Hubert opened his eyes. The ragged texture of the cave's ground felt on his fingertips, the rays of the evening sun pierced through the transparent blanket of water that was from the top.
He gulped his saliva, his lips felt dried, and his head was dizzy. All of that didn't matter, as his mind was only on a single topic. The shadow. The shadow that was him, in him, of him, and for him, the only one that had completed its duty.
The duty of sacrifice.
"Hubert…" from his lips that cracked, he called the shadow, like a whisper against the quietness and solitude of the cave, his meddling.
"Hubert…" Tianna called, yet her voice was unusual. It was slow, and low, weak and meager, barely any of her playful tone or energetic spirit was told of her voice.
"Yes," Hubert responded, his mind was troubled and hurt, like exploding, but his eyes were directed at the cave's wall behind him, which he thought was the place of his master.
His pupil's size was reduced, sweat trickled, and he called in worry.
"Master,"
His brows curled upward.
"Hah, stop with that look, cough, I'm not that weak," Tianna assured, but it was clear, her spirit hadn't returned.
"Bu-but!" Hubert pleaded, his tone pressed and rose in volume as he couldn't keep what bothered him away.
"Shush… Hubert, I've said before, enough," Tianna said, almost like a roar, stern and direct.
"No! Let me help you, master. As you've done so for me!" his words were rebelling, but it didn't matter to him.
"Hah. As if cough you could," Tianna said mockingly even with that weak voice of her, almost degrading.
"I will find a way! You've sacrificed too much for me, let me do the same to you," Hubert pleaded once again. The words he spoke bore truth, and the meaning of his words was full of care.
But it was all useless.
"Hubert! Know that this is no more a cough simple matter. This is not about whether… ugh… Goddess damn it! You must realize, one day, you will not be in my protections any more, I've done what I must, all for the sake of nurturing you, so that not even the most wicked of creature dare to attack you," Tianna said, hints of frustration mingling with her weakness was evident.
"But-!" he stopped in the middle of his words just as he started. Arguing was pointless, his words could never win the battle of emotions and words against the stubbornness of Tiana.
But even so, just a little help, anything that could alleviate her pain, was all he desired. It was naught.
Gritting his teeth and clenching his fist, he looked down. Knowing there was nothing he could do, he was depressed over the fact that his lackingness showed itself once again.
"I thought with this power, the power that I've needed… I thought that with this, I would have no more need of pain, struggle and misery. Then, are the words of myself not enough to even prove me otherwise?" he muttered.
"..." Tianna's silence responded.
Hubert smiled as his face was hidden by his hair. His eyes were teary and his veins popped. The determination that was in him blazed like the fire of hell and struck like a flock of thunder.
"Hubert, raise your head, you are my student and none of my students should ever bow his head in despair. Much less some-" she said in her own pride. But as Hubert raised his head, she almost gasped by the sudden realization.
"Anger…" her voice was soft.
"Tianna," Hubert called.
"Hmph. I know now, stopping you is a fool's scheme," Tianna continued, she realized that the battle was lost when Hubert showed what was in him.
Dedication that was in his eyes, the same eyes that were as sharp as a fine sword and as piercing as a pointy spear.
"Then… if you must, I need to bother you with something, ugh…"
"Anything! Anything I will do for you if you wish, just let me help you for once!" Hubert barked like a dog, jumping on the opportunity of caring for his faithful master.
"Anything?" Tianna questioned.
"Yes!" Hubert affirmed his choice.
"It is nothing hard, Hubert. But one that… I am afraid of, for you. The temptation of the demon is a wicked thing, killing someone would result in the whole kingdom hating you, much less deleting someone from existence," Tianna explained.
"I promise, in the name of the Goddess and my honor, that I will not use my power fo-"
"Aadish," she cut.
"Wh-what?"
It was a name, a simple one, but with a history filled with hatred and accompanied by the dirtiest of beings. A name that made the words he spluttered out wanting to come back.
"I… command you, to punish Aadish, in the name of my authority, 16th headmaster of the Kexer Special Academy. Can you do it, Hubert?" she asked.
"O-of course! Bu-but didn't you…" Hubert had his mouth opened, but his words hadn't had the chance of coming out.
"Yes. But, it seems that I'm in the wrong here. His crime knows no end. See for yourself in the field," Tianna ordered.
"..." Hubert knew not what to say, it was a heavy task, one that he wanted.
"Ugh… Hubert, th-the book, in the fifth bookshelf, second row, third order from the right. Th-that, your key," her strength was dwindling, and her voice became softer until it was unhearable at the end of her sentences.
Cough
Her cough was as soft as the flying of a dandelion and as breezeful as the wind of the west. But it was filled with pain and sickness, like a corrupted being.
"Master," Hubert called, but the presence of which he called never responded.
—
The air in the cave was stale, and the scenery out of its large openings, hidden by a waterfall, now bore him. He sat cross legged, in front was the evening sun, and by his side, a mirror of clear glass. It has been three days since he drowned himself in thoughts.
"Hubert," he called in a hushed voice, the name he gave to the shadow, a copy of himself.
Finding joy is reminiscent of that day, when the being he met once in his entire life just three days ago perished in front of his eyes, for him too. Coincidentally, he remembered what was marked three days ago.
One of the many skills Tianna had him learn. On which he used with precision on a book on his laps, a diary, an empty one, except for a single line.
"18 years old, 27th of this month,"
He stared at the line of the open book. Some thoughts passed his mind, some troubling and some discovering. It was clear, however, nothing mattered, the deed had been finished, the day had passed—days even.
He raised his hand, once gloved, a glove that hid the mark of the church, now naked, of which he felt on the edge of his fingertips was power. Stinging, weird, and mixing.
On his right side, facing the mirror, was another book, one he had read over and over. Titled Chronicle of Archmage Archaus of the Void Element. A compilation he thought was hints on the advancement of his power.
His black eyes glanced sharply at the book. Frustration showed in his strained eyeballs, something that happened everytime the book came into mind. He thought wrongly of the book.
"Ha…" sighing, Hubert stood up, his legs slightly numb, and a sting accompanied, sending him tumbling slightly backward before he pressed his hand against his desk.
From there, he looked around him, all the same. Except the missing presence of Tianna, one he had not felt since the day of his awakening.
"M-" he wanted to call, but hesitated in the end. After countless calls, he knew this one wouldn't be different.
Thus, he slowly turned his aim toward the cave's entrance. Step by step toward it while the sunlight slowly greeted and the wind like a symphony in his ear.
"Then, shall I see what is happening in the academy nowadays?" he asked himself enthusiastically, like a hermit that came from hiding. Though he soon realized that his presence was mostly unwanted in the place.
"Let them think what they want, I'll do as I like!" he muttered while the birds watched from the nearby trees as Hubert talked to himself.
"Crazy…" in their eyes etched.
It was a sunny day, the way was long and snaky. But soon, his foot pressed against the hard cobblestone of the academy and the scenery was filled with buildings and students.
On his left, the fourth learning hall front yard, where groups of students in uniformed leather robes of black. Gathered in lines before setting out into somewhere he knew was not his problem.
On his right, the yard, shadowed by trees where students gathered together with their partners or dates. Conversing, lunch eating, showcasing even some occasional scuffle happened there.
Once again, somewhere he was unbelonging.
Continuing, the deeper he went, the more compact the buildings were together and the crowdier the place became. It was also when he was almost arriving in the middle yard where he found himself to be a hot topic to the grade 3 students of the first learning hall.
Carrying weapons of various kinds, from swords to spears to shields and even a single glaive that stood out in the air.
"Wait… the glaive is…" Hubert stopped in his tracks.
Familiar.
"Hey, Dareon, why don't you go meet your friend there?" a loud voice sounded from the crowd.
Then the single glaive that stood from the crowd and its owner was pushed out.
"Dareon?"