I curled my hands into fists and rushed at my father, punching him square in the jaw.

"Don't you dare talk as if you were just casually running into me. Look at these people!"

My eyes shifted toward the countless dead bodies around me, their corpses dismembered by some hideous magic.

"Jason. Tell me. Are you with Olivia right now?"

Shivers ran up my entire body.

"Why do you ask?"

Father smiled ominously as he turned around.

"I see. Well, take good care of her." He vanished into the shadows with Basil.

Dad... Why did you do this?

What in the world did you seek?

Power?

What was the meaning of power if it's not to protect something one holds dear.

Holding it as dear would just lead to an endless cycle of power-lust.

Such a path was sure to prove dangerous.

Not to mention, lonely.

Lonely... was that why he reacted the way he did when he saw me?

My dad wanted a familiar face to talk to...

But I wasn't going to pretend that I didn't see what happened.

All of corpses around me...

Yet there wasn't the smell of blood in the air.

No, it smelled... sweat.

A sickening scent that could drive one mad.

I quickly left in the opposite direction.

Toward Olivia.