Capítulo 34: So Far Away Part 1

"I hope you get eaten by the Three Wretches! Roasted!" Eris roars from his entrapment against the bronze monument of Babatunde Khumalo.

Noe sets his attention on Daniel, "Can I come with you?"

"You can't," Daniel informs him. "If you're immersed in the pure, sinister energy of the Underworld, you will go insane."

Recalling his forced four year stay in the Fields of Ziraeth, Noe cannot help but worry over his soulmate. "When will you be back?"

"Before you know it. The security in the Underworld is lax towards the Borne."

Daniel stills. "There's a new Ephrene on his way, I can feel the change in the vibrations of this realm, like a zip has been opened and closed.

"Listen to me carefully: You must return to Westville and address the Shantytown Incident waiting to happen. After everything we've heard in Northville, I doubt Prime Minister Kamiyama is going to find a safe place to relocate the locals. I've kept your energy shielded since I first saw you in Westville. While I'm in the Underworld, the shield will drop and every Borne will be able to tell that you are Ephrenes. Stay with Rosalind and Feng Mian during every moment outside my premises. You three can easily fight off any Borne. You will be safe at my place. There's a ward I put up around my apartment complex that will not break even if I die."

"Daniel," Noe gasps. "You're not going to die."

"I might if I stay here any longer."

"I'll protect you," Noe holds Daniel's wrist. "Please don't go."

"I'm the only family Eris has got and he mine. He needs to go to an environment that synchronizes completely with his soul energy or he will be destroyed from the inside out as if he is being poisoned. If I don't care about him, who will? Furthermore, will you kill your Ephrene Brother just so we can buy more time together? Let me go this instant!" Daniel's eyes flare up before he instantly calms himself down. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to shout at you."

"You're right," Noe affirms him. "My emotions are getting the best of me. I can't control them but I can make sure my actions don't harm others, the same way you do, Daniel." Feeling the unsettlement in Daniel's heart, Noe pushes forward a grin and reassures Daniel, "We'll be fine here on Earth. You better travel safely with your nephew or I'll dig my way down to the Underworld at any sign of danger."

Strutting across the square and reaching Eris, Daniel chuckles, "That's not how it works, but message received. I wonder how the prophecy could get your characteristics so wrong, Prince Noeremous," Daniel speaks in passing.

Prince Noeremous? Noe ponders.

Swiftly, Daniel sticks his index and middle finger together and exacts a pressurized tap against Eris' neck, knocking Eris out cold.

For a moment, Noe contemplates knocking Daniel out with that same move but stops himself. When Noe did so to Feng Mian and Rosalind, they were outraged. In turn, when Feng Mian and Rosalind took Daniel and Noe out and transported them to Northville without prior consent, Noe felt violated. He would never intentionally do something to make Daniel uncomfortable and absolutely revokes the urge back to the deepest pits of his brain.

Daniel makes a quick analysis, "I think a fracture in the flow of Ephrene energy in your body filtered into our intertwined souls when you were feeling overwhelmed. It messed with the genuine emotions of our souls. Our bodily energies don't mix well so that's probably what caused me pain and made me lose my abilities." With Eris effortlessly strapped on Daniel's shoulder, Daniel absorbs Noe's facial features - Daniel does not wish to part with him.

"Noe, can I tie you to me?"

"Yes please," Noe giddily slinks next to Daniel.

"Not in that way, for reasons I've already mentioned," Daniel laughs. "Look at your pinky finger."

Brightening like the dawn's breaking, Noe smiles happily. Tied around his finger is a blue thread so deep in meaning and rich in compassion that it can only be the color of Daniel's blue eyes. Daniel raises his hand and shows Noe the red string tied around his own pinky - the color of Noe's eyes when they burn.

Tracing along the two colors, they meet in the middle with blue touching red at the center of the string's trail.

"My power is in my strength. This string will never break or come undone. As far away as we stray from each other, the string of fate will extend its hand and join us. Noe, let's promise to always meet each other in the middle."

"Anything you wish is yours," Noe's eyes glow warmly into Daniel's.

"Do you mind turning around?" Daniel finally asks him with only seconds to spare before the Ephrene arrives.

Noe waits for Daniel to explain why but upon understanding that Daniel does not wish to, he pivots and gives his back to him.

"I'm not leaving you because I want to. I'm not leaving you at all. I'm just going away for a while. Stay safe," Daniel whispers from behind him.

"You too."

A minute later, Noe looks back and finds the spot Daniel stood upon is empty.

Empty.

An emptiness takes over Noe's heart and his head numbs. Noe can no longer feel the Veren flowing through him. He knows Daniel is alive but the yearning Noe feels chokes his body and breath. He needs Daniel. Looking down at his pinky finger, its blue glow thaws away his aching.

"Brother Noeremous."

Jumping ten feet in the air, Noe's heart thumps erratically in his chest. He has yet to encounter such fright in his life as there has been nothing that managed to creep up on him before.

"Brother Adelaide," Noe responds.

Angel Adelaide's blonde hair glints and his skin glimmers. He stands upon Copernicus' silver armor that streakily contrasts against the dragon's dark green leathery flesh.

"You are needed in the Fields of Ziraeth, Brother. You have not yet turned of age to be venturing beyond the realm," Angel Adelaide tells Noe.

"I'm fine though."

"Look around you, Brother Noeremous. Carcasses, death, the pimply warts of immense heat. How can you say you are fine?"

"I am the Prince of Ziraeth," Noe announces proudly. He believes in everything Daniel tells him, 'Prince Noeremous' said in passing becoming Noe's word.

As if Noe has committed treason, Angel Adelaide exclaims, "Brother Noeremous!"

"There was nothing written about me being a Prince in 'A Guide to Ziraethean Myths and Legends' but since it was written by you, I get it; you are deceiving me. It was written that all Borne are a menace to humankind but it seems the real monsters are the humans themselves. Why must we destroy the Borne?"

"The Borne are currently lying dormant, whispering wicked intent into human ears to sew seeds of hatred and lies. How long do you think they can last until their true nature gets the best of them and they break out of this dormant state? It is the same for your Daniel too."

Silence befalls Noe.

"You think I am blind to the evil energy concentrated around you? It seems you have become entangled in the world of sin. Father will not force you to comply with His demands but remember your tasks: To forgive resentful souls and apprehend the Borne. I do not know what will happen if you fail - no Ephrene has ever ignored father before."

"Is it because I am the Prince?" Noe asks him.

"Brother Noeremous, enough."

"Tell me. I know how to speak the tongue of Ziraeth despite not having studied it. My soul energy is unbendable against the forces of other Ephrenes. I can make whatever I wish happen with merely a thought. I am the only other Ephrene I know who has a Guardian of the Fields as a companion, which was a privilege only bestowed upon you after half a millennium of servitude. I even turn into a monstrous creature. Has no Ephrene disobeyed father or is it that I am the only Ephrene with the ability to do so?"

Angel Adelaide sharply inhales. In his millennium of service, he has never encountered a being like this Brother; dangerous. "Nothing gets to father before I hear it but there is a prophecy and that is all I shall say. Because of it, the Borne implore their henchmen in order to find you and only for you. You are the key to saving the world or destroying it.

"Were a Borne to capture you and present you to Chaos, they would be given a throne beside Chaos' own to sit and pursue luxury, honored as one of the greatest in all of Xeron. That is why, Brother Noeremous, my message to you is this: Return to the Fields of Ziraeth immediately."

In the blink of an eye, Angel Adelaide cloaks himself in invisibility and disappears from Noe's eyes, windlessly flying away.

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