Red Roots

3: The Burning Sky

The Burning SkyI press my back hard against the farthest side of the room, trying to get away from him. The surface is not smooth, and I end up with a sharp edge from one of the furniture connects behind my back. Is it a wall decoration? A frame? A sword? I can’t really focus on that right now, because this tormentous feeling is consuming me deadly.

“Amethyst, what are you doing?” he asks me, voice so smooth it always draws me back in. But I can’t─ No, I won’t.

“What’s wrong? Why do you....” he climbs off the bed so fast his figure becomes a blur, one that becomes solid once more right in front of me. My body grows tenser by the closing distance. “....look so afraid? Did I do something wrong?”

Something wrong? Of course he did! Why is he even asking? He was the one who did it to me. And yet here he is, asking me softly, as if he has no clue of what has happened.

“Amethyst....” he reaches out his hand to me, but I panic right away.

“No! Please!” I use my arms to block my head from him. “I can’t look at you right now ─ not when you look like this. Please, just change to your other appearance.”

Vallénce retrieves his hand and the glamour comes up. Standing in front of me is not that tall pureblood anymore, but the child version that I have grown to love. At the sight of him, I can’t help but drop on my knees and wrap my arms around his body.

“I’m sorry. I thought that you do not mind about it anymore, but.... I am at fault. I should have better control over myself. Yet when I touched you, I felt like I was going crazy. I.... I couldn’t control my inner desire,” he confesses lowly into my ear, his hands soothing my back in a calming manner.

My aura turns stable again through his contingence. In the arms of that other appearance, I am torn between being afraid and loving him. But in these angelic features, how can I ever doubt him?

The next morning starts with what he have left off at the hunting game. Spectators that come from each corner of the empire join us once more in a great day in the city’s stadium. Rytho self-points himself as the host again this time, and we are down to the final round of the second stage.

My opponent turns out to be group nine, but I don’t see anyone worth wasting my time for, so I practically omit them in less than a five minute match. There really is no need for us to compete, since it is obvious who the winner is in the first place. Though it seems like we still have to go through the casualties.

The round ends with very injured participants from the other team players. Some have their heads being splattered all over the vampire-size board field, some find their necks twisted for one hundred and eighty degrees, why some just have their body parts go detached.

The vampires who watch the entire round cheer in excitement when I checkmate the opposing Chessmaster. Their team players are all down by that point. They are brought into the resting room by my Facility workers, being tent to and fed with blood for their quick recoveries.

“Alright. We have finally come down to an end. This stage will be the deal breaker of this years’ annual hunting game. Which team will be the one which gets the chance to hunt down the golden deer? Who will be the year’s best Chessmaster or Chessmistress yet? Don’t leave your sits, because things are about to get really burning!” Rytho is in so much enthusiasm that he just has to shout out loud. Echoes of replies blend in one strong zeal from all over the stadium.

It is now me against Vallénce, and we are free to choose our players. I definitely have to speak fast, before Vallénce gets his hands on the good ones. I choose my siblings, obviously, followed by a few other purebloods and other vampires from different social rankings. I even include the Black Brothers, Wrath and Gluttony, who are actually here for the day only to watch the match. But there is no limitation of who I can choose, as long as they are from the same race.

Vallénce can’t hide his smile when he sees my dark muscled knights drop themselves from the spectators’ sits and into the field. He chooses a few stronger vampires for his own team, including Wallow and his sister, Vilvia. I take my chance to handpick the other possible candidates, and he takes his, until we are finally even by sixteen-sixteen.

The system changes the scenery of the field into one that resembles a real forest. Trees are displayed all around the field through source code three-dimensional projection. The white and red squares disappear, replaced by green grass and wild plants. The arena completely changes until we can’t even see the spectators. This final stage definitely gives us the complete privacy to just focus on our moves and be free to act, though I know that they can still watch through the screen provided.

Each of my siblings takes turn to take positions on the field, like how it was when on a game board. But when it comes to Altore’s turn, I spot him my raising my hand to the level of his chest. He looks at me in question.

“No. You take the Chessmaster position. I’ll be the Queen.”

He smirks at the offer. “What’s the occasion?”

“You said you wanted to proof yourself, right? You wanted to fight Vallénce, and this is your chance. You think that you are suitable to be my partner, so why not use this occasion to prove your worth?”

He is about to walk off when I block him again with my hand, causing it to collide on his chest this time.

“But when you lose, you have to promise me to never mention about your disapproval anymore. You will not try to charge on Vallénce, and you will not try to hinder us. Do we have a deal?”

“Why, Big Sister, you sound so sure that I’ll lose,” Altore pretends to sound offended, though still keeping that smirk on his face.

“That’s because I know. Vallénce is one who will do anything to get what he wants. And since winning is his only way out in this case, he will give all he can into this match. You can’t stand a chance against a pureblood as ancient as him.”

“My, and who turns out to be the actual pedophile now?” he says, but doesn’t bother to wait for my reply and climbs into the white pod.

“It seems like there is a change of position for the white team. Altore zi Britannia is taking over as the Chessmaster of the team. It is him against Vallénce zi Britannia now. Who will win, and who will lose? This will be a battle you’ll remember,” Rytho says, before the countdown is being started by the system.

When the number ticks to one, everything seems so quiet, as if we really are in a real forest. The spectators are in silent as well, watching us without moving in coincide. It’s so diaphanous that we can easily pick up the sounds of birds flying outside our continent.

Altore opens the round by moving one of the pawns. Vallénce mimics him, and soon the two are competing against each other to balance out the game board projected in front of them each. And it does not take long before they start moving up the big pieces.

Charlotte, the Rook, is being moved straight up across half the field. She’s closer to anyone from the opposing side, but still safe at her spot. That is, until Vallénce launches his Knight, a Varnacular, to attack her. Charlotte blocks his attack flawlessly, but will be rather preoccupied in freezing the position for the meantime.

Then comes the turn for one of the Knights, Elric, in charging forward. Altore moves him to strike Vilvia, who is a Black Bishop. Elric swings a punch, which Vilvia dodges gracefully. He uses his ability to turn moves between spaces, creating a flash portal that swallows him right away. He appears right behind Vilvia, precisely at her weak point, and takes her down by the back of her neck. She struggles to get free, but her attempt is futile. Since she is defeated, her piece gets taken out, and she is out of the field.

Vallénce uses his turn to move his other Bishop, Wallow, and make him go after me. Since he is the one who makes the move, I can’t fight Wallow, but I can still stop him from taking me out. So when he throws a punch at me, one that involves pushing the wind through my direction lethally, I am left with no any other choice but to catch it in my hand.

Forces collide, and the battle of auras is occurred in able to dominate one another. I sense his curiosity through the impetus that he rams at me. It seems like he wants to test just how far I can go, but today will not be his satisfactory. He pulls back his free hand and takes another swing at me, aiming for my face. I title my head to the side right at the right moment, causing his fist to hit empty air.

When he pulls back his fist, he grabs my head from the back and pushes me towards him. I can read his movement. He is about to smack my forehead against his, but I twist my body to the side, completely removing myself from his range. I land just at the side of the invincible line that limits my square spot. Wallow takes three long strolls to reach me again. He reaches out his hands in a dead intent, but I move to the side. I am trying to make him falls off the square, using the same technique that was used at the previous stage, but my intention is so obvious that he notices it right away.

“Nice try, but I am no amaturé,” he comments as he takes another powerful swing, one that will be fatal if I fail to dodge in the right time.

“I know. That’s why I have to be a little bit more creative on you,” I reply, and then catch him in surprise by dropping on my knees and kneel before him, offering a smile on display. He is not expecting me to do much by this motion, but then I grab him my the ankle and slam him of the ground. He lands on the square next to him, his feet just out of my spot, while I almost cross mine by a few millimeters. Good thing I let go of his legs just before I do.

“That was almost considered as cheating,” he says to me monotonously when the system declares him as disqualified.

“When your opponent is centuries older than you, I don’t think it is considered fair as well, but I do not hear myself complaining,” faking a kind smile, I reply to him.

Wallow lifts himself of the ground as do I, him lingering his eyes on me emotionlessly and then nodding, before walking off.

As a counter attack, Altore moves Charlotte’s Rook to strike a Black Queen. This time, Charlotte slaps off the Varnacular that has been pushing her. He flies horizontally across the field, passing off the area and hits a tree. After getting rid of the Black Knight, she goes after the Black Queen so cheerfully that she looks as if she were taking a trip to a blood store.

The Black Queen, a high-ranking Viscountess, welcomes her with a dark smile, countering my little sister’s attacks so confidently. Charlotte obliges the female vampire’s egos for a few while, before finally getting bored and turning serious. With a snap of a neck, the Viscountess drops on the ground with her blood building a fresh pool just underneath.

Charlotte’s eyes blaze red, signing that she is hungry. A few other purebloods on the field flash their crimson eyes as well, but not feeling as intensely tempted as my little sister. I, on the other hand, can’t be enticed that easily. It will take more than just blood to draw my inner monster to the surface.

Just by the look of the display is compelling enough, and Charlotte is shutting her mouth off to stop her razor teeth from biting the rest of the Viscountess off. My vampire paramedics carry the Viscountess away in a heartbeat before she gets eaten for real.

When it comes down to Vallénce’s turn, he does not seem unfazed by the incident beforehand, and departs another bishop at a White Pawn. One by one, Altore’s chess pieces are being whipped out by Vallénce ever so smoothly. This causes Altore to be pressured. The balance gets tip off just like that, and before long, Altore is only left by us, his siblings, and my twin Blackblooded knights.

“What’s wrong, little boy? Troubled? You better make your moves quicker, or I might just devour all of your pieces,” Vallénce taunts my brother. Hearing him says those two words sound so contradictory yet fitting at the same time when he looks in his ten-centuries-old version.

“Shut up! I’m not lost yet,” Altore snaps, hastily moving up Gluttony to attack Reya, the Black Rook. When he realizes his mistake, it is already too late, and Vallénce displays a smile of victory.

Reya uses his ability to create reflections of his by three dozens. This causes Gluttony to be confused and just decides to randomly attack all the fake Reyas that he comes close to. Reya uses this distraction to sneak behind Gluttony and knocks him off. A very audible booming voice echoes through the entire place when Gluttony falls after being kicked by the pureblood.

“One down, fire more to go,” Vallénce mutters to himself, causing Altore to bite into his lips.

Out of nowhere, the system flips a surprising access. A giant wide screen appears in front of us as a hologram with a message inside. It says that we can break a rule from now on and the chess pieces can move freely without consent from the Chessmasters. This causes a few more than enough vampires to smirk darkly and start attacking each other. We have come down to a battle off now, and both Chessmasters are more than ready to aggress one and another.

“Can I just say jackpot? I have been waiting for quite some time for this to come,” Altore jumps off his pod and runs toward Vallénce, who also does the same. They clash together in the middle of the field, teeth and razor nails showing.

“Get ready to be pounded, kid, because I am not going to hold back this time,” Vallénce hisses with venom, pushing him off balance. Altore lands on the ground, but it does not take long before he rises again. The problem is that Vallénce too quick for him to prepare for his next attacks. They push each other off, landing at everywhere, before blending in with the out-of-the-control crowd.

I’m not planning in participating in this insanity, until a Varnacular tries to bite my sister’s arm off. Charlotte dodges just in time, but another Varnacular from the opposing side comes to her again. She moves away, but they keep chasing her. When she gets cornered, they try to attack her at the same time, until I jump in front of her and use my reversal to put them back in their previous places.

Looking behind me to check if she’s bite free, I say, “That was close,” then to the other vampires, “and you need to back off.” And just to show how much I mean it, my eyes glow brilliantly red.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

The arena is a chaotic fettle filled with hungry and tussling vampires, which is quite inappropriately inside the goal. We want to let go of that stress that has been bottled up inside all of us, to release what we have been piling up inside and just be what we are ─ brutality and beauty. It is fine to just be immoral for once in a while and running around with blood dripping from open mouth and baring teeth as they hiss in instinct. But when it comes down to putting my siblings at risks, that it the time for me to step in and bare my own set of razor teeth.

“Take another step closer and I will s***h your heads without a sickle,” I say in a warning tone to the crowd of hungry vampires that are gathering around me and my little sister. They know that I am not the one that jokes, but they are too lost in their lust of blood to even comprehend what I just said to them. I can tell just by looking into their burning eyes.

A vampire tries to test his luck by charging right at me, thinking that he can pass my barricade. He is driven by hunger, and the fact that the rule of the game allows them to let lose really is not such a good thing. Too bad they are not getting any stronger by any drop of blood drawn from us today, or any other day period.

I lift up one hand high and they follow the scent, which should be quite sharp considering that they are all have fallen into a bloodlust state. The male vampire is no different, and I use the chance of distraction to wrap my other hand around his throat and crush it in a breeze. It is a clean kill, thought he will resurrect again after some given time. His healing process will not finish for anytime soon, though.

“If you think that you can get a drop of our blood by ganging up on us, then you are even more stupid than I give you credit for,” I tell them with an obvious tone without any mercy to conceal my pity for them. This causes them to hiss at me, before a few others start charging in again.

Using variety techniques, I splinter their necks, crush their chests, pull off their body parts, and basically just stop them physically from getting to us without actually killing them for real. By the time I finish wiping off the entire crowd, bodies are piling up underneath our feet. Or at least that is what I think, until the one escaped before manages to circle around us and climbs a tree above us. The vampire jumps down and lashes out on us. He is so close to getting my sister, before I push her off in a super speed and let myself gets bitten instead.

The feeling of a Varnacular fangs tearing off my flesh and getting sucked so violently is no a very pleasant thing to be experienced, but I am so definitely not going to allow him to steal away the knowledge and life force that are contained in my blood just like that to a stranger. I grab his face with one hand and push him off of me. And although I can not undo what he just drank from me from a second ago, since I can not reverse something that I did not even see, that does not mean that I will let this one slide.

Oh, no. I will not even let him exists pass another second. Using my will, I turn my blood ─ as well as the blood that he just drunk ─ into poison. One that is so dangerous that acid can not even compare to its deadliness. The Varnacular starts choking like he means it, because he is dying from the inside for real. The poison is eating him up from within, injecting his blood and organs with something worse than bane. Unlike the others that I just temporarily made out of order for, I am eliminating this one for real.

As he drops on his knees and looking up at me beggingly, I watch him meets his true death without a single sympathy out of me.

The smell of death gets into the nostrils of the two purebloods that have been praying each other’s neck as well, and it brings their attention back to reality. They glance at me and notice that half of me is covered with vampire blood, and can’t help but feeling their own kind of craving themselves as their eyes lit up in the shade of blood.

“I think it’s time for the golden deer,” I announce, not even bother to explain myself. Far east in this forest, leaves are crushed and the wind is stopping at a particular area. Inside the cold layers of solid corporeal, something is coming to live in sound waves. “Do you hear that tinkling heartbeat? It’s the sign of the deer. Whoever catches it wins, remember?”

Just like that, they snap themselves mentally from their trances and stop eyeing me. The next race that is about to happen is among those two, trying to best one and the other before anyone gets to catch the deer. Me and Charlotte are silently quitting. She is more concern about me than some animalistic pile of gold, though my wound has closed up the moment I pushed that vampire off my shoulder.

The spectators are cheering even louder than before, because I can hear them even clearer this time. They place their expectations and bets on whoever they think will win, while Altore and Vallénce are besting each other. What they do not expect, though, is that when Elric comes out of nowhere and launches in the deer all to himself before they can even touch the deer. I hear a lot of disappointment fro outside the forest arena, but I can hear the cheering just as loud. In the end, neither of those two wins.

I find my brother and my fiancé tackled on the ground, but they rise up quick. There is definitely tension in the air, but just by sensing the aura around them, I know that it is not as intense as before anymore. Instead, I think this physical fight has just brought them together. Vallénce holds out a hand, a smirk on his face.

“Well played,” he says.

Altore hesitates only for a second before extending his own hand and shakes his. “You’re not bad yourself,” he admits.

“Oh, good. Now that you two are finally in truce, why don’t we just get over this little drama and get moving. My neck was this close to being torn off and I need a good drinking. Can’t say the same about my older sister, though,” Charlotte barges in boldly, walking pass them and going to a certain direction, back through the exit of the stadium.

Altore approaches me and asks, “Are you okay? I’m sorry that I didn’t help before. I was so caught up and didn’t even pay attention to your well being.”

“I’m fine. Just turned my blood into poison just now, so might not be good to stand near me so closely,” I say, taking a step back.

“Different from you, I don’t feel the need to worry about your sister, because I have a confidence about how well she can take care of herself. She is not fragile, after all,” Vallénce says to my brother, before circling his arm around my waist and slant us to the direction Charlotte just went.

“I never think she is, but it is not wrong to be concerned as well,” Altore replies rather loud as we walk by.

Next to him, Elric wonders about what he should do with the deer.

Vallénce glances at the torn fabric on my left shoulder, lingering with those big red-violet eyes for a while before deciding to brush his fingers over my skin as we head back to the castle in mortal pace. He cares my exposed skin for a while, before speaking in Latin, “Varnacular quod meretur quod obtinuissent. Ut cognóvi de meliori te.” That Varnacular deserves what he got. He should have known better than touching you.

“Aliquam eu ante id curae mihi non licet. Et vis est haec arcana sanguine portat,” I reply, placing a palm over my chest. It’s not the skin contact that concerned me, though. It’s the secrets and power that this blood carries.

“Aeque tamen est irremissibile. Paulo magis angebat volo, si tibi,” he whispers to my ear. Still equally unforgivable. I would have tormented him a little bit more, if I were you.

“Bene, ego tendunt ad respice super minor erroribus. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, ut cui dimiserit maioris,” I say to him. Well, I tend to look over minor mistakes. It's the major ones that I find hard to let go.

“Scio. Habes totum sanctuarium captivis pro te ad probationem,” he smiles at me lightly as if we were only chatting about the weather. I know. You have a whole sanctuary of prisoners for yourself to proof that.

“Suus 'iustus ut remittat tantae potentiae Omnibus in rebus aliis causa dolor. Et peccata dimittere non possum libere ipsum. Meum nigrum sanguinem milites sollicitando prohibendos qui unwanted chao.” It's just so hard to forgive when they have all the potentials in the world to cause more pain to others. I can't just let them go on and committee sins freely. My blackblooded knights keep them from stirring up those unwanted chaos.

“Quid Mauvet?” How about Mauvet.

“Docuit exemplo tantum, ut possint stare repetens erroribus. Quod si backfired, quia non solum non discere, sed multo magis etiam videtur molesta sit amet. Quia nunquam convenient persistent quis hoc cognovi haec, ego iam pulchellus certus.” I only taught him a lesson, so that he could stop repeating the same mistakes. It backfired though, because not only did he not learn, but he also seems to love causing trouble even more. Never meet someone as persistent as this, but I'm pretty sure you already knew these things.

“Ago. Ego iustus volo facio certus ut ius positivum,” he says. I do. I just want to make sure that I’m positively right.

I smile at him. “Et avertetur a vobis ut dubitasti? Propter quod numquam evenient. Te amo sint omnia. Et sic permanet in aeternum.” Did you doubt that I might turn away from you? Because that will never happen. I love you, despite everything. And it will stay that way, through eternity.

“Etiam non certus sum. Tu conversus ante me descendit,” he teases, cracking up a genuine smile of his own. Well, I’m not sure. You did turn me down before.

“Iam paene tibi dico uxorem elit, ita ut in eo, quod nulla ex parte c*m alio.” I am practically already married to you, anyway, so there is no point in thinking that I might go with someone else.

“Si modo posui, ne diutius posse retinere, quia in potestate manus. Fui semper pro vobis orantes c*m a chat c*m et tu Julius tuos et siblings. Et nocte iustus boost est etiam magis.” If you put it that way, I might not be able to keep my hands under control for much longer. I have been craving for you ever since you had a chat with Julius and your siblings. And last night just boost it even more.

“Quid ergo est?” Then what are you waiting for? With that, I lean in for a kiss. One that turns him on the spot right here and now.

“My apologies for the interjection,” we can hear his footsteps from a mile away, “but I just need to come over and inform this news.” Alto bows his head to me and waits for my approval.

“What’s so urgent that you need to tell us now?” Vallénce asks, his irritation concealed.

“Malcolm wanted me to come and tell you this personally, since he is too preoccupied to even leave his stations. Apparently, an attacked was occurred in the Facility while you were participating in the hunting game. One of the vampires that the paramedics brought back from the game was unable to control herself and randomly attack the monsters that were near her back then. Malcolm was able to contain the situation by putting her to a slumber by using a spell, but there are just too many who got injured by the incident. We need you to help him immediately.”

That’s unfortunate.

Turning to Vallénce, I regrettably say to him, “Duty calls. I will be back before dawn, at least.”

He gives me a peck on the lips and mutters, “I will be waiting in your room then.” Just like that, he is gone is a flash of speed.

“Alright, I’m coming,” I tell Altore.

The Facility is fine, but once we get underground, things get worse. The scent is strong and penetrating my nostrils, but I let it slide. When we get to the patient quarter, I can practically spot bloodstains everywhere. Several heartbeats ─ from those who are living, breathing beings ─ are slowing down by majority. The others are either undead or deceased.

“Where is the vampire?” I ask Malcolm when I spot him tending the wounds of a fairy from her bed.

“Spelled, locked, and sealed securely at tenth floor,” he says, before murmuring a healing spell in French. That level is for patients, and it is apparently almost empty, except for the outbreak immortal.

“Alright. I will take care of the rest.” And I do. Within five minutes, I completely heal ten patients from different species. Using chemical reaction, I take advantage of the correct formulas and pour suitable liquids to each of their wounds. The bloodlost can be obtained easily by a good rest and some food, which I ask for from the service department after I am done with the healing process.

“How did that vampire even got the others? Almost the entire floor are injured,” I ask Malcolm in his laboratory once we are done tending the emergency injuries.

“I think she got a rather strong blood in her system. It was not a pureblood’s, I have checked, but it was definitely powerful enough to help her broke the binds we wrapped around her. The other paramedics had to call me to take care of the situation.” Then he approaches his lab table and pulls out a transparent jar. Something wicked and upset is havocking inside of it. Something dark, and red.

“A serpent’s blood,” I acknowledge. No wonder the vampire was having a violent reaction. For all vampires, except for purebloods, this kind of blood can be lethal. Not as poisoning as mine when it turns the other way around, but it can still create quite an impact. Such contradictory element in one’s body will cause a brute need of survival, and getting more blood in her system was her only way to stay exist.

“I have suspected that a little, but I didn’t think it was possible, considering how hard it is to obtain this kind of blood,” Malcolm says. “She just arrived here when she suddenly had an outbreak, so I don’t think she got it in her by herself. She was too weak when the paramedics brought her here. And even when there are a lot of species occupying this building, there is no one that is a serpent here. What do you think?”

“I have a few assumptions, and one of the strongest possibilities is that she was feed with it.”

“Can’t be by mistake. The blood that was feed on her were human’s.”

“Not the paramedics, but someone who wanted to cause mayhem.”

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

The remnants of memories wash over my mind, its dark fingers skim upon me, not letting go. I find it compacted to move, to glance away, or even to run away. A constant relic keeps ringing in my head, and whenever I lay my eyes on something, that something somehow triggers me back into that pounding source. The more I contend, the more I am wrapped in these invincible hands. It’s eating me from the inside, and there is no stopping once it has started. Except─

“Your Majesty?” Malcolm’s voice snaps be back to reality, finally pulling me off that other world.

“Yes?”

“There’s something about the research that I need to show you,” he gestures at the microscope on his lab table. All I need to do is to glance on the stage plate and see right away. It’s the DNA samples that he got from that hybrid couples a few weeks ago. I notice the error almost at the same second.

“The cells.... they are refusing to cooperate.” The DNA from the male, a hybrid of a werewolf and a vampire, is not blending in with the DNA from the female, a fairy and zombie mixblood. There are too many contradictory characteristics in the area, and there is no progress in Malcolm’s attempt despite the given time.

“And by this pace, it is impossible for the embryo to be pregnant without having a few miscarriages.”

We aim for perfection, and having a future mother going through all of those horrifying procedure is just a public torture. It is essential to figure a way out of this before we can allow them to start the union.

I look at Malcolm, and his oceanic eyes stare right back at me. I know that look, so contradictory yet blend in one. He has confidence that he can get this right, but there is also hesitation by the way these canines are tensing.

“You know something, don’t you? What is it? Tell me,” I demand.

“Well,” he starts off, rather unsure, “I know this book of spell that I found in my old school’s library. It content something relating to hybridation, but I wasn’t quiet as interested in the subject as I am now, so I didn’t even bother to read it thoroughly. What I remember is that, when I was scanning the table of contents, I remember something about how to match the contradictory DNA characteristic. It has something to do with analogy, but I still can’t remember my mortal life quiet that well.”

Malcolm was once an ordinary warlock, young and innocent. But I was talent in him, and that was why I recruited him. He proved to be suitable for joining my Knight of Rounds, so I gave him a drop of my blood, which not only proved that he has officially came under my wings, but he was also allowed by the gift to heal, to stay youthful and unchanged. As a result, the time stopped ticking in him. Despite that, his heart is still beating, and that is why he remains as part immortal up until this very moment.

“I see where you’re going,” I lock my hands behind my back. “You want to go back to your world, am I correct?”

“It’s not that I am using this as an excuse to go back, but─” he starts to say, but I cut him off.

“Permission granted. It’s time for another trip across the dimension once again,” I announce.

I leave Malcolm so that he can start preparing early, seeing that he is still part mortal, after all. Going back to the castle, I join my siblings in our evening blood inside cups of drinks. Elric is pouring a cup, a bottle in his hand, when I open the door and come in.

“I heard,” is what Altore says before taking seep of his drink.

“Are you guys in?” I ask, taking a sit at the only empty sit of the fours.

Crossing her legs, Charlotte answers, “Normally, I will say I would, but this time, I’m afraid I have to pass. My tailor is coming first thing at tomorrow, and other than fitting the dresses I have previously ordered, I also have a few dozen new design that she needs to record properly. I will be pretty preoccupied for the whole day, and there are also a series of arrangement followed after that that I need to take care of.”

“Few more days, I’d say,” Altore adds, “considering that you never went out of your wardrobe for a whole week when your tailor came before.”

Wagging her hair, our little sister replies, “What can I say? Sometimes it just takes time for perfection.”

“How about you?” I glance Altore.

“I have an appointment in one of your school’s class. And after teaching, I also have to run some errands from Father,” he says.

“Really? What is it about?”

Instead of answering, he only lifts one finger up to his lips, a siren smile in form. “Secret.”

“Then I guess it’s just you and me,” I say to Elric.

“Actually, I can’t accompany you through the trip this time, but can still get you to wherever you and your second knight want to go.”

“Fine by me. Next day at the morrow okay with you?”

“Sure,” he nods.

The wave comes crashing down the ravine when we arrive at Malcolm’s world. The sky is even brighter and the air is immensely radiating. I even need to drop a layer of my held-back powers to prevent my skin from catching an unwanted fire, just like how I did it when I first came into this land. And after that, the sun can try to burn me as much as it wants to.

Malcolm walks side by side with me, heading to that resplendent castle at the end of the curvature. Our entire journey is desolated, because we come at the second that school starts. This place is the same place that me and my siblings came at our last recruitment trip, which landed with quite a handful of potentials. Back then was the past, and now we are in its future. But looking at the castle’s structure, I don’t spot any changes. At all. Which I think is a good thing for Malcolm, because then he doesn’t have to feel like he is missing out much.

When he became my knight, he had to leave the life he once had as a mortal. His obligation shifts to my world right there and then, and he didn’t even say goodbye to this world, much because I know that he doesn’t plan to stay away forever. His life is not that short, and with the company of a drop of my blood, the life source will last him for a few more millennias.

A man with beard so white and long that it almost touches the ground and dark robe is gazing out from his window. Wrinkles more than normal eyes can count shows just how old he really is at first glance. His eyes are scanning across the water, where blue mountains reside at the far land. He hasn’t see us yet, but he will soon, because that is Malcolm’s great grandfather.

“Are you going to greet him first?”

“Later, I will. I want to make sure that the book is still in the same shelf or not beforehand.”

We get to the library in about five minutes of mortal pace. The hallways are very clear, so we don’t have any problem in getting there as fast as we can at all. The librarian doesn’t even bother glancing at us until we pass her. That’s when she lifts up her eyes and gawks in shock.

“Oh My God, is that you, Malcolm?” She is a woman in her early thirties, with shoulder-length chocolate hair and black eyes. But considering Malcolm’s time-stop, she is actually in the same age as this teenage-looking warlock.

Thinking that she might be imagining this, she removes her glasses and puts it away, closing the book in her hand and stands up from her chair. She squeezes her eyes, testing her sight, until she feels positively sure and exclaims out loud in a high-pitch wail, which I doubt is highly common for an adult woman to possess. “Oh My God, it is you!” she repeats and dashes out from her counter to approach Malcolm.

He reacts pretty awkwardly in front of her when she tries to hug him, keeping a pace between them. She looks hurt by his cold treatment, but good thing recovers quickly. It will not be appropriate to ask a question that we are about to ask if she were to become upset with us.

“Where have you been? You have been gone for the past two decades, and everyone has been looking for you. Your friends and family were so worried when they discovered that you were gone. They tried everything they could to try and find you, and even performed very complicated spells. But the results were always a futile, as if you were dead. But if you died, they would have found your body, but they still could not find anything. And here you are, today, brisking pass my desk as if nothing happened. What did the principle said?” She takes long, deep breathes after speaking those long sentences.

“He didn’t say anything,” he answers shortly.

“What? Why? He hasn’t seen his great grandson for almost twenty years, and he didn’t say anything?” she sounds genuinely shock.

“It’s because I haven’t seen him yet. Now, if you would excuse me,” he says, before walking away to the direction of the lining shelves without even as much as a glance back.

“Technically, it has only been nineteen years,” I say, causing her to look around in confused. She can hear my voice, but I am still putting my veil on. I then drop it so that she can see me, and her eyes bulge in shock for the second time.

“W-who are you?” she asks shakily, both terrified and enchanted at the same time.

“Hello, there. I name is Amethyst Proteria. I’m a friend of Malcolm,” I introduce myself, offer her my hand.

She looks at my hand hesitantly, and then shifts back to my face. Her facial expression looks so unsure, so I offer her a smile. After a moment of consideration, she finally decides to take it. When she shakes my hand, her body shivers.

“Y-you’re so cold!” she exclaims out loud before covering her mouth, quickly remembering where she is.

“Thank you,” my smile grows wider, “I am wonder if you can help me with answering a question. Has the arrangement of the books change for the past nineteen years?”

“W-well, I have been a librarian in here since Malcolm was gone, so I know how things have been going on in here. And as far as I concern, nothing has changed. We tend to keep the arrangement the same so avoid confusion,” she answers.

“That’s good. It’s nice having a conversation with you, but I’m afraid I have to take care of something right away,” I say, excusing myself, before walk off to the same direction Malcolm went a minute ago, leaving the librarian a little bit awestruck.

Malcolm is standing in front of a section called ‘creatures’, a row in front of him out of a gap and a thick old book in his hands opened.

“Is this it?” I ask him.

It takes a few seconds longer before I can get a response from him. “Yes.”

“Do you find the information you are looking for?” I stand beside him and glance at the pages spread in front of him, but noticing something odd. There are traces of shreds in the middle.

“No,” he says, “the pages were are looking for are suppose to be right at here.”

“Didn’t you cast a spell on it?” I ask, recalling a mutter of ancient French from meters away while I was talking to his acquaintance.

“I did, and it failed. Someone put a ward on it, so it limits the spell that this book can receive.” And the only reason why he has not break the ward successfully is because whoever put the ward on this book is much stronger than Malcolm, which actually not quite so much possibility, considering how his powers have manifest ever since he left this world.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞

The spiral stairs goes up to the highest tower in the castle, where the principal’s office is located. Malcolm chunters an unlocking spell once we reach the door, and it opens on itself. Inside, the same old warlock that we have espied before from the outside of the castle is abiding, facing us as if already expecting our arrival.

Before there is any exchange of words, I am suddenly thrown from across the room until my back hits the wall. The partition cracks behind me, and the same invincible force that had just pushed me is now holding be back on the spot. Malcolm’s great grandfather is aiming his finger at me, and he is pulling the strings. I watch as he burns that anger through his magic, forcing me to stay down, yet I do not do anything or even attempting to fight him.

“Malcolm, my successor. You have finally came back,” he then mutters to Malcolm, who is shaking with his own wrath.

“What do you think you are doing? Let go of Her Majesty right now!” he demands, his fists clenching on his sides.

But instead of doing what his great grandson asked for, he acts as if he had not heard him. “I know that you will come back again someday, when I discovered where you have gone. You went to someone who is known as the White Devil.” His eyes might be old, but when he lingers his eyes upon me, I can see the burning soul inside. It is so full of hatred that the rest of the room can melt like acid with his stare. “I gathered as much information as I could, until I found out about her obsession in collecting hybrids.”

“That is not true. Her Majesty do not collect hybrids. She is an expert in them and has been a helping hand to those who have turned to her for assistance,” Malcolm says to his great grandfather.

Yet the principal proceeds, still ignoring him. “Then I knew by then that you would come back for anything you need to help her. That was why I tore those pages from that Book of Hybridation, in hope that you would come to me someday. My attempt does not go to waste.”

All of a sudden, the room grows hot when Malcolm snaps his finger and a fire ball with the size of a basketball appears on his palm. “Let go of Her Majesty right now. I mean it,” he hisses through clenched teeth.

“Now, now, Malcolm. Are you going to threaten your own great grandfather,” the old warlock says disapprovingly.

“I am not going to. I am threatening you,” Malcolm replies, taking a step closer.

His great grandfather’s expression turns from hard to soft with that. “Can’t you see? I have provided you the chance to be free now. You can come back, and she will not try to do anything to you. I’m going to lock her up, and you can live in peace.”

“No!” he shouts.

“No?” his great grandfather echoes in confusion. “Why? She was the one who lured and trapped you in her world, making a slave out of you. I have gone through all of those troubles in hope to bring you back, and here you are. I am creating a chance for you to live in freedom, and yet you threw it back at me. Have you gone insane?” his voice vibrates with anger this time.

Malcolm tightens his jaw, but then he loosens up and the fire ball disappears from his hand. Dropping his hand to his side, he says, “You don’t understand. I am never trapped in her world, because I have never felt so belonged until she came into my life. Don’t you see? I am happy now, great grandfather. There is no need for you to help me, because I do not need any help.”

“Malcolm, you have no idea what you are talking about!” his great grandfather shouts.

“Yes I do! And you are not going to control me anymore. Not on my life, and not on who I am going to be. I am not going to become your successor, and you just have to accept my decision!” Malcolm shouts back.

“Why don’t you want to? Anyone would have killed for having a chance such as yours!”

“Then why don’t you just give your inheritance to them instead of me? Uh, this is why I didn’t say anything when I left. In the end, all you can think about is yourself!” he snaps back, causing the older warlock to flinch by the harshness of his great grandson’s words.

“Malcolm....” His great grandfather mutters, but Malcolm just turns his head away from him.

Malcolm mutters a searching spell through the room and a blue light appears to scan around, until it stops at a shelf. The light seeps in and pulls out two pieces of page, ending up landing on the floor. Malcolm walks over there and picks them up, folding the papers to keep them inside his pocket, before saying coldly, “Now, if you would excuse us, please let her go so that we can leave.” He does not even bother to glance as his great grandfather.

Feeling defeated, the older warlock finally lifts his influence off of me and the two of us walks of his office. Malcolm does not say anything to me until we reach the outside of the castle, away from any ears from the walls.

“Thank you for not trying to fight him off. I know that you could have broken the spell without even attempting much, but it would have surely killed him, so I really appreciate it,” he says me. Despite his cold treatment towards his great grandfather, deep inside, he still cares about him. And the principal also cares about it, I can tell, just by his own way.

“You’re welcome. I know that you will be very upset if I had.”

Elric comes in the right time to open the portal and send us back. With the addition of those missing pages and the book, Malcolm is able to create a synch in those DNAs combination. We then inform the couple, who are just too thrilled about the definite result, about our successful discovery and begin to work on their embryo’s pregnancy adjustment.

Time passes by and the citizen misses the winter. To fulfill their wishes, we generate snow from our weather machine, producing snowflakes in millions. Before long, the empire is covered with snow, and more children spend their daytime outside in snowfights and skating. We also build a region for those who love winter so much, to a Slice Dice Ice Rink open facility. With that, not only children, but also adults choose to do their activities outside. The cloudy sky also allows their skin to not get burn by the sun by day in this kind of environment.

I am painting on my canvas when the snow falls, filling up the space with my paint brush, when a mixture of rose and violet enters my nostril. Light footsteps follow its fragrance, and before I turn around, a pair of arms is wrapped around my waist.

“It’s good to finally see you again, Your Majesty,” Vyrose greets me with a smile from one pointy ear to another pointy ear, before suddenly remembering something and pulls away. “Sorry about that. I’m just so excited to meet you again after so long.”

“Well, you are welcome to see me anytime. I have a lot of free period, after all,” I smile at him, before putting down my palette and brush and turning to him. “It seems like Risqué has been busy teaching you. You have improved a lot.”

His emerald eyes brighten up by that. “Really? You can tell?”

“Yes. You can stand up so straight now, and you even dress properly.”

“Yeah, but clothes are something that I think will never get used to. There are just so many layers that I have to put on,” he comments, twisting the end of his jacket with a finger.

Followed by that, an upset light voice comes in. “Vyrose, where have you been? You can not just barge in like this. Your Highness, I highly apologize for this interruption.” He bows to me, and side him, a very nervous Vyrose looks at him, afraid for whatever he thinks is about to come to him.

“It is alright, Risqué, Vyrose. There is no need to be hesitating if you would like to come to me. I have made that clear for the last time, anyway,” I tell them reassuringly. “What were you teaching him before he came here?”

Risqué lifts his head and answers, “We were about to commit an experiment using sunflower and nepenthes.”

“Such contradictory species; one light and the other dark. I wonder what the result might be.”

“We are about to, when Vyrose just sudden disappears. I have to delay the experiment and look for him instead,” Risqué says, and ends up by glaring at Vyrose, which is something he rarely even does.

“You should report to your mentor before you leave,” I tell Vyrose. “That way, you will avoid getting lectured and Risqué will not get worry.”

“Next time, I will surely do it,” Vyrose says cheerfully, while Risqué just signs. Then he begins by lecturing his prodigy about how he should reply and speak politely. Vyrose listens carefully, though he holds that expression that a child should have when one is getting caught doing something wrong and feeling guilty about it.

“Oh, and since Vyrose is getting so well in his progress, I think it will be soon the time to present all of my twelve knights to the empire. But of course, I will spare some time to teach him a few things as well,” I say to them.

“Do you think he is ready enough?” Risqué asks, a little bit of concern in his tone.

“I have seen the result of your teaching, and I think he is ready enough, for something that was just born less than a month before.”

“But there are just so many things I have not teach him yet about flora species,” he insists.

“Yes, that is correct. Netherless, Vyrose was born as a plant himself, and he is still part plant, so I think he can figure the rest out by himself. There are still a lot of things he can learn other than what you can teach. He still needs to deepen his knowledge in combat and other subjects, and I would happy to teach him that.” Teaching a child. This will take me back to when I taught my younger siblings when we were children, and when I raised Scarlet. Such nostalgic and wonderful memories.

“Should I move him out from my quarter, then?”

“I think it is about time that he gets to live by himself. It will need a few adjustments to get used to this kind of lifestyle, but I think you have learned quite a lot from Risqué,” I tell Vyrose.

“I can not wait for that time to come,” he replies enthusiastically, and in response, vines grow rapidly from his back, souring up to the ceiling.

“Good. Make the preparation today, then,” I tell Risqué, and then to Vyrose, “I will begin teaching this afternoon as well, and there are so many techniques I want to introduce you to.”

The cold climate will not do well on Vyrose, so we stay indoors. The first place I bring him to is the fighting arena, where my siblings can watch us from the transparent room.

“What are we going to do in this place?” Vyrose asks curiously at the huge amount of white space surrounding us.

“I am going to test you. I want to know just how far your combat skill is, so I want you to attack me.”

His cheeks blush by my words for some reasons. “A-attack you?” he shutters.

“You are welcome to begin at anytime,” I tell him with an encouraging smile.

He takes a deep breath, calming himself down, preparing his movement. Then, in one rhythm, he summons all of his vines out, causing a flood of green stem and leaves to come towards me. In a three hundred and sixty degrees, those vines rain on me frontally. Instead of moving away, though, I allow them to attack me, tear up my skin until it heals and do it all over again. I can not feel the pain anymore, because years of practice have raises up my level of tolerance, but Vyrose stops in the midway.

“Why are you stopping?” I ask.

“....Because you’re hurting,” he says in a whimper, until I realize that I am using my big voice. It is monstrous, evil, and overall dangerous. I realize that I am actually irritated when he stops attacking.

“Proceed,” I order him, and he does as told, though waverly.

His vines are thick and strong, allow to cut in such a huge amount of strange that they can even be compared to other metal weaponries. The difference with him is that he does not need a weapon to win a fight. He is the weapon. Though he has the potential, he is still so raw and out of training in this, which is why he needs more time before he can really be unbeatable. And I have high expectations of him.

∞ ❈∯❈ ∞