The Sight Beyond The Haze

Chapter 51: An Unexpected Guest

When Leigh left me, there were still tears in both of my cheeks.

I felt like I was bullied and that I was extremely wronged by him, but I know what I said and I also know why he must so angry at me. I have never felt that I was the less powerful in the room, that I was the most helpless. Not even when I was with Deo.

Just this time.

I cried a couple of times before, I remembered crying too but the pain that my great uncle inflicted within me was not the breaking kind of pain. It was as though I was being pulled taut too much for so long and my body refused on just snapping, refused on giving up by breaking.

That was what it felt like.

From the door, the golden light butterflies went inside. They fluttered around me, giving me some semblance of comfort like they knew what happened between Leigh and me. I did not know how long I was lying on the ground of the training room, just that my feet and hands have turned numb and dead, and the tears on my face have dried.

The butterflies' glow flew around my head, touching my cheeks as if to wipe my dried tears while the others just perched on my body, giving me warmth. I sighed with an unsteady breath. The snow has turned thinner, but white still enveloped my eyes and the coldness made it hard for me to warm myself up that I still need the butterflies.

On a daze, I walked out of the training room and found myself being guided by the light butterflies outside of the house. Some butterflies even went as far as to fetch me a long coat that probably belonged to either Cocytus or Leigh. It fitted me a little too big and I was still walking, the pressure that the butterflies pushed to me was gentle and delicate like they knew that I was still shaken.

"Where are we going?" I asked them while a butterfly dragged my hand and the same happened on my other hand. I looked ahead, the path looked familiar to me and I realized where they wanted me to be. "Why are we going here?" I asked them yet again.

The butterflies glowed more brightly then back to its normal state and I would like to think that I caught on the meaning of what they just wanted to say to me.

"Because it's warm?" I said with uncertainty and they simultaneously glowed then went back to their normal light. "I could warm myself up inside the mansion," I said and smiled at them. "It's fine, you know? Let us go back before snow started to fall again lest it will be hard to see our way around."

But they did not listen to me and just kept on dragging me so I let them. The door that was the entrance of the garden was encrusted with frost and when I touched the doorknob to open the door, it was freezing. It was still dilapidated as usual, like before, and there was not a thing that changed with it except for the thin frost that surrounded it and made it almost impossible for me to open, maybe because that door's hinges were also encrusted with ice from the winter.

I was wearing a thin jogging pants and just a tee shirt under the coat that the golden light butterflies hung over my shoulders so I was slightly panicking when I could not open it. I was freezing and I thought that if I spent another of my few minutes out in the cold, I might catch myself a cold or a frostbite.

But then while I was trying to pry it open, it suddenly unbolted from its firm closure. A gust of warm air blasted to my face and I could feel it warming my core sufficiently. As I was about to make my way inside of the dome, I saw someone I was definitely not expecting to meet here.

His mask was in a pure white color with slanting shapes of crescent as its eyes and lips. Like before, he was wearing a flowing white robes that was billowing with the warm and cool air. His hair was undone and was, similar to his otherwordly immaculate robes, also fluttering with the wind around the dome.

The last time I went here, the flowers did not wilt and wither. As fresh as the first day I have laid my eyes on them, the same was true today. Despite having winter outside of the garden, the greenery within the garden did not turned into orange and never dried. Stuck in the time of spring, the time did not turn to the autumn and also refused to go to the harsh icy terrain of winter and snow.

With one hand, he gestured for me to come in but I was stuck just outside of the garden, the dome above was not able to spare me of the snow slowly falling from the sky. And I could feel myself getting soaked and shivering continuously and unconsciously.

"Seraphin, why don't you enter?" Deo said in a gentle tone and gestured for me again.

My tongue darted to wet my dried trembling lips that I was certain have turned blue due to the coldness. With that second summon from Deo, I awkwardly took a step inside of the garden, conscious of the state that I was in.

"I heard about what happened," Deo said, slowly gliding towards me. He looked ethereal and light despite having a heavy garment hanging on his body.

He looked like a god, I thought but scolded myself. Deo is basically a god, he is the Deity of light and one of the most powerful being that was gracing the world with their presence. Like how I faced Leigh's power earlier, I felt small and powerless as I faced Deo whom I have missed so much and longed to see.

I felt that I was... unworthy to behold such a being in front of me.

"How?" I asked and looked down.

"The butterflies have been with you and they would alert me when something relevant happens," Deo explained. "Although they are but lipless creatures, they also became your guards. Come here," he said again, gesturing me to come closer but I hesitated.

Since Deo disappeared after my accident, there were naturally doubts and thoughts that have bothered my mind. I liked him and I cannot say otherwise. I knew our differences and maybe what he wanted to do with me was nothing more with how Leigh treated Cocytus.

Should I distance myself? I would always ask at sleepless nights. And then there was that thought that Cocytus put within my mind. Our age difference and if Deo was nothing more than someone who guided me throughout my journey within the academy.

I think he saw my hesitation so he did not push me and just glided towards one of the roots. The materials we have pondered about for the past months have been cleaned and stowed away, by whom I was not certain.

"You have grown," Deo noticed. He sat on one of the roots of the tree. He looked up to the dome and watched as the snow fell on it and protected us from being touched by the ice. "Your skills have also improved. Is Phlegethon a better teacher than I am?" he suddenly asked.

"He has been rather strict with me," I told him, my mind refused to remember what happened earlier between the two of us.

"I will erase the lingering energy on your body, do you mind?" he asked and I just shook my head.

Finally, I walked closer to him. Somehow, I felt uncomfortable but not awkward. I just did not know how it would describe. I feel at peace with him, but I would also like to know what he has been doing this past few months. I just did not know how to do it.

He gingerly took my hand on his, making me sit beside him and looked down on our hands. A faint glow was seeping from where our hands touched and I felt an incredible lightness spread from my chest to my body. The weight that have been dragging me down from earlier vanished and was replaced by this delicate feeling.

"You have provoked the Deity of Immortality," Deo said languidly while still erasing any bad traces of magic within my body. "Why would you say that to your great uncle, Seraphin?"

"I have been observing what caused you to slow down the day of the accident," I told him. "And I realized that the potency of magic within the blood of a Deity would be more powerful material to draw a seal. I have tried blood magic with my own, and I could feel the power surged through me. Limitless and endless, so what more if the material used was a blood of a great being like you?"

Deo shook his head at me.

"There has been indeed a betrayal amongst the Deity," he finally said despite seemingly not wanting to reveal anything to me. "But that was my fault. I have been too complacent that I thought the other Deity would let me off. A seal has indeed been created to stop me, as seal that used the blood of a Deity."

"Should I be worried?" I asked.

"You shouldn't, I have taken care of it," Deo said.

I felt something rising up my throat, a metallic taste dominated my tongue and a few seconds later, I was already spitting blood. My hands immediately went to cover my mouth but blood still flowed from it. I felt it dripped down my chin and even seeoed through my hands. The heaviness I have felt earlier came back and I coughed loudly, blood still spitting.

"That is just the aftereffects of Phlegethon's magic on your internal body," Deo explained and rubbed my back. He held my elbow and, though I was stained with blood, let me hold his arm for support as I knelt down on the grass and vomited more of it out of my system.

I was bleeding so much that my eyes watered and my jaw slackened, almost locking with how much I need to open it. When I was done, I saw that the once immaculate piece of garment that was hanging on Deo's body was now tainted and stank of my blood. I looked down my hands and also saw how I was covered with too much of the red substance.

Without thinking much of it, I hugged Deo.

I hugged him tightly, not even saying a word to him. I knew that I was still probably staining his white robes with my blood but since I have done that already, the damage was done. Should I care more after I have already ruined it?

I felt him rub my back, also not saying anything to me and I revelled on the silence. He does not have any scent, I noticed, and he easily disappear too. Like a phantom in the night, it was a miracle that I have met him and that he has noticed me.

"Has it been too hard for you?" he asked me gently and guided me to sit down on the grass. I shook my head, still refusing on answering him. "Then that is good, is it not?" I shook my head yet again. "Why not?" he said and when I spoke, my voice was muffled and it was hopeless to think if he had heard me or not. Nonetheless, he still said, "I see."

He pushed me away from hugging him and when I was about to feel cold again, he suddenly reached to my chin. Looking at him, I just felt the soft fabric of his robes wiping the blood away from me.

"Great Uncle Leigh scared me," I told him.

"And that is why I went to see how you are after being scolded like that," he told me. "Often times, Leigh would tell me that you would forget about his stature as a Deity just because you have grown rather fond of him and his foster son, but you should always remember that he is still your elder. His stature demands a certain kind of deserved respect and no matter the fondness and comfort you find in their presence, you should be careful with your words. You have insulted his loyalty to me."

I nodded as a response.

"I should apologize," I stated and Deo tactfully agreed with me.

"He has help you and me a great deal, Seraphin," he told me, "but I understand your suspicions of him though it was undeserved for. I see that you are handling the case of the students' disappearances?" he then changed the topic which I was grateful for.

"Yes and I have found a new lead," I responded.

"After you solve the case, would it be okay to you if you go back to Dalcanoraz?" he then asked in a very serious tone.

I knew that he has been pulling strings to established my power within the Thirteen Noble Family Seats, but there were a lot of complication with that. Still, after everything he has done and even going as far as to interact with the royal family, I should appreciate his efforts.

"I'm afraid of what would happen if I go back," I said honestly and I saw that he understood my fear.

"But you have to confront your past before making peace in your present," Deo said, "I would never do anything that will harm you, Seraphin."

And I trust his words.