Part 1

I woke up with a shout clutching at my throat, stuck as a piece of wood kept my jaw open. The fogginess of my abrupt awakening delayed, just slightly, the memories of what transpired. Like flashes of a camera, images of the close past came to mind. My brother's body, slumped and bloody held in my trembling arms. The skeleton, laughing at my despair as I desperately attempted to heal him, though the smoldering flame of life already left his eyes had. The fury taking over me. The rage and ravenous hate heating my blood. The crimson curtain filtering my sight as I launched myself onto my opponent. The animalistic way I fought.

Fire-clad fists, tendrils of thunder covering my body, launching spells as if I was swinging my claws. It was far from the collected and methodic way of fighting. It was crude, brutal and chaotic. As if an animal, a beast, had taken over my body. I simply watched and hated every single moment of it. Yet, I could still hear the complacent laugh of the skeleton as I clawed at his legs, manaless, beaten, with bloodied and burned hands. It kept ringing in my head. That accursed laugh.

My blood boiled once again as I recalled those moments. I tried to reach for the gag on my mouth but soon found it impossible. I noticed only then how my hands, wrists, elbows, ankles, and knees were tied with leather bindings to a cold, oblique, metallic table. My neck was tied too, but in a different way. Rather than leather it was with metal, loose enough to let me move around in strange comfort. Thus I looked around.

I was in the dark. Complete dark. The only source of light being the runes etched on the border of the metallic table and the leather bindings emitting a dim purplish light. I promptly realized, as I tried to light up the place with magic, that those runes' purpose was to seal my mana. I felt empty, helpless and...rageful.

Suddenly, footsteps interrupted the silence filling the dark room. I turned my head in their approximate direction but they were out of my line of sight so I was forced to wait for their owner to show themselves. The wait was killing me. The steps were slow, purposefully so, with the rhythmic cadence of a cane or staff accompanying them. Knowing that it was he who was approaching me fueled the fire of my rage even further.

"Oh, you are finally awake-" The skeleton said slowly in that distorted voice of his "-With the way you overexerted yourself I thought it would take you longer to heal. It's a pleasant surprise"

I tried to shout at him, violently curse him with all my might as he appeared in front of me. The gag prevented that, yet it did not stop me from violently wiggling my body around as much as the binding permitted.

"Oh, right. Forgive me for the rude awakening-" The skeleton replied apparently amused as he gestured to the gag "-I learned that human minds are fragile things. I feared you'd bite your tongue. That would put me in an awkward position, especially after voicing that oath to you"

With a swift flick of his wrist, the laces keeping the gag in my mouth retreated and loosened, letting the gag flop out of my mouth and onto my chest. With my aching jaw finally free, it took me no more than half a second before I began barking insults at the skeleton in front of me.

"YOU MONSTER!-" I shouted, surprising myself with how coarse my voice sounded "-You killed my brother! YOU KILLED HIM! Wretched being! I swear I'll kill you! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!"

"Such fire!-" Mused the skeleton as he took a step forward and dragged one finger across my neck, jaw, and cheek "-One would think that after the beating you suffered, you'd be a tad meeker. Ha! Praise the heavens, you are as rageful as before. Fascinating!"

"...Just kill me already-" I said, spitting what little saliva I had "-Oathbreaker!"

"Oathbreaker?-" The skeleton asked surprised taking a step back and tapping on his chin "-No, no, no, you seem very much mistaken. I have not broken our oath. Have I?"

"ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!-" I shouted, feeling my vocal cords strained with pain, as I wiggled around my bindings once again "-You swore that you would let one of us leave. Alive and safe. Yet I have yet to leave and I'm certainly not safe! Has my brother died for nothing, you fucking scumbag!?"

There was a long pause. A deep and uncomfortable silence filled the entire room as the skeleton's eyes were fixed on me. When he spoke once more, his tone was cold and threatening, so much that it stiffened my muscles.

"My patience is running thin...I can understand your anger and confusion but I do not suggest testing me. You might not like the result...Now, regarding that "oathbreaker". It is a title unfitting for me since I have not, and don't plan to, break our oath. The oath stated that so long as one of you died the other could leave with his life and safety untouched. The "when", though, was never stated...You ought to be more careful with your oaths"

My mind suddenly went black. The meaning behind his words dawned on me with their full weight. I was completely in his power. A sudden wave of tiredness crashed over me, forcing me to slump my body back on the metallic table. A viscous liquid lubricating the zones between my skin and the bindings. I was bleeding.

I cursed myself.

"This docile side of yours is much more approachable" Mused the skeleton as he took a complacent stance.

"...Kill me" I said with hoarse voice.

"Come again?"

"Kill me I said!" I shouted as I looked into the skeleton's eyes. Hatred empowering my words.

The skeleton looked at me curiously and waited. He waited for me to say something else. To speak some more, curse him or whatever else. Then, laughed. A disgusting laugh. A laugh full of evil and pleasure like none I had heard before.

"Kill you?-" He asked once he had regained some composure "-Why would I ever kill you? So that I can void our oath and be deprived of my mana? Oh, please! I will not kill you and you know it...no, no, no, I have far more interesting projects in mind for you"

"...Then I'll just kill myself" I simply answered, sticking my tongue out in between my teeth.

"Ooh, and do you have the strength of mind to do so?" The skeleton asked as he stepped closer.

He was right in front of my face, not even ten centimeters away from my skin. His eyes looking down into mine. I knew he could feel it, the hatred, the anger. He was testing me. A challenge of sorts...All of this was just an experiment for him, something curious to study.

"I will not be your plaything" I simply stated. Calmly and with iron-like resolve.

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I had done it once, doing it again was no big deal.

A moment of silence followed. Brief. Very brief. Just barely a second. Enough for the skeleton to see my resolve. To understand that it was no light-hearted choice. He nodded.

"I know you won't be...as I know you will not break. I can see it in your eyes. Death does not scare you...It's fascinating. Alas, I cannot let you do that. Yet, if you are still thinking of going through with it, I'll warn you: if you are to take your life, I'll be doing the same with your family"

"What?! Leave them alone!" I barked in anger.

"If you comply with me, I won't. If you don't...I will hunt them down and torture them in the worst imaginable way. I will make sure to let them know, constantly, that it is your fault they are going through that. They'll know they are being tortured because their son took the easy way out. I'll make them resent you. HATE YOU. Then, and only then, I'll kill them all...Am I being clear enough?"

"...What do you want?" I said, bowing my head forward. Not out of respect, I just didn't want to give him the pleasure of looking at me tearing.

"See?-" Replied cheerfully the skeleton "-This is what I meant. You are a smart human, complying was the correct answer. I'm sure we'll get along nicely, as long as you don't lose this attitude"

"What do you want?" I repeated.

"My experiments-" He replied without a hint of any feeling in his voice "-I must finish them, promptly now since humans were able to reach this floor and the Black one left after your duel...To that end, I'll need you, my semi-voluntary test subject...I'll make experiments on you, of course, in accordance with our oath, I'll be sure to keep you alive...I would just love to have you as my subordinate, but I doubt you'll ever break. I can almost physically feel the hate emanating from that gaze of yours...Thus, if your mind has not broken in a month starting from now...you'll be free to go"

I did not answer. I already knew what he meant. Those so-called experiments he was about to put me through, were in truth nothing but torture. I would not give him the pleasure of seeing me in fear. Not to the one responsible for my brother's death.

So I laid down my head and watched as he flicked his wrist once more, tightening the gag into my jaw with the giddy smile of a kid on Christmas. He checked the binding on my limbs and closed the wounds that had opened. Then, he discarded one of his gauntlets.

A black boney hand clad in this purplish fire appeared from under that chunk of clawed metal. I could instantly feel the pressure that disgusting mana emanated. He looked at my disgusted face in satisfaction and a thin smile crept up on his face.

"Forgive me for the gag, but I'd rather not hear you scream your lungs out while I do my work...Just a word of warning-" he said as he approached my ear whilst tapping my right shoulder with one of his fire-clad fingers "-It will hurt"

The moment he ceased to speak, his finger plunged into my flesh until bones touched bones. My teeth sunk, just slightly, into the wood as I screamed out my pain. A poisonous feeling began spreading from within my shoulder all around my body. Burning everything it encountered in its wake. I could muster no strength to move yet my body still spasmed uncontrollably. My nerves were on fire and when the feeling reached my brain...time stopped as I was plunged into a deep, deep...deep...deep darkness.

Sinking in it. Suffocating in it. Drowning in it. Blinded and deprived of any other sense if not for the continuous and unceasing pain. Forced to re-live again and again my darkest nightmares, as the mangled corpse of my now-dead brother grabbed me at my temples and repeated over and over again:

"It's your fault"

The torture had already begun.

Part 2

- SORA EVERGARD'S POV -

"Ugh!" I sighed in out loud exasperation as I leaned on the balcony.

The grey stone was pleasantly cold, even felt through the thin fabric of my opera gloves. That cold sensation spread pleasant shivers through my skin, restoring some of the lost energy. I leaned closer to enjoy that sensation a little bit longer.

The music and the noisy chatter were still as loud as ever, even though muffled glass door that separated the balcony from the hall. I had no need to look back. I could picture it in my head clearly, all those pompous sons and daughters of nobles flaunting their riches, their connections and the listless accomplishments of their house. It was exasperating and it all lacked...finesse.

"Those snotty kids have done nothing in their life other than flaunt their names without care-" I whined as I annoyingly recalled the endless stream of nonsense coming from two boys my age trying to chat me up the first half of the night "-What have you all done yourselves? I bet some of them don't even know how swing a sword! Raph would never brag like..."

[W-When have I started thinking about him?!] I winced snapping out of my train of thoughts.

I sighed once again. It had been a long night. A ball to be precise. Exactly what noble families are always so eager to do. This time, though, exclusively for youths. One that I was forced to participate. Balls and receivings have always been my brother's stage ever since our family achieved nobility. Something he seemed always eager to do thanks to the attention he received from the opposite sex due to his elven heritage. His good looks were also part of the package but I would've never admitted it to his face. This occasion. although, was the only one my family forced me to attend to. To "broaden my friendship groups and connections" they said, though I'm sure it was more of a power ploy of that scheming mother of mine to put on a pedestal her "beautiful, charming, and talented daughter". Her words.

"Already escaped, have we?" Said the all-too-familiar voice, this time slightly higher pitched, certainly thanks to the alcohol.

"Are you here to force me back inside, Youm?" I retorted without even looking back.

"Ouch! So cold sis-" He said as he leaned his back, sustaining himself with both elbows, onto the railguard of the balcony "-Do you really hate it this much?"

"Do I look like I'm enjoying myself?-" I asked, turning around suddenly and spreading my arms "-I'm forced to wear this awfully tight dress with this skirt that keeps dragging on the floor, threatening to make me fall with every step. I have to waste hours and hours on drinks and useless chatter when I could be at home reading or out with Elenoair. But you know what the worst is? I have to keep being bothered, over and over again, by this group of spoiled, horny and drunk freaks who only think with their...UGH! I just HATE it!"

"Then I guess asking you to speak with Eriksen is out of the question?"

"Who's Eriksen?" I asked puzzled.

"That short guy with red hair-" Seeing as I didn't understand he kept going "-From the Dougher house?...He has green eyes and pronounces the letter s funny"

"Oh! Him?!-" I asked almost in a shout "-You know he kept on trying to touch my ears? ALL. NIGHT. LONG"

"All right, all right. You hate them, I get it-" He replied with an exasperated sigh "-You were thinking about Raph, were you?"

"W-w-what are you saying?!-" I replied all flustered, feeling my cheeks burn just slightly "-W-why are you bringing him up right now?"

"Caught red-handed, have I?-" Youm smirked cockily as the blush on my face reddened "-You always make that oh-so-deep and oh-so-sad face when you think about him. Missing him already?"

"Oh shut it!-" I replied, striking his shoulder with a well-placed fist "-At least I don't have to go around balls looking for a partner!"

"You got lucky, you little asshole!-" He answered, this time I was on the receiving end of the fist "-You know how hard it is to find a decent girl with good looks, good character, and a good name?! Hald the people here are psychopaths and the other half is even worse!"

"What? Wanna ask Raph out? Too bad he's already engaged!" I said sticking my tongue out.

We looked at each other for a couple of seconds. A serious and cold tension lingered on our gazes. Then, laughter erupted. Like kids we laughed, slamming our knees and wheezing in the process.

"You know-" Youm began after catching his breath "-Father received a letter from one of his messages. Word is people that have come out of the "labyrinth" have formed some sort of camp just outside Migur"

My eyes beamed, just for a moment. A very brief moment. Youm saw that and shook his head, easily reading my unsaid question.

"None of the Bluescales are among them...sorry" He answered with a sadder tone.

I had hoped to receive some kind of news about them. Every time father received a letter, I would always tip-toe around him, asking him whether or not it talked about them. Yet nothing ever came. I couldn't help but slump upon the railguard looking at the horizon. Searching the night's sky for some kind, any kind, of signal that my fears were unfounded. I sighed.

"Come-" Youm said as he placed an arm gently across my shoulders "-Let's go back and dance a bit, ok?"

"...Get me something to drink" I replied, emotionlessly fixing my dress and hair.

"Pardon?" He said surprised.

"I said I want something to drink...something strong" I repeated, looking at him through half-closed eyelids.

"Weren't you the one that was all "I don't want Raph to feel left because he's the only one who doesn't drink"?" He asked stifling a cocky laugh.

"Well...he's not here is he?" I replied elbowing his side just before crossing the fine glass door.

- END OF VOLUME 3