Chapter 5: The Boy and His Father

*Jasper Shaw*

Ahh why don't you visit, woman, I'm craving for blood desperately, I might even go crazy and drink human blood at this point...

I wonder if I said something inappropriate... Well, Kael should have explained the situation to her already. Who cares if I said something wrong, I got the blood and you got the money, end of story.

Hmm there's someone at the castle gate again and it looks like an unusual group, a man and a boy...

Maybe it will help me forget my blood craving, let's go and see what's in today's story.

**

Jasper put on his cloak and went downstairs. A little boy's voice was heard outside,

"Is anyone in there? PLEASE! My father is not in a good condition. HEEEYY!"

It was dark. In front of the door was a boy of about 13 years old with black hair and dark blue eyes, wearing a tattered white robe made for slaves.

His father was a rather large man with blue eyes and long black hair. He was not wearing armor, but you could tell he was a warrior by his piercing gaze and the huge axe in his hand, which he used as a support to stand on. With his one hand he was holding the wound in his abdomen and trying to stop the bleeding...

Suddenly the door of the castle opened, the man raised his head and looked inside, no one was in sight. The man put his axe on his back, put his hand on the boy's shoulder to support himself to walk and they headed inside.

Inside, the boy began to call out in an uneasy voice,

"Is anybody there?! My father's condition is not good at all, we had to enter, we can't spend the night outside"

The father and the boy went down the corridor to the right of the staircase and entered the nearest room.

Luckily there was an armchair in the room where the man could lie down, and after escorting him to the armchair, the boy said,

"I'm going to look for the owner of the castle"

*COUGH! COUGH! COUGH! COUGH!!!*

The man covered his mouth and started coughing heavily.

When he removed his hand from his mouth, it was covered in blood. The boy's face showed the fear of losing his father. The boy trying to act tough and said,

"We have to stop the bleeding first"

The boy took a quick look around, the room was empty except for a few drawers and black curtains. The room was strangely bright, although there was not a single light source.

The boy looked in the drawers but found nothing. He drew a knife from his waist and moved towards the curtains.

When he was close enough to the curtains he was unable to move his hand to cut the curtains, he couldn't understand what was happening, he was about to scream in panic but he lost consciousness.

Jasper restricted the boy's movement with invisibly thin blood threads. He put a finger on the back of his neck and his fingernail extended slightly and pierced the boy's neck, Jasper's blood cells flowed into him, then Jasper took control of the boy's body.

Jasper thought inwardly,

"Your old man will die anyway, no matter what you do. Why are you attacking my precious curtains made of Draken skin?!"

Jasper controlled the boy like a puppet and led him out of the room. His father straightened up, pressing hard on his wound, and spoke with a struggle,

"Hey cough! hey son, where are you going?" The man had a very deep voice.

The boy soon returned with a bandage of ointment and water. Jasper thought,

"That should be enough to keep you away from attacking my castle."

The boy regained consciousness, first aid supplies in hand, even though he was confused and wanted to question what had happened. His fear of losing his father, who was lying in front of him, facing death, took over.

He gave his father the water to drink and began to apply the ointment to his wound,

"This might burn a little"

It was quite a deep wound, he applied the ointment and bandaged it, and the man endured the pain without blinking an eye. The boy turned toward the door and said,

"We must find the owner of the castle. I don't know, maybe he's a sorcerer or a healer, he might be able to help you!"

The man grabbed the boy's arm. The boy turned to his father, who was looking into his eyes with tired eyes.

The man gulped and said,

"I can feel it son, today is the day I die"

The boy had tears in his eyes, still trying not to cry, he said, trying to get out of the man's hold,

"That's... that's why I have to find some help. Let go of my arm!"

"No one can save me at this point son, don't you want to listen to this old man's last words and advice instead of trying in vain?"

The boy fell to his knees crying and put his head on his father's chest, after his father patted his head a few times,

"You must be strong, son," he said.

The boy raised his head and wiped his tears, he said in a low voice,

''Father, you are the strongest warrior in our tribe, a-are you really sure there is no way out?''

The man nodded with a sad expression and said,

''It felt good to finally see you cry, I was starting to think you didn't actually love me, haha...''

The man looked up, sighed and said,

''I'm sorry I didn't tell you until now, but the men who kidnapped you unfortunately... killed your mother. You're all alone in this life and that scares me more than dying''

The boy was trying to hold back his tears and you could see the anger in his eyes as his father continued,

"I'm asking you not to seek revenge, you should be the one to break this endless cycle, son! Many years ago I hurt them too.''

*Cough cough...*

"I want you to live your life, son, I don't know, go on adventures in your youth, may be in your adventures encounter a woman ,like I did fall in love with her, settle down start a family and live your life happily... Don't look back with regrets...''

As the man said his last words, he slowly closed his eyes and his soul left his body. The boy started to cry, put his head on his father's chest and said angrily,

"Don't worry, I won't look back with regret, I'll avenge you! No matter what!''

Jasper watched this scene with great interest and the memories he had forgotten long ago came back to him, he thought,

'Dad? So that's what you looked like...'

*??? Centuries Ago*