Boy of Light and Dust

Dayin

Ica returned Dayin to his room after the long trek up the stairs. Dayin immediately changed out of his painfully obvious armour and had set to work taking care of food... while also eating the occasional thing while he put it away.

He didn't even bother touching the book, though he was itching to. He'd left it sitting on the counter while he'd gone and made his bed and then took a bath. He wanted to be relaxed before he tried to sit down and read that book.

Ica had left him alone once he'd left him in his room. He'd also been relatively quiet as they returned up the stairs. There'd been no sign of Jensen when they'd come up the stairs, which was a relief.

Dayin grabbed the book off the counter and returned to his room. He plopped down on his bed and set the book down in front of him, staring at it for a moment. The book looked pretty old but barely read. From Ica's warning, Dayin understood why it looked mostly untouched.

He opened the leather cover and peered at the first few pages, nothing too notable about them. He turned to the table of contents and skimmed down the list.

He saw something about "rituals" and "the strength of the Bonds". "Deaths" caught his eye. He was still unsure of why someone would do magic on another person, knowing there was a possibility of killing them.

Dayin carefully paged through the book, not really reading anything, just flipping through, waiting for something interesting to catch his attention. He continued doing that for several minutes, trying not to pause and read every page.

Finally, something caught his eye. "Ceremony and Usage". It read:

"The Turning Bonds, though rare and very complex in nature, can be used at Warlocks' discretion. The Bonds are most commonly placed upon Warlocks with untrained magic. They are used to control the Warlocks' magic, though, on rare occasions, the Bonded Warlocks are able to resist control.

The ceremony begins by placing the Warlock to receive the Bonds in the center of five Warlocks, preferably Warlocks with immense control of their magic. The eldest Warlock then begins with the vows the Bonding Warlock must take, while the remaining four Warlocks combine their magic, careful not to lose control. The Bonds require healing, fire, tracking, and immortality magic, which each Warlock will perform and contribute toward the ceremony.

When all four types of magic combine, the ceremony enters the most dangerous stage. If one Warlock's magic were to over-power another, it could injure or even kill the Warlock receiving the Bonds.

As soon as the magic combines and is released on the Warlock, he will be under the control of the eldest present."

Dayin stared down at the page, half in curiosity, half in horror. He understood Ica's and William's warnings about the topic. But Ica was right. It was very interesting. He flipped the page, which was titled "Breaking the Bonds."

All it had on the page was:

"The Bonds are irreversible. Once placed, they cannot be broken. Attempts to break the Bonds have always resulted in death."

He set the book down in front of him and closed it. The last sentence shook him. How could there be no way to reverse that? How could anyone even go through with that?

Dayin moved the book to his side table and laid down on his bed, staring up at the ceiling, mildly mortified by what he'd read. He didn't understand how anyone could risk something that dangerous, knowing how dangerous it could be. He wondered if people volunteered to have the Bonds placed on them, or if they were chosen.

He fell asleep thinking about that and woke up several hours later because of loud knocking on his door. He groaned and rolled out of his bed before stumbling to the door.