For once, Lovino was silent, and Kiku was unwilling to offer any solace.
The sharp sound of a short sword stabbing into the bark of a tree made the fairy jolt, even when it was accompanied by Ludwig's frightening voice ranting on and on. Ludwig clenched his fist around the handle and wrenched it out from where it was wedged before stabbing it in again. Sap leaked from the wounds. As an adept with botanical magic, the sight of the tree made the fairy cringe as if in pain himself.
But he and the spirit waited out the rage that had consumed the recently-reverted human. Ludwig had not requested Lovino to heal the reopened and persisting wounds, and Lovino gladly stayed out of his way. There was a limit to how much Lovino would defend himself. Despite appearances, the blond was still an angry beast he did not want to provoke.
After about ten minutes of this, as was usual ever since they'd started this wild chase, Ludwig's temper showed signs of cooling, and he responsibly stowed away his weapon. He sat on a stump by himself to think for a while. It was then when Lovino was able to summon his courage once again.
"Do you want to be healed, mundane?"
Disapproving eyes snapped up. "Your healing spells hurt," the beast seethed.
Lovino was about to protest, but perhaps the mundane needed a short rest period before fighting through more pain. His curse had been afflicting him even more lately. The drastic changes in shape and size worked evils on his still-healing body. The shortening days never gave his weaker human form enough time to recover before it was warped again.
When he transformed, he cried through clenched teeth until his jaw pressed forward and they sharpened. When he reverted, his animal brain made him whimper until he was lying completely human in a humiliated heap. Then he would take the time to collect himself before either running to defuse his anger or taking it out on an innocent tree.
"Your side is bleeding," Kiku remarked, "and your shoulder has opened again."
"I have scars from the demon's claws. These will close, too."
"I can close them faster, so they won't scar," Lovino muttered.
"Your talent is lacking!"
In a rare moment of emotion, Kiku shot a warning look to the fairy.
"You can never heal them completely!" Ludwig continued. "They just rip open again when I transform! You heal a bird, but you can't heal me!"
But it's only your side and shoulder that really look bad, now! When I started, you could barely move! And you objected to my spells on the bigger wounds, anyway! Lovino argued mentally. He stepped back, wings twitching under his cloak. Olivine eyes narrowed in defense. Stupid, greedy human. The man should've been grateful he had a fairy in the first place.
But Lovino's arguments were cut short by those formidable blue eyes. He shouldn't have been afraid. Humans weren't dangerous! They had no magic and were much more vulnerable than fairies. Lovino shouldn't have been afraid of Ludwig, whom he knew was somewhat agreeable and trustworthy. Feliciano had told him so, after all.
Yet the green-winged fairy found himself faltering under that icy gaze. There was something naturally commanding about the human's angled face that gave him the advantage of intimidation. That and the man was easily twice as thick around in the chest as him.
"How did you get so strong?" Lovino found himself asking out of pure whim. The words had just slipped out without purpose.
"I trained," Ludwig snapped back. "I thought my transformation would hurt less if I were already stronger. I was wrong, of course. He only grew stronger, too, and when I grew taller, he grew taller. That amulet… now is the time when I need it. I want to destroy this curse and the man who created it."
"All is not lost," said Kiku.
Lovino agreed. "I need to find my brother. You may want that amulet, and so do I, but Felice is the only one who can find it apparently, and he's my little brother in the first place. It's my responsibility to see him safe. He's a coward, and he won't rescue his own ass, especially if he's got some spell in his brain from a dirty imp."
Ludwig's jaw clenched after hearing that last word. He made direct eye contact with Lovino and glared unceasingly while Lovino's inner war raged between fight and flight, er, running away. Luckily, words did not accompany the silent attack, but perhaps this meant Ludwig was saving his energy for later.
Kiku broke the tension by offering his encouragement. "We must persist. I would like to see that man again. I do not understand, but I know he has something to do with my strange visions even if we have never met before. Both times I regained my strength, he was present. This story has not ended, Doggie-san. Fairy-ciano is waiting for you, and the wand as well."
"We can just follow the trail," Lovino added. "We've been following the dust trail, and it's looked fresher lately."
"Ja," Ludwig said. Then he stood up. "I'm going to run for a while. Occupy yourselves productively. Clean up camp, and practice your healing. Though… now I could use a heat spell."
Cautiously, Lovino obliged and applied the spell to his companion. Ludwig showed his gratitude only curtly before taking what the other two had learned was a very healthy choice for ridding the man of his newfound morning frustration.
A memory came to him as he wiped his brow from the unnatural heat, though it was only a flicker of color and sensation. He was lying on the floor somewhere — his bedroom back in Piyo Fortress. He'd turned into the monster again. Again? A second night? Someone was leaning over him. It was a pale, hollow face streaked with tears. Bony hands were tightly clutching his shoulders.
He could hear Gilbert's panicked voice, but he couldn't reply. He was in too much shock. His swollen muscles seared from the strain. Energy his body wasn't built to handle continued to seep through his bones, tweaking and finalizing the new shape. That animal instinct was surfacing again — the same instinct that made him want to tear Basch apart. It was then when he and his brother realized his curse was cyclical and not a single-night affliction.
Then he saw another memory. It was autumn of the same year. Gilbert was sitting across from him on the first floor of the tower. His brother looked haggard and weak, but he was grinning. A flask was pushed toward Ludwig. The contents frothed pink with bits of white sparkling around the edges. He drank, and almost instantly, he could feel something evil within him become subdued. His body felt lighter than before, almost as if there were two of him, and one had become a misty shadow.
When the stars appeared that night, and his body cracked and warped into the monster, the result left him with only a sense of tiredness. He was warm in his fur and ready for a long night's slumber. There was no lasting pain. No extra magic leaking and overwhelming his feeble humanness. Even the instinct was leashed, though it was much too easy to provoke.
He'd accepted it at the time. He'd accepted that he was cursed, and that nothing else could be done for the moment. Gilbert only reinforced it. The dark wizard started to grow softer and softer. He forsook raids on villages to stay home with his brother. He started running the longer errands for the both of them. Gilbert searched for beer and sausage and bread — the finest food for his beloved afflicted.
But maybe he wasn't as soft as I thought… Maybe he never became soft at all. He's hiding something. Something big. And he won't write back. Who am I to not know anything about it? I'm the one he raised. I'm the one he took care of. I'm the one who guarded him.
That was a memory he still couldn't get over. The night Gilbert made him go outside to scare away the trespassers. As Gilbert had predicted, the monster's existence soon morphed into rumors in town. "The dark wizard Gilbert has bent a vicious monster to his will. An intelligent, speaking dog-man transformed from a human."
When Gilbert, who thought he was becoming obsolete in the eyes of the rural folk, heard these, he capitalized on them to save his dwindling reputation. He made the "dog-man" guard the tower, and Ludwig obliged if it meant not being at risk of hurting his brother. The old bath house was turned into an outdoor bedroom for the dog-man, and the shed was made the bath house. Ludwig's bed on the third floor of the tower was soon used only in the winter months.
There were mishaps, of course. While Gilbert indeed regained his former notoriety, it seemed this new tactic worked a little too well. Bravely stupid people came more often to get a glimpse of the dog-man rather than the dark wizard's face. Gilbert decided to use fireworks to display his awesomeness and terribleness for them. The dog-man found them much too loud and barked up at the tower, scraping his claws into the stones. It was humiliating as ever, and it only attracted more attention.
The dog-man attacked people. The dog-man scared the surrounding villages. The dog-man was the dark wizard's personal guardian, at one time feared even more than the black eagle. And the dog-man was the little orphan who was loved by those who feared him.
What a twisted fate. From then on, Ludwig felt twice as split with so many alternate identities stretching his name. He visited his friends — during the day — and when sunset came, he forced himself back to Piyo Fortress. He never spent enough time to settle things. Never enough time to meet anyone special. He'd even been apathetic when a girl wandered into the tower during the day and called him "rather handsome for the dog-man" before Gilbert wiped her mind.
He'd hoped for change, yes. He'd hoped something extraordinary would happen and that his curse would be behind him. And that extraordinary chance had come, but... but for five years, he accepted it. Accepted it when he was Ludwig the orphan, Ludwig the swap-child, Ludwig the dog-man, Ludwig the liar. Never wondering if there was a real way to undo the curse or know anything but pieces of himself… just accepting straightforward thought…
He froze in his furious tracks on a path that wasn't there.
"Roma was right," he whispered. "I never made any effort at all, and I have no idea who I'm supposed to be."
A chilling raindrop landed at his feet. He looked up wildly. Anything to distract him from the revelation demanded his attention. The sky was darker than before, and the wind was picking up. More raindrops stabbed his enchanted skin like needles. The green flames began to go out, leaving him subject to the frigid cold.
Madly, he dashed back into the trees for shelter. Where was this place? He recognized that tree. At least he'd been somewhat observant. But this one had lost its leaves and provided no shade from the rain.
The rain broke fully. A blanket of gray washed through the skeletal forest. His boots slipped in new mud as he ran in what he thought was the direction of the others. His bangs fell into his eyes. He clutched a hand to his injured right shoulder. If only he'd asked Lovino to heal it! It would've been painful, but he wouldn't be stressing his wounds now.
And the rain… no, no, no. The trail of fairy dust… the rain would wash away the trail! How was he supposed to find Feliciano now? And just when his conviction had been renewed! Ludwig swore in frustration. His quarry was eluding him, his brother was ignoring him, his shoulder was killing him—
"Hey... I can help you find what you're looking for."
Ludwig snapped his head up. Through the rain and the gale, he couldn't see any source of the voice, and he shouldn't have been able to hear it so clearly through either.
"Come over here," it said a little clearer. It was smooth and lazy, yet somewhat amused.
He looked slowly, and through the gray haze, he thought he made out a light in a clearing. He followed it until the break in foliage was right under his feet. Immediately, he sprinted forward. There was a white tent in the middle of the clearing that sparkled in the falling rain. Whether it was the source of the strange invitation, he was about to find out.
The inside of the tent was frightfully warm, but to his shivering form, it felt wonderful. When he looked around, however, he noticed it was not what he'd imagined. Ludwig was no wizard, but he knew there was magic at work here. He did not see a tent when he opened the flap and cautiously let himself in. Rather, it was an immense, dome-shaped room with dim torches lighting the circumference. The walls were decorated in oily frescoes depicting ancient heroes of lore. Dusty, jeweled cushions were strewn around here and there, along with… balls of yarn?
"Hello?" He asked. His voice echoed about the room.
"Come on. I don't bite."
"Yes, he does!"
"Quiet."
Ludwig blinked in the darkness. He was expecting to see a great monster melt out of the walls or emerge from the floor. Yet these fantasies were put to silence when the beckoning one made itself known. The being was stretched out on its side on the largest cushion in the center of the room. Ludwig approached slowly. This could easily be a trap. Or… not?
It was a brawny man lying there. He appeared human, at least. Or not, since two taupe-colored cat ears poked up through his tangled brown hair, and his eyes were hidden behind a blindfold. Where Ludwig stood, it was hard to see whether the being had a tail to match. He was dressed in a greenish tunic embedded with gems. The biggest was in a ring on his right hand, which he tried to keep covered up by his sleeve.
"You don't like this place?" The being asked with not a hint of concern.
Ludwig jolted. "You can hear thoughts?"
"No, but I can see many things about you." He let out a long yawn and brought his legs to his chest, clutching the cushion in his arms. "I have information you need."
"Not so fast. I don't even know what this is, or what you are, or what magic is making this place real. I'm not going to trust someone just because of a smooth voice and shelter from the rain."
"Rain? Ah, so that's it."
"What?"
"That's where the door is. This place is not where you are. You've crossed a threshold into my cave. It must have been summoned by your powerful ignorance. I decided to take pity on you when I saw you."
He yawned again, showing Ludwig a row of pointy teeth. Sure enough, a furry tail curled around his legs to the front. This was enough to tip the human off. He backed away toward the threshold.
"I can tell you how to find Feliciano," the cat-creature said.
Ludwig froze. "How do you—"
"I told you I know things. Please come sit."
"Not until you explain how you know."
"He is really giving you a hard time, this one!" A grating voice laughed, though Ludwig saw no one accompanying the cat-creature.
"Shut up," the cat-creature whined. He sighed and pulled himself up.
Without seeing his eyes, Ludwig couldn't be sure of his intentions. He intensified his icy gaze, trying to look authoritative, though he wasn't sure whether the other could see him or not.
"I am a sphinx," the cat-creature explained. "A spirit-creature that can see into the hearts of people and the breath of the past. I can see the story of man and beast and fairy and demon. I know the intentions of all who live and all who have perished and can see the tapestry woven by lives intersecting."
"You don't sound all that enthusiastic about it," Ludwig argued. "And I've read about sphinxes. Aren't you supposed to be more lion-like with wings?"
"Oh, he's got a point, there!"
"You shut up," the sphinx growled. "My mother was a true sphinx. She had the body of a lion and the wings of a golden eagle. She perished when a human was able to solve her greatest riddle, and she threw herself into the sea. When she died, I inherited her powers. I can become a cat if I choose."
"A little kitty! Not so intimidating!"
"Please excuse him," the sphinx said, raising his voice only slightly. "I've tried to get rid of him, but he won't come off."
"Only because a good sphinxy needs a good djinni to help him stay out of the wet rain!"
"You are not a djinni. You are a mortal trapped in a cursed ring."
"I am so a real djinni!" The grating voice argued, and wishing to prove its point, the sphinx's ring glowed, and a misty, masked figure emerged from the stone. The sphinx hissed, but the so-called djinni just crossed his arms and laughed. "A real djinni straight from the nether-world! Master of dreams and weaver of wishes for the worthy!"
"Wishes?"
"He can't grant wishes," the sphinx urged. "He's mad. I know he is really just a mortal. I put on the ring many years ago because it was supposed to trap my greatest enemy, but now I can't take it off."
The misty man scowled. "That story doesn't become true every time you tell it. I am an all-powerful djinni—"
"If you really were an all-powerful djinni, I would be able to see your past as a djinni. But all I can see is a man called Adnan who stole jewels and told outrageous stories and solved the greatest riddle. You've never once granted a wish. The ring is making you mad."
"You can just shut up! This conversation has never ended well!"
"Sphinx! You said you could tell me how to find my friend Feliciano!" Ludwig yelled to stop the heated argument.
The sphinx turned to face him again. He placed his ring finger into a cup of olive tea, and Adnan disappeared back into the stone.
"Yes, I can, though there is a price."
"A riddle?"
"A riddle. If you can solve it, I will tell you how to find him."
"And if I can't solve it?"
"If I were a true sphinx, I would bite off your head, but I'm not as vicious as my mother was. I'll just let you go back out in the rain to languish in your ignorance."
"How will I know you aren't just tricking me? If you can see my past, you can tell me something you know I can't solve."
"I play fairly," said the sphinx. "You get three guesses."
He then reached up and untied the blindfold. His eyes were green like mist over a lake with slits for pupils. Ludwig couldn't help but stare. A shiver ran down his spine, but that was probably part of the pressure.
"Tell me the riddle," he forced.
The sphinx spoke, then, and his lazy voice echoed off the walls of the cave.
"I have no feet, and I love the sun.
I have four feet, and I love the moon."
"I have heard this one before! I can tell you the answer if that is your wish!" Adnan cackled from within the ring. The sphinx plunged him into the tea again and held him there.
"No feet, love the sun. Four feet, love the moon," Ludwig repeated. Instantly, he was searching for an answer.
Perhaps it is a plant. Something that appears only during the day or night. A flower? Moonflowers bloom at night. But they don't have feet. It's that strange riddlespeak. Maybe he isn't talking about feet at all, but something like roots. But roots exist during both day and night. Petals? Moonflowers have five petals. And it wouldn't be a flower because the thing loves both the sun and the moon.
Something that changes yet loves day and night. Scheiße, is it me? But I have two during the day and two at night. But a wolf-man loves the moon. Except he would have two during the day as well. A changeling? They transform whenever they want to. Oh, but sunny weather is safe for changeling antics, and stormy weather is dangerous. But how could a changeling have no feet? They can't turn into plants or inanimate objects.
"Confused?" The sphinx purred with amusement. In a mesmerizing way, his lip swelled and split into that of a cat's.
"Of course not. Just give me more time."
Inanimate objects. Things that have feet. A chair? It wouldn't be a chair. Poetry has feet! A poem about the sun or the moon? Sun. Moon. Day. Night. Light. Dark. All at least have one syllable. Aren't feet used to measure things in some places? But why specific quantities? And the sun and moon? Wait, a shadow! Shadows grow and shorten. But that wouldn't make sense. A shadow's length just depends on where the light is. The sun or the moon wouldn't make a difference.
No, there must be a straightforward answer to this. I'm the best at thinking straightforward. What has feet? People and animals. People more so, since their feet are called feet. So maybe it's something that has people. Like… that must be it!
"A bed," he said. "A bed has no one in it during the day and two people at night."
"A very good guess," said the sphinx, "but it is wrong. You have two more."
Not a bed!? I was sure of it. But I guess a bed can be built for just one person as well. What other things hold people? Houses? Carriages? Horses pull carriages. Horses have hooves, so it couldn't be a horse.
It must change its preference and its number of feet. Are the feet changed by the preference or the preference by the feet? Or do they change together? Because something becomes something else? I'm just going in circles.
The sphinx yawned, a bored expression painting itself on his face.
Something… wakes up. No feet during the day, four at night. It must be something nocturnal. Something that hunts at night. Bats? Or… it doesn't use its feet during the day. That's it. I forgot what you looked like when I came in here. Hands hidden under your cushion.
"A cat," he said. "A cat curls its paws under itself in the sun and is up walking under the moon."
The sphinx gave a small smile — big enough so his pointy teeth could poke through his lips. "That is correct," he said. "Perhaps it should've been harder, but you aren't asking for much. Unless you do want to know something else. I can tell you anything your heart wishes to know."
"Tell me how to find Feliciano. The fairy dust trail has washed away, and I have no idea whether the mercenaries are going to Allegria or back to the capital or are just leading me in circles."
"Very well. Let me concentrate. It's a little harder to see someone's story when he isn't right in front of me. Luckily, you have a strong connection to him." He closed his cat-like eyes and emitted a whispery groan. "Feliciano Vargas Roma, second son of Gianfranco Roma who perished nineteen years ago by turning to stone… Feliciano can be found at a story's origin, and with him is a flawed counterfeit."
"Flawed counterfeit?"
"You know who took him."
"The people who took him… Alfred's disguised himself, hasn't he?" His voice caught. "He's disguised himself as me. He has a scar on the back of his neck. That's the flaw. And the story's origin? It must be the place where Feliciano and I first met and our separate lives converged. I'll find him with Alfred in Lafée? Is that it?"
"Yes. That will soon be the answer, as that's where he will soon be, but you must go quickly, or the answer will change. Trouble is brewing. I can see it."
Ludwig shot up. "Thank you. Is that really all? I can really find him there?"
"Of course. You bested me."
"But it took him a while, and I could've just told him the answer! I can fix all of your problems! I am a real-life, no-joke, all-powerful djinni!"
"And Feliciano has an amulet that can really grant wishes," Ludwig told Adnan.
"No amulet can best my powerful magic!"
"Thank you, sphinx," Ludwig said again before walking toward the door.
"It's Heracles," the sphinx said. "And Ludwig, I can see your frustration. You don't understand who you're supposed to be in a world where you have so many faces."
He turned, sadness evident in such cold eyes. "Another reason why I need to break the curse."
"I'm certain your curse will be broken in time. But there are still things I know you deeply want to know about who you are. Things you can't remember and Gilbert can't tell you, but you must know in order to really understand. You see, your story does not have a beginning."
Ludwig's lips parted in shock. He knew what the sphinx meant.
"You can see my family. The family I was taken from."
"I can see the story of your life. Where you were born, your parents, how you came to be raised by the changeling called Gilbert."
"Then tell me! Tell me who they are! Who are my parents? Who is my changeling? Did he ever get caught? D-do I have siblings? Am I even from Volkerburg at all? Who would I have been!?"
"One piece of knowledge at a time, my friend. Perhaps we will meet again, and then maybe I'll tell you," Heracles yawned.
Ludwig was about to argue, but a harsh wind suddenly smacked him in the chest. When he opened his eyes, the world was soaked. He was out in the rain again. The tent was nowhere in sight.
"Was that a dream?" He questioned. "No, it must have been real… Feliciano!"
"No, I'm Lovino, you stupid mundane. We've been looking for you for an hour. Why're you just standing out in the rain waiting for a bird to shit on your face?"
Ludwig straightened himself out. He felt stiff all of a sudden. "Lovino, Kiku, I know where to find Feliciano. It may not make much sense, but we have to go to Lafée. That's where they're taking him. I don't know why, but it's the answer."
"How do you know that is where he is?" Kiku asked.
"A spirit-creature told me. One that looked like a cat."
"Oh, so now you can see them, too!?" Lovino shrieked.
At about the same time, a little yellow bird was quite lost.
It knew it was going the right way. Gilbert had enchanted it to know Ludwig, so if instructed to go to Ludwig, it would know how to find him. But the bird had flown into a rainstorm, and the letter in its beak had grown damp and heavy. Droplets splashed into its eyes and blurred its vision. The thunder scared it, and it shivered with cold.
There was nothing else to do but land. Swiftly, Gilbird tucked its wings and dove through the torrent, looking for a safe branch to land on. It found one quickly. Little claws gripped the bark, and yellow feathers puffed up and shook off the rain. Gilbird fretted over the state of its cargo. It could see the ink starting to smear from the dampness.
"Do you think we can get there by evening?" It heard someone say. Gilbird recognized the voice. It was the bubbly countertenor of Feliciano. And in the way birds connect things without considering them much, Gilbird knew it had found the one it was looking for.
"We should be able to, though I can't judge distance. We didn't travel this way last time. I do hope we can get there. I'm extremely hungry."
"Are you not eating enough? Doggie, you keep complaining about your hunger, and it's not healthy to—"
"I'm not starving myself. It's nothing like that. The days are shortening, so naturally, I'm starting to feel more like a dog than a man during the day. My appetite is just growing. That's all."
"Doggie, what are you going to use the amulet for?"
"Well, right now, I'd use it for about a hundred potatoes, five loaves of bread, and a chocolate ganache cake. Not to mention a gal — er — a liter of milk to wash it down. Or two. And two more cakes, and a hotdish. Did I mention bread?"
"You really are hungry! Maybe you'd like some of my spider pasta, too!"
"Ja, I'd eat that. I guess I am hungry enough to eat a spider. I made someone eat a spider once. It was a clever and hysterical antic. One of many antics I committed. There was another involving a man's mustache and a grape. Ah, yes, and the fish."
"Are you sure you aren't just making this up?"
"Maybe."
With no doubts, the bird launched itself from the tree branch and swerved between raindrops and tree trunks. There, because he could not find any better shelter, was Ludwig, with a huge blanket wrapped around him and Feliciano to keep the rain off. The bird dove down in front of Ludwig's face and hung there with the letter in plain sight.
When Ludwig noticed the bird, he froze in place. Then his face twisted into a frightful smile, and his eyes seemed to glitter with delight. He held out his hand, and the bird perched on his finger. It then dropped the message, which Ludwig was quick to accept.
Without even telling Feliciano, who was blindfolded, Ludwig unfolded the letter. He frowned. The rain had smeared away much of the message, and the parts left were barely legible. Still, Ludwig squinted at the letters and tried to make as much sense out of them as possible.
a L
You must be so…
I will tell you everything if you come meet me in Lafée as quickly as possible. Trust me, I…
on my way there now.
Feliciano will be… with us…
-Gilbert
Gilbird had never seen Ludwig smile so much before. It was an odd change. The bird twitched its head around, trying to spot that good fairy who had healed it. Noting that he was not present, the bird ruffled its feathers in disappointment and burrowed itself under Ludwig's shirt like it had with Gilbert's. Ludwig's chest radiated a surprising amount of heat, almost as if a star were beneath his skin. It was too easy to fall asleep while the man furrowed his brow in humored confusion.
It was too easy to give in to tiredness and warmth when Ludwig smiled at Gilbert's letter, Feliciano was blindfolded, the green-winged fairy was missing, and a band of mercenaries rested under a greenish bubble just out of sight.
