Heyas there~
I know i should be finishing my first story so i can start another one but i just couldn't help it TwT
E-Enjoy?
The Black Mage was puzzled. He watched all the events of the world with the orb in hand, he sees everything. The start of that petty alliance, the forces of the Novas and Sengoku, the heroes revivals. Everything. But what he was curious about was why.
The heroes that were revived were treated like they could do everything even the young child that was supposed to be Freud's successor. Don't get him wrong, he knew what it was like to be idolized, to be placed on a pedestal and is expected to have all the answers; once upon a time, he too was the same.
What he was curious about was why they were still donning the mantle of heroes. Some he could understand, for example his cast off light or the queen of elves. But that thief had already completed his revenge and the warrior has yet to regain his memory, yet they still fight? Even the forgotten pirate still remains faithful to what his dead friend wishes to bring, peace.
The pirate especially was peculiar, never had he seen someone so lost and shattered answer with so much spirit and force. He had offered to reverse the fate of the pitiful one, even he found it a bit much. All the pirate had to do was join him. Yet he declined with so much determination all for the sake of his friends whom remember not of him.
Why? He tapped on his throne with a bony finger, deep in thought before abruptly standing up, startling Arkarium who was in the middle of instructing a couple of guards. "My lord?" he inquired. "I will be off somewhere." the black mage said vaguely, Arkarium didn't question and bowed before leaving.
Speaking of the dead scholar, he supposed paying a visit couldn't hurt.
XXX
"I never expected you of all people to be here. What is that you want Black Mage?" Freud said none too warmly, the scholar was a mere shell of his former self. His body had long been decomposed yet his spirit still remains on the land, his blue aura flickering threateningly.
"My, so fierce. Even death you do not take a liking to me scholar Freud." "And even in death you still harass me." Freud scoffed back and the Black Mage gave a dark amused chuckle but said nothing else. Despite Freud trying to pretend he never knew the evil tyrant, this was not the first time the Black Mage had went to visit the dead scholar.
It was silent, the only thing that could be heard was the gentle breeze blowing the small clearing in a secluded and unpopulated place of Minar forest. Freud had died here and due to his body being here, he is chained and not allowed to go anywhere else. "I ask once more, what did you come here for Black Mage?" Freud asked.
"I came to inquire you of something." Freud stared surprised "You? What could it be that has stumped the Black Mage?" The tyrant grinned "Come now, humor me. Are you not a scholar who knows all? Many look to you for guidance and answers." The scholar was silent, his eyes showed understanding "And so were you once upon a time."
"Ah, but that was lifetimes away. I am that no longer." Freud sighed "Alright, I'll humor you. What is it that you wish to inquire? Theories? Unsolvable riddles? Why Phantom keeps stealing trivial objects from your commanders again?" The Black Mage had his mouth open to refute the first few but paused at the last one. "We'll get to the last one later. I'm not amused at Hilla telling me her make-up is gone every time we hold a meeting."
Freud brought a sleeve up to cover the fact that he was grinning, the Black Mage sounded quite annoyed. "What I wish to inquire is why." "…..Why what?" "Why do you and your companions try so hard? Just what is the driving stake that makes you do so? You gain absolutely nothing from this, no one will shower you in riches, no one will give you something in return. Nothing."
Freud had his mouth slightly opened feeling quite amused, intrigued and surprise. The Black Mage previously would care not for reasons, he only cared if his end result is the way he wanted it. Perhaps the theory he derived from when the tyrant told him what happened to Luminous occurred vice versa as well and held and effect on the Black Mage, some light might have went back into him.
"Perhaps its for the sake of doing it. I don't mean to be cliché, but I did it so that young ones could have a better place in this world, to grow healthy and strong." The Black Mage scoffed as he sat down on a flat rock beside where Freud was sitting cross legged on a tree. "Yet when they do mature they won't thank you for it."
Freud chuckled "Indeed they won't. In the first place none of us did it for fame or fortune, we did it to protect what was dear to us and some for the sake of vengeance." "Your friends would do better to cover their ears and eyes and remain ignorant, they won't suffer half as much as they do." "True," Freud murmured, a hint of longing and fondness in his tone.
"But what good would it do to be that ignorant little frog in a well? Such things could be blasphemous to us scholars." "Your allies are unlike you scholar Freud, you are lucky to have died first, they have suffered through horrendous things; your pirate friend being a fine example. I am still puzzled."
The auburn mage gave a weary sigh "What? Exhausted of my questions already?" "No not at all. In fact I'm getting very intrigued, are you puzzled because you don't know why they are doing it or is because you don't fathom their reasons?" The black mage paused before murmuring "The second one." Freud couldn't help but feel slight pity for the tyrant but did his best not to show it.
The Black Mage was confused because he had never experienced something like that before, never felt what it was like to give his entire life to protect something. That was why he couldn't fathom their reasons, he never knew what it was like before. And Freud could understand that feeling.
Freud was praised to be the best scholar in his time, out shadowed by nobody and is expected to know everything. But being on the top was lonely, people sometimes think you're too full of yourself and wouldn't interact with normal people so they gave you a wide berth. Before he had met Afrien he never knew what laughing with friends felt like.
He originally thought that friends were rather trivial in studies so he never paid much attention to the subject until Grendel the old at that time brought it out. After that he pondered on what it was like to have equals that talked to you without restrain, without hesitation and he too found it unfathomable but it was at that time that he finally stopped looking at the world in bleak colors, truly start to develop emotions.
The Black Mage must have felt the loneliness in being alone at the top before, but he probably never had a turning point like Freud did because what the tyrant sought out was something more of someone that could match wits with him, the scholar could tell. "Say, do you have something you treasure? Anything just tell me." Freud prodded gently. "Something I treasure? What sort of gibberish do you speak now scholar Freud?"
"Come now, this time humor me. Don't you know or have anything that you feel physical attraction to?" "I do not understand what is it that you're trying to say. But a physical attraction to something…like when my plans succeed? I feel quite pleased then." Freud chuckled "No not that sort of thing, I meant as in an object or a person." The tyrant shook his head "Such things are irrelevant for my plans."
"Alright then," the scholar said "Imagine that your plans was an object, something like a orb. It contains whatever you wish to achieve, world domination, complete slavery of every race, everything you want to accomplish compressed into that one tiny little orb. If it gets destroyed, recreating it is impossible and you would lose the ability to move forward with whatever you were planning." the Black Mage gave a slight nod.
"Now imagine that someone came in to destroy the orb that you have made with so much effort, what do you feel?" The tyrant's mana surged quite a bit in anger "I feel furious scholar Freud, what is the point of this?" Freud brought up his sleeve to hide his smile "Anger is one form of emotion, try to look past that. Now imagine that you could not move the orb and you had to prevent it from being destroyed from lets say….ah yes, the Maple Alliance correct?"
"I would crush them like an insect easy." "But what if that orb was fragile, a single arrow, a single spell could shatter it into pieces, could you honestly say that you could protect it from every single attack?" The Black Mage growled "Of course I could protect it! It holds every single- Ah." Freud smiled "Now you know why they feel so determined, desperate to defend what they hold dear. What you felt just now was someone pushing you to the very edge and that feeling is merely something that was imagined. The real thing holds much more force, that is why they could do everything with so much spirit and is our driving stake."
The tyrant glanced at his bony hands, clenching it and unclenching it, he felt oddly satisfied. "I suppose I should thank you Scholar Freud, their actions become more understandable to me." "Explaining to you is something I decided on doing, thanks isn't very necessary." Freud laughed. "I find this a huge waste scholar." "Now what would that mean?"
"That you were not on my side. In fact, even as a spirit I can revive you. So what say you Freud? Would you join me? You could talk with your allies once more, you could touch and do things as you like. Even talking to your wailing Onyx dragon. I only ask that you come with me." The Black Mage asked while extending a bony hand. Freud closed his eyes and opened them before smiling sadly.
"You give me a tempting offer. As much as I would love to accept, I'm afraid I must decline." The Black Mage retracted his hand and turned so his back was facing Freud "Another thing of you heroes that I do not comprehend is that you do not fall for whatever temptation I have used." Freud out right laughed at that one "Its our trademark I suppose. Because if I join you, then the agony that I see in my friends eyes would only worsen."
The tyrant tilted his head back "I have somewhat comprehended their desperation in defending what they hold dear. But I still do not comprehend the need to do everything for the sake of a unstable bond such as friendship, there is no fail safe should something goes wrong; the only thing that sustains this tiny strand is mutual trust. Something that can shatter easily."
"Indeed," Freud murmured, running hand through his hair "Why is that so? As a person I do this instinctively but as a Scholar, even I too am stumped." The Black Mage gave a rather amused chuckle, even Freud does not know what to say. Truly, what is thing known as friendship that could compel someone to go so far for the sake of others? "Ahh," Sighed the scholar which made the Black Mage turn around again to look at him.
"If only I could bottle it up and find out its mysteries, then I could truly die without regret." Freud smiled and the Black Mage laughed, the first time since he could remember. Indeed, and if only he could take apart Freud's very being, perhaps he would find out what made the scholar so amusingly interesting.
"So was there anything else you wanted to know?" Freud asked after another round of enjoying the breeze. "Yes," The black mage said airily, his tone joking "Why does that thief keep stealing things from my commanders?"
So how was it? I felt like writing something light~
P-Please Review?