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“Son.”
Soren couldn’t breathe. He turned his face away from the impossible man and looked toward the ground instead, his eyes blown wide in horror.
“Soren.”
He didn’t respond. How dare that man say his name, if that really was him. He was half-convinced this must be some sort of demented trick by Claudia. She’d done it before, hadn’t she? In the battle at the Storm Spire. Soren remembered it clearly, the feeling of putting his sword through-
“Look at me!”
He wouldn’t. He refused to do a single thing that man asked him, illusion or not. His lungs were still working too hard, his heart beating too fast. It wasn’t until the man…Viren knelt in front of him that he could bring himself to look up. At least now they were on the same level. At least now, Viren wasn’t above him anymore.
Despite his simple clothing and the bruising around his left eye, Viren looked the same as ever. Stern, emotionless, cold. Claudia sure had his likeness pegged with whatever cruel magic she was using.
“You…you’re not real…” Soren gasped out, and Viren’s expression didn’t change.
“No, I am. Very real,” he said, but Soren shook his head, straining against the vine that held his neck in place. Viren placed a hand on his shoulder, and Soren flinched away as violently as the vines allowed. For once, his father took the hint and dropped his arm.
“I know this must be…shocking for you,” he said, and Soren remembered that judgmental tone too well. “Take a moment. I’m not going anywhere.”
Soren wished he would go somewhere. Somewhere far away, or even better, back to whatever purgatory he’d been sent to after falling from the stormspire. There was no way he’d survived a fall like that.
But then, Claudia had cured Soren’s paralysis with dark magic. Who was to say she couldn’t…
He felt tears well in his eyes. He couldn’t think. He couldn’t even stop himself from sobbing, as frustrating as that was. Surprisingly, no one interrupted. Not Viren, or Claudia, or that new elf guy, or even…that creepy butterfly child thingy. They just went about their business as he knelt there, hyperventilating and wallowing in his own confusion.
________________
It took hours for Soren to stop shaking. Why…why was Viren back here? It had been hard enough to grieve and miss and hate him for two full years. It had taken forever to work through the massive pile of weird he’d felt after watching his father die…twice, thanks to Claudia’s little illusion, and now that he was back, the weird had come back with him. The anger, the grief, and worst of all, that strange little twinge of…relief in the back of his mind. What was it doing there? How could a part of him want his father back, after…after everything?!
Once Soren was coherent again, he noticed the sky had faded from pink to the light blue of midday. Viren was still there, sitting with his back to a nearby boulder, just…watching and occasionally rolling his eyes at the butterfly creature’s antics. Claudia had already gone off with her new boyfriend - an elf of all the hypocritical-
“Are you calm enough to speak now?”
Soren looked up in surprise before turning his gaze back toward the ground. He didn’t want to talk to Viren. Not in the slightest.
The man let out one of his obnoxious, exasperated sighs and crossed over to where Soren was still held in place by vines. “Soren, I know we’ve had our…differences in the past, but you must understand-”
“What, Dad?!” he spat. “Understand what? That we were being “threatened” by Xadia? Th-that the elves were dangerous? Seems like you’re just fine with elves now, what with Claudia’s boyfriend…a-and Avocados-”
“Aaravos.”
“Whatever! What do you think you’re gonna get out of this? Do you think I-I’m just gonna join your side after everything I saw you do?” There was the faintest trace of shock in Viren’s expression. Good. “You’re wrong. I’m not playing your game.”
Viren sighed again, in that grating way of his. “Alright, I’ll get to the point.” He stood up, dusting off the dirtied white robe covering him. “I understand that King Ezran is looking for the same thing we are, and that he is on amicable terms with the dragon queen.” He paced back and forth briefly before pausing in front of Soren and crossing his arms. “As an archdragon, she must know something about Aaravos’ prison that we don’t. And I assume she told King Ezran as well.”
“Isn’t that what that thing is for?” Soren asked, gesturing toward the creepy butterfly child with his head. “You already know about Rex Igneous. King Ezran doesn’t know any more than you do.”
Viren frowned. “Really,” he replied. “So I’m supposed to believe that Rex Igneous alone possesses the knowledge of where to find Aaravos? All that power, in the claws of one dragon?” He shook his head lightly. “No, the archdragons are smarter than that. And I think you know it.”
Soren remembered, then, what Ezran had mentioned about Domina Profundis. Viren was right. He was missing one piece of the puzzle. And now that Soren knew that, he was going to guard the secret with his life.
“Enough games, Soren!” Viren shouted. “You know I can tell when you’re hiding something. Speak up!”
Soren gritted his teeth. “I told you. I don’t know anyth-”
A rock slammed into his cheek and a sharp yelp burst from his throat. Blood pooled between his teeth and he spit it out at Viren’s feet.
Another obnoxious sigh. “I didn’t want to do that, Soren,” said Viren. “If you had just cooperated-”
“No,” Soren interrupted, and this time the rock hit his other cheek, making the world spin and his ears ring.
“Alright, let’s try this one more time. I’m going to ask you a question, and if I get the answer I’m looking for, I’ll find something to help with the pain. Where-”
“No!” Soren screamed. “You’re gonna have to hit me again, because I. Don’t. Kn-” he barked as the rock hit his nose, and he thought for sure it must be broken. Blood spilled from his nostrils, and the shock of the impact reverberated through his head. Still, he defied.
“Again!” he shouted. The rock hit his forehead.
“Again!” his ear.
“Again!” his throat, knocking the wind out of him, and leaving him panting.
They continued like that for longer than they should have. Occasionally, Viren would offer a chance to answer the question in exchange for an end to the violence, but Soren was too incoherent to answer even if he wanted. Blood covered his face, and he could feel the strangeness of his gums where a number of his teeth had fallen out. He would’ve collapsed if not for the vines still holding him tightly in place.
But then they weren’t anymore. There was a voice with a distinct Earthblood accent, footsteps, an accusation, and then the vines fell away. Someone slid a hand under his head, and he pulled away, since the whole area was overcome with a numb ache.
The action consumed what was left of his energy, and he passed out there in the Drakewood, without caring whether he ever woke up.