The Three Princes and a Mistress

Calliope is a mythical narrative story that revolves around three princes who're in search of a cure for their ill father.

They're told that only the lullaby sung by a magical bird could heal him, thus each of them set on an adventure to catch it. However, the first two princes weren't able to defeat it on their own. As for the youngest prince, he helped an old man on his way, who then gave him tips on how to beat it.

Even then, however, he was overpowered by the legendary creature. In the end, he asked for help from his two brothers, and together, they were able to catch it and save the king.

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Eli thought that the story should've ended with that, but it only went on for additional drama. Nevertheless, the bookworm still considered it a masterpiece for various reasons.

The ash-haired girl was watching the tussle from the side, nervously hoping that their plan would work. She had needed a third person to join the party since it's depicted in the story that two won't be enough. Although she was able to explain the exact scene to Hal and the others, she's not really that confident in this kind of strategy. After all, she just proposed a re-enactment without a single proper rehearsal, consequently turning this whole rooftop into a stage instead of a battlefield.

Her heavy train of thoughts halted upon hearing a loud clatter. Without her noticing, the fight had already reached its climax.

Zeke had his golden chain wrapped around Calliope who's flailing helplessly in an attempt to escape. A while ago, Eli was extremely relieved when she found out that he had a similar weapon to a lasso, which was what the third prince used to capture it, though she's a little unnerved that a student would actually carry such a thing around.

Hal and Allen, on the other hand, used this opportunity to fire attacks on the creature that had weakened considerably. They had to incapacitate it as much as possible before its feathers turned into their last hue. At this point, however, Eli no longer worried about that since its energy had visibly depleted, form slowly becoming enfeebled.

Watching the resplendent scene in awe, she couldn't help but imagine the three princes in them. She felt stupid for forgetting that these people were as amazing as them, probably even more so. With or without practice, they'd certainly pull this off with flying colours.

"That's right... They're part of the Four Heroes, after all..."

A moment later, however, her face slowly drained out of colour as she found herself wanting to take her praise back.

Instead of just debilitating the summoned creature, the three stepped up their game and went for the kill, ganging up on Calliope like ravening hunters. The poor bird was suffocating at how firm Zeke's hold was. It was extremely enervated that it no longer tried to evade Hal and Allen's lethal attacks. Instead of the three brave princes, they turned out to be the three malevolent grim reapers at the end. If this continued, the pitiful bird would go straight to the afterlife.

Once again, she forgot something very crucial – that the Champions were just as frightening as those summoned creatures.

"They're gonna kill it, they're gonna kill it, they're gonna kill it...!"

Gathering her strength and summoning the god of courage, Eli sprinted through the rooftop and joined the scene. Upon running past the three, Hal abruptly stopped firing bullets while Allen lowered his sword. Flummoxed at her sudden entrance, the boys only stared at the ash-haired girl with quizzical looks. She then held her ground, stood before the winged creature and opened her arms wide as if defending it.

"Ms. Claes?" Zeke called out in confusion, eyes as wide as an owl's.

"Umm... Were we doing something wrong, Angelica? Perhaps, a miscalculation?" Allen asked with a concerned expression.

Eli only gulped at this, head stooped low. Despite fortifying her resolve, words suddenly left her mouth. She's actually chickening out. It's only then that she realized how rude it was to chastise them for something that should already be obvious.

"Why are you here?"

It's the voice she didn't want to hear the most.

But she knew she's also being unreasonable.

Hal had the right to say what she thought he wanted to say at that moment. As expected, he already understood what she's trying to do. It's obvious that he'd contradict since the original plan was to eliminate it in the first place.

Evading his piercing gaze, Eli slightly swerved her head around and looked up. Sure enough, seeing Calliope's wretched look of downfall reminded her of Venus's sufferings. She wasn't throwing a pity party here, though. She's not trying to act like a charity house for fellow villains either. However, she did recall the moment it first appeared in the greenhouse.

Eli felt something towards it - one that she didn't feel with the other summoned creatures before, including the Empress herself.

"Calliope was spared at the original story since the princes needed it to heal their father... What should I do, then? Should I lie about having a severe illness?" Eli thought, eyeing Calliope with a crestfallen expression.

Looking back to the others, she's about to open her mouth when a scintillating light suddenly shrouded the summoned creature's entire body. A burst of colours then hurdled their vision – shades of pearl, bronze, emerald, diamond, crystal, gold and garnet rioted and cloaked its figure. All they could do at that moment was shield their eyes and wait for the blinding brightness to dim down.

A few seconds later, the boys slowly opened their eyes, only to find the colossal monster no longer in sight. What remained in their view was Eli's slumped back and hordes of glittering splinters showering over her.

"Huh? Where did that flappy bird go?" Zeke voiced out, confounded.

"Uh... Guys..." Eli called with a brittle voice, slowly turning to face them.

The three jumped in surprise upon seeing her trembling frame while holding the unconscious, limp creature in her arms. It had shrunken into the size of a peacock at this point, and if it wasn't for its rainbow-coloured feathers, it would look like a normal bird.

"I-Is it d-dead? I was t-trying to k-keep y-you from k-killing it, but..." Eli stuttered until her dam of tears finally broke

She then started to wail and grieve for the bird, perplexing the others and making them panic.

It seemed that none of them knew how to deal with a crying girl, so all they did was aimlessly flail their arms around in an attempt to calm her down while the feelings of guilt and remorse eat them away. All of them looked disheartened and stupidly oblivious of what to do, making the whole situation a tad more hilarious.

"I-It's okay, Eli..."

"Angelica, a lady shouldn't waste her tears like that."

"I'll buy you a flappy bird stuff toy if you want!"

That is until the summoned creature started to stir in her arms.

Eli stopped weeping at this and peered down. Then, out of nowhere, Calliope flapped its wings, slapping the dumbfounded ash-haired girl on the face. The boys immediately braced themselves, returned to their battle stances, and readied their weapons, but then, the bird only tilted its head innocently and stared back at Eli.

Spellbinding sky blue eyes met gentle dove-grey ones.

"Umm..."

Seeing the two lost in their own little world, Hal and the others reluctantly lowered their guard down. Calliope then suddenly left Eli's arms and hovered before her instead. When it humbly bowed its head, everyone was taken aback. Seconds later, the message finally crossed her mind.

Eli recalled the events after it healed the king.

Calliope had chosen the youngest prince as its new master. With that, the story continued to move forward. After suffering so many losses and adversaries, the third prince slowly changed colours. When his brothers betrayed him, he lost his trust in people. When he wasn't chosen as king despite all of his sacrifices, he lost his purpose. When he was accused of treason, he finally lost his humanity, and ultimately, became a villain. That's the reason why Calliope, a legendary bird, had become the familiar of an evil wizard.

To simply put it, Calliope started out as an epic but ended as a tragedy.

In Eli's head, something finally pieced together. The summoned creature had been roaming around the school for hours as if searching for something. However, judging by Hal and the others' reactions, it seemed to be their first time seeing it like her, which also meant that this summoned creature only showed up when she appeared.

"Could it be... after sensing my presence, it showed up because it thought I was its master? But after seeing he's not me, it went out and search for him?"

As that realization dawned on her, Eli almost tear up again. She suddenly remembered that famous story about a dog that waited for its owner for a very long time, only to find out that he already died. Calliope was probably like that. Its sole purpose in the story was to serve its master, after all.

Eyeing the bird with a look of pity, Eli finally came up with a decision.

"Since your master's gone, I can just keep you. You're now my loyal familiar..." she started, much to Hal and the others' bewilderment.

With a big smile, Eli extended and offered her left arm to the mythical bird, gesturing it to rest there. The summoned creature obediently complied and landed on her folded arm, fluttering its opalescent, delicate wings in evident merriment and beaming at her with its ecstatic ocean irises.

"That's right, Calliope. We'll be together from now on!"

While Eli and Calliope rejoiced, the others silently wondered if they're invited to this mini celebration. Zeke looked mystified, but admiration glazed his eyes at the same time. Allen only blinked at this multiple times before his lips eventually curled into an amused smile. Hal, on the other hand, seemed the most disconcerted at the cascading series of events.

"What's going on?" the gun-wielder blurted out, unsure of how to react.

"The truth is, this summoned creature wasn't really evil. It wasn't originally antagonistic and it had no free will. In the story, it was a magical being that healed people but eventually became the familiar of an evil wizard who was once a kind prince," the bookworm explained, burying her cheek in Calliope's soft feathers with delight.

The three just continued watching them with puzzled looks, not entirely grasping the whole content.

"It's true! Wanna read it?" she continued, a bit miffed at how slow they catch up.

"No, I'm good," Zeke instantly replied, face blenching at the idea of holding a book.

"We get it," Allen lied while feigning understanding.

Hal remained silent, suddenly feeling bitter at how intimate Eli and Calliope looked at the moment.