Creatures of the Light

Seventh Light

Seventh LightCreatures of the Light

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##### Seventh Light #####

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Piece by piece I arrange the crowns

Hoping that one day it will bloom back

Though a wish is just a wish

Other world has miracle over boundaries

“You have to die.”

The words sink into my mind. For a flash, it might sound crazy. But then, everything starts to make sense to me.

What is the way to end things, but death?

Yes. The logic is this simple. Why hasn't she figured it out before?

I take a stand from the ground, yet my eyes are still looking at Caraven.

“How do I make this effort a success?”

“Someone will have to perform a spell for you ─ the exchange spell.”

“Who?”

“Someone who is strong enough, and someone who Jullie Blancort does not know have the knowledge of the spell. In other words, me.”

“Why don’t we get started now, then?” I ask, walking towards the center of the room, where is it spacious enough to draw any pentagram needed or even any other necessary requirements that I have not heard of yet.

“There is still one catch, though,” he says in a wary tone.

“What is it?” I sound very impatient, almost scowling.

“I don’t know whether this will work well or not.”

“Why?”

For the first time in a while, he finally lifts his gaze to look me in the eyes in a penetrating manner.

“I have not practiced this spell before, let alone performed it. I can not guarantee the result, so I am giving this chance to you as the final resort.”

“But there is no any other final resort, Caraven. This is the finally resort.”

“No. You can still choose to stay as you are now.”

“And live like this for the rest of my life? I am sick of the way I speak right now. I sound like a lady from a much respected family, who has been raised strictly to act like a princess or even a perfect idolized doll. I do not want to live for the rest of my life sound like this. I do not even want to look like this. If there is a war that will break out someday in the future, how do you think I am going to fight? I don’t even know whether my family, the Noirmelns, will even want to receive my help as long as I am looking like this.”

“Yes, but is it worth the risk for your life, Arsene? Are you ready for the possibility of having to give your soul up? Are you ready to leave every single being that you ever care about, including Prince Lelouch and your husband, Valline?”

I blink a couple of times.

I do not expect him to bring Lelouch up into this conversation.

But he knows.

He knows that somewhere deep inside of me, I still care for Lelouch.

It is just not love....

“I know you still have feelings for Lelouch.” Caraven stands up from his bed, suddenly storming out to me. I back away in small, shaky steps as fast as I can, not wanting to hear anymore of this.

“No. I do not have feelings for him, Caraven. He and I might used to be such close friends, but everything has a limit on its own. Ours just could not last for that long.”

“Yes, because you discovered another side of him that you have not seen before. You discovered Lucious.”

“That is not─” I try to defend my advocacy, but he cuts me right away.

“Yes, it is. You know it very well deep inside you, Arsene. I know that you were traumatized deeply after that incident. You were just a small child back then, after all. I admit that it was partly my fault for not seeing Lucious coming out, but can’t you see just how much Prince Lelouch is hurting this whole time? You distancing yourself away from him is causing pain in his heart, making him feeling so lonely that he was ever before you came into his life.”

“I─I....” Stuttering, it is almost as if I can not talk.

“You know that, don’t you, Arsene? You finally remember, right? All of those sweet times you spent together with Prince Lelouch?” He corners me against a wall, extending each of his arms at my sides to prevent me from going anywhere else.

The look on his eyes ─ I have seen it before. It is just like how a psychotic villain retains. Dark and deep, and overall.... vile.

“Those are the past,” I manage to mumble.

“But the past is also real,” he persists.

“I do not want to live in the past,” my voice almost sounds like a cry, which I hate that it fathoms like this at the most crucial moment. The real me will never sound like this.

“Oh, but you have to. If you ever want to be your true self. You want to go back to your original form, don’t you, Arsene?” His voice is taunting me.

He is right, but I partly disagree with him at the same time.

It is true that I can only go back to my own self.... if I accept the past. Since my true self is in my past, and my current self is not.

But at the same time, I can not be by Lelouch’s side anymore. Because I already have someone else that I have sworn oath to spend the rest of my life with. Valline....

“I can’t do this, Caraven. You are trying to trick me, I know. But my answer is still the same; I can’t live in the past anymore. I have to move on.”

“And how are you going to do that, without my help?”

I close my eyes, suddenly feeling rather sick just by the way he is looking at me right now. The Caraven right now is not the same that is caring for his adoptive daughters. He is not the same as the one that has been taking good care of Lelouch up until now. He is now a symbol of.... evil.

With that, I made up mind, I open my eyes, wielding courage that I thought I have lost for good, and stare right at him.

“Then I guess I just have to do it myself.”

Then, without any further warning, I place both my palms on reach side of his head.

It is different from when I am pulling information out when I still have my dark powers.

This one feels rather light, glowing, and calm. I can feel both of us starting to relax, as piece by piece of his memory flows out like slides around us.

My eyes are engulfed with white, I know. Because Caraven’s eyes are also in the same shade, not leaving a single spot behind. The color possesses our eyes, signing that my attempt to peek into his memory is a success.

I have no idea how this works, since I have no knowledge of a Blancort having an ability such as this. But I am performing right at the moment. And I almost finished.

I lift my gaze around us, looking for the right slide, before removing one of my hands away from Caraven’s skull and point my hand at it.

The slide obediently floats towards me, slowly, and sinking itself right into me.

My skin.

My body.

My head.

And that is when I let Caraven off from my hand, allowing him to fall to the ground in such a weak state out of the exhaustion due to digging his memory out from his head.

I let him slide down to the carpet as I step out to find a better space to perform my next spell.

The exchange spell.

Now that I know how to use it, I can finally turn myself back.

Stepping to an empty space, my lips slowly chant the spell as I draw a pentagram on the floor with my white blood, which I draw out by biting the skin. The pentagram is actually the reverse of the symbol that I saw on Banri’s book, so it turns out exactly just like how it was on the book, since the form is still the same even when I flip it. Though one who draws the pentagram must be acknowledged that it is reversed, or otherwise it will not work at all.

Once finish, I stand in the middle of the pentagram, and kill myself with my own magic.

It does not hurt at all.

In fact, I have never felt so peaceful before.

Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that I am very close in changing myself back to normal.

Perhaps the knowledge helps.

And as I lay dying on the floor, my eyes can not linger upon anything better.... than the images of my love smiling once he sees the real me again....

I thought I would be embrace with the light once I wake up. For some reasons my body craves for its amenity more than it should. But I can feel the edges of the good signs as my consciousness slips into reality again. And though I feel like everything is still upside down, my skin tingles with the touches that my beloved sends to me, striking me lightly.

My body feels the need, and I snuggle into Valline deeper, circling my arms around his waist as I rest my head on his thighs. He welcomes me and wraps his own arms around me, securing me in his protection.

I have no idea how he is able to get here so quickly, but perhaps the process of my return is longer than I thought. He must have heard my thoughts through our family connection, and have stormed out right away to get me. And for that, I am glad. I have not felt this tired in my whole life, as if my energy is draining on its own. But in his arms, I know that I am safe....

However, for some reason I do not apprehend yet, I can not let go of this feeling of vacillating. Instead of feeling calm, I feel somehow in danger, which is weird considering that I am with Valline right now, wrapped in his arms.

Yet it seems as if darkness is trying to consume me. Not in a good way, but in a freezing way. My surroundings must be too dark that I am almost unable to move. This explains why I feel so tired. Not because my energy is diminishing, but because my movement is simply restrained.

When I try to raise myself from Valline’s lap, his hands are pulling me back to place, telling me to rest. But I can not do that in such an environment as this.

“N-no, I can’t.... Not now.... W-we have to go somewhere else first,” I struggle to tell him since my throat is now sore and dry.

“But where do you possibly would like to go to?” The reply sounds like chilling ice to my ears, snapping me from any weak thoughts that have crossed my mind. This voice.... It can not be.... “There is no other place you can escape to now.” I can hear that devilish vibration again, and the source is near....

It is against me.

With that realization, I force my eyes to blink open. At first I can see a pair of hands that each is taking a hold on each of my shoulders to keep me still. Then, there are the thighs that my head is leaning on to rest. Finally, I move my sight higher, finding a dark-clothed chest, which eventually leads to a faceless feature.

I can not see his face....

....The Devil.

Immediately I try to struggle myself away from him, but it is useless against his brute force and power. I know for once that he will not be holding back in trying to keep me still by harming me in any way possible since I have put quite a bothering spell on him. Moreover, the dimness of lighting in this place is just too lusterless that I can barely put a fight.

He tries to keep me still, but I manage to slip from his arms and about to roll over, expecting to fall to the floor. But he catches me quickly, and soon I found myself lying back against the cold stony chair he once sat on, with him pushing my shoulder blades back with his palms. He places himself on top of me, his unseen yet hell-freezing eyes are staring down at me in such a frightening manner, peering and destroying my soul from the outside. Then, I can feel him parting those snickering lips, forming a deadly grimace.

“Welcome back to Hell, Arsene.”