King

CHAPTER XLII

“It seems that you haven’t resolved your problem yet,” I heard Al say.

I turned towards my door and saw him leaning on the doorframe. I was glaring at him as I wait for him to say something but he just sighed at me.

“You lied to me about Zynrick going to Erin’s funeral,” I said and pointed my finger at him.

“We lied because we wanted you to get over your s**t,” He said and came in. He sat on the side of my bed and stared at me. “To be honest, it’s tiring seeing you run away from Zynrick. Over the years that I’ve known you, as Alystair or Izamu, I’ve never seen you run away from your problems.”

I hugged my knees when he said that. He was right but I just didn’t know how to handle what I was feeling and I was scared that I might lose control again.

“I know it’s difficult for you to figure these feelings out but you need to. We still don’t know why Tyrone has Nuan Zhen’s heaven’s sword. Do you remember the time you bumped onto Qing Shan?” Alystair asked which reminded me of the things we haven’t finished yet.

I can’t believe I focused too much on myself and neglected the unfinished business we have.

“Where are you going?” Alystair asked when he saw me go into the bathroom.

“I’m going to talk to Alystair,” I said and got in but I heard what he said when I was inside.

“Do you really need to freshen up just to talk to him?”

I opened the door and he stared at me, “What?” He asked.

“I’m going in to take a bath to think. My brain works when I’m in the bathroom. I’m not doing this so I’d look fresh and smell good in front of him,” I said and slammed the door shut.

“Okay! Let’s pretend that I believe what you said!” He yelled and I heard the door close.

I sighed and went back to taking a bath. After I was done I saw Haneul lying on the bed.

“You look tired,” I commented while looking at her.

“This is because you won’t talk to Zynrick,” She answered and sat up.

“What’s the connection?” I asked and she groaned.

“I can’t believe how dense you are. Do you really think that I’ve been going out on a date with Izamu whenever we’d leave the house?” She asked and I nodded.

She covered her face with a pillow and screamed. “We were looking for clues about Nuan Zhen’s whereabouts while you sulk in your room! You good for nothing b***h!” She yelled.

I’ve had Haneul get mad at me before and I’ve developed an immunity to her words. But I guess not having her yell at me and tell me off for the past millennium had an effect on me.

“I’m hurt,” I said and laughed. She rolled her eyes at me and I just smiled.

I can’t wait to bring back Athaeas and be like how we were before.

“By the way, did you find any leads?” I asked while sitting on the bed combing my hair.

She nodded, “Yeah, but I won’t tell you now, it’s best to say it if we’re all okay,” She said and I nodded.

“I’ll talk to Zynrick then,” I said and went out of the room.

I could feel my heart beating erratically as I approach his room. I stopped in front of his door and took a deep breath.

“I can this,” I whispered and was about to knock when the door opened.

“Elle?” Zynrick asked and I nodded.

“I want to talk to you,” I said and he furrowed his eyebrows.

“What’s with the change of heart? You blasted me out of your room earlier,” He said. I scratched my nape and awkwardly smiled at him.

“I’m sorry about what I did earlier,” I apologized. I knew I was wrong for what I did but I still knew that deep inside that I wasn’t giving him a genuine apology. “There are more important things we need to do and Al and Haneul said we shouldn’t proceed without us being okay,” I said honestly.

Zynrick nodded and scoffed, “So, that’s why,” I heard him whisper but I just ignored it.

“If you don’t want to talk then I’ll just leave. I’m fine with pretending that we’re okay,” I said and turned my back at him but he pulled my arm.

“I want to talk,” He said so I turned and shook my arm from his grip.

“Okay, we’ll talk but not here,” I said. He nodded and pressed his lips together before asking, “Where do you want to talk?”

“In the garden,” I answered and turned my back at him, “I’ll go ahead,” I said and ran.

I didn’t want to have an awkward walk to the garden with him.

I was quietly sitting in the garden when I heard someone from behind me.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” I asked immediately.

I don’t know how this conversation will go so I’d rather play safe and finish this quick rather than be stuck with him with nothing but awkward silence.

“I haven’t even sat beside you yet,” He said and I sighed.

“Hurry up,” I said and patted the space beside me.

“So, what did you want to say?” I asked.

“Do you really hate being with me that much?” He asked and I nodded. There’s no use to lying.

“Ah, you could’ve at least denied it,” He said. I took a deep breath and turned towards him.

“Look, I don’t want to be here with you right now, so can you stop stalling and just tell me what you want to say,” I said and nodded.

He took a deep breath and looked at me, “I’m sorry,” He apologized which made me furrow my eyebrows.

“What’s with the apology?” I asked. I saw him fidgeting so I let him take his time.

“I’m sorry for not believing you,” He said so I stood up,

“If that’s all you’re going to say then I’m fine. I heard your apology so that’s enough,” I said and walked away but he stopped me and grabbed my arm.

“You haven’t forgiven me, what do you want me to do to make you forgive me?” He asked. I gently pried his hand away from my arm.

“There’s nothing to tell you the truth,” I said and looked at him straight in the eyes, “No matter what you do, the fact that you defended Erin twice won’t change. The feeling of betrayal I had when you didn’t trust me twice won’t go away any soon,”

I could see the tears forming in his eyes when he heard what I said. I wanted to wipe the tears away but that would be a complete contradiction of the way I was acting earlier.

“I’m sorry for crying,” He said and wiped his tears away. I watched him do so and waited if he had something to say. I wasn’t heartless to just leave him behind while he’s crying.

“I just realized that I made the same mistake I did to Al,” He whispered and sobbed.

“What do you mean?” I asked. I had a clue of what he meant but I wanted him to say it himself.

“I trusted the wrong person. I should’ve trusted Al.” He answered and looked at me before giving me a sad smile. “It was because I chose to believe other people that our relationship got ruined. I destroyed our friendship,” He said.

“Al was hurt when you accused him of making you drink human blood but he still did his best for you,” I said.

He looked at me and he had an expression that seemed like he doesn’t believe me, “I saw it in his memories. Since Al is a reincarnation of my familiar, I was able to make him remember his past and bring out his true form. I don’t know if it works for humans as well but for familiars like Haneul and Izamu it does,” I explained.

“You don’t have to explain,” He said but I shook my head.

“Are you aware that you just gave me a look that was questioning me?” I said and he shook his head, “I’m sorry,” He apologized.

“It’s fine,” I said and added, “You should patch things up with Alystair. I believe you haven’t had a proper talk regarding what happened back then,”

I went to my room and plopped myself on my bed. I was staring at the ceiling when I heard the door open.

“Are you done talking to Zynrick?” Al asked. I sat down and looked at him.

“Yeah, but I think you should talk to him as well,” I said and he raised his eyebrow at me.

The nerve of this man.

“I don’t have anything to talk to him about,” He said and turned around.

“You’ve been avoiding the problem for years.” I said and scoffed, “You even told me to talk to him so why can’t you do that, Al?” I asked with my arms crossed.

“He believes that I betrayed him. Let him think that way,” He said and attempted to walk out on me but I stopped him, “Izamu, restrain,” I said and he froze.

“It’s better to talk to him about it. Your reincarnation dedicated his life to saving Zynrick. Thanks to that dedication we’re together again,” I said and held his wrist before saying, “Release, Izamu,”

He looked at me with an annoyed expression and said, “I can’t believe you’d use that spell on me,”

“I’ll do it again if you won’t talk to him,” I said and he sighed.

“Fine, I’ll talk to him but what do you want me to say? Don’t tell me that it’s up to me because if it really is up to me then I won’t talk to him. I know that you saw something in my memory that bothered you so tell me what it is,” He said.

“Tell him that you didn’t betray him,” I said and he nodded. “Al, I’m serious, tell him the truth,”

“If it was that easy to make him believe me and trust my words then we wouldn’t be treating each other like this. But since you want me to talk to him then I will,” He said and left.

I sat on my bed and closed my eyes.

“You look like you’re having a mid-life crisis,” I heard Haneul say. I was startled when she suddenly spoke.

“It’s not that, also, stop suddenly appearing,” I said and lied down.

“What happened?” Haneul asked and I proceeded to tell her what happened.

--

Al arrived home and sat on his couch. He was grabbing his hair as he tried to steady his breathing.

“I can’t believe he’d accuse me of doing such thing,” He whispered and leaned back. He had his arm covering his eyes as he recalled Zynrick’s reaction.

He was quietly thinking of what happened when he heard his phone rang.

“Hey,” He greeted when he saw that it was Diane who was calling.

“Did something happen?” She asked when she heard Alystair’s voice.

Alystair’s lips curved into a small smile. Just hearing Diane’s voice reminded Alystair that there was still someone caring for him.

“It’s nothing, I’m just tired,” He answered. “So, what made you call? Did you miss me?” He teased.

“Nah, I just wanted to tell you that we learned something that you needed to know,” She said. The seriousness in her tone was alarming and it made Alystair feel anxious.

“When can I meet you?” Alystair asked.

“I’ll arrive next week, I’ll let you know when I’m free,” Diane answered.

“Okay, thanks for letting me know,” Alystair said and was about to hang up but Diane stopped him and said, “Be careful around Zynrick, okay?” She said and ended the call.

Alystair wanted to ask more but he couldn’t reach her.

“Damn, I’ve been thinking too much,” Alystair whispered when he stood up and felt dizzy.

He went to him room to rest and when he woke up he was having a fever.

“Tsk! Why did I have to get sick,” He whispered and stood up. He felt his whole body trembling and his vision was blurry so he decided to sit down.

He was alone in his house tending to himself for three days and when he recovered he quickly returned to the lab.

“What’s with the commotion?” Alystair asked when he arrived.

“Doctor, Zynrick has been throwing a tantrum,” Erin said.

Alystair ran to Zynrick’s room and saw him being chained up.

“What are you doing?” Alystair asked and pushed the researchers who were chaining Zynrick.

“Zyn, are you alright?” Alystair asked while inspecting Zynrick’s body for any wound.

“Get off of me!” Zynrick yelled and pushed Alystair.

“Doctor!” The researchers asked and approached him but he raised his hand to stop them.

“Don’t act like you don’t know and stop acting as if you care about me when you don’t!” Zynrick yelled and lunged at Alystair.

“Where’s this coming from?” Alystair asked while pushing away Zynrick’s hands that were wrapped around his neck.

“You’ve been having fun with that researcher named Francis while I was stuck here waiting for you!” Zynrick yelled and tightened his grip around Alystair’s chest.

“H-He’s dead,” Alystair said which made Zynrick stop.

Alystair coughed and tried to catch his breath as the researchers chain Zynrick.

“Look, I know it’s hard for you to be alone in this room every single day but do you think that all I do outside is having fun?” Alystair asked.

Zynrick shook his head, “Chain me, restrain me, I don’t care what you do just stop me from me from hurting Alystair!” He yelled.

Alystair’s head was spinning when he stood up. “I’m fine,” He said when stumbled and needed someone to help him stand properly.

“Al, I’m sorry,” Zynrick apologized but Alystair just raised his hand.

“I know, just,” Alystair said and walked away. He didn’t want to faint in front of Zynrick.

“Doctor, should I get you medicine?” Erin asked once I got out.

“No, I’m fine, just give Zynrick food,” Alystair said and left.

He returned to his office and sat down. He kept calm and when he was better he started to check who was visiting Zynrick.

“Erin,” He whispered when he saw that Erin was the most frequent visitor.

He was staring at the visitor’s log and sighed, “I can’t put the blame based on the most frequent visitor,” He whispered before returning to looking for Ellesmiere.

He sent people to search the list of places Francis listed and continued the research about how to create magic cancelation.

The day of the meeting with Diane came and the mark on Alystair’s neck didn’t fade. He also had a broken collarbone that he didn’t notice when he was attacked.

“Why do you look like that?” Diane asked in concern.

“Zynrick attacked me,” Alystair answered. Diane’s eyes went wide when she heard what Alystair said.

“This is why I told you to be careful around him,” Diane said and lightly touched Alystair’s neck.

“What did you find out?” Alystair asked.

“I know who killed Francis,” Diane said which surprised Alystair.

“Who is it?” He asked. He was praying that Zynrick wasn’t involved in any way.

“It’s Jacob Ernestine,” She answered. Alystair ran his hand through his hair when he heard who it was.

“Do you know him?” Diane asked and Alystair nodded.

“He’s the researcher who had custody over Zynrick before it was given to me,” He answered.

“Do you want us to take care of him?” Diane asked and Alystair shook his head.

“No, I don’t want you to kill him but I do want to keep an eye on him. I also want someone to watch over this girl named Erin Costell,” Alystair said and gave Diane a photo of Erin.

“I have every information you need,” Al said gave her an envelope.

“Why don’t you want to kill Jacob?” Diane asked while reading the papers Alystair gave her.

“I want to send him to jail,” Alystair answered and took a sip of his coffee.

“I can’t help you with that if that’s what you want to happen,” Diane said and looked at Alystair.

“I know,” Alystair answered, “but I think that killing him would be too easy. I want to send him to jail to make him suffer even if it’s just a little,”

“I understand but I can’t hand you the evidence. I work underground and if you send that man to jail I’ll be dragged.” Diane said.

“I know that’s why I’m planning to ask Ethan to help,” Alystair said. Diane’s eyes went wide when she heard what Alystair said.

“Ethan Smith?” Diane asked for confirmation and Zynrick nodded, “I am amazed by your connections but if you’re working with Ethan then I can’t be in touch with you for a while,”

“If I send Jacob to jail can I start talking to you again?” Alystair asked and Diane nodded.

“I’ll look into this,” Diane said and hid the documents Alystair gave him.

“Alystair, don’t take this badly,” Diane said and took a deep breath. She looked at her bag before looking at Zynrick.

“What is it?” Alystair asked anxiously.

“I want you to take this,” Diane said and handed Zynrick a blue knife.

“What is it? Alystair asked while looking at it.

“It’s a heaven’s sword, well it’s technically a knife, but that’s what it’s called,” Diane answered and Alystair examined it.

“What does this do?” He asked while staring at it.

“That can release a progenitor’s true powers,” Diane said, “It’s a knife that was given to the progenitor of Korea since he’s the weakest among all of the progenitors,”

“Why would I need this?” Alystair asked.

“Because, that’s the only weapon you can use to protect yourself from a progenitor,” Diane answered.

“How did you get this?” Alystair asked. If Diane answers that she stole it then he won’t take it.

“It’s given to me by the new progenitor of Korea. Do you remember my sister?” She asked and Alystair nodded, “She became the progenitor’s wife,”

“What? How come I didn’t know that?” Alystair asked.

“It was kept a secret. I accidentally told my sister what happened to you and she told me to take it.” Diane answered.

“I can’t take it then,” Alystair said and placed the knife of the table. “You said that the progenitor of Korea is the weakest progenitor. He needs that more than me,” Al said.

Diane sighed and pushed the knife towards Alystair, “There are two knives, one for the release of powers and one for defense. The progenitor of Korea is strong, after a lot of training and hard work he was able to become the third strongest progenitor of our time. That’s the reason why they agreed to give it to you. They also said that since an artificial progenitor is unheard of its better if you have a heaven’s sword to protect you and kill Zynrick if he starts to lose control of himself,”

Alystair looked at Diane. She never lied to him and she was certain that she wouldn’t leave him alone unless he takes it.

“Okay, I’ll take it, thanks,” He said and kept the knife.

After their talk, Diane stayed with Alystair for a week. It was refreshing to have someone to talk to again but Diane needed to leave and Al went back to his research. He was also able to successfully send Jacob to jail thanks to Ethan’s help but while doing this he had less interaction with Zynrick. And without even realizing it, the bond between the two of them was severed.