Arthur POV
As I was walking with the others after Jin-Woo's class a few students came towards us asking for help. We rushed with them towards a room in the academy, but as we got there nothing was there, we looked back to see the doors closed, and gas coming in. As I felt my vision blurry the others already collapsed, and then finally it was my turn. As I opened my eyes again I was in the void.
"You got knocked out," Ash said but he wasn't in the void
"How about the others?" I asked
"I don't know," Ash said as he shook his head
I was scared and angry. But all I could do was wait. While we were in the Void I had Sylvia train my realmheart more.
I suddenly saw my figure slowly fade, I was starting to wake up. As I was back in my body I could see that Sylvie was with me while Elijah and Tess were beside me still knocked out, while I saw a horrifying sight in front of me, the once gentle, and bright man I knew wasn't there but replaced by a cold-hearted man as I saw the state of the red-haired man's face. It was disturbing, and I was glad the others were still asleep.
Jin-Woo placed us all on the ground as he told me he'll be helping the others. After a few minutes, I noticed Elijah had a black aura leaking from his body. As I tried to get close I heard Jin-Woo shout at me
"Art take Tess away from Elijah," he shouted mentally
"NOW" He shouted as I saw him run towards us. but a blast of black fire appeared as I was again knocked out. I awoke back at the void, Sylvia was resting so I did some self-training. I couldn't see what was happening on the outside so I decided to let out my frustration in the void.
When I woke up me and Sylvie were being carried by a handsome middle-aged man with long red hair, a neatly trimmed red beard, and glowing purple eyes. He also wore silver-red armor with a high collar and a reddish-brown tailcoat. As I looked forward I saw Jin-Woo carrying the red-haired man.
"What are you going to do with him?" I asked
"Kill him" He replied
We landed somewhere as Jin-Woo took out a black-green dagger, and plunged it at the man's chest. He then muttered the same words he once did so long ago.
"ARISE," He said as the mana around the corpse became black and purple
"Master," the entity said
"You will tell me everything," Jin-Woo said
After telling Jin-Woo everything he knew I was frustrated at myself.
"Calm down Arthur we could still save her, Agrona needs her alive he even said it himself he came there to get her," He said
"Now I need you to go home and rest" He continued as he tapped my shoulder we were in my room
Sung Jin-Woo POV
"The Asura will try and find Arthur," Sylvia said
"I don't care if their nobles, kings, or even gods themselves, they come to me with evil intents I will purge their whole bloodline" I replied
Rage boiled inside me as I felt a tap on my shoulder.
"Calm yourself if you don't your mana will run rampant killing everyone in the house" Ash warned me
I pulled back my mana, but my mood was still sour. As I gaze upon the night sky to calm myself, it was strange that it didn't help me at all. Usually, one look at the night sky was already enough for me to calm myself to a certain degree, meanwhile now I couldn't control myself as I was slowly losing myself because of negative emotion washing me away, bringing me away from my sane thoughts as I slowly felt myself becoming insane.
It was a hard night as I was slowly tortured by my inner self, the instinct every monarch had DESTRUCTION wanted me to accept it. As I went to the beast glades to let out some steam I felt a surge of mana concentrating near me. I came to look for the source as I saw a portal. I activated my cloak, and walked through the portal as expected I was in Alacrya. While I was there I sent back Yogumunt to Alacrya. I wanted to go back as being in a continent I wanted to destroy so badly tortured my mind.
"Jin-Woo" I heard a familiar voice speak to me
"Seris?" I replied
"Yes it's me there seems to be a problem," She said
"What is it?" I asked
"Agrona is announcing two new Scythes," She said
I rolled my eyes at the news because I knew I could squash Scythes with ease
"I saw that one was a human, while the other was an elf" She continued
"But he said they'll be official sycthes in about two months time as he entrusted them to Dragoth to be trained" She continued
I froze as my blood boiled in anger. What was he planning to do by making Tessia a Scythe? I've never got this in my vision the Djinn shared, so what changed? I asked myself.
"Maybe you weren't supposed to know, because it is her fate, not Arthur's while the Djinn only wanted to show you Arthur's fate," Ash said
"Maybe," I said as I started to lose my self-control vision for the first time in a while my vision turned purple and black. I raised my hand at the camp, as I lowered it I flattened the whole camp but I knew that this wasn't enough I needed to kill, destroy more. Suddenly I felt a punch coming from beside me. Ash was standing in front of me his purple eyes gazing at me, warning me not to overstep.
"We came to this world to forget of what we've become in the past, and become what we wanted to be, it is still not too late, do not revert to your old self." He said
I stood up walking towards the portal, As I looked back one more time the crater I created destroying the Alacryan camp.
I sighed at my unstable emotions. Feeling like a child throwing a tantrum.
Arthur POV
While I was shopping with my mother, Tabitha, Sylvie, Ellie, and Lilia I asked if she knew any good elixir stores near here. She gave me directions to where it was, I then walked there while Sylvie was with Ellie.
Your sacrifice won't be in vain my friend I saluted towards her.
After turning the corner as per instructions, my face crumpled up in bewilderment.
This was a store?!
The corner I turned at led me into narrow alleyway thugs probably used to mug unsuspecting passersby. At the end of the narrow alleyway was a dingy shack that even rats would find too revolting to live in. The wooden planks that made up the store looked like they had been painted with moss and fungus as a musty, stale air emanated out, drifting towards me. At least it complemented the sickly green weeds creeping out from the bottom of the store as if even they didn't want to be stuck there.
WINDSOM'S POTIONS AND MEDICINES
I had to tilt my head to read the etched title on the angled sign, which had been barely dangling on a single nail.
Did they really sell potions and medicines there? I would be less surprised if they sold bottled diseases and poisons.
"Spare some change, young lad?" A haggard voice startled me out of my stupefied state.
"He is stronger than you," A voice inside me said his voice filled with malice, and evil
"Who are you?" I asked back
"I am Antares the one who gave you a princess carry yesterday" He replied
Beside me sat a pale old man with a hand reached out towards me, palms up.
I immediately took a step back in surprise, instinctively layering my body with mana.
How did I not sense this old man that was almost right next to me?
"You look like you've seen a ghost, young lad. I'm but a mere aged man asking for some change." The old man's face wrinkled as he revealed a pearly white smile that didn't match his ragged state.
"Keep on guard while I contact the master," Antares said
"Ah yeah, sure." I reached in my pocket for a copper coin, using the opportunity to take a closer look at him. As I kept alert of my surroundings
With a thick, uncombed bed of pepper-tinted hair that fell to his slightly hunched shoulders, he looked up at me with milky eyes. The old man's wizened face, though, didn't come off to me as weak and weary, but intelligent and bright, for some reason. I could tell that this man was probably very handsome in his youth, which all the more made me feel a bit disheartened seeing him end up like this.
"Many thanks, young lad." His gnarled hands nimbly grabbed the coin out of my hand with a speed that surprised me.
Between his middle and index fingers was a coin that was silver instead of copper.
Shit! I gave him a silver coin by mistake! That was a hundred copper coins!
"Wait... I meant to give you this..." I reached into my pocket again and when I made sure that this time, the coin in my hand was indeed copper, I looked back up to see that the old man was gone.
"What the f..." I stood there, bewildered for the third time in the last 5 minutes.
My money...
"He's fast" Antares commented
"How is it with contacting Jin-Woo," I asked
"No success, but we should be ok I could handle that old man if we have to fight" He replied
I went in to be greeted by the same old man who took my silver coin at first I asked him to return it but he said that I could take anything from this store I didn't believe that there would be something worth a silver coin but in the end I ended up exploring this store that had a horrible stench. But I was distracted by a figure, as I looked at it
The figure became more apparent as I focused on it; it was an almost pitch black cat. The only part of its body that wasn't black was the tuffs of white fur in front of its ears, but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the cat's captivating eyes. Eyes that seemed as if they held the universe inside them. They looked like mirrored night skies with bright twinkling stars sprinkled inside them, with white, vertical slitted pupils glowing like a crescent moon.
As I stayed fixated on the cat's bewitching eyes, the cat peered back down at me from the top of the shelf with a sense of obvious superiority before it turned back and walked away.
"The cat is strong," Antares said
"What do you mean strong it's a cat are you sure you haven't gone senile?" I asked
"He is weaker than Lady Sylvia but their mana signatures are the same, the same could also be said for the old man" Antares replied
"For now let's just keep calm and look around for something I can rob from the old man," I said as I Picked up the plain box, roughly about the size of something you would use to store small jewelry, I tried to open it. With a small click, the hinge came undone to reveal a small ring inside it. I brought the ring closer to my face when the 'gem' embedded into the ring suddenly squirted something out towards me.
Instantly, I whipped my head to the side so the stream of clear liquid missed and landed behind me.
It was water.
"Tch... you dodged it." I turned my head back to see the old man grumbling while still fiddling with my silver coin.
"..."
At this point, I felt like if I stayed any longer, I would lose my sanity. First, the shocking doorknob... now, this squirting ring. This old man sure loved his pranks... even that cat looked down on me.
But I was determined. If I could get anything inside this store for free, I was going to get the most valuable item inside this store.
I must've spent at least an hour inside, just combing through elixirs that I didn't need. Why would a twelve-year-old need an elixir for hair growth?
"Kyu!" 'Papa! I'm here!'
A white blur whizzed past the door that was left open and landed on my head.
"Kuu!" 'Papa, you left me!' Sylvie puffed while smacking my forehead with her paw.
You survived, comrade! I smiled, rubbing her tiny head.
"Old man, I can't find anything I..." I began to say but the expression the old man had on his face made me stop. He was the one that looked like he saw a ghost this time because his already pale face became whiter. His milky eyes that sagged down from old age looked like full moons, his expression stricken.
"We finally found..."
"You okay, old man?" I waved my hand in front of him. The shop owner shook his head and let out a cough.
"Yes, I'm quite alright." His voice quivered a bit, confusing me.
"Anyway, old man, I can't find anything worth taking back with me. Can't you just give me back my money?" I grumbled as I took one last scan through the store.
"You don't have an eye for anything." He walked out from behind his counter and strolled to one of the shelves in the front corner of the store.
"Ah, here we are." Without even looking back, he tossed back to me a small ball about the size of a marble. It was layered in dust but when I wiped it clean, it was clear with specks of different colors floating inside it.
"What is this?" I asked as I brought the orb closer to my face to study it, making sure it wouldn't spray me with water.
"Don't worry, it's something you're going to need. Now scat. Teasing you bores me." He shooed me off.
"Okay, okay." I walked out of the store on my own, taking one last look back at the old shack.
As I strolled out of the narrow alleyway, I spotted the black cat gazing at me and then Sylvie before turning away as if it had lost interest.
"They definitely recognize Sylvie and the orb ha gave you had a lot of mana" Antares said
Thinking little of it, I reached the intersection out of the alley and turn the corner to see my mother and sister sitting down at a table with Tabitha.
"Hi, Brother!" Ellie waved while holding a drink with her other hand.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" Mother asked as she put down her refreshment as well.
"I...think?" I scratched my head. I put the clear orb inside my dimension ring to study it later but I couldn't help but think that it wasn't anything special.
"Oh really? That store is considered famous for having quite the variety of elixirs and medicines to help with training. Most of the students in Xyrus go there to shop for training materials." Tabitha got up, picking all of the shopping bags off the floor.
"What? That shabby old place?" I replied, surprised that a bunch of rich snobby brats would go out of their way to shop at a rundown shack.
"Shabby? What are you talking about?" My mother and sister got up too, handing me their bags nonchalantly.
As we walked towards the alleyway, Tabitha turned the corner first and pointed at the shop.
"I wouldn't say it's shabby," she said, a bit confused by my comment.
"Really? If that's not shabby then I don't know..."
My jaw dropped along with the shopping bags I was holding onto.
In place of the previous narrow alleyway leading towards the worn-down shack was a marble-paved road laid out towards a three-story building with a gold sign that read:
XYRUS ELIXIRS
"Space magic" Antares commented
"Could've told me before?" I replied
"Too busy keeping your ass save, those two were always positioning themselves like they were going to kidnap you." He replied
"Thank you but what were they?" I asked
"I'm sure that they are the same race as Lady Sylvia" He replied
"Why are you calling her lady Sylvia?" I asked
"She holds close connections with my master so it should be expected I treat her with respect, while you're a snobby brat who can only attract danger, and trouble for my master." He replied in a mocking tone
"I need a new guard," I said
"Sorry to tell you this but I am his strongest summon so you're going to be stuck with me for a long time" He replied pissing me off even more
We all walked back home, and I saw Jin-Woo standing on the balcony, ever since yesterday his gaze became colder and more lonely. We went in, then I took a shower and embraced my bed as I slowly drifted to sleep. I opened my eyes in the Void as I came towards Sylvia, and Ash who was sparring with their original forms.
"Sylvia do you know any dragons with galaxy eyes?" I asked
Sylvia stood still for a moment shocked.
"I think I know who you're talking about Art, his name is Windsom. he is one of my father's closest followers." She replied
"Yea I met two dragons today, they seemed to manipulate space in an alleyway," I said
Sylvia was shocked once again because of the sudden news. "Did they see Sylvie?" She asked
"Yes they did, and one of them had a reaction when he saw Sylvie" I replied
"Arthur they will come to you, when the time comes it is my turn to help" She replied as she patted my head
"For now just rest" She continued
Sylvia POV
"Come on your going to have to try better than this if you want to hit me" I taunted Ash as his shadow spear plunged near my face, but not hitting me at all
I knew it would be stupid of me to confront him in close combat so I decided to just use ranged attacks, but his adaptive abilities were frightening, as he plunged a spear that hit my leg. I plucked it out as it instantly heal.
"You'll be fine as long as we are in here," He said
"Could you hold back a little against a fragile lady like me?" I asked
"You nearly killed me when you activated Realmheart the last time I took it easy so no" He replied
I giggled at his response remembering how I left him in a ruined state using Realmheart
"So what do we do with Arthur?" He asked
"My father would probably want Arthur as his piece in the war, he'll train Arthur but he won't teach him any Asura techniques. " I replied
"He sounds like a stingy old man," He said
"He is a stingy old man" I chuckled
"My father would want to train Sylvie in private" I continued in a sad tone
"Wouldn't that be great?" He asked
"I'm afraid of what Sylvie would become, would she still be the free-spirited girl she is right now or a prideful dragon after my father trained her." I sighed
(A/N: A lil too much copy-paste to my liking but I needed it so Art could interact more to Antares)