Before I met him, I had always wondered why Olive was so obsessed with the main villain of the book. Arvada Moore Davis, the oldest son of Neva and Aria Moore Davis.
A family of knights, generations after generations whatever countries they served. At first, the family was only loyal to the one family the head approved of after long discussions with their elders.
But, time's changed and corruption settled down deep in the seemingly "loyal" family. There was no longer any discussion, and who they served depended on the power and money the protected party was.
"Arvada" wanted to uproot all these people and make his family like it was before. Poisoned with the so-called "I'm doing this for us" ideology he saw nothing wrong with the methods he used.
He planned to use a forbidden magic spell that can forcefully whitewash a person's brain. If it fails, it can cause someone to stop they're thought process, makinging them a fool. Worse, it can paralyze their nerves. Years after his time at the Academy, he became one of the most powerful battle-mage the world has ever known. Who could stop him?
He now had his entire family as slaves, everyone, except Nevana, his brother. The ones that couldn't or didn't run either died, killed because they were useless, or did Arvada's bidding with no questions asked. If this man told them to stab each other, they would. If the man ordered them to set fire to innocent villages, they would.
With the help of his "army", he wanted to make his brother the king of the Hallhigh kingdom by planning a coup and killing whoever stood in his way. Calculating and merciless he ravaged half his country to put his brother on the throne without batting an eye.
The streets were painted red, the castle decorated with flaying guts and fallen intestinal organs. Corpses bloomed like weeds at every corner. They polluted the air and dyed the rivers the color of blood.
No sounds could be heard outside the capital. Dead silent. The people seemed to hide deep inside their home as they prayed to stay alive for another day.
But, what could've motivated someone so kind, serious but filled with love to orchestrate such an atrocity?
In the original book "The Revenge Of The Red Eyed Mage", it was only in a later update that Olive had the chance to read, that everything started to be explained. If there was an antagonist, then there was of course a protagonist.
The shining, pure and persevering male lead deserved the title.
Or did he?
Nevana Moore Davis, second borned, was the direct opposite of his brother. His brother had plum colored eyes, he had bright yellow ones. One had ebony hair, the other flamboyant blond.
Even they're personalities clashed. Realistic, positive, serious, cheerful, hard working, charmer of the mass.
It was like they're only similarities were their family ties.
But was Nevana really as happy and content as he let it show?
Clearly not. In reality, he was just a poor pathetic excuse of a human being. Nothing that bad, just a coward, a cheater, a liar, a jealous person with selfish goals that he hid profoundly under a deceitful facade.
Still normal, it happens.
Until he touched the forbidden.
On his path to prove he's better than his brother somewhere, he went searching for a high leveled artifact with his friends and teammates of his team. The quest took about a month to complete.
They successfully got what they were searching for, with no help from Nevana since he was more of a burden than anything else with his wrong judgment calls and bad leadership.
Either way, he and his team "The Angels" got caught into a crossfire between two behemoths, the infamous dragons. While his teammates were trying to protect each other and escape, he decided that he was the one deserving to survive.
He took the bag with the artifact and ran.
Slowly.
So slow that one of the dragons had the time to get thrown in his direction. Slamming into the hard ground right in front of him, the giant reptile was on the brink of death coughing blood, dyeing the earth red.
Our "smart" "Angel" was so scared, fingers trembling, he dropped the bag having the artifact inside in the dragon's blood. Best thing to do considering that artifacts that can be bound to someone have to be tied by blood. And as luck would have it, it was a healing treasure.
The beast's wounds closed at a rapid pace and he soon woke up in his unconscious state.
The dragon, thinking that all of this was deliberate and that he got saved by this "pure looking human", went to beat up the dragon he was fighting with before with full strength, then came back to personally thank the man.
He let Nevana choose between the numerous treasures contained in his cave. He, the smartie he was, had decided that he wanted a book of forbidden spells the dragon stole even before humanity's kingdoms and empires entered the peace treaty union.
He used the first one on his teammates, which all luckily survived, to make them forget about him abandoning them at death's door and making them his puppets.
He practiced some more on miscellaneous stuff before striking Arvada a few years later. Like the slow poke he also was, he poisoned his brother's mind little by little until he subconsciously did everything he asked him to.
Olive literally knew what was going on and schemed so that Arvada could extricate himself out of that compromising situation. One thing led to another and they fell in love. That part was in the "Wait till I hit my head" plot, of my favorite author.
I wasn't planning on breaking up a future couple, but I knew that without the control of his brother on him, Arvada would never approve of Vanessia's real personality. So I was technically doing them a favor.
Another problem, or perhaps plot hole, was that Olive's (the soul inside of Vanessia), always liked the villain even while the book never talked about him in his right mind. What did she like about him? I didn't know before, but then I knew later.
He was the flirty type with his closed ones. Cold outside, and warm inside. He made jokes, laughed at jokes, like any other people, contrary to the rumors where he was stone cold no matter when. And I truly wanted to know him better, and maybe fall in love with this small crush of mine.
Yes, I was making excuses.
Because Vanessia didn't deserve him, and I wanted to at least have him as a friend.
But my plan to catch up on my first impression miserably failed when we ended up face to face again, me sweating all my liquids out, cutting out a sorry figure with the small bruises I had from the magic training I just had.
I hid my panic with a calm gaze as I nodded at him, waiting to pass by without making a fool out of myself.
It failed, yet again.
"I didn't know you were training here too." He said, surprisingly opening a conversation.
I eyed Tikoria to give me courage and hummed, turning my gaze back at him.
"Yes, I went with Tikoria for practice". I said, hoping it sounded confident.
He smiles. My heart exploded.
His lavender orbs curled with his expression, warming them and coincidentally melting my intelligence…
"It's great, you've been feeling better. I've always wanted to have a fight with the Ice Queen." He chuckled at the nickname and my brain officially went off circuit.
Had he and Zira always been this close?
"Would you like a bet to spice things up then?" I asked with a smirk. Not me totally going OOC for this really hot dude.
He laughed again. Please stop, I needed time to reload.
"Of course, we'll talk about it soon. See you around." He nudged my arm playfully before continuing his way.
I froze.
Tikoria pinched my reddening cheek to bring me back to the present.
"Not bad." She commented, looking between me and Arvada's fading back.
"I know." I answered, not even able to refute.
We went to take a shower and got dressed. After getting out, both our stomachs growled at the same time. I felt that, since she became sure "her" Zira was back, she became more carefree around me. Other than the fact that we had the same magic, Zira and I also had a greatly similar personality which was why I didn't bother pretending.
I appreciated the trust, but I felt guilty for taking someone's place, someone's whole life. Thinking about this occupied my mind until we smelled the best thing in the world entering the cafeteria.
Ribs.
All things, important or not, got forgotten at the moment the delicious odor spread itself far and wide. The line of students, longer than the Great Wall of China, would have made us wait till the end of the day, time we didn't have.
Luckily we didn't plan to eat in the lobby that was commonly used by scholarship students or small noble classes.
The cafeteria looked more like a 5 star restaurant than anything. Several floors, high ceiling, the classic diamond chandeliers and the luxurious sets of tables and chairs.
We climbed the stairs to the 3rd floor where normally other people of the same rank as me ate. Contrary to downstairs, waiters brought our food faster than saying "I'd like to order".
In a few minutes we were gracefully eating golden braised ribs on silver platings. I was feeling a bit awkward to start a conversation now that we were in a more casual setting, so I didn't speak at all. Which didn't seem to bother her, as she ate in silence.
Every bite I took sent me to heaven, the sweet and salty of the sauce, the tender meat of the ribs, the peachy undertone of the wine…truly deserving to be served for royalty.
Less focusing on the food I tried to form a game plan in my mind. The small talks and conversations around me dimmed down as I concentrated on my thoughts.
It was the weekend and I'd use this time to thoroughly think about everything going on. Should I stay with Vanessia's Golden Vipers team?
To switch or not to switch, that was the question.
If I did switch, would I join another one or should I make a new one? I sighed softly contemplating all the troubles I'd have to go through. So, I decided to think about more joyous things.
Arvada for example.
I could clearly see my interest in him, one that was borderline irrational at this point. Was I under a spell? Could it be a plan to weaken me? I wasn't proficient in magic yet, but I was confident in Zira's instinct and could almost assure no magic was at play.
I wanted to know him better, maybe as a teammate or a rival. Someone he could frequently be in contact with. Then I'd see if we were as compatible as my beating heart wanted us to be.
I lightly twirled my hair happily looking at the sumptuous black forest cake decorated with edible gold that was later put down on the table. I dug in instantly. My eyes squinted when the velvet flavor struck my tongue with viciously sweet attacks.
Tikoria left soon after because of her busy schedule while I indulged myself with desserts.