Terribly sorry for not updating this story for so long, I've been so busy with school and I kind of forgot that I had half a chapter finished on my iPad. Once again, I apologize for any spelling mistake which most definitely will occur but I did my best to track them and erase them, haha. I am sorry that this chapter turned out to be so very short but I will do my best to make it longer for the 3rd chapter. Thank you for reading chapter 2 of my story!
As he ran through the area, he could feel the nearly unbearable heat from the fire that was running amok and see the vegetation burn up into flames. The smell of the smoke searched its way up to his nostrils and left a bittersweet taste on his tongue.
The sight of the flames itself was very beautiful and impressive and Judal knew that if it hadn't been for the worry inside his heart that ate away at him alive like a parasite, he would most likely have been amused by the fire that was so out of control and like a beast burned down the country that had just hours ago been so full of life and joy. With children running on the streets and playing together, while the adults went to work and met their friends and colleagues but now not a single soul smiled or laughed, their emotions had instead turned into grief. Funny how everything can change in just a matter of seconds, joy can change to sorrow and life to death in just a moment.
Sindria was on fire and a big amount of the citizens had fled out on sea with the remaining boats that hadn't been set on fire in the harbor, which was a huge amount of children. Because, of course, the children of the country had been top priority and the adults came second. They were all currently in safety and out of danger from any current life threatening threat, since their only goal right now was to burn down their home and have them watch as they became homeless and has nowhere to go to anymore and they were forced to watch as the rest of Sinbad's people that had been forced to stay on their island burned up together with the monstrous fire and screamed for mercy.
And that was what worried Judal so much right now that he had to run around in this burning area and he could not just stand by and watch like he knew he would have if he knew that man was in safety, which he in this case was not but among there with the others somewhere in the suffocating and lethal flames.
Sinbad was among those people that had been forced to stay because they had no other choice, burning up in the flames and as the flames died down, his body would've turned to pure ash and the black Magi of the country which had started the fire, Kou Empire, couldn't just allow that to happen so easily.
If the king still refused to conquer the world with him, then Judal and only Judal, had the right to end his life when he wanted to, he would never allow some silly flames be the cause of the king's death, unless he so wished.
Also, Judal hadn't wished for this fire to start, they just went ahead and decided to do it without asking him first or discussing it with him and this very fact angered him a lot. He felt betrayed and actually forgotten, since they didn't announce their decision to him up until a few hours ago before they decided to start their, 'oh, so brilliant' plan.
Sindria was his territory and Sinbad was his and his alone, they had no right to just go ahead of him like that and to pretend that they could end the king's life whenever they felt like it. Perhaps they did because Kouen was aware of that the king of that country was a sensitive subject to Judal and therefore didn't let him have a say in it. Since he most likely knew that the Magi would've refused just the thought of it and suggest they left it all to him and stayed out of anything that had to do with the purple haired man which during the years became so important to the magi.
But these thoughts didn't matter to him right now, the only thing that actually mattered at all was to find Sinbad before it was too late and the smoke and fire chose to take him down with them.
Judal kept on running until he suddenly found himself standing in front of a wooden door with rather beautiful carvings into the material. Confused he looked around at absolutely nothing and realized that there was no fire around and it seemed like it hadn't even touched this special place, which currently was unknown to him and it surprised the Magi.
Slowly, he reached his hand out and put it on the small doorknob, somehow, he just knew that the door was open and all that he'd have to do was to give it a light push and then watch it open before his very eyes.
Judal took a deep breath and pushed the door open as he stepped inside the space that was behind the door, much to his surprise, he noticed that he was holding his breath and he entered the space behind the door he just opened to investigate. A strange, rather uncomfortable light came from the room and it took Judal a few seconds for his crimson eyes to adjust to the sharp and blinding light so that he could see things around himself again.
The sight that he was met by behind the closed doors made him flinch, as if he had been burned by fire or flinched away from pain, and his stomach twisted and turned when he saw a thick liquid, as red as his own eyes, pouring out from Sinbad's muscular chest, where also a metal sword had pierced him right made him wish that he would still be blinded by the light, unaware of what was waiting for him on the other side and he regretted even considering to open the door to find out what was behind it.
The black magi's eyes were wide as he stared at the man who just had been executed only a few minutes ago at most, not by him but by somebody else, somebody who had dared to steal the right he long ago had claimed to be his. This angered him a lot and he could feel it rise slowly inside of him, like water heated up to boil but the grief and shock from this sight still controlled his heart and held it in their claw like hands as he stared at the corpse of Sinbad, the great man.
Judal looked around, grief stricken and there stood Kouen, covered in blood which Judal was quite sure did not belong to him but the body of a dead man that was in this room.
He clenched his fists and grit his teeth as he glared at the first prince of the Kou Empire, who just smirked back at him, clearly pleased with what he had done.
"I promised to help you make the pain in your heart disappear. So I got rid of the cause of it."
Quickly he sat up, panting heavily and his body trembled as he tried to sort his thoughts out. His hair sticked to his now rather damp body, he assumed that he had been sweating as he experienced the horrible and confusing nightmare which he had now been waken up by.
Slowly, Judal bit gently at his bottom lip and stared at really nothing in front of himself, he was nearly as good as paralyzed and eventually he had calmed down enough for his body to stop trembling so much, as if he had been naked and surrounded with the purest and whitest snow you could find.. He ran his hand through his black bangs, that we're sticking to his forehead because he has been sweating during his dream and took a deep breath before he lifted his gaze, from whatever he had been looking at up until now and looked at the door. Now that he was awake, he could just get up and go somewhere, he thought since staying in bed for all day would most certainly bore him, as well as remind him of last night which had left him in terror as he fell asleep and would most likely scar him for the rest of his miserable life. He could go watch Hakuryuu train, bother Kougyoku, talk to Kouha or just watch Koumei, Hakuei didn't interest him as much as the first three choices. He knew that he would have to avoid an encounter with Kouen though and he wasn't really up for a meeting with him right now. Funny how when you believe that things couldn't get any worse than they already were, they do and take a turnout you didn't think we're possible.
His clothes were still piled up next to the bed since he hadn't bothered to get dressed again after yesterday's surprise, it had haunted at least one of his dreams this night and he had woken up with wet and red cheeks, which was a very embarrassing and humiliating thing for him to realize that he had been crying during the nightmare that had been a reminder of what Kouen did to him.
Judal sighed and reached for his clothes, he winced a bit from pain in the process, his body still hurt and as he realized a few bruises here and there, he groaned and his crimson orbs stared at the ugly gathering of blood cells underneath his skin.
The bruises were small and blue, as well as red and a bit purple and it looked horrible against his pale and rather beautiful skin. Perhaps it looked so horrible according to him because it reminded him of the shame he had felt when Kouen had taken advantage of his temporary weakness. His reasons though, did not matter that much, it looked awful and Judal even wanted to peel those parts of his skin off, so that nobody would have to see them. They tainted his skin like opposite colors, it doesn't belong there.
Eventually, after getting lost in thought once again for a while, he got dressed in his clothes and then he slowly stood up, because his whole body hurt and he didn't even want to think about how much walking would hurt him to do right now. So, he took a deep breath and took a few steps, to be aware of how much it would hurt and the pain made him feel a bit ill and lightheaded. Hadn't Kouen claimed the earlier day that he cared about the Magi's wellbeing? Yeah, right he definitely did not because now he felt even worse than he had when he woke up, because this just added to how horribly much he felt sorry for himself. He pitied his own pathetic situation he was in now and damn, if he hadn't felt ashamed before, then he did now.
It felt like he was moving in slow motion as he made his way out of his room, every step hurt him and he bit at his bottom lip, yeah, to watch Hakuryuu train sounded like a terrific idea since the other choices may force him to walk further than he believed he was able to in this state.
On his way there, he grabbed a few peaches and sat down on the ground as he watched the youngest of the four princes train. Judal took a bite of the juicy and sweet fruit while he observed Hakuryuu's way of training himself to get stronger. Actually, how deferment he was to get stronger was kind of cute but the Magi could sense the strong hate inside of the young man's heart and he had various of times been tempted to take advantage of him because he assumed that it would be interesting and rather fun.
However, right now the only reason that he was present at this time, was to take his mind off of all of the confusing things yesterday such as the never ending thoughts about Sinbad and what the oldest prince of the Kou Empire had done to him yesterday.
He sighed and once again took a bite from the peach he held in his hand as Hakuryuu turned around and looked at him with a stern face and Judal thought to himself that the hateful expression he wore on his face suited him very well. Hate, looked good on nearly every creature of this universe.
"Judal, what are you doing here?" asked the blue haired, young prince.
"I am sure that you have eyes to be able to tell yourself, Hakuryuu. I am watching you train." Judal said with a smirk playing on his lips.
"Then go away, unless you have something important to tell." answered the other man coldly.
"You're so cold." Judal said as he laughed at how serious the prince was.
Sighing, Hakuryuu decided to ignore the magi and he went back to his training, aware of that he was still there though.
Judal watched him for a while but as some time had passed, he grew bored and slowly stood up and, much to Hakuryuu's relief, left the youngest prince alone to continue his training on his own.
The Magi gazed up at the sky and watched the white and fluffy clouds.
'Damn,' he thought to himself. ',I can't stop thinking about him..'
Judal kept walking on and on by himself, eventually he had adjusted to the pain and was now used to it enough to be able to endure it with each step that he took. Despite that his body was in pain, he hid it quite well and avoided unnecessary questions about his own health and whether he was alright or not. Also, he had miraculously been able to avoid Kouen for all of the hours that has passed, which was a great thing and he was relieved to not have to encounter the first prince of the Kou Empire. Their meeting sure would be uncomfortable and awkward if they were to meet right now, well at least for him; he knew that for a fact.
As he kept walking, he thought about who else to bother, since he had already been watching Hakuryuu, Koumei and Kouha by now, so, he decided to check up on Kougyoku. The Magi walked towards her room and without knocking on the door, he opened it and stepped inside the princess' room, as if he owned the place. This was something he always did, Judal hardly ever knocked and would show up uninvited all of the time, because if he wanted to do something, he had the right to do it.
"Kougyoku," he said as he stepped inside and was just about to finish his sentence when he found the man he had been trying to avoid for the whole day, stand in the same room as the eight princess.
"Judal?" said Kougyoku and looked his way and so did the prince.
"I, uhm.." said Magi found himself staring at the oldest prince, in what he quite sure was fear, anger, confusion and shame mixed all together, he was certainly not fond of it since Kouen seemed to find it slightly entertaining. "Never mind!"
"Judal?" asked the young princess in confusion as she, together with her brother watched the magi leave the room as suddenly as he had arrived.
With a face turned red out of humiliation, Judal continued his walk down the lonely and empty halls, angered by the fact that he had walked into the eight princess' room, just to find out that the first prince, whom he had been doing his best to avoid up until now, was present in that room.
He let out a sigh, not fit for somebody with a character like him and he leaned against a wall, his crimson orbs locked on nothing but thin air. For once his mind was nothing but an empty shell as well and the Magi was unable to think anything at all. However, he preferred this rather than to have to think about a certain king and something that a prince had done to him. He embraced this emotion that caused him to feel empty, so lovingly, as if it had been a long lost lover and he had missed it for years. His reason for this was very simple, it kept him warm, like a blanket and allowed him to forget about Sinbad.
What he, himself did not realize that despite believing that it helped him forget, it filled him with a bitter emotion and a longing for him, since still, even though he believed otherwise, his mind was still obsessed with thoughts of the man with purple hair. It just tricked him with a bittersweet delusion, it lied and whispered sweet words but nothing but lies in his ears.
Let's destroy him, you hate him so much anyway.