"You okay Magnus?"
"No." Magnus gracefully flopped down onto a chair at the kitchen table. The lantern's light in the room cast a soft glow on his features, creating shadows on his handsome face.
He propped an arm on the table to support his chin. Looking up at Syryn through eyes at half-mast, Magnus smiled but it did not reach his eyes.
"Make me a cup of tea Syryn."
Syryn nodded and moved mechanically, finding Alka's loose leaves in a porcelain jar. He set the kettle to boil and all the while felt Magnus' attention on him. Syryn hated the pregnant silence that was brimming with questions and words that wanted to be said.
Neither of the boys had spoken and the silence was beginning to show signs of strain. He poured hot water into a cup bearing tea leaves and then placed it in front of the waiting mage.
"Magnus, how about this then? You answer my questions, I'll answer yours." A repeat of the words that Magnus had spoken in what felt like years ago.
The fire mage sighed, head tipping back over his chair. "This will be a long night." A weary smile made itself known on his face.
"I'll make it worthwhile for you, Magnus," Syryn whispered close to Magnus and smiled invitingly at the stunned mage.
Magnus had gone quiet with shock and the smile had slipped off his face. They stared at each other in utter silence and then with a burst of laughter from Syryn and an outraged snort from Magnus, the invisible walls between them began crumbling.
"Can you act your age Syryn?" Magnus shook his head at him but there was a smile there hiding behind the pretence of disapproval. This was the second time that he was teased into silence by the kid.
"I turn 13 soon. But here, I'm at least 200 years old." Syryn tapped at his heart.
Magnus rolled his eyes at Syryn. "I guess I needed that." He lifted the cup to his mouth and took a sip.
"You probably have many secrets," Magnus began, gaze fixed on the steam coming out of the cup. "But for the sake of our friendship, I cannot ignore what has changed with Luci. Please," Magnus implored, "tell me as much as you can so I can help Luci."
This wasn't what Syryn had expected. He was ready for Magnus to put distance between them because who wouldn't? Luci was a demonic powder keg ready to burst at any given moment. Staying safe and away from the demons, that's what normal people did. But as for Alka and Magnus, were they ever normal? Syryn stared up at the ceiling and chuckled. "You're a good human, Magnus."
'Rowan, I've found friends.' Syryn thought to himself with a realisation that finally sunk in. He did not have many precious people. There had only been one. But now, he could tell Rowan that he had found three more.
___________
Early next morning, Lucien was seated on a chair. His fingers were intertwined and his legs fidgeted, brushing against the wooden legs of the chair. Syryn stood with his arms crossed in front of Lucien and regarded the child with a frown.
"Red, get out here. We need to talk." Syryn had ascertained through a conversation with Lucien that the two could interact in their mind but Red was silent for most of the time.
Lucien was wearing a turquoise shirt and snow White pants that Alka had purchased for him. Coupled with the adorable hat and Lucien's cute face, any sort of intimidation that Red had hoped for when he had shown up ceased to appear.
As a deep scarlet bled across Lucien's eyes in an intensity that made it look like his irises were bleeding, Syryn knew that Red had arrived.
"Miss me already?" Lucien cocked his head to the side.
Syryn snorted at that. "Red, I'd like to introduce you to Magnus, your keeper."
Lucien's eerie eyes swept across Syryn and landed on the dark-haired mage who was lounged on a chair with his chin resting lazily on one hand. However, the power that was radiating off the mage in waves was felt across the room like a furnace turned on. Magnus was making a quiet statement.
"My keeper? What are you going to do pretty boy? Put a collar on me?" Lucien grinned, all white teeth exposed in a smile that was more threatening than happy.
Magnus raised his brows at Lucien and smirked in a way that showed amusement but still challenged the redhead. "Do you want me to? I'm not above collaring my dear Luci if that's what it takes to teach you some discipline."
Syryn was surprised at how Magnus was taking this entire situation. He worried that the fire mage's treatment of Red would be softened by the bias he had for Luci but he was wrong. Magnus was clear about the separation between the two personalities.
Lucien watched Magnus from under the shadow of his lashes, leaning and letting his soft red hair fall forward. "Syryn, I like him." The smile on Lucien carried the threat of poison in it. "Magnus was it? You seem like the type that's honourable and noble. I have had the best fun with your kind."
"Ok, that's enough Red. You're in a 7-year-old's body. Show some restraint for the sake of your younger self." Syryn warned him. "He's listening isn't he?"
Lucien's lashes fluttered down and he looked away, clearly affected by what Syryn had said. It was an interesting observation to Syryn. It seemed that Red wasn't entirely unaffected by the presence of Luci.
"What do you care Syryn? Pretend you're human all you like but in the end, we are both results of a demon's union with an unwilling human. We were cursed from the moment our mothers carried us."
Lucien spoke those damning words in a level tone while wearing a pleasant smile on his face. It made his listeners feel all the more uncomfortable. Syryn bit back the words of anger that were on his lips. This Lucien, the cynical demon that he was - that had been Syryn many years ago.
"Lucien, you'll learn someday that the world isn't black and white," Magnus replied in a gentler tone.
The redhead slipped off the chair and walked up to Magnus while holding his gaze the entire time. Leaning forward, Lucien's nose was inches away from Magnus' calm face. Syryn on the other hand was carrying a load of stress just watching the two of them interact.
"Magnus, I could make Luci disappear." The redhead blinked up at the fire mage.
"Oh?" Magnus wasn't taking his bait. He stared right back at Lucien with the full weight of his attention. Realising that Magnus wasn't biting, Lucien pouted.
And with a shift of his attention, Lucien spoke again. "You care about him, don't you? All of you do. This is the most fun I've had in such a long time."
The boy then tucked a few strands of red hair behind his ear and smiled up at Magnus. "Keeper Magnus, I'll be under your care then."
Syryn had to hand it to Magnus. The mage had a smiling poker face that was made of iron. Through the whole conversation, he could not see through the thoughts of the fire mage. He only showed what he wanted the world to see.
"It's my pleasure, Lucien." Magnus pleasantly replied. A flicker of interest appeared and was gone when Magnus blinked those indolent eyes like a sleepy feline. At that moment, Syryn wondered if he had just handed over a premium toy to a sly cat.
"Syryn, I don't want to interrupt now but I need to ask you something." Alka chimed in.
"Sure, ask away."
The introverted mage pulled out a piece of yellowed paper from his pocket and placed it on the table. It was some sort of information leaflet from what Syryn could see.
"This is a task I found at the bulletin board in the adventurers guild. It has been hanging for a year with no takers. I thought maybe we could take a look." The plant mage spoke in a low voice as he leaned over the paper.
Syryn's demon senses began tingling. What was Alka getting them into again?