THE

HANSLEY'S


MANSION

IRLAN set afoot to his journey of advancing his level for the final stage before he sought meditation. His goal was to make himself a 'master' and make a school to teach magic in a more accessible way.

He wanted to help those children who dreamed to be magic wielders and discover their potential. He may not have the power to change the world into a better state but he can always aspire the child who will.


It was all clear and vivid in his head. He knew he can achieve it. His will can be harder than a boulder.

There's just this one tiny problem to solve before he can achieve this goal of his.


"Aw, fuck— sheeze. Are you sure about going inside that... that dirty mansion? I mean, look at the huge volume of dust, Irlan. Have mercy in my clothes!"

Though Horan is not in any way tiny. He's way more taller than Irlan. His shoulders became even broader than the last time he had seen him.

'Yeah, he's one big mighty asshat. There's no way he's a tiny problem.'

Their bond was still there despite Nisel's promise to undo it. Irlan thought he's just pulling his leg with that empty words but these days, he noticed that the bonding effect is not that serious anymore.

He can no longer feel it whenever Horan gets hurt. They are not in sync anymore. But in turn, Irlan can feel it whenever Horan gets threatened or angry.

He can feel his emotional distress and at times he can connect with him in his head with telepathy.

'Maybe the old man's ways are indeed effective. I just have to wait more until we're fine.' It's not like Nisel can hurt him. He is connected with his son anyway.

"You can always choose to go and let me be. You're just slowing me down." Irlan observed the surrounding and huffed. "Now the spirits might be gone with all of your complaints."

"Huh?" Horan grinned at him not-so-nicely. "My mom ordered me to be here, with you. In case you do anything stupid and hurt yourself like what you did before!"

"Well, I'm not the one who randomly bites people whenever he feels like it, right?" He scoffed. "Stop meddling with the way how I do my mission. I can't die, which is the only thing that matters."

"Still, you can feel the pain of dying!" he argued, "Are you so into it? Well, I can just punch you if you missed pain so much."

"Horan, stop." Irlan whirled to look at him in the eyes. "I don't know you and you, in any way, does not know anything about me. Shut your tap, I don't need all of your meddling."

"Hah! My life is connected to yours, you idio-shit mage! Stop walking so fast. I can't keep up!"

Irlan decided whether to cover his ears for a moment or just seal Horan's mouth with a spell. He wouldn't be able to do this job properly with Horan shouting his way out of everything.

"I have to do a cleansing spell in this place since the headmistress bought this estate to gift Mr. and Mrs. De Villa a new house. She will be here tomorrow along with a reinforcement to design the place. You don't need to be here."

"Yeah, and what if you suddenly cut yourself open with a cleaning tool and decided to bleed overnight instead of treating it because, according to your words, you can't die anyway?"

Irlan's scalp tingled with the immense need to strangle Horan to death. "Shut... your mouth."

Horan stared at his face for a moment before smacking his mouth. "Okay. But please know in advance that I will never help you. Cleaning is not part of my skill description."

"You could have just told me that you don't know how and that would be more believable." Irlan decided to start at the ground floor. He clasped his hands together before shooing Horan away. "Move out. Your presence is going to dirty it again once I'm done cleaning it."

"You and your attitude, freak."

'My attitude was no more than yours.' Irlan started dusting the ceiling and wiping the windows with his magic. This made the task more easier.

Horan didn't move and chose to stand at the doorway. "The dust had settled in that cleaning it with a brush won't suffice. You have to use detergent and bleach, stupid."

'He's just like his mom.' Irlan murmured in his head before ignoring his opinion.

"Hah. He has gone deaf because of the dirt. With your slow progress, you will be stuck here 'til morning. You suck."

'He's so stupid that I hate him.' Horan's thoughts flew past Irlan's mind. He glanced at his direction but the guy was nowhere to be seen.

'Did he actually go home?'

Irlan heard a series of heavy footsteps on the second floor of the house. He shook his head and said with regret. "He's all the way more stupid than me. Who knows?"

After a while, Irlan couldn't hear any movements from Horan. Irlan thought that the guy must have slept.

'He's more reliable when he's asleep anyway.'

Irlan focused himself on cleaning the entire ground floor. He kept his mind busy with the task he was ordered to do next after doing this house a flip.

Looks like the headmistress wants to keep him busy so he wouldn't have time to think about Horan and his inconvenient bond.

Irlan was thankful for this distraction.

"That's more like it."

He smiled upon seeing the changes that a simple clean up could do. This place is huge. He's not sure if Penelope would like living inside a place like this.

'Time to check that monkey upstairs.' Irlan packed his tools and move up to the next floor.

He didn't expect to see it squeaky clean and bright. Horan sat by the window. He had his hand supporting his chin as he stared outside with contempt.

Irlan can see him clearly. He made his way to his direction. He's unsure wether thanking the guy is a good thing to do or not. 'He might counter me with a sass anyway.'

"You..." Horan's abrupt reaction made Irlan stutter for a second. His pale face and lifeless eyes always reminds Irlan that he's half dead. "…did you clean this all by yourself?"

"The spirits did this themselves. It's nice, isn't it?"

Irlan longed to knock his head with a broom. "Stop it already, okay? Time to be serious."

"But you're asking unnecessary questions." Horan raised a brow. "It's obvious I did it. I was trying to prove that I'm more efficient than you, okay? I win."

Irlan wondered about his mental state but he grinned. "That's great. You actually helped me."

"Yeah, I hate waiting for you."

"Then you must hate this bond so much." Irlan took the chance and said, "This undoing process has taken up so much time in our hands. Is it even possible?"

Horan's mouth moved a little. His conflicted expression told everything that Irlan needs to know. 'It's impossible. That's why he feel so guilty.'

"I'm sure there would come a day when we can find a way to break it. My Dad is old and his ways aren't always definite. You're a mage, and so I am. We can stop this in the future."

Irlan stared at him and shrugged. "The future is a bit too late, isn't it?"

"If you're waiting for me to collapse and say 'sorry', stop it. I won't say that. I will never say sorry."

"Does that mean you don't regret biting me?"

"You were dying that day! Of course I'm going to drain your power before sending you to death!"

"That's not even close to happening. I already told you—"

"I know, you can't die." Horan snapped. "Yeah? Well, I can heal myself twice faster than any shifter can! I'm a fucking vampire!"

Irlan chose silence than to compete with his pettiness. He waited for a few minutes to make sure Horan's madness had passed before stating a fact.

"You know that I had an accident way before. It was quite known in our town. My heart stopped beating then after a few minutes, It pumped like nothing happened. That's when I met my father." Irlan watched as interest and curiosity crossed Horan's face. "My father was a great general before. Now he guards the gate of the underworld. He never had the chance to hold me when I was a baby. He was never there when I grew up. He felt like he failed as a father. That's why he gave me his sword. And it recognized me as its owner. When I die, my soul travels to the doors of the underworld. I get to talk my dad for a bit, before be pushes me to my way back to life. When I wake up, it was like I'm good as new."

"That's why you never really cared about dying— because you get to meet up with your father." Horan formed his lips into a thin line. "Doesn't mean you don't feel the pain of dying each time you do that. No one likes to feel pain."

"That's why I always begged for a sudden death."

Horan covered his ears. "Stop saying that."

'He's in distress again.'

"You owe me," he stated. This accidental bond was a big shamble of his life.

Horan closed his eyes. "I know."

Irlan watched his face some more before smiling to himself. 'Good.'