"W-wait, what?" I asked, not sure if I heard the man right. Overthrow my father?

The man smiled. "I have eyes everywhere and I've seen how your father treats you. You hate him and wish to be free. If you do this one small thing for me, I promise you that I will grant you that wish."

"You're asking my to kill my father?" I asked, a sick feeling in my stomach. "Who are you anyway?"

"Allow me to introduce myself," the man said with a mocking bow. "I am Yensling, king of this castle and you are my honored guest. This is Zackarias, our sorcerer," he said, pointing to the odd looking man.

"Sorcerer?" I asked. "I thought magic was a thing of legend!"

"A legend?" Yensling asked. "The last time I checked, you had a certain curse."

"That's different..."

"Not really," Yensling said with a smile. "Zackarias is also immune to your powers. Please, Zackarias," he said, turning to the sorcerer. "A demonstration for the boy."

The sorcerer clamped his hand down onto my shoulder and I instantly felt insignificant and weak, yet calm and soothing at the same time. My spectacles were removed and I could see everyone clearly. Not one of them screamed out in pain. I could even look Yensling right in the eyes and he just smirked at me. "You see?" He said.

Zackarias handed me back my spectacles and I put them back on. Only after they were firmly on my face did he release me. A feeling of power, which I never realized I had before then, came back, but in a defeating sort of way. It was like the weight of every life I had taken was on my shoulders, a feeling I had gotten used to over the years. There was no escape from this feeling and I longed for the release of it again, but Zackarias made no move towards me.

"Now," Yensling said, clapping his hands together. "Zacharias has many different skills and he made something for you."

Someone grabbed my arm and clamped something down on it, like a shackle."Hey!" I said, trying to take it off.

"We've heard of your deadly powers, and Zacharias has created a way to cancel out your powers. It's the same thing as touching you, but he won't have to be around all the time. It also keeps other sorcerers from harming you."

I still tugged at the cold metal ring around my arm. I could even feel the coolness through my tunic's thick sleeves. "But why?" I asked. "Why do you want me to overthrow Dreamir?"

"You call your father by his name?" Yensling asked.

I glared at him. "He's no father to me."

Yensling smirked. "That's exactly what I wanted to hear. Follow me."

I didn't move. The shackle grew tighter around my wrist and turned so cold I thought icicles would started to form on it. I took a step forward, and then another. Soon I was following Yensling and the pain went away.

I was expecting to be taken to a prison cell or something along those lines, but instead, Yensling led me to a room with a long table laden with food and the room was very bright with open windows and a chandelier with thousands of crystals on it. It was an immense contrast to the dark, damp castle I was used to.

"Please, sit," Yensling said, gesturing to a chair right of his which was at the highest place of honor, the king's chair. The right hand spot, I was told by Dreamir, was saved for special guests who were held in the second highest respect at a gathering. Even when I ate at Dreamir's castle, I sat at the other end of the table, which was about half the size of this one.

The only unnerving thing was that Zackarias stood to the side, like a shadow. He stood against the wall, just behind my chair. I could feel his eyes burning into my back.

Another oddity, was that the servants served me the food first. I didn't touch it, though it was hard to resist the tempting smells coming from the food. I glanced at Yensling, he was already eating. I took a chance and ate. If they wanted to kill me, they wouldn't have told me to overthrow my father. Heck, if they wanted to kill me, I'd already be dead.

Halfway through the meal, Yensling started to ask questions. They started out small and insignificant, so I answered them easily. But they soon grew deeper and more personal for me.

"What exactly did your father do to you?"

"He..." I didn't want to tell him. Suddenly my head started to pound and my stomach churned. "W-what's...going on?"

"A truth poison," Yensling said. "I'd grown immune to it over the years. Answer the question and you'll feel better. Now, What exactly did your father do to you?"

The words came tumbling out of my mouth before I could stop him. The pain went away, but now he had something to use against me. The fear of my father.

Yensling asked a few more questions then dismissed me to my room. A servant boy led me to a room with a comfortable bed, a large window, and a wardrobe. I didn't feel like a prisoner, but there was no inside doorknob. If I couldn't get out, I was a prisoner.

I walked over to the window and looked out. It was getting dark, but I could see the snow coating the land. With a sigh, I layed on the bed. It felt strange and somehow uncomfortable, despite all the blankets and pillows.

As I tried to sleep, I wondered what Yensling was going to use me for. How would I overthrow my father? I couldn't kill him. At least, not in my normal way. I didn't even know if he could die. With all his special abilities, I would be very surprised if he could be killed with a simple knife to the back.

I drifted off into half consciousness. Something about this place wasn't right. It disrupted my sleeping patterns. I guessed it was the magic here. It made me feel uncomfortable.

At about three hours before dawn, I finally fully drifted off.