Demetre smiled down at the boy as he approached, looking up to see Tam's uneasy expression.
"Thank you Tam, for teaching him." Demetre said, frowning slightly at the way Tam was acting. He waved a hand and Tam's eyes flashed red for a moment before he nodded and walked away.
Rynu looked at Tam in confusion, then looked back up to Demetre.
"I will need a few more days before I can start teaching you, Rynu. For now, just take some time off and relax. I will see you back here by the end of the week okay?" Demetre said, his black eyes glinting with excitement.
Rynu nodded, a feeling of dread running through him. Why was Demetre always so nice to him?
"Run along now, I have some business to take care of." Demetre waved his hands to shoo Rynu away before walking down a hallway. He opened a door and a shout sounded, cut off suddenly.
Rynu's eyes widened in shock, wondering what was going on.
Rynu closed the door to Conintor's cabin behind him, sighing in relief to be back home. He looked up to see Pheona and Marina sitting in the livingroom, looking up at him with smiles.
"Hey, Rynu." Pheona said, pointing to a small board between them. "Wanna join? We're playing Hellhounds and Zalons."
"I'm winning." Marina said confidently with a grin.
"Not for long." Rynu grinned at the challenge and sat down beside Marina to play.
Before long, Marina did win- and Rynu grumbled in defeat.
"Oh stop being such a sore loser." Marina laughed, hitting Rynu on the shoulder playfully. "I always win- you should get used to it by now."
"In board games, yeah. Not in other stuff, though." Rynu said, scoffing.
"Oh here we go again." Pheona sighed in dismay.
"Well in other stuff you're older than me- so I wouldn't really call that fair." Marina pouted.
"Oh it's only 4 years- you're 11, right?"
"That's young!" Marina protested.
"Enough, enough." Pheona sighed as they bickered. "Honestly, you two fight so much." She rolled her eyes.
"She started it." Rynu muttered.
Marina rolled her eyes and sighed, looking down at the board game in front of her. She didn't really want to play anymore.
"Fine." Rynu growled in frustration as the girls sat silently. He stood up and walked into his room, closing the door behind him.
"Hey-" Conintor opened the door to his room the next day, wondering why Rynu hadn't come out yet. He saw vines covering the walls of the room, looking around in surprise for Rynu, spotting him in the far corner growing another vine beneath his palm.
"What are you doing?" Conintor asked, walking into the room and looking around.
"Practicing." Rynu said simply with a shrug. "I figured it would be a good idea."
Conintor nodded, looking down at the boy in concern. "You've been acting strange lately- is there anything you want to tell me?"
Rynu glanced over his shoulder at Conintor. "Not really."
Conintor sighed, closing the door and standing in front of it, leaning against the frame in dismay. Ever since Rynu had come into his home, he had never opened up to Conintor. Conintor glanced at the door, wondering if he ever would.
Rynu walked back into the castle a few days later, seeing Demeter talking with Carlile with a satisfied smile. That look made shivers run up his spine. He walked over to him uneasily, seeing Tam watching with wide eyes from the other side of the room.
"Ah, Rynu. Good to see you. Are you ready to start your training with me?" Demetre smiled.
"Yeah. Should I leave Medusa here?" Rynu said, motioning to the basilisk which was wound around his shoulders.
Demetre's face fell from his grin, looking mildly annoyed at the creature. "Ah, yes. I would leave her here with someone. She won't be needed."
Rynu nodded, taking Medusa into his hands and walking over to Tam. Tam took the serpent, looking at him with wide eyes.
"Be careful, kid. Don't fight him." Tam said softly, hoping Demetre wouldn't hear him. Rynu looked up at him in confusion, but nodded.
He followed Demetre into the hallway he had gone down the other day, Demetre leading him into a room before letting him go in first and closing the door once they were both in. Rynu stared at the room with wide eyes- there was blood all over the floor and walls, shackles hanging from the wall dripping blood into a pool of liquid.
"What-" Rynu turned around in horror as Demetre's smile turned wicked.
"It's time for your training. First lesson- always obey me. I am far more powerful than you could ever hope to be- so if you do not wish to see your loved ones kills, I would suggest you listen."
Rynu stood in shock, looking up at the man who had been so nice to him suddenly turn so dark. He glared at the man, but nodded.
"Good. Now we'll get started with learning the magic." Demetre smiled. He snapped a finger, a woman appearing within the shackles, blood oozing out of the cuts on her body, falling to the pool of blood on the ground.
"Hey!" Rynu shouted in horror at the sight, rushing over to the woman to try and help her out of her bindings. Demetre sighed in dismay behind him, shaking his head.
"I see we're going to have to do this the hard way. Pity." Demetre sighed, bringing up a hand. He let loose a stream of black magic, hitting Rynu in the back as he hurried to help the woman.
Rynu yelled in agony from the burn of the magic, the world fading into darkness around him.
Rynu woke up groggily, holding his head as he sat up. He groaned in pain as his body ached all over, his eyes clenched shut from the pain.
He opened them slowly, looking around at the room he was in and yelling in shock. Blood covered the walls, large arches of it telling of the violence that had happened in the room. He looked down at himself and found himself covered in the blood, his clothes soaked with it. He felt a burning on his shoulder and pulled up his sleeve, wiping the blood away to see a black serpent writhing against his skin, the tattoo the same as Tam and Carlile's. He looked around for the woman but saw her nowhere- he was alone in the room.