‘You were born because that is what I wanted. She tried to hide you, but I stole you all too easily… Then I dropped you off with the Humans… Because I knew it would be useful to hide you from her… I spoke to you during your first vision because I did not want you to misunderstand what you saw. I want my darkness to cover the world in peaceful shadow… But we Shadow Fiends have our limitations… Even me… We’re not immortal like a lot of those of our strength. So why not have a stronger heir… Look at you… You got those proud dogs in the mountains to follow you… You are already doing so much better than I had expected… On your own, that is. But now you understand, you need me. What I have to give…’

His shadow stated in delight as it rose from the ground, changing from resembling Kazius to a much taller being. Tall, but in reality, he had no legs, like a phantom almost. He was a man made of shadow, slender yet with muscle and broad shoulders. He had no mouth… But did have two red ominous looking red eyes, the same shade as Kazius’… Shadows emanated from him, the being truly a horrifying looking one…

So, he really was there…

“You’re a terrible father, you know that?” Kazius sighed out in disappointment. It seems that Azanor’s theory about being rescued by a loving mother was too optimistic. It sounds like she tried, but was not the winner, “I won’t cover the world in Shadow… You can give up on that. I will make Monsters follow me on my own terms… But you don’t care about that, don’t you? Conquering is what you want me to do… And Conquer I will… I know that is good enough for you. So give me the power I need.”

‘That it is, my child… That it is… As I said… I am quite content with the path you are choosing. Taking a different form and seducing that wench was quite worth it, not that I’ve ever made the wrong call… I am sure your mother will find out who you are as you leave your fingerprint on the world, but by then it will be too late… You’ll be one with the shadows.”, Seselis chuckled out, ignoring his comment on his parenting. He clearly couldn’t careless.

“One with the shadows?” Kazius questioned in concern, he was willing to pay any price… So he could protect his friends… But it was clear he didn’t understand the full extent of the price of the power he asked for.

‘That is what you want to be, isn’t it? What we have wanted to be.’ Seselis chuckled out sinisterly.

“We?” Kazius asked, only growing more confused. He could not help but have a sinking feeling at the word choice.

‘You haven’t realized? Pity, I suppose I expected too much from you. I bet the source of such inadequacies is the flesh in you… Even with picking the most adequate flesh being to couple with… It was obvious it would lead to such things… But no matter… I will explain… Shadow Fiends do not have children, well… Not until what I accomplished. For good reason, it is a disgusting endeavor and process, really.’ Seselis began, his expression showing pure disgust at the memory. Even without a mouth, he had quite the expressive face.

‘As I said before, I intended for you to be born. That is the only reason for me to do such a thing… But for it to work like it did, I had to split myself in two. To split us in two. You are the half of me that was able to obtain what we need to accomplish our goal… Increase our power and longevity… That is why you are lacking. You’re incomplete. Until you are… You will have friend after friend die… You will be a burden… Until eventually you are alone, or the Demons conquer the world. Whichever comes first… ’

At this information Kazius was horrified. Once he finished speaking, Seselis circled Kazius slowly, inspecting him with a cold calculating gaze, nodding to himself in confirmation about something.

‘You understand, don’t you? As I said before… You need me…’ Seselis would muse in delight, his red eyes shining ominously.

“… Yes… Yes… I do…” Kazius agreed in defeat with a frown on his face. He had to do this, for their sake… Whatever it was his father wanted to do, he would accept. He would pay any price. He had made up his mind on that when he entered the forest… Even if it meant…

‘Now now… Don’t look glum like that… This was your own choice, wasn’t it? You knew what you wanted when you called for me… It is better this way… You were born from a part of me… You are the part that will live on and carry on our dream… We have been split in two far too long. You will feel better once you’re whole.’ Seselis explained. While he had no mouth, the area that where it would be seemed to twist as if smirking ominously.

“Do what you must.” Kazius responded in a detached manner, looking off into the distance. He closed his eyes for a second, opening them again, resolve in his gaze. He would protect them… He would not allow what happened again... Never again… Never again…. Regardless of what it meant.

As he thought this to himself, Seselis’ ‘grin’ would grow wider still. Without another word, he would float to Kazius, shadows engulfing him, swirling around as they slowly consumed his vision. Then there was just darkness for a second, like he was lost in an abyss of darkness. Then he would open his eyes, Seselis was gone. Kazius was still here, or maybe that was something he was assuring himself.

He would look down at his hand, noticing they were black, emanating shadow just like they had been in the vision in the hall of mirrors. His skin was now grey… As if stained by shadow. So, this was supposed to happen… Yes… It was supposed to… Now… Now he felt complete.

At this Kazius could not help but laugh, breaking out in an amused chuckle to himself. Yes, he was still Kazius… And this was meant to happen.

‘I suppose that I’ll have some explaining to do when I get back…’ Kazius would think to himself as he studied his hands, moving his fingers as if testing them, making a grasping motion.

With that, Kazius would walk back to the others in the field.

Damon ended up dropping his spear the moment he looked at Kazius, his one eye growing quite wide. After all, he knew what that appearance was.

Azanor looked just plain out horrified. While he had not seen the vision, he had been told of it by the two. “Kazius… What…”

“Kazius! What happened? Why do you look like that? Are you sick? Are you okay?” Alice questioned in concern. She clearly had a bad feeling when he was leaving… And now he was back looking like this, so he understood her concern.

Kazius smiled warmly at her, surprising her quite a bit by gently taking hold of her chin and kissing her, the kiss firm, but with quite the passion. As fast as it started, it ended, the Princess being left looking quite flustered once he pulled away.

“I am okay, don’t worry. I made a breakthrough with my powers is all. Though while out there… I’ve been thinking about how it is about time I confess to you how I feel… Damon and Azanor helped me realize it a while ago… But I never found the time to tell you… And well… With us almost dying… I don’t want to go without saying it to you.” Kazius stated with a sheepish grin.

“Kazius…” Alice stated in a flustered manner, clearly feeling conflicted at the moment over the confession, but worried at his sudden change in appearance. “I’m so happy! I-I just… Are you sure you’re okay?” She questioned in concern, looking a mixture between excited and worried.

Kazius would smirk, “As long as I take that as a yes to allowing me to court you, then I am more than okay.” He assured.

Alice blushed at this, growing flustered, nodding shyly, but with some hesitation, “I will. Your powers just gave me such a surprise is all.” She admitted shyly.

Kazius smiled warmly at her, “I am sorry for surprising you too much today, but I am very happy… I hope we can build a kingdom where we will all be safe… I will keep getting stronger and protect you.” He assured.

Alice seemed to at least not be asking more questions, but he knew that Damon and Azanor would not leave it at that.

He would look, noticing Eve stopped her cheering for his confession and then seemed to just stare at him, her expression growing from happy to confused, like she was seeing something she did not understand.

“Finally… Took you long enough, it was painful seeing you two flirt like that while never saying anything.” Azanor chuckled out, clearly deciding to ask on the matter later and would act normal.

Damon seemed to stare at Azanor in confusion, but then would do his best to smile goofily, “Buahaha! That is true.” He laughed out.

“We weren’t that dense.” Alice stated in a flustered manner, pouting.

Kazius would laugh, holding her hand, “I was, you have to admit that much… In my defense… I spent a lot of my life training with other knights… I had little idea how to even talk to girls in that sort of way.”

“That is true.” Alice admitted in a pouty manner, indeed remembering certain times that she would try and drop hints that he missed.

Kazius would only laugh though, “Well, at least I realized it eventually.” He admitted contently. Yes, he would protect her… And all of them… This was a fair price to pay.