Zephyr: The Elemental Clans

119 - Allow Me This

Xyder Zephyr - POV;

"Argh!" I cried out as was blasted by Regulus Astra's attack and fell backwards, slamming into the ground.

"You seem distracted Xyder. Is something on your mind?" Regulus Astra questioned.

"No, I'm fine. I just got a bit... um... yeah," I said, failing to come up with a sensible answer.

"You look worried. Is it about the tournament?" he asked.

"No. Nothing like that," I told him.

"Girl trouble?" he raised an eyebrow.

"I wish," I laughed half-heartedly.

"You know what, let's take a break," he offered, walking towards a large tree stump, prusumably to sit.

"No, I'm good to continue. We only have a few weeks," I objected.

"I'm ordering you to rest.... as a friend. Besides, if we take an hour to get you up for it and then you work as hard as you can, we'll make ten times more progress than if we continue with you as you are now," he assured. I begrudgingly accepted his terms. We sat in silence while Regulus Astra placed a cigar between his lips and, using the sparks at his fingertips, set it ablaze.

"So I assume you won't be telling me what your problem really is?" he muttered after some time. I continued to stare at the ground in front of me without a word, knowing that he would see right through me even if I continued to deny it.

"I guess it must be odd. To have some strange old man suddenly appear and expect you to confide in him... and the Regulus of Astra no less," he joked.

An awkward period ensued once more as neither of us talked.

"Xyder, I'm sorry," he apologised seemingly out of nowhere.

"What? Why?" I asked, finally perking up.

"For my actions at the ball. I shouldn't have arrested you, especially in the manner that I did. I knew you were innocent from the beginning and yet I didn't refuse to go through with the arrest. Instead I went ahead with those rediculous orders. For all of that, I'm sorry," he explained.

"Don't be. You were just doing your job. It's not like you were the one who set me up. Besides you couldn't have known for a hundred percent that I was not guilty," I told him.

"Even so, I believed in your innocence and yet I allowed that bastard to convince me to take you in for death. I sent you to be executed," he added.

"That bastard? Who are you talking about?" I pressed.

"Versailles, the Fifth King."

"One of the Vi Kings?!" I cried out.

"Indeed. However it likely not a personal affair. It seems that the victim was closely tied to Versailles so he was a bit eager for punishment. Ultimately it appears that the Vi Kings as a whole decided you were guilty upon seeing the 'concrete' evidence against you. Even so, the Vi Kings are not to be trusted. Some may posess a noble heart but the World Heirarchy is built upon lies and corruption and at the root of it all is none other than the Vi Kings. I have personal experience with the lengths and level extortion that Versailles is willing to stoop to in order to get his way. For a long time I let myself be blinded to this but Kristæl, your father, was the light to return my sight. I have spent the last decade trying to expose the darkness hidden within the Heirarchy all while under the thumb of the Fifth King himself. In that time I have turned in many whom I would have called friends and I watched so many criminals be pardoned and their crimes swept under the rug. My line of work demands certain skills and one thing I have grown especially apt at doing is determining a person's true personality by sight. That's how I know you are a noble spirit and in many ways you are just like the man Kristæl used to be. I can see how the years of pain and suffering from being stepped upon has moulded you and yet you forgive all of those who did you wrong even though you may not realise it. A person like that could not have just murdered a man in cold blood. I have seen someone very much capable of that recently however."