Chrono Seal

Prologue: Brothers

"Come on, brother. If you want to kill me so badly, then just do it."

Felix's sandy hair blew in the wind as he eyed his older sibling carefully. The sand from the dunes whipped into his eyes with the passing breeze, bringing with it a sting of nostalgia. The sand, the sun, the smell of the nearby ocean...everything reminded him of that day.

And how easily Claudius could talk of his own death! Especially at the hands of his brother. The creature had warped his mind, that was for sure. Perhaps it would be better to just kill him now and end it here. This was what he was supposed to do, at any rate. For heaven's sake, the entire fabric of the universe might depend on his next action!

Felix's hand trembled. "I...I can't do it. You're right, Claude...I've always been a coward." He dropped the broadsword into the sand. It landed with a dull thump. Claudius did not seem to notice the small item clutched in Felix's other hand, however.

"That's right. You came all this way...only to fail. In a way, I'm glad. It shows that you don't have the heart to kill your own brother." The smirk that twisted Claudius' features was inhuman. The shard he had come across so long ago had done its work, warping his once handsome face into something alien and nearly unrecognizable, quite like the creature that fully possessed him now. It hurt Felix just to look at him. And to hear him talk about having "heart" - the irony pierced him to the very core.

But remember all he has done, Felix thought. And all that he will do if you don't stop him now. Remember what Magus said. Would he sacrifice himself and, well, everything else that had ever existed and would ever exist just because he couldn't go through with this one simple task?

"I'm not going to kill you," said Felix defiantly. He took up the broadsword once again. "Because even if I do, you'll continue to live on in a different time. You know that, surely."

Claudius cocked his head to the side, confused. Then he laughed. "What do you mean? I can traverse time more swiftly than you could imagine."

"Even if I can't stop you know, I'm going to do this for the brother I lost twelve years ago," breathed Felix, and in the span of a second he covered the distance between them. Claudius looked down in horror to see the blade of the broadsword buried deep within his stomach.

Tears clouded Felix's vision as he pulled the sword back out, watching Claudius collapse in pain before him. Despite everything, the pain of what he had just done hit him like an arrow to the heart.

"I'm sorry, Claude."

Claudius clutched at his stomach, the blood pooling around him in the dry sand. He coughed up blood at the same time that he attempted to spit out a few words. "This...won't work..."

It was at this moment that Felix opened the palm of his left hand, exposing the item he held to the view of his brother. Claudius' eyes widened in surprise and, perhaps, fear.

"The seal...how did you...?" He paused, coughing up more blood. "You're going to try to stop...all of this, aren't you?"

"That's the idea."

Felix locked eyes with the man in the cape who stood at a line of trees just out of reach of the dunes, and uttered the spell that would unlock the power of the Chrono Seal.

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