Arthur looked up and turned around slowly. His father stood right behind him. Mary remained in the room, watching her husband's large shadow transform into an absolute beast.
Jack raised a bony hand. His hands bore no skin—in fact, none of his body had any skin at all. Dark shadows worked as his clothing, forming a sort of dark robe. His fingers were pitch black, while the rest of his skeletal body gleamed pitch white. His eyes... Arthur gulped and stepped back. Fear crept up and down his spine as he considered running, but he couldn't. If he ran, his mother would probably be killed. He knew it with terrible certainty.
Jack's hollow eyes stared into his son's fearful ones. *There's no way my seven-year-old body could beat him,* Arthur thought, his heart hammering. *Even with my magic, there's no way. I can't do this. I can't beat him.*
Jack raised a bony finger and pointed at Arthur. "You... not enemy," the beast said in a deep, growling voice. "You... you family."
Arthur's eyes widened. They stayed wide as shock rippled through him. *He speaks,* was his first thought. Then a new realization washed over him: *And he's not going to hurt me. He still knows me.*
The beast who was once Jack looked toward Mary, still on the bed. Her eyes widened in fear.
"You not enemy either," the monster said. The words rattled through both Arthur's and Mary's bones—literally. As soon as he spoke, their bones began to vibrate from the noise, a sensation that made Arthur's teeth chatter.
---
Deep in the underground cave directly below their house, Laid stood with a communicator pressed to his ear. He hadn't thought Jack would be able to speak after the transformation, but he'd still wanted to hear the sounds of that child and mother being killed. No one knew how sick Laid could be, but he was too sadistic and cruel to be saved.
Laid sighed, putting his ear closer to the communicator. "He's not going to hurt them," he muttered, setting the device down. The multiple men behind him stood motionless, not making a single movement.
"If Jack won't hurt them, then I'll have to do it instead," Laid said, his voice flat. "If you want things done, you have to do them yourself."
He turned to look at the other men. "All of you stay here. Keep watch. If anyone decides to leave and run off, well... I'll find them. And all of you will be punished for letting that person escape. If any of you leave, I'll find you and turn you into a void monster."
Laid's expression remained emotionless as he turned and walked up the stairs, his footsteps echoing in the silence.
---
"He's not hurting us," Arthur said, looking at his mother.
Mary remained gripped by fear. She didn't know if this was a trap. Just in case, she poured magic into her fists and legs, ensuring she had enough power backing her up if a physical altercation became necessary. Her hands trembled slightly despite the energy coursing through them.
"I mean no harm," Jack said. His bony fingers cracked as they moved—clearly stiff, but surprisingly, no pain showed on his skeletal face.
"Do you recognize me?" Arthur asked, hope flickering in his chest.
"You are... I don't know you," Jack said slowly. "But I feel... I feel a pull to protect you."
*So he doesn't recognize me or her,* Arthur thought, glancing at his mother. *But his fatherly instincts are probably still there.* A smile nearly crept onto Arthur's face. *I can't believe it—*
Suddenly, Arthur's body was thrown by an invisible force. His body hit the nearby wall, and he fell, unconscious. Jack flew backward as a powerful force knocked him into another wall.
Laid stood there, emotionless and calm. He picked up Mary with an invisible force and slammed her to the ground, knocking her out.
"Really? You don't want to kill them? That's how it's going to be, Jackson?" Laid's voice was cold. "I would have just killed you on the spot while you were transforming—or even before your transformation—but now I have to get my hands dirty by killing all three of you. After all, I can't let you out until the start, now can I?"
He spoke to himself as he walked forward toward Arthur. "The kid will do first."
His blade was still in his hand. He lifted it with his mind. *Telekinesis magic is always handy. Some people say it's lame, but I say it's creative if you have the right mind for it.*
The blade floated toward Arthur's throat. It stopped just at the skin, pricking the surface and drawing a little blood. But before it could go any further, the blade stopped.
Laid motioned with his hand. It shook. He tried with effort to make the blade move with his mind, but it didn't work. He even tried to grab it with his hand, reaching out to pull it toward him, but he couldn't do anything. The blade was stuck.
He slowly turned around to see if anyone was near. Jack stood behind him. He wasn't knocked out—he couldn't be knocked out.
Jack raised a bony black finger, and dark purple energy began to coalesce at his fingertips.
Laid's eyes didn't go wide. He wasn't shocked or terrified. He calmly stood up.
"So that's how I go out," Laid said quietly. "Killed by my own best friend who's turned into a monster."
Laid chuckled, though it wasn't genuine. "Go ahead, Jack. Kill me here, right now. Or will you let me live? I'm fine with both. After all, nothing can harm me when I'm dead. If anything happens to anyone, it will not affect me in any way."
He spoke with a calm expression. He didn't even care that he was about to die. Usually, anyone would be frightened and terrified facing death, but Laid just stood there, unmoved.
"You won't do it, Jack. And if you will, then I'll embrace my death with all I have. But just know—if you kill me, you'll have to get rid of my body somehow. I'm sure that will cause a lot of problems for you. Kill me if you want to, but just know that killing me will bring a lot of problems down on you. You'll have a lot of responsibility. At least your family will."
Laid looked at Mary and Arthur. "And to think they were just having peaceful lives until barely a day ago. Now they'll be cleaning up my body." He chuckled darkly. "Kill me. Do it now."
Jack's finger dimmed, and he lowered his hand.
"That's what I thought, Jack," Laid said. He raised the blade again and began to lower it toward Arthur's throat.
But Jack's hand grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up. Jack's bony black fingers began to pierce the skin of Laid's neck, but Laid didn't show any reaction—not pain, not struggle. He didn't even struggle at all. He just stood there calmly, staring into Jack's hollow eyes.
At this point, Laid's eyes were nearly matching Jack's—hollow and void of any emotion.
"You're willing to risk it all just to kill me, Jack? If that's what it is, then end me now."
At that moment, Jack's long black fingers closed, and Laid's neck was crushed. Blood sprayed nearly everywhere—on the floor, on the bed, somehow on the ceiling, on some walls. Blood was still pouring from Laid's neck.
Jack's body began to light up with purple energy all around it. Somehow, someway, by some unknown force, the energy began to convert into purple mist, which floated into Jack's body. Eventually, Jack's body became mist itself—a humanoid purple mist that was also absorbed into Jack, making his fingers grow a little longer and him grow a little taller. Due to the murder of Laid, Laid's essence was now inside Jack.
Laid's body was gone. The blood, though, was still there. Somehow, the blood transformed into mist and flowed toward Jack. Jack's body absorbed it all.
Laid was dead, and there was no way anyone would find out.
Jack quickly picked up Arthur with his bony hands, cradling him carefully despite the lack of skin. He carried Arthur to his bedroom and laid him down gently. He did the same with Mary, picking her up and laying her down on the bed with surprising tenderness.
Then he turned into purple mist and flew away. The mist dissipated randomly at a random spot, and in that place appeared a black skull keychain. The keychain began to transform into a ring, then a necklace, as if trying to decide the form it wanted to take. Finally, it settled on the form of a necklace. The necklace, which bore a purple and black skull, lay in the middle of the kitchen floor, gleaming faintly in the dim light.
This black and gold necklace would be the thing to save Mary and Arthur's lives plenty of times. This would be the well-known ancient artifact known as the Dark Skull.