The grey stone walls of the large great hall stood strong in the hearty southern wind as the white, blue and silver banners battled to stay close to the stones that they were affixed to. As the wind continued its frontal assault on the Great Halls gray stone, two columns of Lord Bertels soldiers kept pace with a steady beat of ringing plate armor and swishing clothes that were almost muted as the wind lay its claim on the Great Hall. The forty man strong column halted as a command echoed from the center and Lord Bertel rode from the center column typically reserved for lower field commanders to the front near the great halls entrance. In a loud and mana infused tone, Lord Bertel with great authority echoed his intentions to his soldiers
“Dismount and prepare for inspection, all Warders stable your steeds and prepare for glyph protections at the table. Commander Beresford, report.”
“My Lord, all casualties have been accounted for. The remaining two items are still under protection with the heavy auxiliary and are showing signs of degradation. We do not have much time.”
Lord Bertels expression darkened as he looked up to the raging banners on the gray stones and closed his eyes in contemplation. In a low firm voice, Lord Bertels words only went as far as the commanders ears. “We have no other choice. We have lost too many in the capture of those items, we cannot loose this opportunity now. We have to do this now. Gather the warders, and prepare what we had discussed in haste. I will prepare within the hall.”
Lord Bertel dismounted the back of his mighty black war steed plated with silver armor which bustled with black scars running deep into the armor plating. Lord Bertel was known as the Metal General during the last great uprising which was aptly named due to his deep affinity for mana infused mineral control. As a result of Lord Bertels ability, casual manipulation of metal to fit the demands of his needs meant any repairs to armor or metal were well within his ability as well as forging weapons or even breaking down metal weapons of his enemies with only a touch of his hand. With out of character scars in the metal and parts of flesh that had yet to be mended, Lord Bertel made his way ignoring the servants waiting to assist in the armors removal which only helped to highlight the importance of what Lord Bertel was preparing.
Eryks nausea had dissipated, and was replaced with a guttural excitement that was evident by the ever twitching of fingers holding a small bird figurine made of onyx that his mother had given him before she had passed away when he was still a child. Eryk was finally going to have a teacher, and his moment of great triumph had finally been realized. As Eryks constant spell sword daydream continued, the warmth of the Great Hall was shattered as a the great oaken doors retreated from their duty allowing the raging wind and cold to enter the Great Hall unabated as it claimed victory over the gray stones. Lord Bertel swiftly released his voice infused with mana allowing no interruption to occur as the weight of his mana overtook the wind making the cold retreat back from the suppression of raw magical mana coalescing around the room to surround the lords body in a swirl of majestic spikes
“Where is my son. Where is Eryk?” Lord Bertels voice echoed and Eryks excitement pivoted to uncertainly as he stepped forward attempting to reclaim his station has son of the governor holding his head high and replying in a formal tone albeit a forced tone. “Father, welcome back to the great Hall. We have prepared the honored tabl-.” Eryk was cut off as Lord Bertel adjusted his trajectory to be in line with Eryk and released a suppression aura that was not meant to be welcoming, and certainly not so from his own father. Due to Eryks lack of magical aptitude or ability, the suppression aura felt heavy as if a weight had been added to his clothes akin to wearing clothes made of a heavy rock, but otherwise left Eryk unharmed. With a sigh of relief, but great haste Lord Bertel clasped Eryks arms and brought him to a close embrace. With a familial whisper, Lord Bertel spoke “My son, I do not have much time to explain this to you. I had not planned to do this, however circumstances have exacerbated this to the point of no return.”. Eryks uncertainty grew deeper into concern as this was not a typical showing of any emotion from his father. His father had for the most part been present in duty to his role as Governor of Felix, Ambassador to Ember which left very little for his son and family creating a cavernous rift of void of a family connection that left Eryk fending for his own. Responding in a similar fashion, Eryks eyes darted between his fathers in a desperation to understand “I don’t understand father. Why are you injured? I thought this was a routine visit to the Ember sect?” - “It does not matter. You have to know. You have to know where you come from, why you cannot partake in any mana or magic. Son, you are not from this realm.” Lord Bertel stared deeply into his sons eyes, making the connection seem as if it was taking place outside of Eryks body as Eryk was experiencing this moment like it was not his own. “I don''t understand.” Lord Bertel who had never experienced love from his father embraced Eryk closely and spoke in a whispered tone again “no son, you are not from this realm, you are not from this world… you are, or were from a different world. Much like our own, but different in so many ways. You are my son, and you always will be. I do not have any more time, follow me.”
Lord Bertel swiveled towards the large segmented table that had been set up that morning and was met by Commander Beresford and four knights that carried a two large metal chests that had clearly been created using enhanced magic from Lord Bertel. The chests displayed an unnatural construct of shapes and corners that only absorbed the ambient mana and light within the room creating an unique aura that could only be seen by glancing at the chests. The four knights were imbuing mana into the chests, but instead of creating a larger chest, it was as if the mana was consumed and sundered. Commander Baresford shouted at the knights wihtout infused mana “Quickly, one chest at each end of the table, and prepare the shards.” As the knights positioned the chests and themselves at the end of the table, Lord Bertel waved his hand that ushered the warders in place at each open glyph position on the table.
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Confused and conflicted about his father, Eryk watched as 24 warders positioned themselves around the table at each glyph location and began imbuing mana into the glyph. As Eryk was attempting to understand what exactly was transpiring, Head Butler Fearghus commanded the cadre to silently remove themselves from the great hall as the original activities had clearly not been needed. Fearghus acting at the behest of Lord Bertel signaling, ushered the very reluctant Eryk towards the center table. As the wind having been shut out by the leaving cadre, and heat returning to the chaotic great hall from etched warming stones on the floor did not relieve Eryk of the swirling thoughts within his mind as he stood on top of the center of the table.
“Son, the reason you cannot perform magic is because your body does not have the means to use magic. Your body lacks the foundational requirement that intrinsically comes from having meridians within your body. You lack them because you were born on a world that does not have magic. That is why we mus-” The chest furthest from entrance of the great hall shuttered and the two knights injecting mana slumped over drained of life force leaving withered husks of flesh behind. The chest became ethereal as a dark black orb pulsating with layers of visible kinetic force disrupted the physical space surrounding the dark object. With a small finger width crack, the orb began to emit a high pitched reeling noise leaving all present to cover their ears as the sound was pure pain to hear moving straight into their open mana meridians. Shouting, Lord Bertel removed his hands with a grimace and pulled Eryk up onto the table pointing to the center where a large circle appeared. As the circle came out of its translucence state, gaps began to grow inside creating three dimensional weavings of glyphs Eryk had never seen. Lord Bertel had been powering these glyphs and was able to block the sound for both of them. As the weavings grew in size, time dilated and slowed. Mana weaved in and out of the glyphs as the power surged through Lord Bertel. Looking into his sons eyes, and with a smile that could be seen on the eyes relayed the last words that Eryk heard from his father even as the sound from the orb continued, Eryk had heard his father clearly.
“This was the only way. The contract I made is almost fulfilled and the demon is escaping from its prison that we captured it in. My son died very young, and I was in pain. I found a demon to make a contract with to bring you back. The demon did not bring my son back, instead he brought you to me. You are my son. You are my son from another existence. The contract payment gave the demon your body, mind and spirit upon your twentieth solstice taking over your body as its new corporeal medium. I agreed out of desperation, loss, and cataclysmic suffering that one only gets when loosing ones child. Please forgive me. This is a forbidden ritual, to seal the demon inside of you, but also to seal a being of equal but opposite power. The other chest contains the a spirit of altruistic being.”
Eryk blinked, and shook his head with tears forming in his eyes. The flood of information, emotions, and avoidance of the two knights that had just been killed made Eryk tense and loose his breath. The revelation and reasoning behind everything was too much to take in, and Eryks mind was going blank by analyzing every thought catapulting his mind into a repeating realm of manic confusion. “Father, I.. I.. “ Eryk was stuttering and was looking Lord Bertel in the eye when his fathers skin started to crack. “I love you” the last words of his father echoed in the three dimensional chamber as the cracks became granular releasing a fine semblance of particles that fully enveloped Lord Bertels body leaving only a dusty after image of the Eryks father.
As the three dimensional space continued to spin self sustained by the release of mana from Lord Bertel, the remaining chest was dissipated into nothingness revealing a bright silver orb spinning with a white milky cloud inside. As the dimensional space continued to spin, strands of both spirit and demonic mana wrapped around the membrane of the space Eryk was in. Shivering in place, Eryk was loosing his conciseness from the condensation of mana inserting into the same space Eyrk was occupying. From strands of pure silver to black whips and tendrils the mana continued to swirl looking for a medium to occupy as its transitional space needed a medium to exist. Lacking meridian lines, Eryks body was a blank canvas for the two beings who now fought to occupy the same space as the remaining vestiges of energy inserted themselves into the dimensional space. With three beings now entrenched together, the battle for supremacy between a soul, a demon and a spirit began. Outside of the dimension, the Great Hall only held those who were actively imbuing energy into the glyphs giving extra mana and control to the soul inside of the dimensional space. The membrane began to whirl and wild and rampant energies began to release scarring the gray stones and anything in its way with severe damage left in the energies pathways. The remaining Wardens began fleeing for safety as the membrane began to spin upwards with a ferocious force punching through the roof and into the stormy clouds that began to darken at the approach of spinning orb of destruction.
The three entities locked in battle spun faster and faster creating shock waves of mana and kinetic force. Eryks mind had long been gone, but his soul fought for dominance as the demonic power pushed to control the soul shard that housed the anchor to this world. As the demonic power pushed, so did the spirit power push on the demonic power to assert its dominance over the abomination. Spirits can anchor themselves within soul shards of lesser beings, as human soul shard contained too much power to subvert on its own. However, the demonic power manifested within created an opening within the soul shard that the spirit power was now protecting.
As the demonic power pushed harder, the spirit power was loosing its momentum as its altruistic nature meant defending the human was a higher priority than defending itself. As the moment of the last opening the demonic power needed arrived, a jolt of energy was released from below. Head Butler Fearghus had released ten lesser shards of spirit power meant to power large artifacts. The wealth of one spirit shard alone was in the realm of only a handful of nobles, but ten had clearly been the act of a powerful house such as House Bertel. The jolt of energy was what was needed to break the binding contract of the demon casting its power to claim the human soul shard as its own. In a moment of desperation, the demonic power sent a powerful strike towards the spirit scarring its own spirit leaving it in a state of weakness that would result in a final death. Grabbing hold of the humans soul shard, and finding the crack left by the contract, the spirit entered the soul space and sealed the wound on the soul.
With a thunderous crack, the the membrane broke and the lighting scarred body of a naked Eryk plummeted towards the gray manor of House Bertel. The demonic power now outside of its shell, with only moments to spare before returning to the nether sent a powerful wave of energy to where Eryk was plummeting. If the nether demon could not have its contract, than this world would not have this abomination of a human spirit hybrid and the greater demon Asmadu opened a portal, as it had once before done with Lord Bertel and Eryrk vanished.