Tear of the Goddess - 5. V

"Wow that's amazing!!"

"Amon! Wait for me! You are running too fast!"

Amon opened his eyes to come face to face with deep blue eyes, making him wonder for a moment if he was still dreaming. No. He wasn't. Raphael jumped a little at that moment in surprise.

"......."

"Erm..."

Raphael looked a little put on the spot as if he wasn't expecting Amon to have woken up at that moment. He started to fiddle with a curl of hair that sometimes fell into his face.

"...Morning."

Amon broke the silence.

"G-Good morning, Amon"

Raphael smiled at him uneasily as he moved a step back. It was clear he was trying to think of something else to say.

"U..uh well you were asleep and I had to wake you up but it seemed like you were comfortable so I couldn't and..."

The cleric was talking in a babble half to himself. And he was starting to blush. Amon found it rather amusing and let him carry on with a small smile on his lips.

"So you were staring at me instead?"

"W..well... I didn't know how I should deal with the situation..."

Amon laughed at that. Raphael seemed to have a habit of overthinking things. It was rather... endearing.

"W..well you are up now so it's okay I guess..."

Raphael couldn't help notice that it was the first time Amon had smiled or laughed. It was much better than the grave look Amon constantly had in his eyes normally. It made Raphael feel happy too, and he found himself laughing also.

They made their way downstairs shortly after where the other two were already waiting.

"Sorry, it was my fault."

Amon said shortly. He swore he saw Romidant roll his eyes...

"It's fine Amon! We just got here ourselves nothing to worry about!"

Aldo was as annoyingly cheerful as usual this morning.

"Let's set off now shall we?"

Who was that boy in my dream? And what's up with all these sudden reoccurring and continuing dreams...

Amon was distracted for most of the day with questions he didn't know the answers to. He ended up telling himself it was probably due to having Raphael's soul crystal so close to him that it was messing with his dreams... or something. It was the easy explanation to it.

The four had traveled all day and it was dusk and time to find shelter for the night. There was not a village or town in sight however there was an abandoned mansion they came across. It was quite a common sight recently, due to the unrest that the growing darkness starting to take over Estel. Maybe the owners had run away, or gotten killed- the latter was the more likely answer to that unasked question.

After they had checked all the rooms both upstairs, downstairs and basement it was decided it was safe enough to at least sleep in. It was also agreed that two people would take the ground floor and the other two upstairs so they had coverage of the whole place in case of intruders- the place seemed far more unsafe than an average town inn. It ended up with Amon and Raphael on the ground floor and Romidant and Aldo upstairs.

The ground floor duo decided to sleep in the drawing room where they found two chaise chairs next to each other. It looked suitable to sleep on. From the low level of decay to the furniture it didn't seem like this place had been empty for that long. It made Raphael feel a little uneasy. He had a bad feeling about this area... he could feel so much murderous intent in the air though he couldn't tell if it was residue from whatever happened here or it was someone nearby with those feelings..

"I'm putting out the lamp."

Amon's voice made him turn towards him.

"O..oh yes... Yes sure.. Good night Amon."

"Night."

Raphael's eyes opened slowly.The room was still pitch black, meaning it was sometime in the middle of the night. It was very faint but he could feel it- someone who wasn't any of their four's aura.

An intruder?

Raphael stayed laying down, wondering if Amon had noticed too. Listening carefully he could hear Amon's even breathing meaning he was probably still asleep.

Maybe it was his imagination...

He was going to go back to sleep when he heard it- the unmistakable sound of slow footsteps, though the person was taking great care not to make themselves audible. They were coming this way. Probably around 10 meters away now. 5 meters. 2...

A loud clang of metal hitting against each other and a burst of flames lit up the darkness. Raphael shot up and turned to see Abel crossing daggers with a hooded figure. A pair of eyes glowed in the dark like hot coals and that was pretty much all one could see of the attacker.

Abel pushed him back with all his might, spewing a roll of flames from his lips as he did so. The assailant dodged it skillfully and lept at Amon again. Loud incantations in a language that Raphael didn't understand could be heard from the hooded figure and a flash of green light shot at Amon at the same time as Amon threw a flaming dagger at the attacker.

The dagger connected with the figure's left shoulder at the same time as the green light hit Amon, making him cry out in shock.He felt as if his whole body had frozen up- he couldn't even breathe properly.

"Amon!!"

Raphael cried out running over to him.

"Esuna!"

The moment Raphael said those words Amon could breathe again, his lungs felt like they were burning. It was no time to rest- their attacker swung his good arm, aiming the blade at Raphael's neck.

"No!"

The blade connected with Amon's right arm instead as he wrapped his arm around Raphael's shoulders while rolling him away with his other arm, the blade going clean through to the other side of his arm. Amon gritted his teeth in pain. The hooded figure was not trying to pull the blade back out of Amon's arm when the curved blade of a large scythe curled around their neck, making them pause. The assailant made a strange choking sound as an unidentified mass forced itself into his mouth, gagging him from being able to cast any spells.

"That's quite enough."

Romidant's cool, almost bored sounding voice rang across the room. It was rather odd to see the Dark Knight without his outer plate armour, making him considerably less bulky looking. Raphael rushed to Amon's side as Romidant dragged the figure towards himself by using the scythe he was weilding to pull him closer. If Raphael had been in any situation to watch the situation carefully he would have wondered where Romidant got his scythe from as he was never seen before with it but it wasn't time to wonder things like that now.

"Oh~ A Magus. How interesting."

Romidant said in a slightly more amused tone as he pulled the hood away from the man's head. The pair of blood red eyes glared at him and he smiled back, showing he was not at all scared.

"Thought I recognized that aura."

At the mention of the identity of the attacker Amon shot up, his eyes showing such a hate Raphael had not seen from him before.

"Amon! Please stay still!!"

Raphael cried out, trying to keep him from moving around too much.

"I need to take the blade out!!"

"Raphael let go! I'm going to kill that thing!"

"Wait!!"

Amon wanted to move his injured arm but found he could not- it felt like lead. The skin around the wound was rapidly discoloring to an unhealthy purple. The blade probably had been poisoned.

"While you tend to our dear Thaumage, I am sure you wouldn't mind if I deal with this creature here."

Romidant asked in a casual tone as he took a handful of the Magus's hair and dragged him by it towards the door.

"O..okay.."

Raphael replied half not even listening as he concentrated on treating Amon, who was starting to work a fever from the poison.

"I'll be going to the basement then, I saw there was plenty of room there."

Romidant carried on speaking as he left. He dragged the man all the way downstairs to the basement of the building which was probably a cellar of some kind. He released his hair, throwing him to the floor. The torches on the walls lit as if by themselves as Romidant had descended the stairs.

"Cephalopoda"

As Romidant spoke it's name, tendrils shot out of the ground, seizing all of the man's limbs and lifting him off the ground, holding him in mid air as one tendril curled around his neck.

"I'm going to ask questions."

Romidant explained, standing before him. His calm tone made it sound harmless and extremely sinister at the same time.

"And you are going to answer them. And if you even think of trying anything, I will give you all sorts of pain to the point you wished you were dead. Behave and I will offer you something quite attractive for yourself. Do we have a mutual understanding?"

Romidant let go of his scythe and it dissolved into a shapeless shadow before shot into his chest, making his whole frame shake.

"Oh, before you suffocate to death before we get to talk... My bad."

The Dark Knight drew a loop in the air with his finger and with a swish of his finger, whatever had been blocking the Magus's mouth disappeared as if he had pulled the gag out somehow. The man coughed and spluttered, taking in gasps of air between coughing. Romidant waited while he recovered. He had all night to do this.

"Be this rough with me and I'll die before you get any answers out of me, my lord"

The man said in a sarcastic, teasing tone. Even though he was probably not in the position to mock anyone, he couldn't help himself. Masses of wavy black hair, which had been scraped into a ponytail had now pulled free and hung around his face. With a bit of effort he raised his head to meet eyes with his captor.

His pupils were odd- like a lizard's. When their eyes met, he smirked at the Elvan, who smiled back at him though his eyes were unsmiling and cold.

"You seem sturdy enough I'm sure that was nothing."

Romidant shrugged as he took a step closer.

"So who sent you? Who was your target?"

"The Thaumage. Sent by my clan. He was getting annoying as he liked trying to kill us all off you see not like it was gonna work. Wasn't told about the rest of you though."

"A pleasant surprise I'm sure."

"Heh. So what you gonna do with me now? Kill me?"

"Only if you are an idiot. Unlike our good friend Amon, I personally don't hate your lot... In fact I find immorals rather fascinating."

"I'm flattered."

The Magus replied dryly.

"Indeed you should be as it might mean you save your skin.... unless you are the suicidal sort?"

"Of course not- I actually value my life. It's why I haven't tried 'Anything' yet..."

Saying that the Magus knew even if he somehow got away from this whole situation if he went back to his clan he would be killed for failing a mission. So technically he was dead either way now that he was caught.

"Don't you mean now you've messed up, you are pretty much dead anyway?"

"Tsk."

So the Elvan knew about his kind's rules then.

"So basically you can chose to die here, back there or take this deal."

The tendril that was resting at the man's neck started to tighten slowly as if to make a point.

"...A..and what would that be?"

It was hard to talk when his breathing was being restricted.

"I get you're asserting your dominance, you kinna... have the upper hand here my lord"

Romidant raised a brow at those words but the tendril relaxed.

"Make a soul binding contract with me."

"...what?"

Romidant sighed.

"Become a part of me. I'll bind your soul to mine. It means you won't be able to ever betray me or go against my words."

"...so become your slave?"

"You will become my soul servant. I will grant you a name and you will respond to it from then onward."

"..so become your slave."

Romidant simply gave him a look that told him to be quiet. The Magus smiled back at him and the only thing he got in reply was the tendril at his neck tightening again.

"I'm not very well known for my patience."

Romidant sighed for the second time. He wasn't used to people talking back at him like this, being the oldest son of a noble family.

"You could always just die right now instead."

"Hey I didn't say no! Alright! I mean what other choice do I have?"

Romidant shrugged as if it wasn't his problem.

"Yes! Okay!"

What the black haired man didn't know was the one thing Romidant couldn't do was to force someone to this contract per se. They had to be willing to be bound to the contract for the spell to work.

"Sure? You could just-"

"No! I agree to the contract!"

"Alright."

As soon as Romidant spoke those words, all the torches in the cellar started to flicker wildly as if a large gust of wind was blowing across the room. The tendrils holding the man still started to tighten and a feeling of dread filled the assassin. Maybe this was a mistake...

A dark purple light emitted from Romidant's body and 8 shadows appeared around him. The silhouettes seemed to be chained by a shadowy violet chain to the center of the Dark Knight's chest. A sickening crack of bone could be heard as another of these chains emerged from his chest, through his clothing and stopped just in front of the bound man.

"Wandering soul... I, Romidant Orell will grant you refuge within my soul. You will be bound to me for eternity, to serve me and become my eyes in the darkness. You will respond when I call for you, I grant you the name 'Oculus'"

As Romidant spoke those words, the chain struck straight into the other's chest, deep into his heart. The man's mouth opened in a loud scream- was this what it felt like to die? It felt like something worse....like his insides were being pulled out. He fell to the floor as the tendrils holding him dropped him suddenly into a heap on the cold stone floor. As suddenly as the sensation had started, it ended.

Romidant seemed breathless too, taking a few steps back and his hand went out to support himself. In reality he

had never tried binding a living person's soul to his own before and it was more painful and strenuous than he had expected. The moment they had connected Romidant felt it- the other's emotions, pain he was feeling at the time and thoughts pour into his own mind all at once.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, the only thing audible was their ragged breathing. Then it came. The positive side effect, for the Magus atleast of this contract.

He let out a sensual gasp as Romidant's power surged through him in one strong wave. The dagger Amon had stabbed into his shoulder fell to the floor with a clatter as the wound closed up. He could feel the darkness rushing through every part of his body, making him arch his back as it rushed down his spine. It trailed past his hips, groin and down his legs to his toes. His whole body trembled, he felt amazing, like he was brimming with power. It wasn't too different from the feeling of an orgasm, just much more powerful.

Romidant seemed not to know this was what happened after a contract and frowned at the other man acting a little strangely and walked up to him, crouching down to be on the same level. Red eyes met his and they were filled with lust. The Dark knight had not been expecting this.

"Master..."

The man's voice was a breathless, throaty purr.

"I feel really, really good right now...."