“Theron!” I screamed when I saw his body floating on the water. I dived into the pool right away. I was startled when my skin was torn. There was acid in the water. I could feel my wounds reopening. My swollen body ached once more but I continued swimming until I reached Theron. His body had turned violet. I panicked when I no longer felt his heartbeat.
Damn. Whoever was behind this, I promised to make him pay. I was willing to keep enduring their attacks. But including Theron and other people was a different matter.
I carried Theron in my arms. I held his hand and tried to transfer some of my power to him. My nose bled which meant that I had been straining my energy too much, but I did not stop. I used all the healing spells I knew. But Theron’s body kept rejecting my magic. His heart was no longer responding no matter what I do.
“No, this can’t be!” I yelled in an edgy voice. “Wake up, Theron, I beg you. No, I command you to open your eyes, damn it! You promised never to leave my side! What the hell are you doing now?”
“That’s enough, Alex!” I heard Nathan said. He suddenly appeared beside me.
He was my cousin who managed to escape from Arameth through the help of some of my subordinates there who remained faithful to me regardless of what happened. There were ten more wizards who escaped with him. They were in our headquarters right now. I told them to rest and to not make a move for the meantime. Those were the allies Theron talked about. They all had high rankings when they were still my Knights and did not hesitate to follow me here when they had the chance.
These people were as foolish as Theron for blindly following me after all these time. They all believed I was innocent. I had only heard about them recently after I reunited with them again.
Nathan had disclosed our darkest family secret to those Knights. Of course, they disapproved of what my parents did, but they remained loyal to me and made a Knighthood oath before me once more. Their arrival had provided me additional hope. But I could see that last glimmer of hope about to die down any moment. The enemies were targeting us one by one. If we would appear all at once, then we would also die all at once.
“Alex, listen to me-“
“If you are not going to help, then shut the hell up, Nathan!” I yelled at him. I did not notice that Nathan followed me. I was with him when I performed the locator spell. He and the Knights informed me that my relatives were still imprisoned until this day and that the citizens of Arameth had never stopped plotting ways to make each day unbearable for them.
I was the only one who committed a crime. But the citizens could not stand the fact that my family was living quietly after being kicked out from Eliran. They had been framed-up seven years ago because of the many cases people charged against them. They also did not have a legal counsel to represent them at the unfair trial.

OF COURSE, nobody would want to represent a demon’s family. Every single day since then, the Armethians try to make a way to kill my family either by poisoning them through the food or water that was brought in the cell or by directly attacking them.
I also found out that my father’s parents had been poisoned and had died a long time ago. The only ones alive now were the strongest people in our clan which was my father, and the ones who drank the potion from the elemental crystals, and their children, me and my half-Armethian cousins. The Knights said that the Government officials knew the unjust treatment for the Sormonts inside the prison, but they did not do anything to stop it. They indulged it instead. Because after Crono used my body to accomplish his revenge, the system had changed drastically in Arameth.
They said that the citizens had become hot-tempered and violent. The simple mess they create which could be fixed could easily turn to chaos until the people who were involved would end up dead. The peace and order had long been gone and the laws were no longer given importance. The rebels that my team and I fought before came back to attack the provinces and their number had increased. They had successfully invaded some provinces.
Countless Armethians had fought back to defend their lands but in the end, they died and the rebels won because the Government no longer cared about their people. The Knights said that the Arameth was like a ship that was sinking deeper and deeper day by day.
The Armethians had also become killers. Betrayal was all over our realm. It had become a virus that had spread like a wild fire and the Officials there could not cure it. Now, it seemed like every one of us was struggling to survive day after day. And the sinners like us deserved that. But the innocent people like Theron did not.
“For heavens’ sake, come to your senses, Alex! He is dead! And you are still weak because of your previous injuries! Even if you continue performing all the healing spells you know and even if you’ve succeeding in getting rid of all the toxins inside Theron’s body, it will still be useless! He is not coming back anymore! You are risking your life for nothing! Wake up, Alexandros! All the toxins will transfer in your body instead! And you will not be able to handle that!”
“I can! Watch me.” I brushed Nathan’s hand off me as I continued performing the spell. I began coughing blood and my hands started to shake, but I did not mind. And I would not have stopped if only Nathan did not push me so hard.