Side Story 2: Little Brother

The autumn days were especially hot during the year 895.

Jasper had been promoted and joined the newly formed Heavenly Knights Unit less than two months ago.

Even back when he was in the third brigade, he would leave home before the sun rose, and came after the sun had long set.

Now after his promotion, he would at most come home once every few days, sometimes not coming back for a whole week.

One would think his little brother would feel lonely with his absence.

In fact, that would have been the case if it was a few years prior.

Most of these days, he spent the time outside, happily visiting the girl from the slums, taking her to all sorts of places around the big city.

The old maid had teasingly told Jasper about this in front of the little boy, saying he was courting a beautiful young girl.

If it weren't for his red ears, his denial would have sounded more believable.

Today, the girl was coming over to his house to play.

She had already came over a few times over the years, but always happened when Jasper was not around.

At first, she was timid, and had readily refused his invitation, fearing that she would dirty his home with her presence.

It didn't take long before the young boy was able to coax her into following him back.

If it weren't for their childish young voices, the people who heard them would have thought it was a weird uncle trying to tempt a young girl with candy.

He glanced out at the large metal gates from the balcony of his bedroom on the second floor.

The metal gates were painted white along with the fence that ran along the whole perimeter of the grounds that situated the medieval styled house.

The whiteness of the gates highlighted the roses as they weaved through it.

The young boy paced back and forth, his steps quick with anticipation.

Today was finally the day.

He wanted to ask the girl to move in with him along with her frail mother.

He had talked about this with Jasper the previous night, and had been given approval.

He stopped in his steps, looking up far into the distance.

Dark clouds were moving closer and closer, covering the once bright sky with a curtain of pitch black.

Disarray can be heard from the streets below, as people ran around aimlessly, blinded by the darkness that surrounded them.

Fear slowly crept up his skin as he felt a chill at his spine.

He thought about the young girl, while clumsily trying to find his way back into his room to find a source of light.

He yelled out for the old maid.

Anybody.

He breathed in heavily.

He felt a vile aura embrace him, seemingly seeping through his skin.

His body shook as he felt a slight discomfort inside.

He gasped for air as the pain slowly increase.

His eyes grew fuzzy as he went tumbling down onto the hard marble.

He couldn't even feel the pain as his head heavily hit the floor.

He started wheezing as it became harder and harder to breathe.

His organs felt like they were being crushed.

He couldn't take it any longer.

A strange wetness slowly slipped down his cheeks.

He felt his conscious slowly slip as the tremor on the floor increased.

He slowly opened his mouth with much difficulty, mouthing out the name 'Millie'.