9 Meander

AN This chapter is of length that I usually write in three separate ones. Yes, so it's an equivalent of 3 full length chapter so my young ones, you have to be attentive with the information this part defines. The chapter is unedited and is still pretty much a draft...you guys are superhumans if you survive through this. Please proceed. Leave a vote if you like it and comment your thoughts to make the dragons day. Also...in future chapters the povs may vary and I would love it if you would read this authors note like the pilot speaks through the intercom. I love that part the most. I am...derailing. So yeah...enjoy. :)

Dorin was the first to create an alarming distort when he saw the Ezdan dragging me along with him towards the lead cabin. My arm was frigid at where the Ezdan had his fingers clasped - but I managed to peek over my shoulder, pacifying Dorin and others with a signal so they won't worry. The Ezdan shook me a little, garnering my entire attention to him. He folds the door, sliding it away like a paper fan and inside were his two lounging comrades who weren't out on the deck to experience the spectrum.

They probably had witnessed it millions of times before.

It's worth the value for them of what ice is to me.

Seen too much to last forever.

The Ezdan retires himself from me and walks to the table where General Slantis was patiently enjoying his meal on, he stood there watching him, idling for the Armin to notice his demanding presence.

Hann Slantis took notice of him, then at me who stood behind with head hung low in what is presume is my utter predicament to grasp at what had happened earlier, And what is allegedly transpiring now? The General took one quick hint to ask-

"Do I get to finish my dinner?"

Slantis stared not at Ezdan, but at Saga who sat without his robe, halfway through the unbuttoned linen shirt on the fifth log of a domestic ladder by the end of the cabin. He scrutinized us with an intuition of a feline and declared-

"His highness appears as if he has something to say, in urgency. And we both know that's seldom a good sign my mate" Marlon saga then smiled at me, "As for Timo, he is lost in his head- nothing out of ordinary so far"

Slantis is on his feet disrupting the dust of sagas monologues, his hair is swept to right and his gaze remained tight on the Prince.

"What is it?"

His tone is boyish as if his interrogation was with one of the common friends that you grow up and had their schooling commended with. The one with whom the travesties and pranks are always funnier than when you live them with others, with whom one would never turn their back on- I might be reading heftier between the lines that write their story. But the concern was not false- Hann Slantis cared for this man.

And for the man,

How does he care?

"We might get attacked tonight" he relaxed once the words were out. The tension visibly left the Ezdan and took over the visage of the General. I saw the Ezdan squint when Slantis barely moved or said anything, it's either the Prince trusted his oath with his guts or the latter where he thinks of him as incapable to do so. Or it's neither. He could be bossing him for his profit and the General is a shell of war and an administrative boaster that always stick to his side.

"How are you so certain?" He drawls, even his blink is slow. Does he even sleep?

"It's better to be prepared"

"That wasn't my question"

"Orders are not to be questioned"

The General's jaw flexed and he gained a step, facing the Ezdan with a sloppy smile.

"I lead this ship," he says "And here, I exceed your title fellow warrior- so let me ask once again. How do you know?"

The tension is like the silent fireworks that prickle the sky as it showers. I wasn't alone as Marlon saga tossed in a bunch of lunacy to decapitate the head of the monster growing between them.

"As a captain of the ship- that should be my say" he chuckled falsely, it worked , Slantis tore his gaze away from an unbothered Ezdan, raised a brow at the ventim who now had a fruit on him clutched. He threw them up and caught them like a ball before biting his teeth into the apple with a crunch.

"You are not a member, you volunteered to captain Orphic because you were bored and you had no friends in pearl to sail with"

The ventim laughed it off- but I didn't happen to find the humour in it.

He was captaining a ship because he was bored?

Just how many skills does a ventim have? Was there a limit? Or it is just death? Do they stop even at death?

"I was told" my eyes snap at Ezdan who seems to be too cool in stance to be addressing a possible invasion. And I realised I am too distracted to hear when I know my friends might die tonight.

Castle.

Though it wasn't a dream, I know my visions were real. If I close my eyes and let my ears listen- I hear it. The soft ticks of danger that's approaching. And suddenly my nerves are coiling with the need to run, run away from them. Hide the people who I unconsciously have begun addressing as friends- something that I never thought I would make. But they are out there, unsafe from shadows, thunder and the stagnant smell of rot and death while I stand here between three boys in their early twenties exemplifying their egoistic authority.

But I know what I am doing,

They are the only option.

May Lord save us for they are the only options to save more. Save the coal men in floor minus, save the aspirants who detests me, Save Caelums bird in my room, save the artiste who rendered me a free portrait of how I directed the old man to be, its heavy in my trouser pocket, the folded sheet with old mans face as I think of what he would have done if on my shoes- he would have-

-not cared.

The old man had no heart. He would have been calm and might have read a book or two before the calamity struck.

The thought is scary and it makes me smile.

"Why is Timo Kasper smiling?"

The call jolts me up as I see three pairs of eyes on me. One is observant, the other is confused. While the Ezdan doesn't appear a bit surprised. Has he accepted my insanity to be my normalcy?

"Let me rephrase it" slantis cleared his voice "Why is there a boy with us while we are discussing a matter so confidential?"

It takes the Ezdan three seconds to decide-

"Because he is the one who told me"

He peered over at me and the silence seems to applause for him. But slantis was greedy for proof- none would blame him because he is me if I heard something as such if it hadn't been from me. And I am drunk in distress because my aggressive conscience is slurring as I watch him smile gently-

"He just told you?" Slantis asks Ezdan who is not generous or helpful with his reply.

"Yes"

"And you believed him"

Silence.

"From where do you suspect I received the information?"

Slantis massaged his neck trying to make sense of the scene.

"Spies, patrolling officials or a scholar with some detection equipment?"

"I don't trust them"

"But you trust the boy?"

Profound Silence.

"What do you do if you don't trust your own spies Lian, spy around the block yourself?" Slantis sighs and chuckles, Ezdan doesn't join him and soon it wipes off- the laugh gives away to realisation and I am so still that I could hear the rush of blood in my veins.

Of course, he spies himself, the night in Keld- he wasn't being an Ezdan or a prince, he was on his mission as a spy and he truste- tested me with it. He knew everything that could possibly happen, he is- not sitting around in his kingdom with a diamond crust crown lining his forehead and scanning for a possible worthy alliance among the royal girls and women.

He is- reckless inside as much as he is a stone out.

And what chance do I stand in front of him?

"How do you know Timo?" This wise, the ventim got up and stepped down, half of his apple gone. He is a fast eater with big bites. He offered me another from the basket near the forgotten dinner of General Slantis- i refuse."If there is to be an attack, it could possibly be your last meal too. Don't shy away, take it"

I accept with both my hands outstretched, he is contented and i am repelled by it.

I see these people, i attempt to understand these people but i can't place them, they are like the supernova- gradient of mixed colours that are still different. But the lines are blurred. They are at times kind, they are generous, but they are dangerous with how much they are aware of themselves and their authority. Like of now- the scholar knew I wouldn't say no to his compel- and his brutal words around death must be to see me react in honesty.

Can he hear my heart like how I hear the time?

Does he know that I am not lying?

"How do you know Timo?" There it is, the lean of his body to harmonize my height. The toxic encouragement, the diluted tone used for a - fake child like me. This ventim, he has the tongue of a snake, smile of a bear and eye of an eagle.

So many marriages of colours and nature.

"I had a vision when I touched the River"

"River?" He tilts to Ezdan "After half route?"

The Ezdan answers for him.

"Yes"

"Was it water you touched?" He is back on my neck, I am not breathing "Because the veil won't allow a titanium tanker to pass through, after the half route the danger in our journey is - how do I say, seamlessly multiplied. The veil is something my great great grandfather invented- the material used are drawn from Core Earth and nothing from this upper land can pass through"

It's trashing, my heart and it's in need to prove my foremost innocence in the said accusation. My lips quiver but nothing spills. I want them to believe me. I want them to save us all. The Ezdans words cut through like an air of heaven for a person in hell and I am breathing again.

"His hand formed a tear, I saw him touch the water" I hadn't seen him come to anyone's rescue before, so it was an unusual sight and I am speechless when he mentioned in further narration "I suggested him to touch the veil so he could experience it, I didn't know he could rip through"

It's racing.

It's spiralling.

It's a dance of both, but it's a barrage of something static and unspoken. Unknown.

what have I done?

What have I done for Saga to look at me as if I had an angel's halo floating atop with devils fangs emerging from my gums? He is dazed and amused and looking at a- possible subject for his experiment. But slantis is quick on his heels and he is older than before-

"If he passed through so could the rest from the other side. He has weakened the barrier with whatever energy he used"

But the ventim survived in alternate thrill as he held me by my shoulder, seizing my entire focus to him.

"You saw a vision?" he shook me a little, my legs are heavy. His gold eyes are like sun and his curiosity is blinding me. I am afraid of him because I know he no longer sees my soul. He sees a potential. "Have you had them before, do they come true?"

"Leave Tommy alone Marlon" the Ezdan is peeling his fingers away from me, but the scholar couldn't be held back. Now that he has unleashed his true nature- he doesn't comply with set of rules.

"Lord Ezdan, you don't see what I see" he says, and it's strange to hear him call the Ezdan an Ezdan since it's all I address him as, writhing the boundaries of my rebellious thoughts. His blood name, almost as if he is an entity I had to deal with for survival "If what he claims becomes a reality, then he is the last surviving seer in not mere Antar- but the whole world"

Seer- the one who wields into the heart of infinite pulse. The one who denotes prophecy- the one whose bloodline died with him when he symbolised the Ezdanian curse to have a host. He died with his family on the day Prince Julian of Ezdanian blood, successor to the throne of the sixth Antarian era was born.

I had known, I have thought of it- my possible role with the occurrence of dreams. But none sufficed. I cannot see the future at my own will, I see when it wants to be seen, or what it wants to show. I am not employing an ability- contrary to it, something is using me.

Or could it be someone?

"We don't have time for it, we might have plenty if we survive the night" Slantis separates us as the noise of ticks closes around me, it syncs with my heart. I look around to see if they hear it too. Then I hear him call me- I look back at him. My eyes wide and glassy "What was it that you saw- who were they? I need you to describe me so that I can prepare-

The noise fade as I recall the blurry images of what I had seen. There had been mist, it dried my lungs and it tasted like fire. It burned my skin. It made noise- it flashed like thunder. And it attacked. There were creatures that came with it and they attacked with slashes and punctured through skin and muscle. It shattered bones. I saw bones sticking out from the ribs of a boy. I say what I saw-

They seem to know what that is because they looked angry, with the exception to Ezdan they appeared transparent with their emotion for the initial wise and the ticks blared in my skull-

"They are near" I sucked in a breath.

They know I was saying the truth now because slantis ripped the door open hollering for the mediators to prepare the archers, the Ezdan passed us as he instructed saga.

"Stay with him" he sounded contrastingly irritated instead of panicked, I didn't expect it from him either. He was immune to frenzy and fear "I am going to wake up Alifee"

Alifee?

Aliferous.

That erratic bird is in this vessel?

"Not to worry your highness, at this point I can sacrifice you to the creatures of mist in trade for Timos incredible and visionary life" he smiles pleased, the Ezdan leaves. He doesn't smile. Why would he?

Because as soon as he left- we hear an explosion.

***

Marlon saga's physical attributes were not to be ignored, I had made the mistake when I rushed to the door as I hear the rage and noises of startled travellers current through. He had my head in a lock ,I fruitlessly trashed and smacked his forearms to unleash myself from him. His voice was strangled when he spoke as if it took him his entire will to train his arms from letting me loose. To hold his discovery safe.

"Let me go" I scream, another explosion paused our argument for a second in a split.

"Not letting you die while I am alive" he flips me, my side flush against the knitted carpet as he locks my wrists in cross.

"I have people I need to save" I croak, I wince when he held me firmer as a result of my wiggling fight "I saw someone die, I have to save them"

"Death is inevitable Dear Timo, you can't change-

"It's my sister Castle" I grit, the vibration from the canon strums through us. Like an earth quack, the ship got unhinged, its slants as the contest from table and walls fall and shatter, the momentum throws us both against the wall. His chest cushions my head while he received a bloody wound on the side of his head.

It doesn't stop. The vessel rocks in the vacant direction and skidding past the fall of saving. The helpless stationaries rain on me as I caught ahold of his leg. He was quick to have grabbed onto a mounted table and I, to his right ankle.

Even in the stage where one would gloom and give up, he commands.

"Hold it, hold it until it gives up. Take my leg along if you want but don't let go until"

I twist to glare at his lunacy but is met with genuine concern, I swallow my anger and nod in partnership. It's slow, but there is a shift- we both feel it.

"It's stabilising," he says as it happens, the floor descends and soon gravity is not our enemy anymore. It is the water pouring in from closed sills and door slits. We are still on the ground and I haven't yet released his leg. I hear him take a sharp breath I know what It meant-

"Move move, get out of here" he ushers as I got up on my feet that haven't stopped trembling.

The veil has been breached and I know now what I might see if I go out. But he is trudging me out hinself and I feel the water wet on my ankle and inside my shoes. An overwhelming smell of rot burns my nostril when he opened the door- and all I see is a cloud of mist- the water raining down through the veil and something in the dark attacting us from beneath.

It's oily like a snake, it slithers across and coils by the legs and tugs, toying with the very foundation of a fighter's balance. When they are down- a scaly body emerges from the mist ripping the hearts from their body. I hear lightning around me and it strikes the body of a girl beside us- she died.

In mere a moment of it, she died.

The lightning- it was the light that I saw reach castle.

"This is horrendous" Marlon states the obviousness of terror and we both know we were much safer in the room. But none of us deflated back into the shell of protection, in the steam of enemies that mauled by using the hidden weapon as its shield- Now that I see them, it's not something unheard of. River Eerslen has a reputation for housing the buried carcass of creatures from Core Earth.

Its radiation had mutated the genral species of existing fauna and flora- and before its affliction was registered, it had been too late. The veil must have been the invention which had kept the fatality off the charts for generations during the yearly sail. But what failed tonight?

Why are they here?

"They used to be my favoured museum piece" saga says reaching for something in his trouser "To Watch them from the glassy veil, see them butt their head as they looked at all the food they can't devour. Look at us"

His eyes are hard as granite, his muscle flexed beneath the fabric of his shirt. The rain matted his hair to his forehead and I am drenched with both anger and misfortune.

Just where is our safe place?

When do our struggles perish-

Where are they? I can't see through the film of obscurity no matter where I turn, the only person I see now is Marlon and he is right beside me with a golden ball in hand, its sleek with some liquid sloshing inside- he bites the inside of his lips as he smiled in the craze. He played with the ball like how had with the fruit earlier. As if waiting for the nickel of time.

He tossed it from one palm to another. He bent his leg back and took a deep breath. His eyes zeroed on an unclear destination.

And then he throws.

I am waiting-

I am waiting for an explosion in shock at what he might have done- bombed a land where his people fought. Sacrificing them both to save his life. But nothing happened. He retreated until his back touched the door of the cabin we stepped out of, his focus a stern dart on the centre of mist.

He is waiting too.

And then it sizzled, a radiance emerged from the shuffle of screams and roars. A blue glow eats away the mist, clearing the path and battlefield to our fighters. And I see where the ball lay- broke in two pieces, emitting what we needed the most.

Light.

And where it had landed stood General Slantis with not a scratch on him, he held a beast's slimey neck while his sword cuts through the one sneaking behind. He does it like an everyday chore. He does it as if he was slicing a knife through a potato. Sparing no time I grab a wooden baton near me- I hear the startled calls from the scholar who had given eyes to us blind brawlers. But I am already gone, weaving and jumping with cautious steps to where the veins of these reptiles are. They make a shrilling noise when hit or encountered, it deafened my movements but the one controlling them had a bigger body. They had limbs and the body of a vertebrate, I manage to duck through them because of my meger height.

But in such a hassle, I forget my steps and soon I hit the ground- bruising my previously injured side. My body is numb with pain and I shift to lie on my back, the spray of river rains on my face through the tear, and my hand goes to my lips where I taste blood. I cough blood as the slithers snake across my calves, waist and elbows. But all I could see was is the water above me and the coldness below.

I know I am not dying.

This is a trance.

And I know this moment.

I have stood here before. I look to my right, tears spilling freely as see him- the boy -his ribs undone. I see Dorin afar, but behind him - swivelling a storm of fire while we seem to be in the belly of storm itself. I know what happens after this-

And I can't move.

I am consumed by the sensation of death before my time. But my mind is working- it working too hard to revive my body, my bones and the useless heart that has given up. I feel the creature strangle my neck and I choke in silence.

From my peripheral I see Castle sprint towards me and I want to scream at her- I want to yell and scold her for being up here while she is fragile for this scene. I am hating, loathing and detesting my helplessness- I am crying and no one is listening. I am screaming- I am screaming and then I hear it.

My voice -

"Don't come to me"

She doesn't listen.

That idiot- doesn't even hear my plea. I hear the rumble of thunder that would kill her before I detect the lightning. I don't know what I am doing, but I am free of bonds- I had ripped through them as I crawled to her. I embrace her and tackle her back-

-Then it's all- Flash

So so loud an explosion.

Splinters, glass and matters of flesh from the creature- it's ashened.

Closed off in a knot of shock, I conceal castle as we watch the aftermath of annihilation that could've been us. Though undetected, I hear saga's wrath bolt along with the thunder strike somewhere. He carefully pries castle from me as General Slantis covers our recovery. What had happened had been seen and none are impressed by it. Then I feel a strudy hand on my wrist and I seem to have memorized the feel of the leather he wears. My ears ring, and I look at him.

He is crouched beside me on one of his knees to the ground while his oath had his back.

I finally see the General on his job. Hann slantis is possessed with the responsibility of saving this man and this man was keenly drenched and soaked to his last inch, his dagger like glare firm and consistent upon Marlon who seems to have a hard time while keeping a wriggling Castle a hostage to his protection.

"Don't look at me like that- it's him who ran" he hollers over the constant rumble of the ship. The water was up to my calves now and the ship has lost its regeneration. The tears keep appearing on the veil and I am numb "I am allowed to suspect after his actions, this lad could be suicidal" Marlon attempts again.

"Can I kindly request you both to draw this argument once we have done death with these pests" slantis glowers through and instructs, plunging a knife through a pouncing beast "your highness, you need to leave" its an order from him and the Ezdan lets his head tilt to look at me. And then he is lifting me up until I am on my feet.

"You are coming with me," he says, the water slosh as we move through a barricaded port. I smell blood in water, I feel things flap under its surface. I see him take turns on the edge of the vessel and I finally find my voice.

"I can't go- I can't leave them," I say, turning to peek a glimpse of what I had left behind. I hadn't seen Slate- where was he? Is there still a he? I can't see any one of them behind the cloud of an illuminated mist. The glow from the alchemy of ventim is subsiding to the force. It's dying. I don't see but hear. I hear screams, shots from guns, sick moans from the creatures and the sizzle of thunder.

All while the Ezdan waits for me to say something while I watch him with desperate plead that I am choking onto-

"Do you wish to help them?" There is a resistance in him when he asks, might be it that he was more concerned of his escape than to protect the ones who fought for him. Is he an empty shell where only his pride lounges?

"Do you not want to?" I am furious. So so thin of patience that I see the monster's intention seep into my own. I want him to hurt. I want to inflict the pain and hurt that I believe he mustn't have tasted yet. He slicks his hair back and I see a line of frown.

His eyes aren't hiding his morals anymore. He is mad- he is mad at what I had asked.

"I am not a monster that you seem to be convinced I am" he runs a hand through his face, but it fails to wipe away the leaked sourness on his lips "You and I have a bigger role in the world alive than as a corpse. I am leaving this ship because the veil won't heal with an Ezdanian blood in its body, and I am taking you because you are a stupid child who will die a futile death taking along your potential with you. And that- would be a waste of the time I had invested on you"

The longest.

It's the longest sentence he had ever shared with me. If I had it in me to act, I would pinch myself to mark the date of awareness. He was capable of speaking emotions and it shatters the wall of criticism I had built with bricks of hatred and nonchalance, because I see it. I see a rip on his forearm from where he bleed. I see his hair submissive to the rain, I see the flush of his skin from cold and I see the little part of him that's humane.

A ripple forms and something flings in, it gets shot in the blink of an eye, its limp soggy body heaps beside his boots and I see the gun in his clutch with which he shot. He is human.

He needs a weapon to survive as much as the rest.

"How are we going to get out?" I ask as the water weighed my lashes, I have softened under his intentions for I have no vision of how his world works. The water has raised to my knees. The rains are now a fall.

His lips tugged upward in what I presume is appreciation, he tilts to look at our sky- or what's left of it and whistled a quick melody.

Once.

For a moment nothing happened.

But then, I hear her.

Aliferous.

The dragon emerged with her red eyes and wide web of wings and I had naively underestimated her might for I trap my breaths in her respect. she lands in front of me, a misunderstood saviour because she wasn't a ugly bird now. She was mystic, she was an angel and she prides in loyalty.

The Ezdan helps me first, lending his shoulder to step upon as he did when we he had slyly lured me into an escapade. I hold onto her thick scales with my life as the Ezdan joined behind me.

I feel his breath on my ear when he advised.

"Embrace her neck Tommy"

I do so, obediently.

"Take a deep breath right before we reach the tear" he sounds stern, he believes I might not carry such a simple task with the nerves of mine that he could sense "Am I clear Tommy?"

I yelp.

"Yes- yes your Grace"

He is quiet for a second

"You would regret calling me that one day"

And then we are flying. Through the mist, through the storm and into the slit where the pressure of the river is merciless.

"Breath" he commands.

I open my mouth and devour the oxygen into my lungs before we are off into the dark cold of under river. The river wads in like syrup around us as the dragon slants to reach the surface. I look back to see the Orphic, a clear blue dot far away now. I close my eyes as my chest began to burn with the lack of air in it and just then it broke through in the open air.

I wheeze, taking in everything along with the air, with me as she didn't stop, not when we were high in the sky with the dawn. The sunrise a half tiny orange circle sneaking from mountain greens. A sensation so pristine scuttles over and around me. High up above the plains and river- I am washed up and safe. Safe with a dragon and its commander. Though I should be on my guard and terrified of what might be happening below I close my eyes and drown in such a moment.

It's a journey of longer time than I had anticipated. But it was time to find a place to stop.

My stomach drops and tingles drizzled by my skin as Aliferous dived, aiming towards open land in the middle of a forest. I hug her with enough strength while my back felt the tensing of Ezdans muscle beneath his attire. I could feel him too much than it should be possible because when we reached the damp earth the dragon shrieked in happiness.

And soon I wasn't as calm as I was before. While he in ease slides off from the giants body, I struggle to even catch my breath. Somehow I crawl and trek my way down, standing on my shivering feet realising what had I been thinking?

How could I not worry about the one fighting under the craft for their life while I am-

No.

It wasn't me.

Those thoughts were too humane, angry and cold to be mine.

It's similar to what would happen in ivyaki- the awakened emotions that would rule me. It's them I had always never been able to stop. It consumes my rationality and in that spirit, I am forced to believe that I could rule this world and if I couldn't- I am enraged enough to set it on fire.

It has a pattern, it wakes me up when I am blinded by terror. By the idea of an end. And it's not mine. It's not me. The thoughts and emotions are never me.

I feel a heated breath of Aliferous on my cheek, she snuggled its nose by my chin - its tail swaying in all but what I suspect is giddiness. Shocked and confused I pet his thick hide- it purrs. I smile, I cry. I am not prepared to meet anyone's gaze this wise. I am overwhelmed by the importance she is providing me with.

"Aliferous seems to finally found her commander"

There's an emptiness in the forest we are in, nothing seems to crawl, move, croak or chirp. The leaves are lazy and the trees asleep. The sky is a nurtured blue of the morning but the canopy of tress shadowed them all. I hear a click- I turn. There is a gun, his gun pointed at me.

Aliferous is breathing fire. She is shielding me and defying a person who is her master for me. Or so we were made to believe.

The silver of his buttoned shirt gleams as he flexed his wrist, his eyes are somehow locked with mine- he is not surprised at what his pet is doing.

Aliferous seems to have finally found her commander

It's scalding and scorching my being to see his eyes smile before his lips does. He has dimples and he has a gun that doesn't match that chillingly excited smile. But next, he drops it, lets it fall by his feet and kicks it away. Raising his arms in surrender at me and aliferous.

I am depending on her protection and I am holding her scale so painfully hard that my knuckles pale. She doesn't let her guard low- instead, she is zeroed on the Ezdan whose entire demeanour has morphed into a man who is- unexplainable. If he was a mystery before- now he is a puzzle. And he seem to speak his mind. A mind that was challenging me to complete the puzzle with the scrape of his pieces that were being tossed at me.

"I was assured by Caelum that you do bore the courage to lead a heist in azure despite of your age" if I had a voice I would have gasped, if it was a field I would have ran and if it is a dream, I might have shred my skin awake. But none of it was an option, he was here, real in flesh and it was his voice that had addressed Caelum. He knows, he had known of us all along. He looks at me, eyes flitting over every inch of my appearance "You confused me Tommy" he takes a step ahead, I realise he has taken off his coat and it now lay on the curb of large rocks.

"How do you know Caelum?" For once my tone doesn't betray me, it's feverish and raspy but bold "Are you going to kill my friends?"

He shakes his head lightly, his eyes acquiring a gentler hue.

"Aren't you all siblings on paper? I suggested Caelum the arc to get you all into the system by the means" Aliferous lets out a threatening growl when she listens to my heart, she knows what the Ezdans words are doing to me. And she is ready to fight- but I hold her back by whispering no. He smiles once again at my gesture -

I want to run from him. Vanish from his perception because everything that's taking place is placidly wrong. It was the vanity of a nightmare and I am living it. Betrayal. So much betrayal. It hurts.

It hurts.

"Chief Caelum works for you" it's not a doubt, I am cementing the truth and he is quiet "How much of it is true if anything was the truth?"

The cold from the water is numbing my toes first, my soaked sock and shoe are heavy on my ankle. But nothing unbearable for us Helians. He knows I am Helian- he forged my identity- he is using us, but for what?

"Caelum is a defector, he was indeed from Rixile until his General stripped him off of his title and profile for refusing to kill an innocent Antarian civilian" I am scheming and betting for this to be a lie too- but I couldn't help but listen while measuring what it would take to get on the back of Aliferous and fly away. She can pass seas and borders, she doesn't need an inspection- not if anyone wishes to become a roasted meat that clings to the bone. I can find a land- I can run.

I can run and spend life with the blood of my friends on my hands. I don't know what the Ezdan would do if I leave. I don't know what he wants from me.

"Why did you save us?" I allow myself to cut through a maze of confrontation. He likes it. It is sick he seems to like how blunt my question is. It's fun for him. My fear is his fantasy "Don't you want to eliminate Helians? "

"The crown does" the smile is gone, in its place, a sheer nothingness has settled between his stare. His tone has taken a turn for the dark and its unfair for him to blame it on the crown when-

"You are the crown"

His steps don't hesitate, not until he reaches me, grabbing my chin in his deadly finger he angled me so that I had no where else to look but him.

"You don't know a thing about me so don't pretend to know" then he slips his hand back into his pockets and took a breather, his lips twisting in bitterness "If I was the crown, I wouldn't be needing a team to plan a heist to retrieve the elemental ring from the court, I could have simply grabbed it on a fine afternoon tour"

My jaw slacks open and I am squinting harshly at his statement.

"You are going to steal it?"

He arcs a brow, his jaw works subtly and it might be because he was holding his tongue from a slip.

"Why is that a wonder?

He has a stubborn nose, as the old man would call it. Straight as a ruler and sharp as a light. Something about my question is bothering him.

"You are a prince"

He doesn't respond in immediate, but when he does- he is lethargic and cold.

"I am much better, a thief"

He shifts, coming to stand beside me as he rests his back on the colossal body of Aliferous, perplexed to what be done the dragon lets him be. He crossed his arms and looked at the trees ahead and into- as if searching for reasons in them. When he finally speaks, I am taken by a wave of nausea-

"So tell me Tommy? Are you willing to wait for me to lead the heist before you try to kill me?"

His words are current in my body, I snap my back to look at him and he is watching me in prior.

"What is that nonsense your highness" I am backing away and defending with my existence. He doesn't budge in exterior and I am drained from everything- I might throw up or faint if I think what it is that he meant "I don't wish to kill you- ever. I am a Helian indeed, but I am not- is it not-

My words die when I saw him, his exotic nod was sarcastic- he knows.

He knows.

"How about I tell you a tale of a dragon who survived a massacre of her kind when she was a child" he suggests, walking with an intention of decreasing the distance between us. In the daylight, he still had the shadows of storm swivelling around him and I am getting sucked into the abyss. My back felt the body large rock beside aliferous who was dozing off- probably bored of our exchange.

He caged me between the boulder and him, if his scent had a colour it would be crystal blue. And if his voice- it would be the pitch of black. And he is leaving the grey for me to live with. With him, all I am is grey "How about the oath she made to herself when she saw men behead and gut her mother, her sisters. Men, as she saw and never bowed to even if she was bought up by a prince herself. Men that she promised to never obey and submit until she found the one with a heart same as hers, wounded, hurt and angry, a woman just like her. She and the prince both were certain of such divine existence-

I feel his hand touch my cheek, his fingers graze the tip of my dirty blonde curls and before I know it- he slips the wig over me. My dark locks come undone and it frames my face in a mane of brown and hazel.

-And their believe was met when one day she found her commander in an arena" he smiles, brushing my tress away from my face "And the Prince found the girl of his nightmare"