Family Business

A long un-forgotten voice stirs Joshua from his sleep. "Joshua, get up." A maid dressed in black and white calls out to him as a shoe is promptly thrown hitting him in his side. "Is this what you like to do when I’m away?" Furrowing her brow she sighs. "What am I going to do with you?” Reacting on instinct, grabbing his pillow he throws it towards the voice, missing quite pathetically the strength in his arms clearly faltering. A look of mild amusement spreads across her face. “You sure you want to go there young master.” His handmaiden raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms. "She never liked waking on time either."

"I get it, I'm getting up Rox- No, that's not right."?” A slight pause ensues as he rustles around opening his mouth again "That voice; Saria?" His eyes bolt open, turning his head as he faces his handmaiden. Jumping out of bed he launches over to her attempting to wrap her in a hug, but instead he runs straight into her bosom.

"Is this the afterlife?” he gasps out in muffled breaths. Reciprocating his affection she pulls him back in after kneeling down. Closing his eyes, tears start to roll down his cheeks. "What the hell is going on; Deimos took me with him.” Looking back up his pubescent voice trembles whilst placing a hand on her cheek.” Saria, you're not an illusion right... I’ve missed you so much."

Looking at his pained eyes, his handmaiden is left in confusion. Not only were they red and puffy, they looked as if they had seen years of suffering, she would know. “Deimos? Joshua, did you hit your head or something, and why are you crying. I assure you that I'm very much not an illusion.” Rustling his hair, She looks down on the young boy with a grin. Taking in his embarrassment, she heads to the door. “You probably just had a nightmare. Everything will be okay.” She looks towards Joshua, a soft gaze in her eyes.

Backing up confused and embarrassed, he covers his face. Feeling his now soft supple skin, free of scars and hair; many questions race through his mind. But before he can process anything he looks back at his handmaiden. She grins at him with a devious look in her eyes, causing him to sweat drop. “I forgot she was like that wasn’t she…” Joshua shakes his head for a moment whilst taking in a deep breath.

“Hurry up young master and get yourself dressed; we’re burning daylight.” Saria’s tone shifts.

“But…” his voice cracks.

“No buts, Joshua.” She gazes towards him sternly.

"Yes Ma'am." Joshua's arms drop, his face left pouting towards the ground as she takes her exit.

"So, the man who killed the demon king is backing off because the words of a handmaid, that’s simply priceless. How far have you fallen Joshua Von Terra; Disciple of the Mercenary King." An oh so familiar voice begins to laugh.

“If you don’t get out of my head you bastard, I swear to Serox.” Joshua clenches his fists as annoyance spreads across his face.

“Don’t be like that kid, it’s not like I had much of a choice of who my soul was bound to.” Joshua struggles to hold his tongue. "After all you should feel honored to share your body with me kid.” The disembodied voice gloats.

“Honored; I just died a few moments ago, now look at me”. The boy gesturing to his tiny frame. “All my years of growth and training down the drain. Damn it.” He slams his arms down on his bed rattling its frame, the creaking of wood echoing through the door.

"What was that." A sharp voice penetrates through the wall.

"Nothing,” Joshua spits out frantically. Lowering his voice, his face shows his nervousness. Walking over to his mirror, it reflects his form back to him. Its him, a twenty-six-year-old man truly back in a thirteen year old’s body. Everything down to his gray lounge-wear was the same as he remembered.

Closing his eyes, Joshua mumbles in a hushed tone. "Who are you anyways?"

"The names Draxis." The disembodied voice answers.

"Who?" Joshua replies, the name not ringing any bells. As he picks up a change of clothes.

"You’ve got to be yanking my tail. You don't recognize the name of the Crimson Dragon." Draxis exasperatedly yells into his ears.

"Not at all. I’m pretty sure dragon kind vanished a few hundred years ago. I could be wrong though, some of my memories are pretty hazy after all; Also as for the Crimson Dragon, wasn’t that a just a legend.” Joshua brushes his hair back and tucks in his black tunic.

"You've got to be kidding me; Draxis; the Crimson Dragon, I literally helped found your clan.” Draxis sounds out in annoyance as Joshua feels a strange presence over take him. Like a shock of lightning shooting through his veins. Collapsing to his knees, he lets out a gasp. Draxis maliciously chuckles as he relents his authority. "Remember that feeling kid."

"Ughhhh." Joshua groans clutches his head. "What the hell was that for? You sure you even have the right guy? My headache of a clan is known as Terra and I’m pretty sure a dragon founding our clan would have been recorded. Joshua gasps whilst disoriented.

“No, you’re definitely the descendant of that prick; I can feel it in your bones, hell your aura is almost identical. You have a lot of potential kid, more than last time from what i can tell. Also the clan should be called Durandal.”

Joshua shakes his head in dismissal. “Draxis, right? As far as I understand, my body can barely utilize the aura in my feet and hands much less in my cores. It took me years of brutal training under the mercenary king to even reach that level.” Joshua stretches out his back ,his black and red dress clothes stretching with him as he sits back up to his feet.

Draxis cuts him. “Joshua, you know that you have a unique curse on your body. That’s why you can’t utilize aura properly, don’t you remember your aura flaring to life after that girl died in your arms. Also watch how to speak to your new master.” Joshua falls to a knee, Draxis starts exerting his authority once again. Joshua gasps nodding his head. “Understood, master.” The pressure instantly subsides as Joshua struggles to his feet. Continuing where he left off after Draxis mentioned his beloved, Joshua’s tone turns rougher.

“I tried to talk to you, but you ignored me. I only helped you because I didn’t have a choice, if you died I would have too. Not that it mattered in the end because of that cowardly prince.” Draxis growls coldly. Draxis tapping into Joshua's mind sends him reeling to a flashback of the end of his fight with Deimos. The aura flowing around his body, his form evolving with its power. The lifeless body of Seraphina laying in his arms.

Joshua's chest tightens, his hair starts flowing. His eyes burn red with malice.

Draxis forces him to relent letting out a sigh. “Whilst I don’t understand your nonsensical human attachments, you see what I mean? You have a very powerful body. Not only can it utilize aura to an insane, I feel like there is something even deeper than that. All it took last time was a trigger.” The dragon attempts to lift the mood.

“That won’t do me any good unless I can actually use it though.” Joshua runs a hand through his hair. “Back to the situation at hand though; Do you remember seeing anything after my body gave out on me I felt a golden warmth then nothingness.

"I haven’t the slightest idea kid, last thing I remember was you being afflicted by the demon king's curse and seeing a golden light and now here we are. I was sure we were getting sent to Serox!"

"Well, judging by where I’m at currently and the fact my maid is still alive, that definitely didn't happen. Somehow we got sent back to my past by something.” Joshua shakes his head sighing. “I didn’t think it was even possible. I thought tampering with time was a cardinal sin.” Joshua's mind reflects back on a list of rules he was taught by the Pontifex years ago. Looking back down at his current physique, he cringes. “From the looks of this body, I probably have around a few months before I get meet the same fate as last time. Why couldn’t I have been sent back a few years, why this far back.” Joshua scowls whilst trying to not lash out, his fists clenching.

“Why would you be humiliated? Just dominate everyone. Isn’t this better, don't it allow you to change your fate from the very start.” Draxis lets out a genuine laugh. “If I were you, I’d be grateful for this second chance. Now you can rewrite your destiny.” Laughter echoes through Joshua’s mind.

Joshua slams his hands into his face unable to cope with current events as he shouts. "Bloody hell, Why the hell would 'they' send me back before that damn ceremony?” Joshua’s eyes flash red as he's overcome by rage. Lashing out, he throws a punch into his pillow, it exploding on impact. The feathers rain down across his room, his eyes widen. “She’s going to kill me.” he gulps.

"Calm down kid you aren’t going to die, I told you that we can fix your pesky little problem. We just have to start training your poor excuse of a body and find mine.” Joshua scowls at the subtle insult.

“Any immediate solutions.” Joshua slowly breathes in and out, doing his best to remain calm.

“I can help you start circulating and repairing your aura network.” Joshua perks up at the news.

“If your being serious and can fix this mess, I’m in.” Joshua looks down gesturing to his body.

"You done yet Joshua?" Saria groans from the other side of the door with a tone that sends chills down his spine.

"Coming," Joshua shouts whilst throwing his boots on, quickly racing towards the door.

"We'll figure that out later; I don't want to keep her waiting. I don’t know how I’m going to explain the pillow though." Joshua mumbles to himself.

"I can see that, though I'll be honest, it’s kind of funny to watch her get mad at you." Draxis snickers.

"Be glad she can’t hear you. When she's pissed, she can be even scarier than father himself." Shuddering at the thought, he quickly darts out of the room and shuts the door. He then makes his way to her side. "So where are we going, Saria?” Joshua lifts his head towards handmaiden as she brushes her hand through a strand of hair that fell over her ear.

She shakes her head. "Don’t you remember the patriarch scheduling a meeting with all the children a week ago once he returned to the estate?”

“I guess I forgot.” Joshua shrugs his shoulders with a sly grin on his face.

“I’ll be honest with you young master; I’m kind of worried, especially about you. Normally he doesn't summon all of you unless its serious.” Saria lets out a sigh as Joshua pats her back.

"Don’t worry too much Saria, if it were that bad of a situation, I doubt he would have called me. I haven’t done anything wrong after all.” Joshua attempts to lighten the mood.

She looks at him whilst nodding her head. “I hope so...” Looking down, she places her left hand over her brow.

"I'll be honest though, I wish I would have had of had more time to prepare for this." Joshua mentally communicates with his master. “If memory serves me right, father was quite disappointed with everyone further driving home his high expectations of his potential heirs.” He sighs aloud catching a glance from a passing guard.

"Don’t sweat it kid. He can’t be that bad. Nothing can top Durand’s personality. He was a raging prick, if he wanted something he just took it and if he didn’t get it, he blew it up.” Draxis’s tone changes into something resembling a hint of fear.

"That’s not it master... I’m just the weakest and youngest of the clan, if memory serves me right father actually had delayed my training for some reason. I was supposed to start over a year ago." Joshua trails off. “And for future reference for you Draxis, father not having summoned any of the overseers means he wants to keep this under wraps. He did this a few times.” Joshua looks down lifting his left hand to the side of his head. Saria looks to her right with a soft smile, as she pats him on the shoulder.

As they walk down the long hallway, Joshua takes in another deep breath closing his eyes and hardens his resolve. “You can do this Joshua, just remember proper protocol for interacting with father. And for the love of all that's holy, don’t make a fool of yourself again. The twins will undoubtedly try to rile me up again.”

The black-haired maiden stops in her tracks as they approach a large double door covered with metal ornamentation. “Young master, this is as far as I’m allowed to go. You know the rules; I’ll be waiting here for your return.”

“Thank you, Saria.” Joshua hesitantly smiles. “Actually, Saria could you head back to my room and get a me a new pillow?” Joshua nervously laughs as Saria shakes her head.

“I should have figured you broke something when I felt that sudden bit of force through the wall.” Saria faintly laughed as she nods. “Very well young master, I’ll go take care of your mess. You'd better do well in there then, I’ll try and be back before you finish.”

Joshua smiles at her nodding his head. “Thank you, Saria, I’ll do my best.” She bows in return as she heads out. Joshua nervously makes his way up to large set of double doors, narrowing his eyes and focusing.

Draxis chuckles. “You’ll be fine kid; I’ve got your back.” His tone shifts to that of someone friendly.

Letting out one final breath Joshua pushes the doors open. They make a loud creaking sound as he steps into the main chamber, all of his siblings are gathered and seated. In the middle of the room sits a giant stone slab that only half-heartedly resembles a table with a large rugged throne seated at its head. Two shadows clad in all black post beside it.“Gemini, your dismissed." The two shadows quickly vanish into a cloud of smoke.

“It seems my youngest has finally arrived" the patriarch states calmly as those in the room begin to murmur. "Let’s get this over with.” Joshua thinks to himself as he bows to his father and taking his seat across from him.

"Look who finally decided to show up, kept us waiting long enough." Vilhelm snarkily chuckles. His brother Wilhelm continues on, his voice full of sarcasm. “Exactly, we’ve been waiting ages for you.”

“Surely, you’ve been making good use of your time and not just lounging around.” Vilhelm snickers whilst they stare at their slightly younger brother

"Now isn't the time to pester Joshua. He’s only fifteen minutes late; father is getting ready to speak, so be quiet." A cold demure voice echoes out.

"You're always ruining our fun Lysandra. We just wanted to catch up with him since haven’t seen him in a while. He's always off hiding or reading something.” Some of the siblings watch on with mild amusement while the eldest two present shake their heads in disinterest.

"ENOUGH." a booming voice shakes the room. “The twins quickly shut their mouths and look towards their father.

“Yes sir.” They sound out. The two fourteen-year-old boys shudder at the commanding tone of their father as it bares down on them. Closing his eyes he continues on. “So to get started, I’ve heard that both and Furield and Illia have suffered a great deal of losses while I’ve been away. What’s the meaning of this, I clearly left you two in charge in my absence, was my judgement mistaken?” The patriarch turns his head towards his two eldest. As the air goes still as a deep red aura emanates from the patriarchs eyes.

“This pressure is suffocating and I’m the furthest away.” Attempting to calm himself, Joshua takes a deep breath, the pressure in the room tightening. Draxis flexes his authority shielding Joshua as an invisible red glow coats him.

"Lysandra?” The patriarch calls upon his second oldest. A twenty-one-year-old woman with long black pinned up hair and deep blue eyes replies with a very calculated response.

“Your judgement was not misplaced father; I’ve been stretching my people and assets thin all-throughout our territory. It seems that an outside force is working is at play here, I think that there may be a rebellion forming there, at least according to reconnaissance. It’s nothing you have to trouble yourself with father. I will take care of it.”

Giving her a look that he knows more than she lets on, he counters her. “Lysandra; I know you’ve been working closely on your own pet projects. I’m not quite sure what they have to do with me leaving you in charge of Illia though. I expect more from you, make sure you solve this problem promptly. Do you understand.”

The patriarch finishes leading to a bow from his daughter. “Understood father, I will head out tomorrow!" “What about you?" the patriarch focuses his attention to his third eldest. The twenty-year-old year old with blond hair and red eyes dressed in his usual green and yellow suit replies with nervous sweat dripping from his brow.

"I'm completely at fault father; "The patriarch glares at the desultory attempt at taking the blame onto himself. His brow furrows and his eyes twitch as a scowl forms on his face. “As you know father, your children are focusing on building their own connections and setting up expeditions. I’ve been quite busy preparing. Thus, I’ve been leaving Furield's military to its own devices. It’s not like they don’t have their own captains and generals after all."

"Wallace, this is the last time I'm going to tell you this. DO YOUR JOB or I will take it and give it to someone else. Hell at this point I should just give your position to Overseer Hugo.”

“But father; We’ve been trying to retake the territory far north of Furield back for months from those damn monsters. And yet you refuse to send the dog in to take care of it.” Wallace replies in a whiny tone ending with a sly insult of the eldest.

“Wallace! That can wait, if we can’t protect what we already have, why the hell would I waste resources it. If it’s that big of an issue for you, why don’t you go take care of it? You're the the third strongest of my children.” The patriarch's harsh tone continues. “Also, HE is not a dog, Dialos is your damn brother.” The patriarch cuts him off his eyes radiating fury.

“But that place is swarming with monsters though; we need to take care of it before it becomes a bigger problem. The damn things have been evolving, some of them have even started using magic. If we leave it be, it could become a much bigger problem.” Wallace fails to defend himself.

“Boy, do you not comprehend that all monster attacks have increased in the past couple months across all of our territory, that place is at the bottom of our priorities. Surely you can’t expect a city that nearly collapsed two years ago to be fully prepared for a monster outbreak. I mean Hardell would have been ransacked if it wasn’t for The Frozen Fang being there.” The patriarch slams his fist onto the table as he begins another tirade.

"Don't bring up magic here boy... It should be nothing for an aura master to take care of." Wallace gulps in response.

“That’s why I left you in charge; you have the third largest force in our entire clan at your disposal and plenty of combat experience. It takes time to train up a cities forces from scratch; you can’t expect them to take care of it when they don’t even have aura; I will not tolerate any more failures from you. If you keep this up, I will revoke all of your authority, and send you to the front-lines with the ‘dog’ as you call him." The patriarch finishes speaking, a hint of venom in the last sentence.

The threat from his father causes his eyes to widen. “I understand father." Gritting his teeth, he bows and retakes his seat." “How dare you threaten to send me to fight alongside that monster. It’s a disgrace to even be related to the mad dog you gave the title Black Fang.” Everyone looks around wondering who the patriarch would call upon next with bated breaths.

"Next one up should be Jeras if I'm remembering correctly, something about the dead-lands." Joshua recollects his thoughts as he shuffles around in his seat as all eyes now rest on his sixteen-year-old brother. His messy brown hair and red eyes looking towards the patriarch tranquilly.

The patriarch speaks after a brief moment of silence. "How goes the extermination efforts at the eastern edge of the dead-lands; Jeras?"

"Slow, father, somehow even with the assistance of the order of Serox, barely any progress has been made. Our men just keep getting sick. Last time I was out there even I started feeling it. There was also an attack on one of the settlements we were watching over by undead thralls. We were able to clear them out without too much resistance but...”

“Hmm, that desert has always been trouble for our clan.” The patriarch muses.

“Yeah, it’s like something in there is actively halting our advances, not wanting us to get in. The people bordering the dead-lands have also been starting to feel quite uneasy with the lack of progress as well."

"I’ve been trying to reassure them everything is under control; I’m hoping for a breakthrough soon though. Though recently we’ve gained information from someone who had been living inside the dead-lands for a few months.” Jeras sighs. “I’ve also ordered my men to remain on high alert until we figure out what we’re going to do, and to be very careful about the supplies we are consuming. I don’t want to throw away any of our men’s lives.

"Jeras, I trust you to take care of it." The patriarch finishes with a calm look as Jeras as bows his head sitting back down, relief showing on his face.

Turning to face his fifteen-year-old little girl, he starts calmly. "Kirie, you’ve spent more time playing with your dolls and experiments rather than getting any actual work done." "I’m quite disappointed in you as Overseer Verianne had spoken quite highly of your resourcefulness and tactical mind. In turn I’ll be cutting your resources by half until you rectify your lackluster performance.” The patriarch replies cold and swiftly.

Her voice stammers. “B-but I need it to continue working on J-Jessabelle and my Golem research.” Joshua’s body stiffens as he remembers his past experiences with that thing Kirie calls a pet. “Freaky eight-legged bastard.” Joshua's mind pictures a giant black spider with pink eyes and etchings all over its body. “When she’s finished, she should be able to handle any of the mythical beasts contracted by the Zephyr clan." The pink-haired girl with teary red eyes pleads with her father not to cut her off, but he’d already made his mind up.

"SILENCE Kirie.” His voice echoes through the room; chills running down a few of their backs. His tone calms down, not wanting to be too harsh on his little girl. “Figure it out; Instead of wasting resources on that freak of nature you call a pet. Hire vagabonds or mercenaries out of your own pocket if you desire to waste resources. Remember that you are still a child Kyrie. I don’t want to hear anything more about this until you do something worth my attention.”

The young pink haired girl, replies while trembling. “Understood Father...” She quickly sinks into her seat dipping her head down with fear wanting to disappear, tears rolling down her cheeks. "Poor thing." Draxis mumbles.

The patriarchs tone turns harsh as he glares at his twin sons. “TWINS, AT ATTENTION NOW.” Wilhelm and Vilhelm jump up from their seats and stand before the patriarch his eyes glaring daggers at them. “Care to explain to me what you’ve done wrong?” The patriarch slams his fist onto table, cracking the stonework. The twin’s stagger back. “I’M WAITING,” he roars as his temper is at a boiling point; the twins collapse to their knees the atmosphere crushing them.

“We may have caused an accident while training with the other recruits.” Vilhelm chokes out.

“You may have caused an accident you say… AN ENTIRE CLASS OF RECRUITS NEARLY DIED BECAUSE OF YOUR INCOMPETENCE. YOU ARE SUPPOSED TO BE THE FUTURE OF OUR CLAN AND INSTEAD YOU ARE MAKING US LOOK LIKE COMPLETE IMBECILES.” “YOU HAVE BEEN TRAINING WITH FOR OVER A YEAR NOW AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SHOW FOR IT; STARTING TOMORROW YOU’RE BOTH BEING SENT TO BLACKWOOD.” His voice grows quieter and deeper. “The Bloody Fang of Terra will whip you brats into shape.” The patriarch takes a deep breath as his aura faintly dissipates.

“Yes father.” The twins state in synchronicity, their heads bowed, sweat dripping down their heads while trembling.

“The Blackwood’s Training Site.” Joshua pauses as fragmented memories of the place flicker through his mind. The patriarch then turns to face his youngest, his calm demeanor returning.

“As for you my youngest, As I have stated previously you will properly begin your training in two weeks. You can no longer lounge around under my care. It’s time to start proving yourself. Break your limits and get yourself ready to receive your true name.”

“YES, SIR PATRIARCH SIR.” Joshua stands up from his seat at attention. The patriarch smiles to himself as he closes his eyes. “Looks like I passed.” Joshua lets out a faint sigh of relief. "That seemed easy enough."

"Like i said Draxis, this meeting was for the others. If i remember correctly father just got back from Lycidera."

"Lycidera?"

"It's the capitol of the Order of Serox."

"I see..."

“EVERYONE YOU’RE DISMISSED” The patriarch shouts, before catching his breath from his long tirade. As everyone leaves he lets out a sigh.

“These kids don’t understand the hell breaking lose all around us, running a territory this large is a headache. Not to mention all the damn bureaucracy. They’re going have to stop acting like children soon if they want to survive. That and there is no telling when those bastards will strike again.”