I felt a surge of energy coursing through my veins, ignited by the Aeon within me. The prince's face grew serious, his brow glistening with sweat as he wielded his burning crimson katana, pointing it menacingly at my face.
"The mark on your cheek... It's unlike any aeon I've seen before. It exudes an ominous aura, sending chills down my spine," he remarked, lowering his sword to prepare for his next strike.
Was I about to lose control over my own body? My mind was so occupied with the concept of liberation. Those chains, that darkness, where was I supposed to go?
The prince swung his katana at me. My body instinctively sidestepped and dodged his attack. My mind was in another foreign field and I couldn't process what happened earlier.
He swung once again and this time it hit my body but instead of searing my flesh and bifurcating my limbs, thick black ooze caught the blade.
He released the handle and let go of his sword. The black ooze completely rusted the steel and spat it out. The sword had become rusty and unusable.
"What am I going to do with you?"
The prince walked around me, circling me as if I were his prey. He didn't use his sword anymore, he sheathed his remaining blade and opened the palms of his hands. Blue flames emerged from his right hand and red flames from his left. He then clutched them together forming fists that were on fire. The gleam on his cheek spread down his throat and up towards his eyes.
"Let's fight! AEON FOR AEON!"
I wasn't in control anymore, but my body contorted a wicked smile that etched across my face. The black flower on my cheek exhausted more and more viscous liquid.
I clutched my knife and stood in the middle of the room like a drunk person. The prince went in with flaming fists, I thought they would just be nullified by my ooze so I didn't bother to dodge.
His right fist connected with my lower abdomen, and the area that got hit was shrouded in blue flames.
The pain spread across my belly, it was as if a thousand ants were crawling inside my stomach. I haven't felt so much pain in my life before, it beat the feeling of starvation and getting mauled by street dogs.
"I'm not done yet!"
He appeared behind me, clutching both his hands together.
It looked like the eyes of my mother, purple… empty of any emotion.
His hands created purple flames that he slammed down my shoulder, crushing my scapula.
A machete just cut through my body. It was like a giant burning knife seared my insides like a stick of butter in a warm pan. The black ooze didn't do anything and I lay there on the floor in a haze.
"Is that all you have, Aeon?"
Hah, I was barely catching my breath as my lungs burned. My heart ached with every beat when I tried to stand up. The prince stood there waiting for me to rise.
My right shoulder was burning purple and my lower abdomen was burning blue. But all hope wasn't lost, I had regained control of my body.
I was able to react and think properly now. So what did I do?
"You wanna know something?" I said.
"My legs remain unscathed, so I will use my powerful legs… AND RUN OUT OF HERE!"
I headed straight for the window I came in. Then I tore off the pieces of clothes that were burning and tried to remove the effect of the flower on my cheek. But it wasn't going away, the flower remained on my cheek and the ooze kept slowing me down. The prince stared at me and proceeded to nonchalantly walk towards me with burning fists.
"Show some pride and honor, fiend."
Was I really about to get executed by a prince just because I wanted to eat? No, no, no, I don't want this at all. I turned around and faced him.
"Oh? Not going to run? Bad choice."
He materialized in front of me and hit me in the face with his left hand. And then he used the back of his hand and slammed me down into the floor.
My whole body was burning, I was completely overwhelmed. The pain, the flames were eating my flesh away. This was far from freedom, the freedom that one seeks is the liberty of peace.
The prince took a few steps back, refusing to finish me. I pushed against the ground to lift my broken burning body. The flower on my cheek continued to pulsate as if it wasn't ready to give up. But then something miraculous happened. The black ooze got reabsorbed into my body and all the wounds healed. I stood up and tore off my shirt and stood face to face with the prince.
He gave me a quick woah. With a small shocked expression.
"Didn't know you could do that."
"What is freedom for you Prince?"
"Freedom? To be strong."
"Too bad, mine is peace."
I took off running towards the exit. Viego unsheathed his sword and applied flames to it. Before hurling it towards me.
"Whoops."
The blade came at full speed, but it didn't pierce me. It went into the chest of the girl who gave me apple juice earlier. She got knocked down to the floor and impaled by the blade. Her insides slowly cooking from the blue flames.
The red waters began to flow forth, staining the room with an iron taste. A forceful cough, no, the regurgitation of blood. The little girl threw up blood. There was so much blood inside her mouth, that she couldn't scream. Tears filled her shaken eyes.
I ran over to the girl took the katana by its handle and started yanking it out of the girl and floor. It flew off into the distance and the girl started to bleed out. I cradled her into my arms as the Prince watched.
"Isn't that your sister? Why aren't you doing anything?" I screamed.
"She is no royalty, just a mongrel that got adopted by my kind mother."
She fell into my arms, her body cold, torn between guilt and desperation. Blood seeped from the wound I had caused, staining her and the white cloth I pressed against it. The white cloth soaked by sanguine waters eventually stained my hands. The wound was grievous, and even if she survived the bleeding she would die from an infection. I cradled her gently, her head against my chest, and tried to offer what little comfort I could.
"I'm sorry, little girl," I whispered, my voice choked with remorse. Her breathing became labored, her strength waning with each passing moment. Tears streamed down her face, mingling with the droplets of water that fell from my own eyes. I had unwillingly hurt a person, taking away someone's freedom. She opened her determination-filled eyes that now dulled and lost their purple hue. With a faint soft voice, she called out to me that her name wasn't Little Girl. It was Emovi, just Emovi. Emovi with a choked voice told the Prince, Viego, not to hurt me.
The prince said that he would let me go. Just because he has a feeling that I would entertain him later.
"Grow strong, Aeon."
The heat behind me came along with a breeze. Like a hot summer day, bathing in the river with the blazing sun and cooling winds. The prince started to revoke his flames and the whole room became normal. The flower on his cheek faded, but mine was still up.
"How dare you."
How could he kill his sister with no emotion? How can he just stand there with a straight face after hurting her? Were your siblings nothing for you?!? The flower on my cheek started to pulsate and beat oozing black ooze once again.
"You can go if you want." He turned around and waved his hand behind him telling me to go.
I wasn't thinking straight, I took up his katana and rushed towards him with bloodlust. But before I could start my rampage, wood emerged and swallowed me whole. The surroundings became wood and lifted me into the air along with Emovi. I banged on the wooden walls and tried to cut it with Viego's sword to no avail.
We had been completely isolated from the mansion and cocooned.
The wound I received started to mend and the bleeding completely halted. Emovi's chest closed up and her wounds disappeared. But she was still unconscious. Looking confused and disoriented, I knocked on the tree walls again. After a few seconds of silence, the wooden walls started to open and we emerged on a giant green flower. The flower was emitting some weird energy. It was similar to the Viego's energy but it was still different. Viego gave off the vibe of justice and passion. But this flower emitted something menacing but also rejuvenating.
From the entrance, I sneaked through and hopped an orange cat onto the windowsill. The eyes were an oceanic color filled with life. As if thousands of souls lived in it. The fur boasted a vibrant shade of orange reminiscent of a blazing sunset. It burned and radiated with vitality. On the cat's fuzzy ear was a green flower that spread its roots down to the cat's mouth. The other ear was covered by a black hat with a purple butterfly sucking nectar from the flowers placed around the ribbon of the hat.
The flower was glowing, like illuminating fireflies. Flickering, showing light and dark shades of green. The cat slowly moved toward me and Emovi then proceeded to climb the flower. When it reached the top, it started to rub its head against my leg, giving cute long purrs. After a few seconds, it stopped and peered down from the flower. Looking into the eyes of the confused Viego. The cat released a loud meow that echoed throughout the room as if it were to say, we would come back.
Viego stared at the giant flower and then gazed up at us. Looking at us intensely and then declaring us criminals of the state before Nonchalantly walking over and picking up his rusted katana. And then he walked out of the room as if nothing happened. The soldiers rushed into the room, determined to hunt us down like animals. In a desperate attempt to escape, I nimbly jump out of the window I came in from with Emovi on my shoulder. Then followed the cat's lead, running through alleyways and around houses. Their battle cries and angry screams echoed behind me, their motivation to kill driving them relentlessly. The cat suddenly jumped onto my head and started pointing in different directions which I ran towards.
Knocking over vases, and plates and running straight into drying clothes. But the damage ten-folded due to the stampede behind me.
Just as I was nearing another corner in the alley, the cat patted my head, pointing toward a seemingly impenetrable brick wall. I hesitated, but the cat persisted, bashing my head gently until I yielded. Without thinking, I ran straight into the brick wall, phasing through it and entering a room adorned with red paintings.
Among the red-themed decorations, a couch, a bowl of raw red meat on the ground, and a glass of water caught my attention. The cat nudged me toward the couch, where I carefully laid Emovi down. It hopped off my head onto the couch where it then proceeded to nuzzle in Emovi's hair. Comforting Emovi and making itself comfortable. It then settled on the ground, devouring the raw meat with fervor.
"Oi, kitty kitty, why did you save us?" I asked sitting down on the ground.
Of course, the cat didn't respond, instead, the cat took its paw and pointed at my cheek. After that, the cat jumped onto the ground and started to consume the raw red meat on the ground. Pondering about my newly found power and the origins of the Aeon. Questions like, why did I get my Aeon? Where did my aeon come from? and how does an aeon form? could be sort of answered with my badly guessed hypotheses. The aeon from the Prince activated mine through resonation, but that begs the question, where did he get his aeon from? But how do these things form? I let out a huge sigh and started to rub my head for ideas that could fill in the empty spots but nothing good came out of my head.
I called out to the cat and asked it if it had a name. The cat understood my question and shook its head indicating a no. It stopped eating and started to parkour around the room. Finding a red flask that was later revealed to be paint. It knocks down the bottle and then opens the bottle. Spilling red paint all over the floor. With its paws, it writes badly shaped characters " Meow Meow," With two kids beside the misshapen characters. Did the kids name this cat Meow Meow? How creative.
" Do you have any other names?" I asked while petting Meow Meow's head.
It shook its head indicating a no. Well, as gratitude I will name this cat.
"Okay, Meow Meow, because you saved me and Emovi, I am gonna give you a good and honorable name. I said excitedly.
After a lot of thinking, mixing, and flipping names. I managed to scramble out a perfect name for Meow Meow. Excited and proud I call out to Meow Meow.
"Your name is gonna be Oslovi!" I brazenly said. Oslovi the orange cat. What a befitting name. Meow Meow looked at me perplexed with a face saying " What the hell is that name." But after processing it. Meow Meow curled up into a ball in my lap and dozed off. Its warm orange fur warming and soothing my soul.
"Thank you, Oslovi for allowing me to extend my conquest for liberation. I am in debt." I said in a sleepy voice.
It had been a rough and tiresome day, but even after healing up, I felt drowsy. My mind went numb, I laid down beside Oslovi and slept.