In the distance a door materialized and Jacob made a break for it. Grabbing the door handle he burst through the door not taking a moment to wait for any possible dangers. The door opened back into the hallway he was previously in and as he looked around he saw one path leading deeper into a hallway on his right. While on his left he saw the doorway to the cage. But this time it felt different, almost as if something had happened while he was gone. He moved towards the cage and saw that The Dark Master was meditating on the inside.
Jacob left him alone as he looked around the room for a way out. A door that wasn't there before had materialized in the room while he was gone. It was in a corner that seemed to become forgettable every time he looked away. if he moved his eyes off it for even a moment, it gave him an instant feeling of deja vu to look back once more. He headed to the door and twisted the handle slowly inching the door open as he peered through carefully.
Within he saw nothing but darkness and somehow this comforted him. Opening the door, he stepped forward and it closed behind him, plunging him into darkness.
"What the hell was that?" Jacob thrust upwards. The next instant he was doubled over in pain and his breathing became ragged. After a few minutes, he could push through the pain to look around. He noticed he was in his room and his mother was passed out in the chair by his bed. The pain in his abdomen wasn't as bad as it was when it was placed on him but he wasn't sure how long he'd been out. He looked at his other carefully and noticed her light aura had been slightly flickering as if she had exhausted her powers from overuse. Frowning to himself, he leaned over slowly and touched her elbow, "Mom?"
Her eyes opened slowly, taking in her surroundings as she focused on her son and tears began to well in her eyes.
"Jacob…" She grabbed him and clutched him tightly to her chest. Jacob could feel the heart inside her beating faster than he thought one could move. Tears fell from her cheeks onto his shoulder as she slowly moved him away at arm's length. "Are you ok? Of course you aren't ok. You've been out for months…"
"What? What are you talking about? It only felt like I was gone for a few hours, tops." He said as he looked at her with confusion. months? How could he have been in that place for longer than a few hours? A sharp pain in his abdomen quickly reminded him that he wasn't the same as before.
"What happened? Your father said The Chancellor came and that he was here for you but I don't understand. Your father wouldn't say anything about the mark on your abdomen either." The pain and fear in her voice made his heart break for his mother. The desperation in her eyes only grew the longer he didn't answer her, but what he didn't know what to say.
"Sometimes he just sits here and waits for something to happen." A tear fell from her cheek as the door opened behind the both of them. Ankor entered just as she finished her last words and he grabbed his son and lifted him off the bed as he hugged him. After a few moments, he set him down. Both of his parents just stared as if he was going to pass out again and leave them once more. No one was sure what to say at this point until Jacob spoke up.
"What happened to me? Who was that man? Why do I have this weird symbol on my stomach? and… Why do I feel so different?" All of his questions just poured out of him one after another. Each one with different inflections, different tones, but all of them having the same emotions of anger, confusion, and sadness. He had just lost months of time being stuck in whatever that was and he still has yet to know anything more. The only thing he knew was this; A complete stranger came to his home, attacked his father, and placed something inside of him.
"Son… we can talk about all of this at another time. You should eat something." Ankor looked at his son with concern but there was something else that Jacob couldn't place. What could possibly be so different now that his father looks at him like this?
"I'm not hungry." The look on his faced showed he was determined to find out what was going on but his parents weren't just yet willing to say. Hesara looked down, stood up, and walked to the door. Ankor stayed behind as the door shut behind her.
"I will explain everything soon, but not right now. Just try to keep your power use to a minimum for now, ok?" He put his hand on his son's shoulder and smiled, but try as he might this wasn't as reassuring as he hoped. His smile was filled with all the emotions he was holding back and all of it was plain to see for Jacob. Jacob knew his father was just trying to protect him from whatever was going on but he deserved to know the truth. There was someone in there while he was out here. Who was the Dark Master and why was he locked away? Ankor slipped out of the room while Jacob was lost in thought as all of his questions flickered through his mind.
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A few weeks passed with tension growing between Jacob and his parents. Every time he asked them a question his mother didn't know what to say and his father avoided it. The voice inside of him occasionally popped up tempting him to do something devious here and there. His siblings saw him talking to himself more often over those weeks and thought he was mentally breaking under the pressure of his powers. A few of their other siblings had done that in the past and suddenly vanished. One night, he saw his father enter his study and before the door shut to ward it, Jacob was able to slip inside.
"No more stalling, ok?" He looked at his father who was visibly shocked to see his son standing before him. He had put extra wards up for the room so that no one but himself could get in the room. Jacob shouldn't have been able to get in. "I'm tired of being brushed off. What's going on? I need to know." The frustration in his voice sounded almost like he was pleading for his father to listen to him.
"Jacob… you don't underst-" Ankor was cut off by his son before he could finish making whatever excuse he was about to tell him. He didn't yet know what to tell him, but he knew he still need more time.
"No! I don't care anymore about your excuses. Tell me what's going on." He yelled at his father as a force emanated from him, sending his father flying back into his chair. There was a fire within Jacob's eyes that his father had never seen before, but just as suddenly as it was there, it was gone once more. Jacob saw what he had just done and stepped back quickly as his breath caught in his throat.
Fear rose up in his chest taking over for the anger that was there just moments before. "I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to." He began walking towards his father, hands outstretched to help him stand if need be. "Are you okay?" There was a sadness in his voice at the sight of how he could do this to his own father.
"I'm fine. It's okay." Ankor lied as he raised his hand to stop his son from getting any closer. He could feel his ribs slowly healing along with his spine healing as well. The chair might have stopped most of the impact from harming him even more but he didn't want to scare his son. Jacob looked at his father trying to see if he'd been hurt but he couldn't tell from where he stood.
He stood there with his hands awkwardly behind his back as if the whole room would collapse if he moved. He didn't know what even happened just now or how he did that.
"The man the other day was The Chancellor. He used to be the leader of the old council from where your mother and I are from." Jacob looked at his father trying to understand what exactly he was saying. His parents never talked about where they originally came from.
"There was a war... and your mother and I thought if we left then we'd be safe from all of this, but we thought wrong." He looked over at the book case next to his son. He smiled to himself at the sight of the boy trying to make himself as small as possible knowing just how much damage he had just done. "You aren't going to hurt anything. Will you grab that book from the book case over there and bring it over here?" He motioned at the book case and Jacob did as he was told after thinking it over hesitantly.
Jacob looked down at the book and saw writing he couldn't make any sense of.
"Ah, it seems people still know the old language." The Dark Master said seemingly amused by the sight and he winced as he heard it. The sudden interruptions of The Dark Master had become a common annoyance for Jacob to deal with. Jacob tried his best to ignore his voice because every time he heard it, it felt like his brain was being gripped and something being tightened around it.
"What is this writing?" He said as he sat the book down in front of his father. Up this close he noticed there was a darker spot on the side of his father's shirt. Blood.