Ascend
By: blue lady
Chapter Eight – Unbreakable
I shivered slightly from the chill that seemed to hang in the night air as we made our way through the leafy foliage where a blurry shape sat in the distance. After making sure that Sera-san was indeed asleep we had decided to go after him tonight. Thanks for a beautiful full moon; the forest was well lit making it easy for us to move quietly through the forest floor.
"Are sure that he's the one?" I asked Lina-san, who was walking several feet ahead of us.
She nodded, "Yep, remember Bill the Gravekeeper?"
"Yes." I replied, remembering the Gravekeeper's strange reaction when I mentioned Lukas' name.
"Well, it turns out that Bill was one of Lukas' only friends. Lukas wasn't very popular with the other children being that Lukas was always too busy taking care of his grandparents. Anyway, naturally the boy told Bill everything about anything and had mentioned how a man had been offering to help cure his grandparents. The name Lukas mentioned was Armens, the town's own outcast. Bill tells me that Armens was once a well-respected sorcerer but was later thrown out of the Sorcerers' Guild for illegal research, the research of brainwashing and human mind control. I would say this guy would be a safe bet."
"But why would he target Daddy?"
Lina-san shrugged, giving me a wolfish grin "I guess we'll have to find out!"
I smiled at her, "Yes, we'll have to find out indeed."
Gasping slightly, I grabbed a nearby tree to steady myself before I could trip over the long hem of my Prugare dress.
"Why did they have to be so strict with what we're suppose to wear for our Expedition!" I cursed silently to myself. The dress would be a great hindrance when we battle this guy.
"You alright, Amelia?" Gourry-san asked, looking over his shoulder curiously.
"Yes, though the dress will probably slow me down."
"Don't worry, I'll have you covered." Gourry-san said, saluting me with his sword.
"I see you finally got a new one." I said smiling.
"Yeah," Gourry-san replied, looking at the weapon "It's not the Sword of Light but it'll do for now."
I grinned in response, putting my attention back to the road ahead. I took in a shaky breath noticing how the house's form became more and more distinct with each passing step. I took another quick breath since the first failed to soothe the array of emotions running through me. My fist was clenched tightly in determination, but trembled violently with anticipation of the moment to come. The man would pay for what he did.
Lina-san lifted her hand in the air signaling for us to stop and be silent as we finally broke from the forest and into the small clearing. What stood in the clearing was a small hut literally in shambles. There were huge gaping holes in the roof and the whole dwelling was skewed at an impossible angle. Bathed in it's own darkness; the house seemed to be abandoned. However, the faint crackling from inside the abode said otherwise. We slowly made our way closer taking a spot where we can at least get a look at what we were up against before charging in. I positioned myself below one of the front windows, slowly straightening up enough to peek over the windowsill.
A movement caught my eye and I followed it as it skittered across the house, mumbling incoherently. Who was he talking to? Was there another person in there? I squinted my eyes a little, only able to make out one lone figure with long white hair crawling around in the darkness. I look towards Lina-san who had placed herself and Gourry-san at the window parallel to me.
Are there two of them? I mouthed silently, indicating the number two with my right hand.
Lina-san shrugged, waving her hand casually at me as if to say, 'If there are, we can probably handle them.'
We made our way slowly to the front door, which was basically a piece of rotten wood hanging haphazardly off of some rusty iron hinges. Taking another deep breath, I quickly chanted a small lighting spell as Gourry-san readied his sword. With one swift kick from Lina-san, we burst through the door. I threw the lighting spell right in the middle of the room, manipulating the spell so it would be bright enough to illuminate the whole area.
The light spilled across the room revealing an old man entirely shrouded in a shabby black hood and cloak. Long rivulets of white hair leaking out from the tattered hood obscured the man's face making his mint green eyes the only apparent feature. The man continued to sit there, remaining completely unfazed by our sudden intrusion.
"Armens." I said, my voice shaking slightly. The man's green eyes soon cleared up abruptly as if breaking from some sort of trance as he finally acknowledged our presence.
The man's face slowly began to form a smile before bursting out in a fit of laughter, "Nobody's call me by that name for a long time."
Instantaneously, Lina-san grabbed him roughly by the collar, quickly pinning him against the shoddy, gray wall.
"Why were you after the Crown Prince of Seyruun?" Lina-san asked him, hissing through her teeth.
I watched as Armens' left eyes begin to twitch sporadically before breaking into another burst of laughter.
"Answer her!" I yelled stepping forward and besides Lina-san to look him directly in the eye.
His horrible laughter stopped abruptly as he turned to look at me - his eyes unfocused, pupils dilated.
"You!" Armens' hissed, pointing a wrinkled finger at me "Get away from me!"
The man began to struggle frantically, trying to escape from Lina-san's grip. I took another step forward to look him further in the eye, "Why were you after the Crown Prince of Seyruun?"
"You!! Monster! Get away from me!"
Letting out an ear-splitting shriek of frustration Armens sunk his teeth deeply into Lina-san' arm.
"Why you -" Lina-san immediately cursed, clutching her bleeding arm.
"Gourry-san!" I called urgently to him, seeing that Armens was already making an escape through the front door.
Gourry-san was quick to intervene him by positioning the tip of his sword directly at Armens' chest. Armens only laughed at this, grabbing the blade of Gourry-san's sword roughly. Gourry-san narrowed his eyes as the old man began to mutter something under his breath, "Wind and Red flame…"
"Gourry-san!" Armens was going to cast a Mono Volt!
"The power of light, earth and wind; Break the evil spell now! Flow Break!" I chanted, negating the spell just as Lina-san lunge herself at Armens, causing him to lose his grip on Gourry-san's sword.
"Nice try, old man." Lina-san said smirking as she got off of him. I stepped towards Armens who began to cower in fear. I couldn't help but grimace a little at the blood that now flowing down his skeletal arm.
"Stay away from me!" He howled at me, backing into a corner, "Y-you devil! You angel of death!"
I turned to look at Lina-san questioningly. She had her eyebrow raised skeptically as the man continued to shiver and babble unintelligibly. While Gourry-san appeared to have a thoughtful expression on his face. I crouched down causing Armens to squeal and his pupils to dilate dangerously.
"Why did you kill my father, the Crown Prince of Seyruun?"
Armens' eyes unexpectedly turned back to it's normal green again, as he began to only chuckle softly under his breath before bursting into a full-out laugh.
"So he's dead! He's dead! He's dead!" Armens said, practically singing it.
"Answer me!" I yelled, but Armens paid me no heed as he continued to prance around the room, singing his new song.
"He's dead! He's dead!"
"You ba– Shut up!" I shouted, bringing up a hand to strike him. However, a strong hand pulled me back before I could hurt him.
"Amelia, don't." Gourry-san said in a serious tone. I forcefully pulled myself from Gourry-san's grip to glare at him.
"Don't?! The guy killed my father!" I yelled.
Gourry-san only continued to look at me impassively, "Amelia, there is something wrong with him."
"Damn straight!" Lina-san interjected, "The guy's a sadistic bastard!"
Lina-san stomped her way over to the old man still singing his head off, preparing an extremely explosive Fireball. However, Gourry-san was quick to pull her away as well.
"No, that's not what I meant. The man is mentally ill." Gourry-san replied, his eyes dead serious.
Lina-san and I looked at the old man as he continued to babble and chuckle contently to himself.
Lina-san scoffed, "Gourry, I didn't even know you knew that word. Besides he's probably just faking it. Fireba-"
"Wait, Lina-san." I said, recalling how irregular Armens' actions were. Armens noticing my approach immediately stop his singing, to once again scream in fear quickly huddling himself into a little corner. Putting my hands directly above his forehead, I closed my eyes in concentration. I could hear his screams began to die down as the spell began to take effect. When Armens' breathing became long and regular, I knew I was in.
I was immediately assailed with various twisted memories and bizarre ideas that whipped around me leaving me dizzy and disoriented. I gritted slightly as completely foreign begin to violently barrage my mind. Then soon everything around begin to blend together, everything that once made sense did not seem so logical anymore as my mind was began to meld itself in the surrounding pure, utter chaos. I looked around completely lost. Not knowing which way was which as I soon began to wonder what I was doing here in the first place. I had to pull myself out of this! Steeling myself from the continue assault of Armens' mental anarchy, I was briefly able to clear my thoughts and remind myself who I was. I grunted slightly as a particularly strong mentality struck me, pushing me deeper into the chaos. All of a sudden a line of light pierced through the overwhelming confusion. I looked at it in wonder, feeling it call to me like a moth to a flame. I pushed myself forwards, concentrating only on that light as I slowly made my way back.
"Amelia! Amelia!"
I opened my eyes to find Lina-san shaking me violently with a worried expression on her face.
"What were you doing?!" Lina-san asked, nearly screaming at me.
"Just doing a simple mind analysis…" I murmured, realizing that my right hand had somehow encircled itself around the necklace Cretis-sama gave me. "That must have been the light earlier…"
"What?! You stupid girl! Don't you know how dangerous that is?" Lina-san replied, glaring at me.
"Sorry…" I said sheepishly, wiping the cold sweat off of my forehead. That was a bit too close. But I really wanted to be sure…
"Well?" Lina-san asked examining me carefully. Armens had once again gone back to his previous hysterical state.
"Gourry-san's right." I said looking at Armens, "The man's completely crazy. Judging by how chaotic everything was, he had been like that for several years now"
"Meaning?"
I turned to look at Lina-san, "Meaning that he had been like that even before he had used Lukas to kill my father. I don't have the right to harm him."
Lina-san looked at me blankly "Wait! So you're saying you're not going to do anything to him? Amelia, he had your father killed!"
I sighed, looking away, "I know Lina-san, but like Lukas' he had no control over what he did. The man is as innocent as Lukas was. He did not mean to do any harm just as Lukas did not mean to kill my father."
"But-but-"
I looked at Lina-san silencing her from further protest.
"I guess you're right," Lina-san said, sighing in defeat. "You know, it all makes sense now…"
"What makes sense?" I asked, curiously looking at her.
"Well, you see. I had been wondering why Auntie Sera had not reported this guy to the police. It was quite obvious that Auntie Sera knew that something horrible had happened to Lukas and that Armens had something to do with it. However, she never turned Armens in. This explains everything." Lina-san said, pointing to where Gourry-san stood keeping a sharp eye on the crazed sorcerer.
Lina-san sighed once again, putting a hand to her forehead, "You're right, it would not be right to kill that man. It would prove nothing."
"The most we could do now is to seal his powers away," I replied quietly as the unreal-ness of the situation already began to settle upon me.
After etching the six-pointed star of Seyruun in the dirt, Armens was dragged outside and placed right at its center. Lina-san and Gourry-san stood on the side to watch me as I mumbled the incantations for the sealing spell. The lines of the star soon glowed a soft white before bursting forth in a beautiful display of radiance. I could hear Armens' startled shriek from among the field of white and when the spell finally died down, Armens could be seen shaking and trembling, wrapped tightly in a fetal position.
"Sleeping." Lina-san chanted casually, causing the man to fall into a deep slumber. Gourry-san then effortlessly went to pick up the man and dump him back into the house.
"Are you sure about this?" Lina-san asked, putting a hand on my shoulder.
I nodded, silently watching the sunrise. As I opened my mouth to respond, a sudden burning sensation could be felt right below my left collarbone. I clutched at it wondering where that feeling could be coming from.
"Amelia? Is something wrong?"
I was about to answer her when a bright, golden light suddenly blinded me, filling my vision completely. What was going on? Then the pain I felt before returned however it was much worse – it felt as if someone had poured liquid fire down the whole left side of my body, as if my skin was slowly burning away.
"Amelia! Amelia!"
Then with the golden light still filling my vision and the pain now seemingly eating away my whole body, I blacked out.
Taking a long, calming sip of hot tea, I congratulated myself for being able to make it out of the tiresome desert in less days than it had took me to trek through it. I carefully readjusted my cowl and mask, before waving at the waitress for another one. She replied readily and I nodded my thanks as she placed another stemming mug of tea on the bar table. From the corner of my eye, I saw the waitress giving me a long, curious look before finally returning to work. I pulled my mask and hood snugly together, mumbling to myself "I hate public places."
Usually, I would have my cup of tea and leave, however since I spent almost fours years relentlessly scourging for my cure, I had failed to keep up with the times. So what better place to pick upon current events than in a (unfortunately) bustling tavern?
Perking up my ears again, I listened to the tidbits of conversations going on around me.
"Well, then my wife said…"
"You should have seen her she was gorgeous! She's got the biggest-"
"Come on, one more game! I'll be able to beat you this time!"
"Give me another one, bartender!"
"So did you hear about Seyruun?"
I shifted my eyes ever so slightly towards a table of poker players.
"Of course, everyone knows about it. It was like the biggest news for the last three years."
The one who started the conversation took a swig of ale before continuing, "Yes, it was a quite a pity. Who thought that such a great man like the Crown Prince would die so early?"
My eyes widened slightly in shock, Phil was dead?
"Hey, did they ever find out who was responsible for the Crown Prince's death?"
"Nope, nobody knows how the Crown Prince was killed and the Royal family claims ignorance as well. But, I bet you they know."
All of them nodded their heads in silent agreement.
"Must be something messy if they didn't want the public to know." One of them commented.
"You know," another whispered conspiratorially, "I've always heard rumors of the instability of the Royal Family. Do you think it was another family scrabble over power? I heard that once the Crown Prince's own nephew had tried to kill him, Prince Christopher, and the Princess Amelia just to attain the throne!"
One of the players who had been quietly listening to the whole conservation, scoffed at him, "Come on, Ket. You know as well as all of us how noble the members of Seyruun Royal family are. Those rumors are just that, Rumors. Now, let's stop this stupid conversation and just get back to playing poker!"
There were some quiet grumbling but soon everyone started settling back into the forgotten game.
Tossing some coins onto the old bar table, I got ready to leave. That was all the news I needed. The Crown Prince of Seyruun was dead and remembering how Amelia had reacted the first time…
"I better get to Seyruun."
I woke up with my head feeling as heavy as lead and my muscles so stiff they felt like they had been frozen in place. I hissed slightly, when I finally got my stubborn eyelids to open. The room faded out in a bizarre mixture of greens and purples as my eyes slowly began to adjust to the light sneaking in from the window. I soon discovered that getting out of bed proved to be a very hard task, as every limb of my body felt like rubber. My legs and arms felt as if they were not my own, like they were the extension of some foreign body. Planting my feet soundly on the wooden floor I attempted to stand up only to introduce myself to the floor. Using the bed as a support I was able to slowly steady myself into a standing position. Taking small, cautious steps I made my way to the gleaming window. Finally close enough; I gruffly pulled at the drapes, firmly closing off the sunlight that was beginning to give me a splitting headache, before stumbling back to bed.
As soon as my head hit the pillow, the door opened with a loud bang, "Amelia! You're awake!"
"Please, Lina-san." I grumbled, cradling my head.
"Sorry, sorry." Lina-san replied contritely, rubbing the back of her neck, "How do you feel?"
"Terrible." I replied, burying myself in my blankets.
"Well, that's to be expected. You were out cold for almost four days now." Lina-san said wryly.
Then pulling myself out from the bed sheets I yelled, incredulous, "Four days?!" However, I immediately regretted that course of action, as the pounding in my head got worst.
"Yeah, you should have seen the look on Auntie's face when we brought you back." Lina-san said, laughing light-heartedly, "I thought she was going to pummel us."
"What happened?" I asked, sitting up to look at her.
"What? You don't remember anything?"
"All I remembered were golden lights and a searing pain right over here." I said, reaching over to touch the area above my left collarbone.
Lina-san beamed at me, making me feel a little uneasy, why was she so cheery this morning?
"The golden lights were caused by this!" Lina-san said, throwing something onto my lap.
"This is the necklace Cretis-sama gave me." I replied breathlessly, as I held the ivory beads and the small pendant of Cepheid between my fingers. However, on closer inspection I noticed there was something slightly different with them. Instead of being a pure, sterile white there were now flecks of gold decorating its' surface.
"And that pain you felt," Lina-san said, abruptly reaching for the top my dress, "Was this."
In the area right between my left breast and collarbone was a small, black imprint of Cepheid, done exactly like the one on my pendant. I grasped, realizing what it all meant.
"Congratulations Amelia! You've finished your Prugare!"
I embraced Lina-san tightly, "Oh, Lina-san! I am so happy!"
"Um…Amelia…too tight!"
"Sorry!" I quickly let go of her and decided to smile my happiness instead. Lina-san smiled back at me, and then giving me a small hug she got up to leave, "Well, I promised Auntie to call her as soon as you wake up. Get some rest, I'll bring dinner for you later, okay?"
Hearing the door click shut, I laid back onto the bed. Feeling the pure bliss seeping into a peaceful contentment as memories of that evening came pouring back.
I sighed, what an ironic twist of fate. I had finally found the man responsible and I didn't have the heart to harm him. Every cell in my body had wanted revenge, had wanted to inflict all the pain I suffered on the man responsible yet every cell in my body was also repulsed at the idea of killing Armens.
"If I'd taken his life, wouldn't I be just like Grandfather?" I asked myself, rubbing my new little 'tattoo'. And what about Lukas? Lukas got tangled up in this whole disaster all because of his love for his grandparents and was the one who suffered the most. Folding my hands in my lap, I send a small prayer to Cepheid. Hoping that wherever Lukas was, he would finally gets the happiness he deserves.
As I settled back into bed, it finally dawned on me. There was really nothing more I could do for both Lukas and Daddy now. I had come to terms with both their deaths, namely came face to face with the man responsible and there was nothing more I could have done. If I had exact my revenge, I would have only spilled even more unnecessary blood. I could finally truly let it all go and finally put the whole thing to rest. The only thing left now was for me to hold the memories of Lukas and Daddy in my heart and cherish it forever. I was finally free. Drifting back to sleep, I thought I felt the world tip upright again.
Author's Notes
=P That's the first thing that comes to my mind about this chapter. I have reread this chapter so many times it's practically numb to me. When I had some of friends to read it, the first thing they said was "It's kind of sad." I don't know as I said I am kinda numb right now. Please tell me what you think! If you found it depressing just know that this is the lowest the story is going to get to. Everything's uphill from here. Though next month I won't be able to update often since I'll be on vacation most of the time. Also to those who are worried about Zel arriving there before Amelia, don't worry it would happen. It took Zel three months to travel to that desert and will take him just as long (or less) to get back. Anyway, as I always thanks for all my faithful readers! Reviews really help me realize how I can improve in my stories as well. Lady that is blue signing out!