"I didn't expect you to come at this late hour" Jace said as he saw his elder brother Ronan enter his room. Jace was currently sitting in his room in front of his table which was now littered with different maps and battle plans. Jace was a man who looked in his late thirties with his hair being brown and eyes black as the night sky. His sharp eyes softened a little as he looked at his elder brother standing at the entrance of his room.
"I can't even remember the last time I saw you sleep this early." Ronan chuckled as he walked in and sat on the chair opposite to Jace. 'The bloodlust he gives out even in this state runs a chill down my spine no matter how many times I meet him.' Ronan thought as he adjusted a little to get comfortable on the chair.
He stared at the battle plans for a few seconds and said "The war is over brother. Feels unreal. Never thought we would even win this war especially against so many species at the same time."
Jace folded the maps and other plans in an orderly manner as he noticed a map fallen on the ground. As he bent down to pick it up, a groan escaped his mouth as he suddenly stopped and touched his chest with one hand.
"Careful brother. Your wounds are still far from healed. If it were someone else then they would have died 10 times by now." Ronan said as he helped this younger brother up and picked up the map for him.
"This much is nothing. I have endured worse when i was training." Jace said as he smirked while laying back in his chair.
"There's no rush for that Jace. The war has now ended...take your time and heal properly. All our enemies are either dead or have fled the continent. Those wretched species won't linger around and cause any trouble for us for at least a few decades." Ronan said with pride in his voice. The smile and confidence that had spread across his face made Jace laugh and shake his head which confused Ronan compelling him to ask why.
"What now? I didn't say anything wrong in this. Don't give me that look." Ronan said trying to look offended but Jace just smiled and replied "No I agree that you are right. That's now why I laughed. I just remembered the first time I saw you. You had the same proud look but it wasn't pride in your voice but entitlement."
Ronan immediately made an embarrassed expression as he heard this as if being reminded of something he tried to forget about. "Why would you mention that cursed day now? How many times do you want me to acknowledge it. But you know, today I will go as far as to say that I wasn't even that bad that day. I, who was considered the genius of the main clan was told to spar with someone from a remote branch clan and that too someone who was younger than me. Of course, I had the confidence to wipe the floor with you. Even Clan Lord and the elders were shocked to see how easily defeated me."
"No matter how many times I hear you say it, I feel the same amount of happiness." Jace said as a smile smile his face. Both brothers just looked at each other for a few seconds although they had a smile on their face, their eyes were saying something else.
Breaking the staring contest, Ronan sighed as he got up from the chair and said "What have you thought about doing now? I think you deserve a vacation after doing so much for the clan. You have single handedly gotten our clan on the list of top 6 clans. The warren family is one of the most feared and respected family on the continent. I even plan to send people to other continents to see if there are any other Reapers with the same spirit animal as us."
Jace raised his eyebrows as he heard this and said "That is very ambitious of you elder brother. I didn't think you would take an initiative like that. As for my vacation, I don't think the time is right for that yet. There is still a lot I...I mean we need to do."
"If you want the my Position as the Clan Leader then I would be happy to give it to you." Ronan said as he spread his arms as if inviting Jace to take the chance and become the leader.
The smile on Jace's face vanished as he heard this "I never had any interest in becoming the leader of a single clan brother and even you know that. Although I said the same to many of our siblings during the war of succession but except you and our sister, no one else believed me."
"I am glad that I did...at least I didn't burn in that fire of yours or die by those claws you pull out every time someone pisses you off. You really were a hothead back then. Not even sparing the close family members of the candidates you killed." Ronan said with a slight regretful look as he looked at Jace's hand that looked like more flawless than the human nobles who had hardly done anything in their life with their hands.
"I'll tell you the same thing I told the previous Clan Lord. I don't just kill the snake, I bury his head deep into the ground. Loose ends must be tied before its too late." Jace said which surprisingly Ronan also echoed "Loose ends must be tied before its too late."
"I should take my leave now Jace. Rest well...you can finally sleep without thinking about the war. Don't worry about the clan." Ronan said with a somber expression and left the room.
On his way to exit of Jace's mansion, a few guards who were inside and at the gate of the house greeted the Clan leader of the warren family but Ronan continued to walk towards his won mansion without saying a single word or showing any change in expression. Ronan was unaware that Jace was looking at him walk away from the window of the first floor where Jace's room was.
Jace's expressionless face and those soft eyes didn't last long because took a deep breath and closed his eyes for not more than 2 seconds but when he opened them, all the innocence, care and laughter had just disappeared as his eyes were as sharp as if ready to cut something at a moment's notice and his fist clenched tight. Tight enough that blood started dripping from his fists and stained the wooden floorings.
"That was your last chance elder brother. I guess a pawn always remains a pawn even after achieving everything." Jace murmured as he closed the window staining the wooden window frame with more blood.
As he turned back he saw a man holding a golden hexagonal disc and a half filled vial of red liquid in his hand. "Are you really doing this my lord?" the man asked. Although he said it in a firm voice, the genuine concern behind that voice was easily noticeable.
"Those idiots leave me no choice. The other three have already left, you should too. This place won't be standing for long." Jace said as he pushed the table to the side creating an open space in the middle of the room.
He opened the cork of the vial he had in his hand and extended it towards Jace who held his bleeding hand above the vial allowing drops of his blood to fall into it. As Jace's blood filled the rest of the vial, the color of the liquid started changing. It started to glow reddish and yellow with a little black swirling with it. It was as if lava had been created in the vial.
"5 more minutes my Lord and we will be ready to activate the runes" the man said as he placed the tube in his pocket and was about to place the disc on the ground when Jace stopped him and said "Keep that aside until we are ready and sit down in front of me Caleb" Jace sat on the floor and extended his right hand towards the man showing him his palm.
The man's eyes widened as he muttered "Are you....are you really showing it to me?" the man named Caleb asked as his breathing got heavy.
"Yes I am...the time when i saved your life, you didn't thank me but asked me what I was? what kind of a wolf my spirit hall had. Today it is time you find it out yourself...Let me introduce you to my spirit." Jace said with a smirk on his face. A little hesitant at first but Caleb extended his left hand towards Jace and touched their flat palms and hands. 'Am i finally going to see Lord's biggest secret and no one in the world knows?' Caleb thought as he blinked and the next second he was standing in the middle of a dimly lit room.
He looked to the side and saw Jace standing with his hands folded as if allowing Caleb to look around himself for a few seconds.
As Caleb looked around he saw that the walls around him were grey in color and had splashes of blood on it. He could only see the wall behind him and a part of the walls that were on his left and right side. He couldn't see how long the room was...it was entirely shrouded in darkness.
He looked at Jace and asked "My Lord why does your spirit hall look like this and where is your spirit?"
With an unbothered expression on his face Jace answered "For me the spirit hall wasn't a comfortable place for meditation like you guys...for me its the place that cages my spirit."
"Cages your spirit? what do you mean?" Caleb asked with a confused expression on his face but Jace only pointed towards the darkness on the other side of the room.
'My Lord has already trusted me to bring me here. I can't leave without seeing what kind of spirit he has. Among the 4 most loyal followers of my Lord, i was always teased as the bookworm or the coward by the others. I can't prove them right...at least not in such crucial moment.' Caleb thought as he exhaled deeply, clinched his fists and walked straight into the darkness.
For the next few seconds, it was complete silence. not even a footstep could be heard and Jace stood at his place narrowing his eyes. Just then saw someone. It was Caleb who was running towards him. As Caleb came out of the darkness, he fell on the ground as if he had tripped on something. Jace looked at him and saw that Caleb's condition didn't look too good. He was covered in sweat and breathing heavily as if running for his life.
Caleb didn't even look back to see what he had tripped on and tried to get back up only for the thing that tripped him to reveal itself to be a black chain. The chain wrapped around Caleb's ankle and was about to pull him when Jace roared "THAT'S ENOUGHHHH"
Hearing the voice, the entire hall shook and the chain also unwound itself from Caleb's ankle and disappeared back into the cold darkness it came from.
Caleb who wasn't going to take any chances hurriedly crawled until he could find himself touching the wall behind Jace. Once he was sure that his Lord was standing between him and the darkness, he calmed down a little.
Jace looked back at his terrified follower and asked "How was the meet? was your curiosity satisfied?"
"M-My Lord...w-what kind of a spirit is that? T-That's no wolf my Lord." Caleb said trying to regain his breath.
Jace nodded and said "I know...I am not related to the Warren clan...in fact I am not from any Reaper clan...no one knows about this."
Jace's reveal got Caleb even more confused. "What do you mean my Lord? I thought you were a part of the branch family of Warren clan."
"No I am not...does that change your alliance though?" Jace asked as he turned around to face Caleb who immediately stood up with a firm face, wiped the sweat of his face with his hands and said "It doesn't matter what clan you belong to my Lord. My allegiance will always belong to you." Jace took a step forward and said "Good...now go back...its time to activate the rune" and tapped Caleb's shoulder making him disappear from the spirit hall.
Jace looked back at the darkness and said "That was unnecessary...for once I thought, his own spirit was about to be destroyed."
Just as he said that, two bright red and yellow eyes peered through the darkness and a voice reverberated throughout the hall.
"Hmph..its the first human you brought here. I didn't expect him to be this fragile."
Jace massaged his forehead "Ughh...Which is why he'll be the last. You know what's coming"
"I know. It'll feel like a second to me but—.."
"Don't worry about that...I know make the same mistake twice. I'll break the second seal as soon as possible...goodbye for now...see you in a few years my only friend."
Caleb said with a soft smile on his face as he shut his eyes and disappeared from the spirit hall as well.
"Friend" a word echoed through the walls of the spirit hall as the fiery eyes also disappeared into the darkness.
As Jace opened his eyes, he saw Caleb holding the test tube in front of him.
"My Lord its ready...shall we start?" Caleb asked to which Jace just nodded. Caleb uncorked the tube and placed the disc just below it. The disc was actually a golden colored dome surrounded by six different signs in an unknown language. Caleb murmured something and poured the liquid onto the dome. The liquid spread around the doom covering it and then started to fill in the indentations of those six different signs. As that happened, Caleb stood up and stepped back nodding at Jace.
Jace nodded back and help his hand above the disc which caused a flat ribbon like thing to shoot out of the disc and move towards Jace. The ribbon was red in color but it had those same six signs on it. The ribbon quickly shot out and started wrapped itself around Jace. Within 3 seconds almost all of Jace's body neck down was wrapped by that ribbon.
Jace looked up at Caleb. He didn't say anything because his eyes were doing the talking.
Caleb bowed a little and said "The guards and maid have left, I will leave and well and regroup with the others. This is our final goodbye my Lord. I hope the future is more kind to you that the past was."
Hearing this, Jace couldn't help but smile...it wasn't his usual smile. It was the one he had given in the spirit hall to his FRIEND. Caleb closed his eyes as a tear drop slid across his cheek. Without saying anything else he just turned around and left. As the door closed, the ribbon wrapped around Jace's face as well.