"I..I'm not..." Hogman stuttered without knowing what to tell his best friends. The slap was nothing. He didn't care. Afterall his friends were just trying to save him from danger.
Edward stared into his eyes. He stared without blinking. His bloodshot eyes were terrifying. Hogman wanted to dig a hole and bury his head in it. He couldn't bear his friend's cold aura. The very air was dominant. Sending chills down one's spine. If it was Amelia who was being stared at like that, she would have collapsed on the spot.
Edward wanted to slap Hogman again. He raised his hands to slap him but it was caught in midair. Edward turned to look at Louis who blocked his slap. He couldn't contain his anger. His face was all heated up. His usually calm, cold face was now full of frustration and a restless anger.
"You! Stay out of this." He told with disdain.
The words were more than a storm which shook Louis head to toe. For a moment he couldn't speak. His lips parted in shock. It was the same question he had asked Edward years ago. Some, no, several years ago. Almost two decades ago. He couldn't do anything more but just shut up.
Suddenly, Edward's expression changed to something else. Something of remorse, sadness, longing. His lips trembled. Edward was on the verge of an emotional outburst. Hogman and Louis both noticed the change in him. Edward's reddish eyes were moist with hot tears, threatening to fall off. Edward tried to hold back the tears falling from his eyes.
But he failed. He was human. Made of flesh and bones. Eventhough he was cold and ruthless, he was not heartless. He had a heart. He had a soul. Every human do. Many memories passed through his mind at that moment. Memories of their school days, the day they all graduated together pausing for a picture holding their certificates, smiling.... The days they stood shoulder to shoulder to face a problem. But all these happy memories contained four kids, teenagers, youth.... But now there were only three. These memories pained him as if a thousand knives were poking his skin together.
Trembling with sadness and regret, eventhough each word choked in his throat, he managed to speak out in a hoarse, low sound. The dominant aura was gone. It was now replaced by a helpess aura. He sounded helpless.
"We already lost someone. I cannot lose you too. P....please. Let's leave. Don't go after that. We cannot really... please..."
His friends couldn't say anything at that moment. They did not know how to console him. Edward really couldn't bear that loss. It was true. If took him a lot of time to come over the depression. Afterall, Edward was the one he was closest to.
After the sudden stoke of emotions which didn't last more than a minute, he regained his composure. His dominant aura was back. Hogman thought that it was better to see his dominant aura and dark face than his weak one.
"No change, huh? We'll get going then. If. If YOU have any trouble, just contact us. We know, our help would be nothing compared to a strong mage's help, but we will do our best. Only because, we don't want to lose another friend. Nothing else."
Edward looked calm while saying what he said. But his friends could see a turbulent storm starting to develop in his mind. They could see that it aas just the calmness before a storm. In this case a terrible thunderstorm which could rip apart anything in its way.
Hogman was out of words. "....." He could just stare blankly at Edward who seemed as calm as a corpse. Edward pursed his lips and dooked into Edward's smoky eyes. They were once so clear. Now, Edward's eyes had a depth which cannot be explored by any human.
"Let's go Louis."
Louis wanted to protest. "Bu...but..."
His protest was met with Edward's cold gaze. He immediately fell silent. Edward couldn't contain his anger. Through gritted teeth and a calm face, he told.
"You know Daniel, we spent months searching for you. We really wanted you to come back with us. We couldn't afford to lose another friend. But now, after seeing that you are still behind that stone that took away our friend's life, I feel like I should have never cared. You should understand that we wasted years searching for that thing. But we never found it. Still you are so foolish as to believe in a stupid legend. I have nothing more to say. If you want you can come back with us. We won't speak about a thing to the outside world. But if you want to stay... Stay and perish."
Hogman's expression was just blank. No one could say what he was thinking. He just appeared a the silhouettes of his friends vanishing behind the veil of mist. A tear involuntarily dropped from his cheek.