Obvious Obliviousness

Oracion's POV

"Leave." Eragon suggests, making me look back at the escape into the snowy landscape.

"Eragon why is he here?" Ira asks, almost completely ignoring me.

'I could leave' I think to myself. 'I could take Ira and be ridden of this place.' I keep looking back at him, thinking how easy it would be to convince him.

"0808, why are you hesitating? There's a free escape right there just for you." He suggests again.

I place a step past Ira, only to have his arm stop me. "No." He simply states. "Eragon, why is he here." Ira asks him but I'm only interested in getting us two out. 

Trying to use my strength, I push against Ira's arm in an attempt to overpower him in some way.

Eragon's voice gets louder as he speaks over Ira entirely, "Y'know, that sword of yours was a real problem for us." He laughs. "I had to get Ira to carry it for me just before he turned. A sword that absorbs light? Who could even make something like that." His laughs get deeper, more honest and true to his nature.

"A-" I try to speak but something bugs me. 'Ira gave me the blood.' The thought crosses my mind. 'Before Ira turned.' I think again, stepping back and trailing my eyes along Ira's body. My brain finally piecing it all together, 'Ira isn't human anymore.' 

"0808." Ira tries to speak to me.

But the voice within my head is loud...far too loud. 'The sun, can he even leave anymore?' I ask myself.

"0808." Noah calls.

'What does he do to live? Feed off of Requis for the rest of her life?' I feel myself drowning.

"0808." Eragon laughs. 

'Requis...doesn't know.' I look back at him one last time, taking the chance and walking closer to him. "We can leave Ira, look...outside." I point past him but he doesn't even bother looking. "Outside?" I point again, trying to move past him. "Let's go." I tug on his cloak but he again, places an arm out to stop me. Going as far as to turn my back to his chest, holding me firmly against him to stop me from falling to my knees as I watch Eragon and Noah.

-

"Haha alright, I'm done now!" He claps before turning his back to me and flicking his wrist out towards Noah. Take him back.

"D-...Eragon..." He hesitates.

Eragon pauses. 

Amongst this all, I can't help but feel something. 

A crater seemingly forms before any sort of movement comes out. Ending in Noah being punched into the ground in one quick motion. Crushing his teeth and knocking him unconscious.

Something so deeply in-graved in me that I can't reach it on my own. 

Eragon wipes his knuckle to clear off the blood, blowing away the red mist coming off of it. "Ira, you take 0808." He corrects himself.

Something so primal it feels like it was here long before I was. 

"Alright." Ira simply nods.

It's almost as if...this wasn't my body to begin with.

-

Ira's POV

"Alright." I nod, preparing to undo my grip on Oracion but there's something that's bothering me. A scent I can't pinpoint, a crackling sound like cinders popping from flames. 

"It feels like...I can do...anything." Oracion whispers, placing a hand along my arm. "I...promised." He continues. Applying more pressure than before, more force than when he was trying to escape. 

I look at Eragon as I can feel my expression begin to change, lit up from my blank slate to one of pain. 'He's hurting me.' I think to myself as Oracion fully grips my arm.

I place my other hand on top of his to counter it, pressing hard enough to break his hand. "I'll save...everyone...don't worry Ira...you don't have to do anything." He murmurs.

Before I even have time to process it, I find myself soaring through the air. Catching myself just before I crash into the wall to the side of Eragon but still leaving cracks in the sheer amount of force I was thrown at.

The red mist around the castle begins to move frantically, picking up pace every passing second. "You're not special." Eragon laughs. "You think you're the first one to try and overthrow me? Kill me? I'm too old for this shit." He shouts to Oracion.

But I don't think he even hears him. 

"I can hear you all...scratching away at me." He grips his head furiously but not hard enough to rip out any hair. Pausing just before reaching Eragon, turning his head to look at me, "I see you, Ira." His small tantrum ends as he gives a warm smile to me.

Eragon looks at me as if trying to understand something more. But that split second allowing what seemed to be a limping Oracion, to fully sprint at Eragon.

'I should help him' The thought crosses my mind, but I don't. 'He's Oracion, why would I?'

The mist swarms in, wrapping around Oracion and solidifying, forcing him to kneel. Eragon places his hands in his pockets, confidently walking up to the kneeling man. "Now let's try this again." He stares into Oracion's eyes with his swirling haze of red. "Show me what I want to see, tell me what I want to hear." He attempts to win him over with compulsion. 

They both freeze in place, causing the blood mist to drop Oracion as they're lost in each other's thoughts. Meer moments pass, 'It shouldn't ever take this long. It never takes this long' I chant in my head. 'Seconds at max, you say what you want and you receive it.' I walk a few steps closer, noticing something immediately. 

Oracion's eyes are still moving, allowing him to look around the room as freely as any other. Whilst Eragon is still frozen in place. As quick as I acknowledged this, Oracion jumps to Eragon's neck, biting into it with the full intention of not letting go. The shock wakes Eragon up, slamming his hand over Oracion's shoulder and attempting to pull him away.

"IRA!" He screams at me.

But another thought crosses my mind, 'Oracion could kill him.' I find myself gradually taking steps forward. My body as heavy as stones but nonetheless still carrying me there. 

"IRA I'LL KILL HIM!" Eragon shouts through pain, grasping under Oracion's throat and attempting to rip him off forcibly. 

Not wanting to risk it, I rush to him, helping to pry Oracion off but resulting in pieces of Eragon coming off into Oracion's mouth. He spits out some blood and flesh as we crash to the floor, humour replacing his rage as he laughs suddenly. "You taste like shit." He mocks.

Eragon places his hand over this neck, covering the deep bite wound before looking back at his own hand. "I tried it once before, and even now." He speaks to himself.

"What?" I ask out of confusion while Oracion sits on the ground in my arms. 

"The only reason compulsion wouldn't work is if the individual's under another influence that's stronger than my own, that goes for the both of you." He hisses in annoyance.

"What are you trying to say!?" I desperately try to understand what he's referring to.

Faster than my brain could even compute, he kicks my head to the side. "There's. Someone. In. Your. Home. Something that's got a tighter grasp on both of you more than you can even understand. Nothing can disobey my will, certainly no living creature upon this land." His wound begins to heal. "Take him to isolation." He repeats for the final time, picking up Noah on his shoulder as he carries him away.

"So what does that even mean!?" I shout just before he gets too far from me. 

"It means whatever you're tied to isn't even from this world. Take that how you will, but it's boundaries only Aluca would dare to cross."

I look down at Oracion in my arms, noticing he's oddly silent. Certainly awake but not a single hint of resistance in his muscles as I hoist him over my back. Taking a step forward, I notice an opening. The chance for us both to leave, the mist no longer flowing in this room for the time being...Eragon wouldn't notice.

I step back, preparing to open the door. But Oracion kicks me in my side with whatever energy he had left. "I'm killing him." He states firmly. "I'm curing you." He affirms. "And only then, do we leave." 

We came here for answers as we believed Eragon was the solution to it all...or rather the problem. Only to find more questions in that there's someone else we possibly haven't even met who's causing these issues. I turn my back to the door, more guilty for Oracion than I am myself. 

I know what they're doing to him, I've been hearing it and sometimes even watching it. But interfering would get us both killed by Eragon.

-

Oracion's POV

New paths, new stairways, new turnings. Wherever Ira's taking me, it's certainly unknown to me. "Here." He says while lowering me to the floor.

A place filled with gears, pipes and other metallic instruments that aren't usually seen throughout the castle. In the middle of my room there's a singular candle, one that has no chance of going out from the lack of fresh air flowing through. Ira closes the door behind me, turning his back to it but hesitating to leave.

Even so, he eventually does. Leaving me alone to sit with the occasionally flickering light.