Page 5 of Forging Bonds: Part Two

Woohoo.

Rushing through the shower now that I’m exhausted, I struggle to put my clothes on, cursing up a storm when I fall over for the third time and then head back into the room and practically fall onto the bed, I really hope that I get a decent amount of sleep before the next task, I need it.

Dimitri

Idon’t know why they’ve let me watch the Choosing. Maybe they think that it’s some sort of treat or something. Maybe someone high up knows something that I don’t, but what I’m sure they aren’t expecting is the level of torture that I’m experiencing by watching it. One, because of watching Neith in danger, but also because of Coen. My other best friend, I am one hundred percent certain that he’s being controlled in a similar way to me, and it makes me murderously angry.

Of course, even that can’t make me as angry as watching the soon to be dead cunt deliberately throwing Neith under the bus and endangering her life. It makes me so fucking mad that I very nearly lose control of my hellhound and considering where I am, that would be a very bad thing. I would quickly find myself in a lab instead of in a prison. That massive burst of magic that accompanied my anger though, helped to burn through the last of the poison from the dart that Casimir shot me with when I got arrested, quicker than it usually does, which means I am almost completely free of it.

While I hate that I’m in here and I can’t help Neith, there’s nothing that I could do about her situation if I were out, and being in here means that Casimir can’t reach me. He has no idea that I’m able to push through the poison. It’s not supposed to be possible, and the only reason I can is because of the old woman who visited me in my dreams, and Neith.

Always Neith.

Although it’s too little, too late as far as she’s concerned.

That doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop keeping her safe and trying to make it up to her, for as long as I’m alive. I’m glad that whatever is controlling Coen isn’t strong enough to hinder his instincts when it comes to Neith, because it saved her life. I don’t know what would have happened if I had watched her die again. The only thing that would have stopped me from going nuclear is that she has died before and come back.

It would not be good if she had died on the broadcast. That would have painted a huge target on her back. Bigger than the one that she already has there.

I’m not surprised at all that she’s managed to get an enchanted weapon to be loyal to her, I am however surprised that Betty appears to be becoming one. Although, in a way, it doesn’t surprise me at all, she loves that gun, and talks to her like she has always been enchanted, so in a weird way it makes sense that Betty is now enchanted.

She’s fucking powerful too, not many people will be aware, but those creatures aren’t killed by silver bullets, they can’t be killed by any bullets, which means Betty is able to adapt her bullets to kill the creature that she’s aiming at. That makes her incredibly dangerous, but also gives me hope. Betty may be the only weapon in the known realms that can kill Casimir.

I’ve been questioned, that’s the first thing that they did when they brought me in, they set me up in a room and brought out the big guns. Fortunately for me, the dart that Casimir shot me with didn’t take hold of me as well as it usually does, and after the initial spike of control, I quickly found that it receded, not completely, watching the cunt try to get Neith killed did that, but thankfully just enough that when they started asking me questions, fully expecting me to fight them or go mute. Instead, I told them everything that they wanted to know.

After the fourth question that they asked, which had absolutely no resistance from me, Ty was brought in instead. Of course, I know who Ty is, he’s the head of SID, but more importantly, he’s friends with Sully, Draith, and all of them. He’s trusted by them. He’s also hated by Casimir. He hates all of them. I actually don’t know why he didn’t deem it important to share it with me, and I didn’t care enough to ask, but I did get the impression that there was some shared history between them all.

It wasn’t until recently that I realized that he had been trying to recruit Neith from HID in order to keep her safe.

I have a feeling that allowing me to watch the Choosing is Ty’s idea. I think that it’s part reward for answering any question that they’ve asked me, but also because he knows that Neith knows me. I’m not stupid, I know that the only reason why they have managed to arrest me and make it stick is because she had the evidence. I must admit that I was proud when I first realized that she had made a copy of the USB that she gave to HID. The first version I destroyed.

She was always smarter than most, and I always knew that there was a high chance that she had a second one. There was a big part of me that was hoping that she would hand it in to the right place or to the right person so that I could be stopped.

Now that the poison is completely out of my system, I’m going to ask to see her. I'm going to be a dick about it too, and refuse to say anything else until they allow me to see her. I haven’t told them everything, and there are some things that I know that they will be extremely interested in learning about. It did occur to me to try to get them to listen to me about being controlled, but I know that there’s no chance that they’re going to believe me, and quite frankly, I deserve to be in here.

I’m still selfish enough to want to see my Neith though, even if it’s only once, I need her to hear my apology and know that I really do mean it. Plus, I haven’t seen her in person for a really long fucking time, and I miss her.

Neith

Ididn’t manage to fall asleep straight away last night despite how exhausted I was, and after another moment of trying, I decided that it wasn’t going to work and ended up getting up again. A rummage in the kitchen showed that there was nothing that was going to help me get to sleep and stop my mind from going in circles about Coen.

Wandering around the room to try and exhaust myself enough to sleep, I ended up finding the books that were on the coffee table in front of the fireplace. I had completely forgotten about them.

Reading always makes me sleepy, after a while at least, unless the book is really good, then I just won’t sleep at all. Either way, I decided that it would be a good distraction anyway, so with that in mind, I grabbed the cover off the bed, curled up on the couch, and started reading all about realms and creatures, and things that I never knew existed. Eventually, my eyes grew heavy, and I ended up finally falling asleep.

Despite the fact that I fell asleep on the couch, I did manage to get a good amount of sleep. Which I’m incredibly grateful for, I was exhausted. Not just because of the task that I had already done that day, but also because of my visit from Coen.

I got woken up by a knock on the door this morning, and I would be lying if I said that my heart didn’t start beating harder thinking that it may be Coen again, and that disappointment didn’t dim my smile for a moment when I opened it to find Mabel instead of him.

She told me that it was my day for a task by myself, and that’s how I ended up here.

I’m not exactly sure where here is, but then I guess that’s probably going to be a theme running throughout the Choosing. I am somewhat relieved that I’m doing a trial by myself, and not with the Draconian team again. My anger toward Kylen is still burning, and while I’m aware that I’m going to have to face him at some point, and most likely do another trial with him, where he’sgoing to try his best to kill me off, I’m glad it’s not today. I will contain my murderous desires by the time that we see him next.

“Focus, I need to focus,” I remind myself out loud.

The portal has dropped me into what honestly looks like something out of Indiana Jones. It’s a huge stone room, seemingly empty, but my instincts are telling me that’s not quite true, so I’ve stayed where I am, and probably look like I’m just staring off into space.

To be fair, for a moment I was.

---