Sylvie Indrath
My bond was on his knees, screaming in anger, sorrow, which I felt, it hurt me, I was feeling everything he did.
I changed back into my fox form, so I could be closer to Arthur.
His aura was exerting a dark energy, a rage filled one, dark, like everything that happened was his fault, like he didn't do enough.
I wanted to help him, but how could I.
I was feeling exactly what he did, Veer was always nice to me, I cared for him so much.
I could barely bear what my bond was feeling and sharing with me, it was like the world collapsed on him, took everything he had away from him, it was awful.
My eyes were watering in my fox form, his emotions were like a storm inside of him, changing up every second, fighting the urge to keep growing, it didn't matter to me, I wanted to rage out, I wanted to break something, I wanted to kill that Scythe.
In this moment, Arthur was not a Lance, not a General, but a mere boy who lost his brother.
'Arthur, I'm so sorry.' Tears were flowing down his face, also my own, Veer meant a lot to me, my bond's brother.
'Sylv, he, he isn't dead, right.' I couldn't respond to him anymore, it was too hard, he was sitting in disbelief.
I managed to crawl up into his lap as he leaned back from the ground. The boy who was the same age as me, was dead, it really did feel like a dream.
I felt the mana of approaching soldiers coming towards us, but it didn't matter, the fight was over, and if I am right, it's Captain Glory.
'There are soldiers coming, do you want me to stop them?' I asked Arthur, I didn't know if he wanted people to see him in this state.
He didn't reply, but just kept on crying, tears fell to the ground, his white hair reverted back to its auburn color, and the pain he was feeling increased.
His legs had serious wounds, but at the moment, he didn't give a damn about it, he was still crying about the death of his brother.
'No, I don't care.' He finally replied to me, his tears slowed as he looked off into the distance where the Scythe disappeared at. 'I'm going to kill him.'
'I agree.' I just don't know if we can, he was on a whole other level. 'I don't know how we go about that though.'
'It doesn't matter, I'll find a way.' Anger, sorrow, and guilt was flowing all through my bond. I was feeling everything he did, and I could see what he kept on picturing in his head.
He was replaying the image of his brother having a sword through him, over, and over again. It hurt me, it hurt to watch his brother die again and again.
I could feel them coming, just about to exit the closest tree line. 'Arthur, stop, there coming, I know it's hard, but they shouldn't see you like this.'
'Who cares, Sylv?'
Twenty soldiers exited the tree line, and stopped as they absorbed in the scene before them, fire burning the grass, spikes growing out of the ground, and my bond holding me in his lap, crying.
Captain Glory was the first one to start walking again, she quickly made her way over to us. She was looking around, most likely for Veer, as he was no longer here.
Arthur didn't acknowledge her; his eyes were still watering as he stared into the distance. "Arthur? W-what happened here?" There was a long silence as the other soldiers walked up behind the captain. "Arthur?"
"Vanesy, send word to Commander Virion, I'm coming back to the Floating Castle." Arthur said coldly, but you could still sense the sorrow, even without a bond.
"W-where's your brother?" The captain asked.
"Dead." Arthur said simply, causing the captain's eyes to widen. "There was a Scythe, he took Veer's body after he stuck his sword into his chest."
"No." Vanesy said. "I'm so sorry, Arthur." She bent down and placed a hand on his shoulder, sitting next to him. "Your legs are bleeding; you need medical treatment before going back."
"I'm fine." Arthur said, but I knew that he had more wounds than just the ones on his legs. "What happened with your force?" I could feel that Arthur didn't care, he just wanted to talk about something else.
A tear ran down Vanesy's eye, the other soldiers looked shocked as well from hearing that one of their Lances had been killed and taken. "We won with ease because of Veer's plan." She ran a hand down my bonds back, trying to make him feel better. "Arthur, please, come back with us before you leave."
"Thanks for caring, Vanesy, but I need to go back as soon as possible." Arthur placed me on the ground, and tried to get to his feet, it took a hand from Vanesy, but he managed it. "I-I don't know what I am going to tell my parents."
'You should listen to her; it may be good to heal here before leaving.' I was feeling everything he did, and I could say, the best thing was to be around people, not alone with your thoughts.
'I want to be alone.' Arthur responded to me.
'But Arthur, is that truly the best thing for you.'
'No, but I don't deserve what's best, I let my brother die.'
"Go into the forest, search for any signs of where the Scythe might have taken Veer." Vanesy ordered the soldiers, but before they did anything, Arthur shouted.
"No! Just stop! He's gone! Let it be, Vanesy." Arthur looked down at me. "Sylv, come on, we are going back to the Castle."
Everyone was silent, not knowing what to say, I didn't transform, I stared up my bond who still had teary eyes, with anger built up in them.
'No.'
'Sylvie, please, I want to be alone, away from here. I can't stay here any longer.' Arthur wanted to leave, but I wasn't going to allow that. I was feeling everything he was, and I knew that being with people was the better choice for at least a good hour or two. 'Veer is dead because of me!'
'It's not your fault.' I assured him, it wasn't. 'Don't blame yourself, let these soldiers do something to help you.'
Arthur rolled his water filled eyes and turned to Vanesy. "Go ahead, search for any signs." He wiped away a stray tear. "If you have a medic here, I'll allow them to heal me."
Tears were no longer falling from my eyes, but they were still filled with water.
Vanesy nodded her head. "Sonia, come here and heal our young Lance." Arthur was helped down to the ground by Vanesy again, and a young female girl with black hair came rushing from the back. "Everyone else, go and look for any signs of the Scythe. Look for anything that you think will help."
"W-we are on it!" The rest of the soldiers dispersed, leaving the girl named Sonia and Vanesy here with us.
"Please stay still, Lance Leywin." The girl named Sonia started to wrap up Arthur's legs, trying to cover up the bleeding, and patch up the wounds.
Arthur wasn't speaking, he ignored everything and stared up at the sky with his hands on the ground. I nuzzled myself up against his thigh, and watched as Sonia patched him up.
"Arthur, no one cares if you let yourself cry." Vanesy told him as she sat beside him, looking at his face. "We understand that you just lost your brother, you can stop holding back your feelings."
'She's right, no one will blame you, you can go back to crying.' I assured him with a mental message.
'Sylv, I know you are trying to help me, but just give me a second to process everything.'
'Okay.' I let him be, trying to grieve myself.
"You are going to be fine, Lance Leywin, a day or two and you will be back to normal." Sonia spoke up. "With the medical teams at the Castle, and the potions there, everything should work out." She pulled a potion of some sorts out of her mana ring and held it out to Arthur. "Drink this for now, should free you from any pain you are feeling."
"Thanks." Arthur spoke softly, still taking in everything. He took the potion from Sonia and began to drink it. "Vanesy, please send word to Commander Virion."
"I will." She responded.
"Commander!" A soldier shouted from the tree line, not where Cadell left at, further away to the right. "I think you should come here for a second!" He was wearing silver armor, so I couldn't exactly tell what he looked like.
"I'll be right back Arthur, stay here with Sonia." I watched as Vanesy ran toward the soldier who yelled, and Sonia stayed here.
What did they find over there that they needed to call out to Vanesy?
'Should I go and check it out?' I asked Arthur, knowing whatever they found had to be nothing.
'If you want, I don't care.' Even in my head, Arthur was cold with a sorrowful tone.
'I'll stay.' I told him. 'I think it's best if I stay with you.'
'Okay.' Arthur said with zero emotion. 'Sylv, how do I tell my parents, El, gramps, Tess, that I let my little brother die? They will never forgive me.'
'Yes, they will, but I don't know how the continent survives this after everything he did.' Veer was well known by pretty much everyone, he was the Devil of Dicathen, a name Arthur and I didn't really like.
'I don't know if we survive this, how can we continue fighting with him gone.' Arthur's anger started to naw at me. 'Besides fighting for revenge, which I know isn't good, but Cadell needed to die for countless reasons now.'
'We will figure it out, let's just take some time before we do anything reckless.' I wanted Cadell dead as well, but we needed to be smart about it.
'How the hell do we do that?' Arthur asked me but was interrupted by Sonia.
"Do you need anything, Lance Leywin, I can get you whatever you want?" Sonia had a sad face on her face, but she had no clue what my bond was feeling. Arthur didn't reply, I was going to speak up to her, but decided to say something to Arthur.
'Arthur, say something, she's just trying to help.'
"Thanks, but I am fine." Arthur replied to her, and she took a step back away from us.
That's when a mana signature appeared were Vanesy ran off too, Arthur felt it to, because he quickly turned his head in that direction.
"What?" Arthur said, getting back up to his feet. "Sylv, you sensing what I am?"
'Yes, I do.'
"What's wrong?" Sonia asked, but everyone went quiet as Vanesy came walking out of the woods with four soldiers, and someone I didn't expect to see with his arms wrapped around the shoulders of Vanesy and another soldier was Veer, Arthur's younger brother, and someone I cared very much for.
They only took a couple steps towards us in the distance, before Arthur shot himself over to him using wind magic, ignoring all the pain coursing through him.
I quickly followed behind him as Arthur embraced Veer and the two holding him up released him. I jumped onto Arthur's head as he began to speak. "How are you here? I watched you die!"
"What?! That bitch killed me?" Veer asked Arthur, confused as they continued to hug each other. "I thought they needed me alive, but seeing you here means they took my clone."
"The clone?" Arthur asked as happiness flowed through him, tears of joy fell from his eyes, they still were hugging, Arthur was in disbelief. "What do you mean clone, Veer?" Arthur released him, and Veer stumbled slightly, that's when I saw his foot, it was sticking to the side like it was broken. "What happened to your foot?"
"Oh, I think I snapped my ankle when Cadell slammed his sword into my own and drove me into the ground." It was like Veer wasn't feeling it or was trying to be strong for Arthur's sake.
"You need medical attention immediately." Vanesy said, but Veer waved her off. "Then let me help you." She said as she slung his arm over her shoulder to help him stand.
"How?" Arthur asked in disbelief.
I jumped onto Veer's head to make sure he knew I was worried about him. He looked up at me and smiled. "Hey, Sylvie, sorry I worried you." He paused and then turned to Arthur. "We need to leave before the clone dissolves, but basically I placed two clones on the field, one with a slither of mana, so it couldn't be detected, and another that basically had all my mana, which then seemed like the real me."
"Then how'd you get in the forest?" Arthur asked, curious on how Veer survived, I was too.
"Well, I needed to create the clone, swap places with the clone, have the clone with no mana grab my elven sword, and then I passed out from giving up the rest of my mana." Veer had a nonchalant look on his face. "What?"
"You planned that during the fight?" Arthur wiped a tear away from his eyes.
"Yeah." Veer was back to looking normal, his ashy brown hair was messy. "Let's go before my clone dissolves, and Cadell comes back."
"I got him, Vanesy, thanks." Arthur picked Veer up as I jumped back to my bond's head, and he held him. "Send word about the battle to Virion." Arthur's heart was refilled with hope, I could feel it, hope also filled back up in me knowing that Veer was okay.
"Aww, look at you carrying me." Veer shot Arthur a tired smile, even in this state the kid around my age could be so youthful, and funny.
"Shut up." Arthur laughed, feeling less likely to kill the whole world because of Veer's death.
"Have a safe journey, Lances." Vanesy saluted them. "Let's move out." She told her men, and then sent one last smile as I got to the ground and began to transform into my dragon form.