Chapter Eight: History

"This is a very…interesting home you have here, Vyne. It seems your power has steadily grown over the years."

Vyne faced his old friend, Allegretto, and gave a polite bow with a sweep of his hand, "I thank you for the flattery, but honestly, this power is nothing beautiful. I am simply a revelator who was given a portion of Dievas' talent to create objects and construct pathways."

"What do you mean?"

Vyne gently clasped his hands and rubbed them together as he crouched before the crackling fireplace that spat sparks as Allegretto used a steel pole to move the logs that were being eaten alive. The revelator stared at the flames that compelled visions of an earlier time in history that featured death, but he shook them away and placed his heart in a more secluded and sullen place beneath his chest, "I am cursed."

"Earlier you said Kuroi was cursed as well," Allegretto started while scanning over his friend's illuminated tight expression across his humorless face.

Vyne chuckled lowly and ran his fingers through his hair, but after a short moment, they crawled over to his parting banes that created from the pressure of his goggles, and he pulled away the long bane that fell between his eyes which revealed a dark numeric symbol that was stamped on his forehead. Allegretto was silent as he gazed at it, intrigued by the symbol that presented itself as a burnt and odd glowing purple along the edges of a singular number. Vyne allowed his bane to fall back into place, "This one stand as the amount of time I have left. I have one year left."

"What? What are you talking about? This curse is…fatal?"

Vyne allowed no quarter of gentle emotion to leave off the trail of his breath, and in its place took a somber expression that spelled doom, "It is fatal. I have lost plenty of friends to this curse. The friends I fought with in the war for freedom at the beginning of our continent, Savital, were victims and even those that stuck by me in the strife the young prince of Fedimian faced over two-hundred years ago. I was there when they were swallowed by their own power given to them by the curse. It is a mysterious thing that will take all the revelators on the planet eventually, for I know this from being one of the survivors of the first generation of revelators. It's like an apocalyptic plague that can reveal itself at any time. My timer is slowly deceasing and soon…I will die, Allegretto. My hunch is that…this curse is meant to reduce the number of revelators, for we can't die by normal means."

"Is there anything I can do? Anything at all?" Allegretto stared hard at his friend, urging him to speak of a solution.

"There is nothing to be done, Allegretto," Vyne stood up and gazed over his shoulders at the other members of Noblesse searching the living room and Serus who was gracefully sipping on a cup of tea. "I can only do what I can now."

"Is that honestly your final verdict?" Allegretto stepped closer and grabbed his forearm. "To give up?"

"I've been alive for over a thousand years," Vyne snapped. "You think I haven't searched? Even the gods will not relieve me of this premonition. It's my fate to die…just like any other human on Savital."

Allegretto released him and stepped back while gazing at the flames again, "Just a year…I wish I would have known this earlier. I would have helped in whatever way I could. You are the one who saved me from being murdered alongside my family. I owe you too much as my savior and friend. Why have you kept it from me so long?"

"That's exactly the reason. We parted ways for a good reason, Allegretto. As your friend, I wouldn't break you away from your family. Your life doesn't always have to concern strife and death. I wanted you to start over and find a new purpose in your life and somehow you fancied the heart of a beautiful goddess that we met wandering in Goddess' Ancient Garden just below Fedimian. I didn't want to break that bond you made with Laima."

"I…," Allegretto sighed. "Still, I would have helped you. Lai could have helped you. We saw you as a part of our family, Vyne."

"I'm flattered, really," he smiled sadly and his weak eyes closed slightly as his brows furrowed. "With the time I have, help me make this world right. Laima needs our help and Corruption needs to be stopped before any other destruction is caused."

"Alright. Vyne—" Allegretto stuck out his hand. "—this last time. Please, let me pay my debt."

Vyne took hold of his hand and shook it firmly as his eyes glinted with conviction, "Just don't go getting yourself killed."

"Hey, kid."

"I have a name."

Kuroi scratched his head with a mild irritation and said, "Hey, Monaco…how old are you?"

"Why are you wonderin'?" the boy snapped and stopped in his tracks to glare at the revelator.

Neclaytia stopped in front of him and invaded his space, which made him jerk back in embarrassment, "Stop being so mean. You represent Noblesse. Be a man and treat your allies and clients with care."

Monaco frowned and said, "I told ya' I just—"

"The little lady has a point, Monaco," Kuroi interrupted. "This may not be my business, but as it stands, you aren't representing Noblesse who are the people I know that are well-respected in this kingdom."

"I was only given a job to hunt monsters alongside Allegretto and the others. I didn't sign up for a family and being put on a pedestal for everyone to respect me. To hell with respect! I'm being patronized for my desire to live a life of freedom rather than being caged and restricted 'cause of some damn rules I have to abide by."

"Why are you so angry?" Neclaytia became worried and reached out for him, but he pulled away immediately and turned his muscular shoulders to her.

"I wanted to help your pops like he helped me. He saved my life and brought me into Noblesse despite knowing who I truly was. I was only a guy looking for a false dream. Months back, I believed in that dream…and my friend did too. We were fools. Our fates are sealed from the moment we are born."

"That's not true!"

Monaco was surprised by her outburst and stared at her as she spoke passionately, edging closer to him, "That's not true at all. Your fate isn't sealed. You have so much power to change your future and it takes just the littlest things to make it right. I don't know your past, Monaco, but I know for sure that no matter how bleak it may have been, your future is still able to change if you survive that struggle. I…have a goal now. I'm finally taking the steps to secure the future I want. Anything can change."

"When did you become a person of words?" Monaco glared. "Actions and progress speak louder."

"I don't believe you have place to say those things," Kuroi stepped in front of Neclaytia. "I asked your age because you're obviously young and haven't experienced everything, but there's more to your story I'm sure. Those eyes and that scar…you could have only been one thing from my times in Orsha."

"Go ahead and say it then," Monaco dared him.

"You were once a slave, but you escaped."

"A slave?!" Neclaytia appeared beside him and gasped as she stared at Monaco. "Is that true?"

"It's true," Monaco nodded absentmindedly. "I was a filthy slave once who had to fight in the Coliseum, so what? That was all in the past and I'm more worried about my freedom than any rules that can bound me."

"This girl here—" Kuroi said strongly as she rested his hand on her shoulder. "—and the others in Noblesse are all you have now. You are free from being a slave and pressed to fight for your life every day, but the outside world isn't any different from within a cell. You are meant to pursue certain things because only you can and you build off of that to become stronger than that weak shell you had in the past. You may not like these rules, but you will have to rely on them if you want to end the Slavery Order. If not careful, you will lose the only people you can call family in this world while you decided to be bias and block them from your true emotions. You're still a young man learning to grow. Don't make this mistake. This girl cares about you, but you make it hard for her."

Monaco wanted to say anything to rebuttal his words, but nothing came to mind. Neclaytia was silent for once as well, and simply cast her eyes to the ground. There were many occasions where she had thrown around the word "slave" lightly and had to watch the horrors that would happen to them on their travels. Monaco said nothing at all about it and hid his emotions well to keep his sanity. The young man stared into Kuroi's eyes, "Why are you tellin' me this? We just met you."

Kuroi placed his arms behind his head while his elbows were forced up and pointing in front of him as he trudged forward, "I had a friend who was a slave."

Monaco tried to keep pace with him, but Kuroi ended the conversation with three simple words, "She is dead."

The young soul stopped his pursuit and watched the revelator descend further down the hilly path, for he retreated closer to the bridge needed to cross to enter the gates of Orsha. Neclaytia watched her Monaco stand there with slumped shoulders. All the memories were returning to him and they were agonizing to his heart and soul. He never knew happiness all his life and only inhaled the devil's influence. There was no light within his heart and he knew not where to get it. She tightened her lips together and grabbed Monaco's arm, "Come."

He didn't question her action, but merely stared at her silver hair that swayed and dipped along the consistent currents of the air. The grip of her hand shook with every step as they followed after Kuroi and Monaco didn't take this as a symbol of fear from her, but as a symbol of shame. She knew how badly slaves were treated and was torn up about it, but Monaco didn't want to be seen that way, so he said, "Don't go worryin' about me."

"Right," she said, which relaxed her grip. "I'm sorry."

Kuroi looked over his shoulder at the members of Noblesse and sighed in relief, "They both are still growing. I just hope they are prepared for this."

The revelator halted at the foot of the bridge and stared at the other side, mesmerized by the huge wooden gate dressed with protective barriers that were lifted and extravagant dark designs along the body. A few soldiers stood on guard on the bridge and there were a few travelers leaving, but also some heading into Orsha's gate. While he stood there, a memory suddenly appeared within his thoughts which resulted into a clear image of a smiling woman. He reacted dully to the smell of the river underneath the bridge and flowers which brought about the memory of the slave he met. He gazed out to the glimmering river and pulled aside his cloak to reveal the numeric curse stamped onto his neck. He was silent for a while as his fingers grazed over the number ten that mixed with the darkness eating his body and his pale skin, "Guess I went from being a freelancer to death row now. This may be my last battle, or even the next may be. Watch over me, Asura."