CHAPTER 11: Golden pupils
The crisp whisper of a page turning spread across a small room.
A pen struck the smooth, black surface of a round table, its one-meter span gleaming faintly in the dim light.
A sharp voice recited the verse, cutting through the silence.
“No matter what… I cannot-must not-reveal anything about
If really are going to take things that far. Heh, I wonder how will deal with this bo—”
The voice took a pause before continuing again-
"Huh?, did I really call a boy? HAHAHAHAHA…"
The voice cackled like a madman for a few seconds.
“I think I'm losing my mind! That's not even a human! There's no way in hell, I’d believe that's a nineteen year old boy! There HAS to be something or someone behind
The voice stopped.
A chair dragged backwards from near the table.
A thin but solid built man wearing a golden-robe stood up.
He had an eye patch covering his left eye area.
Right now, his only visible eye had a determined gaze.
“Even if I'm at my worst,
Even if I lose myself,
Even if I don't understand everything,
What I do understand is that… At the end of it all, only can save myself!”
He paused again as his eyebrows knitted together.
"I have to get in touch with that Though there's no guarantee if he is still in Aetherwood, I have to find him somehow and form an alliance with but things are often easier said than done… How can I even accomplish something like that?”
He closed the and went to the opposite side of the roundtable and approached the dimmed oil lamp.
Then he kept staring at the lamp for a while, after which he moved the lamp fifteen degrees to his right and then thirty degrees to his left. He repeated the process six times with his right hand and then—
A little figure fell on the table, appearing literally out of nowhere.
“Ah… why now!?, I was just about to see
The ten-centimeter tall completely white figure complained while yawning with a hint of irritation in her voice.
Rubbing her eyes she looked around a bit and blinking twice in a direction she glared at the golden robed man.
"Oh, it is you… Aveon. So? What makes you so daring to interrupt my peaceful sleep? If you do not explain yourself well enough, I will make sure you regret it.”, she spoke to Aveon with a childlike voice but in an icy tone.
To outsiders, it may appear to be funny, but Aveon shivered at the threat and couldn't help but kneel before the
He broke into a cold sweat and gulped saliva inwardly but didn't show it on his face.
Bowing his head slightly, in a respectful tone he said,
"Your majesty, I apologize for the abruptness. But I am in a very perilous situation. And I have to form an alliance with a tempora—”
He didn't get to finish as the childlike voice interrupted him,
“Wait! Let me guess… It may sound absurd but I think this you mentioned is somehow connected with your lost eye. And you want my help to keep your end of the bargain when the time comes, am I correct?”
The kneeling Aveon's eye widened as he replied with a measured tone,
“Your majesty is very insightful. I cannot help but feel awe. Yes, thatis indeed the reason why I had given up my left eye as a compensation.”
“Oh? He sounds quite interesting. Tell me everything that happened in that forest.”- the little-figure spoke with a curious tone in her voice.
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Taking a deep breath, Aveon told her everything truthfully.
"... Since I have already paid a heavy price, now we are even. From my intuition I can tell, even though is very mysterious, did not appear to be completely irrational to me. And even if it sounds unreasonable, at present, if I want to survive through this upcoming event which will include Aethelgard as well, I am more than ninety percent sure that only can help me by creating an anomaly."
“...”, the little figure kept silent.
After a few moments passed, she asked in a serious tone,
“And how do I contact
Aveon found the situation quite strange. He thought,
‘Why didn't she ask about how exactly she would help me with this and instead seems interested in
Frowning inside, he replied,
“I have only met him once, near the very center of Aetherwood."
“I see. Very well then, I am leaving now. Oh, right, about your matter with , I will see when the time comes.”— just as the sentence finished, the disappeared into the air.
Aveon sat down and sighed in relief.
His single eye locked in the white floor beneath him.
“Now I just have to find There's still more than six months left until the event."
Aveon chuckled softly, a glint of anticipation in his eyes.
“I wonder how they would react if they knew I just had a personal meeting with none other than the herself—
Her Majesty,
A few minutes passed in silence.
And then.
The sound of a door opening hung in the air.
Someone's footsteps echoed encompassing the small room.
A person sat down on the chair opposite to Aveon.
Aveon stood up and went near that person as he spoke in a neutral tone,
“Hmm… It's been a while
I hope your delicacies were fine.”
"Hmph! What do you know!? It was a tasteless dish I tell’ya! What a waste! I have to look for a new chef!”
An old voice spoke in an agitated tone.
At the very next moment though, the tone changed into a lascivious one and continued,
“However… if a ere to serve the same dish… maybe it would taste much better even without a new chef!”
The old man licked his lips as it soon curved into a wide grin reaching ear-to-ear.
It was a grey-robed old man, well into the latter years of his life, with a pair of
Despite his age, firm muscles lay hidden beneath his robe, and his nearly straight posture betrayed his otherwise wrinkled appearance.
…
Nysia.
Under the
Naqeera slowly calmed down but still didn't let go of Zalchys’s embrace.
“I don't know what will become of me… Now that I have served my purpose.”, she said in a low voice.
Hearing the part Zalchys’s eyes became cold.
But the next moment, he began to tousle her long black hair affectionately. A quiet thought stirred within him,
‘What is this strange feeling of nostalgia? I feel like… she’s someone from my past… someone very close to my heart… someone bound to me by…
With tenderness visible in his eyes, he asked in a gentle tone,
“Do you mind explaining your situation a bit?”
Naqeera, who was close to his heart, could hear his heartbeat.
As she felt him tousling her hair with care, she suddenly forgot all her sorrows and worries from before.
She didn't feel and anymore.
Right now, she feels protected.
Right now, she feels
Right now, she wants this moment to last forever.
“How great it would've been if there were We would walk around this whole land, visit every kingdom and city holding our hands together…”
She spoke in a melodic voice, burying her scarlet face deeper into his chests.
Zalchys suddenly jolted. His heart skipped a beat, eyes widened.
Just now, after Naqeera finished her sentence, he felt a sharp pain in his brain. And then several incomplete scenes flickered in his mind, leaving him in a daze.
In the first he saw—
…
A three-meter tall dead body of… A
Beside that, a three-month-old covered in the blood of a demon, crying miserably but without a single spot in his body except the blood.
On his left hand, he's holding something tightly.
Slowly the child stopped crying and turned his head towards him. It had no eyeballs filling its eye sockets.
Only…
It threw a torn piece of paper from the left hand to him.
He instinctively caught it and opened it instantly.
There was a word written in it.
As soon as he uttered the word, the scene before him changed almost instantly.
This time, he saw—
…
A three year old holding a sharp knife with his left hand and constantly stabbing it deep into an already dead… tiny figure.
This tiny figure was an… already dead three-month-old child.
The kid suddenly stopped stabbing and looked in his direction.
He also had replacing his eyeballs.
Then he tossed the knife from his left hand to him.
He barely managed to catch it.
And looked at it directly.
There were two words carved on it.
As soon as he read them, the scene before him crumbled into dust.
The dust produced a new scene before him.
He saw—
…
A battlefield.
A man in his mid-thirties.
Pitch black hair, well-built body like a battle-hardened warrior, in his left hand, he's holding a one meter long white sharp sword, unknown silver patterns covering the whole of it… there's a drawn in its quillon, the entire sword is dripping blood. He is wearing a black armour with unique patterns covering it. On his right hand, there is a black long-sword covered in intricate golden patterns.
His face shone beneath the direct beam of sun.
The man’s facial features are extremely close to his own, but more refined.
At this time the man had an expressionless face. Then he slowly turned HIS gaze in his direction.
Their gazes met.
Two pairs of brown eyes were looking at each other.
Both sets of eyes slowly started to emit a golden light.
Then.
closed their eyes.
And
Moved their heads skyward.
Silence followed for an unknown amount of time.
Zalchys opened his eyes and looked at the figure standing exactly opposite to him.
The figure was wearing a strange looking gray-mask, only leaving the eye areas uncovered.
But there were no eyes… only…
Then the figure pronounced three words—
The scene soon started to crack and shattered into tiny pieces within a few seconds.
The shattered pieces simultaneously created a new scene.
And he saw—
…
A luxurious-looking room.
An enchanting figure wearing an elegant white robe, was sitting near a ten-feet long white mirror.
She picked up a haircomber from a desk beside the mirror.
Her long, silky snow-white hair cascaded down her back.
She started to comb her hair, her eyes looking at the mirror before her.
Her left hand was managing the hair’s position and her right hand was combing certain parts with much precision.
He kept staring at the alluring scene before him, losing all track of time.
He felt sad for her as she sobbed.
He felt happy for her as she chuckled.
He heard her cackling like a maniac, lost to all reason.
He saw her crying like a little girl, trapped in an endless prison.
He didn't understand why, but the woman in white caused him to feel a sting of pain in his right chest. His heart clenched.
And then.
The woman in the scene suddenly froze.
As if sensing something, she slowly turned around and looked in his direction.
She covered her mouth with her right hand.
Her eyes widening, two tears of blood started to drip down her face.
She disappeared from her standing point in a flash.
And reappeared right before him.
Without wasting another second, she hugged him tightly with all the force she could gather.
Her nose reddened, eyes swollen as a stream of tears dripped down her flawless skin, crossing the cheek and chin.
Zalchys was stunned for a moment as he felt two drops of hot liquid automatically dripping across his own face as well.
His previously clenched heart was now beating faster by the second. His long hands slowly embraced the woman in white as he thought for the first time during a scene,
‘Ah… This feeling feels extremely … As if I've experienced something very similar… but...'
Then he subconsciously let himself fall into a daze in this fourth scene.
About half an hour passed.
They didn't move an inch.
From an outsider's point of view, this might appear as a moment when a very loving husband and wife pair has met with each other after more than a millennia…
The woman barely managed to calm down but still didn't let go of the person before her and moved her head upwards to look at the person’s face.
The person also looked down to see hers.
Then.
The woman uttered her first word during this scene with a dreamy voice—
Zalchys also uttered his first word during this scene with a tender voice—
AND
Their gazes met for the first time… in this scene.
A pair of encircling golden pupils were locked in a pair of encircling golden pupils.
I've always wanted to write something like this!
[This won't be the only time either! ??(?＾? ??? ?＾?)??]
Chapter 12 & 13