The room was suddenly quiet. Too quiet.
Eon had just finished his whisper. He had been talking to himself, complaining about his life and how tired he was. He had won a huge fight. The Count was dead. The demonic guards were taken care of. He had to use a massive amount of magic to turn two noblemen, Alaric and Darius, into his obedient servants. It was the hardest thing he had ever done.
Making the potion for Controlled Hallucination was not that hard, but making the entire room air-tight so that no sound could come in or out was the most taxing work. Even with his Level 8 matter-manipulation the mana cost for that magic, without relying on any spell, was foolishness. Not that he could just chant magic in front of those Denares brothers. They would have storm out of that room before he could make them sit on those chair.
However taxing it was, the plan worked at the end. He and his elf companions were finally safe. Thinking this, he leaned on the wall and was ready to fall asleep.
His human self, Jin-ho, had completely dropped his guard. He was just a tired man, not the scary High Elf Eon now.
Then, he heard a small, tiny creak.
It was the sound of fabric moving. It was not loud, but in the silence, it sounded like a thunderclap.
Eon's body snapped awake instantly. His tiredness vanished. It was replaced by a shot of pure, ice-cold fear that raced through his blood. All the relief he had felt was gone. He was panicking. He had made a mistake.
He looked over to the corner of the room, behind a curtain. And he saw her.
Elora. The young girl he had rescued. The hostage. She was hiding there. Her whole body was shaking, making the heavy curtain tremble. Her eyes were huge and shining in the dim light. They were staring straight at him, not at his face, but at his chest.
"You," Eon breathed out. The word was rough and weak. It was not a question. It was a terrible truth. His hand moved without him thinking, ready to use magic, ready to fight or kill. He took a slow, heavy step toward her. The sound of his foot hitting the stone floor was loud.
The one secret he needed to keep for his entire life was now known by this one girl.
"You heard everything, didn't you?" he asked.
Elora couldn't speak. She just shook her head up and down, a frantic, terrified nod. Her chin was pushed down to her chest. She was shaking from her head to her feet.
Eon kept walking closer. His face was cold, angry, and completely tired out.
The fear finally broke Elora. She didn't try to run away. Instead, she burst out from behind the curtain and threw herself onto the floor. She crawled forward, sobbing loudly, until she reached Eon's feet. She grabbed his ankle with both small hands, holding onto his robe for dear life.
"Please! Please, sir, I beg you!" she cried out. Her voice was thin and broken. She was breathing fast, gasping between words. "I didn't want to listen! I was just hiding! I promise, I swear, I didn't mean to hear you talking about… about the other place! Or the Grandpa!"
Her forehead was pressed hard against the cold floor. She was terrified. She had just seen what Eon could do. She had seen him turn her two older brothers, Alaric and Darius, into soulless puppets. That sight was worse than any beating. It was a fear that went deeper than death.
"I know what you did to them! I saw it!" she screamed, the words catching in her throat. "I saw the darkness take over their eyes! I know the thing that happened to them! Please, please, don't make that happen to me! Don't turn me into a slave, sir! I'll never tell anyone! I promise I'll be quiet!"
Eon looked down at the little girl clinging to his ankle. She was a complete mess of tears and snot, begging him not to use the terrible enslavement magic on her. She had seen everything. She knew the secret of his life, and she now knew the true power of his magic.
A simple, cold thought came into Eon's head. It was the survival part of his brain talking: 'Kill her.'
'Just use one silent move of Matter Manipulation.' He knew he could do it. He could end her life instantly. No one would ever know. The secret would be safe forever. It was the smartest, easiest choice. He had killed the Count and many guards already. What was one more life to save his entire future?
But then, the thought stopped.
Eon was too tired. Too completely exhausted. The human part of him, Jin-ho, was weak and worn out. He couldn't lift his hand. He didn't have the strength to kill a crying, helpless girl who was begging for her life. He saw her small body shaking, not as a enemy from a noble house, but as a victim he had just tried to save.
The tiredness of the human soul won.
'She is innocent in all of this. I can't do it.' The urge to kill faded away. He chose to manage the problem instead of ending it.
Slowly, carefully, Eon pulled his leg away from her hands. Elora flinched, thinking he was about to strike.
Instead, Eon slowly dropped to his knees, getting close to her face. This was not a kind action. It was a serious talk. A life-or-death agreement.
"Look at me, Elora," he ordered. His voice was rough, quiet, and very dangerous.
She slowly raised her head. Her face was dirty with tears, her eyes wide. She was ready to obey.
Eon leaned in. He smelled like sweat and magic. His voice was low, a mean whisper that didn't let any doubt slip through. He had to keep his secret safe, but he couldn't bring himself to kill her. The only option was to make her a necessary part of his life. He had to bind her to him, so her silence became the most important thing she owned.
"You know the greatest truth I have," Eon said. "No one else in this world knows it. You know I am not just a slave. That I am… something different. Something powerful. Something that came from a place called Seoul."
She nodded quickly. "Yes, sir. I understand. I swear I will never talk about it."
"A simple promise is worthless," Eon whispered. He watched her eyes and her face closely.
'She is pretty.' it was the only thought that came to his mind.
Forcing that thought aside he looked at again. He saw pure, honest and deep fear. She was too scared to lie.
"Listen now. These are the four rules for your continued life. You will follow them without fail. If you break even one of them, I will forget this moment and I will kill you, from wherever you hide."
He was giving her a chance, but it came with a heavy, terrible price.
"You saw what I did to Darius and Alaric, right? You saw the enslavement collar. I will not use that magic on you. You will not wear the collar of a slave. That is my bargain to you."
Elora gasped, a small sound of pure relief. To not be enslaved was everything to her.
Before her lit up, he spoke again,"But this freedom comes with laws," his voice was like cold stone. "You will be free from the collar, but you will be bound by my word. You will obey every rule of mine."
He held up his fingers, counting the rules slowly, making them feel like heavy, final orders.
First: The Proximity Clause.
"You will stay close to me. Always. Within my sight. You will not leave this house. You will not try to get in the way of my work, my plans, or anything I am preparing. You will be my silent shadow, Elora. You will move only when I tell you to. This is so I can watch you easily, and so I can keep my secret safe at all times by my side. If you leave, I will take that as you are going to tell someone."
She quickly nodded again. Her whole body was tense. She understood. She was not a slave, but she was a prisoner who had to stay near her jailer. Her soul was free, but her body was tied to him.
Second: The Self-Defense Mandate.
"You will learn magic," Eon stated. "You will learn how to fight for yourself. I will not have a weak person around me. If you are weak, you can be captured easily, and then someone can force my secret out of you. I will make sure you are taught what you need to survive. You will have to become useful, Elora. Do you understand? I am giving you strength so you can protect my secret. You must be strong for me. I wont carry around with a liability."
Elora looked surprised. Learning magic was a privilege for powerful nobles, not for hostages. But she understood the simple logic. If she was strong, his secret was safer.
"Yes, sir," she whispered, feeling a strange mix of fear and excitement. She would have power now, but only to serve his dangerous secret.
Third: The Vow of Absolute Silence.
Eon's eyes narrowed until they were thin lines of scary, cold amber. This was the most important rule. It was the rule that would decide if she lived or died.
"If a single person, slave, nobleman, elf, or human, hears one word of what you heard tonight, one word about the place I came from, or my old life, or the secret of my power, I will find you, and I will personally kill you. Right that instant. I will not send someone else. I will do it myself. Heed my words carefully, I will give you no warning. I will show you no pity. My job here in this world is too important to be ruined by a child's mistake. Do you understand how serious this is, Elora? Do you swear this oath to me right now?"
Elora started to cry harder. These were not just tears of fear, but of realizing the huge, awful weight she was now carrying. Her life was a secret shield for him.
"I swear it!" she cried, using all her breath. "I swear on everything that is good! I will never, ever speak it. I will keep your secret. I will be silent. Always. I will guard it until I die!"
Eon studied her one last time with his deep eyes. He saw no lie. Only complete, crushing fear and a total will to live. He had made a dangerous deal, but for now, the secret was safe. He had won a desperate servant.
"Good," he said. He let out a long, heavy breath that tasted like ash and spent energy.
He slowly stood up. His body felt like lead.
"Stay in this room," he told her. "Clean your face. Rest. I still do not trust you, Elora, but you have shown me how badly you want to live. Do not make me change my mind. I will send someone to look after you. Do not leave this room for any reason until then."
He turned and walked away. He did not wait for her to answer. He had done all he could. The deal was set. His secret, and his whole future, was now hanging on the desperate fear of a little girl.
The moment Eon closed the door, the huge wave of exhaustion crashed down on him again. It was ten times worse than before. The shock of finding Elora had kept him awake, but now that the danger was controlled, his body screamed for rest. His head was pounding. His Mana, his magical power, felt empty and painful, crushing at his heart. He had used too much, pushing his body to the limit to enslave the two noblemen and fight the guards. The physical tiredness was immense, but the mental worry was even worse.
He walked down the hall, no longer moving like a strong warrior, but like a sick man dragging his feet. He was Jin-ho again, a man who had won a war only to find out he had left a hidden danger behind him.
'Did I make the right choice?' The doubt was like a sharp, cold knife in his gut. 'I could have ended the problem. I chose to create a new one. Now I have to look after her life, instead of just killing her and being safe.'
He kept walking until he found the closest empty room that looked secure. It was the study of the Count, the dead Count Robert Edger. The room smelled a little of old books and dried wine, and faintly, of the blood that had been quickly cleaned up.
Eon didn't even look at the big, soft bed. He walked straight to a huge, worn leather chair by the fireplace and fell into it. The chair groaned under his weight. He didn't take off his clothes. He didn't check the room for anything. His body was completely finished.
He tried to keep his mind awake for a few seconds. He needed to think about the next steps. He needed to plan. But the worry about Elora kept spinning in his head. 'One person knows the truth. I am not safe.'
But the huge physical tiredness won. It was too strong to fight. His eyelids felt heavy, like stones. The anxiety was still there, but it was being pushed down by the need to sleep.
In just a few moments, Eon, the tough conqueror and the reborn human, was completely gone. He fell into a deep, heavy, worried sleep, his big win tonight spoiled by a deep feeling of fear and a choice he wasn't sure was right.
Author Note:
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