Author's Note: Again, Ragnarok Online belongs to Gravity Corp. and Myung-Jin Lee, and the Ragnarok manhwa belongs to Myung-Jin Lee.  However, Juleus and Ivaldi belong to me, and any similarities to actual people or characters on RO are completely incidental.  Sorry!  And now, you can see where 'Kyrie Eleison' actually has a part in this story!  I adapted the move to work with the story, so deal.

Chapter Two

They say when you die, your whole life flashes before your eyes.  So that's what Juleus was expected as he lay in the darkness.  But there was nothing.  No memories of him as a baby.  No memories of his mother.  No memories of that pig-headed idiot who lived down the street throwing rocks at his windows.  He didn't think about how he had said one day, "I'm going to be the greatest swordsman that ever lived!"  There was none of that.  No memories whatsoever.

'That's odd…' Juleus thought.  'I guess death isn't like that after all.'

"Death?" a voice laughed from above him.  "No, death isn't like that at all.  Wake up now kiddo, you're not dying!"

Juleus's eyes fluttered open.  After all that darkness, after all that nothingness he had seen in his own eyes, it took him a while to get adjusted to the light.  Gradually, colors and shapes began to make sense to him.  He recognized things now.  Hovering above him was a face.  A kind, smiling face that he had never seen before.

"What?"  Juleus sat up slowly, holding his head.  Instead of touching skin and hair, his fingers grazed upon bandages.  "What?" he asked again, trying to remember what had happened to him.  "Where am I?"

The man turned away, dipping a cloth into a bowl of crystalline water.  When he turned back again, Juleus got a better glimpse of his face.  He was obviously a Priest.  He had dark black hair, long bangs that reached his chin covering the right side of his face.  Not only was he adorned in the long robes of a Priest, but around his neck gleamed a cross.  Catching Juleus looking at him, the Priest smiled and handed him the washcloth.  "Here you go.  You have a bit of blood on your cheek."

Juleus didn't know how to react.  Finally, he settled on saying an awkward thank you, and taking the damp cloth.  As he wiped his face carefully, minding bruises and scrapes he hadn't known were there, the Priest began talking.

"I saw you the other day, when those two men were fighting.  The Assassin and the Rune Knight.  You saw them too, didn't you?"  The Priest raised his eyebrows slightly and turned his full attention onto Juleus.

Nervously, Juleus nodded.  "I had just arrived in here – Prontera, I mean – when I felt the ground shaking.  I went to see what was causing it, and ended up getting caught in the Assassin's blast…or something."  He frowned, trying his best to recall the incident.  The memory was fleeting and hazy.  "I don't remember the Assassin reading an incantation or scroll, though.  The force just seemed to come out of nowhere."

The Priest's eyes were filled with understanding.  An understanding that Juleus liked.  "Pure cosmic power.  I'm not a mage, so I don't know all that much about it.  However, I do know that it's the ultimate form of magic."  He smiled again, taking the now slightly bloody cloth from Juleus's hands.  "Nasty little scrapes you've got.  A giant chunk of a building almost fell on you."

"…Almost?"  Juleus frowned even more now.  "But I blacked out, didn't I?"  He had to have been squashed beneath that falling building chunk.  He had thought he had died!  Then again, he couldn't recall any pain…

"You did." 

"Then how…?"

"Kyrie Eleison," the Priest answered before Juleus could finish his question.  He stood up, walking across the small room to a pair of large windows.  Throwing aside the homemade curtains, he let the bright midday sun stream in.  As the Priest set about the room tidying up, he continued with his chatter.  As he picked up a few tossed aside undergarments, he said, "It's just a barrier that protects people from some attacks.  Luckily, I've discovered that it works on falling buildings."

Juleus sat up a little straighter.  "So I didn't get hit after all?"

"Wrong."  From a drawer against the opposite wall, the Priest fished out a mirror.  He brought it back to his invalid with a small smile.  "Unfortunately, you got a little banged up from the Assassin's direct strike.  A few pieces of the building managed to get through my barrier, too."

The face that gazed back at Juleus in the mirror was, much to the novice's relief, completely recognizable.  He had half-feared that he was permanently scarred or disfigured.  The only sign that he had been hurt was the bandages across his forehead.  They had been carefully and skillfully wrapped.  He had a few cuts here and there, but they were barely there.  He was glad to see that it was still the same blue eyes he had grown up with looking back at him.  His brown hair, lazily cut to give him fairly long bangs but a fairly short back, looked messy and dirty.

As he inspected his face, Juleus realized something.  Though he had known it before, he only realized it now.  This man had saved his life.  If it hadn't been for this sharp-eyed, soft-smiled Priest, Juleus would be dead.  Dead, dead, dead and never to return.  This man and his Kyrie Eleison had saved his thus-far plain and boring existence.

"Thank you!" the novice blurted out.  He scrambled to his feet and gave a little bow.  "Thank you for saving my life!"

The Priest burst out laughing.  He put a hand on Juleus's shoulder and pulled him back to standing.  "Don't mention it.  I'm not a hero.  But, if it makes you feel any better, you are very welcome."  The two exchanged smiles, which ended when the Priest suddenly remembered something.  "Oh, right!  I never did get your name."

"Ah," Juleus replied, a little taken back.  "It's Juleus," he said as he extended his hand.

"Pleasure to meet you, Juleus," the Priest replied, shaking Juleus's hand firmly.  "My name is Ivaldi.  Right now, you're in my incredibly humble little home."  Ivaldi pulled away and opened the door leading out of the bedroom.  As he walked down the hall, he continued talking.  Juleus had to practically jog to keep up with him.

"Right here on your right is the bathroom; sorry it's so small.  I was planning to get it remodeled last year, but I never got around to it.  Ah, here's the kitchen.  It's even smaller, because I don't cook!  I always go to eat out.  There isn't really another bedroom, but I could sleep here on the couch and you could have the bedroom if it has to come to th-"

"Wait," interrupted Juleus, holding up a hand to stop the endless stream of chatter.  "I'm staying here?"

Ivaldi blinked.  He looked at Julius as if this question was dumbfounding.  When he got his bearings on the situation, he smiled and said, "Naturally!  You're in no condition to be up and about poking little Porings with your dagger.  I'd rather not send you to an inn to stay, either.  For every merchant, there is a thief here in Prontera.  Some inns get hit every day!"

Juleus shook his head with his eyes closed, half-hoping that it would clear his mind some.  'What happened first?  What started this all?' he asked himself.  'Mom died.  Okay.  Got that.  And then what?'  He bit his lower lip in thought.  'Then you set off to Izlude to become a Swordsman.'  Ivaldi watched Juleus's face with a bemused expression.  'Right.  …And then what?'  His frown deepened.  'And then you found yourself in Prontera, decided to be an idiot and find out what was shaking the ground, and almost got killed.'

'Good!' he answered himself in his mind.  'And then this man over here saved you, brought you home, took care of you, and now intends to take care of you some more.'

Upon reaching this thought, Juleus opened his eyes to Ivaldi's amused face.

"Figured out what's going on yet?" Ivaldi asked good-naturedly, gently brushing past Juleus to the tiny little kitchen.

Embarrassed that his emotions and thoughts were so readable, Juleus nodded.  "Yes, thank you.  Also, thank you for taking care of me..."  He shifted uncomfortably.  This wasn't right.  He felt fine; he could go off on his own.  He didn't need to burden this nice Priest anymore.  "…Though you really don't have to look after me.  Every novice gets hurt when they're just starting out, right?  I'll be fine on my own."

Ivaldi sat down at his tiny one-man dining table.  He propped his elbows up on the table, folding his hands neatly together.  Then he rested his chin on his hands, watching Juleus with that same warm amusement.  "I understand.  You feel like you're cheating by having me take care of you, is that it?  Other novices don't have level 50-something Priests taking care of them, so why should you?"

Juleus frowned.  Though it was said light-heartedly, he didn't like Ivaldi's words.  "No, that's not it.  I just feel like I should learn to be strong on my own."  He fidgeted.  Was he the one being rude, or was it Ivaldi?  This was the man who had saved him, after all.  "I do appreciate you saving my life, though," he added as an afterthought, to make amends if he had been offensive.

Instead of being angry, or cool and collected like Juleus had expected, Ivaldi burst out laughing again.  When he finished chuckling, he narrowed his eyes onto Juleus.  "I like you, kid.  You want to be strong on your own, eh?  Well, no one's stopping you.  Go out and brave the world, little knight."

"…So it's okay if I leave?" asked Juleus warily.  At first, Ivaldi had seemed wise and quiet.  Then he had seemed light-hearted and talkative.  Now he seemed to be ridiculing Juleus.  How could one person have such a diverse personality?!

"So it's okay if you leave," Ivaldi repeated.  He nodded towards the front door.  "You're free to go whenever you'd like.  I can't keep you here if this isn't where you want to be, kiddo."

Juleus frowned even more.  Who was this Ivaldi, really?  He desperately wanted to ask that, but the words that fell out of his mouth weren't right at all.  "I'm not a kid!"

Just when Juleus thought he was getting the hang of how this strange man worked, all what he thought backfired.  He had expected Ivaldi to laugh.  He seemed to laugh at the strangest things.  This time, however, Ivaldi's black eyes were dead serious and cold.

"You're right," the Priest said slowly.  "You're not a kid.  How old are you now?  Thirteen?  Fourteen?"

"Sixteen, seventeen in a month," Juleus practically snapped.  In a second, he had went from being confused to angry.  This Priest was so frustrating!  Juleus couldn't decide what part of this strange black-haired man he liked and disliked.  Was it the warm and wise part?  Or the cheerful and talkative one?  It certainly wasn't his haughty side, which seemed to think he knew everything.  What if there were more sides to this 'Ivaldi'?  Before Juleus could stop himself, his curiosity awakened.  Now he wanted to know how many different personality traits Ivaldi had.  Now he had to know.

Ivaldi nodded, the usual warmth returning to his eyes.  "Sixteen.  You've been on this planet for sixteen whole years.  That's not that bad at all."  He stood abruptly and walked straight past Juleus and into the bathroom.  He stood in front of the mirror above the sink, polishing the golden cross around his neck as if doing something like this in the middle of a conversation was completely natural.  "Of course, if you consider sixteen years to be a man, then I certainly must be an old geezer!"

Juleus followed him to the bathroom doorway.  "Well, how old are you?"

Ivaldi looked over his shoulder, and smiled at Juleus.  In one hand, he held up three fingers.  With the other, he made an 'o' with his thumb and fore finger.  "Just turned thirty a few weeks ago."  Without missing a beat, the Priest changed the subject.  "Now, it looks like that nasty gash on your forehead is starting to open up again, and we can't have that.  You've been moving around too much."

With the softness that Juleus had first awoken too, the strange Priest lead him back to the bedroom.  The dark wooden floor and walls seemed so familiar to Juleus already.  It was like the room was telling him, "Yes, this is where you belong."

"Now, get some rest before your condition gets any worse," Ivaldi said softly as he lay Juleus down in the bed.  He pulled the old cotton blankets over him.  The blankets were faded and worn from time and use.  "I'll see you in the morning."

And, like so many things that happened to Julius of Fayon, he wasn't given a chance to react.  Before he could complain, the curtains were drawn over the windows, and the door was shut.  However, he didn't mind being left in the dark again.  He never minded anything that much.

So, with nothing else to do, Juleus closed his eyes and fell asleep.  The thought of leaving Ivaldi's house completely escaped his mind.