The Devil's Crown

LXII Love At First Sight.

*How long are you going to stay in bed?* Orathan asked again the moment that Elfric snapped out of his dazed sleep.

“Shouldn’t I be the one to ask you that?” He forced himself to sit straight. It’s already the third day and he didn’t think he had the strength in his legs to carry himself. “How the hell did I get a fever when I literally have the devil inside?!”

Orathan had no clue what he meant by that. *It’s normal for your kind, a small thing as a disease is enough to kill you* he said.

“That’s your fault,” Elfric hissed. “Not a disease.”

*I told you to stop and you ignored my warning* he simply said.

Well, Rick couldn’t argue with that. “Your training has been killing me as well,” Rick mentioned.

The moment that Elfric awakened the other day, Orathan insisted that they start training his soul…what that meant was still a mystery to him till now.

*We train again* Orathan said. *Get ready.*

“I have barely opened my eyes!” he protested.

*You always said that and we never get a minute of silence when your sister knows you are awake. We train first* he repeated.

Elfric sighed. Something about Orathan has changed since they returned. Almost as if he was struck with the realization of how serious this was. Orathan seriously believed that the other day, he was going to lose his host. The only way to prevent that from happening is to train him to be able to contain his power.

*Now close your eyes*

Elfric took in a shaky breath, crossing his legs underneath him with one hand on each knee and he allowed his eyelid to close. He has now figured the basics – which wasn’t enough – he could barely cause a spark of cold fire when his power is under control.

*Slowly let it slip through your body*

Elfric did as he was told he took a deep breath and allowed it all to slip away…

*TOO MUCH*

The sound was too loud and echoed in his ears that Rick flinched. That damned devil was too loud, his very voice was still too much for him to handle on regular basis…you could only imagine when it’s loud.

*When you use your powers it seeps through you like a broken vessel* he said. *You need to learn to contain it. Feel it seep through your fingertips ready to destroy.*

“It’s hard…” Elfric muttered already feeling what Orathan was expressing. Something was running through him in his blood, it felt like it was tearing them apart. He felt himself heat up and the sweat trail down his temple.

*This is what’s making you sick!* Orathan pointed out, his voice at the very back of Rick’s mind. *You are fighting it, it heats up. As a result, your body counters attack as if it’s a disease.*

Elfric felt his head lighten up from the fever eating at his insides. But he fought the urge to faint and took calm breathes. Almost as if he was soothing down a crying baby inside him. He tried to believe that whatever is inside him could feel it…He needs it.

If he is ever to use this to reach his goals then he needs to control it…*No wait* he thought, his eyes blew open as the answer came crashing down on him…he has been doing it wrong all along

*You have found it…*

Elfric took a deep breath. Whatever this was inside his veins, it wasn’t a beast to tame…it’s a part of him to soothe. He has finally realized that this power was now entangled with him, it was one and the same as the blood coursing through him. He was trying to do it the wrong way all along. Nothing was residing inside him, it was him…he needed to accept *him*.

The faint knocking on the door was enough to make him snap back to reality from anything that he has been doing. After he felt the power at the end of his fingertips, he also felt it withdraw almost as if it was shy from the interruption…Elfric was annoyed by the knocking but it kept on either way.

“Rick, are you still sleeping?” He heard Joanna from the other side.

He took a deep breath as he allowed himself to fall back into the bed with a loud thud. “I’m awake,” he mumbled, the walls were thin, there was no hoping that Joanna will turn around and leave him to the silence of his room.

He eyed the door as his sister’s small figure found its way through it. “Is everything okay?” He managed to ask.

“Chris is here to see you,” she went straight to the point.

“Christopher?” He raised a brow.

“Do you know anyone else by that name, Rick!?” she rolled her eyes, part of her was still having a hard time believing that even this big body is capable of getting sick. Clearly, she was also upset about having to stay home because of him.

“Just let him in,”

She disappeared and soon Chris was inside the cramped up room. He helped himself to the chair in front of the small desk against the wall. Wanting to make sure that this wasn’t his first time here, he has been here a lot with Elfric since they knew each other. A friendly gesture to save Elfric the trouble of going all the way to Lauxdale to visit Chris.

Christopher always knew the hate that Rick carries for the Nobles, he couldn’t blame him neither force him. It wasn’t like he hated coming to the slums either, the commoner part of him – he thought. All he had to do was staying away from standing out from the crowd and it was like a walk in the park. Not to mention that Rick’s mother was more than welcoming his visits.

“I’m here to make your son’s miserable life less miserable, Ma’am,” Christopher’s motto, he made it habit taking not of Lorena – Rick’s mother – smile whenever he says. She was grateful for a good friend in her son’s life.

“You never came unannounced,” Elfric broke the silence, the staring competition was getting out of hand.

“If a certain someone cared to charge their phone then we could have announced,” Chris scoffed, eyeing the dead phone on the desk.

Elfric took a moment to input the mock, discovering that he forgot about his phone since he came back from the Hotel.

“I had more important concerns to take care of,” Elfric replied.

Chris narrowed his green eyes, detecting the hesitation that lasted nothing more than a second but he let it go. “Anyway, I had to come to check up on you,” he changed the subject. “You have never missed school without at least telling me, and then your sister told me your sick in bed.”

“You wanted to see for yourself,” Elfric raised an eyebrow. “You are too excited coming here knowing I’m sick.”

“I’ve never seen you sick, Rick!” Chris confessed, holding his hands above his head at the spectacle. “I had to witness the impossible.”

Elfric chuckled mockingly. In the back of his mind, he could note the subsiding of the burn that he has been feeling. Chris might have interrupted him from completely the Orathan Training 101, but he believes he got the hang of it. He could feel that he got it right this time. He was more at ease…secure.

“BY THE WAY!”

Elfric almost got knocked into the wall by surprise. “What!” Elfric spat out.

“How the hell do you know Roxana!?”

“Rox-who?”

“Roxana Cosmos!”

Elfric blinked in ignorance wondering if his friend has finally lost it. Though he does find the name Cosmos familiar.

“You seriously don’t know her?!”

He shook his head, his Heterochronic eyes wide open.

“Then why the hell are they asking me to get to know you?!”

“Eh?”

“I got a letter a while ago from the Cosmos family,” Chris explained. “They were wondering if I was in acquaintances with a white-haired boy and golden eyes.”

“I don’t have golden eyes,”

“You have one…literally speaking…”

Elfric shoots him a glare.

 “Come on! you know that if your side profile you will see one eye!”

Elfric was quiet as he saw the truth in his nonsense. “But why would you get a letter like that? They want to know me…Cosmos?!”

Elfric not long after came to the identity of Cosmos family, it was the same family his father worked in…he was disappointed at himself for forgetting such details about his father. He barely knew him and wanted to keep those small details that he remembers about him…Guess that wasn’t easy anymore.

Back to the present moment, why would someone like them want to know him and through Chris?

“I think she might have spotted you in the ball the other night,” Chris came to a conclusion. “No one knew you back there which is unusual since everyone kind of knows everyone.”

“And you were with me through it all…” Elfric finished the thought. “They can get to you but not to me.”

“I think their daughter fell in love with you at first sight,” Chris said.