The butler left his master in high spirits to attend to the orders of the men whom he found interesting. He should treat them warmly as per his master's request. He came out from the kitchen and wore his business smile then greeted the customers.
"Thank you for ordering, will you be eating the bread in here? If you do, we also serve coffee and tea while you enjoy your food," he offered since his master wanted to observe them more.
Siron's group was a bit surprised when they heard that they could eat the bread in the shop so they agreed to the butler's offer without thinking much about it. Each of them got a cup of coffee then the butler escorted them to a three seater table in the corner of the shop.
"Please make yourselves at home while I go and prepare your coffee and bread and while waiting, you can try our blueberry cookies, courtesy of our baker," he placed a platter of freshly baked cookies on their table which successfully caught their attention. They did not even ask a question as to where the butler got the cookies when he was not holding anything.
The butler left them on their own while he prepared their orders. Cygnus watched as the man was carefully placing the bread they chose on the plate. He even wiped the edges of the plate where crumbs were scattered.
"You really are good at doing this," he commented after the last bread was plated elegantly.
"Indeed I am master, so please observe them as much as you like," he nodded then he gave his master a smile. He carefully lifted the tray and left to serve them their food.
Siron watched in anticipation when he saw the man with their orders in his hands. The butler placed the tray on the table and served them their food.
"Enjoy your coffee and bread," he waved his hand then bowed before he left to give them privacy.
"Are we really going to stay here?" Xavion asked out of the blue afte the butler left.
"Yes, until my Master changes his mind," Siron took a bite of the bread and appreciated it's soft texture and creamy filling by nodding his head.
"The Grand Mage would not change his mind," Astrophos interjected. The man was stubborn and he managed to out run them everytime so he was sure that he will not do as the Magic Tower requests.
"Let's see if his stubbornness can work when his nephew is involved," Siron smirked. Astrophos could already see through him and the thoughts in his mind. He closed his eyes and shook his head, this time he chose not to speak any longer.
On the other hand, Jagan who was now seated on the couch in their small living room. After he confronted Siron and his group he entered the house only to be met by his nephew who silently stared at him.
"What do you want to ask?" He could only resign to his fate.
Ezio looked straight at his uncle's eyes without blinking. "Will you even answer me once I ask the questions that are now currently roaming around my mind?"
Another sigh as he nodded to his nephew's words which now led to the currently awkward situation they were in. Ezio waited for his uncle to voluntarily start talking because he did not want to push him any further.
"Those people are from the place where I used to work and they are the reason why we kept on moving from one place to another and now they found me," Jagan started. His head was bowed as his eyes were staring at the ground.
"Why are they chasing us?" Ezio asked this time because this was the right time to ask his uncle for the reason behind their every move.
Jagan was silent for a while because he was not sure how to answer that question. Ezio waited patiently and did not urge him. "That's because they wanted me to come back." He simply answered but this time Ezio was not satisfied.
"Are you a wanted criminal? Did you do anything that made them chase you all the way here? They did not even give up even after how many years," he commented as there were holes from that answer his uncle gave him. If he simply left without problems then they would be living peacefully in a different place right now but based on what had happened and from the appearance of those people, his leaving was not a simple matter.
Jagan chuckled and lifted his head to meet his nephew's eyes, "The people behind those who were chasing me might as well thought that I am criminal because I took something important from them." His gaze never wavered and it made Ezio uncomfortable. There was something from his uncle's gaze that made him uneasy.
"What-what do you meam by that? If you stole something then can't you just return it so that they will leave you alone?" Ezio deliberately avoided his uncle's gaze. He instead stared at his hands that were placed on his lap.
"If it was as simple as that then I could have returned it but I can't. I've promised that I won't hand it over no matter what happens, even if it costs me my life," his words were firm. Ezio raised his head and saw that there were no traces of his playful uncle to be found. The man in front of him was like a stone general who was not moved by anything.
Ezio felt nervous all of a sudden because of those words and the previous questions in his head disappeared. His uncle's gaze made his heart beat abnormally fast with a foreboding feeling rising within him. The teen stood up and turned around to leave.
"Is-is that so. I just remembered that I was not done watering the plants. Let's continue this conversation some other time," he started to walk away but his uncle's piercing gaze did not leave his back. He did not understand why he suddenly did not want to hear anymore answers from his uncle.
Jagan only looked at his nephew's receding back. He could understand why Ezio suddenly did not want to stay anymore. The child was sensitive to these things ever since he was young, he tended to avoid everything that might hurt him because his instincts would tell him to do so but that was not the only special thing about him. He was much more than a child who can predict danger.
"In the future, if something unexpected happens, I want you to go to that shop owner." He stood up and caught up with Ezio. He then patted the teen's shoulder, "I don't know if that man is someone good but I'm sure that he will find you interesting once you tell him his name." Then he leaned forward and whispered the shop owner's name in his nephew's ears.
Ezio did not turn around after hearing the name and instead continued walking towards the door. Jagan did not move, not until he saw Ezio closing the door behind him did he doubled over and clutched his stomach with his other hand covering his mouth to stop the blood from coming out but it was no use because it still spilled.
He did not expect that the pain of just whispering that man's full name was not even comparable to the pain he felt the first time. This time he could not even pass out even though he wanted to. He was awake and tortured by the unbearable pain, like his insides was being burned and torned apart. The metallic taste of the blood in his mouth did not disappear as it continued to flow out. He could even feel a hot liquid coming out from his eyes and nose and that's when he cursed silently while going through the intense pain.
He did not know how much time had passed while he lay on the floor bearing all the pain from a mere name when he heard the door opening again followed by frantic footsteps and his nephew's worried voice. After that everything happened in a daze, he did not even know if he answered Ezio's questions, all he knew was that he kept on mumbling.
This was the worst and he did not even know if it was worth it to receive all of that damage just to let his nephew know that man's name when he himself was not sure if the man himself will really help Ezio when the time comes. He did not know and was too tired to think about it now then after a while, the pain subsided and he could finally close his eyes.
Ezio watched as his uncle slept. He finally felt relief after tending to him and seeing that his breathing was even. He was really shocked when he saw his uncle sprawled like that on the cold floor with blood all over the place. Luckily he was strong enough to carry the man twice his size towards his room.
Slowly, he wiped the dried blood on his uncle's face then changed his sweat soaked clothes into fresh ones. There seemed to be no external injuries and as far as he knew, his uncle was healthy. Before his mind could wander even further, he stood up and left the room. He'll leave the explanation to his uncle once he wakes up.
Moonvale, a place at the northern border of the Lunaira Kingdom has always experienced bright nights but there were rare moments when the moon would disappear and during this time, no one would leave their residences during the night. It was long believed that when the moon disappears a calamity or misfortune will befall Moonvale and to avoid any of that from happening, the residents agreed to not step out from their houses when the moon does not appear in the sky.
That was their belief but at a certain home, this did not matter because not even curses can work on him. Cygnus was humming while looking at the mirror to check what he looked like and to make sure that he doesn't appear scary.
"The sky already turned dark so where are you going master?" The butler watched as the man fixed the collar of his coat.
"I'm going for a stroll," he casually answered before turning around to look at his butler. "It's a moonless night, isn't this a great opportunity to take a look around," he even grinned and patted his butler's shoulder. "I'll return later."
Cygnus bid his butler goodbye before stepping out of the bake shop's front door. He inhaled the air and was satisfied with it. For a moonless night, it was good to visit a place where ghosts might appear so his first destination was the cemetery.
He walked around the place and checked every tombstone while humming but he found nothing exciting. Everything was as normal as the ghosts roaming around, even an evil spirit was a welcome distraction to him but there seemed to be nothing in that place but he did not stop walking though until he heard it, a familiar sinister whisper.
At that sound his grin widened, so with a skip in his step, he went to the direction of the whispers and slowly peeked through the bushes. There a person was sitting on the ground like he was meditating and there was a magic circle below him. He was mumbling foreign words followed by the whispers of spirits that started to gather around him. They were vicious but once they came in contact with the mana wave created by the magic circle, they disappeared, the spirits were absorbed into the man's body which strengthened his mana energy.
"So this was where all those evil spirits were," Cygnus mumbled to himself. "What an ambitious person."
After watching the other for a while, he stood up and left in high spirits. "It seems that I'll be witnessing something fun." He laughed at his own words and for a moment there, a part of his mana leaked which darkened the surroundings and killed a couple of birds and animals that were unlucky enough to be caught up within his mana's scope.
When he realized what happened, he immediately hid his aura and fixed the darkened ground and summoned some normal looking animals to roam around. After exploring the town at night, he finally returned home with the butler waiting for him.
"Have you found something interesting?" He asked once he saw the carefree expression from his master's face.
"Yes, the plot is developing quite dramatically, now all I need to do is wait for something to actually happen." He massaged his chin and narrowed his eyes at the thought of a free show that might happen anytime in the future.
"I advice that you don't meddle with it, master." His butler kindly advised because he knew that his master had the tendency to take matters into his own hands which in turn creates more problems for them.
Cygnus looked at his butler in astonishment, "I won't do something as troublesome as that. I'll just be a bystander and watch from the sides. I've already told you that my aim now is to live as normally as I could." He shook his head and even showed his butler a sympathetic look.
If the butler could feel any emotion, then he would surely be dumbfounded at his master's words but still he thought that his master's words were a bit outrageous. "Then I will be watching with you from the side."
Jagan woke up in the middle of the night with his heart beating fast like he ran through a marathon as his eyes wandered around the dark room. He clearly felt it, a mana energy that was beyond his, it felt dangerous and ominous.
He stood up from the bed and wiped the sweat on his face from that nightmare, before he went to the kitchen to get something to drink when he saw that his nephew was sitting in a daze on one of the seats.
"It's already midnight what are you still doing here?" He asked, intentionally raising his voice so that the teen can hear him.
It was effective because Ezio reacted at his uncle's voice. "Oh, I was awoken for some reason so I decided to pour myself a cup of water."
Jagan narrowed his eyes and observed the teen. He looked normal but he might be affected by that mana energy that disappeared as fast as it came. "Then go back to sleep."
Ezio nodded his head then he stood up and went back to his room like nothing happened without even greeting his uncle before leaving. The man frowned so he made sure that his nephew really went to bed. He followed him and watched until he got inside the blankets and fell asleep.
A sillhoutte landed on the entrance of the cemetery, the man whose entire body was covered in black except for his eyes looked around but found nothing out of place. He took careful steps inside the silent place while keeping his attention to any changes in his surroundings. The fluctuation of mana he felt came from the direction of this place so he decided to investigate. The appearance of Siron and his lackeys were already expected but a mana energy that can influence him and his nephew was out of the question. Whether it was coincidence or not, he needed to make sure that no other variables will put them in jeopardy.
He stopped then started walking back and forth on the same place. He though he felt something but everything within the area was fine, there was nothing a miss. "How can this be?" He mumbled but no matter how he try to feel or see no one and nothing will answer his question.
After having no idea, he decided to give up but before he would leave, he continued to walk around the cemetery first to make sure that nothing was out of place. He had only walked a few feet away when he felt traces of a sinister magic around. He walked around the bush and cursed after he saw traces of dark mana in the area, even the burnt grass was a proof that someone did a forbidden spell in this place. Dark mana when used often leave behind burnt or destroyed traces in the place where it was performed and its users usually, rather, would always cover up its traces to avoid being found out. In this case, the user might have forgotten, which was unlikely, or he might have been startled by something so he needed to leave in a haste.
Users of dark magic were considered evil since they can use unconventional spells that causes destruction and death. Aside from that, continuous use of dark mana can corrode one's mind ultimately leading to self destruction or the user wreaking havoc all over the place. Whoever used dark mana in the cemetery must have something to do with evil spirits coupled with the timely disappearance of the moon and strangely enough Jagan already had a person in mind.
He was not sure if it was pure coincidence or not, but the fact that he needed to catch the person did not change. He shook his head then extended his right arm forward, a green glow slowly appeared in his palm followed by a small magic circle then he crushed the circle and dots of green light descended from the sky as it covered the ground. Slowly, the burnt marks were gone and was replaced by a whole new batch of grass. Even the traces of dark mana dispersed and disappeared.
The cemetery returned to its usual tranquility and both the man and the dark mana disappeared. What happened that night was bound to be forgotten but not everything can be buried deep.
"You're already awake!" Ezio was surprised when he saw that his uncle was sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee in his hand.
Jagan looked at him before shaking his head, "Yeah, I woke up last night and saw you sitting on this same chair in the middle of the night."
Ezio frowned and even tilted his head to the left, "What do you mean? I did not wake up last night."
"Yeah, I figured that you won't remember it because you were pretty out of it last night. You were in a daze the whole time I was talking to you then you went to sleep like nothing happened." Jagan casually stated like it was not a big deal but Ezio was horrified at what he was hearing.
"Am-am I sleep walking?" He asked with wide eyes then he immediately reached out and held his uncle's arm.
"Tsk, it's not like you're going to die. It was just one time and it might be the effect of the moon disappearing." He shook of his nephew's hands and ruffled his until it was a mess. "So stop thinking about it."
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