“My Lord.”

The captain and the guard both lowered their heads at Alexander in submission. Their uniforms and black body armors were stained into a dark red tone by their blood, but the wounds from which the blood flowed from were long gone.

Alexander never considered himself to be a master of torture. As a matter of fact, just the sound of that made him sick. Still, he learned a thing or two from experience. In the end, neither of the two lasted too long. When the alternative was a painful and drawn out death, the two men decided that life, even life as a servant, was much more ideal.

Once the words were spoken, it was all over. The captain and the guard might hate Alexander to the bones, but they would have no choice but to obey his every command to the letter.

Alexander saved the Warden for the last, knowing the man was likely tougher than both the guards combined. As expected, despite his best attempts, the Warden refused to budge.

“Whatever witchcraft this is, it won’t work!” As Alexander twisted another blade in his palm, the Warden hissed in retaliation. Even as his body shook from agony, he took another glance at the two guards. They were brutalized just minutes before, but now they were standing beside Alexander loyally. Their weapons were in their hands, but they made no attempt to use them. Even their wounds have disappeared...somehow.

Still, that only made the Warden more resilient. He wasn’t going to be enslaved by the young man before him! Never!

Alexander frowned and pulled the blade out of the man’s hand. Warden Locke grimaced, but he didn't stop talking.

“This is useless. I don’t know what you did to them, but you can’t get me to say whatever you want me to say!” He drew in a deep breath of agony. “Sooner or later, the guards outside will come in and check on me, and they will gun you down! You think a door can save you? Think again!”

Alexander sighed and sat down on the floor beside the Warden.

“I’m confused. You were terrified of Count Lamb. You were so scared of him that you betrayed my father, who you clearly respected. Yet...yet you are willing to die rather than serve me. That is not the action of a coward.”

Warden Locke’s face was pale. All the loss of blood was devastating to him, but that didn't stop him from putting up a mocking smirk.

“You really are a child.” He chuckled. “Do you really think I surrendered because of me? Do you really think I yielded because I feared for my life? Do you know how many times I put my life at risk on the battlefield? Do you?”

Alexander tilted his head. It had been a while since he had contact with the Warden, and even during the only time he talked to the Warden, he had just gone through enough things to traumatize a person for life. His memories weren’t exactly the best.

Still, he was able to recall the basics.

“Your family.” Alexander said quietly. “Your wife and your daughter...daughters?”

He was answered with a smirk of agreement.

“Look...Count Lamb is your enemy.” The Warden’s breathing was getting more and more labored. “If you get out of this prison, you will rally all the resources at your disposal against him. That no doubt includes all the poor saps that fell to whatever witchcraft you’re doing. If I join you, I will be dragged into this war...a war that can only end in one way.”

“You don’t prefer my odds?”

“Your odds?” Once again, the Warden snickered despite being in a clearly disadvantageous position. “You are a 15-year-old boy in a prison! You have no armies! You have no fleets! What you do have is the name of a traitor! Oh...and enemies. A lot of enemies, all of them more powerful than you will ever be! And this witchcraft...how many people can it bring to your cause? Ten? A hundred? That is nothing!”

“And who are you fighting?” He continued as Alexander remained silent. “Count Lamb, Lord of the Obsidian System! He has the full command of Battlefleet Obsidian, the Capital Security Forces, the Valorian Security Forces, and all the planetary defense fleets and Imperial Army units at his disposal! And in a war against the son of a traitor, all the Counts and Dukes in the Empire will be happy to offer their aid!”

“Your odds? You have no odds! This is a war that you will lose! And guess what? When you're gone, the Count will go through all the idiots who followed you, and he will find their families and burn them at the stake! Do I like Count Lamb? Hell no...but I don’t have a damn choice! Not if I don’t want to see everyone I care about incinerated alive!”

Alexander sat there in silence. Indeed, his odds didn't look so good as of now. Granted, he knew there was a lot more potential regarding the Essence of Agony that could be used to his advantage. The Count wasn’t invincible either. As for his allies...if they sensed trouble, they wouldn’t think twice before fleeing and leaving Count Lamb to fend for himself. Such was the nature of Imperial Nobles.

Then again, he didn't have to explain all this to the Warden because he just found a way to get to him.

“You love your family. You’re willing to do anything for them, even if it means death.” Alexander said quietly, almost whispering. “That’s admirable. In fact, I can relate to that. In that case...I am sure you’re also willing to say the oath for their sake.”

The Warden sat there for a few seconds before suddenly bursting out laughing. Ha! Did the young man in front of him go mad? “You...are you threatening me?” He scoffed. “You’re a fool! You are still in prison, and soon, you will die here!”

Alexander bit his lips. It was obvious he wasn’t a fan of what he was about to do, yet like all the times before, he had more important things to worry about than his morals.

“No, I won’t.” Alexander finally replied. As the Warden looked at him, he turned and pointed at one of the guards. “If you don’t say the oath, I will get him to cuff me again. After the mess around here is cleaned up, he will shoot and kill you. Of course, the gunshot will attract the attention of the sentries, but that is not an issue.”

“After the assassination, Warden, the captain over there will seize your murderer. The murderer will be interrogated, and he will confess to killing you...for whatever reason. I’m sure he will be able to think of something. Either way, when everything quiets down, I will be escorted back to my cell.”

“You’re still not leaving this place!” Warden Locke cut Alexander off. “I am not the only one that received the order to get rid of you! So did my second in command! He will find you and…”

“And what? Repeat this process?” Alexander smirked and glanced around the room. “Like you, he will underestimate me. You are tough, Warden, but can you say the same about this second in command of yours?”

Warden Locke bit his lips in fear. He knew Vice-Warden Stone all too well to know that willpower wasn’t even in his list of attributes! He wouldn’t even need Alexander to use his blades before surrendering! Sure, perhaps he would be more cautious and leave the execution to his subordinates, but…

“Look, my point is that one way or another, I will get out of this prison.” Alexander continued. He was partially bluffing, but his argument did have some merit to it. “I prefer to do it sooner than later, but with this ‘witchcraft’ of mine, I will free myself one day. And if you would rather die than submit, well…”

Alexander suddenly found himself chuckling darkly.

“Perhaps by the time I break free and return to the mainland, I will take a trip to your home and personally thank your family. Of course, I wouldn’t hurt them. No, I’m not a monster!” Alexander watched as the Warden’s expression changed. “Although...I may decide to leave them some credits before I leave, and if ONI or someone else finds out about it, well…that would be really unfortunate.”

“You leave my family out of this!” The reaction came quicker than expected as Alexander watched as the crippled man tried to attack him, only to fail miserably. The Warden screamed at Alexander, and when that failed as well and it was clear Alexander wasn’t going to let his guilt get in the way, he tried another route.

“You are a disgrace to Count Wolf!” The middle-aged man cried out as his stomach turned. He couldn’t even imagine what the Count’s goons would do to suspected traitors! One thing for sure was that ONI had burned people for less! No...those bastards wouldn’t care if this was a frame job or not! They would merely see this as an opportunity to make an example, and that was exactly what they would do! “Count Wolf would never have done this! He would never bring families into the fray! If you want to kill me, do it! Don’t...”

“Funny. I remember giving voice to the same words not long ago.” At this moment, Alexander almost felt like bursting into laughter. Oh...the irony. “Well...that’s the funny thing. My father lived his life as an honest man. He rarely lied or blackmailed. When most would take out their enemies roots and stems, he always spared the families of those who opposed him. Yet, the world now knows him as a traitor and a deceiver. Count Lamb told all the lies he possibly could. He and his allies slaughtered my entire household in cold blood, yet the Empire sees him as the voice of truth and loyalty.”

He leaned forward and stared into the wrath-filled eyes of the Warden before uttering three chilling words.

“I’m no traitor.”

A simple sentence with two meanings.

Warden Locke gulped. He was faced with a dilemma. He could either hope that Alexander would die in this prison, or he could side with the young Wolf and take his chances with his cause. As the pain on his body grew duller and duller, one thing became clear to the Warden.

He was dying, and if he died here, he would close his eyes thinking he killed his family.

Finally, the Warden gave in. His heart was filled with fury and hatred, but in the end, he said the words and in doing so gave up any chance he had of turning the fury and hatred into action.

As the oath concluded and the Warden felt his body healing, he couldn’t help but ask his new Lord a question.

“If I didn't surrender...would you have carried out your threat?”

That was a good question, and for a while, Alexander stood there in silence. Honestly, he wasn’t too sure what the answer was. The benefit of the pact was that once the oath was spoken, it couldn’t be undone. Unlike in most cases, with the oath, loyalty was absolute. This meant Alexander could tell the harsh truth and it wouldn’t really have an impact.

So what was the truth?

“If you did die here, then going after your family wouldn't serve any real purpose and would be purely out of spite. I suppose it will be a good example if I want to blackmail others into joining me...but for the most part, it will be unnecessary cruelty. In other words, it will be unnecessary.”

Alexander sighed before glancing at the door.

“Now clean up this mess, and someone cuff me again.”