The Prophecy: Apprentices

Chapter 26 - The Queen's Statement

Two days after the battle with Psycho and Jack, Posters were placed in various areas throughout the entire Kingdom. All of the apprentices have a bounty on their head besides Psycho since he was already in custody.
" She's probably torturing him..." Aries said, sitting in an alley while tears ran down his face. He tightened his right fist, slowly shifting his gaze to Jack. The male showed his fangs, falling into a primitive state which wouldn't end well for them.

" J-Jack, You were in the wrong this time. Psycho did something you were supposed to do. You show the people hope and give them a  better look instead of sorrow. Instead of that, You allowed to think he disrespected your pride but in the end... He honored it even keeping you safe from being taken into custody." Aries stated, more tears rolling down his face as he bit down on his bottom lip.
He wanted to beat the living hell out of Jack but was restraining his desire so that they'd continue to be hidden.

Anais walked over to Aries, placing her hands against his cheeks before placing her forehead against his. The male noticed a single tear roll down her face, realizing she cares about Psycho. The two looked over to Jack, noticing the male isolating himself in the darkest part of the alley.
" Either we leave him or turn this place into a war zone..." Anais said, moving her hand as she started running her fingers through Aries's hair.

Jack dwelled into deep thought, replaying everything that occurred two days prior.
" My son, You are troubled once again." A familiar voice spoke to him, causing the male's reality to quickly shift to an open field.
Two figures stood next to one another, One wearing a cloak while the other was covered in blood.

Jack shook his head, not believing what he was witnessing. Charles and Jack's biological dad stood before him, Each one having a smile on their face.
" I-I don't know what to do, I thought what I did was righteous but I soon realized my hatred for him drowned out the oath I swore..." Jack said, looking into Charles's eyes as he heard the cries of help from Zarmacks.

" I couldn't even save my brother, I was weak when he needed me now I don't know if I'm strong enough to save the man who killed him." Jack said, falling onto his knees before tears started to roll down his face.
Charles shook his head, shifting his attention to the male next to him.
" Johnathan, He doesn't realize that Zarmacks isn't dead. " He said, dissolving into a cloud of grey mist.

Johnathan sighed, tightening the straps on his wooden leg before taking a step forward towards Jack. Ruby flames swirled around Jack, numerous voices echoing inside of his head.
" Son, I wasn't around to witness you grow. So, I'll give you a piece of advice." He said, placing his right hand against the flame.
Jack slowly looked up, seeing a child's hand break through the flame.

Zarmacks stood before Jack, not hesitating to slap the brute. The boy snapped his fingers, dispersing all of the flames in an instant.
" Bubba, If you live in the past then you'll never see the future... I may be gone but my memory will never disappear because of you guys. Find the path that you once sought for yourself and push for it!" Zarmacks screamed at him, Slowly dissolving into a cloud of red mist before Jack was forced back to his reality.

Jack shook his head, realizing Anais and Aries were gone from the alley. He noticed citizens running past the alley, way one showing an eager expression. " The Queen has news for us." A male said, immediately forcing Jack to emerge from the alley. The brute followed the citizens, hopefully they'll lead him to Anais and Aries. He had a bad feeling about this but he continued to make his way through the crowds of people before his gaze fell upon a stage standing in front of the castle.
Luckily, Jack was able to locate Aries and Anais since they are still being hunted by most of the people in this kingdom.

" Took you long enough Jack, we thought you actually died in the darkness of the alley." Aries said quietly, staying close to him because the male didn't enjoy large crowds.
Anais took a deep breath, catching a specific scent as she covered her mouth.
" P-Psycho's here..." She said, catching both of the male's attention.

⁃ Psycho's Point Of View-

" Get up slave!" A voice shouted, the sounds of chains rattling caused the male to awaken. A mixture of blood and saliva dripped from his lips, it seemed that Psycho had endured restless beatings from various weapons.
He lifted his head up, locking eyes with Queen Diane as she entered his cell.
" Tell me what is Draigs real intentions for the peace treaty, You seem to know more than the other three. If you cooperate, I'll let them live and you can be a hornless demon. " Diane said, grabbing ahold of his right horn with her right hand.

Psycho remained silent, continuing to make eye contact with her to show that he doesn't care about the offering. He slowly smiled, spitting blood into her face.
" I'd rather be hornless and dead so they can live. I can tell you don't honor anything including family matters..." Psycho said.

Diane wipes the blood from her face, flicking it onto the stone floor before exiting the cell.
" Let's make a statement out of you! Guards, Escort him to the stage outside of the castle and prepare my holograms." Diane stated while raising the tone of her voice, showing that she was already annoyed of Psycho.

Ten minutes later, Psycho was being dragged out of the prison and towards the castle. The male didn't have time to regain his footing while citizens we're throwing rocks at him.
" Slaves deserve to suffer!" A female shouted at him, throwing a rock as it crashed the top of his head.
He glanced to his right, witnessing Zarmacks standing alongside the citizens as the boy turned his back to him.
" Keep the promise..." Zarmacks mumbled under his breath, walking through the crowd to keep his eyes on Psycho.

Eventually, Psycho was dragged up onto the stage. The six guards didn't hesitate to attach ten chains to his body Incase he had any ideas. The sounds of the citizens drowned out Aries yelling for him.
" Welcome my loyal family. I Queen Diane have captured a Demon from the Cthulhu family. This Demon has killed multiple soldiers from our beloved army. I tried to figure out his true intentions but he wouldn't crack!" She said, speaking into an intercom as numerous hologram versions of her appeared all around the castle walls.

Psycho raised his head, gazing through the crowd and eventually located the group. A tear ran down his face, seeing how upset Aries and Anais started igniting the fire within him.
" Heh, I'm sorry runt. I wasn't strong enough to keep you from getting upset..." He said to himself, slowly lowering his head and accepted his fate.

Diane slowly walked up behind Psycho, twirling a dagger in her left hand as she grasped ahold of his hair. She licked her lips, leaning his head back with a devious smile forming on her face. She took a deep breath, running the dagger along the side of his horns.
" THIS IS MY STATEMENT!" She screamed at the top of her lungs before slamming the blade into the side of Psycho's throat.

At that moment, Arie and Anais screamed at the top of their lungs. They witnessed Diane, jerk the blade across his neck to cause more internal damage to his throat than there was.
Psycho fell forward, blood seeping through his lips as his skull bounced off the stage floor.
" APPRENTICES IF YOU WANT THIS BODY, FIGHT FOR IT AND SHOW ME WHAT YOU'RE CAPABLE OF!" Diane screamed, walking off the stage as three guards started unhooking Psycho from his chains.

All three apprentices charged for the stage, Jack was slicing through numerous civilians and he made sure to go for the ones that cheered for Psycho's death. Aries and Anais kept anyone off Jack since he was there main shot to the stage.
" You gave up everything for us, So I'll do the same for you maggot." Jack screamed out to Psycho, continuing to push through the crowd

Psycho looked up at Jack, struggling to even lift his right hand. He was suffocating from the blood clogging up his lungs, another tear ran down his face before his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
When Jack witnessed that, A small fragment of his pride was gone. He wanted to prevail and make sure Psycho survived this so that he could physically apologize for his actions.

Jack didn't hesitate to sheath his sword, shifting his body to grab ahold of Anais and Aries before running in the opposite direction of the stage. The two of them said numerous things at him while beating on his armor.
" The two of you shut the fuck up... H-He's gone..." He said, causing the two of them to remain silent as he sprinted away from the scene.