Jonghyun felt something within him burst and felt the rage boil inside. Almost spitting with anger, he faced the only person to whom he had bared everything.

“Traitor”

“You’re wrong, Jonghyun. There’s so much more to life than hatred”

“You’re a disgrace to witches everywhere. You’ve seen what they have done, and yet you still stand in front of them?”

“Nothing is black and white anymore, try and understand”

“You will die along with the pitiful humans you’re trying to protect”

Since there was no way to end their conflict amicably, Jinki had no other choice but to assume his stance. Though it was clear that Jonghyun was more than skilled in blood magic, it was Jinki who had the stronger bloodline. Using blood in any type of spell, made it ten times more effective, and there was no doubt in Jinki’s mind that in order to win, he had to fight fire with fire. He did have one trick up his sleeve. A trick that no one knew about. Jinki had spent years perfecting the art of reading minds. Although he considered it as cheating, it wouldn’t be so bad to use it against someone like Jonghyun. All he needed to do was concentrate on Jonghyun’s face, until he was able to see past his head, into his mind. If given enough time, he would be able to pull up something that could help in changing Jonghyun’s mind, but for now, he would only focus on the attacks that were going to come his way.

Livid, Jonghyun nicked his skin to assist all of his magic and summoned a spell of fire to burn the man in front of him into ashes. Almost instantly, he noticed that Jinki was doing the same thing. As he sent forth his spell, he was shocked to see the counter spell that Jinki had sent. A spell of ice, which rendered his, useless. Shivering slightly from the cold, Jonghyun was stunned. How had Jinki so instinctively managed to outdo his magic? Instantly conjuring a spell that would create a dark cloud around him, he gasped as Jinki conjured a spell of light so bright that it almost blinded him. Did he have a different kind of power?

Jinki found it hilarious when he saw the expression of utter horror on Jonghyun’s face. For all it was worth, he couldn’t hide the fact that he was actually enjoying his little glimpse inside Jonghyun’s mind. Mind reading wasn’t the only power he had perfected. In fact, he also possessed the power of mind control, that he had inherited from his family. After shocking his handsome opponent by counteracting each of his spells, Jinki felt that it was time to amuse himself by making Jonghyun do things he normally wouldn’t. Now, what should he start with? How could he make the calm and composed man go totally out of control?

That expression on Jinki’s face was really started to unnerve him. The smirk seemed to signify a lot, and Jonghyun was really starting to panic a little. How had Jinki managed to figure out his every move? That level of intuition was so accurate, that it was just scary. As he continued to think, he sensed a presence of some kind. He felt as though someone with cold fingers was touching his head, and he started to feel shivers go down his spine. Sinking to his knees as he felt a sharp, piercing pain in his head, Jonghyun struggled to stop the old memories that started to resurface from wherever he had locked them. His earliest memory...from when he was a child...he saw himself as a toddler, laughing as his father lifted him and put him on the swings. His best friend back then was on the swing next to him. Though he was the son of a human, they had always acted if there was no difference at all. He saw them wearing matching clothes and spending hours just running around together. Whatever had happened to his childhood friend? Why was he getting this memory now?

As he was forcing Jonghyun to relive one of his favourite days, Jinki was still searching his mind for something else that he could use to bring him down. What he saw, really shocked him. It was an old memory after the time Jonghyun had been taken away by his guardians, where the young boy had overheard a conversation.

“I think the boy will be a good asset to us. It was a pity that he is an orphan now, but this just makes everything easier for us”

“We can raise him the way he was meant to be raised. We can make him into a machine, a puppet that works the way we want”

“Those humans need to be taught a lesson, and we can definitely make him hate them”

“Just make sure he never finds out that it was us who led the humans to his father”

“Sacrifices are necessary, and if he wasn’t of such a pure bloodline, he would be dead by now”

This was just crazy and extremely unexpected. He’d had to search Jonghyun’s memories for this particular one, which showed that some magic had been used to hide it. It appeared as though the boy’s guardians had found him and tried to obliterate his memory. Then they’d had a field day with training the impressionable child to do exactly what they wanted. It wasn’t Jonghyun’s fault that he had ended up like this, but theirs. The only way he could bring this person out of all of this, would be if he showed him what his guardians truly thought of him.

“Jonghyun, you’re so clueless”

“What the hell did you do to me?”

“Nothing. I just showed you things that you’ve forgotten. How to smile, how to be happy. It’s time you woke up and saw the truth that’s right in front of you”

For the first time in ages, Jonghyun wasn’t calm or poised. All he felt, was confusion. About everything he had ever known. Doubting himself for the first time, he walked towards his opponent with his head down.

“What is this truth you’re referring to?”

“Come with me and let me show you that I’m right”

By now, his confusion had transformed into curiosity, and he was more than ready to find out what was happening. Taking Jinki’s outstretched hand, Jonghyun instantly was transported to the lair of his guardians, under an invisibility spell. Not expecting what he was supposed to hear, he was about to make his presence known when his companion stopped him.

“Just listen, Jonghyun. You will soon understand”

Entering the open door, he came face to face with the two most powerful sorcerers he knew, but of course, they couldn’t see him. For some reason, their faces looked different, they didn’t seem happy at all. Judging by the frowns on their faces, it was obvious that they had been arguing for a while.

“Do you think that stupid boy would have done as we ordered him to?”

“He should have. We have trained him as well as one would train a lapdog”

“The stupid child thought we actually cared. You know, if he doesn’t prove to be useful anymore, do you think we can expose him, the way we did his father?”

“I think we should start working on that. If he brings that Jinki, then we don’t need him anymore. We can just brainwash Jinki and make him do our bidding”