Death, Devotion, Dissonance

Edmund's face contorted in a weird mix of disbelief, hatred, and happiness. Disbelief due to the nature of the situation, hatred for the Voice, and happiness because he was right all along.

"I knew it! I've told everyone I know, even the mages, but not one of them dared to believe my words!"

'Ah, small men… in their small worlds…' Evin thought with a sigh. Unknowingly, a smile crept up on his lips.

"After all you've done to ruin your son's life, all you care about is being right. There really is no saving you. "

"I did not ruin Evin's life! It was you who messed his life up! It was you who ripped our family apart!"

"I was just a thing that spoke nothings in his mind. I wasn't so out of control that you couldn't forgive my presence. In fact, isn't that what you did at first? You just ignored me as the fancies of a child and stopped bothering yourself with my existence."

"…"

"But you couldn't keep the act up when Lora began to acknowledge my existence. You said it would be detrimental to Evin's growth and forced Lora to stop. She, of course, didn't stop. She felt that there was something more than just whispers in one's head. And thus, she began to wholeheartedly accept Evin and me as a whole."

"It is wrong! Even if I could tolerate it for Evin, I can't have my wife doing the same! And even if I accept it, society wouldn't let them be either."

"Ooh, I'm a big man with big opinions. And I'm gonna beat the shit out of anyone that doesn't agree with me…" Evin said spitefully. "Fucking half-breed."

It wasn't hard to hurt someone. You just had to hurl their ugly truths at them.

"Shut up! You know nothing about me! Don't think you understand me!"

It was especially easy when the man himself kept throwing himself into the fire.

"You're nothing so complicated, Edmund. You're a man-child who finally understood that the world is unfair in your fucking thirties. Presumably, you had a dream till then, but chasing it didn't work so well for you, so you settled down and started a family. I don't know what evil rituals you committed to get Lora as your wife, but thinking about it now, you probably enticed her with the life of a 2nd grade. And Lora, being a young woman holding grand delusions about the world, was unfortunately, deceived by you."

"…"

"Then, when Lora started to showing the same tendencies, you showed in your youth, you took it upon yourself to beat it out of the woman. I mean, who in the right mind would believe their children's imaginary friends to be true? You, of all people, know what childish adorations can do to one's future. You must've felt so proud of yourself, feeling your fist purging out the idiotic thoughts from your young wife."

"..."

"But you know what? The youth are meant to dream and make mistakes. It's not your right to beat it out of them, child," Endra said, feeling disgusted by himself.

'I'm such a fucking hypocrite. Isn't that exactly what I'm doing myself?'

"Who are you to lecture me on these things? What gives you the right to speak like this in the first place? You're just a cursed thought inside a 10-year-old boy!"

"I'm much older than even your precious king Roland, so I do have the rights to speak about these things. But it doesn't take some centuries old relic like me to realize that you're wrong."

"..."

"At the end of it, even Lora realized that the life she was living wasn't worth the pain. Obviously, her father, managing to find the whereabouts of his runaway daughter, helped a lot in her decision of leaving you. But did Ssatsko beat her for her mistakes? Did he disown his daughter because of her foolishness of youth? Did he even berate Lora for all the worry and pain she must've caused her?"

"…"

"No. He came in, forgave her, salvaged the situation as best as he could, and left. He knew Lora learned her lesson. There was no need for anything else. He didn't even do anything to you, a monster who took away his daughter with sweet nothings, to only abuse and use her when you were in a bad mood or fuck her when you were in a good one. He knew that hurting you would only lead you to vent out your frustrations on Evin… Well, that didn't work as well as he intended in the end now, did it?"

"You must be some mad mage trying to prolong your disgusting life one way or another… you must think you're better than everyone else. Like all the other mages."

"Mages are better than everyone else. Maybe not everyone, but they're definitely better than you."

'And me…' Endra added to himself.

Endra enjoyed venting his frustrations on the man. Just like how Edmund enjoyed venting his frustrations on his wife and son. Sometimes, people acted pathetically like them, only finding pleasure in the misery of others.

Endra thought himself better than this, but apparently some things were inherent to him. He didn't even bother to blame these thoughts on his crazed self. He knew that crazed or not, it was him thinking those thoughts. And his long life taught him that it was pointless to deny or avert his eyes from these thoughts. It was even better to embrace them. Endra tried, but couldn't help but cringe away from the filth he felt when doing so.

No one enjoyed being covered by shit and piss, but it was also true that their bodies contained the same shit and piss they abhorred.

'And perhaps that's for the best… Every human is made of something good, bad, and ugly,' Endra concluded, his previous madness and hesitation replaced by cold, unfeeling determination.

Edmund also seemed to have reached a conclusion and began to work on whatever he was working on previously. He tightened the ropes around Evin's body, and began to pull out some dried grass from one corner of the room and put them inside a wide but short metal container.

'So he begins…' Endra thought and then smiled in amusement. 'I didn't even need to speak of how much he failed at raising Evin. Well, Edmund was always quick to lose his temper.'

He didn't list Edmund's faults, so the man would experience a moment of understanding and change his ways. It was impossible to change someone by acting so aggressively like Endra did. He started the conversation because he wanted to understand what Edmund was trying to do. As for his words after that, Endra was trying to redouble Edmund's determination to smoke him out, while also being a bit spiteful.

Regardless, his goal was achieved with Edmund then attaching a rope to Evin's chair and using a hook attached to the ceiling, then beginning to pull it up. The man was certainly prepared. He then shoved the metal container underneath Evin and set the grass on fire. The contents did not burn with flames, but it did emit a constant stream of green-blue smoke. If this smoke was supposed to push out Endra from inside Evin's body, it wasn't doing a great job.

Endra did not speak during this moment, and with a deep sigh, began working on a spell. Using Lochra's energy, he began adding an illusory layer on Edmund's body. Countless times, he did the same to Evin's body to fool his enemies, but this time, the target of the illusion was Evin himself.

"Since I've already come this far, I should just get this over with," Endra whispered to himself. "I will regret my decision and my actions, but these disgusting actions will help me become happy in the end."

He looked at the image in front of him. Two blue, almost crystalline eyes stared at Evin. The shape of its face was practically the same as a human's but its metallic skin would never allow it to pass as one. The Type 12 stared at Evin, watching him being engulfed in smoke.

It did not take Evin long to wake up.

"What's… happening? … My head… hurts…" the boy groaned.

It also did not take Evin long to see the Type 12 staring at him through the smoke.

"NO!" Evin screamed out in a voice so loud, it shook even Endra inside his head.

In a matter of seconds, a thin icicle materialized in front of Evin, and ruthlessly flew towards the Type 12's neck. The one, surefire way to kill a golem. Logically, the icicle wouldn't have don't much against a golem, but this time, it was successful in piercing Evin's adversary. Blood splattered across Evin's shocked face, as the boy struggled to understand what was happening.

Endra was shocked at how fast Evin created the spell. It was almost as fast as how he cast. But, it wasn't out of his expectations. One's traumas often made them do either incredibly stupid, or incredibly impressive things. Often both at the same time.

'I don't know why I'm thinking about this.'

Either way, Edmund was dead.

Endra didn't know what punishments Evin would receive for his crime, but it wasn't really Endra's concern. He felt tired and spent, and for the first time in a long time, he felt the need to sleep. Endra's plan to encourage Evin to separate was half-finished.

Whatever happened after this was out of his control, so he willingly let himself fall into slumber.

Endra was just escaping from reality, but who was there to judge him? Only Evin.

'Perfect.'

…