Ritual

Chapter 15

The castle doors were wide open when I arrived, and the usual two guards that stood before the main doors were gone. I jumped off of my horse and ran up the stairs. there were many knights inside the castle, readying their weapons, their swords, and their spears, and searching the castle up and down. They yelled commands at each other and moved hastily in all directions, it was complete madness. And I knew what this meant, the hybrid was inside.

I rushed towards the alchemy room where Trystan and Mr. Farko stayed behind. I pushed the door open immediately and found nobody inside. My breath was caught in my throat, and I called out for them. "Trystan? Mr. Farko?" I said, hoping that they were just hiding somewhere, but there was no answer.

I rushed to one of the guards roaming the castle, all of them kept a keen eye and constantly turned their heads around. "Where are Mr. Farko and Trystan?" I asked him.

"They're in the solar room, Your Majesty," he replied and called for the other knights to come and escort me there.

I walked the grand stairs with five knights behind my back, which was unnecessary because there were several others up on the second floor, anyway. I opened the solar room doors, and there they were, huddled on a chair before the fire in the hearth, looking traumatized. Esmee was there, comforting them, and she rushed to me when I walked through the doors.

"Where were you? I thought you were with us!" she said.

"I took a little stop," I said and pulled out the amethyst necklace from my pocket. "I found a real amethyst this time. It's from Anika and Granos."

Esmee stared in disbelief at the jewelry that hung from my hands. "Well, that's great, Alexios, but the book. It was taken from Trystan by that creature" she said.

I looked over at him. He was covered in a blanket as he stared at the fire, and there was a big cut on his arm which was now covered in a bandage.

"I took care of his wound," Esmee said and put her hand on my arm. "It was here, the grey creature, the hybrid." her scared voice whispered.

"So I've heard. This is bad." I said.

"Alexios, you need to do something. You're a king now," she said.

"Right. I need to protect my kingdom." I said. I handed her the amethyst necklace. "All of you stay here. I'm hunting that beast down. For good."

I walked over to the windows so I could think, and Esmee followed. I watched the people below, starting to get afraid. Knights lined up the castle front, and some extended their search throughout Krurian, marching on the streets in groups.

I noticed one person in the cloud of people, his shirt was ripped and ragged, covered in rips, holes, and dirt, but he walked as if he was alright, like a drunkard brushing off a predicament. His ruffled white hair was already clued enough that he was Aizrill. He turned around, and I was right. I wondered how he ended up like that, or he might have been attacked by the hybrid. Esmee saw him, too, and she gasped loudly.

"He's hurt," she said, touching the glass of the window.

Then, Aizrill lifted the collar of his shirt and removed it over his head. He threw his ragged shirt on the ground and walked back to the town, his upper body left completely exposed.

The sweat on his chest and back reflected in the sunlight, but on his back, a strange and familiar mark was tattooed on his skin. It didn't take me long to realize that it was in the shape of a hook, just like the one on the cover of the spellbook.

My eyes widened in disbelief. I recalled what I've read from the book, that hybrids have the same mark on their backs.

"What's that mark on his back?" Esmee asked.

"It's the mark of a hybrid," I said. "It makes no sense."

We watched as Aizrill walked, and from his pocket, he pulled out the spellbook.

"Hybrids can make themselves look like humans," I whispered in a sudden realization.

"What?" Esmee asked.

"Hybrids, they can make themselves look like a normal human beings," I said aloud.

"Aizrill is a hybrid," she said, her voice breaking.

"What in the world does he want the book for?" I asked.

There was a moment of silence, and Esmee looked out the window at Aizrill with a devastating look. "Was Aizrill even his real name?" she asked me.

"I don't think so," I said, then the chair that Trystan was sitting on moved as he stood up from his seat.

"He'll resurrect all the other hybrids that have died," Trystan said from behind us.

I turned to look at him. "What? How do you know that?"

"That skeleton we found in the woods, we were in a hybrid burial ground," he said coldly.

"They keep the bodies of dead hybrids in the tree trunks, and he's going to bring them back to life," he said.

"Trystan, are you sure about this?" Esmee asked.

"It was in the deeper parts of the book, I read it. I'm sure of it, Your Majesty," he said. "He's going to start a war with us."

I stormed out of the room. "I knew I couldn't trust him," I said. My fists clenched, and this time, I wasn't going to think twice about hitting him. "I'm taking him down, and I'm taking father's sword in the armory."

Esmee followed behind me, and I turned around before she would say anything else. "Where do you think you're going?" I asked.

"My bow and arrow are in the armory," she said and moved past me.