"DAD! NO!!!"
Lucian screamed but—
"Lucian, what’s wrong with you today?"
Jonathan only frowned as he opened the window and let the demon in.
"GET AWAY FROM HIM!!!"
Lucian screamed but—
"Lucian, is that how you treat a gue—"
And it happened again.
Jonathan lost his head.
"DAD!!"
Lucian screamed.
But then—
"LUCIAN!! RUN!!"
He heard Eleanor’s scream.
He once again saw her running towards the demon. Once again, her body was lifted from the ground and once again—
"AAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Eleanor screamed in pain.
"LEAVE HER!!!"
Lucian screamed.
The demon did not.
"AAAAGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!"
Eleanor screamed even more.
Once again, Lucian collapsed, feeling helpless.
Then, it all reset again.
He was back in the living room, spending time with his parents, having fun, laughing. This time, he spent about ten minutes with them but just as he took the first bite of the food his mother served—
The knock was heard again.
And everything repeated.
Again.
And again.
And again.
And again.
The Woundglass changed the illusion every time.
Sometimes Lucian remembered immediately, sometimes he did not, sometimes he knew it was fake and still tried to warn them, sometimes the illusion was so deep that he laughed with his parents and had the time of his life before the knock came.
There were times when Lucian just cried before anything happened, while Jonathan and Eleanor held him, supporting him when he was uttering complete nonsense, just like they always did.
And every single time, just as Lucian lost himself—
The demon came.
Killed his father, tortured his mother right in front of his eyes and Lucian—
While he heard his mother’s screams, while he heard her begging for his help, begging for a swift release, even death—
He trembled helplessly.
Back in the Training Hall, Vivienne watched Lucian break again and again. His body thrashed on the floor violently, he begged, he screamed, he cried, one time, he even vomited blood and Vivienne—
She kept restarting the illusion again and again. The more illusions Lucian watched, the worse his mental state became, and as his mental state started deteriorating, the difference between illusion and reality started becoming blurry.
This continued again and again until finally—
Lucian opened his eyes in the living room once more.
This time, he did not remember the Training Hall, Vivienne, Evelyn, Demons, Vampires, Werewolves, anything at all.
He only knew that he was at home, his mother was humming in the kitchen, his father was fixing something on his laptop and muttering about slow internet, and he was sitting on the sofa, looking at them.
"Lucian."
Eleanor called.
"Are you leaving for the gym or not?"
Lucian looked down, his gym bag was beside him.
Right.
Gym.
He was supposed to hit the gym today.
"If you are not going, go help your mother or she’ll make me do that darned thing."
Jonathan glanced at him.
"I heard that."
Eleanor said from the kitchen.
"Love you, darling."
Lucian smiled at his father’s reply.
Then once again—
Knock Knock Knock
The knock came.
Lucian frowned.
"I’ll get it."
Jonathan stood up, Lucian nodded.
However, just as Jonathan stood up, Lucian held his father’s hand without realising it.
"Lucian?"
Jonathan frowned.
Lucian frowned as well.
He had no idea what he was doing, his body simply moved on its own. Eleanor, who had stepped out of the kitchen, stared at Lucian with a frown as well.
Then the door opened on its own and a man with purple eyes walked in.
Lucian looked at the man with a frown, the man’s strange purple eyes moved throughout the house and finally stopped on him.
Then—
He smiled.
And at that very instant—
Lucian remembered everything and his mind cracked open.
No.
No.
No!
Not again.
Not again!
Not again!
The demon’s smile widened even further, but this time, he did not kill Jonathan immediately. He reached out and caught him by the throat.
Jonathan struggled.
"JON!!"
Eleanor screamed as she ran towards them, but the demon raised his other hand and an invisible force wrapped around her, lifting her from the floor.
"YOU BASTARD!!!!"
Lucian lunged forward, throwing himself at the demon but—
The distance between him and the demon widened on its own, his eyes widened in horror, his body felt much, much, much heavier than before, he couldn’t move.
And the demon—
He only stared at Lucian and began dragging both his parents away.
"I’ll make it very, very slow this time."
He whispered.
"LET THEM GO, YOU BASTARD!!!"
Lucian screamed in rage, even in the state he was in, he crawled towards him, but the distance between them grew wider and wider.
His father continued to struggle in the demon’s grip.
"LUCIAN!!"
His mother screamed, extending her hand towards him as if she wanted him to hold her and save her.
"MOM!!!"
Lucian screamed, extending his hand.
But nothing worked.
No matter how much he pushed himself, they only got farther and farther away.
"NO! NO! NO!!!
MOM!! DAD!!!"
Lucian continued to scream but at this point, he could no longer move.
It was as if the entire world’s weight had been placed on him, he couldn’t move an inch, he was... helpless.
His mind was in shambles, the pain he was in was intolerable—
He was... in despair.
At his lowest.
And that was when his mind went completely silent.
What is it you desire?
The same question.
The same voice.
Lucian did not recognise it, he did not even care, he only looked at his parents, at the distance between him and them and he—
"Speed."
He answered.
And the voice—
Granted.
The voice answered and it happened.
Back in the Training Hall, Vivienne narrowed her eyes as she sensed something in the air shift.
Lucian’s body began to change.
The demonic energy inside him suddenly became still. The violet in his eyes deepened, there were faint signs of red mixed in them before the red disappeared, then appeared, then disappeared again.
Unfinished words carved themselves under his skin, reforming into different shapes. An absurd amount of purple energy poured out of his body, forming different things above his head.
And for the first time that day, Vivienne smiled.
’So this is it.
His True Form.’
But then—
Lucian disappeared.