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=====[Chapter 5 - Cold Reunion Ver 2]=====

“Judith!, are you awake?” asked Seth, opening the door to her room “Eden says you need more liquids, so I made you some broth”

“...I don’t want any” groaned Judith from under a pile of blankets, sitting up slowly “I ate plenty earlier...”

“Well the doctor said you need more” said Seth firmly “And I know you’re lying, you slept all day yesterday and it’s morning”

“...it’s morning?” she mumbled, pulling back the curtains beside her bed and squinting from the light “Damn it... I feel like an old hag” picking up a hand mirror from her nightstand “I look like one too” she added glumly, frowning at her frizzy mop of hair and tangled fur.

“Don’t worry, the doctor said you should feel better in a few days” said Seth, tail wagging behind him “And the talks between Kyle and the Enclavers are going well!, we might actually be able to join them!!”

“Ugh, that’s what I’m worried about...” said Judith who, despite her concerns and fatigue couldn’t help but smile at Seth’s enthusiasm “Heh, I wonder if they let women join their armies, I’ll miss lopping off heads if not”

“Yuck” said Seth, glancing at the cavalry sword beside her bed “We won’t have to worry about Humans if we join them, they have plenty of soldiers”

“It’s not Flayed-men they fight Seth, you know that” said Judith, immediately regretting it as she saw Seth’s expression turn to dread “Never mind that” she said before quickly changing subject “It’s your birthday next month isn’t it?, you’ll be turning...”

“Eleven!” said Seth smiling again “I’ll be... wait” he frowned, suddenly shivering “I’m twenty-three, how am I-

Seth awoke.

“J-Judith?” he mumbled, blinking away the sleepiness as he took in his surroundings; the dark and cold cellar of Toren’s manor instantly recognizable to him, it was his room after all- or so he liked to think. Toren had little use for the cellar aside from storage and as such Seth had been allowed to decorate it with the odd bits of scrap and minor artifacts he had scavenged from the old Acturan town below.

“Judith... why am I remembering her now?...” Seth thought, suddenly realizing he was on his knees with his hands shackled and raised behind his back; forcing him to lean forward uncomfortably, unable to stand up with his ankles tied across each other as well.

“Master Toren?, where- what’s happening?...” Seth asked the darkness outside the weak light of an oil lamp left beside him “Have I done wrong?, I can’t-” suddenly the events of the last couple of days came back to him: the sabotage he planned, the Thaumaturgy he used, meeting a lost elf, running... “He caught me...” Seth whispered to himself, shivering from fear rather than cold now “D-Damn it, damn it all”

Struggling against his bonds quickly proved to be useless, he couldn’t even try and scratch a Sigil into something tied like this; somehow the knowledge that he physically couldn’t attempt Thaumaturgy was more terrifying than the danger it could pose had he been able to “I need to think, I can’t panic right now, too much is at stake for me to be stupid” thought Seth, taking a deep breath “He brought me here because he doesn’t know where Toren’s lab is; he’s probably looking for it right now since I was unconscious, and since the others will have heard of Toren’s death by now he doesn’t have much time”

Craning his head to the side let Seth see just outside a little window near the ceiling; it faced west, and he guessed it was morning judging by what little light shone through it “If I can resist whatever he does to me for a few days then the Count’s men will arrive and take me into custody” he thought “I’ll pretend to be grateful behind measure and fully dedicated to assisting them, if I play my cards right I should be able to slip into the lab and destroy everything I left before they realize their mistake”

“I just need to be strong” Seth whispered to himself, trying to calm himsell “It’s only a few days at most, I can withstand it, I have too”

It wasn’t long until Seth heard the door to the cellar open, and saw a familiar figure approaching him “It’s so good to see you again, and it’s been too long since we’ve gotten the chance to talk alone” said Kunzes with a smile, taking a long look over Seth’s body “Like I said earlier, but in reverse; you know what I’m going to ask, and I know that you won’t answer me”

Seth looked down and said nothing as Kunzes knelt beside him, he wanted to believe that it was by choice but knew it was only because he couldn’t bring himself to make eye contact with the Jursen “So I’m going to ask you something else instead” he continued, putting his hand under Seth’s chin and gently raising it “Who is the best person to finish Toren’s project?”

At first Seth said nothing, he had expected mind games but something about this one bothered him uniquely; it made him briefly question Kunzes true motive, made that deeply buried and carelessly trusting corner of his mind feel hope for the first time in what felt like years.

It made him wonder if he could have the Michael he once knew back.

Seth snarled, infuriated at himself more so than at Kunzes; the fact that such maddeningly naive thoughts not only crossed his mind- but also tempted him, didn’t just anger Seth; it went further than that, filling him with a genuine sense of fear and mistrust towards himself.

“...No one” Seth said at last, feeling a sense of responsibility as he looked away from him “No one should discover what we learned; least of all you, Michael”

“You would really sacrifice countless Acturan lives... just to spite me?” asked Michael, who despite his best efforts to hide it was seething with anger alongside what Seth knew to be a twisted sense of betrayal “You... you’re a sensitive little bitch, not an idiot; you know that Toren’s ‘sponsors’ will feed the war machine with your kind if they get the chance. No matter how much you hate me we both know that them getting hold of his work is the absolute, worst case scenario for everyone...”

Michael stood up, fists clenched as he paced around Seth “And you fucking ran from all of it, all of this” Michael hissed “You’re a self-serving coward, do you just not care how many of your fellow Acturans you’re consigning to death?” he brought his leg back and threw a kick into the side of Seth’s abdomen “Or maybe you just enjoy it, Butcher”

“I consigned no-one” hissed Seth with an unusual intensity, looking him in the eye at last “I destroyed all of his equipment and records of what we created, none of you sick monsters will get what you want”

“If that were true you’d be an idiot after all” replied Michael flatly, the fury in his voice fading into disinterest as he brought his leg back again “...Since if that were the case then you’d have no reason to keep what’s left of the old man’s lab hidden from me” he added before feigning a kick to Seth’s face, smirking as the Acturan flinched away “And since it’s only been three days since Toren died, I’m guessing you only had time to melt down, burn or otherwise destroy the most important pieces of the work before running off, am I wrong?”

“...Fuck you” muttered Seth bitterly, hating that he ever cared about Michael.

“I already did” he said smugly, bringing his hand under Seth’s chin once more and tilting his head up to face him “You were sleeping like a kitten at the time, but you still sounded adorable” smiling as he moved his hand up to ruffle Seth’s hair “I even got you to finish, you little perv-

It took a moment for the pain in Michael’s hand to register as he looked down at Seth, who only crunched down harder as he tried to pull away.

“FUCK” shouted Michael, clumsily kneeing Seth in the throat and getting him to loosen his bite enough to let him yank it out “Damn it...” he seethed, standing there silently as he watched the blood flow down his fingers. Silent until he heard Seth let out something between a wheeze and a laugh at him.

“Now we match!” Seth laughed almost hysterically, flexing his damaged fingers with a mocking grin; droplets of Michael’s blood dripping from his maw as he added “We’ll have matching scars in hell love!, we’ll-

This time Michael’s kick did strike his face.

“Stupid fucking mongrel” he growled, kicking Seth yet again; this time in the stomach before kneeling and grabbing him by the throat just above his collar “I honestly don’t know how you thought anything leading up to this was a good idea” he hissed, beginning to strangle Seth “But I’m going to make your life a living hell after all of this”

“MIC-” Seth gagged, the grin on his face replaced with fear as he struggled against his bonds and the grip around his neck “Please...” he said almost inaudibly, Michael just squeezing tighter as Seth’s struggling grew weak and he felt some of the Acturan’s tears flow down onto his hands.

With his anger starting to fade Michael finally let go; feeling a pang of guilt as he watched Seth slump forward limply, his breathing interrupted by hoarse coughs as his semi-conscious body resumed its functions “He started it...” thought Michael as he looked at the bite wound, cursing himself right afterwards for thinking so childishly “...I never should have pushed him that hard”

Shaking slightly Michael reached into his satchel and laid his medical kit on the ground beside him, measuring a dose of sedative and injecting it into Seth’s shoulder before untying the dazed Acturan.

“It isn’t your fault, it never was” whispered Michael, trembling as he hugged Seth like a comfort blanket “I need this, I need to be your guide, why can’t you see it?”

...

“So... this is it I suppose” said Rowan as he looked up at the rotting manor before him “This is Toren’s legacy; kind of shoddy for a mansion if I’m being honest”

“Seth made it seem like Toren mainly bought it for the security” said Joey, gently kicking one of the dense, spore-speckled sloped walls of the ground level “Top floors might as well be made of paper, but this could probably deflect a few cannonballs at least. Not to mention the windows look oddly like gun-slits”

“Was St Xander’s built on an old fortress or something?” asked Rowan, walking up the steps and unlocking the door with the set of keys Luthay had given him “Seems like everything that isn’t bleached wood or fresh timber is the same depressing gray stone”

“First wave colonists made an outpost here from what I heard” said Louis, the other customs officer Luthay sent “Built this place as a bulwark against the natives”

“We all know that isn’t true, there’s old Acturan graffiti all over the place” said Joey, rolling their eyes “You’ve gone mad if you really believe that propaganda”

“Hey I didn’t say I believed it, just that I heard it” grumbled Louis as they stepped inside “Besides, the bones they found didn’t look human. Regardless of all that; yeah Xander’s is built on an old fort of some kind”

The entryway of Toren’s manor was rather innocuous all things considered; with a double stairway leading to the next floor and being lightly furnished for the most part, with the only out of place feature besides the gloominess being a few crates of seemingly mass-produced ceramic flasks.

Ignoring that and his better judgement Rowan brought his hands together and shouted- “KUNZES!, YOU HERE?!, SHOW YOURSELF!”

For a long moment they heard no response, until at last a familiar figure appeared near the top of the stairs, leaning heavily against the railing of the interior balcony and watching them “...You really couldn’t have come at a worse time” said Michael Kunzes with a grimace, seeming oddly distant “There’s nothing here for you, just head back to your father in Laumonix and sleep easy knowing you dodged a bullet”

“Is that a threat?” asked Rowan, reaching for his derringer. The fact that this man knew he was coming not long ago was unnerving enough, but the knowledge that he also knew where and who he lived with was even more so “You could be more forthright if so; I already have an idea of what you want, and I’m willing to negotiate”

“What, do you want a bribe?” scoffed Kunzes, an eye twitching as he glared at the two customs’ officers “Go back to your boss and tell him he’s stepped way out of line this time; I’m tired of subtlety, I won’t hesitate to-” he paused, grip tightening on the railing as he doubled over, beginning to cough and vomit.

“Damn it, why’d I...” mumbled Kunzes hazily, wiping his mouth before suddenly glaring at the three “...You think this is funny don’t you?” he hissed, standing straight and flashing a small blade between his fingers “I could just kill you, even high- even if you all shot me right now I bet I could slash all of your throats before bleeding out. I don’t need a toy gun to be stronger than you”

“D-Do you really want that though?” asked Rowan hastily, taken aback by Kunzes sudden shift in demeanor though feeling some slight relief now that the customs’ agents beside him had their guns ready as well “Surely you have bigger goals than risking death over this, don’t you?”

Kunzes said nothing for some time, slowly tapping his fingers against the railing as he weighed his options “...All I need, is Seth” he sighed at last, almost appearing as a different, older person as his shoulders slumped; the look he gave almost desperate as he added “He was mine long before being locked in this graveyard of a city; I treated him far, far better than Toren ever did if that’s your concern...”

“I... see” replied Rowan, tempted to pry further “And where is he now?”

“Upstairs... in Toren’s old bedroom” said Kunzes “He was... tired; I figured he should be allowed to sleep somewhere nicer than the cellar”

“Oh, that’s... nice of you” said Rowan uncertainly, unsure if he was lying and even more confused if he was telling the truth “Well, maybe we just got off on the wrong foot; would you consider coming back in about a week or so?, I’ve got some paperwork to take care of before I’m ready to sell him to you”

“...Alright” said Kunzes after some silence, slowing walking down the steps as he seemed to regain his composure, forcing a smile “I can afford to be patient, just a little longer” heading to the door before glancing at Joey and Louis “And I wasn’t lying when I said your boss stepped out of line, do me a favor and ask him what his master would think of his actions”

And with that he left, even more tired of subtlety.

...

Seth could see towers.

Spiraled monoliths of color were set before him, yet he couldn’t get closer.

Was he swimming?, no, there was no water.

He felt tied down, yet saw no surfaces.

And the towers were moving away- or dissolving?, he couldn’t tell.

Someone was screaming though, and it wasn’t until he felt someone touch him that he realized it was himself.

...

“At least it’s less mildew-y up here” said Joey, peering into one of many barren rooms “Another empty one over here, you guys found anything interesting?”

“Almost nothing besides ceramic and cobwebs” replied Rowan “Barely any furniture, and even less that isn’t covered in dust”

“How about you, Louis?” called Joey, receiving no response “...Louis?”

“...Yeah, I found the Acturan; he’s completely out of it though” Louis called back before striding towards them, syringe in hand “Kunzes must have stuck him with this, probably gave himself a dose too based on how he was acting”

“What do you mean?” asked Rowan glancing at the syringe confusedly “...And what’s that?, a bottle or something?”

“It’s called a syringe” he replied, squinting at the label written on it “It’s empty right now but they’re used to pump medicine into people; we actually caught someone-”

“So he’s down here?” interrupted Rowan, stepping past Louis and moving down the hall “Seth?”

Heading through the open door at the end of the hall lead into a rather dreary bedroom, with boarded up windows and only a dim oil lamp for lighting. “...Seth?” he repeated, seeing the Acturan on the ground beside the bed; slumped against the wall undressed and seemingly unconscious “Hey... are you alright?” he asked, unsure what to do as he knelt in front of Seth.

“I wouldn’t touch him if I were you” said Louis from behind him “It’s better for you to just let him sleep until-”

“What are you talking about?, look at him!; he looks like he’s been mauled” said Rowan concernedly, looking over the bruises and wounds across Seth’s body “We need to bring him to a doctor, or at least bandage him up or something... These bites look awful”

“-Until the medicine’s worn off” continued Louis, annoyed at being interrupted again “His wounds are scabbed over and manhandling him will just crack them open, you’re not a doctor and there’s no reason you can’t just wait for the poor bastard to wake up before dressing him now is there?”

“I... I guess not” sighed Rowan reluctantly, unhappy with the prospect of simply leaving him there yet also aware that Louis was probably right “Alright fine...” he added before standing, taking a final look at Seth before turning to face the customs officers “I’m just... going to poke around here for now, what about you two?”

“Me?, I’m gonna see if there’s anything worth reading around here” replied Joey before heading out of the room “I’ll be down in the lounge if you need me!”

“I think I’ll head down in a minute too” said Louis, glancing around the room before looking down at Seth “By the way, you aren’t actually considering selling him to Kunzes are you?”

“No, not in a million years” answered Rowan truthfully “But I didn’t think he’d respond well if I said that”

“Ah, that’s what I figured” said Louis, leaning against the wall “Hard to believe he’s supposed to be some kind of boogeyman isn’t it?, getting high and screwin’ people’s pets...” gesturing to Seth before continuing “Especially males, makes him sound more like a sick joke than a threat doesn’t it?”

“I don’t think him preying on women would make it better...” said Rowan uncomfortably before adding “But yeah... he doesn’t seem as intimidating as his reputation would imply”

“Right...” said Louis, seeming to think of something “Well I’ll be downstairs if you need me”

“Alright” said Rowan quietly as the officer left.

Now alone more or less Rowan began sifting through Toren’s more personal belongings: Finding little of interest besides a few letters congratulating his relatively minor contributions to the field of Thaumaturgy alongside half a dozen of the same ceramic flasks from downstairs.

“What’s with all of these?, pretty boring if it’s just a collection” wondered Rowan aloud, peering inside one of them before recoiling in disgust at what smelled like a sickening blend of dead fish and herbs “Ugh, must be for pickling chum or something... ugh”

After some more fruitless scrounging Rowan began to notice the room dim further as the lamp ran out of fuel. After having paused his search to trim the wick and refuel he noticed a worn and unnamed book set beside it; And out of curiosity decided to take a closer look.

What was written on the inside of the cover was more than enough to pique his interest “I am Seth, Fool of Fools, look upon my mistakes ye mighty and despair!” was clearly written in Liskian and directly across from it, past the remains of several torn out pages, was text written using an alphabet completely foreign to him.

“What is this?” Rowan asked himself, glancing at Seth who was still sound asleep. Skimming through the book revealed several sketches of different plants and mushrooms alongside more of what he correctly assumed to be an Acturan language. “Some sort of botanical guide?”

Further skimming eventually brought him to more text he could understand “Need to practice writing in Liskian more, master Toren says my handwriting has gotten sloppy” it read, followed by “He has been nicer to me lately” and a simple smiley face next to some scribbles of what appeared to be... bugs?.

Rowan paused, not only due to confusion or from realizing that he was reading through Seth’s diary but also due to what was written across the page immediately after-

-FUCK TOREN

-DAMN IT

-DAMN IT ALL

Stunned by the sudden shift Rowan turned the page back to make sure he hadn’t somehow managed to imagine up what was written before- and no, it was the same relatively positive words he had read, and despite his better judgment he continued reading.

...

“Yesterday, master Toren took away my clothes again”

“He became cross with me after I dirtied them while making him breakfast and forced me to disrobe afterwards”

“He knows how much I hate it”

“Later that day, after making lunch Toren threw the plate of food I made him onto the floor for getting bits of my fur in it, and then had me clean up the broken glass with my bare hands. I was afraid he would do something worse if I didn’t hurry and I ended up slicing my hands in the process”

“I hope the cuts don’t become infected”

“Later I very carefully made dinner, being sure not to touch the food directly after prepping and washing everything”

“I nervously waited for him to come downstairs, standing at the edge of the room whilst worrying that he would find something to punish me for as he tasted the food. Until he abruptly stood up and strode towards me”

“I looked down and hugged myself expecting pain but he just... ruffled my hair almost affectionately”

“’You’re such a good boy Seth’ he said, I was too surprised to respond as he gently took my hand, taking care not to squeeze on the freshly scabbed over wounds from earlier, and led me to the table”

“’You really are a fine chef when you try’ Toren continued, gesturing for me to sit and eat the food I prepared ‘In a kinder world I could see you serving any of the nobility, and they would surely give you more appreciation than any master you’ve served’”

“After that he said some other condescending praise I don’t care enough to write before heading to bed early”

“Just the other day I was hopeful that things were getting better, that he would simply let me work without anymore of these mind games. I hoped he would treat me as a normal servant”

“I’m an idiot”

“If I ever get around to killing myself, I’ll make sure to take him with me”

...

Rowan could only stare at that final sentence, it was like his internal monologue had frozen in addition to his body until he finally, slowly and with trembling hands, put the book back in it’s place.

Quietly he knelt beside Seth again, gently lifting one of his hands and looking into his palm, which was covered with several small scars.

Unsure what else to do Rowan put his own hand over Seth’s as if to comfort him, saying nothing and thinking over everything.