The blade of faith made contact, and in that instant, all the energy building up inside Theodore erupted. Following it, a sudden burst of wind swept through the arena. Amisha held her ground, struggling against the near overwhelming force of the attack, but was being pushed back.
"You Useless fraud! Just give up already!"
But he did not. Theodore pushed even harder! Refusing to give her even a fraction of a second to breathe.
The force behind him swept through the arena, reaching even Alec, who had a wide grin plastered across his face as he watched on in excitement. With every shift in momentum, his eyes sparkled even brighter. Whether it was Amisha, his youngest daughter, or Theodore who gained the upper hand mattered not.
But now, as the fight drew closer to its conclusion, that smile began fading. The harder Theo pushed, the more displeased Alec became, and eventually, he looked like someone watching the most disgusting thing he had ever seen.
Rising to his feet, Alec released a pressure that covered the entire ring, and Theo's eyes widened in shock as he felt that unseen presence enveloping him.
'What the hell?'
Before he could comprehend what was happening, Alec, in his shadowy form, materialized between them, grabbed Theodore and hauled him across the ring and slamming into a wall and halting the duel in an instant.
"I think that is enough fun for one day!"
Falling to the ground and barely holding onto his consciousness, Theo's relic shattered into whisps of light and vanished. Looking up, he saw Alec revert to his human form, gaze down at him with a disapproving sneer.
"Disappointing!"
Turning his back on Theo, Alec ignored the advances of his daughter, demanding an answer as to why he interfered and stormed off.
***
The next time Theo opened his eyes, his body felt heavy as if weighed down by something, his head felt like something was drumming against his skull, his eyelids fluttered weakly, and the world around him spun agonizingly.
He barely noticed the voices murmuring indistinctly in his ears.
Shadows and lights flashed and flickered past. The blurred outlines of figures standing around him slowly came into focus and as he struggled to piece together his surroundings, he blinked several times, trying to clear the fog from his mind. But the effort only intensified the throbbing in his head.
He tried to move, to speak, but the words tangled in his throat.
'Where... where... am I? Did... I lose?... No! Alec Interfered! But why?'
He stirred, and as he did, he heard a voice.
"Is he waking up?" one of the figures around him said.
His limbs felt like lead, but still, Theo tried to move, to push himself up. Looking to his left, he saw two people sitting by his side.
"Keep him still," the other voice replied.
"Where am I?" he croaked, his voice hoarse and strained.
"Easy, take it easy," the first voice said.
His vision finally cleared up, and he saw that standing in front of him was a woman with striking silver hair, her blue eyes sharp and clear, while the other was a teen who looked no older than the girl with the same blue eyes, with his brow furrowed in annoyance.
"Why are you so concerned about him? It's not like getting close to him will bring us any favours now."
The girl smacked him on the head and yelled.
"Is that all you ever think about, Nate?"
"Well, one of us has to, if not, we'll be grunts for the rest of our lives!"
"Then so be it!"
"But Moira..."
"That's enough of that! If you don't have anything good to day, go wait outside!"
"But..."
"I said go!"
Sighing, the girl turned to Theo.
"Sorry about that, my brother can be a bit... obnoxious at times."
"Okay, and who are you two?"
"Well, we are many things, but right now, we are your.... caretakers?"
"You mean babysitters!" Nate yelled from behind the door.
"Nate! Ignore him. He's just being dramatic. I'm Moira, and that was my asshole brother, Nate."
Theodore raised a brow.
"Where am I?"
"You're in one of the rooms in the clan's domain."
"Domain?"
"Yes, the lands owned by the Blanc clan."
Getting off the bed he lay upon, he stormed out of the room past Nate and into the winding corridors. Moira followed close behind.
"Theo, where are you going?"
"To find my uncle!"
Moira raised a curious brow.
"Who?"
"Who else, Alec!"
Grabbing and pulling him back, Moira grabbed his shoulders, gazed into his golden eyes, and asked.
"Wait, are you saying the clan lord, Alec Leto, the most cruel man I have ever met, is your uncle?"
"Apparently."
"Apparently?" Nate echoed. "What does 'apparently' mean?"
Ignoring Nate, Theo turned back to Moira.
"What do you mean 'most cruel man you have ever met'?"
The two siblings turned to each other, exchanging confused looks before turning back to Theo.
"Are you joking?" they asked in unison.
"Do you actually not know who the clan lord is?"
"How would I? Until the other day, I was living in the outskirts in an orphanage with....."
Upon realizing something, Theo's eyes widened, and he grabbed Moira.
"How long have I been asleep?"
"What's with the sudden..."
"Shut up, Nick, or whatever your name is!"
Nate's brown eyes changed to crimson as a vein popped on his forehead, but Theo continued before he could voice his opinion.
"Just answer the damn question! How long have I been out?"
"Two days."
"Alright then, I have another. Where is Maria?"
"Maria? Who's that?" Nate asked.
Theo felt a surge of panic at the mention of Maria's name. She had been his closest thing to a family at the orphanage, the one person who had always stood by him. The thought of leaving her behind at the time gnawed at him, but he had no choice. She was in critical condition, and he had no way of helping her.
"Maria! She's..... she's my family! She's my everything and the only reason I haven't lost it yet! So if you know what's good for you, you're going to tell me where she is!" Theo demanded, his voice rising with urgency.
Moira exchanged a worried glance with Nate before responding. "I'm sorry, but we don't know who she is."
"You don't know the daughter of your leader!"
Moria's expression shifted from worried to utterly confused.
"I don't know what you're talking about. The clan lord has only one daughter. That is the girl you fought with two days ago, Amisha."