Edwin eyelids jumped up as he was rudely awaken.
For a moment, he closed his eyes and took a rest before sitting up to check where he was.
"No, not again.", he murmured, because he was back at his house back in Crescent Town.
The relaxing, nostalgic, golden color of the sunset was illuminating his room through the window.
Next, Edwin stood up and exited his room.
Going out of his bedroom, he saw the same old combined small dining room and kitchen, but he didn't focus on the furniture, instead, he kept his sight on the door of the other bedroom.
Slowly approaching the door, he felt mixed emotions and even burdens and lightness at the same time.
Touching the rough texture of the door, Edwin felt a chill all over his body.
"I don't want to.", he said to himself.
"Yes, you do.", he replied to himself.
"Wait, who are you?", he asked to himself.
"No, who are you!?", he asked himself.
"Why am I even here?"
"No, why am I here?"
"Where am I?"
"Where are you?!"
"Who am I?"
"Who are you?"
"I can't remember!", he grasped his head as he tried to recall. The sunlight coming from the sunset turned red, making every single thing look like stained with blood. Meanwhile, darkness slowly crept out of the corners of the house.
As the it was about to touch Edwin, it suddenly disappeared, then the sunlight turned back to normal.
"Edwin", a neutral voice sounded out behind him.
The boy was surprised that somebody called out to him. He turned his head around who it was, and saw that it was a woman.
The features of the woman was blurred, nevertheless, one would know that it was a woman from the figure of her body.
"Who?", he asked.
"You.", the woman replied.
"Me?", Edwin asked.
"Mhm.", the woman nodded. Then, it was as if Edwin's mind got clearer after the confirmation.
After a pause, she asked, "Aren't you going to open the door?"
"Should I?", he turned his body back in front of the door.
"It's your choice.", the woman shrugged.
"Who are you?", Edwin turned around again, but he didn't see the woman anymore.
He sighed and tried to push open the door, which didn't budge. He pushed it as hard as he can but the door won't move.
Then, an idea surfaced on his mind. Instead of pushing the door, he pulled it instead and it opened.
However, it wasn't a room that was behind the door, but was a mirror!
The mirror was currently showing his reflection, but it was only him and not even the objects beside nor behind him.
Touching the mirror with his bare hands, the glass rippled like a calm pond or lake getting disturbed when one threw a rock in its middle. The image that it was showing changed and Edwin saw three moving pictures each neatly leveled.
On the top was a very beautiful land, just by looking at it Edwin felt refreshed.
In the middle it was like the one on top, but paled in comparison.
Below the two, was an image of a vast red land whose skies were bloody red, looking at it, Edwin felt that the temperature became hotter and he could hear wails of numerous people.
-bang-
He closed door loudly as he started to sweat. Then, Edwin could feel that his body became lighter and lighter, until everything around him vanished.
***
Coughs broke out inside an enclosed room as Edwin woke up.
The boy stood up and examined himself. He noticed that he was wearing a new shirt, pants, and even boots, which were actually of higher quality than the ones he initially used.
Checking the room, Edwin saw that the room's ceiling, walls and floor were all white, while there was a light coming from the four upper corners, giving light everywhere within it.
He tried to circulate a bit of internal energy and mana, but found out that he couldn't! That time when he fought, he could use the said energies once again because the Red Thorn also decongested his energy pathways.
Now, there was a thin metal cover with engravings around his wrist, which was probably the object that was preventing him to circulate energy. He tried to remove it but was unsuccessful, it was as if it was a part of his body.
"I've been too rash again!", he chuckled as he mocked himself.
He didn't feel angry anymore, only confusion mixed with regret.
Edwin carefully looked around the small room, trying to find out the exit, but wasn't able to find anything for awhile.
As soon as he sat down after giving up, a part of the wall across the room opened up and Rein walked in.
"Come on human, follow me.", Rein said, but Edwin didn't pay attention to him.
The anger he felt towards the elves and their affliated animals already reached a high level and was ignited again when he saw Rein.
Seeing Edwin was ignoring him, Rein hastily said, "If you want to get out of here, follow me!"
"Take this thing off first.", Edwin showed him the object around his wrist.
"Later! You might do something rash again on the way if I did so.", Rein retorted.
"I won't.", Edwin replied, but the deer still didn't take it off of him, making him have no choice but to follow Rein out of here.
Outside the weird cell, the walls, ceiling, and floor this time were now made from the common rocks or bricks.
"Why are you even helping me to escape, haven't I almost killed your fellows and even you?", Edwin asked, but Rein was the one who didn't respond this time.
They kept evading the guards' sight while taking detours if they couldn't, until they reached a long corridor.
When the both of them were near the middle of the corridor, they noticed the shadows of a group of elven guards approaching the end of the corridor, not just that, there was also another group of guards slowly coming towards the path where they entered!
"Hurry!", Rein quietly urged.
The both of them rushed towards the middle of the corridor where there was a door. Rein let Edwin enter the door while he stayed outside.
"Phew.", Edwin let out a sigh of relief.
-click-
Edwin heard a sound of something clicking behind him. He turned around to see what it was, but after seeing it, he almost choked on his own saliva.
-click-
The clicking sound came from a chair, though it looked new, it was in fact, a lot older that it seemed to be. Whereas there was somebody sitting on the chair, which was a half-blonde, half white-haired elf whose eyes were green and was writing on a piece of paper on the table.
Of course, it was none other than Azriel.
'Wrong room, wrong room! I'd rather fight a regiment of elite guards than him!', the boy tried to open the door behind him without looking away from Azriel, but found out there was nothing to grasp, in fact, there was no more door behind him!
"Uh..."
"Shh...", Azriel silenced Edwin.
'This is, very awkward.' Edwin thought. He did almost try to kill the citizens of the elf in front him, making him uncomfortable even just by breathing.
After a long period of silence, Azriel was the first one to talk, "So, how did you like to fight with Chizowa's clone?"
"Clone?", Edwin mustered up his courage and asked.
"Those six animals that you saw, Rein, a Highborn Emperor Deer; Avram, a Winter Wolf; Nareol, a Monarch Lion; Kirk, a Steelborn Crocodile; Sango, an Orthodox Blackpaw Bear; Chizowa, a Horned Ruler Gorilla. Those are just their clones, so don't be proud that you have beaten one of my high elders.", Azriel said.
The king added, "Have you ever really thought of that my kingdom is so weak that the high elders are also weak? Yes? Well, I'm telling you human, they're still merciful enough not to move their real bodies just to squash you."
"And oh, their real bodies are right under this very mountain you're in right now.", Azriel gazed at Edwin.
"I'm sure that must be a very important secret.", Edwin replied. Well, he was already here, he won't be able to do anything even if he tried to flicker away.
Azriel formed a tiny ball of energy between his forefinger and thumb, "You see this little orb of energy? Once I flick it to you, your body is too weak that you'll disintegrate into near-invisible dust."
"Alright, just say it, why am I here?", Edwin slightly rose the tone of his voice. He knew that his disrespectful move now was just too stupid, but could he even do anything right now to change the situation?
Meanwhile, his left hand where the ancient symbol was glowed red, even if there was already the object on his wrist preventing him to use internal energy and mana.
"You're really bold... and stupid too, human.", Azriel stopped writing and stood up to approach Edwin.
As Azriel slowly approached Edwin, the latter became more cautious, 'What should I do? What should I do? These elves are really treacherous.'
When Azriel got closed enough, he snatched Edwin's hand where the red glowing symbol was.
"This...", Azriel carefully examined the symbol.
"You can see it?", Edwin was surprised. He knew that only he could see the symbol through the information he got from it.
"Anything living in the Monarch Forest who are really close to nature can sense it. If they're powerful enough, they can see it.", Azriel explained.
"You don't have to hide anything, I know it's a Celestial Symbol.", the elven king added.
"So that's what it's called? Well, I have my guesses. I don't even know what it means, tho.", Edwin muttered, but he didn't dare directly look at the green eyes of Azriel.
"The Celestial Symbols' meaning are different per Celestial, even though their structure is almost the same if compared to each other. From the ancient language this symbol was written, it means 'eleventh'.", Azriel said.
"So I'm the eleventh one that will die?", Edwin rhetorically asked.
"No! Look human, it looks like you already know what you're up against, but let me tell you this, from our records, not all Celestials have died after fighting the Wraith.", Azriel said.
"So then you kept me alive just to face a terrifying being? Look, I still have a lot to do! I don't want my soul to get dispersed", the boy replied without a bit of courtesy.
"But sadly for you... your soul is already starting to disperse. I noticed it the first time I saw you.", Azriel replied.
Now, Edwin's face changed when he heard that sentence from the elven king.
"It's really dispersing in an extremely slow speed. Probably less than 0.00000000000...01% have started to disperse. It's neglible if not carefully looked, but nonetheless, it's still dispersing.", Azriel said.
"But don't worry, your soul won't fully disappear for millions of years from now.", he added. "If the dispersing speed won't speed up."
"I-I-I..." The truth washed over him like a bucket of cold water getting thrown at him. It might take millions of years for his soul to completely disappear, but could he stop it? Wouldn't he be already dead by that time then, either through fighting the Wraith and losing or dying of old age?
"I'm not ready yet, I don't even know where the Wraith is at all or how powerful is it."
"But you will surely get more powerful much faster even if you are compared to the talened ones because of this symbol.", Azriel said.
"Also...", Azriel suddenly got his knees and touched the ground with his forehead, making Edwin even more confused that he already was!
"...may you please take this as a form of apology for what my kind has done to you. I don't want the elves to suffer like what happened to the dragons."
Seeing such a scene, the red glow on Edwin's mark disappeared and returned back to normal, "Stop what you're doing! I don't want anybody kowtowing to me."
Seeing that the red glow was gone, Azriel kowtowed one last time, "Thank you for accepting my apology."
"Why did you just do that?", Edwin asked. For king not just to beg but also to bow down for apology was really embarassing on their part. In fact, it could mean that the whole nation the ruler was leading was also begging for forgiveness, which was an utter humiliation whether it was done in public or not!
"I'd rather get humiliated than a Celestial potentially hating my race for his whole life. This is why the dragons almost went extinct, I just don't want it to happen to my people."
Edwin: "But, what's so scary about me getting angry?"
"When your hatred reached the peak either for an individual or a race. You can use that mark to either curse or suppress them for all eternity.", Azriel answered, this time with a much friendlier tone than earlier.
There wasn't a stark difference, but the change of tone was obvious.
One more chapter.
"That powerful?", Edwin was startled when he heard the true power of the symbol.
"Yes, but you can be stopped by somebody else several levels more powerful than you are even if you're suppressing them with this, or somebody not affected by the suppression.", Azriel explained.
"Ehem, now then, I hope you wouldn't say to anybody that I bowed down to you.", Azriel coughed awkwardly.
This was the first time Edwin saw that a king would actually act a bit off from his prestige.
'He's actually not that bad?', the boy thought.
"So then, aren't you going to go back to where you came from, from that human city on the mountain?", Azriel asked.
"Not yet, I still have something to do.", Edwin shook his head.
"Like what?"
"Like... I still have to get a Soul Shard, whatever that is.", Edwin shrugged.
"Oh.", Azriel flicked his fingers and a small box shot out from the drawer and landed on his hand. The elven king opened it and they saw that the box was full of golden shards of glass.
"Pick one.", Azriel said.
Edwin gazed and carefully examined the Soul Shards from the box until he pulled out a shard of the right size without delay. Then the box floated back inside the drawer.
"Anything else?", Azriel asked.
"My equipment is back at an elf's house.", Edwin said.
"What's the name of the elf?", Azriel asked.
"I don't know, I haven't asked her.", the boy answered.
"Can you explain what that elf looks like then?"
"Well, she has green eyes, she can form a bow made of energy, she looks beautiful, and she...", Edwin didn't get to finish his sentence becayse Azriel interjected, "It must be my daughter Ariel. What are the equipment that you were using?"
"A white robe with a book and a pair of daggers in it, a satchel, and also a pair of boots, but I think I won't need the boots anymore.", Edwin replied.
"Alright.", Azriel went to the wall behind his chair and a window suddenly popped out there. Opening his hands, an outline of a bird made of energy materialized and flew away.
'Did I just describe that elven girl beautiful in front of her father?! DAMN IT, right in front of her father!', realizing Azriel's earlier sentence and his own description, Edwin couldn't help but inwardly scold.
He wanted to kill himself for that embarrassment!
'He might not kill me because I'm the 11th Celestial, but he might beat me half to death as that elf's father, I'm just telling the truth that she's beautiful.', Edwin was still putting on a straight face, but he was already inwardly preparing for the worst with all kinds of scenarios in his mind.
Time passed and Azriel didn't do anything to Edwin, the latter dismissed his earlier thoughts and concluded that the former didn't notice about it.
The bird returned with the robe along with Edwin's weapon and the Mortal Plane's Codex.
"Hm?", Azriel took a closer look at the pair of daggers. "I can't believe you have a bloodline treasure, but it's obviously not yours."
"Bloodline treasure?", the boy asked.
"A weapon with magical properties or functions that can only be used by the ones who have a blood relation with the creator. This weapon... is seriously a top-notch treasure if it wasn't so rusty!", Azriel exclaimed.
"Then, can you please translate what is written on them?", Edwin requested.
"Hmm, they are different, this one means 'Holy'.", Azriel passed the dagger to Edwin.
"And this one is... M-? This one looks like it's 'Morgan'?", Azriel gave the other dagger to Edwin.
'Morgan? Isn't that Allen's surname?', Edwin was remembered when he heard the translation. 'No, how could it be? This weapon looks very old, much older than him.'
"Also, I got this from that little girl that reported you.", Azriel fetched the small jar of Edwin's healing pills.
"This... I don't want it, it's poisonous.", Edwin placed it on top of the table.
"Haha! No, it's not poisonous. I examined it personally, tough there is indeed a poisonous plant used as an ingredient, it wasn't suppose to bring out its deadly properties. Something must have triggered it somehow.", Azriel explained.
"Huh?"
"Though I have to say to whoever made these pills is an absolute genius. I almost didn't notice the real function of it, which was to actually boost the medicinal properties of other plants.", Azriel added.
With a reluctant expression, after Edwin heard the function of the poisonous plant, he accepted the jar and stared at it for a long time, 'Was I mistaken about Allen trying to kill me?' Then he placed it inside the satchel after wearing the white robes.
"Before leaving, I want you to sign this agreement to not expose that we, elves still exist, and the location of our kingdom to anybody, unless I told you to do so. However, if you did tell it without my permission, you will almost melt into a blood puddle and most likely die horribly.", Azriel showed the paper that he was writing on earlier.
"I accept.", Edwin accepted without the slightest hesitation. He put his signature on it then the paper burned then it turned two beams of light which entered through his forehead and Azriel's separately.
"There's a teleportation array somewhere in the forest. Rein will guide you towards it. The array will teleport you back near the northern edge of the Monarch Forest, so you can quickly go back to that human city.", Azriel pointed behind Edwin.
Edwin turned around and saw that the door was back at its original position! He opened it and saw that there were trees outside, with snow falling down from above!
As the boy was about to step out, Azriel said, "I almost forgot, here's a pendant, it will protect you from the Magic Frostbite."
"Oh? Thank you, Your Majesty.", Edwin gladly accepted it and put it in his pockets.
"So Edwin, I hope we will see each other again. And the next time we'll meet, you should be several times stronger than you are right now. Farewell.", Azriel said.
"Farewell to you too, Your Majesty.", Edwin bowed down in courtesy and exited.
-click-
The boy heard a clicking sound which prompted him to turn back around, but he didn't see any door, but only a boulder.
In just one night, his whole opinion of the elves and the Monarch Forest changed many times!
"How powerful.", Edwin muttered. He clenched his hands as he thought, 'How long should it take for me to become as powerful as he is?'
"So Edwin, how was the experience of meeting His Majesty?", Rein approached him and asked.
"It's great, he's warmer than I thought he was.", Edwin answered.
"Mhm, well, that happens with almost every king.", Rein sighed as he remembered about something.
"You met other kings than him?", Edwin asked.
"Of course, with how old I am, I met most of the kings of olden times.", Rein replied, though hiding the fact that it was really his real body that's old.
"How powerful is His Majesty?", Edwin questioned.
"Honestly, I have no idea. But it's near somewhere to your human king or emperor or whatever you call your leader.", Rein said.
After a pause, the herd leader added, "I hope you wouldn't expose our location."
"Haha, don't worry I won't. I have no choice too, after all.", Edwin smiled.
"Come on, follow me so you can get out of here."
***
"What a great boy.", Azriel muttered as he closed the door.
"Surely is, if his attitude changes up a bit, he will improve much faster.", a wise yet feminine originated behind Azriel; it's as if you could almost feel the eternity on it.
-click-
"Plus, he has serious mental and trust issues, a curse, and even a seal too, but eh, it depends on him if he will live longer... or shorter.", the voice said.
"Do you mean the Celestial seal?", Azriel questioned.
"Not just that, there's two of them. One is the Celestial seal, and the other is a memory seal.", the voice replies.
"Memory seal? Somebody sealed his memories?"
"Yes." The voice confirmed, "The sealer is weak based on the energy, but the medium used is extremely powerful."
"Can you take that seal off?"
"Yes, but I will have a hard time doing so. Nevertheless, I just hope he will become very powerful once that day comes."
"Same as what I am thinking... Your Majesty, Great Monarch.", Azriel turned around and saw a little smiling elven girl sitting on the chair while cheerfully swinging her feet.
The little elf was none other than Zoe.
***
Under the cold, cloudy, night sky, Edwin walked out of the Monarch Forest. He took a last look at it, then pressed onwards towards the Eastern Horizon City.
***
At the mines of the Eastern Horizon City...
Albert, the father of James, just finished his overtime shift in the mines. He was currently carrying a pickaxe on his shoulder, looking like a real miner.
-clang- -clang-
"What's that?" Suddenly attracted by a loud noise, Albert approached the location where the sound originated, and saw several black-robed men planting something in the mountain!
If Allen or Anna were here, they would've recognized what the men were planting, which were magical explosive shards!
Even though Albert didn't know what it was, his instincts told him that it wasn't something good.
He took a step back, however, it was a fatal mistake, because he accidentally stepped on a fragile stone.
-crack-
The sound of cracking was neglible, but all the black-robed men looked at the direction of the noise and spotted Albert.
***
Amidst the snowy streets near and connected to the large marketplace of the Eastern Horizon City. James and his mother, Melanie, were in front of a fruit stall buying food.
"One lemon and five apples please.", Melanie said to the merchant.
"Mhm, that'll be 95 bronze coins.", the merchant gave the said number of fruits.
"Here.", Melanie passed a silver coin and added, "Keep the change." Afterwards, she and James went to a different stall to buy meat this time.
"Mom.", James tugged his mother's clothes to get her attention.
"What is it, James?", Melanie turned her head to James. Every time she would see her son's pale face, her insides would feel like it's being twisted because of the pitiful sight, but she didn't dare show it on her face.
"Mom, can you tell the truth, am I really...", James didn't get to finish his sentence because Melanie interjected.
She crouched down to match the kid's height and sighed, "Looks like you've already notice. Yes son, we were going to throw a surprise birthday party for you!"
"But..."
"Hey lady, what's your order, you're blocking the way hurry up! A new year is about to come and everybody's hurrying up!", the meat vendor complained.
"Oh wait, my bad.", Melanie stood up again and started haggling with the vendor.
"She's really trying to hide it.", James muttered.
Then from the corner of the kid's eyes, he noticed somebody familiar at the end of the street, making him narrow his eyes.
"Father?", James saw that it was Albert. However, the latter immediately went away from the former's sight, as if he's in a hurry.
"He must be going to try and surprise me on the way back... but what about I surprise him instead? Hehe...", James chuckled and went to the direction where Albert has gone to.
"James, come on, let's go home.", Melanie took the meat then paid for it and looked beside her, but she didn't see James anywhere!
"James? James?", she called out, but nobody answered.
"Where did you go?" She looked around her then went to a different direction.
A side note, the end of the year for the people here would be signalled by the end of the winter.
And honestly, I didn't expect that I will release this chapter with nearly the same celebration period!
Happy New Year to everyone all over the world! (And to the people in this fictional world.)
May you all have a great, bountiful new year and new decade!
-C_M
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