Chapter 33: The Brotherhood
Daniel sat at his desk drumming his fingers against it in contemplation; it had been 3 weeks since the Brotherhood had taken it's first step towards enlightenment. But Daniel wasn't thinking about that right now, instead his thoughts were preoccupied with his own father.
Today was his fathers birthday, a happy day for Daniel, and one with the few good memories of his father. Daniels father, Benjamin Hildegarde, was a strict man who constantly put pressure onto his children to preform. Daniels childhood memories were mostly filled with pain and spite form his father frequent beatings when he did not perform up to standards.
That being said Benjamin's standards were excessively high so it was rare to not be beaten. When his children did meet his standards he never complimented them nor gave them anything to feel good about, he simple would nod once in approval and then leave as if it were the bare minimum of what he required of them.
It was when Daniel was 15, when his father went to far, during a beating of Daniels older sister she was killed. Although the man had just killed his daughter in front of the rest of his children he did not bat an eye at her death. He simple muttered "Weak" and left her body there to lay coldly on the ground.
Although the Hildegarde siblings were not very close they still did not detest each other and seeing their sibling get killed, sparked something within them. Several of his siblings banded together and tried to assassinate Benjamin, but to no avail as his siblings were the ones who ended up dead in the end.
Now with only Daniel and his 2 remaining siblings the pressure did not change in the slightest. It was like he simply swatted some annoying bugs away. This completely disheartened Daniels siblings, as the 2 continued to work themselves to near death just to appease their father. But not Daniel, once he saw his siblings die in vain he became even more enraged.
And so he planned on how to kill his father, but no matter how hard he thought or tried he wasn't able to do it. That is when the Brotherhood found him, he remembered clearly how he had joined.
When he was 17 he was in the market shopping for magical trinkets to protect himself. But as he was shopping he spotted something strange, a man dressed in a dark robe was standing in the middle of a group of people. Now if it was juts that Daniel would've thought that it was weird but nothing of interest. But what intrigued him was the fact that nobody seemed to acknowledge his existence.
Approaching the man Daniel decided to speak in a low tone, "Who are you, and why is everybody ignoring you?"
The man did not respond, but instead looked directly at Daniel, for several seconds the world seemed to freeze around them.
This was when the robed man spoke, "Congratulations Daniel Hildegarde, you have been blessed by our lord."
"W- Wha- What?"
The man chuckled before continuing, "Do not fear us Daniel, you want power don't you? Don't try to hide it, I can tell. Hehe, if you join us we can give you the power you desire."
"And if I don't?"
The man simply stayed silent but looked directly at Daniel. after a few seconds passed Daniel shuddered, it felt like a finger was prodding through him leaving no secrets behind.
"I don't think that rejecting our lord is a good idea, after all deities are not as forgiving as I."
Daniel gulped before speaking up, "Will I really just receive the power I need just like that? What's the catch?"
"Hehehehe, smart boy, all we require from you is your faith."
"My faith?"
"Yes just pray to our lord and you shall be rewarded, the current 'gods' that most plebeians worship now days cannot hold a candle to our lord."
Daniel pondered for several seconds before asking one final question.
"Who is your lord?"
"Luxuro"
"Alright, I shall join you, what do we call ourselves?"
Although Daniel could not se under the hood he knew that the man was smiling as he answered.
"The Brotherhood of the Labyrinth"
That night when Daniel was about to go to sleep he prayed to Luxuro, feeling nothing different he went to sleep.
The next day he woke up and a tattoo of a three headed serpent appeared on his arm, and looking at it he felt power surge through him. Feeling the power flow through him Daniel grinned and got up from his bed and went directly to his fathers office.
Grabbing a sword from the wall Daniel pointed towards his father, "Today you shall die."
Benjamin started to laugh madly, "HAHAHAHA, YOU?!?!? KILL ME? WHAT A JOKE, but I suppose I shall entertain you my dear Daniel."
Daniel's memory is fuzzy from that point onward, the next thing he knew was that he was holding a bloody sword up to his fathers neck. The room around them was no longer Benjamin's office but instead the main hall. Furniture was strewn about and broken as several dead bodies laid around, Daniels body was battered and bloody but he was still standing.
Benjamin was not in any better state than Daniel, and he now had a sword to his throat and a foot on his chest. As Daniel looked around at the carnage he sneered before turning back to his father.
"Any last words."
Benjamin looked Daniel dead in the eyes and did not waver as he spoke two words, "Good Job."
The next moment the hall was filled with the sound of Benjamin's head falling to the floor separated from his body by the sharp blade of Daniel. Seeing his fathers corpse lay before him Daniel started laughing, and he kept laughing until tears fell.
"Thank you, thank you." Daniel did not know who he was talking to but he spoke aloud any way.
Afterwards Daniel learned that the reason there was so many dead bodies and carnage was because in a blind fury he had pushed Benjamin back. Because of this Benjamin decided to drag the fight out of his office and use people along the way as shields against Daniel's berserk strikes. This included his only remaining siblings, despite killing so many people Daniel did not care.
It was all over shadowed by the fact that his father was dead, (They were necessary sacrifices, they would've died under him later anyway, I just freed them sooner.) Daniel would frequently think to himself.
For several years Daniel was happy, but that feeling eventually faded. Leaving him bored and angry when things did not go his way. He was 26 when he figured out that people would obey him better when they feared him. And it just so happened that people were very afraid of his rage, and so he would frequently just become angry to suppress any resistance against him.
Snapping out of his recollections Daniel stood up and walked out of his office, turning to Jamar who was standing outside he asked a question.
"How much time till we leave for the promenade?"
"3 hours sir"
Daniel smiled and patted Jamar on the shoulder making him flinch, "Good, carry on with your duties."
Jamar nodded before leaving towards his own quarters and disappearing.
Daniel simply smiled cruelly.
(Obedient, as everyone should be.)
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Jack walked briskly over towards the checkout desk. Jack had gotten back into the groove of things within the church, but today was special. That was because today the Cast's were hosting a promenade.
Checking out Jack entered his dorm and got dressed up and turned invisible before teleporting out side and walking in the direction of the Cast residence.
Jack was anxious, not for the promenade, but because of the fact that no progress had been made on the Brotherhood of the Labyrinth. It had been two weeks since he had returned to the church, but he had gotten no information at all.
None from Celine, none from Shark, none from the Assassins Guild, and none from Gregor. He was starting to get worried, but since nothing else of importance had happened his worries were eased ever so slightly.
Arriving at the residence he teleported into his room and turned visible, cleaning himself up in the bathroom mirror he exited his room and wandered down to the main hall.
Reaching the main hall Jack greeted by the sight of the entire Cast family dressed finely, and preparing everything 'putting in the final touches' as it were. Seeing Jack approach Regina pulled him over and had him help.
Overwhelmed by Regina's domineering attitude Jack silently did what he was told and waited for the guest to arrive.
30 minutes later there was a line of people entering the residence and partaking in some of the appetizers being served. Seeing that there was an acceptable amount of people here Killsman queued for the band to start playing.
Hearing the music play the guests gradually migrated to the dance floor and danced to the music. Jack was standing off to the side watching for anyone suspicious when a group of middle aged woman approached him.
"So you're the new Mage of the Cast household? You seem to be a little young to be a powerful mage."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone