Silence

***Sometime in the past***

*KNOCK* *KNOCK*

"Marcus! Get up, it time to get going. Get dressed and meet me outside."

"Mmhhmm."

Marcus hurriedly woke up after hearing his father's response through the door to his room. Looking around his modestly-sized room, he scrambled to grab some clothes and shoes from his closet to put on. The selection of clothes in his closet weren't very appealing to the normal young teenage boy, but living out in the forest with your family didn't allow you the privilege of having many clothing stores nearby that you could shop at.

Slipping on a white t-shirt and black pair of pants, that sort of resembled a mix between cargo and jogging pants, Marcus quickly made his bed and dashed to the bathroom to finish getting ready. After about two or three minutes Marcus finished up in the bathroom and headed down stairs to head outside but stopped immediately after noticing his mother and father staring at him from the front door.

Marcus was used to his father being up so early in the morning because this was the usual time the two set out to start their training session. However, his mother almost never woke up so early in the morning, at least to his knowledge.

"Good morning Mars."

"Hey mom, why are you here?"

"Hmm... Can't a mother greet her son in the morning?"

"Uhh...no.. I mean yes.. What I meant to say is-"

Marcus was interrupted by the sound of giggling from his mother and an exasperated sigh from his father.

*Sigh*

"Bell can you please hurry and give it to him so we can get going. I want to finish this up as soon as possible so we can get back in time."

Ignoring her husband's words, Belladonna walked up to her son and handed him a box.

"Hmm."

Marcus stared at the box in his hands with a strange expression on his face, as he tried to guess what could possibly be inside the box. At a glance there wasn't anything out of the ordinary about the small brown box his mother gifted him so his first response was to just stuff it in his pocket and follow his father out the door before he got any more impatient than he already was. He planned on opening it later on so he went ahead and started to put it in his pocket, but just before he was going to do just that, his father and mother stopped him.

Liam pinched the bridges of his nose.

"Marcus just open it first. We're already slightly behind schedule as is. A few extra minutes won't hurt anybody."

"Yes! You should definitely open it now so I can explain to you how it works."

Surprised by his father's sudden change in attitude and his mother's insistence on him opening the box now versus later left him more than just a little bit confused to say the least. Even so, he decided to listen to his parents and just open the box.

After taking the lid off the miniature box, that fit in the palm of his hand, Marcus noticed a small ring inside with very intricate patterns and markings. The ring had a pitch black color to it with silver engravings that resembled miniature eyes.

Marcus was a bit creeped out by the miniature silver eyes on the ring so he put it back in the box and closed the lid.

"Mom what is this?"

*Giggle*

"Its a ring silly. Put it on."

Slightly annoyed by his mother's snarky response, he went ahead and put the ring on his finger.

"So what no-"

Immediately after putting the ring on, Marcus felt a sharp prick on his ring finger and tried to take the ring off but the ring wasn't coming off.

Noticing his son's worries, Liam moved to calm his son down before he ripped his finger off trying to pull out the ring.

"Calm down Marcus. It's just a relic and it pricked you a bit to register you as it's owner. Now come on, lets get going; we're losing sunlight here."

Liam pulled a similar ring out of his own pocket and placed it on his finger. Right after placing the ring on his finger his father underwent a change, or at least his hair and eye color did. Directly after putting the ring on his finger Liam's hair and eyes took on a brown color.

"Dad! Your hair, its brown! What-"

Laughing at her son's incredulous expression Belladonna decided to stop teasing him and explain. Although before she could say anything footsteps sounded at the top of the stairs.

"Mommy, Daddy, what's wrong?"

Alicia was half-asleep so she didn't immediately notice the changes her father underwent but as soon as she did her eyes grew as wide as saucers.

"Daddy your hair! It's brown! Oh, and Marcus too!"

The three turned to acknowledge Alicia. Both parents smiled, while Marcus looked at his sister confused.

"Huh, what are you talking about?"

Right on queue, Belladonna presented her son with a small oval sized mirror so he could see himself. Looking at his reflection in the mirror, Marcus gasped.

"This..."

Looking at the mirror Marcus noticed his hair and eye color did indeed change just like his father's. He looked exactly the same, except his black hair and silver eyes were now brown. Marcus decided to look to his parents for an explanation as to what the point of this relic was.

"Nope. My lips are sealed. Your father will finish explaining on the way there. Now get going. Alicia you should be in bed young lady. Come on back to bed with you."

"Huh?! But-"

"Nope. No but's young lady. You need to get your beauty rest. Lets go."

Belladonna escorted her daughter back upstairs and Marcus was left alone with his Dad.

*Sigh*

"Good luck explaining that Bell. Welp lets go Marcus, I'll explain on the way."

And with that, the two set out towards there destination to begin Marcus's training.

***Back to the present***

*Splash*

"Wha?!"

"Hey kid you fell unconscious again. I brought some water for ya. Here drink up. If you can hang in there for a few more days I'll even get ya some bread."

After being doused in water by Geralt, Marcus regained some clarity and noticed the half empty cup of water in Geralt's hand and his eye brows shot up immediately. He hadn't drank or ate a thing for who knows how long. Since he got knocked unconscious by that madman, James, he lost all track of time.

*Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp* *Gulp*

Geralt had held the cup up just enough for Marcus to lean forward and begin drinking its contents.

"Hey kid, slow down. You're gonna choke. I didn't go grab that water just to see ya drown yourself."

Marcus ignored Geralt and continued to chug the water down like a alcoholic getting a free serving of his favorite drink.

Taking a closer look at the water, one would think twice before consuming such a thing. The water was a bit dark and murkier than normal water. It even had a few pieces of whatever the cup was made of inside it. Speaking of the cup, The cup was also in a pretty disgusting condition as well with mold and cobwebs around the handle and cup itself.

Marcus didn't seem to notice as he was just happy to finally quench his thirst. The water was far from being cold and was instead lukewarm. However even if the water was boiling hot Marcus still would have drank it against his better judgement. He was in no condition to worry about something so 'insignificant' as cleanliness and sanitation.

Geralt had let the cup in his hands go after Marcus finished drinking and let it fall to the floor.

*THUMP*

*cough*

Marcus did indeed drink to fast and ended up coughing again.

*Tch*

Geralt smacked his lips, seemingly unsatisfied with something.

"Didn't think you'd chug the whole thing down like that. Welp, there goes my 2 silver coins for the week."

It seemed Geralt placed a bet on whether or not Marcus would drink the 'water' from the cup and he must have bet against Marcus drinking the foul liquid judging from his earlier reaction.

Marcus still wasn't of the proper mind to care though because almost immediately after he drank the 'water', the pain that was happening all across his body came back in full force almost as if to spite Marcus for thinking it had left just because he'd quenched his thirst.

Along with the aches and pain Marcus was now feeling throughout his body, he started to show signs of nausea. His body didn't want to immediately puke out the miniscule amount of water it had left so Marcus was left in limbo and felt like he had to throw up but only managed dry coughs instead.

*cough*

Eventually the foul liquid did come back up, along with whatever water was left in Marcus's body.

*BLERGH*

Whilst all this was happening, Geralt had summoned another chair and decided to wait to see whether or not Marcus would finally kick the bucket this time. It would seem Geralt stopped caring about whatever 'possible profit' he would get in return for Marcus due to his loss on his earlier bet.

"Hmph. Just kick the bucket already you rotten sack of shit. You were already damaged goods after what that lunatic did to ya and now I lost an additional two silver cuz ya couldn't keep yer urges in check."

While Geralt was busy grumbling about his lost money, Marcus started to go into shock. Whether from dehydration, the numerous beatings from his torturers, or a combination of all those things, his body could no longer handle it as Marcus started writhing around uncontrollably.

Geralt stopped his grumbling to observe Marcus's final struggle. He snapped his fingers and the stone chains holding Marcus up crumbled into dust and Marcus fell to the floor with a dull thud.

*THUD*

Marcus's body was still in a state of shock and he continued to writhe on the ground. He would have started to foam at the mouth but couldn't due to the lack of any liquids being in his body. Eventually, after some time passed Marcus stopped moving.

The room was eerily quiet. No coughs or puking, just unadulterated silence.

Marcus had breathed his last.

"Hmph. Bout damn time. Good riddance kid. Death's a much better fate for your kind than what we originally planned to do with you."

Geralt walked out of the room, not even bothering to close the door behind himself.

And just like that. Marcus died.