Chapter 37: The empire of dust

After Zelos and Sheena had told Keen and Laureen of the events in the night during breakfast they left the house to talk with the two 'yetis'. Out of the chimney of the little house outside of Flanoir smoke was coming; through the windows you saw silhouettes that moved.

Zelos and Sheena were just a few meters away from the house when the door opened, and a young man came out – probably to get more of the firewood that was piled in front of the house for the fireplace.

The boy was maybe seventeen years old; he had tied his spiky dark turquoise hair back to a short pigtail. Despite the icy weather he was only wearing a short-sleeved white shirt, above it a brown vest, and short slightly battered trousers. Furthermore, he was wearing gloves; if it was for protection from the cold or the scales of the firewood wasn't certain, although on the basis of his clothes you could assume that it was probably for protection from the latter.

When his golden eyes saw Sheena and Zelos his facial expression changed within seconds. First he only seemed to be surprised, then recognition was reflected on his face, and he started cursing. "Damn it!" He rushed into the house and locked the door.

"I think we've met yeti number one right now," Sheena said almost amusedly. She walked to the door and knocked.

Zelos didn't know how that should help them, the boy had after all slammed the door in front of their noses. A more definite sign that they were unwanted couldn't exist. But still he followed Sheena and waited. The next moment the voice of the boy could be heard.

"No, wait! Don't open the door!"

But at that moment the door was already opened by a big bearded man. He reminded Sheena and Zelos a little bit of a bear with his sturdy figure. Behind the man the boy could be seen, now rushing in another room while cursing.

"Hey, Kyshu!" the man growled – which made him appear even more as a bear – before he turned around to Zelos and Sheena again. "What do you … Wait … Chosen One?" His former grim face changed immediately into a face of surprise.

Zelos needed a moment to realize that he was meant. Apart from the fact that he wasn't used to be called like that anymore it really surprised him that actually a person outside of Meltokio knew what he looked like. If that wasn't worth an entry in the calendar …

"You're alive!" the man now exclaimed confusedly.

"Um … Yeah … Apparently …" Zelos replied, a little bit puzzled. Why was the bear man so surprised by the fact that he was alive?

After the man had stared at Zelos for some time as if he were an alien he came to his senses again. "Come in please."

"No, Dad, don't!" the boy named Kyshu begged; he had appeared with a fearful looking girl in the room.

"Can you tell me a reason for that?" the man asked his son.

Kyshu looked contritely at the ground and was silent.

"Good," the man growled before letting Sheena and Zelos come in.

:::

Kratos was wandering alone through the hallways of the castle. The others were still sleeping, but there was no reason to stand up early anyway. The blizzard hadn't stopped yet which meant that they would be trapped inside the castle for some more time. So Kratos had decided to look around a little bit. Until now he hadn't found anything interesting. At least he knew now where the kitchen and the dining-hall were if he should suddenly get ravenous appetite – as if something like that would actually happen to him of all people.

He was already thinking of going back again when he suddenly saw some stairs that led upwards – in the third floor. A meter thick dust layer covered the steps; it was obvious that the stairs hadn't been used in years. That made Kratos curious. What might be up there that the lord hadn't claimed it for himself?

The steps underneath Kratos' feet were already outworn; so they had to have been used often before the dust had taken possession of them. But why had the interest for the third floor been lost so suddenly?

When Kratos was at the stairhead he realized once again that nobody had been in the third floor for a long time. Spider webs were hanging everywhere, and the dust here resembled the snow cover that had spread outside. The swordsman left behind conspicuous footprints as he looked around. At the first room he reached the rotten wooden door had stretched with the years and become wedged together with the frame, so that he had to pull with all his strength until the door literally flew into his arms. He leaned the door against the wall and entered the room. He saw a bed, a desk, shelves and commodes, book shelves and little wooden boxes. When he examined them more closely he saw wooden toys. So he was in a children's room although it had looked like the room of a grown-up at the first moment. Maybe it was the room of the heir who had disappeared when he had been a child like Khyte had told them? Kratos was wondering what had happened to the boy …

He left the room again and walked to the next room. It was a library in which the shelves were reaching the ceiling which wasn't really low either. But it were less the good filled shelves that drew Kratos' attention to them but a wall painting that claimed a whole wall for itself. It was already pale, and the stone had crumbled partially, but you could still see that it was a family tree of the royal family. Of the surname, that had been written in squiggly capitalized letters above the family tree, only the first letter, an 'S' could be recognized. But it could be assumed that the name was four or five letters long because directly next to it there was a little painting of a unicorn that didn't leave any space for more letters. Maybe the unicorn was the emblem of the family.

Kratos' gaze wandered only shortly over the names of the several family members until he laid his eyes on the last name: Tiroke. That must have been the name of the boy who had disappeared.

"Tiroke …" Kratos murmured. It was strange to vocalize the name loudly. Almost as if the young heir could hear him and appear next to him any second. As if he were still alive …

The next moment he had suddenly the feeling to be watched. He looked around clandestinely but couldn't see anything. But still this feeling didn't leave him. Anxiously his hand wandered to his sword; he relaxed a little bit when he felt that it was still there.

Kratos decided to go back to the others and bring them to the third floor later. When he had gone downstairs he realized how tense he had been when he had felt to be watched. Now he could understand why nobody had been in the third floor for such a long time. You just felt uncomfortable up there; a creepy atmosphere reigned there almost as if – Kratos shook his head as this foolish thought crossed his mind – a ghost walked abroad up there. When he came back into the room where they had stayed the night the others were finally awake. Although he wished now that at least one person would still be asleep.

Raine glared at him; it was obvious that she was in a bad mood – which was probably because they still couldn't leave the castle because of the ruling weather conditions.

"Where have you been?" Raine asked with folded arms, upset.

For a short moment Kratos felt like a little boy who had done something wrong and had to defend himself in front of his mother. How absurd. His mother had never given a damn about what he had done, and if he had had a good reason to get into mischief. He had been hit every day anyway. He shook off this thought and came back into reality. "I've just looked around a little bit," he replied calmly.

Of course Raine found fault with it. "And then you don't get the idea to leave us at least a note?"

"Excuse me. The next time I will of course give notice of departure, your highness," Kratos promised with a sneering voice while pretending to bow – which made Raine even more furious because she understood the actual meaning of the sentence: 'I can't see why I should notify you if I want to look around.'

While Kratos enjoyed himself tremendously about Raine's indignation – though he wondered why it was such a joy to drive Raine crazy – he noticed that Genis gave him a strange look. Just now he realized that he didn't behave like he used to – what made him pensive. Why was it lately so easy for him to be the way he had been … before Anna's death?

He was startled out of his thoughts when Riki suddenly asked: "Have you found something interesting, Krat?"

He needed some seconds to understand what she meant. "Yes. I found a third floor that hasn't been used for many years."

"Rumor has it that the floor is haunted, that's why it hadn't been used for so long," Lykia explained.

Raine shook her head. Apparently she had calmed down again. "That's nonsense. Ghosts don't exist."

She was speaking exactly what Kratos was thinking as well, but still he couldn't forget how uncomfortable he had felt in the library. "Something's up there," he replied seriously. "I had the feeling I was being watched."

Raine put on a triumphant smile. "Don't tell me the fearless Kratos Aurion was frightened?" Obviously she was eager for an argument. Probably to wreak her anger to be trapped in here on somebody.

But Kratos ignored her. He didn't let himself be provoked that easily. "Up there is a big library. But the real interesting thing are not the books but a family tree of the royal family which had been painted on a wall."

"Isn't that something for you, R … Raine?" Genis was staring confusedly at the spot where his sister had been until a second ago.

"What are you waiting for? Let's inspect this!" Raine's impatient voice sounded from the door frame before she rushed away as if she wanted to win a marathon. It was ever and anon amazing how she could forget everything else within seconds as soon as she heard of something ancient or historical.

Kratos watched Genis shaking his head with a sigh, but he also saw how relief spread on the young boy's face. It probably calmed him down that his sister was back to her old self again – even if that meant that they could probably prepare for a lecture about the meaning of mural paintings.

A white bolt rushed suddenly past Kratos. He recognized that it was the wolf that sprinted after the fast Moon Healer. Immediately the face of the swordsman darkened. He had had too many other worries in the last hours to think about this mutt, but he hadn't abandoned his mistrust yet. He would continue keeping an eye on this wolf.

Well, why is this bear man so surprised to see Zelos alive?

And is the third floor really haunted? And what about Tiroke? Is he really the missing heir? And is he ... really still alive? (Muahahahaha.)

I like it when Kratos and Raine argue. xDD That's why there will be many arguments the next chapters. ^^

To be continued ...