We waited, all night... Unable to sleep with the situation at hand and with the uneasiness settled in us because of the fact that we still don't know what has become of the prince and Muriel.
The only thing we could do the least was bring some mats to make a temporary bed for all of us and take turns in watching over the spheres while we slept there just the same, not minding if it literally took us quite some time to sleep.
When I woke up particularly, the sun was already up and the only thing that prevented the light from disturbing our sleep was the dome like ice rooftop that somebody conjured to keep everyone rested.
Seeing that the others were still asleep and snugly in their comforters, I quietly removed mine and stood up as I walked towards Leirum, Rex and Cyan who were all sitting under the shade of a tree and silently looking at the sphere.
"Rex, do you think... that the scientist the generals talked about and the possible abductor of Prince Narsus could also be possible for turning Prince Janus into a demon?" I asked and they looked up at me as I took my seat beside Cyan.
"There's a big possibility in that, Mikael, but the question is... how? How can a mere human turn an Azerothian into a demon? Much more a royalty?" Rex threw back a question that I couldn't hopelessly answer at all.
"Whoever is responsible, I won't forgive them." Cyan said with his jaw clenched, a powerful blood-lust coming from him that was all too overwhelming as I rubbed my eyes.
When I looked, it didn't seem like I was imagining at all. His eyes twinkled like a bright gem, seeming like a pair of orbs reflecting a universe, with those little twinkling shapes in them just like stars.
"What---?" I asked as I jumped up in surprise, looking at the grass around Cyan, wilting and speedily dying away as they turned to black, wicked looking thorn bushes appearing at certain places.
"Cyan! Calm down!" I turned to look at Rex, whose eyes were momentarily filled with pain but then again disappeared as he placed a hand on the cyan-haired guys shoulder who stiffened.
Cyan looked away from me as he took in a deep breath and he walked away, disappearing into the woods and out of sight as I stood there shocked.
"W-what just happened?" I asked, still disoriented at what I witnessed as Leirum sighed.
"I'm forbidding you to tell it to the others but Cyan has the ability to make plants and everything about life from ground die whenever he looses his cool." He explained and gave me a stern look.
"I won't okay. Fine!" I defended and put my hands up in surrender at his intimidating stare.
"Never ask him about it or anything regarding it too or I'll slit your throat." Rex added and I quickly nodded at the scary eleven years old kid while he ran after Cyan who ran away just now. Why are these people so stingy?
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I briskly walked through the woods. Passing by a lot of trees as I let out my emotions and dead brown leaves fell from trees which were perfectly normal a second ago, the plants and grass I touched dying immediately as I released my pent up frustrations.
My breathing grew heavy as I took long strides away from where the others were, completely letting my emotions rule over me as tears began to fall from my eyes and the pain I always felt on my back intensifying.
I screamed out in pure rage as I slumped down on the ground, sobs escaping my throat and my hand grasped my air as I shut my eyes from the hopelessness I felt.
I've been wondering... Why... Why did it have to happen to me. Why did I have to suffer this agony. The pain was excruciating... killing me slowly. It was pure torment and every passing day only made it worse
Everything that have happened. All of this... why?
My chest hurts... I couldn't breathe... I couldn't accept my fate... I couldn't accept what they did to me, why this happened to me and everything else around me. I can't...
"Cyan!" I heard a voice call out my name as I opened my eyes, my vision blurred because of the tears in my eyes. But that voice... I couldn't mistake it at all, it's too familiar for me to forget at all.
"Stop crying you jerk!" the second ranker scolded me as he stood before me and I forced out a chuckle a little when I remembered just how much Muriel loves to call the first ranker just that.
Sitting down on the ground, I looked up at him as I tried to wipe away my tears but they won't stop falling at all.
"W-Why? Why won't they just stop?" I asked as I used the back of my hand to wipe away the tears that kept streaming down my face. I felt pathetic... Crying in front of an eleven year old kid? It was beyond pathetic.
"I'm sorry Rex, I'm sorry if you have to see me like this, just wait a moment." I tried to laugh as I buried my face on my hands but sobs only escaped my throat as my hands soon became wet with tears just the same.
"Idiot." Was all I heard from the second ranker before I felt arms wrap around me and I looked up, seeing him hugging me tightly as he knelt in front of me and gently pulled me in a warm embrace.
"Stop. Just stop crying.." He pleaded and I turned as I saw tears streaming down his face, his eyes closed and pain etched on his face but a bitter smile pasted on his lips as his hug tightened but my tears only fell down more.
Why?...Why does he always cry with me every time he sees me like that? Why is that pained smile always on his lips when we're alone? And why......
Why does that pained smile... pains me more?
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My eyes fluttered open as I blinked but only saw darkness as I forcefully widened my eyes to their limit, remembering a second later everything that had happened, I noticed that I was still holding on to the Prince's hand, and that we were basically floating in mid-air because I couldn't feel anything above or below us.
"Prince Janus! Are you alright?" I asked out as I struggled to kneel at his side, glaring off into the darkness and cursing because of my incapability to summon fire just like my brother.
"Kevin! Leirum! Where are you?!" I shouted out, calling into the darkness and hoping that they might answer back. But remembering that it was only me and the prince who got enveloped by the black sphere earlier, I grimaced.
Wow. Just wow. So basically, I'm trapped here in the darkness with a prince who is slowly and sooner or later completely turn into a demon. Just wow. My eyes adjusted to the dark and I can only faintly define some of his features.
I turned to look at the prince when he groaned and his eyes opened... All black, his iris a bloody red color with menacing slits like a cats as he bared his sharp fangs at me and I immediately backed away, floating in mid-air as he started to rise, his almost all black wings spread behind him and he floated forward.
"I'll kill you." He muttered with certainty.
His voice... was just like the voice we heard earlier but the soothing feeling and kindness in them were gone and were replaced with nothing but ruthlessness. It was like he was a different person.
"Prince Janus..." I unconsciously said but he seemed not to realize who it was that I was referring to.
"Who's that? The person you're hoping to save you?" He asked and laughed mockingly as I disbelievingly stared at him. He doesn't know who he is.
"I-Its your name." I answered and he stopped laughing as he looked at me. "My name? Sorry but I'm not the same as who I was once." He said and he hovered forward.
He was like a predator, slowly advancing to his prey which was unfortunately me. He can pounce anytime and that is what I dread.
"Don't you remember who you are?" I asked as I mustered courage and tried to collect myself even though my knees were shaking in fear.
"No. But what I know is that I want to hear you scream before I kill you." He answered darkly and lunged at me as I tried to run away in the darkness, sprinting away from him in this indefinite place.
My heart was pounding in me, it was so loud the noise was ringing in my ears as I heard his dark laugh behind me.
"You can run, but you can't hide." I heard him say while I was running away blindly in the darkness.
It felt like I was in a movie I once watched. Nightmare on Elm Street was it? Where in a vicious killer that died invaded their dreams and killed them. Difference was... Whether I'm dreaming right now or not... there was a demon in pursuit who wants to kill me...
Worst case scenario... I was terribly afraid... and alone. I can't hope for someone to rescue me here... in this black space.
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"Where's Cyan and Rex?" Antoinette asked when she noticed that the two mentioned person were not in sight. When we woke up with the others we only found Leirum and Mikael sitting under a tree.
"Ahhhh, they just went to scan the area." Mikael said as he glanced at Leirum but I kind of had the feeling that something was off, however, I didn't ask about it. Instead, I began to question them about something I find totally strange.
"Why is this place dead? Yesterday I checked, Harumi and I sat by here and I was damn sure the grass wasn't like this and there were no thorn bushes here." I pointed out as I checked the dead patch of grass they were sitting on.
"Alfreed's right. It wasn't like this yesterday----"
"I did it. Any problem with it?" Leirum asked, cutting of Harumi's statement as he blankly stared at the black sphere.
"You really are a monster aren't you?" Ryouta commented and shoved an apple in his mouth. Jeeez, where does this guy get his endless supply of foods?
"Anyway, shut up, the two's here and Rex will be speaking." Leirum muttered and we saw Cyan and Rex appearing behind the trees and made their way to us.
Both of them were usually silent as they stopped in front of us.
"All of you will go to the corners of this city and we all need to create a barrier around the city to keep demons off." Rex declared and we all creased our foreheads.
"Why?" Violet asked first as the second ranker sat down near Leirum.
"Last night, one demon was killed by the Leo and Violet on their guard, The second pair had another encounter, and so did the others, but it was only thanks to Leirum that you guys had to battle only one. He stayed up away from camp and killed a sum of forty that tried to enter the city." Rex explained and we all gawked at the first ranker who was blankly staring at the sphere.
"I think that they were drawn to this city for some reason. One possibility was because of Prince Janus turning into a Class SS demon." Leirum layed out and we kept silent and carefully listened as they began explaining things.
This guy really is a monster. Forty demons? You've got to be kidding me.
"Now all of you go to your designated areas and perform the ritual. I'll take care of the demons. Hurry because their numbers are growing by the minute." The first ranker said and stood up. Everyone nodded as we rushed to our points.
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I stumbled and fell as pain coursed through every part of my body. I cried out in pain and gasped for air as blood flowed out of my wounds. I was tired and full of wounds from the demon's claws that cut open my flesh every now and then.
"Giving up yet?" I heard the sinister and menacing voice ask as I tried to stand up again in fright but only fell back down again.
I yelped out in pain when Prince Janus--- no---the demon harshly cupped my face, his sharp claws burying themselves in my cheek as he tilted my face up.
"Why do you refuse to scream?" he asked in an annoyed tone as he threw me away, my body hitting nothing solid but my pain intensifying.
I don't know how long it has been since the game of hide and seek began but I was exhausted and already too weak with all the cuts he has given me. He was really acting like a demon now, aiming to make me scream in terror but that I refused to give.
"I will never scream if I know it will delight you." I spat as I gasped for air, trying to calm my nerves down.
As of now, I hopelessly don't have any plans how to get out of this place or how to save this guy who got consumed by the darkness. I don't know much about the royalties in Azeroth but Alfreed once told me that it was impossible for a royalty to ever submit to the darkness.]
"Use your fire to kill me." A voice suddenly interrupted my thoughts and my eyes widened when I recognized it. It was the voice from earlier... But what? Fire? I don't have the element of fire.
"I don't have that element." I said aloud in my thoughts, hoping that his consciousness was talking to me through my mind like telepathy.
I screamed in pain when claws ripped my jeans and my flesh, making me loose my balance and fall.
"You do... Just concentrate on it and kill me... Save my soul." The voice whispered soothingly and I gritted my teeth in new found anger.
I forced myself to stand up and began shouting. Pain, fury, fright and hopelessness all mixed together.
"Why do you keep saying that!? Why do you keep telling me to kill you?!" I screamed out and I felt something burst in me... A second later and I found my body engulfed in bright blue flames like Kevin's but I was too occupied with lashing out at the demon who stood in front of me.
"Do you think that I can easily kill you if I know you're still alive in there?! If you were completely a demon then I would certainly kill you! Problem is, you are not fully yet! Leirum! That idiot of a friend of yours is waiting outside!" I angrily shouted out.
"I---" prince Janus tried to speak when his eyes turned gold but was soon replaced by the demon. It was like there were too people inside him. The real Prince Janus and the demon...
"Do you want to be saved or not?! Do you want to live?! Or do you want to die and let your brother, Prince Narsus to possibly turn like you?!" I continued, my dread growing larger when I thought of the possibility that the other prince can turn like him...
If... that mad scientist was responsible for the missing prince and the two royal guards that Prince Janus were with then....
I looked at the Prince with wide eyes, my voice failing me as I seemed to have triggered something in him. With the fire engulfing me, I can completely see him unlike earlier.
He suddenly fell on his knees with his head between his hands as he gave off a tormented cry.
While I stared, the color of his eyes were continuously shifting from gold to red.
"Stop!"
"My brother!"
Along with the color of his eyes, him and the demon were speaking alternately. The demon was shouting at me to stop confusing him but the real Prince Janus was crying already.
I worriedly and hastily walked over to him as my fire died down and what was only left to illuminate the prince was a ball of fire floating in mid-air.
"Prince Janus." I concernedly said and cupped his face in my bloodied hands while I stared at the shifting color of his orbs.
"Nooooo-----My brother! S-save-----Stop!" He was speaking in two different voices that it was hard for me to comprehend. He was terribly shaking.
But what took me aback was that his eyes became permanently black and red... The demons eyes but he was crying black tears while staring into my eyes with hopelessness.
"My brother!" He suddenly cried out in his real voice and a pang of pity pierced my chest as he broke into sobs.
"Save Narsus... I h-ave to...." His voice trailed off as I stared into his eyes.
"Do you want to live?... Do you want to be saved?" I asked him silently and he stared at me, black tear drops falling from his face as his voice quivered and an unexplainable strange sensation grew in me.
"Y-yes." He answered out and that was all I needed before something happened I couldn't explain.
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"The barrier has been set up. Never mind that now, has the sphere opened up yet?" Harumi worriedly asked as soon as she appeared and I sadly shook my head.
My big sister and the prince haven't emerged yet and I was so worried. My sister...was trapped in a sphere that is indestructible with a demon. How can I not worry.
"Guys! Come here! the sphere is breaking!" Leo suddenly shouted and we all rushed around the sphere. Sure enough, the sphere had cracks on it of bright light in contrast to the black color of the sphere. We waited for the scene to unravel.
When it suddenly broke open with a blinding light, we momentarily closed our eyes and waited for the light to die down.
When I felt that it faded slowly, I squinted my eyes open and saw the scene unravel slowly.
Muriel, my sister was smiling warmly and kneeling in front of the demon... Prince Janus who stared at her eyes.
I was about to dash towards the two and pull my sister away who was full of wounds and it seems the others thought the same when Leirum shook his head as a signal for us to wait.
We got confused but obeyed the first ranker as we stared at the two.
"You'll be fine." Muriel stated and soothingly hugged the prince to her chest who gave a smile as he closed his eyes and we all watched in fascination and bewilderment when his almost black hair and wings suddenly gave a blinding light for a second and turned to gold before he passed out.
"Muriel------" I tried to call out as I stepped closer as she was reaching out for the prince's hand but I only managed to finish just her name when her eyes suddenly widened with horror while looking up.
"Aaaaaahhhhhhhh!!!!!!" She suddenly sent us running to her when she started screaming in terror while looking up, her eyes wide with fright and pain while she stared at nothing in particular as if she was seeing something.
"Muriel!!!!!"
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Confusing, I know... Hahahaha.
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-thebadgirl05 at your service. ^_~