Jack faced an impossible choice, but the decision came easily. The circumstances had shifted from those of the past. His son was no longer a corpse—his son was real, with a whole life stretching before him. When Jack had struck the deal so long ago, he had made it because his son was nothing but a lifeless body. He had never expected him to wake. But things had changed. Everything was different now.
"I'll sacrifice myself," Jackson said.
Laid stood with a comic expression. He didn't even care that his friend was about to be killed, about to be transformed into a monster.
"Well, you've made your decision, Jack, and I'm not going to ask if it's final," Laid said, stepping forward and grabbing Jack. "Whatever choice you make is the final choice. You get no second chances." He ordered the rest of the men to unchain Arthur and remove the cloths covering his face. They obeyed.
Mary stood frozen, shocked. She lurched forward—she didn't want Jack to leave her. She didn't want any of them to go.
"Sorry about that. Why not just save them both?" Her magic was powerful; she could handle whatever Laid threw at her.
Laid teleported using his magic and grabbed Mary by the neck.
"Didn't I say not to put up a fight?" he hissed.
"Don't be a hero, Mary. Don't," Jack said, his expression cold and indifferent—so far from the warmth he'd shown when younger. "It's not worth it."
Mary wanted to know what had changed. What had transformed his friend?
"Let go of her!" Jack yelled.
Laid stared. "No," he said simply.
Jack grabbed a rock and knocked Mary unconscious. Her small body crumpled to the ground.
"Now she won't be a problem anymore," Laid said. "Jack, please take your son's place—unless you want to end up like your wife, in which case you wouldn't have a choice to fight back."
After the chains and cloths were removed from Arthur, he stared at his father. No one else remained in the dark family room.
"Joe Arthur," he growled, stepping forward. He had barely registered that his father was about to sacrifice himself. All he knew in this moment was revenge.
Jack looked at his seven-year-old son and felt the rage radiating from him. Arthur's magic was overwhelming.
Suddenly, a hand grabbed Arthur by the neck and lifted him into the air.
"I wouldn't want you to hurt our plans," Laid said.
Arthur clawed at Laid's arms, but it was useless.
Laid chuckled. "You really think a seven-year-old body can defeat a grown man?" he said, squeezing harder, his expression emotionless. "Like I told your mother—don't be a hero. I want you to take your anger out on Jack when he becomes a void monster, when he becomes something new. Only then will I let you unleash your rage. But if he's damaged in any way, this will not work."
Laid grabbed another rock with his free hand. "Night night, kid."
The rock slammed against Arthur's head, and his body fell to the ground.
"Now, Jack, unless you want me to do this by force, step forward."
Jack did. He was immediately pushed to the ground, chains biting into his flesh, cloth covering his eyes and mouth.
"Just relax," Laid said.
All five members in the area walked forward and threw their blood onto the magic circle. The symbols began to glow. They all dropped their blood onto the circle, and finally, by the ritual's rules, Jack drew his. His blood landed on the magic circle, and the circle erupted in red light. It began to pulse with energy as Jack's body started to transform.
He felt everything—his bones reforming and destroying themselves, his arms twisting, his face morphing. He felt all of it. Every single bit. No body part was safe. The agony lasted for hours. He could only bite down on the cloth. If he screamed, it would be muffled—no one could hear.
During that time, a few members took Arthur and Mary out. They were going to put them back in their house, making it seem like nothing had happened. The only strange thing would be Jack's absence. But they would deal with that later. After all, if Mary and Arthur came back and caused harm, there was no problem in making two other void monsters—one being a void child, the other a void mother.
Laid was ready to make that sacrifice, but some of the other members weren't. They voiced their concerns about the inhumane treatment Laid was inflicting.
Laid simply didn't care. He stared at all of them with a cold expression.
"Unless you want to be void monsters yourselves, I suggest you stay quiet. You all know me by now—I don't bluff. So try me. Speak another word, and you'll be like Jack over there," he said, pointing to the far corner where Jack still writhed in transformation.
They immediately stopped talking. They didn't want to become void monsters. They didn't want this. The only reason they had joined this group was for money. That's it. All they needed was money, and now look at them in this predicament.
"How did things go wrong?" one member wept.
"It all went wrong the moment you signed the deal," Laid said. "I knew it was coming from the start. I knew we would have to go through this. I even told you, but you didn't believe me. You thought I was joking. No, I don't joke. So yeah, you got yourselves into this—not me. You. If you hadn't signed that little contract, your lives would have been back to normal. Your lives would have been—I wouldn't say amazing, but at least they would have been lives." He smiled, but it was cold. It didn't even reach his eyes. "But now you're with me, and you can't back out of the deal. Because if you do, let's just say your families won't see you for much longer."
His emotionless expression returned.
---
Arthur woke. He looked around—he was in his bedroom, in his bed. He stood up.
"What happened?" he thought, glancing around. "It must have been a terrible dream. I hope Mom made breakfast."
He opened the door and walked into the kitchen, but Mary wasn't there. Maybe she slept in. He walked into Mary's room and opened the door. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second.
"Where's Dad?" he thought.
He expanded his magical senses. He had a lot of magic, so he could tell where someone was. The ability of magic sense was a powerful one and consumed a lot of someone's magic—at least for an average person. But for Arthur, it took up nearly twenty percent of his reserves.
"He's not anywhere near here."
Mary's eyes opened as she looked at her son in the doorway.
"Arthur," she said, staring at him.
"Mom," Arthur said, interrupting her. "Was that—"
Mary looked beside her. Her husband was gone. Then suddenly, everything came back—Laid knocking both of them out with a rock, then somehow ending up back in their respective rooms.
Both of them couldn't believe it. What they thought was a dream was real. Everything had happened, and now they were afraid to know what had occurred after they were knocked unconscious.
The words Laid had spoken were ingrained in both their minds: "Don't be a hero."
Those words made them stop. They knew that if they barged in trying to save Jack, they would have been killed—or even worse. Neither of them knew what "worse" meant, but they knew it probably wasn't good.
Arthur clenched his fists, his small body trembling with rage and helplessness. Mary's breath came in shallow gasps as she stared at the empty space where her husband should have been.
Then, from somewhere deep in the house, they heard it—a low, guttural growl that didn't sound human.
Arthur's eyes met his mother's, and in that moment, they both realized: Jack was still here.
But he wasn't Jack anymore.