As Leox and Astra stepped foot into the gate leading to the Hawking Estate, they immediately felt a shift in the world around them. The skies turned red, and all sound from outside of the garden was drowned out. Silence followed, and a heavy atmosphere took over their surroundings. The door to the building swung open, as if blown by a gust of wind. Beyond, nothing could be seen. The inside of the house was utter darkness.

  Leox looked over at Astra. The Astrologer wasted no time summoning the essence of Alfred's Star, which descended from the sky and fell into his hand as a golden trident. It was the only source of light that didn't seem sinister in the strange place.

  The kind boy's face no longer carried a smile.

  "I sense something bad coming from inside that house, Leox," Astra said seriously. "Forces that I've never felt before."

  Leox drew his blade and made sure he was ready to use any skill when necessary. He agreed with Astra, except it was a feeling he had felt before. The same atmosphere from his time spent in the tunnels with Donn Hawkings. His only thoughts at that moment were that Ivy might be somewhere inside this sinister place. That thought was enough to motivate him to head inside.

  "Come on. We shouldn't waste any time," he said, stepping towards the sinister door.

  Astra nodded and followed behind him. "Of course."

  The door slammed behind them as they stepped inside. Flames suddenly lit the chandelier that hung above them, revealing two corridors ahead. The interior of the building didn't look like what it was meant to. There seemed to be two paths leading towards different locations. It was as though games were being played on them.

  Astra thrust his trident forwards. A shard of golden light broke off of the trident and travelled down the left corridor. It carried on for twenty meters before fading away. Its light revealed nothing but a corridor that never changed.

  Leox grasped at his white hair in frustration. "They want us to split up. It's like they know why we're here, and don't want us to be together."

  "Then all we have to do is ignore them and stay together. We are stronger in numbers."

  Leox wanted to agree, until he realised that wasn't necessarily the case. Astra was still unaware of his immortality, and as long as he was here, he would have to make sure he avoided death at all costs. That meant that he would be unable to use his life force to amplify his skills to their greatest capacity. But there was another reason why he knew that they had to split up as well.

  "If we both travel down the left corridor, Ivy could be down the right. We would be leaving her in the possession of the Hawkings for longer," he explained.

  Astra realised his logic. He made a sharp sound with his mouth in annoyance. "So they have given us no choice, then?" he asked.

  Not necessarily, but let's make it seem that way.

  "Yes. Do you think you can handle yourself alone?" he answered anyway.

  "Of course. Yourself?"

  "I've dealt with a Hawkings before, I can do it again. Look, if you end up finding Ivy, set her free and bring her to the City Palace. Don't wait for me. We need to get to safety as soon as possible. The Palace is where all the strongest in the city will be, and also our allies."

  Astra's kind smile returned to his face. He nodded his head and patted a hand on Leox's shoulder.

  "And if you find her, do the same. We will meet back at the palace in due time, and Ivy will be with us."

  Leox found himself smiling too. Astra's kindness was contagious. "Good luck, friend."

  "You too."

  Without another word, the two dashed off down their respective corridors. Astra took the left, and Leox took the right.

  After running for what felt like a minute with still nothing changing, Leox stopped. He had been using the Flame skill to spark a fire that lit up the corridor, yet still, nothing changed.

  What is this place? How have the Hawkings managed to do this? I thought they were just connected to the concept of death. This seems more like illusions.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  Leox started running again, but this time his steps were stopped by a sound coming from the area in front of him. He used Flame again and saw the source of the noise.

  A... being was emerging from the ground as though it were dirt. The floor crumbled away and a skeleton hand clawed its way through, followed by a head and body.

  Leox stepped back and prepared his skills, keeping his eye on the skeleton. However, it did not move or advance towards him. Instead, it began shifting. Its body began to develop muscles and organs in mere seconds, followed by facial features, then even clothing. What was left standing in front of him was a man dressed in an ancient-looking outfit. The rags were poorly made and a funny hat sat atop the man's head. His skin was wrinkled and a giant scar ran across the man's lips.

  Leox used the time to check if the man had an overview. It seemed that he did.

  [Unknown (Dead)]

  [Awakening Stage: Second Stage]

  [Classes:]

  Unknown

  [Class Skills:]

  Unknown

  The overview revealed a crucial piece of information to Leox. The man was already dead. This was the doings of a necromancer skill, like Donn's Reanimate Corpse.

  They stood across from each other, and now that the man's body had been fully developed, he carried a look of animosity on his face.

  "Are you the product of some sort of skill?" Leox asked, but didn't receive an answer. Instead, the man attacked.

  Clenching a fist and swinging his hand in a circular motion, droplets of water suddenly formed in the air around him. Then, the dead man merged the droplets together into something solid. Five small daggers made from water.

  With a thrust of the hand, he sent the daggers flying towards Leox with speed. He used Perfect Overheat on his legs, which coated them with an armour of red flames. Then, he dashed to the side, crashing into the wall and just barely managing to miss the knives. Before he could recover, the man was attacking again, this time charging towards him.

  Leox covered the rest of his body with Perfect Overheat and felt himself being enveloped in flame. However, this had no use. The dead man gathered the moisture from the air and created a ball of water in his hand as he ran. Then, he launched it like a cannonball towards Leox. The ball exploded before impact, turning into thousands of water droplets. They sizzled against his Perfect Overheat, bringing him great pain. It felt as though his skin was being scraped off, and it forced him to drop the skill.

  The dead man had closed the distance between them and finally sensed an opening. His summoning had not allowed him to bring through a weapon, but he seemed to have a proficient level of martial arts skills. He took on a wide stance and threw a palm strike at Leox, aimed at the midsection. It carried with it a shroud of clear energy, perhaps linked to a Monk skill.

  Leox could have reacted with a dodge. He would have been fast enough, and it might have given him an opening to strike back with his own sword.

  Instead, he used Perfect Counterstance. The sound of glass shattering emitted from his body right as the palm struck his chest. Leox felt no impact from the blow, and instead, its physical energy was directed right back to the dead man. A great thud came, followed by the man stumbling backwards a few steps and coughing up blood.

  Before he could recover, Leox activated Arc Strike and swung his blade horizontally. A white arc of physical energy flew from his sword and struck the man in his neck. He had pumped it with enough energy to sever heads from shoulders. He watched as it tumbled into the air and landed on the ground with a thud.

  The body lay there lifelessly for a few moments, until it eventually began to crumble into dust and evaporate. It had returned to where it came from.

  Leox dropped his skills and continued down the corridor. There was no time to waste thinking about what had happened or who the man was.

  He needed to find Ivy.

  After another minute of running, he thought he finally did.

  The corridor gave way to a large dining hall. Running up its centre was a long table, with lit candles atop it and empty plates with cutlery at their sides. The walls of the room were covered in beautiful paintings, all portraits of a man familiar to Leox: Mister Hawkings.

  "It's my lucky day. I was hoping it would be you, and not Astra. Though I do feel sorry for that boy. In a way, his fate will be worse than yours."

  Sitting at the head of the table was the exact man from the paintings. He wore a black trench coat and black hat that shrouded the full identity of his face. Eventually, he took it off, revealing a bald head, a wrinkled face, and cracked lips that smiled at him.

  Leox immediately felt anger welling inside of him at the sight of the man. He was prepared to fight with everything on the line right there and then, but first he needed answers.

  "Where is Ivy?" he spat.

  "Safe. She escaped earlier today and killed my last child. Shame."

  The response took him off guard. "Morigann?" Leox asked. Has Ivy really taken down Morigann?

  "Ah yes, you were familiar with her, weren't you? Apologies, but your girlfriend beat you to it. She embraced the darkness and slayed Morigann this morning before fleeing from the estate. It was a sad moment, but it worked out better for me."

  Mister Hawkings rose to his feet, which made Leox's body tense. But strangely, he didn't sense any animosity coming from the man. For some reason, he seemed incapable of violence. His walk was slow, and he even had a limp in one leg.

  "I have always wondered, Leox. Do you know why you were captured by Donn?" the man asked, slowly circling the room.

  Leox did the same, never taking his eye off him or letting his guard down. "Because he's sick."

  "Aren't we all?" the man laughed. "No, it is more than just that. Donn, like the rest of the Hawkings family, was made aware of your existence. It was only a matter of time before we kidnapped you and brought you where you needed to be. However, since Donn found you first, we allowed him to conduct his experiments. After all, we would only have you for a limited amount of time."

  Leox almost froze. The words of this man made no sense to him.

  "Kidnap me and bring me where?"

  Mister Hawkings smiled a sick smile. "Why, to Emperor Alom, of course. His majesty is awfully interested in the one known as the Immortal."