Antok

They found Phill cooking in the kitchen. Will took a seat in a high chair on the island and so did Antok.

Seeing him do such a….normal thing after seeing him send an arrow indiscriminately to the civilians below felt…so weird.

“Dad….Antok here wants to know how long will he be here”

“Hmmmm” was all Phill said. 

The 3 stood in silence, Antok and Will sat watching him continue cooking. 

He knew he said he wished Phill was his dad but only because he would fulfill the dream of having a dad who is older and wiser. But just because he wished for Phill to be his bio dad and not Will doesn’t mean he was sure he wanted to be part of this family. After all, they are all monsters willing to kill innocent people for each other without questions and Phill had as much blood as Tactzo’s for the chaos he caused in Maryland city.

He shivered thinking back to the crowd and how they chased and pecked the civilians.

And on top of that Phill kidnapped him!

“You will stay with us for a year after that you are free to come and go from this home” 

AntoK froze. ‘Great so I am a prisoner’ Antok thought.

Will smiled and slapped Antok’s back.

“Well looks like you are going to be a permanent resident for now” 

Phill motioned with his hand and a crow landed on Antok’s shoulder.

“This is Night, he will be following you around. You are free to leave home as you please. The only settlement I will allow you to go to by yourself is the winter city you and Will visited”

Antok frowned at the words “I will allow you” 

“Will you be responsible for him so stick by him as well” 

Will sighed “Fiiine”

Antok didn’t move from his seat an inch and just kept frowning at Phill.

“So I’m your prisoner” 

“Not necessarily-“

“But I am being held against my will-“

“Stop your whining child! Do you want me to treat you as such? Because right now you are being treated as anything but a prisoner!” 

The tone of voice made Antok shiver. It had the force and authority of a father who had enough of their child.

“I did my part of bringing to your biological dad. I don’t do favours often and if I do it, I’ll make sure it’s worth it. So enjoy your biological dad for a year and by the end of that year if you decide to stay and make this place your home and make us your family we will accept you with open arms”

“W-what if I manage to escape and tell your enemies where your home is?”

The blonde man smiled “Do it, I’d like to see how that goes for you”

The threat made him lick his lips nervously. Antok didn’t know what to do. 

“Here is dinner” Phill placed plates in front of Antok and Will.

Another crow flapped to Phill's shoulder “Go tell Tactzo Dinner is ready” The bird cawed and flew. 

Phill took a plate and sat with them as well.

“H-how does the bird get out if the doors are-“ Antok stopped as he watched the bird fly through the doors.

“Magic” was all Phill said.

Antok knew there was magic, you see it in enchanting armour and weapons and potions but not like this. It looked like Phill's crows could phase through doors and windows.

The crow on Antok hopped off his shoulder and flew to a beam on the ceiling.

They ate in silence and Tactzo came in later. 

He also grabbed a plate and began to eat as well.

“Yesterday we destroyed Maryland we will give it a week for their bodies to rot and then we will go back and start collecting their bones so that we are able to summon more Lazuros,” Tactzo said Casually.

Antok gripped his fork “You’ve already decimated that city. Do you have to disrespect their final resting place too? Don’t you already have 2 Lazuros you can summon?” Antok growled.

Tactzo gave him a toothy grin “Well dear nephew once you’ve used 2,000 skulls to summon and you dismiss them or they get killed you lose those skulls. Meaning you’ll have to get a new set of 2’000 skulls to summon another one”

Antok took a sip of his water before he continued. 

“Lucky for us, We have plenty of skulls in our catacombs down below to summon 200 Lazuros. but it doesn’t hurt if we collect more skulls.”

“Y-you-…” Antok was filled with so much disgust and anger.

“Don’t get your pants twisted Nephew, you can’t hurt what’s already dead so don’t worry about it- it's just skulls”

Antok broke, all the emotions came flooding in and he screamed. He had been trying to ignore his feelings from the gore he had witnessed yesterday. The pained face of Ms. Jefferson and the children-

In his rage, he had thrown his plate at Tactzo. Food went everywhere on his face. 

Tactzo just chuckled and wiped the food away from his eyes.

Antok not thinking straight began to throw everything near him towards Tactzo. His glass of water his fork and his knife. Tactzo let the items land on him but caught the knife.

Phillza grabbed him from behind trying to get him to stop but Antok began to struggle and elbow Phill.

“Screw you! SCREW EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU! DIE AND GO TO HELL!”

“Okay I’m going step away,” Will said grabbing his plate and excusing himself from the situation.

All the while Antok had not stopped screeching and yelling at the top of his lungs.

“Tactzo can you take him to his room? The guest room that’s beside your room and mine”

Tactzo nodded stood up, grabbed Antok from Phill's grip and carried him over his shoulder all while Antok kicked and screamed.

“You will pay for what you did! YOU WILL PAY!” Antok yelled, his fists hitting the back of Tactzo’s back.

But of course, it didn’t hurt Tactzo. When they exited the dining/kitchen hall Antok spoke.

“Because I know you are traumatized from what you saw yesterday I will let your tantrum slide. But if you do keep this behaviour up you will be punished-“

“Screw you! I don’t want to hear anything you spew! YOU DESERVE DEATH! YOU DESERVE TO BURN! YOU ALL DO!”

“Listen we aren't afraid of Death. Telling us to die or burn is not offensive to us. Our mother is Lady Death if we die we will just join her in her realm and-“

Antok screeched.

Tactzo sighed. He opens the door to the guest room and throws Antok to the bed. Who promptly stood up just to grab the lamp and throw it to Tactzo. The lamp broke against Tactzo’s chest and the man didn’t even flinch.

“Let all your anger out little Nephew” was all he whispered as he turned to leave.

As he left Antok kept throwing stuff at him, the door closed and Antok kept throwing things at the door. When it locked Antok turned to the rest of the room to trash it.

He tore everything.

He didn’t think, he just yelled and cried until his hands began to bruise and bleed from punching the walls and breaking glass.

He didn’t even know how long it went because he didn’t even remember passing out.

----

Antok woke up on the bed. Memories from yesterday came flooding in and he felt shocked.

He lost it yesterday…. truly lost it.

The fact that they didn’t kill him for his outburst was a miracle.

He looked around and saw his bedsheets ripped, mirrors broken and walls scratched and punched in. Broken things everywhere.

He really did a number on the room.

He curled into a ball and thought, ‘Now what?’

He was stuck here for a year. His biggest desire was to meet his biological dad but now that he did he wasn’t sure if he could stay living under the same roof as them. If they really kept their word and within a year he was free to go, he’d make sure he’d leave…… he has to because what would it say of his character if he stayed with the people who murdered Ms. Jefferson and everyone in Maryland and countless more?

The fact that they have a catacombs underneath this house filled with all the people they have killed shook him to the core. They said they had about enough skulls to summon 200 Lazuros which means, if his math is right, below this house there were currently 400,000 skeletons. And out of those who knows how many of them were innocent people.

The thought of Ms. Jefferson’s skull being thrown down there upset him. He needed to give her a proper burial.

He stayed there for a while until he decided to go to the washroom.

He took a shower and after getting redressed with the same clothes since the closets did not have any clothes he began to clean up the place a bit.

Because what else was he supposed to do?

The door had a hatch which opened and food was slid into his room.

It was Breakfast and Antok grabbed the plate and began to eat. After finishing it he placed it back close to the hatch. 

He spent the rest of his morning and afternoon cleaning up and he watched the hatch once again open, slide the tray out and push a new one. 

It was his Lunch.

Again he ate and it looked like they at least wouldn't let him starve.

After finishing the food he placed it back at the hatch and went back to bed.

While cleaning he checked every window and it was all sealed shut. He had even tried to break the window but it didn't break so he guessed it was magic. He checked the closet and the desk and found nothing. 

He stayed in bed for a while and began to get bored. 

That's when a crow flew into the room, phasing through the door and landing on Antok's shoulder.

"Phill?" He asked the bird. 

But the bird just stared at it.

That's when he remembered that Phill had assigned a crow to him.

"Night?" 

The crow seemed to respond to the name but Antok was still nervous about it. It could very well be Phill looking through its eyes and he would never know.

"Why are you here? It's not like I can go anywhere"

The crow hopped down to his lap and began to snuggle in his legs.

"I guess....You can be of company"

Since there was nothing to do he decided to sleep some more.

---

The next day they hadn't come to him. Nor the next or the next. He started counting the days and so far it had only been 5 days. 

He was still receiving 3 meals a day but it was getting very boring with nothing to do. He began to exercise, count how many feet long his room was and play with the crow who seemed to stay in the room at all times.

He would throw his food at the crow and it would eat it. A source of entertainment for him but the days only felt longer.

3 more days had passed and it had been 8 days since he was still in the room.

He waited for the Hatch to open and he banged on the door because he knew someone was on the other side.

"HEY! Are you seriously planning on leaving me in here?! Wasn't I supposed to "spend time" with my "dad"?!"

But they didn't answer. He heard footsteps begin to walk away.

"YOU COULD AT LEAST LEAVE A BOOK OR TWO! ARE YOU TRYING TO BORE ME TO DEATH???"

But they didn't come back or answer.

He did the same when his Dinner came.

"HELLOOOOOOO? YOU CAN'T JUST LEAVE ME HERE FOREVER!! IS THAT YOUR PLAN?!" Antok banged the door harder.

11 days had passed and he turned to destroy the room again in anger. He banged the ceiling and walls to annoy Tactzo and Phill because he remembered that his guest room was near their rooms.

He began to talk to the crow not caring if Phill was looking through its eyes or not.

20 days passed, His angry yells at whoever was bringing him food started to lose its flame. But still, nobody answered his plea to be let out.

30 days passed and He kept asking to be let out but using a nicer tone and "please" but it didn't work

With nothing to do, he began to spiral. His shampoo was running low and who knows if they'll replace that. He had washed and dried his only pair of clothes but that wasn't much entertainment. The crow could only give him comfort but not much entertainment and he hadn't had fresh air in a while. No matter how large and tall the windows were and how much sunlight he got he felt like he had been put in a cell sealed shut. He needed to get out......if things kept going like this he'd spend a year without any contact and then be let out. They are people who keep their word so they must let him out after the year.....but to be stuck in this room for a whole year drove Antok crazy.

He began to forget about Maryland. What's the point of taking the high road if he was just going to end like this? 

They are dead so why should I suffer for people who are already dead?!

Just forget them! 

What's done is done!

On the 35th day, he had enough. 

 He was sobbing and He had not slept. 

He went on his knees before the door and bowed. His forehead and hands lay flat on the floor. Tears were streaming down his cheek and when the hatch opened to push his breakfast in he said,

"Please.......I'm so so sorry..... J-just please l-let me out plea-" Antok hiccuped and his tears kept falling.

The hatch closed and Antok was afraid that he made them mad and they would stop giving him food but after a few minutes, the door opened.

He didn't even want to look who it was, his head was still bowed and his eyes were still shut.

"Are you going to throw any more tantrums?" It was Phill's voice.

"I-I won't I promise just let me out"

He felt a hand touch his head. Phill began to pet his head.

"Shhhh......you lasted longer than I thought......It's alright Antok. Your stay here will be wonderful if you let yourself enjoy it. hmmm?"

Antok nodded "Y-yes"

"Listen Antok," Phill continued to pet his head, "Get this in your head, you are lucky.....repeat it!"

"I-I'm Lucky" 

"Because If I was someone else I'd throw you in the catacombs and let you stay there in darkness so that you'd learn your lesson. So will you stop looking at us as villains?"

Anton's eyes widened at the mere thought of being thrown down there made a sob escape him. "I-I won't"

Phill stood up. "Good, get up" 

Antok stood quickly almost making him dizzy but his eyes still didn't leave the floor. 

"Look up" 

Antok slowly looked up and was met by a stern face. The memory of a weak man being taken advantage of by the king felt so foreign and bizarre because the man before him felt nothing like that man.

"Treat your stay here as time for education. Whether you choose to join this family or not doesn't matter you have our blood hence you will follow the same rules that my children followed. To be part of our house you have to learn our ways. In the morning you will spend time with Tactzo training. In the afternoon you will spend time with me. I will be giving you an education and at night you will spend it with Will. I was foolish to think that I'd let you leave to the Winter city by yourself with just crow supervision. You haven't earned that privilege. I was also foolish enough to think you'd be able to entertain yourself for the year that you'd stay with us but what you really need is structure, discipline and a strong male figure in your life. Before you step out of this room are you ready to leave behind any anger you have on us for destroying Maryland?"

This was so much to process, to be flooded with all these words really overwhelmed him.

"Y-yes"

"Say it without stuttering"

"Yes" 

Satisfied he began to walk toward the door. Antok followed behind and before he stepped out Phill stopped him.

"You aren't coming out of this room as Antok from Maryland. You are coming out of this room as Antok of Crows."

Antok firmly nodded, he felt like a dog salivating for the food just that this time he was salivating for freedom.

"Yes sir"

Phill let him out.