Hearing the ominous voice coming from across the room, Bello could not shake the feeling of familiarity.
Bello slowly turned his head back and stared at the direction of which the voice came from. As soon as he saw the familiar face of a boy with black hair and red eyes, his face immediately turned pale.
Bello turned around as if acting like he had not seen the boy at all.
'I'm imagining things.. I must be so tired after that loss huh.'
Bello sighed at the coping words that he'd given himself.
When suddenly, he felt a cold aura creeping behind him!
"Don't ignore me.."
Bello screamed in fear when he heard the voice whisper in his ear. Behind him was a smile that could kill a hundred people. It was a smile of craziness!
At first glance, no one would think the scary person behind him was a Prince! But reality was often disappointing.
"Hello, dear friend! How have you been"
"You're not supposed to be here you- you!"
Bello stumbled in his words due to the sheer terror that he felt coming from the individual in front of him.
"You Broke Prince!"
The Prince then looked offended and his face was filled with darkness. Then, a vein popped up in his forehead and he stared at Bello with coldness.
"Who are you calling broke!"
The Prince grabbed Bello by the ear and started pinching his cheeks.
"O-ow, stop!"
This went on for a couple of seconds until the Prince finally stopped and calmed himself down.
"To call such a distinguished Prince like myself as broke! Insolence! You'll be imprisoned."
"Not funny.."
"Really? Man.. that used to work on you every single time. You'd react with 'Huh?!' or 'What?!', then I'd lay on the floor while dying of laughter."
Bello glared at the Prince then composed himself and tidied up his clothes. Then, he asked what the Prince's purpose for meeting him was.
"So, what do you want? More money to bet? I have no more to give you!"
The Prince then grinned terrifyingly as if there was a devious plan inside of his mind, Bello was astonished by this and questioned what heinous acts was going to happen this time.
However, the Prince composed himself and his face showed a sense of seriousness.
"That'd be great but.. That's not my purpose for today."
"I'm actually here to learn from you O, Beasttamer of Wills."
Bello was skeptical, he thought that there must've been some kind off catch to this proposal. But seeing as the Prince's face was so serious, he shook off that thought and responded with calmness.
"Learn.. about what exactly?"
"About, two things actually.. One is mental strength and the other is about the meaning of my dream."
Bello thought about the Prince's request, the first one was easy to do but the second request was not of his area of expertise.
"I can help you with mental strength but.. dealing with dreams is not something that I can handle."
The Prince already expected Bello's answer but he still had something up his sleeve.
"Yet, you do know someone that is an expert on dreams right?"
Bello's eyes widened, not realizing sooner what the intent of the Prince's statement was.
"No.. no! It's difficult to get a hold of that person, It's not something I can do."
"Is it really that hard?"
"Yes! I mean no! it's just our circumstances are a bit.. terrible as of the moment"
"I see.. Then it can't be helped after all."
The Prince sighed due to his disappointment of the situation, but he had no goals to push Bello further. He understood their situation the most out of everyone in Elrod.
"Shall we make a deal out of my first request then?"
Changing the topic, the Prince lightened the mood by bringing back his prior request.
"Before we can get back to that, Veritas.. I need you to answer a question."
"Ask away, friend."
With a heavy breath, Bello looked Veritas dead in the eye and asked with uncertainty in his words.
"Why.. me?"
"Out of all the people whose attributes focused more on mental stability and strength.. Why did you choose for me to be your trainer?"
Then! The Prince smiled widely at Bello, it was as if he was confident in the answer that he was going to give. This sent chills to creep up in Bello's body.
"Because you my friend... is the only one in Elrod who can control a myriad of beasts."
*
Yesterday, when Veritas had recently woken up, consulted his Father in his office about the strange dream that he had seen.
He knocked lightly at the extravagant door and carefully opened it without causing much noise.
"Father, I have come to consult you about something that has been bugging me.."
His Father then stopped doing his work and immediately stared at Veritas as if bugging him to tell him more.
"Ah- you see.. Before I came home back from slaying the Gargoyle Knight, a dream suddenly entered my vision while I was admiring the landscape of Elrod."
"In it.. I saw ruin, flames engulfed our mighty fortress followed by loudness that decimated everything. In the end, darkness engulfed our kingdom, leaving nothing but a massive gaping crater in its place."
"Thus, I came here to ask for your Guidance regarding this dream.."
His Father brought up his hands in his chin for a moment, analyzing and thinking of the dream that his son had told him. Within a few moments, he had thought of an answer.
"Veritas.. In this mystic world, dreams are considered to be great visions that let us peek into the future. They give us glimpses of scenarios that may happen, it may not be ourselves that we see in the dream but sometimes it can be of someone elses."
"This Dream of yours is quite concerning, if it really prophesied the ruin of our Kingdom, then we must do everything we can in order to stop it."
"I am not an expert on Visions or Dreams, but I must guide you on what to do next."
"My son! Seek a Dreamer, one of high caliber, and tell them of this Dream. Only then would their interpretation become a great weapon of knowledge that we can utilize in order to prevent this!"
His Father had a serious tone when declaring guidance upon his Son. With the dangerous aspect of dreams, he could only warn Veritas about the upcoming disaster the may come in the far future.
"I understand, Father. Tomorrow, I shall seek for a Dreamer."
"Very well, was that all that you needed to talk about?"
"I believe so.. yes."
"Then you may rest for now my son, your body has been active for 24 whole hours, sleep until your Soul has been replenished and your body has recovered."
With those words, Veritas then bowed slightly in front of his Father and sought the door to leave.
With a small gesture to leave, Veritas opened the door and went out into the halls.
He made his way to his room, and made himself comfortable, laying down at the soft fabric of the bed.
He slowly dozed off at the soft breeze of the nightly wind, thinking of comfort and peace.
For now, he had to rest.
And for tomorrow, he was going to try and meet a Dreamer.
His mind slowly faded at the shackles of what is called as sleep.
*
It was the middle of the night.
Lights from houses were gone, the streets were near empty if not for the drunkards, and the silence of the moon was ever so peaceful.
Under the shining brightness of the moon stood two individuals, staring at an old wooden door. One was an individual with hair as dark as night and the other was a vibrant individual wearing colorful clothes.
Along the silence of the night, the individual whispered to his companion.
"Be quiet.. My bro is asleep."
"okay.."
Thus, they entered the old wooden door, heading inside a house made of vintage stone and wood.
It was a small house, fitting only for 4 people at most, the kitchen was near the dining table, there was only one bathroom to be found and the furniture was outdated as if they were a piece in history.
"Bello, your house hasn't changed one bit.."
"Leave the comments for later. Be quiet Veritas, we can't wake bro up."
Veritas then did a hand gesture that signified the words "okay". Then, Bello told Veritas to sit down at one of the chairs from the dining table and left to grab something out of the shelves.
Bello returned with a lamp and set it down the middle of the table.
"Okay.. but do you really have to be here tonight? Can't your lessons start tomorrow?"
"Yeah, but I want to stay over at your place, it has been 6 whole months since I've been here after all."
"Fine... But you're sleeping on the floor."
"Sure thing friend!"
Bello then sighed and left Veritas all alone in the kitchen, thus Veritas could not help but scan his surroundings.
With Eye of the Kraken, he could see much better in the darkness, he saw the tattered and broken pieces of furniture and ornaments over the place. It looks like the place has become even more messy than it was 6 months ago.
Veritas stared at the direction where Bello went.
Although it is quite a small house, it was still enough to fit two small rooms. Veritas saw two doors side by side.
'The one on the left is Bello's and the one on the right is..'
Suddenly, the door on the right opened very slowly.
Coming out from within, was a long black haired tall young man with an average stature, he was wearing sleeping garments and looked very tired. His messy hair did not compliment his looks at all, but deep within that haggardness was a pretty face.
With one glance, an individual may think of that person as a girl.
Then, the tall young man saw the lit up lamp on the dining table and looked confused and annoyed at the same time.
"Bello, I told you to-"
The tall young man winced his eyes and rubbed it, as if doubting what he was seeing.
As soon as that happened, the door to the left slowly opened. Bello came out of the room, his makeup was gone and he was finally wearing normal clothes. His dark hair was silky and shiny, complimenting his fair face and deep blue eyes.
Compared to other people, Bello was quite attractive. But due to his makeup and spectacles, no one could really see his handsome face.
"I'm finished clean-"
The two brothers stared at each other with surprise, then the both of them gazed at Veritas who was simply smiling out of respect.
"Ah-"
"Ah-"
"Ah-"
The scene could not be more awkward for the three of them.