Hello again guys! here's Chapter 3! Hope you'll enjoy. This chapter is mainly flashbacks and stories, so hopefully you won't get bored. LOL! Happy reading! :)
Chapter 3 – The Pierce Brothers
The cold wind gently entering the inn’s lobby touched Van’s bare skin, making him shiver a little bit. He was staring blankly outside the window, watching absentmindedly the swaying curtains, obeying the blow of the wind. On his right hand was the gold locket his uncle gave him, touching the two frames gently with his thumb. The warmth was still there, feeling the presence of his parents. He couldn’t help but smile.
“Feeling alone there?” A voice spoke behind him. When Van looked back, he saw Angelo at the top of the stairs, and he quietly descended on it.
Van looked outside the window again. “How is she?”
Angelo was now able to reach the lobby and he sat beside him. The both of them sat on the floor, feeling the coldness creeping up inside.
“She’s asleep,” he answered, and continued, “It’s funny how we interrogated her because of her healing ability. That’s cool, by the way.”
Van drew a weak smile. That time when they bombarded her with questions about her knowledge regarding Ad Lucem, the Heirs, even her origin of her ability replayed in Van’s mind.
Because Van did not give any response, Angelo continued speaking. “There’s a spark in your eyes the moment you saw her.”
Almost dropping the locket from his hand, Van threw him a look of shock. “What?”
Angelo laughed silently. “And now, your eyes show an emotion of guilt,” he chuckled.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Van couldn’t help but ask him with his elevated voice, but not in an angry tone. He’s correct: the moment Van settled his eyes on that girl made his blood rush up to his face. It was a familiar feeling, a feeling when he saw Kate for the first time.
“Jasmine is nice. She’s cool, except for her memory lapse.”
Van looked away, and chuckled a little. “That’s insane. I don’t even know the girl.”
He knew it was a lie. That feeling of familiarity came into him once again, adding up to the guilt since he made a promise with Kate months ago. This girl will never be a cause to break that promise.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Angelo said as if he was sure of what’s going on inside Van’s mind. “It’s Kate, isn’t it?”
After a few moments of no reaction from him, Van finally nodded, admitting the guilt he was feeling right now.
“Look, Angelo, I don’t want to be rude but this thing really disturbs me a lot,” Van weakly responded, his eyes full of pain.
Angelo looked away from Van and stared at the window as well. “Fine, I’m leaving the topic, but I just want to say one final thing. Just a piece of advice for you.”
“What is it?”
Without looking at Van, Angelo gave him his advice. “Kate is a nice girl, but she’s an Heir. Always remember that dating an Heir will really make the situation a lot worse,” he stopped for a moment to look at Van’s reaction. Based from his face, he wanted to hear more. “Believe me, Van. It’s a true-to-life experience. A relationship with an Heir will only bring pain.”
Van was amused by Angelo’s advice. “Wow, who’s the girl?”
Angelo frowned a little bit. “Whoever she is will never interest you.” He stood up and attempted to climb the stairs.
“This isn’t fair!” Van complained, not minding the silent ambiance around them. “Look, you caught me with your observant eyes, but when it’s your turn to—“
“Drew.”
Angelo’s face became pale, and his mouth was slightly open. Van looked at what Angelo’s looking at, and he saw it was the open locket, with the pictures of his parents inside.
“You know him?” Van’s face became pale as well, his voice cracking a little bit. Angelo’s color came back, but his shocked face never subsided. “Angelo?”
“Is Drew your...?”
“My father.” Van completed the sentence for him. “Angelo, what’s going on?”
Angelo gave a small laugh, a laugh between disbelief and shock. “Are Drew and Elora, your parents?”
Van nodded, and he couldn’t even know what’s going on inside Angelo’s mind. “Angelo...”
“We’re close friends.” Angelo finally said the moment he finally found his voice. He walked away from the stairs and approached Van once again, sitting on the floor as he looked closely at the pictures inside the locket. After looking at the two small frames, he gazed at Van.
“Are you Arthur?”
Van gently nodded his head. “I just knew after Gall returned my memories. That time when you left us alone, that’s when he revealed my true identity.”
He looked away. The pain was again building up inside his chest as the scene when his uncle died replayed on his head. All of his last words made him breathe hard.
There was an awkward silence again, both of them thinking the same thing: Van being an Heir.
“The moment when Gall brought your memories back, had he told you...” Angelo tried to break the silence, yet his voice trailed off.
“My father was an Heir. I saw the events when they sent me here, at this time zone.” Van blurted out the words Angelo’s trying to imply. “I’d seen my father said that I am an Heir, but at that time I couldn’t understand a thing. Now I do.”
Van spoke those words as if he was just telling a story, but after he finished his sentence, he felt like a burden was lifted up from his shoulder. It was the first time he disclosed that secret since his uncle told him this.
“Your lineage is still a mystery, and your ability is not yet known. But according to history, your lineage was from the seventh sibling.”
Knowing that Angelo’s trying to divert the topic, Van tried to bring it back.
“Tell me about my parents. After that moment when they sent me here, I’d never seen them again.”
Angelo gave a small laugh. “Well, I don’t know where to start, but...
“Your father was a great man, and I was greatly impressed by his leadership abilities. He confessed to us right away that he’s an Heir, but that would not take his promise back to defend the innocent people because of the Heirs’ abuse of power.” Angelo paused, and Van could clearly see that he’s reminiscing the past, together with the old Ad Lucem.
“I was once the youngest member of Ad Lucem. I was accepted when I joined the war, without any Heirs’ blood inside me. I was an ordinary human, yet due to my will to fight, Drew noticed me, and offered me to be a part of Ad Lucem. I accepted the offer.”
After that, Angelo frowned a little, but still continued. “But there were problems. First, Ad Lucem had no more available blood since the members already had lower quality of blood.”
“What do you mean?” Van asked, since he found himself lost there.
“The bloods were already passed on and on, until the bloods from the Heirs were already diluted, resulting to weak abilities.”
“Oh, now I get it.”
Angelo drew a smile, and continued. “You knew already that my brother is an Heir. Melchor had acquired my mother’s genes. My mother, at that time, never had the chance to spend time with us. She was the leader of the Heirs.” Angelo gulped for a while, hiding the sadness in his voice, and continued. “In order for me to be a full-pledged member of the org, I had to steal blood from my brother.”
Van’s eyes flew open. “You...what?”
Angelo chuckled. “I know it’s a rebellious thing to do, but it was needed. After I was able to retrieve blood from my older brother, which was the cause why I got kicked out from the house, I finally got accepted. Drew offered the hideout as my home, and the three of us, together with your mother, became peers. That time when I joined the org, they were still best friends. I remembered that your mother told me that she couldn’t imagine herself marrying him. But looked what had happened.” Angelo showed a smile, a genuine one which reflected the good things he had witnessed.
“That’s cool,” Van couldn’t help but comment.
“Yes it was. After about a year, I was surprised when Elora was already carrying a child inside her womb.” Angelo looked at Van. “It was you.”
Van just stared at the opened locket held between his thumb and index finger. He couldn’t believe that Angelo was there the time when his mother was carrying him.
“But during the time when the org was busy helping and guarding the town from the growing slaves of the Heirs, the leader of the Heirs died as they tried to infiltrate Hathor.”
“You mean your mother died?”
Angelo’s voice was bitter. “I never regarded her as a mother.” He paused to tone down his bitter voice, and continued. “Melchor took over, and that’s the time when his reign began. He was immediately declared as the new leader of the Heirs. Then there came my younger brother, wanting to be a part of Ad Lucem as well. He was all left alone, with no brother to take care of him.”
Van’s heart skipped a beat. “You had another brother?”
“Yes. His name was Serafin.” This time, the bitterness in Angelo’s voice was replaced with sadness. “He was a cheerful boy, eager to explore the world. He was the same as your age when he joined Ad Lucem. As an elder brother, I treated him with so much care. We were just like best friends, unlike Melchor who almost had no time with us.
“I gave a sample of my blood to Serafin, and when he was able to get used to it, he began fighting as well.”
At this time, Angelo gave Van a look, a look of between happiness and sadness, which was extremely odd.
“And the day you were born came. I was not there, but Serafin was there to assist Elora. Your parents had never expected it, but Serafin saw the glow in your eyes as a newborn infant. He was a witness of the birth of another Heir.”
“My eyes...what? I don’t understand.”
Angelo explained. “A sign that an infant is an Heir is the golden glow in his or her eyes the first time he or she gazed at the outside world.” He said, proudly looking at him. “You had those eyes. Both Drew and Elora had never expected that their son was an Heir.”
Van couldn’t reply. All of the things that had been told to him felt like blurring thoughts. Angelo continued his story.
“Years past, and the moment the couple dreaded the most came. The Heirs finally knew that one of their supposed-to-be members were the most influential members of Ad Lucem. Fearing for your life, Elora and Drew decided to send you here, at this time zone. They even consulted me, and I told them that if that’s what they think for your betterment, then it’s fine with me. So they did.”
“So you were there. You were always there! You witnessed everything!” Excitement filled up Van’s voice. “But how come I never recognized you, after my memories were returned to me?”
Angelo answered in his abrupt voice. “It’s because I’d never seen you personally. You were kept under the care of your aunt. With that, you may never had seen me before.”
Van agreed. It was true that he was taken care of by his aunt, but he could clearly remember that he always felt the presence of his parents, even though they seldom visit home.
“Just months after your departure, it happened. The Heirs took their move to kill us all, but they never anticipated that we were that strong. I could clearly remember what happened during that day. The Heirs hunted for us in Alavis.”
Van knew where Alavis is. It was a country, quite far from Terros. It was a place where almost all of the historical events happened. He never anticipated that a battle between Ad Lucem and the Heirs had happened there.
“A region of Alavis was almost completely destroyed. I pitied for the residents there, yet we had no choice but to defend our org as well. I was not surprised when I, together with Serafin, fought Melchor. It was hurtful, three brothers fighting because of different beliefs.” Angelo paused, and as Van looked at his eyes, despite the darkness of the lobby, he could clearly see that a tear was forming on his right eye. He gently wiped it off.
“The battle was bloodshed. It was the worst battle I had ever experienced. But there’s one thing that I had never expected that Melchor would do.”
Angelo paused to tone down his shaking voice.
“Melchor had the guts to kill even our own brother,” he said in his flat tone.
Van gulped. He couldn’t even respond, but gazed Angelo’s dark yet wet eyes.
“Before he died, Serafin told me to fight, and give justice to everyone who sacrificed their own lives to conclude this almost endless battle. Those words from my own brother really torn me down to pieces while watching him die at the hands of my own brother. Right after he died, I couldn’t help myself but fight Melchor, but we were so hopeless that time. The Heirs were already victorious for almost tearing the org down. Then your father called me out. He said if it’s possible, he wanted me to do a favour.”
Van straightened up, his eyes starting to sting for whatever Angelo would say to him.
“He said he wanted me to find his son.” Angelo spoke, his eyes just staring at the floor. “He requested me to take care of his son for him, and to make him feel that he’s special, that his father is always there to guide him. He wanted me to become a second father for his son, filling up the empty spaces a father should have filled up.”
Van stood up. He couldn’t afford to listen anymore to what Angelo was saying. He turned his back, and held himself not to cry. But his eyes continued to sting, his heart telling him to let out his emotions. The locket in his hand became cold, and he gripped it as the anger spread out to his limbs. He stared at the wall in front of him blankly, thinking those words his father had spoken in front of Angelo.
Then the tears came.
“Wh-what happened to them after?”
Van’s voice was shaking, the words drowned into his tears.
Angelo stood up as well. “They died, in front of me.”
The tears flowed even more, making Van whimper like a child. He felt that his heart was torn into pieces, burned because of the anger and sadness filling up his chest.
“I carried your mother’s body, and placed it beside your father’s.”
Van couldn’t afford to turn his back and face Angelo. “I was told that we will still see each other. They promised! Why...”
Van clearly heard Angelo’s steps approaching him. He held his shoulder, and forced Van to face him.
The tears won’t stop. The anger inside him won’t vanish. But the moment Angelo wrapped his arm around him and gently pushed his head on his chest while patting his shoulder like a comforting father, his heart slowly calmed down, his emotions obeying the comfort Angelo’s giving him.
“Listen, Van. I’m here. Your father’s here.”
P.S.: Now I just wanted to tell you that the Pierce brothers are the ones who are at the cover of this book. From left to right, they are Melchor, Angelo, and Serafin. Yes, Angelo's the main silhouette at the middle (with a hat! lol.)
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