He entered the Quad intrepidly, his eyes darting around the bends in the open corridors as he approached the stage erected in the large open space at the end of the corridor. The figure dressed in black stood before the stage, their arm wrapped tightly around Seifer's throat, a blade pressed against his flesh whilst the other held his hands behind his back.
Jayson could see the anger in Seifer's eyes at the helplessness of this situation and his eyes flashed with an unknown emotion as Jayson came into the faint light before them.
The figure had removed their hood and he could see their face at last, one that chilled him to the bone as if it was a ghost… surely it was?
'Illyssa?' he whispered hoarsely.
'So it is you then… I was wrong in thinking that this worthless excuse for a Knight was you Omen.' She replied softly.
'You should be dead…' Jayson answered, his fingers flexing slightly as he thought of a way to free Seifer safely.
'Not without a lack of you trying…' Illyssa snapped bitterly, tilting her head slightly to one side showing Jayson the red livid scar that ran along the side of her neck.
'I was lucky to have been sheltered enough from your blade to only get this… you however had a blade in your heart and still stand, and you say I should be dead?' she said mockingly, tightening her grip on Seifer.
'Even if you survived that, you were still too young to last on your own who helped you? Who was the one who feed you Pandora's lies and warped you so that you'd come here intent on destroying a stranger?' Jayson demanded trying to work out how this could be, wondering if he had lied to himself about Pandora really being dead and buried as he had left them.
'I believed he was you, thought you had returned to your mother but he failed her, he let Mistress Adel die. And after the slaughter you had caused to the rest of us I couldn't let that be.' Illyssa said.
'There's no way you could've done this alone, someone had to have been guiding you, never letting you forget the past and Pandora's duty but who could that have been I killed them all.' Jayson replied careful not to make any sudden movements as the blade pressed further into Seifer's flesh, making it pale under the pressure.
'You're not as efficient as you believe young Omen…' a dry, hoarse voice said from the shadows, one that sent shivers running down Jayson's spine.
'No…' he said softly as the figure detached from the shadows, approaching Illyssa.
'My daughter was a much better student than you, you disappoint me and the Orca family.' Kazen said, walking slowly with a stout wooden cane, his white hair smooth to his head as he turned to Jayson to fix his one good eye on him, the other covered by a black patch.
'You must be a ghost… a vision to haunt me.' Jayson said bitterly.
'Oh I very much nearly was so if it hadn't been for an old friend of mine who came and found Illyssa and I in critical condition. He was able to get us first class treatment, although he wasn't able to save my eye.' Kazen said, his wiry hands gripping the end of the cane tightly as he gave Jayson a brittle smile.
'Odine…' Jayson growled, his fists clenching as Kazen's smile widened.
Seifer stood in shocked silence as the conversation continued.
'Yes, a marvellous doctor. He was able to keep us hidden from Loire while we recuperated and devoted our time to searching for you. We wanted to bring you back to the family, make you see what you was duty bound to do.' Kazen continued.
'Took you long enough… but Pandora is not my family, it never was.' Jayson said bitterly.
'You seem to misunderstand, Omen, you are of the Orca blood, this is your family and your birthright.' Kazen replied.
Jayson paled. 'You lie!' he snapped.
'Do you not see the likeness of yourself in myself or Illyssa? Odine used my modified sperm to created the best possible specimen for Adel… I was the privileged one to be the donor to our Mistress' cause.' Kazen explained, his eye never leaving Jayson.
'Now I know you're lying. If that was truly the case I would never have been born a male, Adel would have had the daughter she so desired.' Jayson retorted.
Kazen sighed softly and gave a benign smile. 'You fail to realise that this occurred almost two decades ago, Odine wasn't able to perfect the technique. A few Y chromosome bearing sperms were able to contaminate the sample and fate decided that one of those would be the fittest to produce you.' Kazen said.
'You don't know how long we have searched for you… hidden ourselves from the world searching for a trail you had hidden so well. It was only until recently when Edea rose and Adel was murdered that we came closer to you… thinking this arrogant wretch was you fulfilling your role of existence.' Illyssa added twisting Seifer's arm up his back making him grimace in pain and anger.
'You can keep denying who you are Omen but it will never go away, it's in your blood.' Kazen said softly, his shoulders sagging under his heavy robes.
'If you thought Seifer was me then why did you kill the girls?' Jayson asked angrily.
'You let your mother be killed, you were to be punished and then hopefully the threat of your false imprisonment would cause you to lash out, join us once more.' Kazen said calmly.
'Even now you're mind is so twisted… Adel is gone, you can't have the world the way it used to be… you have no power now, over me or anyone else.' Jayson snapped keeping an eye on the both of them.
'I have the power to see to it that this failure can be killed.' Kazen retorted dryly.
'Yet will it match my power to prevent it?' Jayson said finally grinning as he raised his hand, which flickered a golden yellow.
'Aura!' Jayson said softly casting the spell on Seifer, his body turning the same golden yellow as the spell took effect.
'What is this?' Illyssa shrieked, reflexively loosening her grip on Seifer.
'No Mercy!' Jayson yelled to a bemused Seifer, who grinned in understanding as his fist became a ball of fire and spun round on Illyssa, smashing her in the side of her face with his fiery fist, knocking her to the ground with a scream of pain.