"Hey. So your sister also told me that you can heal my arm and about the Cadgers." August tried to speak, his feet trying to catch up with her.
Azrael stopped in her tracks on hearing his words, August almost collapsed with her but luckily he got good balance.
"Oh yes! I completely forgot about that." Azrael acknowledged. She cleared her thoughts, "Oliver." She called out a name, patiently waiting as if someone would appear from the thin air.
After moments of nothing, August let his guard off a bit. On other hand, Azrael was getting agitated with each passing moment.
"OLIVER!" This time a yell was loud enough to make August deaf. He didn't even get time to restore his hearing when a man appeared out of nowhere, scaring the last bit of soul out of August.
"My lady?" Oliver gives a slight bow with his head and gives a slight glance at August.
"Oliver, this is Augustus." Azrael introduced them, "He is your new student, you have to teach him… Uhm..what do you call it again? Martial art?" Azrael tried to think of the word.
" Combat?" Oliver responded politely.
" Yeah whatever it is. Prepare him well." Azrael rolled her eyes, waving her hand dismissively at Oliver and looking at him.
"I will do as you said." Oliver bowed respectfully and spared another glance at August who was standing a few meters away from him, trying to get hold of their talk.
"I will start his training tomorrow then," Oliver stated and vanished into mid-air like a ghost.
"Now your hands." Azrael glanced at his arm, thinking for some moments.
"Well. Hmm. Think of your happiest memory." Azrael ordered keeping an eye on him.
"What?" August was more perplexed by her now. First, a ghost that was going to teach him combat skills for some god knows what reason and now this. Can't she just explain things for once instead of saying half stuff?
" Go on. We don't have much time to waste." Azrael raised a brow, folding her arms.
Since she was the expert in this, August decided to trust her on this. He closed his eyes with a heave of breath. He tried to focus on his memories. Especially his happiest one but something was wrong.
His memories…were gone. The faces he once called his loved ones were blurred. Like mounds of colourful sand of human figures.
With a gasp of air, he opened his eyes with a shocked face and looked up at her. "It's gone." He announced.
"All my memories are gone. I can't think of anything. What's happening to me?" August started to freak out with trembling hands.
" Okay. Calm down." Azrael tried to pacify him but he was nowhere near calming down.
"How can I calm down? I am going crazy and amnesic. Do you know how it is?" Instead of calming down, he got further agitated.
The murky fog was once again covering him. Azrael knew she had to stop him. "Augustus!" Azrael held his cheeks and forced him to look right into her eyes.
Her perpetual grey eyes glinted with glow, "You are forgetting nothing. It's just your imagination, you remembered the happiest memory of your life. Snap out of it." Azrael asserted.
The moment she let go of him. He was calm as if just woke up from a dream, confused by the surroundings. " What happened just now?" August inquired trying to remember anything he did previously.
"Nothing. I was just telling you to remember your happiest memory." Azrael lied, forcing out a smile.
August didn't think much, he just nodded and closed his eyes and tried to think again. This time the claw slowly started to disappear, a sweet smile appearing on his lips.
Azrael saw it and sighed in relief. The strong stinging pain in her chest soon tensed up her body. Clenching her fist tight she tried to keep herself calm even though the pain was unbearable. This was the result of using the powers of the forbidden world.
'An oath that is broken will have consequences and an oath broken three times will have its end.'
August's arm soon returned to normal and opened. Azrael instinctively put her hand behind her back, with a clenching fist. Her face calms like usual even with the pain bribing on her chest.
"Looks like it worked." She quoted with a smirk. " Yes. Thank you. Now, where are we going?" August chipped happily like a kid.
"To the city. Go out first. I forgot my wallet." Azrael came up with an excuse and walked back to her room keeping her calm face.
August didn't think much and agreed to it and walked outside. On the other hand, Azrael walked right into her room and shut the door hastily.
She stood in front of the mirror, revealing the black spot on her chest. With black veins growing from it like a cancerous cell spreading its wings.
"Why did you do it?" A woman's voice grabbed her focus. Azrael put her dress back looking at the woman in the mirror standing beside her.
"You used an oath for him. Are you crazy?" The woman criticized Azrael. Her face worried.
"Oh please, it's just once. Don't worry I am not using it again." Azrael dismissed her, folding her arms and looking away from the mirror.
"Yes. You only have two more and how could you use one on him?" The woman talked back. Trying to make her look at her.
"Because…." Azrael tried to retort but no excuse came to her mind. It was more on her impulse at that moment.
"Because he reminds you of your past. Doesn't he?" She scoffed. Looked down on Azrael with a mocking face.
"No!" Azrael answered immediately with a horrified expression.
"Oh Azrael, who are you lying to? You helped from the time he arrived isn't it because he makes you guilty about your past? He reminds you of him!"
" Shut up!" Azrael yelled, shattering the mirror into pieces. She sat down on her bed thinking about every word she told her.