As the silhouette continued to approach them, Ezekiel immediately got on her guard. If that thing wasn't human, he'd have to try to take care of the situation.
As the figure came into light, all of them could see the appearance.
It was a child, probably around the age of Ezekiel. Covered in somewhat shabby clothes, wavy pitch black coloured hair, and a pair of abyssal black eyes, devoid of any emotion.
Aizen.
An eleven year old boy who was "Cursed." Not exactly in a way one might think. He was kind of like a hybrid between a human and a Fallen, or worse, a Demon.
Only Ezekiel knew about this little "secret," the fact that Aizen wasn't a human. However, now that the cat was out of the bag, handling the villagers would be a big problem.
"A-Aizen...?" Clarisse said as she clutched onto Silas' clothes and trembled.
"Oi Ezekiel," spoke Silas, wearing a nervous smile. "That's Aizen right...?"
Seeing no point in lying, he sighed and nodded.
"Yes."
"So... Now what? Is he like gonna... Blow up the place?" asked Silas.
"I'm not going to let that happen."
"Oh yeah... Mister Chosen One..." replied Silas rolling his eyes. "You know that you're not skilled in combat now..."
Ezekiel groaned softly upon hearing that.
He was a Chosen One, blessed by the Goddess, bearing the ability to use light based magic. His magic had awakened at a really early age. However, he couldn't control it properly and needed training in order to harness the immense power with which he was gifted.
"So," Silas spoke. "You gonna knock him out or something?"
"Yeah."
"What about the villagers?"
"We'll have plenty of time to talk things out."
"I don't think so..." Silas replied.
The villagers mumbled and whispered among themselves. It was pretty natural. In front of them, it was a "Monster." But for Ezekiel, Silas, and Clarisse, their friend was standing infront of them.
"We'll talk later. For now, let's focus on the problem in hand," said Ezekiel.
"Sure thing but... Can you handle him?" asked Silas.
"Yes," he replied confidently. "If I can't attack, I'll just not let him move and purify him. That's how it's always been."
"So you're saying that you always knew about this?" Silas asked, narrowing his eyes. "Why on earth didn't you tell us?!"
"I don't see the point of arguing right now Silas," Ezekiel replied calmly. "I'll tell you everything."
"You know it yourself that you can't fight for God's sake!"
"As I said... I'll just purify him. And I'll tell you everything later. Now keep quiet."
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Aizen was panting and looking at his surroundings, half concious of what he was doing and half unaware. All he knew was that he wasn't doing all these because he wanted to.
He was trapped in the darkness, unable to get out. He was stuck in his mind, and his body had been taken over by something sinister, something beyond his control.
Where am I? Why's it so dark...?
Huh? Isn't that the Church? What am I doing here...? I was at home...
Home... Wait...
Ezekiel...? Why's he looking at me like that...? Why do I feel so uncomfortable...?
"Lumen Purifica!"
Ezekiel's spell was followed by loud scream by Aizen as he got bathed in a ray of light. The villagers stood there, astonished by Ezekiel's ability to subdue this "monster."
Light...?
It hurts...!!! It feels like I'm burning...!!!
Stop it...! Stop it...!!!
That's when Aizen saw a girl in his subconscious mind. The girl reached out and took his hands in hers, pulling him towards a source of light amidst the darkness which surrounded him.
Aizen, whose physical self was ready to wreck havoc, was stopped from doing so because Ezekiel's spell.
Of course, there was the involvement of that strange girl who had helped Aizen to regain back the control over his physical self.
After the spell dissipated, Ezekiel kept his eyes on Aizen, noticing his actions, trying to figure out if he was back to normal or not.
Aizen looked up at him, before pursing his lips and mouthing, "I'm sorry..." before turning around and running away from the scene.
"The Demon ran away!" one of the villagers shouted.
"He's not a Demon!" shouted Clarisse.
However, who would pay attention to a child? Safety came first.
"Pursue that child!"
"He's going to destroy the place!"
"Demon child! Kill him!"
"Follow him and kill him before he destroys the village."
The outrage of the villagers was not unnatural. They never knew that their village had someone like Aizen. The Aizen the villagers knew was a human child, not a monster. They couldn't recognise that the "Demon" was actually Aizen, and couldn't help but act according to their immediate instincts.
"No wait!" shouted Ezekiel. "He's not a threat! That was Aizen!"
The words came as an even more shocking fact to the villagers, which made them look at each other.
"Aizen is a Demon?!" asked one of the villagers.
"No, he isn't!" Ezekiel replied. "And again, he's not a threat!"
"How the hell can you say something like that?! He would've destroyed the village!"
"He could have! But he didn't do it!"
"He can go on another rampage!"
"He won't!"
The villagers insisted on killing the boy, but they couldn't go against a Chosen One. Stuck in a dilemma of what to do, the villagers talked among themselves. That's when the Village Priest mediated.
In a calm voice, he spoke...
"Now now, everything's under control isn't it? So why are you all arguing like this?"
To which a villager replied,
"That damned brat will destroy the village if he isn't killed!"
"That's right Father!" agreed another villager. "Ezekiel might be a Chosen One, but all of us know that he can't harness his powers properly at this young age!"
The Village Priest sighed before speaking...
"All of you just witnessed his ability, didn't you? Yet you're all doubting the Goddess own child, Her closest one..."
The villagers looked down upon hearing that, seeing which the Village Priest chuckled softly, before speaking again,
"You all may not know it, but Ezekiel has fully awakened his powers."
"What?!!!"
A common response from all the villagers.
Ezekiel looked away and Silas walked upto him and patted his back.
"Stop that Silas..." he said, rubbing his temples.
He knew that the Village Priest had told a blatant lie. However, the villagers took the word and looked at each other.
"Don't worry. If that boy brings trouble again, Ezekiel will take care of him again and again. You all can rest easy."
The villagers looked at each other after hearing the Priest's reassurance and headed back to their homes.
The moment they all left, Ezekiel half ran up to him and bowed deeply.
"I'm so sorry Father! I should've informed atleast you!"
The Priest laughed and patted on his head.
"You're a nice boy aren't you?"
"..."
"Don't worry. Now that I know as well, I'll see Aizen someday and try to figure out what's wrong with him. Judging by how a purification spell worked, it just might be a Curse."
"A Curse huh..."
"You don't need to worry about that. Even if I can't do anything about it, you can just purify him over and over again now, can't you?" The Priest asked, laughing.
Ezekiel kept quiet while Silas chuckled. Young Clarisse was unable to process the situation and just looked at the Priest, then at Ezekiel, and then at Silas.
"Hey!" Clarisse spoke. "Won't see go to see Aizen?"
Ezekiel looked at her before speaking,
"Yeah. We will."
He turned back to the Village Priest and bowed before speaking,
"If you permit Father, we'll be taking our leave then. Thank you for helping us today... Or Aizen would've gotten into trouble..."
The Priest looked at him, smiling, before saying,
"Sure sure, you kids can go. Aizen must be in need of some comforting after all that."
Silas and Clarisse bowed to the Priest before the three of them went away from the Church, in order to look for Aizen.
"Such enthusiastic and nice kids... It seems we will have more than one Hero this time in our Village," the Priest told himself before walking back inside the Church.
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Hey there! This chapter was pretty long eh? And we got into some new... Things.
First is Ezekiel's spell, Lumen Purifica. As mentioned, it's a purification spell. Apparently Ezekiel uses light based offence and defence, alongwith with purification spells.
Light based purification spells are stronger and although they can be used by any Mage, Ezekiel's spell will be way stronger.
The characters' ages.
Ezekiel is the oldest, followed by Aizen.
Ezekiel is thirteen, Aizen is twelve, Silas is eleven years and six months old (accurate ain't it?) and youngest Clarisse is nine.
The Priest is 84 btw.
He's probably gonna kick the bucket...
(Ops... I shouldn't say that...)
Anyways!
Hope you enjoy!
Look forward to the next chapter!
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