Reaching the bottom of the stairs Asmodious eyes fell upon the other man who was standing waiting for him.

“Hello my old friend. So that’s the son you mentioned in your letter.” He said.

“Yes Rosco, that’s him. Follow me to my study we have much to talk about."

Asmodious paused. "And you can explain how you brought the boy here, that might give me some insight as to what’s just happened.” Asmodious said, sighing heavily.

He continued walking. It had been a long day. They stood before an old, engraved heavy oaken door that had a tarnished brass handle. The engraving upon the door was a dragon of legends soaring above countless raised hands, almost in prayer, revering the dragon.  Asmodious knocked three times, the hands on the engraving disappeared and the dragons head turned as if to look at who would enter, the dragon bowed its head and with that the door creaked open.

“That’s a neat trick, hiding secrets from children eh?” laughed Rosco

“There is a lot of knowledge in this room, if it got into the wrong hands it would be catastrophic. Its best to keep it sealed, besides Ellor only recognises my magic, so even if someone else tried it would be futile.” Asmodious replied sternly gently patting the wooden dragons head.

“And you don’t consider your hands dangerous? That’s funny given how bloodstained they are.” Rosco smirked coldly.

Asmodious glared at him and growled, a warning for him to keep his mouth shut. As they entered the room the smell of old books wafted in the air. Dust floated in the meager light from the dwindling candlelight. Asmodious clicked his fingers and a fireplace roared to life illuminating a room filled wall to wall with books, scrolls and crumbling artifacts from a time long forgotten. The stone floors drained heat from the room creating a slight chill. Their footsteps echoed around the room giving a hollow empty feeling to the room. In the center stood an old oaken desk with clawed feet and sat behind it was a high back chair engraved with dragons and a red velvet lining. Upon the desk were many parchments and a few open books; a quill and ink pot lay open as if it had just been used. Asmodious strode towards the desk, the chair moved by itself to allow Asmodious to sit and then drew closer to the desk. Rosco waved his hand conjuring a chair for himself and sat at the opposite end of the desk staring at Asmodious.

“There is no need to worry this is a secure space, the darkness cannot get in here. So now, tell me what you know. Tell me what happened to my son.” He demanded

Rosco began to recount everything from the moment he stepped into the forest to the time where he saw Sol on the ground crouching in fear. Rosco hadn’t seen anything that could have explained why Sol was in that state. Whatever it was had severely frightened him. Asmodious sighed and pinched the brow of his nose, he began mumbling incoherrently, "time already.....too soon......damnnit.." He stood suddenly and paced the shelves taking out a book here and there, he was going to start by looking into the mark on Sol's hand. He sat down rubbing his temples.

He peered over the books in front of him at Rosco who was patiently watching Asmodious.

“The reason I brought you here, I outlined it in the letter but if you have anything more to ask feel free, I’m assuming you came here to give your reply?”

“Miranda said you were willing to invoke our pact over this, so I knew this was really important to you. Just to be clear your wanting me to guard your son as his protector?” he enquired. Asmodious nodded

“But why? He's a grown young man now.” Rosco was puzzled. The man before him had been a great warrior and decimated entire battlefields. A cold and heartless man who would leave a trail of the dead in his wake. The type of man who with the mere mention of his name could send the enemy running with their tails between their legs. A man with no no ties to others, someone who even calculated relationships based on what he could gain. However, the man sitting in front of him was no longer the same person. Before him was a man who was raising children, children who weren't even his own flesh and blood. What happened, why did he change? As Rosco pondered this an image in the book infront of Asmodious caught his eye.

"Is that what i think it is?" Rosco frowned.

Asmodious nodded.

"You can't be serious!!" Rosco shouted.

"I'm afraid so." Asmodious answered blunty.

"Shit...." Rosco sighed.

The two of them began discussing how the would proceed as well as other factors, their conversation continued until the morning bell could be heard in the distance....