The long lost friendship ii

Felix never expected to wake up in his own chamber with injured fractures, and the poison in his body drained him. Thus lingering dark Illusion fiddling Adelaide's hair with an eerie smile made him anxious. He wanted and needed to scream and say get out, but he couldn't. The Illusion grinned so broadly that it reached the back of its head, a horrifying sight. Would not even imagine what his current state was. Confusion and fear engulf his mind for the first time. Felix struggled to move just an inch, hoping his sister would take notice, but he was still bound by the chains of this dark Illusion. Seeing him anxiously struggle feed the deepest desire for them to toy with his unaware sister.

His vision slowly forfeited its color, turning into a lifeless world of gray and white. Not only is he sightless to the colors. But he felt suffocated as the expanse of his chamber felt like it was entangling him to demise. The power that immensely swirls his mind almost pushes him crazy. He could pray it's all just a nightmare he has yet to wake up.

Damian carefully peeked from afar. He suspected Felix's condition. Felix was frozen, yet his gazes told another story as if Damian could see the eyes were quivering. 'What is happening,' he wondered curiously. Despite the one who's closest to him---Lady Adelaide did not see any anomaly in the current state.

The Illusion laughed hysterically. "Bastard Man. Hurt us, and we will hurt back. Know your place. Lowly vermins." It bitterly thundered, anger and sadistic desires fueled. Felix can only watch in horror as Its long hands were all over Adelaide's neck. Toyingly traced its long sharpened claws in her neck that almost would rip her head. He was seething with outrage, cursing the Monster in his mind with the vilest words, but did it stop?

Oh, ho, No.

No. The Illusion's smile disturbingly grew wider as he saw the crimson red filling its inside. He knew the Monster could hear his thoughts. Muffled screams could not be distinguished by the unaware visitors---Any would think he looked agitated, but he was constantly screaming for help. "Why aren't you moving, Felix?" she asked in worry; finally, she noticed the quivering body that blindly cowered in fear of the Illusion. She kept tapping his chest to see what was wrong, but in Felix's sight---The Monster in his mind aggressively lined its hands on Adelaide's neck. It only motivated them to snap her into death.

[ NO.]

Damian could swear he could slowly sense the strong eminent aura swirling in the room. It was nauseous to handle. And out of the blue, the ring on his hand glimmered, and in the glint of his eye, he saw a clear void near Adelaide. Beside her, its hand almost strangling her. Not only did he see a dark hollow, but Felix's disrupted look was entangled and muffled by its shadows. Damian instantly knew what was going on. 𝘚𝘩𝘪𝘵. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦?!

He didn't waste time standing there on his feet. "Code red." He cautioned the men with him. "My Lady, Go away there!" Damian roared, and Adelaide flinched that she stood up unconsciously. "W-WHAT?!" she shrieked from the shock. Her eyes followed Damien, who approached her space.

The few men of Damian were also on guard, their stance ready for battle. Adelaide was even more curious about what was going on. "What is happening?!" she stressed when Damian rushed to her side. He placed his fingers on the front of the neck. "Pardon me for doing this." Damian sincerely apologized. "My Lord--- What kind of indecency are you doing--" Adelaide hissed from the distress as her hands tried to keep them away from him. Damian's ring on his hand illuminated instantly till a black sphere slowly became visible as it kept clinging to her up in her back. "W-what is this?!" Adelaide stood frozen out of fear, the black orb placed on her shoulders like a spider crawling. "Don't fear them. They feast on fears." Damian whispers in her air, trying to slowly catch the ball before it flies over the room. The orb was muddily dark and full of negative emotions. Just holding it made Damian feel fogged. He quickly disregarded it from his hands as a loud thud fell on the floor.

The dark orb rolled onto the Lady's feet as it slowly took the human form by void. Adelaide watched in terror as she still did not tolerate that 𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳 was always beside her. She budged the orb from her shoes in fear of being hurt.

'How come I did not notice it?!'

One of Damian's men stepped in from the scene. He was tall and draped with many bandages wrapped on his body and leather glove hands unclenched as if he was seemingly fearless from the sight beneath him. Damien narrowed his eyes at

" Let me do the work, My Lord." The man monotonously said as his dark eyes narrowed from the Humanly shaped Illusion. Damian acknowledges a nod. " Go ahead, Otto." Damian let a long, spiritless sigh. Otto didn't waste a second spectating. He pulled out the small grimoire, almost pocket-sized, and as he spoke with his covered face, his voice was unexpected to others. A harmonious, hypnotic chant that almost made everyone feel lightweight. " He is cleansing the evil surrounding us," Damien babbled mindlessly as if he were to hear what Adelaide was thinking.

Felix jolted into his bed, screaming loudly at the top of his lungs. The Knight's words formed into a line of lights that contained the power to free him from the Illusion's grasp. Abruptly a rope made of light bounded the Illusion in a brim. It was crucially painful for a dark being to be seized by the power of light. The Illusion's cry greatly disturbed everyone in the Mansion. And indeed, the maids would be in terror to hear it.

The guy known as Otto looked down at the tied Monster in excruciating pain. " Sir Felix should be fine for now. " he crouched before the quivering Illusion and quickly tapped it on the forehead.

Felix jerked his body under being break free from the paralysis. He was rushing for his breath like it was his last. Felix looks at the black orb, slowly turning an Illusion he saw in his mind. " Damn you.." he hissed sharply, although no one heard.

"Brother!" Adelaide said in reassurance. Their eyes meet with fear and confusion, swirling through the cross of minds.

" Pardon me..." Damian backed off in shame.

It only did not last long when Ian and Heinz rushed from the room inside, pulling out the spectating few men outside the door. They thought a fight broke out, but they returned from a more ugly scene beyond their imagination. Damian, who has looked down at a—what is that doing in here?! Both jaws dropped almost to the floor, with eyes almost going to bawl out from roped voided man-like beast. " I--What...!?" Heinz roared at the sight, unable to grasp what was before him.

In the room, they witnessed the wail of a monster that vibrated the place. The Illusion struggled to break free from the light rope, anger fuming inside the distressed. "YOU!YOU! ALL OF YOU DESERVED HELL THAN US! Every one of you... hehe. ALL OF YOU ARE DESERVING TO BE TREATED LIKE THIS.... not us.." it childlessly wailed, throwing a tantrum. "Has this monster gone crazy?!" Felix hoarsely said, trying to scream his lungs out. They acted the same as the puppet child yesterday and the Illusion today. A screw is loose in their head.

Damian did not dare to listen to the Illusion's words of their revenge. How many times has he heard this? 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴. Heinz and Ian disbelieved that a clone had reached here, much less they didn't notice that Felix had been haunted by it.

As the Monster finished wailing, it shifted back into its hysterical laugh. "We will bite back. I am everywhere you see. But you all won't know. All of you deserve to die for treating us like shit," it laughed. Its smile made everyone shiver to the bones. Damien got sick from listening to such an empty threat. " After seeing you in this state, I much have concluded your purpose to hurt someone like Sir Felix." He said, jaws clenched.

" Now, you have done much impact and pain today. Now go back to your territory—" his hands were quick to pierce the dark and foggy beast, leaving it dispersed from thin air with no warning. His gloves were stained and dripping with dark liquid. A pearl-like ball laid there with the remains of Illusion's fog become a pool of muddy dark ink.

Although it was not a slaughter, Adelaide felt numb, seeing his hands were quick to stab. Her mind taught how bloody it would be if it was a natural body before her.

The young master sighed wearily, disregarding the wet gloves from his hands and handing them off to Otto. "Good thing we are here. It would be more bothersome if Lady Adelaide is also affected," he remarked, trying to calm everyone. He reminded himself that the Lady beside him would soon be the Mother of Nation. Adelaide took a deep gulp, almost dizzy from the current occurrences. 'If that Illusion were to cling to my brother and me. We could have—could have died..' she trembled in fear. Damian noticed her and tried to calm the Lady

before he could scoot himself closer.

"Barely half an hour, and this is what I returned to." a disappointed voice clicked his tongue from the Doctor. "I just left something important, huh?" Ian amusedly wondered to himself, his expressions cooly making everyone shiver from their back. His fair face was sweating. It was evident that he was not a fan of running that fast. Ian, on the other, was even more frantic about the sight, especially since this bandaged man near him was also familiar.

Adelaide snapped herself back to reality. "Brother, are you fine?" she scurried to his side hurriedly.

She hastily grabbed a cup of water to satiate his thirst and relieve him from shock (Anger). He took the glass and sipped as he stared at the damned Heinrich. He could be anywhere in every people's life but never in his home. Felix bitterly thought. "Adelaide, you should go back to your chamber," Felix said worriedly as he finished the cup of water.

"But...Brother, I-"

"Wait. Before Lady Adelaide goes. Let's discuss the situation altogether." Damian stepped in and requested Felix. Although the sick man disliked the idea, "I don't want my sister to be part of problems and to the likes of you." He coughed, trying to rebuke the idea. The heavens should forsake him. Damian almost wants to slap Felix out of his dumb-witted thinking.

'My patience is almost thin.' Damian could swear he could choke and shake him to his senses. Lucky is that he is a patient kind of man.

When Adelaide hears the suggestion, she does not want to agree with Damian verbally, but she conveys Felix a teary face in hopes for her brother to accept. Felix saw through it and grumbled in irritation. "Fine! Let her know. After all, she is of age to mingle in these." He stressed as he did not object. Adelaide tried to contain her sheepish smile and politely kept her composed face.

𝘍𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺! She rejoiced in silence. She was happy not only because she could be part of the men's talk but also to ease the pain of worry that stung her heart.

Felix, Heinz, Ian, and Damian shared an uncomfortable look with each other. Long lost friends reunited. How come unfortunate were they? To see each other face-to-face at the very wrong time. Distasteful it was for the old friends. But one of them, deep inside, knew who was at fault. Damian felt another guilt stabbing fiercely into his heart. 'What an event here.' Damian almost lost his interest in anything. But for the sake of the Lady, they hid the fact between their displease and sighs.

Adelaide broke off the silence. "Where were the both of you?! So many things happening while you were dilly-dallying!" Adelaide crossed both of her hands, displeased by their idleness. Heinz coughed awkwardly, being blameworthy. "We were finding medicines," he boldly and shamelessly lied in front of people, not meeting her gaze...

In truth, both were eating snacks and having an extended reunion in the kitchen. They shared their merriness of meeting each other for many years with a toast of special dark red wine bought somewhere in the other nation. It lasted well, only when they heard a scream in a specific room that alerted them to go there. Ian looked at a ball lying on the muddy black liquid, trying to pick up the thing gloveless.

"Hey--Don't touch that.." A man from outside known as Alec was concerningly cautious, but Ian still touched it and brought it up to his eye level. "Hmm. Projector?" He examined it, and the orb became apparent as it faded into dust. " Oh, It's gone like that," the Doctor acted surprised when he felt nothing was on his hands. 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘮𝘦. Not that it holds any importance for that pearl.

' It would be good to keep it as a treasure.' Ian frowned.

Alec silently screamed just as the orb was being reduced to nothing. The other men with him silently woe him and pat his back.

Heinz tetters in annoyance, knowing what the spectacle could be. "What a troublesome. Hey Felix, have you offended anyone?! How come they try reaching for your neck ?" he hollered out, trying to disregard the thought his older brother was still in a bad state. Felix gave him a disappointed frown. " How come I know? I've been occupied with my expeditions and gatherings with other Generals. And if they were to target me, who would it be? I didn't encounter suspicious people these days other than that bizarre one yesterday..." Felix put his hands under his chin and trailed off. He remembered the puppet, the 𝘐𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 girl put under the cage with chains.

Damian swallowed the lump in his throat. Hearing Felix mention the child yesterday also made him doubt. " Bizzare?! Then there is no room to suspect. They must be tied to that." Adelaide grits her teeth. " What bizarre one did you encounter?" Ian asked in curiosity. Felix shifted once again to Damien's presence as his face turned discouraged suddenly.

Felix remembered the insightful child being captured and the screams of its outlandish. "A child-like puppet under the appearance of an innocent girl." His face blushed a deep tint of red, and he wrinkled up his features as look down from his clenched fist on the pillow. That Monster dared to threaten his sister! He can't let that slide so cooly. Heinz sneered loudly, holding out his small giggle. " Well, it's not surprising older bro got threatened by someone. He is known for such an Insufferable attitude. Serves you right!" the wizard ranted. Ian massaged his temple to have such a friend both a headache, not just one but thrice the trouble. " Shut up, Heinz. I trust you know what is happening to him too, My Lord?" Ian snarled and coldly looked at Damian.

𝘕𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯. Damian felt suffocated from the darting stares he'd been receiving these days. Being drowned in more guilt than usual was too much to handle. It made him spaced out into a daze. Being trapped within them. He could pathetically laugh at himself right now. " Uh-... Yes... A brief hex that will bound to last till we find the culprit,"

Although it will be heck to find them.

" The audacity." she hastily hisses as Adelaide finds it outrageous to know Felix was a curse. " What will happen to Felix now, Doctor Ian?" she asked quickly out of concern.

Ian was too distressed to utter any word as he soon realized the black-stemmed roots running almost invisibly into Felix's hands and neck.

Felix was a knight and the Commander of the Royal Knights. Being bedridden by a mere assassination attempt would make everyone think it's the greatest joke ever. It would make people doubt the abilities of the Eilbert Clan's centuries of Knighthood.

Society is far more vicious than reality, as its flowers are full of thorns lingering to be plucked. It is all flowery and full of blooded truths. Even having a godsend to see and hear, all they would ever believe were deception and unbaked truths made up to be fooled. Rumors would turn into disappointment, and disappointment turns into misery.

" Sir Felix could do anything, but much as making any physical movement will injure him. He must be accompanied, too, so this incident won't happen likewise. Look, Sir Felix got black veins already visible on his skin. He's been marked by them," Damian pointed out the black veins on Felix's neck. As Felix heard that, he shot a glare as if he was offended.

The Knight's black veins were popping out from his skin. Anyone would tell he was already on the brink of turning the room upside down. " NO-I'M FINE! I can still do things." he roared, catching everyone off guard. " My Lord, calm yourself down! " Ian answered back, his heart thumping seeing the visible veins. "I-it showing!" she gasped in shock.

Heinz wasn't worried about anything anymore. In fact, he laughed at Felix. " To think I rushed here to look at your wretched state, as news had already reached the Babel Tower. Magicians are petty gossipers who do nothing but be bored. And look, the Beaureu of the Investigation is here too! "

Heinz added more insult to Felix. " If I were you, I would lay my ass down there and rest for a week rather than showing up in your pathetic state and letting them know you got assassinated." he chuckled.

Adelaide could swear she could have slapped his mouth, and how humiliated Felix felt right now made him dizzy with anger. " Heinz, I sometimes wished you were the one who is suffering so that your brutish little sass could shut up for a moment. " he hissed with a pained disgrace left on his dry lips.