Creatures of the Light

Tenth Light

Tenth LightCreatures of the Light

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##### Tenth Light #####

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Black like ink.

Black in heart.

Black in soul.

Black to the core.

White like chalk.

White by mask.

White in eyes.

White in love.

Grey to dull.

Grey until dusk.

Grey anywhere.

Grey in the air.

In which color,

Whoever they are,

There is no denial,

Shall own a patch of the opposite.

“Lelouch.” I find myself for the second time inside the prince’s chamber after decades of not coming back. Although this time, a few things are different. For one, I am no longer a child anymore. And second, I am not the same as the wizard who entered this zone unawarely. Those are the weaker versions of me. And this serpent is about to meet the relentless me.

This is the real me, and I have nothing more to fear.

"Sssssso, you have deccccccided to come again. Not sssssso afraid are you now, little girl?" That sinister voice echoes from the dark part of the room, the source slithering in the shadows.

I narrow my eyes by the insult. In what point of view that I look like a little girl? I am in my twenties, for creatures' sake. Does my face really hit the impression that I am that young? How silly, if he really believes in that.

Smirking at him, I reply, "I am honored that you even thought of me to be that young. But do trust me when I say this: I am not as naive or as helpless as I appear to be." A glint of danger is reflecting in my eyes when I say these words.

Suddenly, I can feel his presence just right behind me. His tail begins to circle on the floor around me as his lips whisper beside my right ear.

“Oh, I now just exactly how old and exxxxxxperiencccccced you are. Yet I can not help but to tempt your anger. You look very fiercccccce and gorgeous at the same time. The way your dark eyes burn with anger is just ssssssuch a turn on.”

My smirk disappears instantly and I replace it with a serious thin line as I turn to the serpent behind me. A black fire appears from my left palm with one simple hand-turning gesture, burning so intense that it reaches up to two meters high, almost kissing the ceiling.

“Why don’t we cut the raff and get to the point instead? I am sure that you have known from Lelouch that I am not the type that really settles well with useless, courtesy talk. I am here to speak with him, and if you do not allow it, I am afraid I will just have to force my will.”

A sinister glint resurfaces from his violet cylinder eyes. The edges of his lips are twitching with dangerous excitement when he replies, “I can ssssssettle with that idea.”

And then it begins.

I drop my fire to his tail, burning his black scales. Lucious seems taken in surprise at first, anticipating the pain, until the fire eventually dies down after being unable to harm him. He uses that chance to launch an attack back at me, using his perfectly fine tail to wrap my body in it.

The giant tail almost crushes me when its scales barely touch me, but I turn myself into a shadow, going through the air, and finally teleport myself to a few meters away in a flash. His tail grabs thin air before he even realizes it, but he does not take long in looking around to spot my new location. He unfolds the hold his tail has and whips it at me, carrying heavy wind.

My feet jump up from the carpet just in time, letting his thick scaly tail crushes the ground instead, cracking and the once smooth exterior is now uneven. The weight can almost be compared to a landing whale. But he can move so fast and manages to grab one of my feet, pulling me back down. I am swung across the room, but thankfully only landed on the bed. Something feels quite familiar about this pattern already, especially when Lucious takes no time is sliding on my side and places half of his body weight on top of me.

But I can pull shadows from everywhere this time. The lighting is not so bad here, since the chandeliers and candles are still working. And in mere seconds, I have ten tentacles ready to cover me already ─ each is very dark, very solid, and very whipping strong.

Lucious takes no break in striking me. He moves his tail up, trying to get to me. But of course, my tentacles stop him from doing so, warding and preventing him from touching me. What I do not expect is just how hard it is to keep him still, and just how heavy each blow I can to counter him. He is stronger than I thought. The fact that he is shifty is not helping either, because those are the worst combination one individual may have.

“What’s the matter, Arsene?” he leans in as he speaks to me, forcing my tentacles to back down a few inches. “Getting tired already? Well, too bad, because I am just sssssstarting.”

His arms are not covered in scale this time. And when I take a split second to notice, those black scales of his only covers him from waist down, never touching above it. He is also shirtless for some reason, showing his well-formed muscles and smooth light skin tone. He extends his hand towards me, which of course is blocked by one of my tentacles. My tentacle is shielding him from me, but he takes me by surprise when he uses his bare hand to get a hold around it and start choking it.... until I lose focus on keeping the tentacle still. On thin air. Just like that.

“Cold. You’re getting cold. I can feel it,” he says, his deep voice echoing, making me tremble slightly in panic. “Such a contradictory, since I am feeling hot, as I can’t wait to touch you─”

Right at that moment, it feels like my remaining tentacles are being awakened. They become stronger, thicker, faster, and even more aware than before. My focus also becomes better, pushing Lucious and his tail to back away in a rather forceful manner, much because I do not want to be a victim to anything. I do not allow him to get any break and just keep whipping my tentacles at him, countering any of his attempts to attack until he is cornered to one side of a wall. I do not move, and my tentacles only extend while they push him away. Finally, I use that chance to summon more shadows and make a cage around him.

Lucious still tries to fight it, pulling his tail back and whipping it against the bar. The impact is as strong as an angry gorilla’s. The chamber is shaking from the force. He waves the power everywhere around the cage, pushing the air into heavier pressure. It is almost hard to breathe in here, and the cage is ought to shatter. I just have to make it stronger, though.

“Let me talk to him,” I demand once I renew the cage’s strength.

“Not going to happen. I have told you that I will never go back to that dark place ─ barely even as a subconscious,” he replies, rather bitterly this time as he wraps his fingers around the shadow bars.

“I need to speak with him. And after that, you are welcome to come back and create havoc at this palace. I won’t care.”

Lucious only smirks at me, looking as if he plans something, before he leaves. His body shifts back into Lelouch’s wizard form, his scales starting to disappear along with his tail. I almost can not believe just how fast he agrees to this, before I quickly realize what his plan is and turn my head away.

“Arsene....” His voice sounds so moved and lonely from behind the bars. I do not have the need to keep him still anymore and removes the cage, allowing the shadows of it to go back to their sources everywhere around the chamber. He walks toward me very quickly once the cage is not there to stop him anymore, and he immediately pulls me into a hug. “You came back,” he whispers raspily, the arms around my body tighten.

“I did,” I begin slowly. “Why did you let him loose?” I ask, can not help but to let the disappointment rolls out from my tongue.”

“I could not help it. I was feeling desperate. I thought there was no reason for me to live anymore. And I just want this pain in my heart to go away. I was devastated when I heard the news about your marriage, even when I knew that you have finally found the one you truly love. Even when I was the one who told you to chase after him, letting you go was the hardest thing I have ever done. I couldn’t do it anymore. Please, Arsene. Don’t disappear from my life. It’s not enough just by watching you from a distance, especially when you are always smiling with him.” He pulls me harder against him. “Please,” he begs me.

“I’m sorry that I ran away. I was so scared back then that I let it hinder our friendship. I should have known better than to be scared of you because it was not you at all who threatened me back then. I was just.... afraid.” I pause for a moment. “But it was not because of you or your other self, I eventually realized. It was the fear of falling in love that made me unable to go back. I have heard of the things love can do to anyone, and how it would affect every aspect of their lives. I was afraid, but I should have known better, though. Fear is strong, but love is stronger. I just regret that I couldn’t do anything to help you as a friend for this whole time.”

“Arsene....” He buries his face to my neck and inhale deeply. “It’s okay. You are here now. That’s what matters, right?” I can feel how light his mood is now.

I am so relieved.

“Don’t let Lucious comes back, though,” I say in a concerned tone. “He will destroy everything.”

“I won’t,” he promises.

“We can still be friends. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yes. And that will be enough. As long as I can have you by my side, even when you do not love me back. It is better than being abandoned.”

I can detect the aching pain, hidden somewhere far away, and I hate the fact that I can not do anything about it. But sometimes, not everything can be achieved perfectly.

After making things up with Lelouch, I bid my goodbye to him and Caraven. I blame the stress of having to handle Lucious for the past few weeks, but Caraven still insists on apologizing. If Lucious could scare someone like me when he has just a child as well, it is possible for him to turn even the most loyal subject of Lelouch’s into acting like a psychopath in time. Lucious can be really.... affecting.

“Please take good care of him,” I tell Caraven when we are at the front doors as he nods in response, before I turn to Lelouch. “And you are always welcome to invite me to the palace again, if you would like to.”

“How about I visit yours some other time?”

“That will be fine as well, though can be rather suspicious. What will the prince of wizard be doing in the Noirmelns Castle? My family will not hesitate on taking your arrival into a compromising decision, you know. It is not like everyday that a royal come to your place.”

“Good enough for me,” he beams before I walk down the stairs, teleporting myself back home.

I arrive around the perimeter of the forest boundary, having the mood to take a walk through the beautiful, mystic dead forest, when something catches my eyes. A shine, momentarily glow so radiantly, coming from a pond not far from the path I choose to take. Being inquisitive, I turn my heels towards it, eyes lingering on the influxing surface.

Something must have dropped on the pond or perhaps something just rise up from it. But I can not see any leaf floating on the clear surface, or even a small rock on the bottom. So what caused the ripple?

In cue, as if hearing my question, bubbles start to show up from underneath. The pond is no wider than two meters, and the depth can not be more than a few inches. There is nothing inside the pond, as the water is crystal clear. What astounds me the most is when a wisp of deep blue hair, which belongs to a head, appears from inside the pond.

The eyes, which are an aggregate sphere of coral green, are glaring at me, while I have no idea what mistakes I have done to their owner. The head only resurfaces up to the line of its eyes, having no glimpse of where is the rest of it from the limpid water. After resting its eyes on me for a while, it starts to scan around the area, before settling back to me when it finds no one else to be around. That is when the creature rises up from the water portal that connects to the pond.