The room fell into a stunned silence, the only sound being the soft echo of Wulfric's confession. Don's face contorted into a picture of confusion, mirroring the shocked expressions that painted everyone else's faces.
For a mont, Elidyr stood frozen, the weight of the revelation sinking in. Then, anger flared up inside him. "You think this is so kind of sick joke?" he spat out, his voice seething with betrayal. "You're just screwing with !"
But amidst the chaos of emotions, Michael's gaze remained fixed on Wulfric. In the old man's eyes, he saw sothing that confird the truth of his words. It wasn't a trick or a desperate attempt to manipulate; it was genuine.
"Shit, he's not lying..." Michael muttered under his breath, a rare flicker of surprise crossing his features. Even Lane, who usually had the emotional range of a dead turtle, couldn't hide his shock. His usual look of disdain was replaced by one of curiosity and shock.
"No, old friend... you are indeed my brother," Wulfric said with a heavy sigh. But Elidyr stood there, frozen, unable to comprehend how this could be true. He was a dark elf, and Wulfric was human. Moreover, Elidyr rembered his parents clearly—they were dark elves.
"He's lying, Ghost... He's just stalling to keep us from reaching the gateway to Skyhall. He wants to ss with our heads," Elidyr protested, refusing to believe Wulfric's words. However, Michael couldn't see any signs that Wulfric was lying.
"If what you are saying is true, give a drop of your blood..." Michael calmly stated. It was not a request but a borderline order. Michael was done playing by their rules and being the good guy. Since Elidyr's original body had withered away and his current body didn't belong to him, conventional spells using blood to determine relationships wouldn't work. But fortunately, Michael had the system, that could determine their biological connection by comparing the soul energy of Elidyr and the soul energy traces in Wulfric's blood.
"Don't," Lane interjected, trying to stop Wulfric from giving a drop of his blood. As a seasoned alchemist, Lane knew of several rituals and potions that could be crafted to harm the owner of the blood.
However, Wulfric just raised his hand, silently signaling Lane to keep quiet. He then cast a spell summoning a glowing dagger and slicing his palm open. Without uttering a word, he willed the drops of blood to float toward Michael. The hall fell silent as everyone watched the blood drops drift toward the Dark Lord.
Michael collected the floating drops of blood in a glass vial and stored it in his system storage with a flick of his wrist.
"System, analyze the blood and Elidyr's soul. I want to know if they are truly brothers," Michael commanded the system.
[The analysis will cost the host 50,000 badass points. Does the host wish to continue?] the system inquired. Compared to the amounts the system had recently requested for other functions, fifty thousand was a re drop in the bucket. Michael readily agreed to the price, and the system began its work.
For a few tense monts, the room was filled with silence, with everyone, including Elidyr, waiting anxiously. But when Elidyr caught a glimpse of the Dark Lord's expression, he could tell Michael was on the brink of uncovering the truth.
The tense silence in the hall stretched, every eye fixed on the Dark Lord as he awaited the system's verdict. Finally, the system's voice echoed in Michael's mind, clear and devoid of emotion.
[Analysis complete. Genetic compatibility confird. Elidyr and Wulfric are biological brothers]
Michael's expression remained unreadable for a mont before he turned to face Wulfric and Elidyr. "Elidyr, he's telling the truth... He is your brother," Michael confird, dropping a bombshell on Elidyr's head. Although Elidyr didn't know how the Dark Lord ca to this solid conclusion, he had witnessed Michael's powers and the uncanny way he achieved things as if by magic. Trusting in Michael's words, Elidyr didn't question the thods but accepted the results.
"But how...I know my parents…" Elidyr stuttered, his voice laden with confusion and disbelief.
"You have so explaining to do, Headmaster. Like I said, I'm sick of secrets... It's better you co clean and tell us everything," Michael pressed calmly.
As Michael spoke, every eye in the room turned toward Wulfric, their gazes heavy with expectation. Wulfric felt the weight of their stares, knowing he could no longer shield Elidyr from the painful truths. Michael was right; the secrets had already caused enough damage. Wulfric took a deep, steadying breath before he began his tale, his voice heavy with the weight of long-kept secrets. "Elidyr, our mother was a Dark Elf, and our father was human. They were from Itonys, a realm that exists beyond the edges of the mortal world,"
At the ntion of Itonys, a visible shock passed through Michael. His eyes widened slightly, a rare sign of surprise from the usually composed Dark Lord. The realm of Itonys was more than just a realm that existed outside the mortal realm. It was a realm where the dark elves and wood elves worshipped the Dark Lord. The fact that Elidyr's parents were from Itnoys was nothing but a shock to him.
"You rember your parents well, Elidyr. However, you never t them—not truly. The mories you hold of them were crafted by . I locked away your true mories and replaced them with fabrications, a necessary deception at the ti to protect you from harsher truths." Wulfric continued, his gaze locked with Elidyr's, who listened intently, trying to piece together the fragnts of his shattered past. Elidyr's anger simred at the surface as his disbelief morphed into a palpable fury. The revelation that his entire understanding of his past—the mories of his parents—were nothing more than fabrications crafted and implanted by Wulfric, shook him to his core. In a swift, reactive burst, Elidyr lunged toward Wulfric, intent on confronting him physically for the betrayal.
However, Michael's firm grip halted him before he could reach Wulfric. Michael's hand clamped around Elidyr's arm, anchoring him in place with an unyielding strength that spoke of his godly power.
"Go on, Headmaster... enlighten us. Why did you do all that?" Michael's voice was calm but carried an edge.
"Why... why the hell would you do that? What kind of brother screws over his own kin, locking away his mories and leaving him to suffer for over two thousand years?" Elidyr growled, the pain and anger bubbling up, causing his eyes to well with tears. Even Michael couldn't maintain his usual composure, his gaze turning icy as he awaited Wulfric's explanation.
"Because, Elidyr, you asked to lock away your mories and replace them with fabrications," Wulfric revealed, dropping a bombshell that stunned everyone even more than the initial revelation of their brotherhood.
"What? I... How could I... What?" Elidyr's words stumbled out in confusion and disbelief.
"The mories you have before the curse are only fragnts of the truth, Elidyr. You weren't just at Skyhall, or involved in the ritual that banished Ghost to Earth. You did far more than that." Wulfric continued.
Each word Wulfric spoke seed to hit Michael like a physical blow. He rembered the cruel fate Skyhall had imposed on Elidyr, pinning him to a tree, alive and awake for millennia, a punishnt more severe than any torture he knew. Michael also recalled Elidyr's own account of his actions—how he had turned against Skyhall upon witnessing their genocides and atrocities committed under the guise of a greater good, how he had fled, leaving behind his work on the ritual that would eventually ensnare Michael, believing it was for the greater good at the ti.
But after hearing Wulfric's words, it was clear to Michael that there was more to Elidyr's story.
"You believed in Skyhall's work and you created the ritual to send the unborn child of Harriet to Earth. But our parents, they tried to stop you. They worshipped the Dark Lord, his previous incarnation. But you believed in your work, convinced that the Dark Lord needed to be vanquished. You didn't leave Skyhall when they committed genocides and slaughtered innocents; no, the real reason you left was to destroy them… to avenge our parents who died at the hands of the Skyhall elders," Wulfric dropped another truth bomb.
"They tried to stop you from completing your work. But you were adamant. They followed you to Skyhall as you were about to finish the array, but those poor souls didn't realize they were walking into the lion's den... When the elders saw them trying to convince you to stop your work and their loyalty to the Dark Lord, they labeled our parents as traitors to the world… they…" Wulfric's voice choked up, unable to finish his sentence. Even after thousands of years, the pain of losing his parents was still raw.
"Tell what happened," Elidyr growled, his voice thick with pain.
"The Skyhall burned them... burned their whole tribe alive after you kicked them out of your workshop. You didn't learn what Skyhall had done until it was too late... You blad yourself for their deaths," Wulfric said, pausing as he recalled the last words Elidyr spoke to his parents.
"I wish you two dark lord-worshipping traitors would die," those were the final words Elidyr had said to his parents, Wulfric rembered, the weight of that mory heavy in the silence that followed.
"To enact your revenge…you created the very weapon that beca the Skyhall's most powerful weapon…the Celestial Cannon," Wulfric said, making even Michael raise his brows.
Reviews
All reviews (0)