I wrote most of this chapter today. Ahaha merry christmas/christmas eve. I've been wanting to post some pictures of my travels but Wattpad hates me so I can't ;-;. You'll just have to wait until I return home to American, or look at my insta sinces there are pics there. (catthedrawer)
Since I'm staying home today, I hope I can get a lot of writing done, or maybe some drawings.
Until then, enjoy this chapter!
~~~~~
GAME OVER
Chapter 13 [Demons of the Void]
~~~~~
"I'm really, really sorry, I didn't mean anything by it. And I didn't mean to offend you or anything." Adam caught up to Seto down in his cave.
Seto turned on his heel and looked at Adam, "Offend me? I don't feel, I don't get offended. What I dislike is you butting into my business!"
"I just wanted to--"
"Stop, just don't say a word. Whether I like it or not you were shoved into my care. But that doesn't mean you are anything more than a nuisance in my home."
"O-Oh..." Adam stopped walking, he cast his eyes down.
"Do you get it now? Here in the AHD you stick your nose into everything and do nothing useful in return!" Seto slammed his staff into the ground to emphasize his point. Small purple flames sparked from the point of impact. Seto spun away, his cloak fluttering behind him as he entered his cave. Adam opened his mouth to say something and reached out his hand to do something. He stopped.
His fingers just barely scraping the wooden surface of Set's staff. Adam was shocked into silence. And he stood there in quiet numbness. A wave of feelings washed over him, but not his own, someone else's. And with these feelings came a whole new world Adam has never seen.
~~~~~
"Papa, tell me again. Tell me the story again." The innocent purple eyes of a young child who looked only 6 stared up into that of a man. The man's eyes wise but a gentle brown held the young boy in his lap. They sat beneath a fruitless apple tree.
"But you've heard it a hundred times Seto, why don't you tell me the story. You know it so well."
"But papa, only you can tell it. You found it right? In that book, right?" The smaller version of Seto pointed to a half opened knapsack, inside the bag was the mysterious book Seto always carried around. It didn't look any different, still the same unreadable book, "You've deci...de-ci....de..."
"Deciphered."
"Uh huh, you deciffffered it, right?"
"Almost, I've almost uncovered this book's secrets." The man smiled. A gentle breeze blew by.
"Will you teach me? Will you teach me Runic Papa?"
"When you're older Seto." Seto nodded. The man lifted Seto up from under his arms and turned him to face him face to face, "How about that story?"
Seto nodded and grinned, And what do we say?"
"Pweeeeassse!"
"Good job!" The man stood up with Seto standing next to him. The man packed up his bag and carried it over his shoulder, he grabbed Seto's hand and they walked. "Which one do you want to hear?"
"The one about Celean! I wanna hear the one about the True Origin and the War!"
The man laughed wholeheartedly, "You sure love that one, don't you?" Seto nodded.
"Ok, I'll tell you while we walk home to mama, ok?"
"Ok!"
~~~~~
"Do you really have to go Papa?" Seto, only a little bit older now asked. Seto stood beside his mother a young woman, a sorcerer, she was the current sorcerer of the kingdom of Rekrium. Her hand rested on Seto's shoulders. Seto didn't notice the tense and worried gaze in her eyes as she looked at her husband.
Seto's father kneeled down in front of Seto, "Don't worry Seto. I'm a Player, even if something does go wrong, I'll be back. In one piece no less!" He brought Seto into a hug and rubbed his back, "Take care of mama ok? Be brave Seto, and when I come back, I'll come back with the truth." Seto nodded into his father's shoulder. They separated with his father's arms still on Seto.
"Do you remember what I taught you Seto? Do you remember what we stand for?" Seto nodded, "Good, now say it with me."
"Truth, above all else, will set us free," both father and son said together, and when they were done Seto laughed as his father ruffled his hair playfully. He stood up and looked to his wife.
"Don't be worried my love, I will come back."
"And what if you're wrong?" Her hand lifted and wiped her tears away.
"I won't be, I'm sure of this. They aren't evil as people say, these Demons of the Void aren't the ones at fault for the past."
"There's no proof!" Seto looked up at his mother as she cried. Seto didn't understand what was wrong. His father was always right, couldn't she see that?
"It's all in that book, that book holds everything, dear. That book holds the truth to what really happened nearly 8000 years ago--"
"Yes, you've told me so many times. With the fall of Celean came our doom. Rekrium was punished for its crimes and isolated for an eternity with no end in sight. But what does it matter if these Demons are good or bad. It will change nothing of what happened in the past!"
Seto's father grasped his wife's hands and looked pleadingly into her eyes, "Trust me on this. I promise you this will change our world." she stalled her tears and nodded, the doubt still in her eyes. Seto's father cupped his wife's face in his hands and kissed her gently. Seto scrunched his eyes and stuck his tongue out, but stayed silent for this was an important moment. He could just tell. And in a week or so, his Papa would come home and tell him of his new stories. About the demons--no the Enders. That's who they really were.
Papa didn't like to call them demons, he always said that demons meant something evil, and evil they were not.
~~~~~
Seto woke one night to his mother gently ushering him awake. The young boy was in a peaceful daze. It was the middle of the night. His mother with her staff made of willow and gems of fire colored grace in its center lit the way out of their home. A package was wrapped under her arm that held the staff, and Seto's hand grasped firmly in her other hand. They walked in the dead of night from their distant home to the east towards the direction of the mountain in the center of their capital.
"Mama, where are we going?" Seto dreamily asked, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
"Shh Seto, we'll arrive when we arrive."
"Are we going to meet papa? Did he come back from his trip?" She didn't answer. And Seto thought nothing of it. Seto so strongly believed in his father and every word he spoke that he did not doubt him for a second when he said that he would return. He knew that he would return, even if it had been more than a week already since his departure.
So Seto hummed quietly to himself as he and his mother walked the moonless night towards the capital. The only light coming from his mother's staff.
And when it was nearing dawn, Seto was sleeping quietly on his mother's back. She carried not only him but the mysterious package and her staff into the capital. The city was only just beginning to stir when she reached the steps of the castle built into the mountain.
The stiff and tired guards waiting at its gates looked up and saluted, "M'lady."
"I will have an audience with the king immediately." And the guards watched her march past them before they hurried after her.
"But he is sleeping M'lady."
"Then wake him." And she said nothing more as the stunned guards paused in their actions, before one rushed to the king and the other returned to their post.
~~~~~
When Seto woke he found himself in a large empty bedroom. He was bundled up in the thickest and warmest of blankets. Seto rubbed his eyes and yawned before struggling to get out of the bed. He left his bed and opened the door. He was met by a guard waiting by his door.
"You're awake young sir?"
"Where's my mama?"
"With the King."
"The King?" They were in the castle he guessed, but why, "Can you take me to her?" Then he added, "Please."
"Sure thing." Seto and the guard walked. The guard gestured to a set of large wooden doors, on the other side was the throne room. He could just barely hear his mother and the king speak.
"There must be a way, you have to send another team to the End!"
"Please be reasonable Aliss, we can't send anymore soldiers. It was foolish to believe those Demons actually had hearts. I will admit I was sucked into the tale since James is a very credible historian, but this was just foolish--"
The sound a chair falling and then his mother's voice, "Do not tell me what is foolish. What is foolish is that you are doing nothing! MY son will grow up fatherless unless you send another team of soldiers there. My husband is alive I'm sure of it!"
"Aliss, calm down. I would like to help you, I truly would. You have helped this kingdom more than I can repay, but we both know the truth. James has passed away. The proof is that book you carry. You said James took that book with him to the End and then one day it suddenly appeared back under your roof. He's dead Aliss."
Seto trembled as he heard his mother's sobs. He heard her staff clatter to the floor, "Aliss please. I understand your grief, but you must remain strong for the kingdom, and for your son. James may have been wrong this time, and he may have paid for it with his life. But he will be honored, I can guar--"
"You're wrong!" Purple tendrils of magic wrapped around those giant wooden doors and slammed it open. The guard that had lead Seto here was shocked and stood their like a dumb dog. The King and Seto's mother looked back to see Seto wielding magic for the first time.
"My Papa is never wrong! You dimwitted fool! Papa wouldn't lie, he's never wrong!"
"Seto, calm down," Aliss grabbed his staff and walked towards Seto slowly, "Seto calm down."
"Take it back!" He screamed at the king, "Take it back! The Enders wouldn't do that! Papa said they were good!"
"Seto, listen to me, calm down," His mother reached him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
The king spoke up, "The Enders aren't good, Seto. There is nothing that can change that." The king stood, "Your father was wrong this time, and I'm sorry he has passed away. He was very young to have met such a fate. But Seto, listen to your mother--"
Seto screamed. Purple magic shot from all side of Seto, hitting the walls, and the floor. It caused wood to light on fire, and stone to crumble to dust. The King was stuck on his side, his mother blown back by the force, the poor, defenseless guard that lead Seto here knocked unconscious. Seto was enveloped by a blinding purple light.
And when the screaming finally ceased, and the light dimmed, Seto's mother hurriedly got up. Seto was unconscious, his eyes closed and at peace.
"Oh my baby boy! My poor baby boy!" She gasped, on Seto's face were bright purple-pink markings and Seto's mother began to cry. "My baby boy, no."
Seto was cursed, and cursed by none other than himself. A curse of anger and a curse of grief. Revenge would consume his waking days, Seto would slave over his life so he would avenge his father's death. But it was not the king he was angry at, or even his mother, nor the kingdom for which he lived in. But the Enders.
The Demons.
Young, little Seto was angry at the Enders, they killed his father when all his father wanted was to befriend them and understand them. To Seto, the Enders had truly become Demons.
And this curse placed on himself could only be broken by himself.
~~~~~
Seto glanced back at a silent Adam. Adam's hand was still out and reaching at nothing but air and tears brimming at his eyes, "Now what are you crying at!"
"I...I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to do it. I didn't mean to pry--'
Seto looked at Adam in a confused manner, "Now what the nether are you crying for! Yes I'm fucking pissed you start asking questions about me without my permission. But are you really going to cry about it?!"
But that isn't want Adam meant, or what he was crying about. Adam rushed by Seto without another word into his room and stayed there.
And Seto was stunned, one because the damn kind just ignored him and pushed past him. And two, because he caught the faintest whiff of magic. A pure, golden kind of magic, something he's never experienced. What was it and where had it come from. Why did he feel like he should know, that someone had once told him a story about this special kind of magic.
And Adam was huddled in his bed. He didn't know where these visions kept coming from or how and why they were spurred. He wanted them to stop. Because Seto was right. He butted into things that did not concern him, and while he could stop himself from asking questions, he had no idea how to stop this.
~~~~~
What a lovely chapter right? It's just sooooo cherry I can't contain the joy. XD what do you guys think. Also, I remember from the previous chapter someone saying they wpuld hurt who ever curse Seto. I laughed at that comment because they had no idea that it was Seto that cursed Seto XD.
Any new or revised theories?
Im excite now for all the juicy action. This book will be somewhat long. I hoping longer than Falling to Rise, which was 32 chapters.