"Please, save her..." Roy whispered again, and his words made the young man lightly smile at his love for his mother.
"If I help her cheat death, I would have to answer for it one day." Keith looked at the Child of Destiny and said. "And she means everything to you." He pointed out. "What could you possibly do to repay me for saving her?"
"Please." The boy begged again.
"A deal is a deal, young Windson. You have to decide what you want to offer as payment."
"I don't know..." Roy shed some more tears and then looked up at him. "What do you want?"
"Are you sure that you want to leave it to me? There would be no room for negotiations." He warned.
"You can take what you want, even my life." He promised in the heat of the moment, and his heart sank as soon as those words left his mouth.
Keith smiled some more at the young boy.
"Your death would not be so valuable to me." He said, and then narrowed his eyes. "I will save your mother if you want me to, and in return, I will take her away after a year."
"What?" Roy was dumbfounded when he heard those words.
"Yes." Keith smiled.
"No..."
"I warned you. Now, there is no room for negotiations." He grinned.
Roy's body shook as he beggingly looked at him.
"I don't want to lose her." He whispered.
"You wouldn't. She will live by my side, and you can see her again when I allow it."
His words surprised the boy a little, and then his young mind started racing with question.
"What do you want from her?" He apprehensively asked.
"Nothing, and everything." He playfully said. "I will give her a place in my household as a maid, and she will serve me in any way I would ask her to serve me."
"No!" Roy immediately said.
He was a young boy but he knew what Keith's words implied.
"There is no room for negotiations."
"No." Roy shook his head, and his heart nearly stopped when he heard Keith's next words.
"Your choice, Young Windson." He shrugged. "Go and be with your mother. She won't live past this month." He told him and then walked past him.
The young boy just stood there, frozen in his place, and though a part of him felt relieved to see the man leave, a dreadful sense of loss washed over him as well.
His mother was going to die... He cried but then turned to look into the back of the man who was walking away.
Roy did not want his mother to suffer. He knew that death would probably bring her some peace, but he was selfish and he wanted her to live, just so he could see her and spend more time with her.
No child in the world wanted to lose their mother, and he was no different.
"Save her!" He shouted, and watched the young man stop in his steps.
"Is that your choice?"
"Yes!"
"Very well..."
Roy heard him whisper, and something strange happened after that.
A wave of dizziness washed over him, and when he sobered up, he found himself standing in the living room of his apartment.
His eyes immediately darted towards his mother's room, and he ran over to it but found the door locked from the inside.
Fiona was too weak to get up, and she would not lock the door from the inside, which only meant that there was someone else in the room with her.
Roy stepped back and sat down on the floor, resting his back against the wall.
He was still shaken by what had just happened, and his heart was pounding in fear.
The man was not human. He was sure of it now. And another thing he was sure about was that he had made a deal with the Devil.
A wave of guilt washed over him when he realised that he had sold his mother. What would she think of him when she finds out what he had done? Would she hate him?
Roy silently sobbed, but the guilt only lasted for a short while before his desire to see his mother live and be healthy again intensified.
She was going to live, and he would see her again.
The boy wiped his tears and then impatiently waited for the door to open.
Inside the room, Keith inspected the naked body of the woman who was floating in the air, surrounded by his darkness.
Though she was weak and frail-looking, she was still quite beautiful.
He was not really interested in her, but she would become the strongest shackle he would bind the Child of Destiny to him with. So, he was pleased that she was rather beautiful.
Unlike her son, she had strawberry blonde hair, and typical Irish features such as a rounded chin, upturned nose, and high cheekbones. There were freckles marring her face, which Keith eliminated as he treated her and rejuvenated her body.
The moment he was done, a system prompt sounded out in his mind.
[Main Quest 8: Subdue Roy Windson, the Child of Destiny. Reward: 10,000 System Experience. 10,000 System Points. A Mystery Box with randomised reward.]
[Difficulty: Moderate.]
[Time Limit: None.]
"You changed the Quest?"
[The System Quests are not predetermined. They are issued to help you and to assist your intentions.]
"Good to know." He smiled, but he had already known about it. He had figured out a lot of things about why he possessed the System. "What would qualify as successfully subduing Roy Windson?" He asked.
[When the Child of Destiny considers you their Master, the Quest would be completed. It is only possible after their Invincible Halo wears off, and only when they do it out of their will.]
"So, I can not make him a Puppet." He smiled.
He did not intend to do it and he already knew the answer to this question. And he did not need to take such an approach with Roy.
This Child of Destiny was a little too filial and loyal, and Keith knew that he would lay his life for him even if he wronged him in the future. Why? Because he was treating his mother.
After all, in the Plan of Destiny he had read, Roy always repaid those who helped him with utmost sincerity. He was very different from the likes of Ye Tian, Qin Feng, Kylian, and Mathew. And he was not too ambitious either.
Keith knew that Roy could never pose any significant threat to him. Most Children of Destiny would not, given how powerful he was and was meant to be, and since the did not possess anything that he needed from him, there was nothing much in killing him other than the Fate Value. But now that the System had issued a new Quest, it could be harvested slowly as Roy lives through the Plan of Destiny designed for him.
[You can but that would be equivalent to killing him. He would lose his status as a Child of Destiny, and he would be of no use to the Host.]
"Of course." Keith shook his head and then looked at Fiona, whose skin had gained lustre as the potion he had fed her took effect.
Eliminating her brain tumours was a very easy task, it did not even take him a few minutes.
However, he deliberately slowed down the process as he made Roy wait outside the room. He wanted the boy to collect his thoughts and only have his mother's safety in his mind.
When he was done treating the young lady, whose age was 29, but now looked like she was in her early twenties, he bought some decent clothes from the System Shop and put them on her.
And then he lowered her down onto the bed that was now clean as new.
A couple of minutes later, the young mother opened her eyes, and she froze when she saw a ridiculously handsome man dressed in black standing by her bedside, looking at her with a light smile.
"Welcome to the afterlife." He playfully said and watched her frantically look around, amused by her ever-changing emotions.
Without waiting for her to compose herself and understand why she felt so energetic and in better shape than she had ever been in her life, Keith walked towards the door.
"Who are you?" She asked, but he did not respond and exited the room.
"She's awake now." Keith patted the head of the young boy who was expectantly looking at him, and as soon as he heard his words, Roy rushed inside the room to meet his mother.
"Mammy!" The young boy hugged her tightly, and Fiona could not contain her tears when she saw how restless her beautiful son looked. "How do you feel?" Roy asked as soon as he separated from her and took a good look at her.
In all his years, he had never seen his mother wear such beautiful clothes, and he had never seen her look as beautiful as she looked right now.
"I..." Fiona did not know how to answer him.
She felt good, really good, but she did not know how long this feeling would last.
"I feel good." She said to him and then lovingly planted a kiss on his forehead. "Who's that young man?"
Roy nodded to her when he heard her say that she felt good. He could tell just by looking at her that she was cured.
"I don't know his name." He lowered his head and replied. "He saved you."
"Roy." Fiona sensed that something troubled her child, and she pulled his chin up to make him look her in the eyes. "You are hiding something from me." She knowingly smiled, and her heart became restless when she saw guilt wash over her son's face. "You did something wrong, didn't you?" She asked as a tear slipped out of her eye and then she hugged him, trying to make him feel better. "Your mammy won't be mad at you, sweetheart. I am sorry..."
The pair of mother and son hugged each other for minutes before Fiona managed to make Roy tell her everything that happened and the deal he made with the mysterious man.
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