Adion drew his knife from his pocket so fast that it was clear he had been waiting for a chance to use it. The young boy, whose name was Dante, didn't flinch; however, his mother grabbed hold of him and roughly pushed him forwards.
"Yes, kill him. He only brings me danger!" she cheered.
However, Valorth brought the scene to a halt as he held out his hands, making Adion hesitate. He could sense that something wasn't right here and believed there was no chance that he was about to blindly do what the woman told him to. Valorth looked down at the boy, Dante. Despite his sadness, the boy seemed completely normal and showed no signs of being possessed.
Could it be?
"Ma'am, does your son have a corrupted heart?" He asked. After hearing the words, her expression switched to one filled with hatred.
"By the angels, yes. And it's only a matter of time before he goes crazy and gets me in trouble. I've read the works of Oswald the Wise, and even Chadwick the Hopeless. I know what they say about the corrupted ones." Her eyes then darted between Valorth and Adion. "If you are both knowledgeable on the world of Hearteaters, I'm sure you understand why this is a problem for me."
Adion nodded his head, keeping his knife in his hands. "Yes, we do. Oswald said thatâ"
"Where did he get it?"
Everyone's eyes turned to Valorth as he cut off his friend with cold words. His fists were clenched as his dark eyes seemed to pierce into the soul of the mother.
"Excuse me?" she uttered with a confused expression.
"Where did he get the heart from? To become corrupted he must have eaten a heart."
"Ah yes, well, living in Redchapel, his father and I decided it would be smart to keep ourselves safe. We thought that if we had a son with powers, we wouldn't have to worry about the demons."
The room fell silent after Valorth's suspicions were confirmed. He looked down at the boy Dante, who looked like it had been years since he had had a day of joy. He glanced at his blackened eye, where it had been bruised from beatings. He recalled his own childhood, when he had been left on the streets by his own parents before he was even old enough to remember what they looked like. He thought that children could only be neglected if they no longer had their parents in their lives.
In a way, he believed that Dante's life was even worse than his, and the fact filled him with indescribable rage. A rage he had never felt in his life.
Adion glanced over his friend with a worried look on his face. "Valorth?" he muttered.
But Valorth wasn't paying attention. The sound of glass shattering spread throughout the room as his golden gaze landed on the mother in front of him, whose mouth was wide in shock. The look of shock was soon swapped with pain as her worst memories replayed in his mind, tormenting her. She fell to her knees, clutching at her brown curls, screaming through gritted teeth. Dante looked back at his mother, who was stuck in agony, and yet his face remained still and unchanging.
Adion was about to step in and say something, but one look at Valorth's angered face was enough to stop him. Instead, he decided to wait for the golden hue of his eyes to fade away. As the woman's cries died down, she looked up at Valorth with tears streaming from her eyes and spittle running down her chin.
"Monster!" she screamed, pointing at him aggressively. "You're a monster, just like him!"
But Valorth didn't care. His face remained straight as he shook his head and corrected the woman. "No. I'm a monster just like you."
The woman simply stared at him from her knees, still stuck in shock. Then she pushed herself to her feet and stormed off towards the door, barging past Adion, who still held the knife in his hand, though wasn't sure what to do with it. Without another word, she left the room and slammed the door behind her, leaving her son behind with two men she had never met.
Valorth took in several deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. He felt his body becoming heavier at the repeated uses of his rememberer eye, yet he didn't regret it for a second. After he was in a calmed state, he turned his attention back towards the young boy who stood there, unbothered. He then walked over and crouched down slightly, coming to the boy's level.
Valorth flashed him a forced, squinty-eyed smile. "Hello, Dante. I'm Valorth, and that's my best friend, Adion," he said, gesturing towards the red-haired young man at the door.
Dante looked back and forth between them both before nodding his head slightly. "Thank you for saving me," he said in a quiet tone.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
At the sound of the young boy's voice, Valorth felt tears welling in his eyes. He didn't quite understand why, but the matter was extremely personal for him. Hearing those words felt like the greatest accomplishment of his life. Blinking away the tears, he placed a hand on Dante's shoulder and rose back to his full height.
"That's what friends are for, Dante, and that's what you are to us now: a friend."
---
Valorth headed downstairs, ordering a meal with a few coppers and brought it upstairs for Dante to eat. The young boy with the shaved head sat on the bed, devouring the meal as if it was his first. Meanwhile, Valorth and Adion stood closely outside the room. Valorth still carried exhaustion, so he was hardly paying attention to the worried look on Adion's face.
"I can't help but think this is a bad decision," Adion said as he rubbed at his chin.
Valorth retorted casually. "So what shall we do, slay him like his sick mother asked of us?"
"No, no, I wasn't talking about that. It's just... For so long it's only been me and you. Can we afford to have a child tag along with us?" Adion replied defensively.
"He's not just a child," Valorth said as he glanced back into the room at the young boy. "He's a Hearteater. He has the power to make something of himself."
"Sure." Adion shrugged. "A power that he can't control."
The words hit somewhere personal for Valorth, so he didn't bother to reply. So far, he had experienced nothing dangerous about his corruption. If anything, it had saved his life.
Why can't it be the same for Dante?
With resolution, Valorth turned and headed back into the room. Dante had finished his soup and bread and sat on the bed with a straight face. Valorth made his way over and sat beside him whilst Adion hovered by the door. The young boy looked over at him, his face giving nothing away.
"Dante, do you know what heart type you have?" Valorth asked, straight to the point.
Dante remained silent for a few moments before answering. "Heart type?" His brow was furrowed in confusion.
His parents forced him to eat a demon heart without even telling him what they are...
Such a fact angered Valorth even further, but he didn't show it.
"Yes. We aren't the most knowledgeable in this area, but when you eat the heart of a true demon, you're granted powers belonging to a varied amount of heart types. My friend there, Adion, and I only know of four heart types so far, but we suspect that there are at least ten."
Dante seemed to be listening intently and nodded his head to confirm this.
"I... I don't know. I only ate the heart this morning, but I feel the same," he answered in a soft tone. These events didn't match Valorth's own situation.
After eating the corrupted heart, my spirit was immediately drawn into another realm. I assumed this was the same for everyone who became corrupted, but I guess not...
"What are the other heart types?" Dante then asked nervously. "The ones that you are aware of."
Adion shot Valorth a sceptical glance. He knew that knowledge was important and felt hesitant giving it away for free. Valorth, however, had already decided that Dante was no longer just a stranger; he was a friend.
"I own the rememberer heart. It grants me the power of memories. So far, I've been gifted the ability to perfectly remember information that I've seen, as well as force others to relive their worst memories," Valorth explained as he tapped his eye with a finger.
Dante's eyes suddenly went wide and his mouth made a circular shape in surprise. "Is that what you used on my mother?" he asked, not seeming to have any affection for the woman.
"Y-yeah," Valorth answered nervously, not sure whether to feel bad or not. Changing the subject, he looked over at Adion expectantly, who let out a great sigh.
"I'm a Promiser. I have the ability to make a promise that can directly edge fate in my favour."
This description sounded even more unbelievable. Dante couldn't help but let out a sound of youthful surprise. Valorth found himself smirking at the sight.
"The other two types that we are aware of are Crafter and Enhancer. We only heard nobles talking about it once and still don't know what exactly the types do, but we can make estimated guesses."
"Nobles?" Dante muttered under his breath with confusion before swiftly moving on. "I didn't know that Hearteaters were so cool. Mother only ever made me believe that it was a world filled with curses."
Yes... That's because your mother was a curse herself.
"Ignore your mother, Dante. She's no longer your problem. However, I don't want to force you to stay with us," Valorth began to explain. "We're only a pair of palace servants with dreams to become something greater. We don't know exactly what path we're walking down, but all I know is that it's one filled with danger."
Valorth then looked over at the young boy, who stared back at him with innocent green eyes.
"I don't mind the danger," he replied, glancing down at the floor sadly. "As long as I'm not holding you guys back..."
But before he could fall deeper into sadness, Valorth leaned over and pulled the young boy into a tight, brotherly hug. He could feel Dante's singular heart beating fast against his chest and wondered if the boy could feel his.
One day I'll tell him.
"Not at all, Dante. If you'll take us as your brothers, we'll take you as ours."
A droplet of tears fell from the boy's eyes, which he quickly wiped on his sleeve as they pulled away from the hug. His bronze cheeks had flushed red in embarrassment.
"Brothers," he then said, looking between Valorth and Adion.
"Brothers," Valorth repeated with a smile.
"Brothers," Adion said more sceptically, but open to the idea. After all, three Hearteaters were more powerful than two.
Afterwards, Valorth rose to his feet and closed the curtains of the room. The sun had long since fallen and night had arrived. He then lay down on the floor between the two beds, using his servant jacket as a blanket.
"What are you doing?" Adion laughed, lying back down on his own bed. "You meet the boy once and surrender your bed to him? What's next, your clothes?"
Dante looked down at Valorth on the floor with a guilty look on his face, but Valorth waved it away.
"It's just a bed. It's not like I haven't slept in worse places," he said, closing his eyes and preparing for sleep to take him. "Both of you get some rest; who knows what we may have to tackle tomorrow."
After all, Valorth had two suspicions. It was likely that he would face another vision that night, due to the corruption of his heart. But more importantly, Dante might have a similar experience due to his own corruption. And the information that he gained from said experience might reveal to him the properties of a new heart type.