The Explosion of Emotions

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Her very being exuded maliciousness. I pulled my hood lower, allowing the shadow to mask my face.

"The Hunter, was it?" She crouched in front of him, looking up at me with calculating eyes. "Say, what is your real name?"

"I abandoned my name long ago. Call me Hunter."

She tilted her head slightly, "Really now?" The expression on her face sent shivers down my spine. Her crimson eyes geaned with a murderous light. "You are an amusing guy. You really are."

She stood up, her height rivaling mine. She pulled out one of her many daggers and began fiddling with the point. She pricked herself and unnatural black blood began pouring out the small nick. The most unnatural part about the entire was the blood began began floating, forming a serpent that began curling up my arm. "It will be a pleasure working with you. I wonder what makes you tick." She turned and left. Her blood snake vaporized away and I was left with an unsettling feeling in my stomach. Just who was she?

Hesitantly, I began to follow, eventually ending up right behind Vis. "What do you plan to do?"

"Why, kill them all, of course."

"But how? They are not so weak that they can be easily dealt with."

"But, you see, I am not weak either." She stopped, turned her head back and glared at me. That unsettling feeling began to rise up from my stomach. Smiling again, she continued to skip to the outside world, humming some twisted song of death.

Solskin

Another day, and some more research. Despite all of Savah's doomsday prophecies, absolutely nothing has happened. In fact, ever since Savah issued hat prophecy, things have been even quieter. The number of attacks decreased to zero. The occasionally harassment by the Three Kings gang that we had become accustomed to vanished. It was peaceful for once in our lives.

I welcomed the lull in the storm. For once, I could think about everything. The conversation we had last night still weighed on my mind. What if Persephone was right? If Xavier was truly our ally, I would need to rethink everything.

Like last night, Persephone came to my room again. Silently, she sat in a chair.

"Care to talk again?" Persephone got straight to the point.

"Maybe."

"I think you are trying to shift your blame onto Xavier." She let that statement hung in the air for a few moments.

"Well, a lot of it is his fault."

Persephone

The conversation was much more rational this time. Solskin wasn't immediately letting his emotions dictate his actions. All things considered, it was going smoothly.

"Again, try to separate the two sides of Xavier. One is the lord of the demons. The other is the soldier who fought to protect us all."

"I don't know about that. There was that one incident at that inn when we first meet up."

"Honestly, I think Xavier was changed by that entire event. I doubt that the demon couldn't influence him at all."

"In that case, Xavier was also evil in a sense."

I shrugged. "I don't know, but I believe he had it pretty under control."

Solskin considered his thoughts carefully for a long while. "True, in the beginning. I think after that night where he was attacked was when he began sliding downhill."

"Why do you blame him so much?" I sensed that this might be the root of the problems.

Solskin curled up on his bed. "I blame him for Mordred's death." He was so quiet that I could barely hear him.

"Why? How was he connected?"

"He was the monster that destroyed my village. It made sense for him to be the cause of all our troubles. Everything was fine afterwards until he showed up again."

"Are you sure Xavier was in control at that time?"

I watched Solskin replay that day in his mind. "No." That was his final quiet answer.

He suddenly burst out again, leaping up from his bed. He screamed at the top of his lungs, spit flying everywhere, "So then what? Is it my fault? Who is going to blame for all the shit that was gone wrong?"

Frightened, I leaned back in my chair, almost crashing to the ground. "Solskin, if anyone is at fault, it is the Three Kings gang."

He didn't listen to me. "This damn Loki's curse. I hate it so much."

"Solskin, cal-"

He kept going, growing in rage and ferocity, drowning me out. "So what I can cast some magic. It is not worth the lives of my friends."

I finally understood. Solskin blames himself for everything. Because of his unique magic, he believed he was cursed. He believed that he was to blame for Mordred. He had all this misplaced guilt trapped deep inside him, masked behind a wall of rage.

Now, that wall was gone and his emotions began pouring out. I wanted to hug him and comfort him. But, I knew I too was cursed. I couldn't touch, no matter how tempted I was. I didn't want to reap his soul.

Mordred

There was a knock on the door. Getting up from the couch that I had been lounging on all day reading books, I went to see who it was.

The Hunter stood there, but he was clearly nervous.

"What happened?" I asked as I opened the door.

"They added other person to the assassination attempt on your friends."

"I trust my friends to take care of themselves."

"You don't understand. This woman is dangerous. I don't think I can keep her in check."

The Hunter was genuinely panicked. I began to feel nervous as well. Just who was this woman that she could shake up the Hunter like this.

"She is one of my favorites."

A voice returned that drowned out every other concern.