at my face and smiled. “Looks good on you!”

He released my head which promptly fell back to resting on my chest.

“You should be proud, you’re the first person I have used this particular enchantment on! You have to follow my orders and can't directly harm me. It's by no means perfect though, I will be watching you very close so that you can’t betray or rebel against me.” He said while flicking my head right on the raw and fresh brand.

“Of course there are ways to get around that. I think I'll just torture you until you are just a lifeless husk and allow the spell to fully control your will completely!” He said while walking over to the cloth covered table.

Hearing this I lifted my head to see what he was doing. I was greeted with the sight of his crooked smile and the gleam of a metal instrument rusted with what could only be blood.