It's all your fault

Cassadrei's POV

Michael stood there, drenched in a pool of blood and covered with unsightly bruises. I let out an audible gasp on seeing his deplorable condition. 

"What happened to you?" I said in a croaking voice, "were you in a car accident? Oh God, look at you…. you must be in terrible pain, there's, there's so much blood….we should rush to the hospital. Let me dial the ambulance!" I hurried away, searching for my phone and was about to dial 911 when Michael's groaning voice stopped me. 

"That won't be necessary, Cassie. I am all right, except for a few bruises here and there."

"But, but there's so much blood!" I protested, "You must be suffering from delirium, having lost almost half of the blood present in your body!"

"Don't worry about that. It's not my blood." Michael said non-chalantly, waving his hands in the air as if to shrug off such a trivial matter. 

"What do you mean by not your blood?" I asked, astounded. 

Beside him, Cookie chirped enthusiastically and, to my greatest surprise, Michael patted his head. I didn't have a single clue as to what was going on here.

I looked at Sofosys, searching for a meaning in Michael's words, but Sofosys nodded his head. He was as clueless as I was. 

"You were right." Michael finally said, "I was wrong about Cookie the entire time. My lapse in judgement could have cost me my life."

Michael looked at me strangely.

"It would have cost me my life, had this creature not come to my rescue." He said in a tight voice. I didn't like his tone. 

"It would be really helpful if you explain what has happened, Michael." Sofosys asked plainly. 

"Oh right! It would be very helpful, won't it? Convenient rather, for you people if I am the one who can explain everything. I demand explainations!! A whole lot of them for all these meyhem that keeps happening in my life. I was nearly killed today! Can you register the fact in your dumb heads? Your precious Goblins tried to take my life!" Michael shouted, the ala of his nose flaring up as rage ascended his voice.

Sofosys flinched slightly before continuing, "I understand the source of your frustration, Michael. However, unless you tell us what has happened, we are powerless to help you."

"I don't think I need your help anymore." Micheal shot back, then, turning to me he said, "You are the source of all my troubles. I curse the day that I met you. I had a pretty normal existence, you know, full of classes and libraries and hardly anyone to worry about and it kept me safe! No one had ever tried to poison me, before or use ancient Goblin magic to kill me. My life was normal before I met you, and now, there are assassins roaming about determined to take my life! It's all your fault!"

Michael's accusing tone made me shiver. His words continued to ring in my ears, reverberating the same phrase, "It's all your fault". Of course, I am responsible for whatever devastating incidents occurring in Michael's life. Everything has, and always will be my fault. 

Michael continues to rant and he narrates the entire incident of his fateful meeting with Shawn. The more I listen, the clearer it all gets. Ofcourse, why didn't I see it before, I curse myself…. everything was so apparent right from the start. The fact that Micheal discovered it earlier than us proved our blatant incompetency in this matter. He was right to be mad at us, and somehow his anger reflected something genuine, a fear for his own life and an honest opinion regarding his inhibitions, something that amazed and impressed me at the same time. 

Magnus was hardly like him. 

I am transported back to the Carnival, a few days after my nocturnal encounter with Magnus. I had tried to avoid him since then, hiding my face under a scarf, every time we crossed paths. I was distinctly aware of his smirk every time he saw me hiding. 

It was the last week of the Carnival, all the major events were scheduled to take place that week. The entire town was decorated, lights burned in the streets all night long and families celebrated the entire day, catching up with long lost friends or relatives, eating good food and drinking expensive wine. I loved this time of the festival, when there seemed to be hardly any worry in the world and for once the war torn nation of Mafhaelore seemed to come alive. 

We sat on the podium, constructed under a decorated umbrella shed to ward off the bright sunlight, and were eagerly waiting for the fighting tournament to begin. There was a general excitement in the air, the women had all flocked together, giggling and gossiping, the only topic of their discussion being Magnus, who was supposed to be fighting a match today. 

The Arphoelian General had volunteered to participate in our annual fighting tournament several days ago, to commemorate an important Mafhaelorian tradition and show us that he was pretty serious about his peace proposal. Beside me, Mother sat haughtily upright in her High Chair, her face as impassive as a stone, the enthusiasm about Magnus among the general crowd greatly bothering her. 

There was a general uproar as the Arphoelian General entered, his enigma piercing through the crowd as the Women swooned over him. My mother's discomfort was palpable now, she hardly approved of Magnus' popularity among her countrymen.

Magnus took up the centre stage and raised his hands to acknowledge his fervent supporters. Then, robe clad women walked up to him, carrying a huge tray covered with silk clothes. 

"You shall lift up a single cloth, and the answer to which animal you shall fight will be beneath it." The voices of the robe clad women rang in the air. 

Magnus bowed to them. Then, with a confident air, he lifted the silk cloth closest to him. 

Deathly silence ensued as everyone held their breath, waiting to see which creature Magnus is fated to fight with.