Born Of The Moon
Chapter XVI
Ironic Regrets
I made sure that no one noticed me leave the castle once again. I took Belu out from the stables but didn't bother to saddle her. He was calling out to me. He wished to see me. His voice was sweet with love, and that tone only made me more anxious to see him.
Belu and I made our way through the forest in a slow trot so that I could find the direction in which his voice was speaking to me from. It didn't take me long to reach a lake I recognized. It was the same one I had seen in a vision during my previous visit on Gaea. It was the same lake in which Varie and Goau had met so many years ago. Sitting by the waters edge was a dark figure. I could only recognize it to be Yuhan. Joy took a tight hold on me. I dismounted Belu quickly but slowly began to walk towards him. I couldn't believe he was just sitting there so innocently, waiting for me to arrive.
I was no more than a meter away from his still shaded figure when his voice called out to me silently.
'Watch out, Hitomi.'
I stopped dead in mid-pace. His voice was overwhelmingly loud inside my head. Unlike how it was moments before, soft and taunting.
"I see you've finally come to visit me, Hitomi." A low-toned voice growled. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. The shadowed figure was Folken. "I see you're just as naive as I had predicted. Did you seriously think that your precious Yuhan would actually be on Gaea?" He spoke as he stood up from the ground, his black clothes making him almost invisible in the darkness of this night.
"You . . . you . . ." I couldn't even find the words to form a phrase I was so enraged. I began to slowly back away from him, but he followed my every step.
"What's the matter, Kanzaki? Too afraid to speak? Well, I think I'll change that." He swiftly grabbed a wrapped up ball from his pocket. "Catch." He said as he whipped it in my direction. I had barely any time to react and the ball hit me straight in the face. It exploded and released a bunch of sparkling powder. As in inhaled it, I felt it burn my throat as it made its way down to my lungs. Not another cheap magic trick!
"Dammit, Folken! Why are you doing this?!" I yelled hoarsely as I held my throat. It felt as though this powder was burning straight through my pharynx. The feeling was close to unbearable. My head was pulsing with pain as only small amount of oxygen seemed to be getting into my lungs.
Suddenly, it all stopped at once. The pain was gone and I could breathe again. My eyes met Folken's. He was now standing no more than a foot away from me, grinning.
"Tell me, how do you feel?" He asked, a hint of sarcasm in his voice. I glared back at him.
"You had no right to impersonate him! You had no right! How could you do such a thing?!"
"Because," he crossed his arms, revealing the empty sword scabbard at his side. "It was the only way to get you out here."
"Yet you are unarmed." I pointed out. Something began drilling away at the back of my mind. Before I knew what I was doing, I had my sword drawn and pointed straight at his face. "Why did you come unarmed? If this potion is doing what the roots did to me, you should've known better."
Hate was running through me once again. I had that urge to kill once more. The same hatred I had felt earlier was coursing through my system once more.
His arms fell to his sides and I saw his right hand slowly reaching behind his back as he spoke again. "I didn't say it gave you more strength. Do you seriously think that you can out-power me?!" A dagger was pulled quickly from his waist belt but I was quick to react, slashing it from his hand and out into the lake. A large gash would've been bleeding from his hand if it hadn't of been his mechanical one. There wasn't even a scratch on it. In his momentary confusion, I was able to pin him down to the ground with my sword across his neck.
"It might not have given me power, but I can react a lot more faster now. You seem to set yourself up for these things too easily." It was true. This all just seemed to easy.
My mind started to regain a bit of force against his powder and my erratic heartbeat began to slow down. I was losing my adrenaline. I was also hesitating.
"You know you have the power over matter right now. I'm unarmed and at your mercy, as I was before. Why do you hesitate once again?"
Though my eyes were now heavily blurred by tears from the pain in my throat that had just returned, I could see the haze over his eyes. The swords' tip was now suspended directly over his heart; it was barely grazing his shirt as my hands shook on the hilt. This sword had already been stained with his blood too many times. I didn't know if I could do it again. It would be so simply just to kill him right here and now, but like he said, I was hesitating. And why? Because I was looking at the whole picture. This wasn't the only side of Folken Fanel. He was also a sweet and gentle soul with lots of compassion and trust. True, that he was once a military strategist, but that was many years past forgotten. Maybe this was a sign. Maybe his willingness to let me outwit him was a sign. A sign from the real Folken Fanel inside him. Did he want me to kill him?
"You bore me." He whispered. I didn't have time to react this time before my legs were slashed with a newfound dagger and I was now on the forest floor with its sharp blade at my neck. "Now you've lost your only chance. Why do you refuse to answer my question?" He slowly began to squeeze my wrist so that my death grip on my sword would loosen. I refused to give in until I could hear some of the bones inside my arm grinding. I screamed and let go finally. "Why did you hesitate?"
I was at a loss of words again. Perfect timing as usual.
"You know, I don't have all day to wait for an answer. It wouldn't bother me the slightest if I killed you right this second. So speak, or you die."
"Because . . ." I somehow managed to squeak out. "This isn't you. This isn't Folken Fanel."
He sighed. "I'll tell you what I told Van. Folken Fanel is no more. He died the day the land dragon bit off his arm. From that moment on, he was no more. Strategos Folken was his true identity and only was that revealed when he was brought to the Vione. He . . . I was taught the proper way to live. It's as simple as that." His smirk was as sly as ever. "So I'm sorry to disappoint you, Kanzaki Hitomi, but with this dagger at your throat, your death tonight has now been assured." He removed the dagger from my neck and placed it above my heart. "Any last words?" he grinned.
My gasp shook him a little, but it quickly passed. "Just a regret." I whispered. I wasn't even sure if he had heard me as my eyes burned with fresh tears. "One regret."
"Yes such a pity I would guess. Good-bye, Mystic Moon bitch." He raised the dagger above his head and it began its decent towards my chest. I closed my eyes tightly and tensed, waiting for the moment of impact.
It never came. I slowly opened my eyes to assess the situation. The dagger was still above his head, but a sword protruded his chest directly through his heart. I stifled a gasp as his hands went limp, dropping the knife. It fell right at my face, creating a cut in the same manner on my left cheek-- the exact same way and shape as the cut I had been given on my right cheek. He fell beside me, but not before he could whisper some last few words.
"Ironic, isn't it . . ." His last breath spoke those three words that now formed a sentence I'd never forget for the rest of my life. I let out a shriek after he finished. That voice was Folken Fanel's.
Standing in front if me now was a man with his head hung low in shame, his eyes scattering tears to the forest floor. Those burnt auburn eyes held too much pain for their age. Too young for a king.
"Van . . . I'm sorry . . ."
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Well now wasn't that interesting . . . only one chapter to go people. Come on, review effort please. There's only one chapter after this one and it's gonna be long. Happy Holidays to you all as well. Enjoy the break as I will!
~*Elemental Angel*~
