WARNING: The following chapter contains graphic descriptions of violence, murder, torture, and gore. Viewer discretion is advised.
Julian stared up at the sky, wondering where the clouds would go on their journey to certain doom. Would they dry up over the desert? Or perhaps nourish a rainforest. There was no way for him to know simply because he didn't care. He wasn't a stickler for little details like the flight path of clouds, but he did think of a time when he was. When he used to count the rays of sunshine between each cloud.
One ray meant rain or snow was on the way, while 18 meant the storm was clearing up above him. One sun ray was ideal for young Julian. It was the perfect time to swipe vegetables and snacks from the market. The storm always slowed down the villagers, so he always made sure to carefully count the rays before going into a town.
He stood at the top of the hill, by a tall purple bark tree as he stared at the market below him. There were more fruits that year, probably because of the harvest. It was a jackpot for him as he slowly and quietly descended to the village below. With his hood up, he walked to a tomato stand and asked the price for three. "Each one is 3 ounces of pixie dust," the clerk said, "So three would be 9 ounces, but what is a young boy like you doing in the market? You're not here to cause trouble, are you?"
Trouble? No! Julian would never. He was simply buying food for his family as his father nursed his sickly mother back to health. He didn't want to risk Julian catching the virus, so he sent him to the market instead. Moved by his compassion and dedication, the clerk gave Julian 6 tomatoes and even bought him three pieces of goa bread to take with him as well. Talk about generous!
Generous and gullible. Most would feel bad about lying about such serious matters, but how else was Julian supposed to fill his stomach? Plus, he wasn't the only mouth he had to feed, so he continued through the market, playing his sickly, bedridden mother card and got free food. His last and final stall was one with his favourite snacks, rhuas. Soft, sweet, chewy, gewy, delicious rhuas. His stomach grumbled at the sight of them as he put on his 'help! My family is sick' expression.
How much did one rhua cost? "One is a pound of pixie dust." the minotaur sternly said. A pound! Julian didn't have nearly that much money, so he tried to haggle down the price. "A pound or go away!" the minotaur roared. The difference in size meant Julian was going to be killed if he tried stealing, so he gave up and sat down beside the road, trying to think of a new way to get the sweet, sweet rhua.
Maybe if he traded his food? But they wouldn't have enough to eat and minotaurs don't eat vegetables either. What to do. What to do. He didn't have much time either as the patrols came out at noon, and they demanded identification from anyone and everyone they deemed "suspicious". What to do. What to do. "Are you alright?" a beautiful green eyed girl asked. He stared into her captivating eyes and almost completely forgot about his own hunger.
He was f-fine. He managed to squeak when he realized he was staring. "You look hungry." He was hungry. His father had sent him to the market to buy food for his family as he tended to his bedridden mother, and- "That's a lie, isn't it." A lie? Julian had no idea what she was talking about. "What's your mother's name?" the girl asked. That wasn't any of her business. Julian got up to leave, but she stopped him and said, "I can help you."
Intrigued, Julian stayed behind as she whispered her plan into his ear. It would work if they pulled it off correctly, but he wondered why she was helping him as he walked up to Mr. Grumpy Minotaur one last time. Julian asked him if he was willing to give him 3 rhuas if he gave him all of his food, and the minotaur looked him dead in the eyes, trying to examine his soul. "Why do you want rhuas so badly?" he asked questioningly.
Julian took a deep breath before he described how delicious the gooey bug paste inside of the pastry made of gulo powder mixed and melted with every bite he took. Such an angelic food was hard to come by, so he tried his best to get at least one for his sickly mother every time he found it. It was a dream come true for a lonely child like he, but the minotaur didn't buy it and shooed him away once more.
Julian, defeated, walked away, wishing he could have one bite. That's all he needed one bite of eustraria. He fantasized about how delicious it would be as he walked through the market and into the town square. There, he sat down on a bench and looked at the sun rays once more. One, two, three. The thunder would be there soon, so he got up to return to the forest as he heard Mr. Minotaur yell, "That's him over there! The golden haired boy!"
Julian looked around, and started running as he realized he was the only golden haired boy in the town center. As soon as he did, the patrol officers started chasing him down, claiming he had stolen all of Mr. Minotaur's rhuas. He hadn't even got to taste one of them! He'd been framed, he thought as he ran through the crowd and leaped onto a window sill before launching himself onto the roofs of the buildings.
He ran as fast as he could, but the patrol officers were faster than he. The little liar looked for a way out before suddenly remembering one of them couldn't turn while running. He glimpsed behind him and saw the officer about to catch him before he jerked left. The officer stopped as he thought he would, leaving with him to outrun the last two.
The second officer was one of the fastest in the land, but his type was the kind to use up a lot of energy quickly, so they relied on their speed to catch their prey in that short time frame. The trick? Turn and zig zag as Julian ran. He avoided running in a straight line as he was being chased, and it soon paid off as the officer slowly began to slow down while chasing the boy. Julian continued running as the patrol came to an exhausted stop, but he wasn't in the clear yet.
The last patrol seemed to be the most intelligent of the three, and Julian had never encountered their type before, so he was at a loss. They seemed to be a lot smaller than the first officer, but they turned well without slowing down. Although they were slower than the second officer, they had a lot more stamina than them. Even in the marketplace, they were the first to spot Julian in the crowd.
He wasn't sure how they did it, but he was monumentally screwed. He kept running, but he himself was running out of stamina and energy. He looked up to the sky. One ray left. The thunder was supposed to start any minute, and he needed to outrun the patrol on his tail fast. What to do. What to do. Julian was finally out of ideas when he suddenly tripped on something and started to fall off the side of the roof.
He slid down on his butt, as the officer turned sharply and Julian closed his eyes as he got closer and closer to the edge and the officer's snout got closer and closer to his head. Luckily for him, gravity yanked him downwards faster, but he managed to grab a hold of the ledge of the roof, sending the officer flying ahead of him. He had done it! Somehow, but he was now stuck on the roof until the window in front of him opened. It was that girl!
*****
They arrived in the marshes outside the town where the girl had led Julian. "I didn't think you could pull it off." she giggled. Who did he think he was? He was the ultimate thief. There was nothing he couldn't do. She laughed as they approached an abandoned building and snuck into it underneath some rotten pieces of wood. He walked along, examining the crumbling interior and wondered who could ever live there.
As he thought this, the girl pulled back a ripped up curtain and revealed 16 children. Three of them were about his age, but the rest were all tiny and young. "Welcome to our humble abode." He then understood why the green eyed girl stole all of the rhuas. She needed them to feed her friends. Julian was awe-struck at the sight of them, and they were equally surprised at his long-ish golden hair, grey eyes, and not-pointy ears.
"Where are his fangs?" one child asked. "Has he no tail?" another questioned. "Can we trust him?" a bigger child asked the green eyed girl, and she vouched for Julian, telling them how he helped her steal. The kid who asked obviously didn't believe her, but all the other kids welcomed him with a smile and hugs. He hadn't received a hug in years, so he was hesitant to reciprocate, but they let him take his time.
They were kind and shared all they had with the lying boy as they asked him why he was so different. "What are you?" one child asked. He was a human, at least that's what his parents called him before they died. They wanted him to take over their land and all they had, but he never got to after their deaths. All the children there understood what it was like to lose their parents. "Did you also lose yours to the sickness?" the second big kid asked.
No, they were murdered before his very eyes. The room went silent as Julian told them how he watched his parents die in front of him. When he finished his short summary of the events, he realised he had scared the children and turned to leave them. He thanked them for sharing their food with him before going out the way he came. He looked up at the pouring rain above him as he tried to remember that feeling. The feeling of losing your parents.
"Wait up!" the green eyed girl called to him. She wrapped her scarf around his neck and half his face before telling him, "It's not much, but I hope it keeps you warm." He smiled as he promised to repay her for her kindness before walking up the hill, into the forest as the rain tried its best to beat him down. He still managed to make it to the top where he was waiting for Julian. "What took you?" the majestic beast asked, but Julian was too tired to talk.
He lied down under his wing before telling him how they would soon eat the most luxurious meat they ever had. "Be careful not to attract unwanted attention with those bad manners of yours." he warned, but Julian simply couldn't care less as the sound of the rain pattering on the wing above him lulled him to sleep.
*****
A month had already passed, Julian remarked as he waited for his cue to go lie to the clerk, distracting them, so the green eyed girl could swoop in and steal all the merchandise. This was the same routine every time, and it worked every single time they did it. This time was no different. It was boring now. Julian longed for a sense of thrill, but he had gotten none since the first time he met the girl.
He was getting sick of it, but he had promised her to stay with their group until all the little ones were healthy. He remembered how tightly she and the other two big kids hugged her a few weeks prior when they heard the news, but Julian was now bored with the usual routine. He longed for a new rush of excitement, and he got one when he spotted a poster behind the new target. He asked the clerk to hand it to him, and he almost screamed in glee as his pulse quickened and adrenaline rushed through his body.
"Is that all?" the clerk asked. That and three yoller berries for an ounce of pixie dust? "Ha! I already told you my price. If you can't pay it, scram!" Julian walked away, looking as dejected as possible as he walked to the town center, waiting for the three officers to show up. "Over there!" he heard the clerk yell. That was his signal. He got up from his usual bench and got ready to escape as usual, only this time, he felt a paw on his shoulder.
He slowly turned around and saw an officer holding his shoulder. His blood rushed as 6 more patrol officers approached and surrounded him. "You're not getting away this time." they said to him, but the threat made Julian smile. They were going to let him go. He knew they would, after all, he could get the officers exactly what they wanted.
*****
Julian walked along the banks of the marsh, towards the abandoned building, where the green eyed girl sat outside waiting for him. "Where have you been, Julian?" she asked him, and it took him a while to outrun the officers. They were new recruits, so he had to come up with new ways to outsmart them. He apologized for being late, but she didn't mind at all as she led him inside for dinner.
The children were all finally normal weights and sizes for their ages, meaning Julian's agreement was almost done. "No!" one child protested, "Julian can't go! He's family!" They considered him family? He just did what he felt was right, and that was to help the children escape starvation. He didn't do much at all, but the children insisted he had saved them and made them stronger.
Julian chuckled at the sound of their praise. The thunder outside overlapped with his laughing, and the others stopped laughing with him as an eerie wind blew through the building, putting out their fire. "What's so funny?" the boy who hadn't trusted him at first asked. "I'm scared," a little one explained, "It's too dark." Julian's laughing exploded at the complaint, and the other children told him not to laugh at a person's fears.
He wasn't laughing at the child's stupid fear. He just found all their foolery and kindness hilarious. They welcomed a total stranger into their family without an inkling of worry for their safety. The big kids slowly rose with their arms outstretched to "protect" the little ones, but there was nothing much they could do against a knife.
Thanks to all the escaping Julian had done in the last month, he was the strongest person in the room. What could they do against him? Nothing! They were all going to die by their own stupidity. The once-suspecting boy lunged at Julian first, but he simply grabbed the boy by his fist, and crouched below him, slicing his shins open. He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, and Julian yanked him up by his ear.
The children screamed as Julian placed his knife on his neck, but he told them not to worry. After all, they would all be together soon enough. They tried to scramble for the exits as the boy's dead body dropped to the ground, but there was only one way in and one way out, behind Julian. "Why?" the green eyed girl cried, "You said you would help us." He never said that though. He said he would fatten them up.
*****
Julian walked into the patrol box and dropped a bloody bag on the table and placed the flier beside it. All the wanted runaways. The officers opened the bag and those who didn't throw up immediately closed it and tried to arrest Julian, but he reminded them how the flier wanted them dead or alive. He had upheld his side of the deal, so they were obligated to give him his 3 rhuas. After all he got them the criminals they were desperately searching for.
"I saw you in the market with one of them," an airborne officer claimed, "Did you really sell your friends out for 3 rhuas?" Yes, for he was craving them badly.
He thanked the officers for upholding their side of the deal as he walked back towards the marsh. He worried if he'd be able to carry the bigger bag along with the rhuas, and decided he would hold the pastries in his mouth as it began to rain all over again.
Julian wondered if the downpour would've washed away all the blood for him as it was a hassle to clean it off every time. "My,my." a voice suddenly whispered. He turned to face the voice, but there was simply no one there. Strange. However, he didn't think much of it and continued on to the abandoned building.
*****
At the top of the hill, Julian presented the meat he had promised to him. "What meat is this?" he asked while sniffing it. His favourite, elf and wolfling. He staggered backwards as he recognized the scent of the food. "These are- How could you?" Why was he so upset? He was a meat eater, so Julian got him meat after a month of eating vegetables. He should've been thankful, the selfish beast!
The beast stared at Julian through the rain as he started eating his pastries. "First the madame and sir, now children, young master, what's happened to you?" Nothing. Julian didn't feel any different than he did before. It wasn't his fault they were so weak and foolish. That wasn't in his control. The weak shall always perish and the strong survive. "And the evil?" he asked, "What about you, young master?"
Him? He would always be on an endless adventure to find his next adrenaline rush.
He lowered his head in shame as he walked away from Julian and spread his large wings. "I'll be back, young master." Not that Julian cared. He was just a servant he spared. He should've been grateful Julian let him live that long, he thought as he decided to get rid of him too as soon as he returned. A smile emerged on his face as Julian thought of him suffering and in agony as he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
"Julian." the voice from before said, waking him up. He opened his eyes and saw a lady in front of him. Who was she? She was so beautiful with her white hair, skin and eyes. He reached out to touch her as she asked him if he wanted to destroy the world. "I can give you the power to do so if that is what you wish." Her ice cold face froze his hand as he caressed her cheek, but he couldn't pull his hand away.
Destroy the world? Would he be able to see everyone suffer that way? "Yes, many more will suffer at your hands." He liked the sound of that. It sounded like fun.
He reached out to hold her hand and accepted her offer as he closed his eyes and felt his body freezing to the point of numbness. This wonderfully painful feeling engulfed Julian's heart as he slowly absorbed more and more magic into his body without his knowledge.
He awoke the next morning, disappointed the prior night's events were just a dream as he returned from his flight. Where had he been? "I wanted to clear my head." So he left him alone all night? Who did he think he was? Julian felt a rush of ice fly from his heart to his hands as he punched the beast and sent it flying into some trees. What? He had never been able to even put a scratch on the beast before. Was that really just a dream?
Julian laughed aloud at the thought of being able to physically hurt him as he walked closer to the intimidated beast. "Please young master!" he pleaded, but Julian couldn't cease the feeling inside of him wanting him, urging him to kill the beast! He raised his hands ready to strike again, but as he ran closer to the beast, he felt his entire body shut down. The forest flew farther and farther below him as he was being thrown around in his consciousness until he landed in lightness.
There was nothing but light as far as his eyes could see, and he didn't like it. Where was he? He couldn't tell, but he walked around looking for a clue as to where he was. He wandered for what seemed like days on end, with nothing new in sight until a glimpse of darkness caught the corner of his eyes. He looked down, hoping to find the source, but the lone darkness just looked like fingers on a hand.
No, the hand was also darkness, as were the arms and legs below him. He traced the darkness up to his own neck as he frantically tried to figure out what was happening. "Your soul is rejecting the light magic around it." It was that lady! Everything had started being weird after she interfered with his life. What had she done? "You chose this, or do you not remember?" He chose this?
"The power to destroy the world you hate so. I gave it to you, and now you are my magician." Who was she? "Esros is what I am called." Esros? The Light Creator! What had she done to him? Where was he? He tried to grab the lady, but he couldn't touch her. Why? "We now share this space in your soul. I cannot end you nor can you me." His soul? What had she done? "I believe it's time for you to wake up."
*****
Ugh! That same dream. Julian hated that dream. He hated the Light Creator as others called that wretched curse. He hated the world and everything in and on it. Magic was all she could give him after screwing him over? Really? He would've preferred to have died, but he soon learned that was another thing he couldn't do during his eons in this new world.
Killing others didn't even bring him a thrill anymore. Nothing did. All he had was his curse and hatred. That's what he needed to keep the tiny spec of his sanity that had remained. He wondered how long this hatred would sustain his neverending days as he closed his eyes in an abandoned church. Sleep was the closest thing to death he had, so he tried to do it as much as he could, but it was never enough for him.
There was no suffering in sleep. No agony. No pain. Just a pure bliss, which he hated so. Though, he hated the world a bit more. He loved his sleep- "Let go of me!" a girl screamed from the entrance of the burned church. Julian's eyes flew open as the anger in his body rose. Who had disturbed his sleep? He sat up and looked at three grown men dragging a little boy into the building. How annoying.
He tried to go back to sleep, ignoring the screams and calls for help, but the girl was simply too loud to ignore! He got up and yanked the little boy out of the men's grasps and threw him aside, telling him to hide behind the altar. "What are you doing?" one of the men asked Julian, but he was simply trying to get some sleep before they rudely interrupted him.
He tried changing up his methods, but it still wasn't fun at all. One of them tried hitting him in the back of the head with a giant stick, but the sensation didn't even tickle him. He tried using the stick as payback, but they were all down after one hit. How weak, and disappointing. Julian walked back over to his bench, lay down, and tried to go back to sleep, unsatisfied with the day's events.
"You saved me!" the little girl's voice said. Julian opened his eyes and saw the boy peeking over him. He had forgotten one. "Ew! You stink." Why did the boy sound like a girl? He didn't care nor did he appreciate the rude comment she had made. He sat up once more and reached for his neck, but he didn't seem scared. A false sense of courage. He had seen it before, and he knew the facade would drop with a bit of squeezing.
He had saved him? It didn't even make him laugh. Julian saving people? Since when did monsters save people? He smiled as he saw the boy struggling to say something. "Miss-" Miss? He was so surprised he dropped the boy and laughed at him. How could a woman be as strong and ruthless as he? "If you're not a girl, what's with the long hair?" he asked as he caught his breath. There was definitely something wrong with this child.
He let him go, and he ran off. He had never let anyone go since him. It felt strange. Why did he let the boy go? How very strange. He drifted back to sleep, hoping and praying the church would collapse on him and finally end his miserable life, but magic was too cruel to grant him that much.
Julian opened his eyes the next day and the boy was once again staring at him from above. "Good," he said, "You're not dead!" Why did he return? Julian almost killed him the day before. Why did he return? "You still stink mister, but don't worry I found a stream." A stream? The boy pulled his attacker along with him out of the church and through the woods. What was wrong with this strange child? No matter how hard he thought about it, Julian couldn't figure it out.
"We're here!" he announced as they walked in front of a small stream. "You take your clothes off and bathe, while I go catch some food. You're all skin and bones!" So was he, but Julian didn't have the energy to argue with him, so he obliged and entered the stream. He closed his eyes as the cold water rushed against his rugged, scarred skin. How did he not find a feeling this soothing earlier? He wondered as the boy returned and exclaimed.
"You're too dirty! You scared all the fish away, and that water's not doing anything for that dirty hair of yours either." Annoyed, Julian rose from the water and reached out to grab the boy by his neck, but he simply grabbed Julian's hand and pulled him along to somewhere else. He realised he had forgotten his clothes and ran back to retrieve them. What was he? A dog? Retrieving his master's clothes like that.
"Oh good," he said when he returned, "you're smiling." Smiling? Julian? That was strange. He didn't even realize the boy's bizarre behaviour had made him laugh. Julian laughing? How strange indeed.
*****
They arrived at their destination, giant springs of boiling hot water. What was he trying to do? Cook him alive? "This pressure and heat should get all the dirty off of you!" he declared, "And as you're bathing, I'll go try to catch us some dinner." What? Okay, Julian hadn't bathed in a few eons, but that didn't mean a volcanic pool was going to get him clean! The little boy, however, protested, calling him, "Stinky, smelly, dirty!"
He left while Julian was trying to process such language being used with him. Amazed by the nerve of the boy, he undressed and got into the pool, but not because he told him to. It was because he wanted to. He figured the hot water would clear his mind and help him think of different ways to rip the boy up. Or maybe he should pull him into one of the volcanic pools? He hadn't done that before.
He wondered what would happen as the boiling water around him slowly melted away years of boredom and hatred (dirt). In comparison to the stream, the pool was much more soothing to the hateful man. It felt as though his troubles were slowly being melted away as he sat there for hours. Maybe the boy was half right about him being dirty considering how the colour of the water had changed from clear to mud brown.
Disgusted, Julian got up and rinsed off in another pool before getting up and putting his clothes back on. His stomach growled for the first time in a long time as he remembered what the boy had gone out to do. Why was he taking so long? It shouldn't have taken that long to fetch dinner. What in the world was taking him so long? Julian slowly grew more and more impatient as the sun began to set on the day. Why hadn't he returned?
Did he die? Did he die while retrieving dinner? The woods were filled with wild animals, and the boy was too small to fight off a baby deer. Julian felt a new emotion inside of him arise at this thought. His heart sank and sweat dripped down his face as he grew more and more livid with every step in the boy's direction. How dare he die without letting Julian kill him first? How dare he? The little, rude brat!
He emerged past a bush where he saw the boy picking berries off the ground. What was he doing? "Oh, sir! You're done showering. Wait, you're pale?" he said, "Oh, sorry I took so long. It's hard to carry enough berries for the both of us without a proper basket. I keep dropping them." What an idiot! "Who's the idiot here?! Me? Or the grown man who doesn't know how to bathe?" How dare he! The insolent brat!
Julian reached out and grabbed the boy's collar, but he grabbed Julian's as well. He glared at him, but he glared right back until Julian eventually let go first with a sigh and helped pick up the berries. "What? You scared?" No, hungry. Julian was hungry. He helped pick up the berries and they walked with them in their arms until they reached near the summit of the volcano.
The boy talked and talked as Julian ate and wondered what was wrong with this child. Talking so nonchalantly to the man who murdered the men around him. Did he not understand? That made it so easy for Julian to kill him too. Too easy- "What about you?" Huh? What about him? "What's your name?" His name? Julian thought back to the time when he last heard his name, but he simply couldn't remember it.
He had always gone by Julian after his parents died. "How did they die?" He killed them. Julian ripped his own parents apart with his own two hands. "Why?" Startled, Julian turned to the worried boy, who didn't seem the least bit scared of him. Why? Why did he kill them? Because he wanted to? That's right. He had wanted to kill them since the day they looked at him strangely. Ever since they developed that fear in their eyes.
Thud. "Woah. That sounds like an interesting story." the boy said yawning while dramatically dropping his feet on the ground and lying down. "Tell me about it next time-" He fell asleep on Julian's arm just like that. Wasn't he scared of him? He killed his own parents! Everyone before him was terrified, so why wasn't he? Why was he able to sleep so soundly on his shoulder after hearing such a story?
What a strange child he was! And what an even stranger feeling Julian felt as he stared at the child's sleeping face.
*****
The boy stood at the entrance of the church and saw the numerous dead bodies sprawled around. Did he finally understand how dangerous Julian really was? Did he finally understand why he should fear him too? Say something! The boy stood there examining the corpses all around before asking, "Did they try to hurt you?" No, they didn't. They were praying to their god and Julian slaughtered them all.
He didn't even know them as much as hated them. Didn't he understand? He did it for his own entertainment. He grabbed the boy by his collar and asked him if he finally understood, but he slapped Julian across the face. "Put me down." Angered, he grabbed the boy's neck and pinned him to the ground. How dare he! How dare he put his hand on Julian! The boy struggled as Julian slowly but steadily tightened his grip.
Why? Julian couldn't understand. Why did the boy not fear him? Why did he return after he almost killed him? Why did he help him? Care for him? The boy stopped struggling the longer Julian held out, but he didn't let go. He hadn't let go all the other times before, so why would he then? So what if there was a tiny voice in his heart telling him not to. It didn't matter to him. It never mattered to him. He was going to kill this boy!
*****
Why? Why did this strange boy return? Julian had let him go with his life twice already. Why didn't he run back home to his parents? To his family? His friends? "You really don't listen, do you?" the boy remarked as he climbed up the side of the volcano and sat beside Julian. "That's a really bad habit of yours." Huh? "You need to listen to what others have to say or else you'll live your whole life drowning in self-doubt. I read that in a book."
A book? What was it about? "See? I already told you about the book last time, but you never listen." Julian reminded him how he could very easily throw the boy into the volcano, but he simply laughed at the threat. "The main character of the book was like you. He liked seeing people in pain for no apparent reason, but instead of hurting them like you, he fell in love. And after he did, he said his entire world opened up. Pretty romantic, huh?"
Love? What a stupid thing. "You're stupid, Julian!" No, he was stupid- Wait, What was the boy's name? "What? I told you before!" he complained, and Julian really couldn't argue this time. "Sigh. Let's just start over. Hello, my name is Elesius. What's yours?" He was Julian, and what did this strange child want? "I would like to become your family." Huh? His family? "Yeah, but you're not allowed to kill me. Got it?" What a strange little boy he was, indeed.
"Boy?" Huh? "Julian, I'm a girl." Oh.
*****
And before he could even predict what was to come, Elesius became a part of Julian's daily life. They travelled from town to town, mostly camping in the forests surrounding them as they explored the towns during the day. Although she was loud, annoying, bossy, rude, kurt, very unkind, mean, judgemental, mean, and loud, Julian enjoyed every second he spent with her, even if he never admitted it.
He hadn't realised how fast time could pass as she read him a book under a tree. He had also started taking her advice slowly but steadily. Although, he preferred to think if he didn't talk and let her do all the talking, she would eventually run out of words. That's what he had hoped.
The world always seemed so quiet at night, when Elesius was asleep. She would've finally run out of words, leaving only the sound of animals and insects stirring around.
He had always found the sound of the world around him angering. It was like it was mocking his existence by growing old and dying and producing new life. Angering him with families and so called love and friendship. No, he simply couldn't imagine himself falling in love as he stroked Elesius's kinky black hair. He simply couldn't imagine himself trying to be human. She said it herself, "The most corrupt soul." That's what he was.
The most corrupt soul couldn't possibly be capable of healthy love. Or any love for that matter. If he did, it would just be another punishment this curse bestowed on him. "You say that," the lady said as she stared at the young girl sleeping on his lap, "But you have already found love, and as much as your head denies it, you love this girl like you loved that phoenix." How was that possible if he never even cared enough to give him a name?
He didn't love him nor did he love Elesius. She simply needed him, so he was helping her. That was all. "Why do you help her?" He helped her because she needed him. "Are you sure you don't need her?" Him need her? No. No, that simply wasn't possible. "Then why don't you kill her like the rest? Because her parents threw her away? You never cared before, Julian. Why now?" He didn't know why!
Why he let her go all those times. Why he wanted to keep her smile on her face, even though she looked like an angry hamster, when annoyed. Why he enjoyed listening to her read stories to him even though he hates everything. That was right. Julian hated everything in the world, but Elesius didn't feel like she was from this world. Someone that beautiful, talented, charismatic, loud, annoying, and kind could never be from the world he hated so.
Though, Esros was still right. He didn't kill her because she was special. Different if you will, but what about him? Was he special to Julian? He was just a stupid pet anyways, right? Would Elesius know what he was to him if he told her? He wondered what to do, what to do as Elesius talked and talked and talked until Julian walked into a tree. "You ought to pay more attention to where you're going." she said as she cackled at his blunder.
His forehead hurt, but the pain seemed dull as he saw Elesius smile and laugh. He stared at her smile until she asked him, "What? You wanna fight?" He didn't, instead he wanted to tell her a story this time. A story about a world filled with magic. Long before the Creators separated the world, there lived a bad man and his loyal companion. The companion could only eat meat, so the bad man got him the worst kind of meat imaginable, knowing the companion wouldn't eat it.
The night before they were separated by the Great Division, the bad man hurt his companion. He didn't realize how he had wronged his faithful companion so much until he met another mean, little, bossy girl. "That's me, isn't it. The 'mean, little, bossy girl', which means you're the bad man, obviously." What was that supposed to mean? "So who is this 'loyal companion'?" He didn't know his name.
All those years he spent by his side, and Julian didn't even know his name. How pathetic that sounded. "It's fine, I'm sure he-" Sure he what? It had been eons. He was already dead! How was it fine? He mistreated the one thing in the world whom he loved and now they were gone forever. "One thing? I thought I was-" She was what? A replacement was all she was. A sick way for that Esros to poke fun at what she had taken from him.
"You're just saying that to get on my nerves." What was wrong with this strange, delirious child? Was she deaf as well as dumb? He didn't need her! He didn't need anyone! He was the bad guy she was always reading about. He was the beast in all her tales! And she ... she was the delirious little girl who was searching for a family in him after hers threw her away. "Take that back." Elesius demanded as her voice broke.
He turned to face her as she commanded and screamed, "Take that back right now! I'm giving you the chance to say your sorry so take it back!" Julian felt his heart sink to his feet, but he refused to play along in this trick. She was destined to die someday if he didn't kill her, and nothing matters once you're dead. "I hate you." What? "I said I hate you!" Elesius said as she ran down into the woods, leaving him behind.
See? He was right. She was always bound to leave, and hate him as much as he hated the world around him. It didn't matter if he loved her. She didn't love him. No one could love a heartless beast like he. It was unheard of.
He knew this would happen. He knew she wouldn't love him until the end, so why? Why did his heart ache so? That feeling of dying he longed for, this wasn't it. If that's what dying felt like he didn't want it. He didn't want it at all. It scared him. He was scared. Come back, Ele. Please. Just come back.
*****
Julian woke up to the sounds of people chanting and yelling in the town below, but he didn't care. The hole in his heart seemed to absorb everything around him and make it meaningless to him. He didn't care for ignorant, baseless chanting. He just needed Elesius to fill the void in his heart. To fix the racking in his chest. "Kill the witch!" they chanted. He just needed a hug. "Burn the witch." A scolding. "Only men can read! Kill the witch!" He just needed- What?
Was it possible? Elesius? Julian rushed to his feet as he dashed down, through the forest into the town before he even realized how fast he was going. Left, no, right. There! He stopped at the town center where he saw Elesius tied to a stake and surrounded with dead leaves and vines. "Kill the witch." the town cried. "I'm not a witch." Kiara yelled back, but they didn't listen as they set the leaves on fire.
Julian watched the fire grow, not knowing what to do. He had never saved anyone before. What to do. What was he supposed to do? "Do what you do best," the lady's voice appeared in his head, "I will help you control your power." His power? His curse? How could he use that to save Elesius? He didn't know what to do. Elesius, tell him what to do! The town turned at his call and questioned if he knew her. Of course he did. She was the one he loved.
"The witch's lover is a man?" one person asked. "But she is but a girl." another added. "Disgusting! We must kill him, too." a third announced. "To stop the plague, we must-"
Julian hated this disgusting world with money hungry pigs who would do anything they were told. He hated how easily they would kill a little girl and attack the man who had come to save her. Though, in their eyes, he must've appeared as a beast rather than a man as he killed everyone who dared to attack him. Every unlucky soul whose eyes lay on this beast lost their place in this disgusting world.
After eons of boredom and monotony, he finally found it again! That rush of adrenaline he had been searching for since the day he laid his eyes on his parents' faces. At last, he had finally found it! He looked to the stars above, unable to control his laughter and happiness in his sea of blood and suffering. Nothing could beat that feeling. Nothing- Elesius! He turned to the flames, and jumped into them without thinking.
He had to get her out. He had to get her out. He had to get her out! Where was she? "Julian!" He turned to the sound of her sweet voice and he saw her standing there, unharmed with regal purple eyes. How? Why? "You said the Creators took most of the world's magic, so I must now be some of what's left." What? She was meant to be … well, dying. "That's what I thought too, but this lady appeared as the fire spread and asked me if I wanted to live."
A lady? She didn't mean- "Her name is Andromeda." He didn't understand what any of that meant, but he was just glad she was okay. He dropped down onto his knees and held Elesius in his arms as he apologized. He needed her more than she could ever know. She knew. "I guess I'm the magical rose that made the beast human. Me and Phyna." Phyna? "I thought your companion may want a name for the next time you meet."
What a strange child she was.
*****
She was stupid. Like really stupid. He thought she was stupid from the time when she didn't run away from him to when she told him she was going to change the world. How stupid it was for her to change the world the way she did and have Julian be a part of all of it. There was no place for a monster in a happy ever after. "If you call yourself a monster again, I will kill you myself." As if she could.
"Julian, you know why we came up with our last names, don't you?" Of course he did. How could he forget? She gathered the 6 of them together and they all came up with last names for themselves. As orphans they were free to choose whatever name they wanted. "That's right. Nala and Jacob chose Meelia for their family, while Elki chose Kiowa, and Sun, Kim. Do you know why we are both Myra?"
Because they were two sides of a double-sided mirror. No matter how hard one side tried to destroy their reflection, the other side could just flip the mirror to fix the pieces. "That, and we are family. How better way to show that than with our names. Now don't go forgetting it when I'm gone, Julian." They chuckled at their inside joke as tears streamed down Julian's face.
He didn't want her to go anywhere without him. He wanted her to stay with him forever. He didn't want to be alone in this world he hated a bit less since he met her. "Julian, we've talked about this. My time to rule is over. My time to live on Wisteria is over. I must return to the Vita and face the Council of 12. You'll eventually get sick of my face if you see it for an eternity." He wouldn't. He couldn't. A beautiful face like hers that could light up any situation. How could he get sick of it?
He promised he never would, but old Elesius simply wiped the tears off his face and bumped his forehead with hers. "You really never grow, huh. And you bugged me about it." Please. "Don't do this, Julian." Please, don't go. "You promised to leave me with a smile." How was he supposed to smile? He was losing the love of his life. The sun rays of his always cloudy, stormy days. His own daughter!
"Dad! Please, promise me you will protect the happiness of the next Elesius. For me, okay?" The next Elesius? "That's right. You have to promise me the next Elesius Myra will always be happy with you, promise?" Julian wiped away the tears from his face as he promised to ensure and protect the happiness of the next Elesius Myra."Thank you, and I love you, dad." His daughter's cold, wrinkled hand went limp as Julian held it in his own.
He had wished for death for so long, but he never imagined it to be this painful. He never wanted to experience a pain like that ever again, but Julian Myra had to keep his promise to his one and only daughter, Elesius Myra. He had to.
*****
Wah. Wah. Wah, Julian had had about enough of hearing this toddler wailing all night long day after day. How irresponsible were the parents to let a child cry all day and night like that? What were they even doing? Had they not taken care of children before? Annoyed and at his wits end, Julian walked up to the lonesome tower one night and jumped up to see what was making the child cry.
What was wrong? The 2 year old stopped crying as she simply stared at the man who had come to her tower in the middle of the night. She seemed to be staring into his soul as he stared right back into her big, dark brown eyes. The depth of the world Julian was being pulled into by those eyes seemed infinite. He felt as though he would drown in them as he did in Elesius's all those years ago. Was this little child possibly-
Julian reached out out of curiosity to touch the little girl's seemingly soft cheeks, but she flinched at the sudden movement and ran to hide behind her new metal bed. There, she seemed to cry even more than she did before, and Julian was at a loss for what to do. He sat down on the sill of the window and looked to the starry night above. What was he supposed to do, Elesius? The child was obviously scared of him.
"Stop being scary then," she probably would've said to him. "Your face can be quite intimidating at times." There wasn't much he could do about it either way, so he gave up and just felt the cool ocean breeze on his face as it blew by. He had loved the ocean since the first time he visited it with Elesius. She was running on the beach, but tripped on a shell and face planted into the sand.
He chuckled at the memory as he felt a tug on his shirt. He looked down and saw the supposed to be terrified toddler trying to get his attention. Was she finally done crying? Nod, nod. Good girl. He picked her up and placed her in his lap as he showed her the captivating stars in the sky.
Every star in the sky represents a different world or one soul who changed the world completely. That star represented the first doggo, while the other in the left corner represented the man who made the first waffles. Next to him was his twin sister, who discovered pancakes. Waffa! Waffa! That was right. Waffles. He stared at an empty space in the sky before telling her how his daughter would one day fill the void with her own star as soon as her training as a Cosmic Candidate was complete.
Tozmix Tandibate … The sleepy child tried to copy as she slowly nodded off to her slumber in his arms. He chuckled as he remembered how Elesius would do the same thing every time he was telling her about something. Her hair was even as soft as hers when he stroked it as she slept, and her forehead, just as soft as when he kissed it.
Like great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandmother, like equally great granddaughter.
He remembered his promise and smiled as the small child fussed in her sleep. It had to be the universe tricking him again. How much of a coincidence could it have been for the Dark Creator's magician to be the next Elesius Myra. Regardless of this sick joke, Julian was reminded of his promise to protect that happiness of hers every time he saw her blinding smile and irresistibly jovial laughter.
He opened his eyes in the field he was standing in as he decided to wonder where the clouds would go. A useless task, he knew, but he couldn't help but wait like a good boy as a doorway of light appeared before his very eyes. He smiled as he watched her emerge from the light and into the field. Honestly, what had taken her so long?
*****
She seemed smaller than before she left, but Julian didn't say anything about it as he watched the princess run up to him, knocking him over. "Julian!" she yelled excitedly in her recognizably jovial tone, but it seemed a bit off. How had she been? He hoped Elesius wasn't too harsh on her while she was teaching her. "Grandma was incredible. I can still feel the warmth from her purple flames!"
Ah. The description of Elesius's favourite variation of her magic made Julian chuckle a bit as he told Kiara about all the times she almost set him on fire. She was a powerful magician during her time on Wisteria, and a respected one as well. Julian remembered how she would make outlandish promises like, "I'm gonna change the world!" or "We'll meet again someday". The funny thing was how she was always able to keep them one way or another.
Julian stroked Kiara's hair as she lay on top of him in the field. Her hair was as soft as it usually was, but he had forgotten how therapeutic that softness was in the six months she was gone. He stared at the top of her head, wondering if she would turn out like him after what happened with Chadwick. Cold, unresponsive, isolated. Grief takes many forms after all, so which one would Kiara take?
"If you stare at her head any longer you'll burn a hole into it." Julian looked behind him as his beautiful, long and pale blonde haired wife with blue eyes approached the both of them. The two people he could never get tired of looking at were right before him, and his heart felt full, then light as Kiara jumped off him. Oh no. He immediately sprung up behind her as the energetic 17 year old went to knock her over with one of her loving embraces.
He grabbed Kiara by the collar as she was yelling, "Atalune!" and pulled her back into a headlock. Not today. "Eh? Why not?" Because one of Kiara's energetic hugs would rush her by eight months. Kiara's face lit up to a blinding point as she carefully tiptoed through the overgrown grass blades. Atalune laughed at her attempt at being "cautious" of her, and held out her arms for a normal embrace, against Julian's wishes.
He, however, couldn't bring himself to scold the two of them. They looked so happy embracing each other in the light of sunset. After millenia of studying and loneliness, Julian finally had another family to protect with his entire existence. "Get over here, or are you too cool for us?" Atalune teased her husband, who for a split second thought he was pretty cool, but not "too cool" for a family hug.
He didn't know if it was the sunlight, their body temperature, the weather, or just pure happiness, but hugs from those he loved always felt the warmest to Julian. He wanted to stay in that comforting warmth forever- "Let's go in for dinner." Atalune said, pulling out of the hug, "I'm starving." It was fine. He still had Kiara in his arms- "Yea! Me too." And just like that, he was left alone in the field once more.
He looked up to the sky once more and wondered how dumb Elesius was to not have become a star yet. How hard could it have possibly been to read and recite books while setting random targets on fire? She truly was stupid, he thought as Kiara called, "Julian! Atalune said she's gonna eat your rhuas if you don't hurry up!" No! Not his rhuas! Julian flashed inside his small mountain house as Atalune pulled the pastries out of the oven.
Just one won't hurt- "Ah, ah, ah. Those are for desert. Now go sit with Kiara. I'll be there in a minute." Stingy. "What was that?" Nothing! Julian obediently kissed his wife on her cheek before sitting down at his dining table and asked Kiara how she was holding up. "I'm fine, but what about you guys?" She changed the subject, but Julian went along with it. They were also fine. "Do you know if they're going to be immortal or not?"
He didn't know. No one knew nor did anyone have any way of knowing until they arrived. This was the first time this was ever happening. It really was a Wonder, kinda like how Kiara thought she could hide all her emotions behind a smile. He wanted her to talk to them. "We're to support you, hun." Atalune added as she sat next to Julian, across from the distressed princess.
"I'm fine, really. I just did what was expected of me. I protected my kingdom, as a princess should. That's all." she explained, and Julian understood. He understood the pain of losing family. Losing one of the only people who don't fear you. Losing a part of your heart. Julian knew this pain, worse than death and encouraged Kiara to stop forcing herself to smile. She didn't have to cry for him, nor did she need to smile.
"He's right, hun. You shouldn't be forcing yourself to smile for others. Just slowly remember how to smile for yourself before anything else. Jully and I will protect your happiness." Kiara teared up a bit as she stared at them, but she wasn't forcing her smile. "You guys make me genuinely happy, so I can't help but smile." Julian always thought every Myra smile after Elesius was fake and forced all the time, and they were. All of them except Kiara's golden smile.
"By the way, dad?" Hm? "Since you are grandma's dad, does that mean I should be calling you two great grandma and grandpa." Absolutely not! "Mom and Dad work just fine." Atalune explained as Julian recovered from the sudden, unexpected question. Him? Great grandpa? Abyssus no!
He watched Kiara as she smiled and happily ate only a bit of her dinner before giving the rest to Atalune. The pain she was feeling wasn't something he could help her with, so even though it broke his heart, he believed it to be in her best interest to leave her be for the time being. An unstable heart was dangerous for her at the stage she was in, but Julian just wished he better explained that to her friends before they gave her the Fountain Water.
*****
He knew the water wouldn't work the way it was supposed to, but he didn't expect to meet 4 year old Kiara all over again. He thought she would take on her mindset from before the contract, but Kiara had remained pure until the world corrupted her. She really was like how he remembered her. From the way she frantically clinged to him while mispronouncing his name to the way she looked to him for permission to hug her own brother.
What they had done was wrong, yes, but it was mildly amusing for Julian as well. She just looked so adorable as she tried curtsying to the Grand Duchess of Meanness herself and tumbled over when she did. In the 13 years Julian had restricted his time with Kiara, he constantly worried about her every second of every day, but was unable to do anything about it. As a princess, she couldn't rely on him all her life. She had to find family outside of him and Chadwick.
And family she found in the odd group of teenagers taking on problems way over their heads. They were indeed talented enough to handle a lot of the problems, but he knew they would all need to become stronger for what was ahead of them. They hadn't seemed to realize the Sullivan was under a hypnosis, but Kiara's instincts kept her away from this Michael boy.
Julian knew some of what the Sullivans were doing under the disguise of the "perfect magicians couple". After all, the Sullivans had hunted him for years until they decided to change targets. The Light Creator's magician had outsmarted them, so they went for the younger, easier to catch Dark Creator's magician. He and Chadwick weren't going to let that happen, but they both approached the situation in very different ways.
Julian spent as much time as he could teaching Kiara how to use and control her ever growing magic, while Chadwick reformed his government Obrussa Control Units, and had them hunt down any and everyone who posed a threat to her. Julian knew he did it all to protect Kiara, but that's what he hated the most about it. He didn't have to go that far if he just trusted her with him, but he understood his protective nature over his granddaughter.
He was always an expert on confusing Julian. Chadwick would rather die than take the easy way out, and so he did, and recklessly broke Kiara in the process. Julian apologized to the unmarked grave as he placed the flowers his granddaughter had picked for him. He apologized for ridiculing Chadwick for hurting Kiara right before leaving him and not marking his grave. Everyone thought of him as the bad guy, but bad guys have to stick together.
He didn't worry for him, since he knew his greatest grandmother would be waiting for him to arrive before giving him the punishment of a lifetime. He had hurt her namesake, after all. He hoped Chadwick was having fun before he called 4 year old Kiara over to say her goodbyes to him. "Bye, bye!" she said carefree, not knowing anything, but Julian preferred it that way as he held her hand and they walked towards their meeting place.
*****
For someone who had invited Julian for a 4:00 appointment, showing up at sundown seemed a bit rude. Didn't it, Richard? "So informal." Informal, yea right! Julian was older than he could imagine, but he wasn't there to argue with him. He wanted to know how to break the curse of the Fountain Water.
"The Fountain was created so sinners could cleanse themselves and start over in their lives by purifying themselves of all dark magic. So what happens when the embodiment of purity drinks it? It cleanses her mind instead of her soul." What was he getting at? Julian already knew all that. He was there for a cure, not a rerun. "Mr. Light Creator's magician, what is the purest emotion one can experience?"
The purest emotion? Love? "No, love festers and spoils over time becoming obsession. It is happiness. Happiness in itself is the purest emotion." What was he trying to say? "As the Light Creator's magician, you should celebrate the weakened princess, but as her last remaining father figure, it pains you to see her like this, doesn't it?" How did he know about his and Kiara's relationship? A lucky guess? It had to be, so where was he going with this?
"What do you yearn for most, Julian Myra?" Most? He already knew the answer, but he withheld his response as he tried to figure out Mustollini's motives. "Kiara's happiness." Huh? "You yearn for Kiara's happiness most of all, don't you?" Julian tensed up as he sensed a trap being laid by the madman. What did he want? "Me? Oh, what I want is very simple." And that was? "I simply want my dragons back."
Julian's eyes shot wide open at the demand of the crazy person in front of him. Dragons? What did he know about dragons? "You really don't recognize my name, Julian?" His name? He knew a million and one Richards. "My last name, though modified to hide from prying eyes, is Mustollon. Mustollini is just a way to keep you and your Creator off my tail." Mustollon? Julian didn't recognize the name at all.
Did he kill his family? No, Julian promised Elesius he wouldn't kill for pleasure after she got married. It was actually her wedding present from him. Julian thought long and hard about the name, but it simply didn't ring a bell. Mustollon. Muuuustolllllllllon. Nope, he got nothing. "The dragon slayer clan? Hello?" Nope, didn't ring any bells for the magician, but he assumed the clan was from before the Great Division.
"That's right!" Richard Mustollon exclaimed. "My family and I are from a long lineage of forgotten dragon slayers thanks to you and that blasted Light Creator residing in you!" Okay, Esros could be annoying at times, but it was pretty chill. Regardless, the Mustollon clan hated the Creators for dividing the world. What was new? "We were on our way to kill the last 6 original dragons when they ripped our world away from us."
They may have ripped the world away because they were trying to kill the creatures controlling all life. "I no longer want to slay them, no, no," Then why was he telling Julian the story then? "I just want my dragons back, and you are going to bring them to me." Julian stared the man in his eyes as he tried to figure out where this overflowing confidence was coming from, but he got nothing, again.
What was he going to do if Julian refused to open the portal? Richard smiled as he snapped his fingers. As soon as he did, three people showed up before Julian and Kiara: Axel Augstine Sullivan, Soo-young Park, and Princess Celestia Mariah Myra. Julian took one glance at them and knew they were all under hypnosis. Kiara also grabbed the bottom of his shirt as she trembled in their presence.
"If you don't help me out, I will have these three kill themselves in front of your daughter behind you." Julian knew he could stop them before they hurt themselves or even break the hypnosis, but that seemed too easy. Richard wasn't the kind of person to threaten someone as powerful as he without a full proof plan. There was something more to this than met the eye.
Julian reached his hand out to Princess Celestia to get a reaction out of Richard, and it worked. He laughed as Julian retracted his arm. "It's going to take a bit more than magic to break the hypnosis." he said grinning from ear to ear. "All three of these wonderful test subjects have been through years of psychological … readjustments, so you of all people know magic won't solve this issue."
Julian would then save them from themselves. "That would only delay a never ending cycle of magic usage, which would leave your little girl vulnerable to attack." He then would just ignore them until they eventually died. Simple. "And what about the princess?" What about Kiara? "You plan to break the water's curse, don't you? Just imagine the state of endless turmoil she would be in knowing she was responsible for their injuries!"
He just needed to wait for them to die to break the spell. Julian had found every way around Richard's trap. "It seems you don't completely understand what that water did to the princess. Allow me to demonstrate." Julian placed his arm in front of Kiara as Richard called Celestia beside him. "Celestia, break your leg." What? The princess grabbed her own leg and broke her own shin in two as Julian rushed to cover Kiara's eyes.
What was he doing?! "Good girl, Celestia." he said to the girl screaming in agony on the floor. "Now, princess" What was he doing? "Why won't you look?" Stop! "Look at what your little sister has done!" No, Kiara! The curious child disobeyed Julian, and removed his hands from her face as she stared at her baby sister in unrecognizable pain. "That's my sister?" she asked worryingly. "Yes," Richard answered with a smile, "And this is all your fault."
No, it wasn't! Julian grabbed her face and didn't break eye contact as he assured her she wasn't responsible. "Ara!" Celestia cried in pain, "Why did you do this to me? Don't you love me?" It was obvious she was being told what to say by Richard, but to 4 year old Kiara, she thought it was all her fault. Julian tried his best to comfort her as she cried, but she kept reaching out to her little sister.
Julian pulled her back by her arm, but she wouldn't stop reaching. She looked at Julian with her teared filled eyes, crying out "Why? Why won't you let me go to my sister?" Richard, that bastard! He couldn't find a way to explain it to her as Richard's evil grin grew as he overlooked the chaos he had ensued. He found it amusing? Julian thought of different ways to kill him as Richard just stared at Kiara.
What now? Kiara suddenly dropped to her knees and screamed in pain and agony as held her head. What was going on? What was wrong? Julian couldn't get anything out of her as she screamed and cried for help he couldn't provide. He glared at Richard. What had he done to her? "In addition to memory loss, the water seems to have affected the princess psychologically. It appears that any corrupt emotion aroused in the princess's head is burned away. Hence, the pain."
Corrupt emotion? She was feeling guilty for Princess Celestia's injury! Richard knew it wasn't her fault. Julian knew as well as Celestia, Soo-young, and Axel. Everyone except her knew. He had fallen into the trap. Richard's goal from the start was Kiara's happiness. He knew she could never be happy with the little sister she adored so hating her. Damn it! Julian hated being cornered, but he had no choice.
"Good." Richard remarked, "You may stop now, Celestia." The princess's eyes glowed cloud white as she healed her injury, and comforted Kiara until the burn subsided along with the pain it had caused. "Now your turn." He knew. He didn't need to be told. Julian crouched down beside Kiara and apologized for scaring her earlier. "I-it's okay." she said as she wiped her tears away. He never wanted to use her this way, but he had no choice.
He reached out his hand to her and asked her to help him. She willingly and enthusiastically grabbed his hand and squeezed it as Julian raised his right to the sky. He felt the power inside of him bubble and boil as he maneuvered all of it into his outstretched hand. Kiara copied his movements, and he felt his heart ache a bit, but he carried on. Mytherra.
A beam of light and a beam of darkness rushed into the air, and began to swirl around the other as they grew in size with every spin. The concentrated energy left Julian's body, but he wasn't even affected by it. Producing that much power had never hurt him before, but Kiara was a different story.
He saw her struggling to keep up, and squeezed hand as the spell neared its end. She looked to him and smiled that angelic smile as the last bit of energy left her body and she collapsed in his arms. She was fine, but exhausted. Her body wasn't ready to produce any more power than that, so Richard had to take it or leave it. "I'll gladly take it." he said as he conjured a strange looking horn and blew it as loudly as he could.
What the hell was that- Boom! Julian turned to the palace on the side of town behind him, worried and surprised by the blast, but his attention quickly shifted back to the portal as a loud, horrific shriek came out of it. Boom. Boom. Boom. He heard the creature walk towards the portal before poking its head through. They were much bigger than what he remembered.