"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! HELP ME!!! IT HURTS!!! HELP ME, MILADY!!" Lict shouted as tears flowed from his eyes.
"TSK!! IT'S NO USE!!" Akagi said "VIERNE, QUICKLY GO GET A KNIFE!!!"
"...WHAT?" Vierne said.
"Hurry! We have to cut off his wings!" Akagi said.
"Here you go, Milord!!" Melissa said as she threw a knife towards Akagi. He caught it and looked at Lict's wings. Lict was still crying in pain.
"WAIT!! WHAT ARE YOU PLANNING TO DO?!!!" Vierne said but Melissa held her hand.
"....I'm sorry, it might hurt for a bit. I hope you don't die." Akagi said to Lict.
"STOOOP!!!!" Vierne shouted but she was grabbed by Melissa.
Akagi closed his eyes and said "To the heavens, I pray, that today, I, the Demigod of Death, ask for recreation of this star. I am releasing him...Amen."
"NOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Akagi didn't hesitate after that. He dug the knife in Lict's flesh and started chopping off the black wings from his skin.
"LEAVE ME!!!!! IT HURTS LIKE HELL- F*CKER!!!!" Lict shouted as he his face was wet with tears.
Finally Akagi tore off the wings from Lict's blood covered back and Lict lost consciousness.
Everything became quiet. Vierne has a dreadful expression on her face. She gulped and said "Lict....is he breathing?"
Lict was lying on the floor, covered with blood and not moving at all. His back was full of scars and blood oozed out from the wounds. Akagi threw the knife on the floor and said to "It seems he fainted from the pain. Don't worry, he has not died."
"HOW CAN YOU SAY THAT HE IS ALIVE?" Vierne said.
"Even though it's less, his body still has some spirit energy left in it. I can feel it...Can't you? Even though you are his Demigod" Akagi said as he looked at Vierne.
"LORD AKA-"
"Get some bandages, we need to cover up his wounds...."
"Lict?" Vierne said as she pressed her hand on her wounded star spirit's face. She looked at him for sometime and then rushed outside his room.
She knocked on Akagi's room door but he didn't respond. So she opened the door....
He was sleeping
'A....tattoo? I never thought Lord Akagi would have such a huge tattoo on his shoulder.' Vierne thought. She just sat beside him without saying a word, staring at the ceiling.
.
.
.
"...I'm sorry" Akagi said.
Vierne was shocked and looked at Akagi. But he was still asleep. As the moonlight hit his face, his skin brightened up and the tears in his eyes glistened. He was crying while sleeping.
Vierne was shocked to see that and suddenly the door opened. It was Melissa.
"....Wanna chat a little? Let's go to the garden, the breeze feels lovely." She said.
Vierne looked at Akagi and then finally got up and followed Melissa.
"Melissa...What was that?" Vierne said.
"What? Lict?" Melissa said with a smile.
"Yeah...what was that thing with wings?" Vierne said.
"....Lict...has a curse, you know, and it's just a little serious...but, don't worry, Milord will definitely find a cure for that." Melissa said.
"...Curse?"
"Yeah! I don't know much about it but, it can kill a star spirit. It's a contamination that spreads throughout the body, and it starts to eat them up. They are eaten up alive till they finally become dust and wither away....Didn't you notice, Lict's back is abnormally slim...you know why? Because it has already withered away. We can never bring it back, but if we are able to stop that curse from spreading somehow, if he could live, if Music could live, that would be enough..." Melissa said, trying her best to hold her tears and hide her pain with a smile.
".….And, what if he disappears, he is the Star of Music, what will happen if he dies?"
"*Chuckle* Let me tell you a weird fact, there is a difference between a star disappearing and dying. If a star loses a parade battle, he simply disappears from the "human" world. He goes back to the sky and shines brightly, but...when a star dies, his soul disappears from everywhere. He loses his very existence. And there is only one way to "kill" a star, give it a curse. So if he dies, then, there will be no Music in this world anymore, since he is the star of Music."
"..No way..."
"Right? A life without music, this world be filled with silence and depression. People take music for granted. They don't understand it's worth until it's gone. Music is your only destination, when all other paths close. I want people....to cherish such a beautiful language that connects this entire universe together, the language of music and the time for which it is with us; the hour of music...Guess his title explains our current situation."
"....How did Lict get that curse?" Vierne said.
"You see, we star spirits only fight with star spirits, and Demigods fight with Demigods. That's the rule of nature. So, if a star spirits defeats the other one, it's fair. But there are some star spirits which go against nature...."
"What do you mean?"
"Vierne, you are too nice and Lord Akagi's nice too, but not everyone is so kind as you to treat their star spirits so kindly. We are servants, we have to do everything our master asks us to. If he asks us to murder some human or loot any shop or even rape, we'll do it."
"That's-"
"You see, your star spirit ,Vierne, had a really abusive Demigod. He was cruel, he didn't even properly feed him, and he used violence against him.That's why Lict has developed an inferiority complex. He always serves you as someone superior. He never addresses you by your name, why do you think that is? Mannerism? Etiquette? No, because, he was taught to be like this. Lemme tell you a small secret...Star spirits are humans who died and were reincarnated to represent a particular thing, we are the ones who still wanted to live but we were killed in crimes or terrorist attacks or somethings like that....It's been thousands of years since then...I don't even remember what was my name back then...."
"About Lict, did he serve someone before me?"
"Of course he did."
"I thought you'd disappear after you lose one battle. Does that mean...."
"Smart! He didn't lose any battle, that's why he's still living."
"How's that possible?"
"That's possible because...His former master was a gatekeeper, and Lict was the one....who killed him and got this curse."
"What?"
"That's the truth, he didn't kill just any Demigod, but a gatekeeper. So, he had to pay the price, and thus the God punished him by giving him this curse."
"But why did he kill his own master?" Vierne said.
"That's something...I don't wanna talk about."
"But-"
"Please understand, Lady Vierne....somethings are better...untold, aren't they?"
-To be continued