"Why did you kill Cornelius?" Julius asked Crow who was comfortably sitting on a chair by the window.
"He was a threat to Ceaser....and you. But I killed him for Ceaser. He had witches working with him and they tried to have Ceaser frowned by Solemn." he answered non-chalantly.
Crow picked up the wine glass that was on the small table next to him. Terra was shivering because the age of Cornelius' corpse that kept popping up in her mind. Julius rubbed his forehead in confusion. He looked at the ten men who stood idly in the room. The room felt full because of the number of people inside. It was just like the day he had found out that Crow was back.
'When he walked into the room with Terra, they looked for Ceaser and didn't find him with the men. Terra was panicking and was about to leave when they heard the boy speak; then something else spoke for him.
"...I live..."
Julius would have run if it hadn't been for one of the large men who had accompanied Ceaser standing in the door. Terra was given a chair because she almost fainted at the sight of the man.
"I won't hurt any one of you unless you try to harm Ceaser so you can breathe. My master has told me what he would like you to do for him. Firstly...he says he wants you to marry Julius." he said addressing Terra.
She looked shocked and her usually calm countenance was dressed in worry and anger. Crow smiled seeing her expression then he turned to look at Julius.
"Secondly, you are not to make his mother pregnant. I have rephrased it for you because he said it as 'don't buy a replacement baby'. Thirdly, wants to be trained as a fighter on mount Genesis. He said there is a man there who can train him, courtesy of Genevia. If you agree then I'll let you leave with your limbs intact if not you will still live a half life."
Julius wandered if he even had a choice. He glanced at Terra and the latter nodded to Crow's conditions as stipulated by Ceaser. He knew Crow was looking at him so he also nodded.'
At least there was something good coming from this partnership with a murderer; Terra would finally be his. On a sad note he couldn't have children with her. If he didn't comply, Crow had threatened to make him suffer.
"I want to talk to Ceaser." Terra said.
"He isn't ready to speak to you right now. He is still mourning his father's death." he answered.
"Ceaser would never mourn for his father." she said sighing.
"They had a moment to resolve their differences before he died." Crow said as he got up from his seat.
He looked at Terra's shocked expression and smiled.
" I almost started to feel sorry for him. But he got possesed and tried to kill my master and I couldn't spare him."
"What did they talk about?" Julius asked out of curiosity.
His brother wasn't a father figure that a child would even cry for him. He watched Crow pour himself a glass of wine and gulp it down. For a century year old man, Crow loved to drink. His thoughts were cut short when he realised that Crow was drinking in Ceaser's body. He looked at Terra and saw that she wasn't paying attention and probably hadn't noticed what Crow had done.
"Don't drink in my son's body." Julius stated firmly.
Terra became attentive and looked at Crow accusingly. She was about to speak when she heard him say.
"It's water. Sweet water." Crow grinned widely,"I would never endanger my master like that."
Terra relaxed a little bit but was still unsettled because she wouldn't be able to see her son if this monster felt he needed to be protected. She got up from her seat and walked towards him. Crow squinted his eyes in suspicion of the woman walking to him. When she was in front of him, she took a deep breath and hugged him.
"I need you back, Ceaser. Come back to your mother." she said bursting into tears.
*
*
A week later, after Solemn had been buried next to his father in the royal tomb, Ceaser was been prepared for his departure to mount Genesis. He was sitting in his room with his mother as she combed his curly hair brown. Her blue eyes were staring into his reflection's eyes and vice versa.
"Will you be alright without me?" she asked.
"I won't be alone. Genevia and the others will come with me." he answered sadly.
"I'll come visit you every year on your birthday and I'll send you gifts every new moon." she said.
"You shouldn't visit me. I'll want to return home everytime I see you." he grumbled.
Terra hugged him tightly and kissed his cheeks. The door opened and they both shut their eyes knowing that the time had come for them to part ways. She kept on worrying about him because Mt Genesis had extreme weather conditions. Winter all year round would kill a five year old who hated cold weather. She opened her eyes to find Lucan standing in the door. He was the oldest lycan to have come with Ceaser as a protector. He looked no older than twenty five but she knew the lycans stooped aging when the turned twenty do he was obviously older. From the time when she had first bled she had been told the lycans were an extinct group of creatures
and now she was looking at one.
He was a large man with faded scars on his body. When she first saw him, he was wearing a loin clothe but now he was dressed like a normal gentleman and it suited him; navy blue completed his look. His light blue eyes like Ceaser made him look like a relative. At least it would be easier to convince everyone that Ceaser had been taken to a distant relative for asylum.
"We need to leave if we are to reach Genesis in good time." his deep voice baretted.
"Just a moment."
"We don't have a moment." he responded.
"Can't I even give my son a proper farewell?!"
Lucan didn't answer and just closed the door and waited for her to say her good-byes. When she had hugged him enough, they exited the room quietly. Once outside, Ceaser said a formal good-bye to Julius and hugged Terra again then he entered his carriage with Genevia. Terra's eyes begun to water as soon as the carriage left the palace grounds. Julius embraced her reassuringly and ushered her inside. She wouldn't see her son for the next eleven years so she was devastated.
The journey to Mt Genesis would take a whole week if they travelled even at night only stopping to eat and to answer the call of nature. Ceaser was already feeling tired; and yet he thought the journey to Zeth was long. The time moved slowly as day turned to night and then to day again. Three days went by and they started to see the snow covered ground. Ceaser didn't know how to feel about everything that was happening but he knew he had to go through it if he wanted to be a greater king than his grandfather. He was going to be trained by his grandfather's previous youngest army commander, Clause. The man was obviously older by now but he had gotten the first hand training from Ceaser's grandfather and hence was a good option.
They arrived on Mt Genesis late at night on their sixth day. The place was very quiet and peaceful and awfully cold. Ceaser put on three coats before stepping out of the carriage. Clause was standing outside his house when they arrived. He observed the boy who he was going to train and smiled. He resembled his grandfather in the oddest way; the look of determination to become stronger in his eyes. He
looked away from him and observed the little anterage the boy had with him. Ten men and one woman. He didn't see any coachman so he concluded they had come alone.
"You are early. I was expecting you tomorrow evening. You must be hungry." Clause said.
No one replied to him so he walked towards Ceaser and knelt down in front of him. The boy shivered when a breeze went by and Clause smiled.
"Can you run fast."
"Yes."
"Let's go warm you up then. We'll run to that tree over there," Clause said pointing to a surprisingly green tree," Your grandfather could do it without a coat on."
Ceaser took on the challenge and immediately regretted it. The cold air felt like it was tickling his bones and made his muscles feel stiff. It was even worse when they started running. The others, including Genevia joined him as they also took off their coats to support him and the gesture warmed his heart. This was his life now.