Chapter ???

The Grand Magus had retreated into the council chambers with Valerie and most of the other wizards, to discuss what to do about William and the gem. They had left Will in the antechamber with just Galdur guarding him, and Cornelius shifting around nervously over by the wall. Oh, and Azrael of course, who was leaning over Will’s shoulder, smiling malevolently. As William was stuck to the chair, they hadn’t worried much about him trying to escape, though had said there were more wizards guarding the door out in the hallway as well, just in case he got any ideas.

William had already attempted to beg Alexavier for his life. He had even tried calling him father for once, tried to appeal to any sort of empathy the immortal might have, though Will wasn’t even sure if faeries could feel those sorts of human emotions. But the Grand Magus had just looked down at him with pity as Will pleaded pathetically, then suggested that they take the conversation about the matter away from his proximity.

William couldn’t believe that this was happening to him. That his own twin sister had proposed his execution, though he knew that she hated him, that was still a new low for her. That his adoptive parent was in the other room seriously discussing it as a possibility, though he didn’t know if Alexavier had ever felt any love for him either. That his best friend had betrayed him. He glanced over at Cornelius, who was avoiding eye contact with him.

You have to give me control, Will. Only I can get you out of this now, Azrael said slyly, his ghostly hand caressing Will’s cheek. William shuddered at the touch and tried to pull away, but he couldn’t move very far. He was still hesitant to give Azrael control, as he had a feeling that once he did so, he would never get control of his own body back again, and he would be trapped as the Dark Lord’s puppet forever.

“Conny,” Will hissed at his friend to get his attention. “You have to help me. You heard them, they said they are going to kill me!”

“Will… Will I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise it would turn out like this!” Cornelius said, finally looking at his friend, his expression a mess of anxiety and guilt.

“Do not converse with the prisoner,” Galdur instructed from where he stood by the council chambers doorway.

“So then help me, for gods’ sake!” Will growled, staring intently at his friend.

“Perhaps it would be best if you wait outside Cornelius,” Galdur said, stepping over towards him.

Cornelius looked nervously between William and Galdur as the older wizard approached him. Then, suddenly, he stepped forward, sending a fist flying. Galdur’s eyes widened in surprise as he was struck in the side of the head. He stumbled backwards, and then fell to the floor limply.

Cornelius hurried over to William. “You have to get me out of this chair,” Will said, struggling against the binding spell. “Can you break the spell? I can try and instruct you on how to-”

Will’s sentence was cut off as Cornelius picked up the entire chair and then slammed it towards the ground. The legs broke off on impact, and the rest of its frame cracked too, the shock painfully running through Will’s body as well. But it seemed the chair’s partial destruction also broke the spell, as William quickly felt that he wasn’t stuck in place anymore.

Still feeling a bit dizzy from the impact, William attempted to get to his feet, only to be quickly picked up by Cornelius and then set down gently. Cornelius held onto Will’s shoulders to steady him, looking down at him with concern. “Are you okay Will?”
William shook his head, not as an answer but to try and clear it. “I’m fine, let’s get going.” With that he swiftly followed Cornelius over to the door leading into the hallway.

Once they opened the door, Cornelius physically dealt with the wizard guarding it on one side while William cast an incapacitation spell on the other. They had caught the two guarding wizards unawares, so were successful in quickly taking them down. Then Cornelius grabbed Will’s hand and together they started running down the hallway.

“How are we going to get away?” Will wondered aloud, knowing that the stone golem guarded the front gate of the academy, and had always made sure to keep William from ever setting foot in the outside world.

Leave that to me. Follow me, I know all the secret entrances and exits from my castle, Azrael said, and took off slightly ahead of Will. Will sped up a little so he was guiding Cornelius along instead, following after the spectre as Azrael wove his way through the corridors.

“Stop!” shouted a pair of wizards from the end of a hallway they were heading down, before Will and Cornelius followed Azrael as he quickly ducked into a nearby room. Inside, after closing the door behind him, Cornelius suddenly stopped, holding William in place.

“What are you doing Conny?” Will hissed with urgency, trying to break free from Cornelius’ grasp, while Azrael was waiting over by an unassuming wall.

“I’ll hold them off while you escape Will,” Cornelius said firmly, his face set in a look of determination. “I can buy you some time. It’s not me they want to kill, after all.”

“W-Wait… Conny, no, I can’t just leave you,” Will protested, his heart leaping into his throat.

“Yes, you can Will,” Cornelius said, giving Will a push towards Azrael. “Live Will. I’ll be fine, as long as you survive.”

William quickly looked back and forth between Cornelius, who was holding the door handle and pressing his large body up against it, and Azrael, who was frantically gesturing for Will to follow him. Then William quickly stepped over to Azrael, activated the secret mechanism that caused the wall to slide open, then stepped inside. He pulled the second mechanism within to close it from the inside, sparing one last glance at his friend before the wall closed. Cornelius was smiling at him.

William was snapped of his trance by Azrael shouting at him to move, and so move he did. He followed the spirit through the secret passageways as quickly as he could manage, trying not to trip in the dark, hastily summoning a purple light to guide his steps. Some of the passages Will had even used before, but Azrael knew of even more secret doors that connected them. Eventually William felt completely lost, but continued to follow his ghostly companion, trusting him to get them out.

Eventually, after using magic to melt the bars of an iron grate at the base of one of the walls of the castle, they were out. And William stood dumbfounded in the green meadows which surrounded the academy that he had only ever seen out his window, while Azrael yelled at him to get a move on, that they were not safe yet. When Will asked him where they could go, Azrael said he knew a safe place, and said he would guide the young wizard there. So, they set off as fast as William could go, to first get to the safety of tree cover, and then wherever Azrael had planned.

William had never walked so much in his entire life. Years of mostly sitting around, studying magic, had not prepared him to undertake such a journey. He kept needing to stop and rest frequently, much to Azrael’s chagrin. Though, as if the spectre could complain, he wasn’t the one doing all the walking. Will didn’t even have any travel gear with him. He needed to find a river or stream just to have a drink of water. And once night fell, he had to rest in the leaf litter underneath a tree.

They stayed mostly off the roads for safety, as search parties would be riding horses down those to check them first. Instead, the pair of them wandered through forests and meadows. At many points William had felt that they were hopelessly lost, especially when they were deep in the woods, yet Azrael kept pushing him onward. The swamp was the worst to traverse, as Will’s shoes were not in any way waterproof and stepping in the bog was nigh inevitable. By the time he reached the clearing where the tower sat, he was feeling utterly miserable.

William trudged up the stone steps to the large tower door, the only feature on its wooden surface was a brass knob. There was no lock on it, but of course mages had no need for physical keys. Azrael taught Will the spell to unseal the door, and the young wizard stepped inside the tower. Will pulled off his sodden shoes and socks in the entryway, before padding barefoot deeper into the room, looking around. He had never felt such relief to be inside again.

“What is this place?” he asked Azrael as he investigated the ground floor, which had a small kitchen area and a table with a few chairs, along with shelves covered in miscellaneous items.

One of the many towers I built across the land, Azrael said, grimacing as he looked around the millennia old dusty space. 

“What was the purpose of that?” Will continued to question as he approached a shelf and looked through the items sitting on it. There was a wide variety, from dried flowers and herbs to gemstones and ancient coins, as well as pottery and even scrolls and tomes, despite the disdainful comments that Azrael had made towards learning magic from books. Then again, the man had his own librarian, and presumably most of the books about dark magic in the restricted section had once belonged to him, so perhaps he had just made those remarks to be vexatious.

I was constantly trying to push the boundaries of dark magic, and you can’t do that from just one place. You need a variety of ingredients and experiences to inspire you, the spectre explained, opening his arms in a sweeping gesture. This one is… well, I guess it’s not the most difficult of my towers to get to, but no one wants to go in a swamp, so no one should bother us here. I doubt many people even know this place exists.

William headed over to the kitchen area, trying to take stock of what he had at his disposal here. There was a fireplace with an iron grill and spit suspended over it, and a variety of cast iron utensils. There were also several jars of unknown contents, though Will doubted any of the food was edible after a thousand years. That was a problem he was going to have to figure out later. It wasn’t like he was entirely unused to going without sustenance for a while. He mostly hoped there was a source of clean water nearby, as the idea of consuming bog water was entirely unappealing.

Plus, the swamp is full of corpses, ripe for reanimating to make an army of protectors, Azrael added casually.

“Necromancy?” Will asked with slight surprise, putting a pot down that he had been examining.

Don’t say that with such disdain Will! Think of it more like recycling, Azrael said with a smile behind tented fingers.

“Do you have to be so creepy about everything?” Will asked in response, turning to walk up the stairs.

Will’s muscles felt weak as he attempted to climb the stairs, exhaustion really starting to catch up with him now. He pressed a hand against the wall for support as he made his way upwards one step at a time.

Will’s old joints felt stiff as he attempted to climb the stairs, his age starting to catch up with him. He leaned against the wall for support for a moment, before continuing upwards.

William stumbled into the second-floor room, and spotted a large comfortable looking bed, along with a wardrobe, a dresser, and a full-length mirror. He caught sight of his reflection as he passed by the mirror. He looked a real mess, clothing all filthy and torn, ashen hair full of twigs and leaves. He dragged himself over to the bed and collapsed onto it.

William stumbled into his bedroom, trying to keep himself upright as he staggered over to his bed. He caught a glimpse of his reflection in the full-length mirror as he passed by. He looked exhausted, the bags under his purple eyes darker than ever. He dragged himself over to the bed and collapsed onto it.

You could at least take your filthy clothes off first! You're dirtying my sheets! Azrael protested, but Will just groaned into the mattress, not caring for whatever the spectre was complaining about. He was safe, and he was so tired, and he finally had a place to rest.

What the fuck is the matter with you? Azrael asked with annoyance, while William sat up on the mattress. Looking around blearily, as he had knocked his glasses askew, he could see the shadowy figures moving all around him, encroaching into his personal space, trying to touch him. Will placed his hands on his aching head, willing the spirits to leave him alone.

Over the years they had seemed to have lost their fear of Azrael and had started to harass the wizard more and more. It often felt like they were trying to climb inside him, to possess him, and the only thing stopping them was the spirit of the dark lord exerting his own control over the territory that was Will’s body, though the wizard wasn’t sure Azrael was even aware of it.

Though Azrael himself had figured out over the years that he was able to possess William sometimes, though usually if the wizard was unconscious and powerless to stop him. Though once Will came to, he would be able to take control back, and Azrael had never managed to do anything that bad while in control. Usually, he would just try to clean up the tower, feed and bathe William, and kick Bones out.

You know so often I feel like you are not even listening to me! Azrael snapped in annoyance after Will hadn’t responded to his question. William couldn’t even see the spectre though the mass of shadows, until Azrael shoved his face pretty much right up in Will’s in order to get his attention.

“Leave me be Azrael,” Will said wearily, laying down on the bed without even bothering to take his clothes off.

It’s so annoying when you are like this! Azrael exclaimed, pulling away and taking a seat on the bed next to Will.

“Blame the shadow people,” Will said as the shadowy figures continued to press up against him.

Ah yes, it’s always the shadow people's fault, isn’t it?

There were so many spirits trying to climb on top of him at that moment that William felt suffocated. He quickly sat up, which pushed them all away for a moment, before they started drawing close again.

William got to his feet, and headed back for the staircase, while Azrael asked what he was doing in confusion. The wizard headed back down to the first floor, then out of the tower. Looking around outside, he spotted the giant dog lying down close to the tower, and headed over towards him. Shredder had some spirit-like qualities to him; a slight transparency, a bit of wispy shadows coming off his fur.

The guard dog raised his head as his master approached. William drew close to the giant animal, until he was leaning against the creature’s massive shoulder. Then he looked around. All of the spirits stood a fair distance away from Shredder, out of reach of the dog. Because Shredder could see them. And Shredder liked to eat them.

Even Azrael kept his distance slightly, though his nature was not the same as the other spectres, as he was tied to the gem, but he didn’t seem keen on testing out whether he could be eaten or not. William sighed and lowered himself to the ground, taking a seat and leaning up against the huge beast. Sometimes this was the only way he could get some peace. It was too bad Shredder was too big to fit in the tower anymore.

William closed his eyes and thought about things that helped to soothe his mind and calm him down, and he could feel Azrael’s frustration as he watched him.

“I should try and contact Conny,” Will finally said, having been thinking about his old friend from twenty-seven years prior.

Don’t be stupid Will. It’s too dangerous. Azrael pointed out as he usually did.

“But I would like to know if he is still alive… before I die…” Will mused. He struggled to even properly remember his friend’s face; it had been so long.

You’re never going to die. Not if I have anything to say about it, Azrael said confidently.

“Why won’t you just let me die already?” Will asked wearily. Any previous attempts he had ever made to leave this plane of existence early had been thwarted by Azrael, who was able to use a burst of power at those moments and take control of Will to stop him from hurting himself.

Because you are mine Will. My perfect vessel, Azrael said, smiling at Will from a distance. And eventually you will be too weak to hold me back anymore, and I will finally take what is mine. We’ll be together forever.

That was exactly what William didn’t want, what he had been looking for a way to avoid for a long time. But so far, he had found nothing, so it looked like he wasn’t going to get much choice in the matter.