Corrupted blood lord

Axel expected Teclos to kill him.

Instead, the darkness around his limbs tightened.

The old man’s body slowly lifted from the ground and hung several feet above it, his arms pulled behind his back while black tendrils wrapped around his chest, waist, and throat.

Teclos stood before him in silence.

The clearing was utterly quiet again.

Count Aweq lay dead in the grass, surrounded by the bodies of his wife and daughter. The last traces of Teclos’s red-black aura had faded, but the pressure it left behind still clung to the air.

Axel looked at him carefully.

There was no relief on Teclos’s face.

No satisfaction at all.

Only exhaustion and dark, dangerous malice buried deep beneath it.

"You should kill me already," Axel said.

Teclos’s eyes shifted toward him.

"I won’t lie. I have thought about it..."

The tendrils jerked.

Axel was slammed into the ground.

The impact drove the air from his lungs.

Before he could recover, Teclos dragged him across the clearing. Stones and roots tore at his clothes while the darkness pulled him toward the bodies.

Teclos finally stopped beside Aweq.

"Look at him."

Axel coughed and forced himself onto one elbow.

"Look at your lord properly. Was this piece of shit really worth it? Was abandoning and kidnapping people in need worth it?"

Another tendril wrapped around Axel’s neck and forced his head toward the corpse.

"You will find out what happens to people who stand beside monsters."

Axel stared at Aweq’s ruined body.

"And what does that make you, then, kid?"

Teclos kicked him across the face and knocked several of his teeth out.

For several long moments, he could not even twitch from the pain.

Then he spat blood into the grass and looked back at Teclos.

The next blow struck his ribs, and his bones cracked beneath Teclos’s boot.

Axel’s breath broke into a harsh gasp.

Teclos hit him once again.

And then again.

He did not strike wildly.

Every blow was deliberate.

A knee shattered.

An arm bent the wrong way.

Several ribs gave way beneath the pressure of Teclos’s heel.

Axel endured as long as he could, but eventually a scream tore from his throat.

Teclos stopped.

He crouched beside him and pulled a potion from Aweq’s storage ring.

Axel’s eyes narrowed when he saw the red liquid. He understood now.

"No."

Teclos forced the bottle between his lips.

"Drink up, my friend."

Axel tried to turn his head, but dark tendrils held him still. The potion spilled into his mouth and down his throat.

Warmth spread through his body.

It was a high-quality potion, so even his bones were mended and repaired, while every rupture in his organs stitched itself back together.

Within only a few minutes, he could breathe again.

His arm and knee reformed, straightening back into how they should be.

Teclos stood up, and then he struck him once more.

The first punch broke Axel’s jaw again.

—

They left the clearing before the Dawn Church arrived.

Teclos did not free him.

He fashioned a chain from darkness and wrapped it around Axel’s neck. The chain stretched several paces between them as Teclos walked through the forest without looking back.

Axel stumbled behind him.

Every time he slowed, the chain tightened.

Every time he fell, Teclos dragged him until he forced himself back onto his feet.

They traveled southwest, avoiding the main roads and moving through dense woodland where the Church’s patrols would struggle to follow.

By midday, Axel’s clothes were torn and covered in dirt.

His body had been broken twice more.

Each time, Teclos healed him so the punishment could continue.

Axel understood the full reality of his situation fairly quickly.

"You think this will change anything? Beating me up again and again?" he asked as they crossed a narrow stream.

Teclos did not answer.

"You think my pain will make you feel better?"

The chain snapped tight again.

Axel was pulled forward and driven face-first into the water.

Teclos held him beneath the surface.

For several seconds, he enjoyed his suffering.

Axel struggled, but the darkness around his arms prevented him from moving at all.

When his lungs began to burn, Teclos dragged him out and threw him onto the bank.

Axel coughed violently.

Teclos silently watched him.

"You know... it will make me feel better. Admittedly, I finished that bastard off far too quickly. You both should have suffered like this... but, oh well."

"I tried to keep him from making worse decisions."

"Hah! You gorged yourself on the good life and stepped over the skulls of innocents to do so."

"Yes..."

The answer made Teclos pause.

Axel pushed himself up slowly.

"I failed to be a decent human being," he repeated. "But you became a monster ten times worse."

Teclos’s expression hardened, and he kicked him in the stomach, making him vomit.

"And whose fault is that? Huh?"

Darkness burst from the ground. Axel was lifted and hurled into a tree, and the trunk cracked behind him.

He dropped to the earth with both legs broken.

Teclos approached him again.

Axel looked up at him through the pain.

"You can break every bone in my body," he said. "It will not bring your mother back."

Teclos’s fist struck his jaw again.

Axel folded beneath the pain for a split second.

Then another potion followed.

—

By nightfall, they had put many long miles between themselves and Lupos.

Teclos stopped beneath a rocky overhang hidden deep within the forest.

Axel collapsed against the stone.

The dark chain remained around his neck.

Teclos sat across from him and spread a map over the ground.

The Kingdom of Alvar occupied most of the continent’s central region.

Lupos sat behind them.

Alta lay farther north.

To the west, beyond the mountain roads and fortified border, stretched Tessania.

Teclos traced the route with one finger. That was where they were going.

Axel looked down at the map.

"Tessania? You plan to flee the country? Hah! So much for your bravery."

"The Church has less influence there," he said as he cracked Axel’s shin with a tendril, making him groan.

"You think you can escape House Vael’thorr?"

"They have reach, true," Teclos said. "But not authority. Not like they do here."

Axel watched him carefully.

"Crossing a border will not protect you from Luther, you know."

"No, I know." Teclos slapped him across the mouth after answering, shutting him up.

Teclos folded the map.

"It will give me room to grow, return stronger, and kill those assholes."

His eyes gleamed faintly red in the darkness.

"There are mercenary companies in Tessania. Warbands. Noble houses fighting among themselves. Monsters in the western valleys that Alvar’s hunters avoid."

Axel understood what he meant, yet Teclos voiced it aloud like a conviction.

"I intend to feed on every being, and when I come back, I’ll rip Luther’s head off."

Silence settled between them.

Teclos looked toward the trees beyond the shelter.

"Strong opponents leave more mana. I wasted too much time hiding, too much time obeying that bastard."

His hand closed into a fist.

"I will kill anyone strong enough to push me forward. Bandits, beasts, knights, assassins, mercenaries. It does not matter."

"Revenge isn’t a glorious thing. You’ll only leave scorched earth and death behind you."

Teclos turned toward him, and his voice carried no hesitation.

"I will kill Luther, and then I will kill every bastard who helped him. Every priest who hunted me. Every noble who treated people worse than livestock. Every last one of them."

Axel gave a tired laugh.

Teclos’s eyes narrowed.

"What?"

"Revenge has no ending."

Teclos rose, and Axel braced himself for another blow.

The kick broke three ribs.

Teclos forced another potion into his mouth before sitting down again.

Neither spoke for the rest of the night.

—

The next three days passed in much the same way.

They traveled before sunrise and rested only when Teclos decided Axel was too weak to continue.

The beatings came without warning.

Sometimes Axel spoke too much.

Sometimes he said nothing at all.

Teclos broke his fingers while crossing an abandoned farmstead. He shattered one shoulder after Axel tried to loosen the chain with a hidden vine.

On the second evening, Axel attempted to escape while Teclos slept.

He made it less than five meters.

Teclos woke the moment the chain moved.

Darkness caught Axel around the legs and dragged him back through the mud.

That punishment lasted longer than the others.

When it ended, Axel lay motionless beneath the rain.

Teclos knelt beside him with another potion.

Axel turned his head away.

"Let me die."

"No, my friend. You won’t die until I say so."

"You hate me, I know, but doing this won’t make you feel better."

"Yes, it will. Believe me."

"Finish me, you goddamn bastard!"

Teclos grabbed his hair and slammed him face-first into a rock. Then he forced him to look up.

"A normal death is too easy for you."

Axel stared into his eyes.

"Way to go, kid. You sound just like Luther right now."

The words struck him harder than any weapon could have.

Teclos froze.

For the first time since leaving the clearing, uncertainty crossed his face.

Then it vanished.

He poured the potion down Axel’s throat and dragged him onward.

—

They reached the border on the fifth night.

A stone watchtower stood over the mountain road, its upper windows lit by dim lanterns. Alvarian soldiers guarded the eastern side while Tessanian banners moved in the distance beyond the pass.

Crossing openly was impossible.

Teclos led Axel away from the road and toward a steep ravine north of the checkpoint.

Snow remained in the cracks between the rocks despite the season. Wind screamed between the cliffs, carrying the sound of soldiers shouting far below.

Axel nearly slipped twice.

Both times, the chain around his neck caught him.

Not gently.

They climbed until they reached a narrow ledge overlooking the border wall.

Teclos studied the patrols.

Two men passed beneath them every few minutes. A mage stood near the watchtower, releasing pulses of sensing mana across the ravine.

Axel felt each pulse brush against the darkness around them.

"They will detect us eventually," he whispered.

Teclos closed his eyes.

Darkness spread over both of them.

It clung to their bodies like a second skin, swallowing their presence and blending them into the night.

The next pulse passed.

The mage did not react.

Teclos stepped off the ledge, and Axel’s eyes widened.

The dark chain pulled him after Teclos, and they fell.

Before they struck the ground, a shadow opened beneath them.

Both vanished into it.

They emerged beyond the wall, several hundred paces inside Tessanian territory.

Axel struck the ground hard, while Teclos landed gracefully on his feet.

Behind them, the border tower remained quiet.

No horns sounded, and no soldiers followed them. They had successfully escaped Alvar.

Teclos looked west.

The land beyond the mountains stretched beneath the night sky, vast and unfamiliar. Distant lights marked villages, forts, and roads winding deeper into Tessania.

For the first time in days, something close to anticipation appeared on his face.

Axel saw it and felt more uneasy than before.

"You think this place will make you stronger."

"It will."

"You’re naive, kid."

Teclos pulled the chain, and Axel was dragged to his knees.

"Shut up."

He began walking again.

The mountains slowly fell behind them.

By dawn, they reached a high ridge overlooking a wide Tessanian valley. Forests covered the lower slopes, and smoke rose from a settlement built around an old stone fort.

Teclos stopped.

Several armored figures were escorting chained prisoners along the distant road. Even from the ridge, he could feel the mana radiating from them.

Strong.

Not strong enough to threaten Luther.

Not yet.

But enough to begin.

A slow smile spread across Teclos’s face.

Axel followed his gaze.

"Mercenaries," he said. "Likely selling captives to one of the western houses."

Teclos wrapped the dark chain around his hand. He started down the ridge, dragging Axel behind him.

Every step carried him farther from Alvar.

Farther from the Church.

Farther from Luther’s immediate reach.

But not farther from revenge.

He would grow in Tessania.

He would hunt everything powerful enough to feed his darkness.

He would consume the mana of anyone foolish enough to stand in his path until the distance between himself and Luther disappeared.

Then he would return.

Not as a fugitive.

Not as a thrall.

Not as the frightened boy who had watched his mother die and been powerless to stop it.

He would return as something none of them could command, contain, or survive.

Something strong enough to tear every chain apart.

Axel stumbled behind him as the dark leash tightened once more.

Teclos did not look back.

"Keep up," he said. "You still have a long way to suffer."