Zeke leaped onto a roof before leaping away toward his home once again. In merely a few minutes, he had got what he wanted and jumped through right into his room through the window that was broken after he fought Arwin, the hunter.
Abel was still on the floor, and the clock was running down. Zeke immediately prepared the ingredients, using a pestle and mortar to crush them together. He poured in a small cup of water into the mix, then qi began to condense into his fingers.
His fingers now had a slight gleam to them, and he calmly started releasing this qi off his fingertips. Beside him was the book with this cure detailed, and he was following the instructions on how to manipulate his qi very carefully.
His breathing remained steady, and he was like a statue, with totally still fingers.
It entered the bowl of ingredients, making them sign various colours. The general colour from within the bowl was purple, with the mixture of red and blue from the three ingredients.
Revealing his fangs, he bit into his own hand then formed a fist, allowing his blood to drip down into the bowl. The glow intensified, until a dark purple substance was finally formed.
It was slightly viscous, and left a residue, while also giving off a dim glow.
He rushed right over to Abel, lifting his head toward this bowl.
"Come on, Abel! Drink up!" Zeke urged, trying to wake him up.
Soon enough, his attempt at waking him up was successful, and he gulped at this cure. Taking his first swallow, he then took way more larger gulps of this antidote until it was completely finished.
Only the purple residue remained in the bowl, and Abel didn't look to be much better after having this juice. However, Zeke had hope and continued to look at his friend.
Abel took a sigh of relief, feeling this warmth take over his body. It was like he was being enriched by this substance, and his body was slowly healing itself. His demonic face took form as this process took place, but this was a good sign.
He looked down at his body with his glowing amber-gold eyes, and let out another sigh with a smile on his face.
Zeke then fell back onto his bottom, laughing with his friend.
"Phew, I really thought you were a goner there!" Zeke said, sighing of relief.
"I thought I was a goner too to be honest." Abel commented, before they both laughed.
That evening, Duncan remained in his home, awaiting his brother's arrival. He had been returning to his home every single day to try and check up on him, but he still hadn't arrived yet.
The reddening sun was approaching the horizon, and the sky was now darkening.
Soon, the sky went from blue, to dark blue, to a midnight black. The darkness was enchanted spec-like stars that glistened and gleamed. They shone a pure, white light, and tears soon began to drop down his face.
He could feel the darkness from his brother going missing filling back up the void in his heart. It was like it had sunk into his stomach.
"Before you even got to see mother and father?" He whispered to himself, with a cup of black soda in his hand.
He took several gulps, before wiping the tears on his face.
"DAMN IT!" He roared, hurling his cup onto a wall beside him.
He grabbed his head, hyperventilating and dropping to his knees. The black soda soaked into the ground of his room, and his other, Ria, opened the door right away to see what was going on.
"Duncan? Duncan, what's going on, honey?" Ria asked, dropping down to his side immediately.
Vance was stood at the doorway, with his arms crossed and his face awfully solemn.
Duncan didn't reply and just continued to sob, while in his mother's arms.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry, mum!" Duncan weakly said, with tears pouring down his face.
"It's okay, it's okay, Duncan? What's happening?" Ria asked, trying to calm his daughter.
"I'm.. I'm so sorry, for everything." Duncan replied, before hugging his mum.
"Oh, it's okay son. It's okay."
****
The following day, the students were all stood in a training dojo in an orderly fashion. They resembled the legion of a well-trained army, and they stood firmly against their teacher, Master Oscar.
"In a fortnight's time, we will be taking our first journey outside the city walls to head to a totally different union. We will be heading to the realm of Solterra. You're going to want to take some cold drinks and get prepared because this union is the hottest union in the world."
"Regardless of that, we're going to meet up with another academy in the city of Ansita. We will be training with them, having special events with them, and they will basically be your classmates during your time there. I hope you train hard, so that we can show them how strong the city of Fragan is." He explained.
The students began to chat amongst themselves, more than excited for this upcoming event. It was always fun to venture beyond the walls, but the far majority of them had never seen another city or union.
Otto von Falken, son of the Lord of Fragan, Ingolf, stood as solemn as ever with his tall stature and short icy blonde dyed hair.
The others around him looked very excited, constantly trying to talk to him about what was about to happen.
Another person looked just like him and that was a girl. She had a lush, beautiful face and stood at 5'9, and was taller than all of the other girls practically swarming her. She had long black hair, and her name was Valerie von Falken. Sister of Otto, daughter of Ingolf.
She talked to her friends, smiling and laughing with them, but was clearly not very excited about what was coming. She seemed to just want to fit in and copy the general atmosphere around her.
These two were the children of the esteemed lord Ingolf von Falken, and they had certainly seen other cities and unions. Otto was the heir apparent to the throne after all. He had been taken to see what he was going to be doing as he took up that role.
Leading the army, forming relations with other cities and unions.
His totally still face was just like that of a leader, a soldier. It was like he was already ready for this.
Abel and Zeke started to talk about the upcoming event, just like everyone else was.
"So, what is Nudra like? Is it a desert or like a grassland like here?" Abel asked.
"Well, it's everything. The mountainous regions are run by the werewolves. Us, vampires, we live in places like this. Cool, mild forests. In the deserts, you have the skinwalkers, the ghouls." Zeke described.
Abel's eyes lit up as he thought of this magical place. It sounded like a paradise, and it just made Abel wonder even more.
What would really cause Zeke to leave all that behind?
Not only was he a supernatural, free from the threat of a maniacal hunter, but a noble gifted with an inheritance as valuable as full unions.
As they stood ahead, they were then met by Duncan. The group had almost broken into two in these recent days, but Duncan felt intense guilt for letting such a thing happen.
He remained silent for a short time, just stood next to his similarly silent friends.
"I... I just wanted to say that I am so, so sorry for what I did. Arwin, he told me that you were trying to kill me but I should've known better, you guys would never do such a thing." Duncan lowly said, with his eyes glued to the ground.
Even with this apology, Zeke could tell that there was fear coming from him. As vampires could smell the adrenaline in one's veins, they could smell their fear.
He was sorry, but he also felt vulnerable and unprotected in front of them. The fear from the lies of his brother still lingered in his heart, and he couldn't shake it.
"It's not a problem, Duncan. If I was in your situation, I would've done the same thing." Zeke replied.
"No you wouldn't have you don't have to make me feel better. I feel so stupid for what I did." Duncan retorted, holding his head with a face of guilt and sadness.
"Well, I don't think I would've done the same thing." Abel stated, making his two other friends laugh in reaction.
"But I think the main thing is that I understand why you did what you did. To be honest, I understand why your brother manipulated you in that way. I'm sure that in his mind, it was all for the greater good."
"Yeah, I guess so. Well, are we friends again then?" Duncan asked, with his fist extended.
"Sure." Zeke said, pumping his fist, with Abel then doing the same.