Minho woke, amidst darkness and blurry silhouettes, pain resonating within his head. When he finally felt his vision improve, he sat up despite the stinging ache at the back of his head, feeling dizzy due to his swift actions. He closed his eyes, waiting for the pain to calm before opening them slowly, finding Jonghyun look at him with interest while Kibum looked at him worriedly.

Minho ascertained his whereabouts to be one of the rooms in Kibum’s pub and sighed, before a face flashed right before his eyes, spreading panic within him, “Where’s-” He stopped short on remembering to be hit by Jonghyun and the very next moment he had gotten out of bed, holding the shorter man by the collar, his eyes boring into him with rage.

“Easy, man.” Jonghyun said, glancing nervously at Minho's palms fisted at his collar, “He’s safe with his mother. You should be thanking me. You were unknowingly separating mother and child-”

Minho let go of Jonghyun’s collar, “Mother?” He thought a while, “Was the one who put a reward on Taemin, his mother?”

Jonghyun nodded, “Yes. The boy’s mother. Paid me four bags of gold for finding him, and an extra for putting you to rest. But I ain’t so cruel. I brought you back, making sure you were unconscious throughout and she didn’t know. I’ll share the gold. Just stay away from- Hey! Where are you going?!”

Minho had begun fumbling around the room, grabbing his daggers and on finding them, he had begun to leave the room when Kibum caught his arm, “Why are you going to the boy?”

“He’s in danger!” He turned, glaring at Jonghyun, “And, that woman is not his mother.”

Kibum stared at Minho, regarding his aflame, desperate eyes, the way he shook in more than just anger, and he was compelled to let go of him, understanding what his struggle against his hold meant. He watched Minho dash out uncaringly and turned to Jonghyun, a dejected, angry expression on his face.

“What?!” Jonghyun shouted in his defence, “I didn’t do anything wrong!”

“Just pray you didn’t.” Kibum sighed, “Because if anything happens to that boy…” Kibum neared his brother, folding his arms, his eyes grave, “Elias is not gonna let you off.”

Taemin woke up slowly, blinking his eyes to clear his view of the fogginess. He realized he was back in the tower, because he was now surrounded by the walls he himself had painted on and the next sight he spotted was his mother, pacing around the room, objects following her in air, as she directed them into a trunk. He decided to get up, but felt himself restrained and he looked below, finding thick ropes binding him to a chair. He stared at them in horror, then at his busy mother, his breathing growing unsteady as she began to mutter words, oblivious of him being awake.

Worthless humans...

Shouldn’t had raised him as a son...

Rebellious bastard...

“Mother…?” Taemin finally spoke, his throat tight on catching the few words his mother had been muttering to herself.

She turned to him, a rigid expression on her haggard face, anger creased in the wrinkles of her forehead. Folding her arms, she walked to where she had tied Taemin, glancing upon him with distaste, “Awake?”

Taemin blinked in confoundment at the cold expression she wore, concluding her to be enraged at him for escaping behind her back. He hung his head low, “I apologise to have escaped, Mother.”

Her eyes grew wide at his words and she kneeled before him, placing a palm on his cheek, smirking as she caught the pure glint in his eyes, the sign of him being untainted. “Amazing…I don’t need to separate your soul from the body or sentence you to eternal dormancy.” She breathed, before shifting her palm upon his head, “Erasing your memory would suffice.”

“Mother?” Taemin breathed in horror, “Erase...my memory?”

“The world you have seen…” She got up, speaking offhandedly as she walked to the mirror, “The foolish boy you met…” She turned back to him, an evil smile on her face, “The truth behind you, behind me, you are still unaffected by it all...but eventually-”

“Please, do not!” Taemin exclaimed in panic, “I-I do not want to forget anything, I do not want to forget Minho!”

“It is better you do, though.” She snickered, walking back to Taemin and bending down to whisper, “He is dead, after all.”

Taemin stiffened at her words, "Dead?"

"Yes." She chirped, "Now let's get done with this quickly, such magic is easy to do but exhaustive."

Taemin heaved harsh breaths, his mind still stuck in the words his mother had uttered, feeling his chest burn, sting and twist horribly, bringing tears to his eyes which flowed down his cheeks involuntarily. “I did not believe a word against you. I chose you despite everything.” He muttered, his moist eyes laced with rage, “Did you ever think of me as a son? Did you ever love me?”

She folded her arms, a brow raised as she pondered on his question, “Since you will soon forget, it’ll be better I take those answers off my chest.” She walked to him and lifted his face by the chin harshly, “To me you were nothing but a vessel for my power, like a petty nightingale locked in cage to sing for me. I raised you in lies to hide you from your truth, to keep you captive for life. Never…” Her voice dropped into a dangerous, low tone, her eyes glinting with venom, making Taemin shiver, “Never have I loved a worthless human in my life and you, boy, are no exception.” She let go of his chin with a jerk, and began muttering foreign words which caused grey, glittering fumes to spiral in her palm.

Taemin did not flinch at her touch, nor did his gaze waiver at the evil magic lingering around him. Her words were whirling in his mind, bringing him to conclusions. They had been right...she was indeed a dreadful soul. As the truth settled into him more, faint words escaped his mouth, "I hate you, Mother."

The words she uttered came to a halt at his soft statement and a wave of realization washed over her, for her words held the power to influence his heart and mind. She glanced at his face, at his eyes and found hatred and dismay reigning them and she completed the incantation under her breath quickly, before the boy’s emotions could begin to taint his soul.

The glittering fumes gathered into a sphere when she was done, but before she could have directed it towards Taemin, a sharp pain ran from her shoulder through the arm, dispersing the sphere into weak grey fumes.

She fell to the ground and heaved breaths in pain, searching for its source, finding a dagger in her arm, which she pulled out before glancing at the window, where a man stood, drenched from the waterfall, rage in his blue eyes, panting from his effort of having climbed the tower. He began to head towards the two, his footsteps causing Taemin to look at him, the dismay of his face slowly fading at his appearance.