After Kinsey was forcefully teleported away, Willem sifted through the papyrus on his desk. Previously he had taken out the papyrus to make it look as though he was going to do some inscriptions. Instead, he reached into the shelf and unlocked a secret compartment.

Inside the compartment were small pieces of papyrus, ripped and torn almost beyond use. Some had ink stains, others have wine spills and others yet were burnt. Willem had done his best to preserve them as they had a lot of significance to him. They were all written by his Mother and Father.

Looking around his Private Sanctum, he began to reminisce. He thought of how it had been a few years since he had seen his friends, both from the Bastion of Hope and the Apprentice training grounds. Not only was he not allowed to speak with anyone outside the Magic Academy, but the control of information within the Army was so tight he did not even know if they were still alive.

However all that had changed now that he had permission from the King to go anywhere the Army had control over. The guise of going to the Army for Magic cores worked perfectly, and he had no one else to thank but the King. In a few days, unless miraculously a scout for the Magical Beings was found, he would "go out and personally hunt for a Magical core that had been eluding him for quite some time".

He began to think deeply about the last few years. He pictured the last time he saw his Father alive, so full of vigor. He was a tall man with a burly stature and was in incredible shape. He had blue eyes like sapphires and thick facial hair that his Wife always yelled at him for. Though he was not particularly kempt, he still had the air of importance. To his son, he was an imposing figure and someone to be looked up to with respect.

His Mother on the other hand was a picture of noble intent. She stood proudly when she was with her husband, as if his achievements were her own. She had beautiful emerald eyes, and long red-brown hair that almost reached her waist which she would regularly tie into a ponytail. She was the closest thing the family had to a true noblewoman.

His Mother was always an elusive figure for Willem after returning to work. Every time he saw her, the only thing she would remind him to do was study. The more knowledge one could accumulate, the better off one would be.

She herself boasted a repertoire of three working languages besides human. She claimed that she spoke Giant, Dark Elf and "The Language of the Dead." Whether or not she was telling the truth was irrelevant, she could make any claims she wanted and no one would dare go against her.

Whenever she would return home, she would be the one to teach Willem about the complexities of the human language. To her the ultimate way to insult someone is with big words they would never understand.

Now, every time he thought of her, he was reminded of the nightmare that twisted his vision of his beautiful Mother into a high class whore. No matter how much he knew that she was never like that and would never cheat on her Husband, the thoughts of a smug King mounting his Mother filled his mind.

Even worse, no matter how much he thought about it, he could never feel angry. That part of his mind was taken away by the nightmarish creature, presumably forever. The secret of his brutal strength when he needed it was now forever out of his grasp. The connection he felt from his parents was now severed beyond repair. Until he got the pendant back, the thoughts of his parents would have to hide deep in his psyche for as long as they could.

Letters written from his friends as a parting present, grocery lists from his Mother and Father. The blood stained note, they were all precious memories he could never replace in this lifetime. Now the only thing missing was the pendant left to him by his Father.

Even after four years, not one solid piece of evidence was heard from Archus' network of spies. Many spies came forward with a trinket or bauble, hoping to fool the youth into thinking it was the right one. Willem knew, and remembered the exact texture and feel of the pendant his Father gave him. For all the petty tricks the spies did, they were repaid threefold in torture.

Eventually, Willem gave up on looking for the pendant in lieu of getting strong enough to create magical items. If he could craft for himself a magical item capable of breaching a Tracking Distortion Spell, he may yet be able to find his Father's pendant. This was his sole thought when he learned how to create magical swords, armor and potions. If he could somehow combine the knowledge that he learned from these individual procedures and incorporate them into what he wanted to do, the chances were much higher in finding his missing item.

Willem breathed deeply, soaking everything in, consolidating his experiences in the past four years, as he closed his eyes and focused. He recalled the events of the training he had, the so-called genius whom had broken his arms. Revenge. The officiator who rehabilitated him. Repay. His friends who treated him well. Repay. The Golden Dragon Family. Repaid in blood. The bastard who has his amulet. Revenge.

Now he was one of the most prominent members of the Magic Academy, the pinnacle of human achievement. There were only a handful of people in the Bastion of Hope whom had the power to stop him, and fewer still who had the inclination to. Wealth, power, and most of all connections.

Willem had climbed with maximum effort to have everything he could need to take revenge. Once this upcoming war had been dealt with, he would tirelessly craft a Magic that can track down items and find his Father's pendant, no matter where it took him or what the cost would be.

Before he had realized it, three hours had passed and Kinsey had yet to return. When he checked the string that connected him to her, he began to transmit his consciousness into her body.

This was the Magic that Archus had said was important for keeping attendants in line. Many years ago, when Willem was concerned about Kinsey going blind and deaf temporarily and feeling an incredible amount of pain from teleportation, this was the remedy. By connecting the magical string from his own magical source to the magical seal on her left hand, she gained a portion of his power.

For Willem though, it was a direct connection to her mind and body, allowing him to see and hear and feel as she does. The first time he connected to her, he felt a rush of emotions he had never felt or understood before. These emotions could very well have been normal for humans, but to Willem they were like a foreign entity invading his mind, making him do things he never thought he would.

Seeing through her eyes, he could tell she was still fervently rushing to place orders and get high-class clothes setup for her Master. Though he could tell she was getting tired, nothing stopped her from getting the best of the best when it came to Willem.

If it was going to take this long, Willem thought he might as well take some time to meditate. Magically, he took from his Spatial Spell a beautifully crafted bed and placed it in the corner of the Sanctum. He dimmed the lights to a small glow and undressed himself.

He laid upon the bed stark naked and relaxed his body and mind. Soon, the Darkness engulfed him and his consciousness slipped into the growing blackness. In this state, every piece of darkness in the world was connected to him, and he to them. If he willed it, he could teleport from his Private Sanctum to the chambers of the so called "King of Magical Beings" in mere minutes.

From within the shadows, "Grandia" appeared before the King of Magical Beings. The guards brandished their weapons and attacked him, striking nothing but smoke and shadow. He gave a traditional human bow to the King who sat upon his throne of skulls and bone, and then dissipated his Magic to once again search the world.

Of course, this type of magical potency had its drawbacks. While he was one with the Darkness and the void, anyone else who would be one with the Darkness could sense him as well. In this way, they could easily come knocking at his door and invite themselves in to his Private Sanctum.

However he was unafraid, there were few who were connected to the Darkness as intricately as he was. Even more so he had probed their strength long ago and found them lacking compared to his current capabilities. Perhaps in a thousand years, they would grow to be as strong as he is at this very moment.

A couple more hours passed in this way, and finally Kinsey returned via the teleportation array. After waiting a couple of minutes by his bedside, she sat down beside him and gently caressed his face. To her, his looks had become a bit too shaggy for her liking.

She preferred it when he was more well-kept, and had already resolved to convince him to fix up his appearance in anticipation of the banquet tonight. Before she even realized what she was doing, she had begun running her fingers through his hair and was staring off in the distance complacently.

Willem's mind returned to his body and he awoke to a good sight. In front of him, two voluptuous breasts were mere inches from his face, peeking out of a small golden shawl. Above his eye-line was a small and slender chin, and he could feel fingers being ran through his hair. He coughed once, to tell her he was awake and then coughed a second time before she snapped out of her confusion. She quickly retreated, nearly pulling at his hair along the way. She stood up, face flushed and kneeled down on the floor.

Paying no mind to her actions, Willem took from his Spatial Spell a basin for washing and casted simple Water Magic to fill it. He then used a bit of Fire Magic to warm up the water and told Kinsey to come wash him. She bowed deeply and began to scrub his body.

"Master, forgive my indiscretion earlier. However I would like to suggest that for tonight's banquet, if you wish it, I can assist you in cleaning up your appearance. N-not that there is anything wrong with your appearance, j-just that nobles have slight prejudices against those who are not well-kept."

She had come this far, and already made a fool of herself. Therefore, in her mind she had nothing left to lose. If that is the case, before tonight she was going to have him at least looking presentable!

"If you continue to scrub that hard, there will be nothing left but bone, Kinsey." Willem had seen how distracted she got when she attended to him in this way and reveled in teasing her about it each time. "However, there is merit in your thought process. Though I had no need for social relationships up until this point, I am now charting unknown waters. I will leave it up to you for how I will present myself."

Inwardly, Kinsey was doing back flips. Now that she had gotten his express approval, she was going to make him look his best. Then, when the night came, he was going to... He was... He will...