The Pact

"Die...Die! We can't die...!"

"You don't deserve to die yet."

Both fear and regret spoke up at the mention of death. It was a sore spot that hit the mark as Stephan expected. The boy knew he was trying to manipulate him but the pain he felt earlier was enough to shake the boy's confidence...at least enough to ask.

"What…Seed?" Between pained huffs, he voiced his question. The question left Stephan silent. His mood seemed to sour a bit, but the plastered smile made it hard to tell what was going on in his mind.

"IT SPEAKS! And they said I would make a terrible father!" Stephan laughed as the cyan hand clapped only to stop in place as the man looked at the boy. "Let's cut to the chase. You signed a verbatim."

Seeing the shock...the confusion...and whatever else was swirling in those yellow eyes. It made Stephan elated. Now that he got a kick out of it, he continued.

"You...my dear puppy made a pact with something beyond words and had the audacity not to live up to it."

"To tell you the truth I'm surprised you're alive. When seeds usually bloom, they have a factor to filter the chaotic malaize in order to feed yet yours remained empty for an extended period. It's been feeding on your sheer tenacity until now."

Snapped out of his shock by a slap from the cyan hand, the boy digested what Stephan had said. He understood most of it. The boy was tested before. He was no Canite. He didn't inherit the factor from his disappointed father. Even if he did, he was only 12.

"Have you had a recent look in the mirror my little puppy?"

Hearing the remark the boy unconsciously looked at a long mirror stand to his right. Both his face and limbs looked frail and thin barely wearing the white patient garb. His once long disheveled black hair was streaked with white from the crown to the very strands. As for his skin, it was sickly pale almost ghostly.

"Now you could get back to wherever you came from...granted you'll experience a horrible-horrible death. Luckily our esteemed benefactor has taken matters into its own hands and deposited you into my own." Stephan sighed remembering the events a few nights ago.

"Why?" The boy questioned in a weak voice. He didn't ask for this. He didn't want anything to do with it. He just wanted to live in silence or what silence the voices gave him between their outbursts.

"Frankly…I don't know how your other half knows about me but I'm to assume it contacted me to train you. I personally have no plans in taking someone unwilling." 

"The ichor I fed you should last you a while but if you don't learn to control the seed and find a factor it's only a matter of time before you bite the dust." The cyan hand dragged itself across Stephan's neck, imitating a death sign.

"You can have a few days to decide...till then don't cause any trouble." He walked over to the boy and placed his hand on top of his head. Cyan flames slowly gathered at his fingertips as energy began to seep into the boy's body.

"There…Your body should stabilize in a few minutes…enough to leave at least. Being a Canite is not as dandy as the powers make it out to be. You'd be choosing the easy way out."

Saying these words Stephan made his way out and walked past the boy. The Cyan hand waved at the boy before following behind its master.

As for the boy, he stayed still on the ground. He remained motionless for a couple of minutes before gathering some strength to move to the window. Whatever this place was...it was two stories high and not far from the edges of the cleave.

He was clearly still in the capital. He recognized the streets of Lethica. They'd been his unwelcoming home for the last six months. From Clara's and Stephan's clothes, he gathered that it could be a licensed apothecary or mortuary with some underground ties judging from the lab and coffins he experienced below. Quite the well-off one to afford electricity considering this room's bulbs and tailored furnishings.

"Trying to distract yourself!" Fear spoke up again with the usual boyish harshness.

"Always finding trouble. Always making others responsible. Always being useless." Regret took its turn to jibe at him, but the last remark made him lose his temper. He grabbed the vase and smashed it into the wall. The impact sent shards slashing him across the arm.

He fell to his knees. This time he was covered with water instead of ichor. The boy shuddered as he grabbed his hand which flinched with pain. He watched the blood cascade down drop by drop.

He was going to die unless he succumbed to the deal he made not so long ago. He promised himself not to. Not again. "I have to find another way..."

Defeated, his eyes welled up in tears as his two companions began to laugh loudly in his mind. He began to gather the shards of the broken vase and just as he grabbed one, Clara walked back into the room. 

Once she noticed the blood she rushed to the boy's side. She kneeled next to him and grabbed his bandaged arm to check for injuries despite the boy's sluggish struggle.

"You should be more careful." That was all she said. She didn't berate him. She just asked him to be more careful and turned her back to a nearby drawer to grab a new bandage.

"DO IT!" Fear screamed as the boy grabbed the shard which felt very heavy in his hands. He gritted his teeth and tightly familiarized himself with the piece of clay till blood began to spill from his other hand.

"DO IT!" Fear screamed again and the world became silent. It was him, a voice he'd rather forget, and memories of blood. He almost vomited but the pain in his hand brought him back to a reality where the memories were just that memories. 

"Yes...go on...repeat the same mistakes again." Regret was the one to speak this time.

"DO IT!" Fear shouted a third time and the boy obliged with a swift dash towards Clara. He stabbed her in the waist and made his escape.