Chapter 17: Dark Families’ Origin
Oblivious to Han’s thoughts, his Father’s narration returned.
[Wyrds were born across the world simultaneously, catching people off guard. Their existence was too much for others to handle, and community after community succumbed to their terror. Humans fought to their utmost abilities, deploying various war tactics and schemes. Unfortunately, all for pyrrhic victories. A significant change was needed, or deaths would follow for naught.]
"Humanity reached for the Dark Arts," Xena said, her expression cold.
Han’s forehead furrowed. "You can’t shut those fucking lips! Now you’re dropping spoilers?!"
He hated spoilers. Xena noticed and smiled.
[Dark Arts were the change.]
Xena glared at Han, ignoring his Father’s narration. "You could’ve asked me. You would’ve come prepared. That didn’t even cross your fucking mind, did it? What can I expect? You haven’t bothered to expand your knowledge, and you sealed my lips."
"So sealing your lips is your main issue? Of course I can’t learn everything in a few weeks. You know that. And when I do ask you something, you do your fucking best to piss me off. Fuck off, seriously. I have my maids and Tenaxis’ knowledge. I’ll sort it out while you whimper in bed under my Obsidian Cauldron. I’m done listening to your crap."
"You can’t even listen to a woman you torture? You’ve grown weak, Young Master Han!" Xena taunted.
Xena suddenly snapped her head to the side, spotting the hero’s ax hurtling toward Han.
He saw it and beat his wings to climb, but the ax was faster. Xena slammed her palms together before she realized what she was doing and summoned a small dark crimson orb, which pulled everything toward it. It nudged the ax’s path just enough for Han to avoid a serious blow.
She had helped without a command. He gave her a thin, sharp smile and turned to taunt her, but she yapped first.
"If you die, die at a human’s hand, not a demi-human’s!" Xena shouted.
"Isn’t he a human?!" Han replied, already midair.
"He’s a cunt who absorbed a Wyrd’s body with Dark Arts." Xena’s eyes narrowed. "A fake demi-human, not an anomaly like you, but still a fucking demi-human!"
"You’re so fucked up. Anyway, wait for the next objective. Stay on guard against him!" Han ordered.
[Dark Arts made humanity’s sacrifices meaningful. Depending on the region, each sacrifice was different. Some lost their bodies; others their emotions or sanity. Some were forced to sacrifice their families or their other halves to ensure a ritual’s success. Humanity sank into the Dark Age, where anyone could become a sacrifice. At first, there was no shortage of people willing to give something up. Their hatred toward Wyrds ran deep.]
He didn’t need his Father’s artifact to see people giving up what made them human. The words were enough; the hero’s transformation had shown him the rest.
"Ah... aahhh! Ahhhhhh!" the hero screamed.
A minotaur’s horn sprouted from his head. Dark veins bulged across his brow, and his eyes lost their irises, turning a solid wine-red. He clutched his chest and stared wildly at Han.
"It’s... more power... to... kill you all, Wyrds!" he whispered, then screamed the name of the monsters he hated.
Han smiled. Being half-dragon thrills me. This half-minotaur born of Dark Arts does too.
[In the Dark Age, Dark Practitioners no longer hid in the shadows. People offered themselves to the most competent and credible Dark Warlocks so they could avenge their families. And it didn’t stop with Wyrds. Some Dark Arts were weaker, and some Dark Practitioners were terrible. A sacrifice in vain was worse than a death sentence. In such times, the competent Dark Warlocks thrived and honed their arts further while cleansing the world of Wyrds.]
The brave hero who became a half-minotaur was neither of those. Once his eyes sank fully into madness and his mind fixated only on murder, his fate was sealed. He became a puppet to the Dark Practitioner who had given him the Dark Art to assimilate a Wyrd fragment.
[Dark Practitioners soon supplanted nobles and were granted the lands they helped purge of Wyrds. That was the beginning of the Dark Families, as they adopted the nobility system.]
"A dragon? Here?" the hero said, his voice not his own.
[Defeat the puppet now to learn more.]
Han nodded. He would never have expected the Dark Families to be some sort of antiheroes. They saved humanity. They received nobility, then kept operating in broad daylight. Although he knew he’d only learned the tip of the iceberg, it was already an eye-opening event. He could see where it was going, though he was sure the past would surprise him more.
Now that he could control his dragon bloodline better, he was eager to see how he would fare against the corrupted hero.
"Xena, how did it feel to fight my Mother?" Han asked.
He knew about dragons, but she was the best one to ask about them now. Han also believed his Mother was among the best, so a vivid account of fighting her would inspire him. And more than anything, Xena liked to yap. She might as well share her worst experience now.