Un-Chain

Someone from behind Harkal kicked his back and he was sent sprawling onto the floor. He silently fumed in anger as his face hit the cool marble floor. In his current condition, there wasn't much he could do.

The large room was dark with only a few torches in the corners to reveal the color of the large luxurious curtains dr.a.p.ed over every entryway. The light reflected against the shimmery purple curtains, causing the room to appear solemn and heavy.

With a burst, the center torch in the middle of the room ignited with a bright flame. With the control of the five elders, the torch returned to a smaller flame, just barely revealing parts of their features.

The five elderly in the very center of the room consisted of three men and two women. They all had grey hairs mixed into their dark red hair and stood tall and strong in their silk or satin formal wear. They stood in a semi circle all facing Harkal. The women stared down at Harkal in disdain while the men looked indifferent.

One of the men nodded towards someone behind Harkal and another kick, one that had much more force behind it, caused Harkal to vomit blood.

Harkal's c.h.e.s.t heaved and his breath sounded wet and ragged through the gag. He curled like a shrimp, trying to protect his ribs from any more trauma.

Before Uteu could see who the person behind Harkal was, the entire scene shifted and appeared to have some type of interference. It became like static and Uteu was unable to see or hear clearly.

Uteu squinted and tilted his ear closer but was unable to figure out who the person behind Harkal could possibly be.

A distorted voice seemed to be questioning Harkal. The voice and words were completely unrecognizable. The volume seemed to drop every time Uteu could make out any semblance of words.

As if the volume had returned to normal, Uteu could make out the sound of something tearing and someone spitting out something wet.

He could hear Harkal's wet and forced laugh as he replied to whatever questions were asked of him.

"Hah... Why not? Our blood is powerful, why wouldn't I use it?"

With a grunt and the sound of rustling clothes, Uteu could guess Harkal had shifted or turned over.

"We repopulate like rabbits, losing a few future members hardly matters, does it? Like Tykol for example, your precious golden generation's future leader."

There was a short pause before Harkal continued.

"Oh? You don't like me mentioning Tykol do you? What was the name of that kid going to be? Uteu? Hahahahahaha! Keeping tradition with naming every child of a generation a certain letter. I can guarantee that child won't have any special abilities or live for long even if he survives the birth."

The static cleared for all of a second and Uteu felt a chill when he suddenly was able to see very cold and furious green eyes. He could see nothing else, only those eyes and Uteu felt as if his breath was stuck in his throat. He couldn't move or breathe. It felt like those eyes were peering into his very soul and about to rip out his heart. As soon as it appeared, the eyes turned to static once more and Uteu was no longer able to see them.

The scene shifted once more and then seemed to clear up in a sort of circle around Harkal. Uteu could not hear or see anything other than him alone.

Harkal grunted as a series of kicks were sent raining down upon him.

"Hah!! HAH! It- Shit! It doesn't matter what you fools do to me now, I'll prove it to you all that I can destroy this family! That's what all of you get for not taking me seriously from the very beginning! Just cause I wasn't born from the main line you all thought I was worthless, well I'll show all of you! My death will be written down in history!"

The kicks came to an abrupt stop. Based on the way Harkal was darting his eyes back and forth Uteu could only guess that an elder and the person behind Harkal must have been discussing something.

"Oh? You're going to try to save Tykol's spawn? Impossible, that thing is destined to die, it'll die for ME! No, what are you doing? What are you-! STOP!"

Uteu could see a very clear and thick chain sprout from Harkal's c.h.e.s.t. Black and mangled, rusted and chipped. It reached for the sky and rattled angrily. Harkal spat out blood as something distorted the scene. It was as if it was trying to reach out for the black chain.

The chain was dyed an angry red color and shattered, branching into many smaller chains. The many small chains clinked together and turned white before they swirled around each other and vanished. The strange distortion at the scene returned to normal and Uteu was able to see a clear view once more.

"What... what was that feeling, what have you done?"

Harkal stared upwards at the ceiling, dazed. He waved in front of his c.h.e.s.t in confusion. Uteu could hear some kind of distorted chanting from several voices as Harkal tensed.

"Wait! Where are you going! You can't just leave! Come back here and tell me what that was?! You old bats need to stop that damn chan-"

Black blood spilled out from Harkal's c.h.e.s.t and formed a familiar teleportation array under him.

"You changed something, -------! You did something and now it's all wrong!" Harkal arched his back and screamed as the chanting picked up in speed and volume.

Out of thin air, right beside Harkal appeared Tykol, bloody and holding onto Uteu's mother who was wrapped in a bloody sheet. Harkal yowled as he distorted, he began to look warped and mangled as he fought against the array.

Tykol pushed him down into the array and Harkal could no longer fight against it. There was a bright white flash and then Harkal was gone.

Tykol put down Uteu's mother and bent onto his knees as if to beg.

"Why won't you let us show him everything?" The unsettling voice finally returned and the scene cleared away and faded back to black.

"Keeping him ignorant does no one any favors!"

"Let us show him!"

Uteu's head suddenly felt as if it were splitting and then the black space rippled and tore.

The last thing he heard was an extremely distorted voice saying, "He doesn't need to know."