A warm almond-like smell of the wooden furniture covers the room as it gives a soothing atmosphere to the air, making the 8-year-old-looking little boy with pale white skin and sunken eyes yawn, resting his head on his palm while his bangs dance whenever the air takes a breath, as it leaves the surreal-looking Khalid in dazed, watching all the dried leaves fall onto the ground as the two men wearing the splendid uniform of a knight stare at him with such amity in their eyes.
"Ack!-"
They were startled when their heads were about to fall from their shoulders, watching Khalid busy working like a bee, signing up on the papers after the ceremony.
*Scrape!*
Both Reinhardt and Erwin were in sync when they left the sofa, seeing Khalid stand up on his chair that was covered in rubies with a solemn expression on his face.
"I'm going to take a stroll."
He insists calmly.
As soon as he reaches the door, Khalid notices they are both following him from behind, leaving all the documents on the nice-carved table.
He sighed.
"ALONE."
His voice was so serious that it made their blood flow through their veins, making them fully conscious.
"But, Milord, we didn't know what things awaited out there!"
Erwin blurted out in distress as he followed, when Khalid turned to face them, looking into their eyes while forming a malicious smirk on his face, leaving the two frozen on their feet.
"Erwin, I'm not a child that needs protection."
He looks at them as he continues to walk straight outside the room.
"If there was a problem, then... I'll deal with it myself."
He added and left the two, looking like a drenched puppy, leaving them without looking back as he continued to walk straight towards the aita of the palace to find himself standing in front of his statue.
As he reaches the garden, a soft birr of the avar can be heard; it seems to be eaten by a deafening silence, which makes him form a grin on his lips after hearing the sudden brush of the bushes.
"Come out now; I know you're in there."
He spoke undisturbed in the situation as if Khalid were waiting for this moment to come.
*Hiss~*
A bicolor, white, and blue-looking snake with a tough, glamorous, shiny scale crawled in front of him quietly hissing, but it wasn't enough to change his dauntless expression; even as soon as it started to take on the form of a human, it just left him frowning, his brows in disbelief, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing, like a scene out of the book.
"A verendus who uses goetic magic, I see..."
Khalid spoke while his eyes locked up on the girl who was the same height as him, with short bob-sided bangs styled hair that was white as snow, paired with her soft cerise lips, and rounded blue Vert-colored eyes that were like a sparkling gem, resembling the color of the deep Venetian ocean, and the forestry greenery that words were ineffable to describe its beauty.
"You're mistaken."
She bluntly stated as she stared at him with a serious look in his eyes, it was as if Khalid had finally faced a doppelganger himself, behaving rudely with a blunt attitude like him.
"Oh! So it was just a kid; my apology."
Khalid contemptuously replied, mocking the girl as she gritted her teeth in frustration, tightly gripping her hands before she let out a deep sigh from her mouth.
"Agersia is one of my abilities."
"You moron."
She whispered, avoiding Khalid's eyes.
The epiphany of her existence gives him a little chill, crawling straight onto his body, leaving him frozen on the spot like a statue.
*Yikes!*
'I feel a sudden Deja Vu.'
He thought and tilted his head while his hair was being swayed by the cold breeze of the afternoon air, and with that, the silence broke when the little girl spoke without any hesitation, leaving Khalid crumbling in pieces as if his soul had left his body.
"Be my master."
She affirmed with a calm, soothing tone in her voice, which made him roll his eyes in disapproval.
"Why would I agree with that?"
Khalid replied in an icy tone, looking straight at her as if he had already dug a big hole through her face.
"I will die without a master!"
The little girl desperately shouted with her leal words, which covered the whole aita of the palace.
'I peregrinate everywhere he goes; just to follow him, the heavens should at least reward me for my hardships.'
She thought while waiting for his reply.
"I'm not buying it; the palace is not an orphanage for a lost kid, and I'm not open to charity. It's as if someone would take a verendus like you."
His voice has gotten colder while crossing his arms, standing confidently with such a dull expression painted on his face.
"No! You're mistaken; I'm not one of them!"
She exclaimed, which turned her face flush red.
"I'm a shapeshifter beast, and I need you! You are the only one who can hold my power! I swear I'd die without a master!"
Her responses didn't make Khalid flinch or startle, as she shouted at the top of her lungs, desperately begging for his approval, pleading with Khalid, who was lost in thoughts, without knowing if he was listening to every word that was coming out of her mouth.
"Hah! Don't expect too much; you'll disappoint yourself."
He replied with a knee-jerk reaction.
It made her bite her lower lip as she stared at him with a splendid ethereal appearance standing in front of her with such a dull languor expression written on his face, and that's when she felt a sudden annoyance without thinking what she was about to say would make her regret her action.
She sneered and formed a smirk on her lips as she stared at the ground where Khalid was left standing.
"Oh~…. That was absorbed."
She grinned as if she were contemptuously mocking him back, placing her index finger on her lips, and when the word came out of her mouth, it left Khalid's eyeballs shaken with a completely shocked expression.
"I thought you were dead, but looking at you right now, who could have possibly thought that two miserable souls were trapped in that body? Pfft, it's quite interesting."
She chuckled, which made Khalid's eyes widen as if he were being slapped by a sudden ray of hope and realization.
"We have arrived!"
Shouted by the coachman who was driving the carriage as they were riding across the neighboring kingdom of Lusdouv.
Dal can be seen wiping his snot while he keeps on clinging to Khalid, while the girl stares at him in disgust as she gently wipes off the white handkerchief on his cerise lips.
"That was D.I.S.G.U.S.T.I.N.G."
She complained and raised her right eyebrow in front of Khalid, who was sitting in front of him.
"9 elves have left the building; you can go now."
Khalid opens the carriage door with his finger pointing outside.
"I think you don't understand; where the needle goes, the thread always follows!"
She exclaimed fuming in frustration, while Khalid and Dal just made a blank expression.
"Well, I don't need you."
Khalid gets off of the carriage, dusting himself while he is being followed by the little girl with such an expression on her face, suddenly stomping her feet on the ground like a furious titan, causing their sudden distraction.
"Don't sleep on my ability, you little brat!"
She blurted in anger that caught the attention of a slim knight, looking at her with a grumpy look in his eyes while the other formed a scornful stare, stabbing her pride. As for Dal, he was left sitting on the carriage that was quite like a mouse, wondering about the situation.
"M.A.N.N.E.R.S"
Erwin scorned which left her unspoken.
As they looked around at the scene, they found people staring at them, lying on the wet ground where people are covered in bruises and wounds, while the others could be seen making their eyes bawl with water flowing nonstop from their eyes as they screamed in sorrow, embracing the cold corpses of their loved ones, while the others acted as if they had completely lost their minds, hugging themselves like mad men, mumbling and quivering in terror with their eyeballs shaken as they left paralyzed on the spot.
As she watched the scene, her attention was caught by an ethereal-looking child, like a soulless doll, without any expression on his face. When he began to speak, that caught everyone's attention.
"You can trust no one from here; some verendus might disguise themselves so they can prey on people."
Khalid stated as he began to explain the things thoroughly to the others.
"Yes, sir!"
Exclaimed Lillibet, which caught Khalid's attention as she formed a salute sign on her hand while being carried by a big muscular man, making everyone laugh except for Khalid, who was busy inspecting the scene, which made the girl form a mirk expression on her face.
She sighed.
"WHO?! WHO IS IT?!... Is it Khalid?!"
He tightly holds her on the shoulder, rambling like a rantipole beast while his eyes begin to come close together so that you can already see the nerves on his face, leaving her in fright.
"W-what?... let go of me, you psycho!"
She shouted, which made him come back to his senses as they both looked into each other's eyes.
That's when she felt a sudden hole in her chest as she could feel the desperation and despair in Khalid's voice, making her regret her action.
"There is a cursed soul inside your body."
As she stuttered, Khalid made a dismal expression on his face while letting go of his grip. He turned his back as if he couldn't look at her straight in the eyes, which might be the cause of humiliation or disappointment, but still, she could feel the crestfallen reaction of Khalid as soon as he heard her answer.
"Uh, so how am I going to make a contract with you?"
Without any emotion, he replied in a serene yet distraught tone of voice. As she stared at the back of him while his face was facing the ground, the wind swayed his silver-ish ash hair, which made the mood too dramatic that she could feel pity for him.
"C-call my name, Zev."
She stuttered as she watched the leaves fall to the ground, with a little boy standing in front of her, looking at his statue with an apathetic expression as if he had lost the remaining ray of hope in his life.
"Then, Zev, you will serve me from now on."
Khalid replied without even giving a single glance at her.
"Now it's done."
Khalid walks out of the scene and leaves her unspoken without even letting out a few words or even cursing him for acting like a jerk.
"What a pain in the ass."
Zev can't seem to perceive his actions, for how could he hide a pain behind those smiles without knowing that it can not only fool people but also hurt himself at the same time.
She grits as she looks at him with a fire burning in her eyes.
"Pathetic..."
She mumbled, forming a nefarious smirk on her lips.