Note: Here's the second chapter, but I have a few questions before you begin. First of all, I'm not sure I have this story under the right genre's, so if you could help me out, I would appreciate it very much. Also, I'm not sure if I should raise the rating after this chapter. Maybe I'm just being paranoid, I don't know, but if you think I should, please tell me. PLEASE!!!! So, anyway, have fun reading.
Near dawn of that morning, Janus was brutally awakened by several powerful kicks in the ribs, each one followed by insults directed at either himself, or the human race in general. It wasn't until he looked up with the intent of telling them all off that they finally stopped.
They didn't stop because he had awakened, however. The fact was that Janus wasn't entirely sure why they had stopped. All he really knew was that when he looked at them, a look of shock and fear would appear on their faces.
Janus, being arrogant and self-centered even at that age, at first tried to attribute this reaction to the glare he had presented them, though he somehow felt that this wasn't really the case. As the day went on, he began to doubt this even more. The Mystics seemed to be averting his eye. When he looked at one, it would jump a little and a look of disconcertion would spread across it's face. He didn't even have to glare at them to make them uneasy.
They were also constantly pointing at and whispering about him. He knew that he was the subject matter, because he overheard bits and pieces of their conversations, which read along the lines of, "This one is no regular human. Sir Ozzie was wise to take him along." Even Ozzie seemed somewhat wary of the blue-haired boy. Somehow, he severely doubted that just one glare could make all of these people so afraid of him, especially when they had never even heard of Zeal.
Before entering the cave, Ozzie had given all of his followers a warning. "Be on your guard! The monsters in here are likely to be more hostile than usual since we're carrying a human with us." Ozzie glanced at Janus when he said this, but as soon as the child looked up and met his eye, the Mystic looked away, that look of trepidation on his face again.
Just when a pair of Mystics began to gag the small boy and throw him onto their shoulders, Ozzie announced that he wanted him to walk, and to leave the gag out. "There's no point in gagging him. He'll be too busy trying to keep his footing to be able to talk. And let him walk. No need for us to go through any extra pains for the likes of him. Come on! Let's get this over with!"
The cave was very dark, and the small prince had to strain his eyes to see the very ground he walked on. As it would turn out, Ozzie was right about him trying to stay on his feet. He fell down three times in the course of one hour, adding to the many scrapes and bruises he already had. He received no sympathy from those he traveled with. In fact, when he fell, they stepped on him. If he walked too slow, they kicked him. If he cried out in pain, they laughed at him.
When he fell down a fourth time, he landed flat on his face, and his nose began to bleed. From what he could see of them through the darkness, the Mystics seemed very pleased and amused at the child's suffering. He wanted to kill them all, but he knew he could not in his present state, even if he could use magic. He was simply too weak, and was lucky to have strength enough to keep walking.
When they had first entered the cave, everyone seemed cautious and alert. This was not because they were trying to keep themselves from tripping over the many rocks that jutted out from the cave's floor at every angle, however. It was obvious that these creatures had traversed the cave enough times to know where to walk safely, so falling was not much of an issue. The only other reason for their guardedness that Janus could think of was that they were listening to Ozzie's earlier advice and watching for monsters. As such, the first few hours of their venture into the cave were spent in silence, broken only by the distant sound of water dripping, the occasional cry of pain that escaped from the child, and the snickering of the Mystics that soon followed.
Now they seemed to be letting their guard down. They had not yet been attacked by any monsters. Though this was unusual, none of the Mystics seemed too concerned about it. The most they would say of the matter was that they had good fortune. So, with their guard down, what was once silence was now enough noise to equal that of a small classroom. With the noise came more abuse for Janus. It seemed that their earlier skittishness toward him had subsided as well. It was as though their fear of him could only exist if they saw his face. The blue-haired prince soon had to begin looking out for more than just rocks on the ground, because many of the beasts started to purposefully trip him. Apparently, three or four face plants an hour were just not enough entertainment.
It was while he was avoiding one of their attempts to bring him crashing to the ground that he cut his foot on a sharp, protruding rock. It was a bad cut, and caused him to fall to the ground more often than before. At first, the pain from the wound kept him from getting up. Every time he tried he fell back down. However, the Mystics didn't stop or even slow down for him, and because he was afraid of being left alone in a dark cave, injured, he forced himself to get to his feet and continue, despite the agony his foot was in. He left a trail of blood behind him as he walked on.
Not long after he caught up with the rest of the group, Janus began to feel uneasy. He could swear that he saw something moving in the shadows. He wasn't worried too much about it at first; he knew that there were supposed to be monsters in the cave, and supposed that the movement he saw was just a few of these alleged monsters. However, he couldn't keep telling himself this, because it seemed to be the same creature each time, and it was always the same distance behind.
"We're being followed," he said, more to himself than anyone else.
"Nonsense, boy!" Ozzie had heard him. "Nothing in this cave would follow us. Now quit your sniveling and hurry up!"
Janus did as he was told, but he could not ignore the movement in the shadows he saw, or the vulgar sound of something licking at the ground.
What felt like days passed, but in reality it was only a few hours. The young prince was feeling a bit light headed from blood loss. The boy had been forced to walk in front of the group a while ago because the Mystics had become impatient with his frequent stopping and his insisting that something was following them. They also wanted to be close to him so that if he fell he could be quickly brought back to his feet with a good yank of the hair. It seemed as though even the joy of seeing a seven year old human child fall down and hurt itself could get old after awhile. Gradually, the cave's darkness began to lift. Every one seemed pleased that the end of the cavern was near. Smiles that did not come about from Janus' misery began to break out on everyone's faces.
However, two events were soon to occur that would not only shatter the growing feeling of relief that came with the prospect of emerging out of the cave alive, and amazingly un-harassed, and renew the fear that all of the Mystics felt earlier that day at the mere sight of the boy.
As they continued through the now considerably brighter, but still dark, cave, Janus came to an abrupt stop. This caused many of the Mystics to crash into him and fall themselves. The young prince did not seem to notice that he had caused any trouble, and was not even fazed when the rest of the group ran into him. He seemed to have been turned to stone.
Just as the Mystics were about to vent their frustration out on the cause of their accident, the Prince of Zeal's blue hair and expensive clothes began to sway, as if moved by an unfelt wind. This wind affected none of the others, just Janus. The sight was eerie, especially when mixed with the unearthly stare which the child's eyes had been set to, and it caused the band of travelers to be immediately silent.
Oh no, he thought. Not this. I don't have the strength to deal with this. Please no. I hate this. Oh, God, please not now…
His prayers were in vain. As the Mystics looked on, transfixed by the image they saw before them, Janus' eyes turned from the color they were just a moment ago, to an emerald green not of this world. Then, as if the color change had not been enough, his eyes began to glow ever so slightly.
He suddenly turned his gaze upon the crowd of Mystics that had stopped to witness the strange event. The sudden movement made every last one of them jump.
"The black wind howls. The reaper waits for you all…" This was the only thing the boy said, and he said it in a voice that did not seem possible for anyone, especially a child, to speak in. It was filled with death itself, and chilled the very bone.
The group of Mystics were scared. Never before had they seen a child, a human child, no less, behave or speak like this. They continued to stare at the boy as his eyes went back the color they had been before the incident and the strange wind around him died down.
Janus had been right when he said that he did not have the energy to withstand his prediction. After his appearance had gone back to the way it was just moments ago, he collapsed. He didn't faint or die, he just didn't have it in him to stand a moment longer. The blood that still dripped from his ankle began making a small puddle on the ground.
However, distracted as they were by the young prince's behavior, none of them realized the dark shape that was creeping toward them out of the shadows.
A ferocious roar was heard, and the sound of bones crunching came soon after. The entire group turned toward the roar and the foreboding sound that had followed it. What they saw was pure carnage.
A monster loomed where one of the Mystics once stood. None of the travelers had ever seen the likes of it in all their time of passing through that cave. It's huge frame took up the entire passageway. The blood of it's most recent victim was dripping from it's long, sharp teeth, and bits and pieces of that victim could be seen either dangling out of the beast's mouth, or scattered about around it's feet. It began to move toward the rest of the party, a carnivorous glint in it's eye.
It bore down on another of the Mystics. The rest of the group tried to kill it in order to save their doomed comrade, but their attacks left only small cuts on the monster's skin, and it did not seem to even notice.
"OH, SH-" was all that the unfortunate Mystic could say before the creature ripped him in two.
Knowing that they could do nothing to harm the creature, they all attempted to run. This seemed to only intrigue the beast more, for it chased after whatever moved and quickly devoured it's prey. Soon, all of the party except Janus and Ozzie laid torn in pieces at it's feet.
It sniffed the path that the blue-haired boy had taken before he had collapsed, and began to lick at it. After thinking for awhile, Janus realized what it was that had caused the creature to follow and attack the group.
My blood! It followed my blood! It probably found the puddle that had formed when I first hurt myself, and after tasting it the beast wanted more!
After sniffing around some more, the monster had found the boy, and was coming toward him. Janus still didn't have the strength to move, and could only watch in terror as it came closer.
Just when the beast seemed ready to attack, it was suddenly thrown against the wall by a powerful force. Ozzie had cast a very strong spell, and the effects of it had left a gaping hole in the creature's shoulder.
The beast still lived, however. It was back on it's feet after a few moments, but now it's target was the one who had interrupted it's hunting. Ozzie was ready for it. By the time it had gotten close to Ozzie once more, it was sent flying yet again by another magic attack.
Oh. So this is why he is their leader. He is very skilled with magic, and they probably fear him. Of course, I've seen better, but chances are they haven't. He is slow, though. It takes him until the beast is practically on top of him before the fat thug is able to attack again.
The monster finally fell after the fifth magic spell Ozzie had cast. He was panting, and seemed about ready to pass out. It seemed that even a magic fight was enough to nearly give him a heart attack.
Ozzie turned on the small child unexpectedly. "How did you know?" He said in a voice that was barely audible, and filled with a mixture of anger and awe. Janus didn't answer, but instead just stared at the fat, green king. "HOW DID YOU KNOW!?" This time he practically screamed the question.
"I-I don't know," he stammered.
"What do you mean you don't know!? You predict that this entire group is going to die, and you don't even know how you did it!?"
"It's something that I've been able to do my whole life. I can't control it. It just… happens." Janus was actually terrified of Ozzie at that moment. He was obviously angry, and the anger seemed to far outweigh the awe in his tone.
Ozzie cast a glance toward the prince's ankle, which was still dripping with blood. Realization dawned on his face, and his anger seemed to grow. "This was your fault. It followed you. If you weren't such a clumsy brat, this wouldn't have happened. Some of my best soldiers are dead because of you, and I will make you pay for it!"
Janus' short temper quickly reached it's end. He did not like being blamed for anything, even for things he knew were his fault, and being blamed for things he knew weren't his fault made him very angry. "It was not MY fault! If your stupid followers hadn't been picking on me, I wouldn't have cut my foot to begin with! And if YOU would have stopped long enough for me to be able to wrap the wound, I wouldn't have left a trail! For that matter, if YOU had just left me in the mountains where you found me, none of this would have happened! It serves you all right! As far as I'm concerned, they all got what they deserved… and you will get yours soon enough." He said the last part of this speech with a sound of pleasure in his tone, and this caused Ozzie to fear the child more than he had at any point earlier that day.
He quickly cleared his mind of the feeling, thinking it stupid to fear a child. The look of disconcertion that had momentarily flitted across his face was soon replaced by one of malevolence.
"Well, I suppose they weren't that important. If they had been, I would have stepped in after the second one was killed. No. You were the most important one here; other than myself, of course. I had to protect you. You seem to be different than other humans. You possess power. It doesn't look as though you have magic power, but you are still capable of things that others aren't. You could prove to be valuable beyond money purposes. Besides," he added, that evil look spreading across his entire face, "If anyone will have the pleasure of destroying you, it will be me, not some mindless monster who can't enjoy the kill."
He laughed as he said this, and Janus knew that unless he proved to be as useful as Ozzie thought he could be, he would be dead before long.
Finally, Ozzie regained his composure, and once again pulled the boy to his feet using his blue hair. "Get going! We're not far from the end of this cave, and if you slow down at all, I'll drag you along by your hair!"
"Ooooo… how original…" The young prince couldn't keep himself from saying this, and was rewarded with a blow to the head.
"Talk back again to me, boy, and I'll cut out your tongue! Now move!"
They traveled the rest of the way in silence, and when they finally emerged from the cave, the day was well into the afternoon.
"That took longer than it should have, even with you along." Ozzie had not been too pleased with Janus' speed. He never actually did resort to pulling the child along by the hair, but he still constantly yelled at him to walk faster, and would then either kick, hit, or push him. "We still have about a half hour walk ahead of us, and I want to hear nothing out of you on the way!" He then floated past the Prince of Zeal, hitting him so hard in the back of the head as he passed by that Janus was sent reeling to the ground.
Oh yes, "Sir" Ozzie. You will get yours soon enough. And getting back to his feet, the blue-haired boy followed the fat king, a fiendish smile spreading across his face.
A/N: Okay, so this chapter really didn't have much of a point except to make you feel bad for Janus. However, it did cause Janus to declare revenge on a second person, so this chapter actually did accomplish something. I promise that I'll explain why all of the Mystics were afraid of Janus when he woke up that morning in the next chapter, I just wanted to make you all ponder for a while. *Evil smile* So, anyway, read and review and, if you feel like it, answer the questions I had at the beginning of my story. Thanks for reading!!!!