Back at the Castle
Study Room
Books were lined up in levels of shelves with steps leading to each upper parts of the shelves. There were sofas and a center table for receiving guests, while a single chair sat behind a desk with two chairs in front of the desk. The desk had a couple writing materials with a lamp to the side, while the room itself, was brightly lit, probably due to the window behind the single desk chair.
Currently, on that same desk, were the contents of the chest, Sloane had gotten from the Connor residence. While she sat on the chair behind the desk, and Nathan in one of the chairs, in front of her.
"Are you alright?" Nathan asked as he stared at her. Sloane was holding one of the few things from the chest with trembling fingers
"Alright? The dead members of the Connor family don't know the meaning of the words 'rest in peace'" Sloane said as she tossed some letters on the table "Letters from Scott to Alexa and me, a letter from Elias to me and Kathy, a letter from Mrs Laura to me, and a letter from Mr James to me. I feel like I'm gonna go nuts...I don't have the guts to even pry further into the things in the chest"
"Is that why you're crying?" Nathan asked as he wiped away the tears around the corner of her eyes
"I can't take it any more" Sloane said as she pulled her head back and cleaned her tears before impatiently tapping her fingers on the table "With the Connor family, when I feel like I've solved one mystery, more things from the past tend to stick their heads out and mock me"
"How weird is it? They only wrote you letters"
"That's the point" she slammed her head on the table "Mr James was killed by Leon when I was thirteen. He probably felt Leon's powers when I was trying to head out of town...he knew he wouldn't live from the encounter and as such, wrote a letter to me" she said "The problem here is, why would Mrs Connor, Scott and Elias write a letter to me, when their deaths were accidents?"
"What if it wasn't an accident and actually staged?" Nathan asked and she raised up her head "Thinking about it, the Connor family did know about the demon seed and the spirit seed. There were even countermeasures for if the seeds were to get out of control. A male dragon keeper was born, but Dante said that male keepers were not supposed to exist and lastly, other than sensing presences, was Kenzie ever able to use magic while at the Connor residence?" he made his case
"What are you trying to insinuate?" Sloane asked
"All of the Connors are demons except one, Sloane" Nathan said with a serious gaze "There are certain types of demons whose entire generation are bounded by servitude....and it doesn't matter if whoever marries into that family is a demon or not. An example is, the demon generals"
"When a demon's entire generation is bound to servitude, no matter what, as far as what they do is in the best interest of their masters, anything goes" Sloane said before sitting up "I don't want to jump to conclusions yet...[Picks up the letter from James]...After all, this is a very delicate matter involving, Kenzie's biological parents and her real family. If the conclusion that we've come to is true...and I pray not, I don't know how I'm going to break the news to Kenzie"
"Which letter did you decide to read first?" he asked and Sloane showed him the name on the letter before opening it
Dear Princess Sloane, if you're reading this, I'm probably long gone already. I had a lot of things to talk to you about, but as you have come of age, I'm sure you can handle yourself after I've passed these things on to you.
Firstly, beware of the demon seed barer, Nathan, and of course, yourself. Nathan's powers allows him to turn others into demons while your powers act in opposition to his. The body of a purified, can only handle so much demonic energy from the demon seed in a day. Do be careful when in contact with the princess, Nathan, too much might put her to sleep for some days.
She looked at Nathan "I do get tired whenever you're around."
'Should I tell her the true meaning of those words?' Nathan wondered with a raised brow, as he stared at her 'I'll keep it to myself' he promptly decided while staring at her 'We will never have that kind of relationship ever so, there's no need for me to tell her'
Secondly, watch your every actions around Josey and leave her out during battle strategies. As a homunculus, she is practically a walking magic bomb whose forever connected to her creator. Because of this, she can unknowingly, become a traitor against her own will.
Her senses are closely linked to that of her creator, Leon. If he so much as wishes, he could share his whole body with hers and against her will, murder all of you. If her behaviour takes a turn for the worse, the only way to free her, is through death. In this case, someone w8ll have to be the bigger person, and kill her.
"What a curse. Having to kill one's own comrade" Nathan said
"I know" Sloane said "I'll inform Josey of this at a later time"
Thirdly, there is a very disturbing feeling that all of the demon generals have had. That feeling, is the possibility that Leon Michelle, died a long time ago. Although we weren't able to confirm it due to the disaster all around at the time, you have probably found out why we have reason to believe such.
Much like you, Leon is a purified. However, after encountering him during the civil war, the small spiritual energy that could still be felt from him, was completely inexistent. What was left, was a massive, choking demonic energy and a madness for killing. Whether that is the real Leon or not, is up to you to prove. The locations of the other missing demon generals are on the map and their personalities are written very carefully in a journal from the chest. Do be careful, your majesty.
Sloane folded the letter and dropped it back on the table before resting on her hands
"This is rather maddening" Nathan said while pinching between his brows "Ignoring the part about me and you, there are two things we need to be prepared to confront in the future. One, is whether to kill Josey or not. And the other, is the probability that Leon Michelle is already dead and some crazy person has possessed his body"
"That's probably not the only problems we'll have" Sloane said as she picked up Elias' letter to her "We still haven't found out if the convection we made earlier is true" she opened the the letter
Sloane, how have you been? Hope you're eating well and are taking your role seriously. I guess I have no place to be the one saying this to you since, I always teased you no matter how much you hated it.
This family follows some strict rules and among them, I broke one. As a future demon general, I can never fall for my master. You were so sweet and innocent yet, I failed in my duty when it came to protecting you. I guess that's why you liked Scott more since he was ten times better than me.
You're probably wondering why you're getting this letter. Maybe, it's because I'm already dead but it was expected since Scott and I had already made up our minds to return you....
"Return me?" Sloane repeated
"I don't like where this is going" Nathan said as he got up and walked around the desk before peeping over Sloane's shoulder
You're probably wondering what I mean by returning you, aren't you? Well, after you turned eighteen, auntie had a premonition. You had a happy life without war, however, other than Mickey, the rest of us weren't there. Auntie tried to look into other possible futures out of panick. However, in those possibilities where either one of us survived, the end of the world was a definite.
When you turned nineteen, auntie had another premonition that the second phase of the war would start without you and Mickey. During that time, lots of people will die while, the South would still be standing thanks to the interference of the demon seed barer and the cursed immortal human. With that information, we were able to tell the South would be on your side.
The group with us each time you saw Scott and I, were mages who once served auntie's side of the family. The camping trip was already predetermined after you turned nineteen and even though we knew the premonition might be different from our current reality, as a family meant to guard yours until we die, we took the risk. In order for your existence to be known and for you to gain trustworthy allies.
If we're not currently with you, then something unprecedented happened and like the first premonition, we were destined to die. If that's so, I'm glad that I was of use to you. I love you, Sloane.
She crumpled up the letter and dropped it on top of James' letter as her tears dropped on the desk and she clenched her fists
"That jackass. Who does he think he is to tell me all that shit" she said with a croaked voice "What the hell is wrong with this family? I never asked for any of this"
'They knew they were going to die but didn't know when. However, because they were bounded by servitude, they still preformed their duties with their master's best interest in mind' he thought as he placed his hands on her shoulders "You need to be strong. There are still two more to go through and the preparations for war need to be made" he said
"You know, you're really cruel" Sloane said as she snapped her head towards him "I'm here crying my heart out and you're talking about wo-" he lowered his face so close to hers that her breath hitched
"Kendell men are really bad at comforting women" Nathan said with a chuckle "You shouldn't really rely on me for something like that in the future"
"Sorry" Sloane said dejectedly, as she picked up Scott's letter to her and opened it
Hey, Sloane. I'm quite sure you just finished reading Dad and that idiot, Elias', letters. I'm also very sure you're pissed and blaming yourself, however, I'm sure Elias has already told you this when he died 'None of this is your fault'. Our family did what we did, out of our own best interests for you and Mackenzie.
Dragon Keepers can never be born male. It disrupts the balance and causes a rift in the demon world gate. Me being alive until now, was a mistake. Mum didn't have the the guts to kill her own child despite how short my lifespan is when compared to mum and Mackenzie's.
Mackenzie was needed in your future, for you to win the war, however, my existence made her usefulness, nonexistent. It's because of that, I could fully understand that our deaths would bring about the both of you's happiness. My adorable younger sisters, thank you for letting me be your older brother. Live on.
"What a selfish and inconsiderate jackass" Sloane said as she dropped his letter to the side "Unlike you, I wasn't glad to have such an older brother taking care of me. Kenzie would say the same"
"Are you alright?"
"You have no idea how many times this heart of mine has been shattered into a million pieces" she replied back as she picked up the last letter addressed to her "Just like other pains, the feeling will surely dull out eventually" Nathan went back to sitting across her when she said this
"I told you to turn your kindness into your greatest weapon if you wanted to become stronger" Nathan said "The Sloane I'm seeing now, isn't a completely different person"
Sloane opened the last letter and took the paper out "I'll say it again, 'I haven't changed one bit'" she said "The Sloane in front of you, is a product of all the advices I've received from you" she smiled "Without your earlier advice, maybe, I'd be unable to move forward....Thank you"
"You're welcome" Nathan said, after recoving from the earlier impact from Sloane's words