Author's Note: So this was supposed to be the end of the flashback. Nope, I write too much. So enjoy!
Chapter 25 – Reaper and Priestess Part 2
Hamel, Seiker Mansion, Year 603
"Helputt, put your back into it, you lazy oaf!" barked the orders of a large colossal man, his golden hair like a lion's mane. In front of him on the ground lay a far smaller boy of only thirteen years.
"Yes, Father!" the small boy stammered before he resumed his push-ups. The colossus of a father loomed over his son until he heard the courtyard's door open. The man stomped his foot to signal his son to stop as their guest trotted over.
"Still training hard in this time of war, Navarre?" the guest asked as he walked over with a small girl beside him. Navarre nodded his maned head curtly, never smiling. He placed his mighty right hand upon a golden bracelet adorned on his left wrist and stroked it slowly.
"We ship out this evening to end this silly war with Amoris Island," he stated while Helputt gasped for breath on the ground. Navarre's guest nodded slowly to the news and then held the little girl's hand.
"Be sure to wish them luck, Myraide," he spoke gently to her. The eleven year old girl looked up at her father and then turned her head to Navarre.
"Good luck, Lord Navarre!" she said cheerfully. Navarre's stern look softened ever so slightly as he stared down at the girl.
"It won't be without challenge. Our intelligence tells us Amoris has hired a mercenary to combat our officers," Navarre stated before he placed a hand upon little Myraide's head.
"Oh? Certainly a few mercenaries won't be trouble for the Lion," Myraide's father commented with a chuckle. Navarre's expression hardened once more and he ruffled Myraide's black hair.
"I don't like it. To hire mercenaries at this point in time would surely be telling us they've run out of options. So why would they? Unless the person hired is sure to win the war for them," Navarre stated gruffly and then crossed his arms over his chest. "Not to mention Amoris has made no effort to concealing the mercenary's identity."
Myraide's father watched as Navarre walked over to where a giant white cannon stood in the center of the courtyard. With a mighty heave, Navarre lifted the cannon with a single arm and rested it on his shoulder. Helputt watched his father in admiration of his strength.
"What lowly sellsword could possibly defeat you, Father?" Helputt asked with a grin, but his father didn't share the boy's enthusiasm.
"Helputt. Never underestimate your enemy. Be they a veteran or royalty, anyone who volunteers to kill cannot be looked down upon. Especially one called 'the Reaper'." Myraide blinked her eyes a few times and tilted her head in innocent confusion.
"What's a reaper?" she asked calmly. Her father looked down and took a knee to see her face better.
"A dangerous monster who kills without remorse. But there's no need to worry. Navarre won't let the monster hurt us," he explained with a soft smile. Myraide nodded her head slowly in response, a little scared by what her father had said.
"I hope they get rid of it," she mumbled quietly.
The sea was as calm as a bull prodded with a rod, which wasn't very calm at all. The warships tossed and turned from the raging waves. Navarre held strong on the deck of his ship, a strong grip on his giant cannon to keep himself righted on the sloping ship. Though the clouds above them were pitch black, not a drop of rain fell. Navarre's attention was towards the clouds, however, as between them and the titan of Hamel stood in mid-air a small boy with silver hair.
"This power... you can't possibly be human!" Navarre roared up at the child, but received nothing but an emotionless gaze from the youth's cold, dead eyes. Though it was dark due to the clouds, Navarre still noticed something wrong with the boy's appearance. There was a strange black erosion on the left side of the boy's face.
Kill all the maggots.
Navarre flinched when he heard the voice in his head. It sounded demonic, but Navarre couldn't identify where it had come from. As soon as the voice left him, the boy raised a hand towards the ship Navarre was on. The wind around them began to swirl with a deathly coldness to it. The titan of Hamel braced himself upon the deck and pointed his cannon skywards towards the boy.
"I shall not allow you to harm my men, monster! Quantum Ballista, fire!" Navarre shouted against the wind around them. A bright blue glow erupted from Navarre's cannon straight towards the boy. The resounding explosion blew the clouds away and let the setting sun shine down on them before eventually sinking beneath the horizon. The door to the ship's deck creaked open slowly, allowing Helputt to nervously look out to see what happened.
Navarre stood tall, his right hand still gripped upon his cannon while the entirety of his armor on his right side was ripped apart. Helputt rushed to his father's side as the titan of a man fell to a knee.
"Father?! Are you okay?!" Helputt cried out but was held back by Navarre's left arm.
"Helputt, someone fell overboard. Go get them, but be careful," Navarre ordered as he stared ahead at where the silver-haired boy had been. Helputt was reluctant to leave his father's side, but slowly obeyed his orders. Helputt stripped off his armor and looked down into the ocean to scan it for the person his father told him to get. Once he spotted them, Helputt dove into the calming waters and emerged with the silver-haired boy slung on his back.
"Lord Navarre, you need to rest!" a doctor pleaded, but was unable to stop the man from walking into the holding cell of his ship. Myraide's father followed close behind with a sad look on his face. Navarre walked down the silent passageway until he came to a cell with two guards standing in front. He waved the guards away with his left hand as his right lay uselessly against his side.
"Doctor, examine him," Navarre ordered with a point of his finger to the silver-haired boy that lay shackled in the cell bed. The doctor grimaced sickly when he saw the erosion on the boy's face, but moved towards him as ordered.
"I-I'm not a specialist for this. The extent of my abilities is physical damage like your arm. I have no idea what this is," the doctor tried to explain, but Navarre's glare made the doctor shake in his boots. "R-Regardless, Lord Navarre! You need to rest! Your arm's muscles were severely damaged from using the Ballista!"
"Do not question me. We sail to Amoris to get their surrender. Now that their hired monster is down-"
Who's down now?
Navarre's eyes widened when a large black clawed arm suddenly emerged from the erosion on the boy's face. The claw swung towards the titan, but was repelled by a quick barrier from Myraide's father.
"The hell is that?!" the doctor screamed and ran away as fast as he could. Navarre bent his knees to be ready to spring into action as the claw swung again against the barrier. Myraide's father gritted his teeth with each blow to the barrier.
"Navarre, get away! I'll keep it up as long as I can!" he spoke amidst the maniacal laughter coming from the claw. The claw pulled back once more and swung down at the barrier with more force than before. Myraide's father froze as his barrier shattered, the claw continuing down towards his head. It never reached him, though, as Navarre had brought his left arm up to shield him.
That's when something strange happened. The golden bracelet on Navarre's wrist began to shine from coming in contact with the claw. Navarre flinched when the claw's voice screeched in agony, the claw beginning to steam as if burned by the touch. The claw slowly shrank away into the erosion, cursing out angrily.
How does a human have his gold?!
Navarre watched silently as the claw vanished into the black erosion. Once it had, he slipped the bracelet off his wrist and clasped it upon the boy's arm. Myraide's father bore witness as the erosion on the boy started to burn away once the bracelet was on.
"What kind of magic is this? Where in the world did you get such a thing, Navarre?" Myraide's father questioned, but Navarre only shook his head.
"It's nothing but an heirloom passed down in my family. I don't know what sort of power it holds, but for now it seems to have gotten rid of whatever that was," Navarre spoke while he kept an eye on the boy. "At least, I hope it has..."
Imperial Year 603: Amoris Island surrenders to Hamel, becoming part of Hamel's territory. The citizens rejoice over the end of the war, many men return to their beloveds, returning anything given to them before they had left. It was here that the Hamel tradition of giving someone a token to return later began. It was also the year Hamel had the most recorded weddings.
Navarre sat at his office desk, his right arm still in a sling even though it had been two weeks since the war's end. A knock at his door made the titan lower his pen as he finished signing the last of his paperwork.
"Come in." The door swung open at his words, and Navarre straightened up when it was Myraide's father with two guards behind him.
"He's woken up," Myraide's father spoke and stepped aside to show Navarre the silver-haired boy standing between the guards, his wrists and ankles shackled and the gold bracelet snug around his upper arm. Navarre ushered them closer and took a look at the boy.
"What is your name?" Navarre asked, but didn't receive a response. The titan of Hamel let out a sigh and pulled open the drawer of his desk. He withdrew a small black book from inside and held it up for the boy to see. The boy noticeably twitched when he saw the book and tried to grab at it.
"Give it back! That's-"
"So you can talk. Name?" Navarre asked again while he placed the book down onto his desk. The boy bit his bottom lip and mumbled.
"Zael."
"You mean Azrael. Azrael the Reaper-"
"Don't call me that!" the boy yelled and was immediately pushed down to the floor and pinned by the guards. Navarre stood from his desk and signaled for the guards to let the boy back up. Zael glared angrily at Navarre as the titan calmly stared back.
"How do you feel?" Navarre suddenly asked, which took Zael aback. Zael's glare faltered at the strange question and he then fell silent. Navarre picked up the black book and handed it to the boy gently. While Zael hugged the book tightly, Navarre waved the guards out of the room so only he, Myraide's father, and Zael were left.
"What is that thing inside you?" Navarre asked once the guards were gone. Zael didn't answer, but he started to tremble, tears forming in his eyes.
"Dead... they're all dead..." Zael whispered quietly. Navarre lowered his eyes to the shackles. With a silent hand, Navarre unlocked the shackles and let them fall to the floor. Zael lifted his head to look at the titan of a man in confusion. Navarre stared back into Zael's eyes and sternly put his hand on the boy's little shoulder.
"Talk. Tell us everything."
So Zael did just that. Before he could stop himself, Zael began telling Navarre about Behemoth and the erosion. He spoke of his sleepless nights, plagued by visions of the dead. But what made Navarre most interested was when the young boy spoke of how he would black-out and awake to more death around him.
"Make it stop..." Zael murmured as tears rolled down his face. "You're strong, aren't you? Big Sis said strong people can do anything. Please, help me..."
"I cannot," Navarre said bluntly. Zael's face fell as he stared in disbelief at Navarre. Navarre continued to stare at the boy's face before he spoke again. "All I can do is let you have that bracelet. I don't know why, but it seems to be toxic to whatever this 'erosion' you speak of."
Zael's head lowered as he clutched at the small book tighter. Navarre looked at the book and narrowed his eyes.
"What is so special about that book? When I looked through it there was nothing written." Zael jerked at hearing that his book had been looked at, but when he lifted his head back up, he looked calm again.
"Big Sis made it for me. Only I can read it," Zael replied.
"Who is this 'Big Sis'?" Navarre questioned, but Zael only began to cry again. Navarre grimaced and lifted his hand from Zael's shoulder. He let out a pained sigh before he placed his hand over his face. "You handle this, I'm not good with kids..."
Myraide's father chuckled briefly and gently put his hands on Zael's shoulders from behind.
"Zael, was it? What's your book about?" he asked. Zael slowly stopped crying and sniffed loudly.
"My mom... She's gone though..." Navarre and Myraide's father jolted at the news and looked at each other in worry, fully aware they just stepped on a huge landmine.
"W-Well... Oh, how about your full name? I'm Lucian Abendroth and he's Navarre Seiker. What's yours?" Lucian asked quickly to change the subject. Zael seemed reluctant to speak after that, but both the men questioning him could see on his reddening face that it wasn't out of fear or sadness, but out of embarrassment. After his face had settled back to a normal color, Zael slowly opened his mouth and clearly spoke his full name.
"Zael... R. Sourcream."