Jonas felt indignant as he was dragged into one of the deepest parts of the castle's dungeons. A place so damp and dark, it was a surprise how Grega ever found the place without once asking for directions. She took a hundred and one turns without ever pausing to think about her next step, like she knew the entire place in and out.

It kind of set his nerves on hyper-drive, if he was truthful.

If she knew even more than he did about where he stood and what he had become, well she held a power over him he did not want existing.

He was thrown into the tub without even a moment's stop. The tub was made of stone, yet when he landed on it, he felt like there were soft cushions underneath him. Instead of the hard thump and hurt he was expecting, he was only met with a face full of softness.

“Sit up, boy. I don’t have time for you to rediscover the texture of this tub.” She threw a dagger towards him, which he caught. “Hurry up and slice your entire forearms…”

Seeing his indignant face, she sighed dramatically. This woman had a serious attitude problem. Then again, when you're strong enough to take Clay one on one, then you had the right to act this way. “You won’t feel a thing. The dagger numbs your senses completely. Not even a slight tingle.”

“What about the blood?” Jonas said, his voice higher than he would ever be willing to confess.

With a snap of her finger, three coppery red potions as large as a fist appeared in midair in front of Jonas. They slowly landed on the edge of the tub without a single clink marking their fall. How Grega made things appear and disappear without even the slightest showing of a storage ring left him slack jawed. It looked like a real magic trick.

“Drink one for each drake. You’ll be fine. Now, hurry...hurry, I have things to do.” Grega waved her arms.

“Alright! Alright! I get it. Err...do i drink the potion or cut-”

“Just do something! It won't matter!”

“Shesh. Slow your horses down.” Jonas clicked his tongue. Then gulped as he stared at the dagger.

He took a large gasping breath, then let it out slowly. Only to hear Grega groan from the side. This time, he ignored her lack of patience and closed his eyes. Without waiting for his brain to ask what the hell he was about to do and how little it made sense to do it, he squeezed on the dagger and screamed at the top of his lungs slicing his forearm deeper than he had expected.

Only to feel nothing.

He waited for a sudden sharp rise in pain, or even a tingling feeling, but nothing happened. Not even a slight soreness. So with a bit of renewed hope, he cracked an eyelid. Only to shut it as fast as he opened it.

He felt wheezy just seeing his blood gushing out like a stream. His ears throb rhythmically with what he assumed was his heart pumping his life source out into the world. Without noticing it, he started to get tipsy, completely forgetting the potion.

A firm and skeletal hand grabbed him suddenly. It steadied him as a thick liquid with a putrid taste forced its way down his throat. He tried to puke it out only for the liquid to win over his bile and go down his throat.

“Oh no you don’t! You aren’t gonna waste even a tiny drop-”

That was the last thing he heard before he began coughing like a madman. Just as fast as the first was done, then the second came, then lastly the third. Each worse than the other. How something could taste so bad was beyond him.

Then he felt three heartbeats not in his body. A foreign experience he never expected to ever go through, much less imagine it was possible. His and all three were in complete synchronicity throbbing with each other.

Jonas left his eyes closed shut as he examined the connection in his body. It wasn’t to his physical self, but rather to his soul.

Then the thought of them dying crossed his mind. He felt a sudden spike of pain unlike any he had gone through. Something deep inside him cried and anguished, then raged and prepared to kill at the very prospect of his ‘children’ passing.

He let out a shaky breath.

Slowly opening his eyes, he looked at his floating arm. It was perfectly healed. Only then did he notice he was sitting in enough blood to fill the tub to his chest. He jumped out in a panic, this was his blood and didn’t feel right for him to stay in there, then again the slimy feeling to it made him nauseous.

“W-what happened?” He looked around to find Grega.

She stood at the side with cuffs pulled up to the elbow and her hands covered in blood. Presumably his own.

“Stupid, mule-headed, idiot! How could you forget to drink the potions! I had to waste a Mother Dragon’s heart on you!” She screamed like her soul depended on it. ‘You can't even imagine how hard it was to not only kill such a creature, but to cut her up without being poisoned by the lake of blood!”

“I-I didn’t eat anything!”

“Of course you didn’t! I had to integrate it into your soul! Ah! My poor dragon heart! And you almost wasted it too!” She held her head without worrying about the blood on her hands.

Only then did Clay walk in with a grumpy expression. “I need a nap.”

What is it with these overly powerful people and sleep? Do they lose oxygen to their brain the stronger they got making them constantly sleepy? Would he be cursed like them too if he got more personal power? He hoped not.

But, that wasn’t the important issue right now. Even the three heartbeats in his chest could wait for a second.

“Clay, what happened?” Jonas said.

Clay looked confused. “What? What happened where?”

Jonas felt his eye twitch. He hoped beyond hope the mage didn’t just come down here forgetting about the battle raging outside. “The orc army, Clay. What happened to them and my soldiers?”

Clay lay down on the ground. Folding his hands under his head. “Oh! Them! I killed them all.” He then closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Jonas rubbed the bridge of his nose with a bloody hand. Then he took a deep sigh. He learned early on to ignore what the mage said and only take the good for what it was. Shaking his head, he brought his thoughts onto more serious matters.

What was he supposed to do now?

All the nobles of the colony clearly committed treason of the highest order. Not only did they conspire to kill him, but they actively work with the enemy against the Empire. How they’re oaths haven’t killed them all, or simply brought great retribution from the motherland, Jonas did not know.

All he knew was that there had to be hell to pay for. He only hoped it didn’t cause a civil war to break out. He already had too much on his plate, not mentioning the god-damned Karashque!