Samantha’s Keeper

Frederick laid the book down and kept his eyes on the ancient cover. The animal skin that was used to protect the pages now appeared rotten and half-falling apart. He rubbed his temple and took a breath. In the previous generations, keeping the Nephalem bound was a problem that had never occurred; thats because the book of the witch who was hired to bind the Nephalem to the Dela Torre family was still in their possession. But as the human greed for power increased, war broke out.

In those years the Dela Torres managed to salvage a few of their important possessions—the Nephalem above all. But the stupidity of the previous generations had set their eyes on the root of their power and had forgotten to preserve the books that would keep that power rooted in their family.

”Mr. Frederick? What would happen if she failed? ”

The butter slowly turned his head to the side and smiled at the teen who had spent hours with him inside the old library. He had been training him to take his place someday. He has seen potential in him—a good-natured heart—which may keep the balance between the Nephalem and the Dela Torre family in order. ”Harold, the ignorance of the Naphalem of his true potential, his power, and the truth of his existence is what has kept him a prisoner within that cave. ”

The butler took a deep breath before he went on to say, ”He was a small child when the witch gifted him to the Dela Torre as payment for her transgression towards a member of the first Dela Torre family. Raised by a witch he was given controlled and limited knowledge about who and what he is. He believes that the only way to free himself is to defeat the Dela Torre heirs in a battle of wits. Once he does, he will be free and escape that cave and his chains. ”

”But Mr. Frederick, in my observation, he seemed to be strong enough to free himself. Hasn he figured it out by now? That he is capable of escaping that cave even without upholding his end of the bargain? ”

”Ah, the bargain, ” the butler murmured before leaving his chair.

”The bargain was a hoax dear boy. ”

The teen eyed the butler with curiosity. Crease lined his forehead as his confusion washed over his visage.

The butler smiled and pointed toward a chair, ”Take a seat, Harold. What Im about to tell you is something that I planned to have you know years from now. But perhaps, circumstance had deemed it necessary for you to know of this now. ” Frederick was not someone who loved to talk but something about the current task made him apprehensive. Where the weariness came from he couldn discern, but something inside him warned that Harold must learn everything at that moment. There was something in the air, just something that did not feel right.

The butler slowly made his way towards a large mahogany cabinet, returned the ancient book, headed for the wine cupboard, poured himself a cup then made his way towards the chair in front of the teen. ”Hundreds of years ago, Marius Dela Torre—the first man who possessed the Nephalem—was a knight for an imperial family in a deep and isolated kingdom. He was a just man, respected and feared at the same time. He was married and had two daughters, Marishka and Mera. One day while Marius was out, a witch came to his home and murdered his daughters.

It was never clear why she had done so, but the story goes, that Marius went crazy at the sight of his daughters mangled corpse. He went on a killing spree, murdering people from different walks of life in his quest to obtain revenge upon the witch that had killed his children. On the twenty-fourth day of his bloody tirade, he found the witch, more like, she found him. Again, it was never clear, but it was on that day that the Dela Torre came into possession of the being we now know as a Nephalem. ” Frederick paused for a while and eyed the teen. ”I think the previous generations had no idea of what he truly was, ” the butler added as a frown appeared on his forehead.

”You seem, uncertain sir, ” Harold murmured when his gaze landed on the butlers creased forehead.

”What I told you is the information passed down by word of mouth. This knowledge that I know of the Nephalem was the same one that my predecessors knew. ”

The teen looked around the library for a few seconds, then with a hesitant tone questioned, ”weren there any records of that information in one of the books here? Im sure, someone must have penned down all of those. ”

Frederick sighed before he answered, ”There were hundreds of books, including the one written by Marius Dela Torre himself. Unfortunately, they got lost as the years went by. ”

”Why? I mean how sir? If that information were important, why weren they kept safe? ”

”Stupidity, ” the butler retorted.

”Sir, what will happen if the being, I mean Nephalem breaks free? Other than the Dela Torres losing their leverage and wealth?

The butler smiled and then intently eyed the teen. ”What do you think will happen if that thing found out that he was tricked and was kept a prisoner, a slave by a bunch of greedy men when he should have been free a long time ago? Chaos, dear child. Unfathomable chaos will reign upon mankind. ”

”Tricked? ”

”I mentioned earlier that the agreement which the Nephalem believed to have held him within his bounds was a hoax, right? ”

”Yes sir. ”

”Well, thats because he wasn meant to stay with the Dela Torre for more than a hundred years. You see, when Marius was given the Nephalem, the witch specifically instructed that he release him on the one-hundredth year of his captivity. But the generations who came after Marius were foul, greedy sons of bitches. They refused to uphold the promise. Instead of releasing the Nephalem, they hired a witch who created a chain for his legs. It bound him to the blood of the Dela Torres.

She gave them a book that also contained scriptures and signs—the ones you saw painted on the walls of the cave—to keep the Nephalem from escaping. I have no definite knowledge of how everything went down in those years because the journals were lost, but one thing is clear, those signs needed to be rewritten to keep the Nephalem trapped.

Unfortunately, since they lost the books that had the instructions on how to do them, the succeeding generations made up a lie to appease him and not let him retaliate. Fearing his increasing power they made him believe that he will be free only when he defeated a Dela Tore in a battle of witts, and his freedom would come to pass when the blood runs out-meaning no Dela Tore blood is of existence. So, despite his increased strength in the succeeding years, he never dared to break his chain, or perhaps, never thought that he was capable of breaking them, since he had failed to do so, during the years that the Dela Torres still had possession of the witchs book.

He waited for generations, talking, questioning, and mentally battling with any Dela Torre that appeared before him. He could have saved himself from the trouble and killed all of the Dela Torre. But he did not know that he was allowed to murder them. Because he was also led to believe that he too will perish if he did so using a process other than the question and answer. He stupidly believed the process.

”So thats it? He is a free man when that woman dies? ”

”He is no man, Harold. ”

The teen bowed his head and apologized, but before he could stop himself, he questioned, ”The end of the Dela Torre was his only chance for freedom, was there no other way for him to have broken free? ”

Frederick gazed at the teen. He knew the boy was curious and had developed a liking for the being—despite his fear of the Nephalem.

The Dela Torres may have led the thing to believe that to talk with them and defeat them in that process was the only way, but that is not the whole truth. The truth is, that process was created and suggested by a previous butler who felt pity for the Nephalem, he suggested that to give the Nephalem a fighting chance. That butler wanted him to end the Dela Torre family by eliminating them in a certain process that would not cause an uproar or question on his and the Dela Torres side. It was a double-edged sword. A chance for freedom for the Nephalem and a chance to continue dominating him for the humans. Frederick snickered and added, ”He could have just broken free, because he could, using his powers. ”

”Sir, Im confused. He is a powerful being. How come he was easily manipulated like that? I mean, why did he easily believe what they had told him? ”

”Thats because he was a child back then. ”

”A child, sir? ”

”Yes. Im not sure how a Nephalems aging goes, but according to my predecessors, a hundred years in a human life seemed to equal a year for the Nephalem. Its safe to say, that the Nephalem inside the cave is in his early twenties. ”

”Even so, why hasn he figured it out by now? ”

”He was conditioned to believe it, Harold. He was a child. In the early years that he tried to break free, his bounds were still powerful. He repeatedly failed and that made him believe that he will always fail even as his powers grew. ”

”So, he can break free as of this moment?

The Butler couldn help but chuckle. ”Haven you been listening, Harold? Hes been free since the one-hundredth year of his captivity. It was only by his ignorance that he was kept a prisoner.

”I abhor this fate of his, ” the teen replied after he shifted his gaze from the butler to the floor.

Frederick shook his head. Yes, to have a good-natured heart was a good thing but it also comes with a painful price and that was the burden of always choosing the proper choice, he thought solemnly as he stared at the teen.

”It is what it is, Harold. There is nothing more we can do. ”

”Can we just release him? ”

”We can . If we release him without proper explanation; one that he would deem appropriate and would justify his years of imprisonment, then we might receive a far greater pain than the Dela Torres who failed to satisfy him with their answers. ”

”Again, I find that odd. If he wanted to break free, why did he choose to lose against the Dela Torre who came to answer him? Why not pretend that no one satisfied his questions and continued with the process until all of them failed? ”

The butler slowly walked towards his cigarette case, pulled out one, and lit the tip with a match. ”Innocence and ignorance. The thing may have been a demon or a monster in the eyes of many. But he possessed a heart that is fair and just. Lets hope, he remains that way. ”

Luckily, the Nephalem had his angelic side dominating the demon side, or else, everything would have gone down to ruins, the butler thought as he puffed a cloud of smoke from his cigarette.

He wearily threw a glance at the teen who was busy perusing a book. Frederick felt that he did the right thing. Harold needed to know all those information at that very moment. Then he turned his attention to a window and whether it was true or not, he knew something ominous was coming and he was running out of time. He may not even have enough to speak with the teen ever again.