Adrian could not remember getting a tattoo last night. All he did was… When his memory jogged and he remembered the incident that happened last night, he stood up in shock. He even forgot that he was not wearing anything underneath the blanket.
"Adrian! What is the meaning of this? You are a grown man now! Behave yourself!" Andrew scolded him and was about to turn his face away.
But when he noticed the mark on his chest, he moved closer to him within a blink of an eye. By then, Adrian took the blanket that had fallen from the bed and tied it around his waist.
"You brought a sorceress into our home. How dare you! What should I tell your parents when they come back next year for your Magicks ceremony? They will be passing down the magical heirloom to you that's around five thousand years old."
"Tell them, I am not interested! The whole ceremony sounds too childish. What I don't understand is why do we even have to keep that heirloom which is too old. I am not so fashionable about old stuff. We could just trash it on the junkyard," He said relaxedly while lifting the blanket that kept on sliding down from his waist.
"I can't believe you, did you just say that out loud?" Andrew huffed and kicked his legs.
If he was not his sister's only son, he would have never let him stand in front of him and utter such nonsense. Adrian kneeled in front of his uncle because of the kick and then glared at him.
"Why don't we ask Nicholas to get the heirloom, instead?" Adrian suggested with a smile while hiding his anger.
"Why should I let my son handle all your responsibilities? He was already destined to receive one from my family when he is of age. We are archers, not magicians like your clan!" Andrew argued with him.
"But…" Adrian tried to express his dissent but Andrew did not allow him to speak anymore.
"No butts… Go run and get ready, we are leaving from this cursed place soon!" Andrew ordered.
Adrian stood up from the floor holding the blanket around his waist. But then Andrew stopped him suddenly by holding Adrian's hands and said,
"Hold on for a second there, let me take a clear look at that symbol on your chest one more time."
Andrew put on his magnifying glass that was hanging around his neck and examined the flower symbol carefully. He looked stunned and pulled down his glasses while looking at Adrian with worry.
"Do you know what this flower is?" Andrew asked him.
"No, it's just a normal flower tattoo and I think this might be done with temporary ink. Once I take a bath, I believe, it will go off just like how my memories of magic got erased. Don't worry about it too much, Andrew!" Adrian said without much wariness about the situation he was in and tried to walk towards the bathroom.
"This flower's name is Red Fuchsia. Do you know what it symbolizes? It means, 'I like your taste'. You have to be very careful from now on or else no one can stop you from going towards the destruction…" Andrew tried to warn him.
Adrian did not let Andrew finish what he wanted to say. If he did that day, then he would have not made such a decision that would change his entire life in the future.
"Chill, Andrew. Just relax! Nothing will happen to me. And even if it happens, we cannot stop the power of fate. Can we?" He commented as if it was not anything major, even if he loses his life.
"Adrian, this is not a joke. Don't you know why you forgot your magical skills? It is because of this flower symbol. Your father once decided to help a sorceress who was from the family with this flower symbol. He almost lost his life while trying to help her. To save him, your mother sacrificed her powers completely but…" Andrew tried to explain and make him understand the severity.
"But that was not enough, so I willingly gave my memory of magic in exchange for their lives. I have heard this sentence so many times for the past few years. Yes, I sacrificed a little bit to save them. So what! It is not a big deal. Anyway, all I wanted was to live like everyone else, just be a normal human being. I am happy with how I am right now, so stop worrying so much about me.
Look at your hair, it has all turned gray. You must by now understand that it was because of all the stress you get from thinking about such silly small things that are unimportant to anyone. In a few days, I doubt if there will be any hair that would be left on your head. You should take care of your hair more than taking care of a grown man like me," Adrian commented and had a seriously worried look on his face.
"Please, I am born with grey hair. Even your mother has grey hair. It runs in our family! I did not expect that I would have to repeat this multiple times to you…" Andrew started to rant until he suddenly realized something was not right.
So, he stopped speaking and looked at Adrian. He saw that Adrian had a smug look on his face as he had diverted the old man's attention towards a different topic successfully. But the sharp-minded Andrew jumped back into the topic right away after sending an intense glare his way.
"Wait, what were we even talking about? You are always good at changing the topic, aren't you? How many times should I remind you, you did not give the memory willingly but the sorceress greed caused you to lose it. You better stay away from the girl whom you met yesterday. She might be one of the twins who's alive now." Andrew warned him.
"One of the twins? Then what about the other one? What happened to her?" Adrian asked with sudden enthusiasm.
Adrian could not understand why he was even interested in knowing about some random girl. When Andrew spoke about the twins, he felt some connections being formed within him. He felt flustered and he thought it might be due to those marks on his body as Andrew suggested.
"The alive one swallowed the poor soul of the other baby to survive when they were in their mother's womb," After hearing what Andrew said, Adrian laughed out aloud.
"Do you even believe what you are saying, old man? How could a child swallow another child, especially when they were not even born? It is highly impossible and not practical at all! You should hang around with these humans more. They will give you all the scientific explanations needed for each and everything. Sometimes when twins are conceived, one of them might get more nutrients while the other does not… " Adrian tried to explain the details but it only increased Andrew's anger.
"Shut up! You know nothing and you never try to understand anything we say or teach you! All you do is talk nonsense all day and not do any useful things. Why do you spend all your time on business investments instead of trying to find a way to get your memory back?" Andrew asked him.