Eltaor:"It seem we are late Sir"

Alinar, Leya and their servant Eltaor have arrived at Loke's island, couple minutes after William, Loke, Rel and the Guards left.

Alinar whisper's under his breath:"Damnation,You live another day human..."

Eltaor:"Sir!"

Leya:"What is it ?"

Eltaor:"An emergency signal was sent...The carriage...An attack..."

Alinar:"Who would dare attack a transport so close to the city?!"

Leya's eyes open wide:"Rel....William..." She whistles , a few moments later Rax comes running.

Alinar also whistle, another SpiritBeast follows Rax.

Eltaor:"Sir? Miss?.."

Alinar:"Inform my Father that we shall be late."

Eltaor:"But sir surely the city guard will aide them?"

Alinar:"They aren't as fast as Rax and Kyl"

The two WoodElves on their SpiritBeasts leap off the island

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Before William proceeded to throwing Yog again.

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William:(I'm useless...weak...)

An unknown force has connected to William's mind, bending his vision inwardly.

William:"Wha...Where am I?!"

Darkness as far as the eye can see, except a large cage too dark to see what lies within.

Voice:"Within your self, this is your mind human..."

William turns and faces the cage:"Who...who are you?"

A large beast grabs the bars, reptilian in nature, jet black scales with spikes giving it terrifying look. Eyes pure white making it impossible to tell where its looking, three jaws giving it two mouths with long and sharp fangs making up its jawlines.

Raaoq:"I am know as Raaoq, the devourrer of souls and minds...I smelt your fear...your pain...your anguish...You wish for power...I can provide..."

William:"Power?.....For what cost monster?"

Raaoq lets out a foul laugh with his two mouths making a double effect:"A simple contract...Some of your mana...Your life time...And I shall loan you some of my power..."

William:"My life time?...You want to make a spirit contract?...." William ponders for a bit on this offer (If I accept this my life span will be shortened as Loke and Keil said...Is it worth it?...Power for this once?....No...)

William stops trembling, raises his gaze to the beast , his expression of one that is about to make a bet with the devil:"No monster, I will not give you my mana. Instead I have a deal for you, give me all your power and you will leave this place safely..."

Raaoq gives out another laugh, this time dryer than the previous as if faked:"You wish my power for free human?! Amusing but a wasted effort none the less... and that threat...You shall wish you had the power to back up your empty words!"

William:"Oh my words are not empty, you giant fool."

Raaoq gives a confused stare at William...as confused as his reptilian features allowed him to make. Then a *thump* as Raaoq hits the ground and is unable to move.

Raaoq:"What is this!? You cannot bind me!!"

William:"As you previously said, this is my mind...My world...As long as we are in here...I am God"

Raaoq:"Fore a mere human...to have this much mental power?!No human could survive the emotional scars it would take for this mental integrity without going mad!"

William:"Yet here I stand...You wish to know my past beast? Let me show you..."

Images flash by...A father robbed and killed in front of his young five year old son...An alcoholic mother hitting her crying daughter with a bottle while the son watches from the sofa, beaten...A school boy surrounded by his classmates, his clothes ripped while the others laughed and pushed him around like a ball...worst of all...A thirteen year old, holding a bloody knife...His mother dead on the floor, his expression full of tears...Yet a wide smile lay on his face...One full of happiness.

Raaoq:"What do these mean!? What are these visions!" The beast roars in pain, unable to understand the emotions being sent to it.

William:"These are my memories, monster. How does it feel? Feeling the emotions from a human perspective? I wonder if you can comprehend them..."

Raaoq:"Enough! Stop this!"

William:"There is only a single way out, beast. Accept my offer, and you shall be free of my anguish..."

Raaoq:"YOU WILL PA....PAY FOR THIS....I RAAOQ...THE BLACK DEVIL DRAGON...I...Bind our contract...."

Raaoq's body starts to scatter into millions of red sparks of mana, those sparks travel towards and into William. He falls to his knees...Tears falling "Finally he let up...I don't think I could have lasted another second..."

The dark world disappears.

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After the battle, when William passes out.

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William:"YOU'RE GOING NO WHER....!"

Loke:"William!...Alinar!?"

Alinar and Leya on Rax and Kyl run out of the forest just as William starts to pass out.

Alinar looks at the several dead guards and bandits:"What has inspired here Runewalker!?"

Loke:"The carriage! We were assaulted by bandits...The General..."

Leya gasps :"Teskol!?"

Alinar gets off Kyl and checks for the general's pulse:"He is dead..."

Leya:"No...William! What about him?"

Loke:"He should be alright... I sensed a spirit contract being made... it seems to have been too much a toll for his untrained body."

Rel:"Father...I..."

Loke:"No my dear, rest now.. you're still injured from the crash" Loke rushes back over to Rel.

Alinar:"Kyl, Rax! Stand guard, Leya we shall watch over them while we wait for the city guard to arrive"

Loke:"Some of the bandits, they ran off."

Alinar:"It is too dangerous to give chase, let them go for now." he bends down over the top halve of Yog's corpse. "What did this?..."

Loke:"It was William, he entered a joint state with his spirit and fed it his raw mana."

Alinar:"Raw mana? You have a lot to explain Loke...Fill us in while we wait for the guard"

Leya goes down to Rel and starts to tend to her injury.

Loke:"Ah...where to start..."

After Loke fills in Alinar and Leya on William's magic and what transpired here to the best of his knowledge, the city guard arrive with Eltaor on a carriage pulled by silver dragons.

Eltaor bows:"The carriage has arrived sir."

Alinar:"I can see that Eltaor, help Loke carry Rel into the carriage. Guards get that one" He points at William "Into the carriage aswell."

Eltaor:"Sir their destination is different than ours."

Alinar:"We can take a different carriage Eltaor, their arrival is much more important."

Eltaor:"As you command." he takes another bow and goes on to help Loke with carrying Rel.

Guard Commander:"We will carry the dead Elite too, they deserve a proper send off..."

Alinar:"Agreed, I shall help with the carrying."

The guards load the dead Elite into the back of the carriage covering them with their own capes. They then stack the bandit corpses and warp them back to Rosevalt for inspection as there is too many and the giant is too heavy to carry. Alinar and Leya with Eltaor and the guards walk back to Rosevalt while the dragon carriage flies away.

Rel:"Father...this was..."

Loke:"I know Rel.. a horrible experience.. I cannot imagine how it effected William... Human minds are too fragile..."

Alas he didn't know...Human minds may be fragile..but even one as broke as William's can be kept together...with sheer willpower as glue.

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Author: Sorry for all the mishmash, I wanted the previous chapter's ending to be a bit mysterious :D... Also to clarify as I know some may ask the question, at the start of the story the woman who called out to William for dinner was his adoptive parent, Not his actual mother.