CHAPTER 13: THE PAST

"Dark Ries is dead..." Told a woman in gothic attire.

The people around her were astonished.

"Who killed him?"

A huge man with a crown on his head asked the woman calmly. His eyes closed while he was seated on a brilliant dark gold red chair.

"A boy. Bright green eyes. A Knight Seeyer!" She gasped.

"There's still one more?!" A small woman that was seated stood up suddenly. Her eyes were blazing peaches.

The woman whose eyes were blind but can see something out of their world nodded her head.

"Dark Markia, where is the boy now?" Another man asked. He has long black hair that was tied with a gold bracelet. His eyes glowing green.

Dark Markia, the gothic woman's name, shook her head. "I cannot see where he is located. The place has a repelling magic spell."

"It seems that Dark Ries and Dark Lordany have failed to kill all your clan's members, Dark Kurumi. Oh, but, you have one last member left to kill..." Another man smirked.

Dark Kurumi, the long-haired man, ignored the man's words. He left the rooms they were in with a calm step. The man grumbled at Dark Kurumi's ignorance of him. The huge man that was seated on the dark gold red chair opened his blue eyes.

"Find the last place Dark Ries has gone to and search for that boy. Do not let him live!" He ordered. His blue eyes snapped to a blazing red colour.

Everyone in the room stood up and bowed to the huge man.

"Yes, Your Majesty!" They all answered.

A few days later, in Ryam Town…

Agi decided to return to Syarantonia. He went back alone. He needs to report to General Leo about Kairi. Before he left, he chatted with Aries.

"Aries, I need you to take care of them. I know you're still weak but..." He looked at Aries seriously.

"Yes, yes, I know, Agi. I'll be careful. You too. I hope no obstructions await you along the way," Aries replied and pray for his safety.

Agi was relieved to hear that and nodded.

"Yes, and please be careful of someone."

"You mean Rafiz? There's something I didn't tell you about him, Agi."

Agi looked at her with a question mark.

"Rafiz... I had a problem with him. Actually, since meeting him a week ago, I can't get into his mind. There's a barrier. But in Kairi's memory... It only started when he met Rafiz for the first time. His childhood memory is gone. This really bothers me." Told Aries.

"Wait, you want to say Kairi may have lost his memory? Since when?" Agi was startled to hear it.

"Kairi is like only sixteen in the memory. I'm not sure about Kairi's actual age, but Rafiz and Rafael are celebrating his 16th birthday. So, maybe the time he met Rafiz for the first time was at the age of fifteen," answered Aries.

"I see... All right. Please watch their behaviour for me. If anything happens or something Rafiz does is suspicious, report it to Virgo and Pegasus. Pegasus may have been wary of Rafiz since they met. It's just Virgo... He believes Rafiz because Kairi believes him too..." Agi sighed at Virgo's unawareness.

He never thought that Virgo would trust people so easily.

"Do you think Rafiz has something to do with the Deorc Star? If so, what should I do?" Aries asked anxiously.

"You have to take Kairi away from here if that's happened. If he doesn't want to, you drag him away. Kairi is very important to us, Aries. Do not let anything happen to him." Agi warned her.

"Understood."

Agi leaves Ryam Town after that. He and Aries were unaware that Rafiz and Rafael were listening to their conversation from Rafael's study room. Both have a supernatural hearing.

Rafiz complains to his father. "Watching over me? Yeah, right. But, what do they mean that Kairi is very important to them? Is Kairi really that person... Heir?"

If Rafiz can guess it then Rafael also comprehends it too. Rafael narrowed his eyes as he looked down.

"Dad, they're a nuisance to our life. I should get rid of them," Rafiz said darkly.

"They're Kairi's friends. Even if they're our enemies, they won't hurt Kairi," Rafael replied.

"Dad, are you sure? I don't trust any of them."

He trusted Virgo once since Virgo took his place to help his father's restaurant but Virgo did not look after Kairi as he was told. Now, he wants to kill him.

"You, take your time to get to know them. If they cared about Kairi, of course, they would not harm him." Rafael again advised.

His child always thinks of revenge and killing. What was going on in his head? Can't he be like normal people? That would probably take time... Rafael sighed.

"Fine..." Rafiz had to erase his plans.

"Rafiz, I understood that becoming my heir was painful but..." Rafael went silent for a moment.

"Huh, why all of a sudden, dad? I don't care about it. With this power, I can protect Kairi and the residents here." Rafiz was stunned.

Why was Rafael mentioning this old thing?

"But the burden is you have to constantly watch the town every day. Since you were born, you have always been trained to be my heir. I do not deny that you are selfish because you need to strengthen yourself for the future. But, you look gloomy until your mom told me that she is sad to see you are not like other kids. Since then, I have reduced your training..."

"I see. That's why you always shorten the time of my training at that time. And here I was wondering if there's more skill you want me to learn," said Rafiz who remembered something fifteen years ago.

"Yes, and you started smiling a little when... That boy asked you to play with him." Rafael remembered a boy about the same age as his son at that time.

"At first you hated him for bothering you but because he kept coming to the house to ask you, one day you finally went out with him. Sigh... Time flies fast... Ten years have passed since that time."

He could see Rafiz's shoulder fall after he reminded Rafiz of the boy.

"He's the only close friend you had but..."

"Dark Spincer killed him! Not only that, he killed everyone in Afli Village!" Rafiz closed his eyes to erase the painful memory.

Reo, the name of the boy who did not give up inviting him to play together, has changed his lonely life. They were so close that other people thought they were brothers. Unfortunately, Dark Spincer came to change everything. He remembers the words of Dark Spincer that time after he killed all the residents of Afli Village and also... Reo.

"You're the next heir of Dark Lordany? You don't need these weaklings. What you need is us. We, Deorc Star users, don't need friends who weaken us. In fact, we're not friends either. Just a hangout group. Forget it... This will be your weakness one day. Don't get close to anyone, Dark Lordany. Our foes will not give sympathy to anyone close to us. Today, I have shown you how it feels if you are close to them. Always remember. If not, I will return to destroy your weakness once more..." Dark Spincer reminded him with a grin.

Rafiz will never forget Dark Spincer, his nemesis.

"Yes... And since then you have started to pay full attention to my teaching so that you could get stronger," replied Rafael.

"Dad, why do you want to remind me of that time? You know I don't want to remember it."

"It's because you've changed so much since Kairi was around. He changed your life once more. You're getting happier and like to smile a lot now." Rafael feels glad that Kairi comes into Rafiz's life.

Rafiz felt embarrassed to be told about it. His changes, of course, he knew about it.

"Okay. What's your motive for telling me all this?"

Rafiz has been asking why his father was reminiscing and has not yet received the correct answer. Lately, he was getting hot-tempered if anything related to Kairi.

"I want to say you've changed a lot. That's it. I'm happy to see the way you are now."

Rafiz's expression turned red.

"Dad, this is embarrassing! You don't need to mention this!"

True, he had changed but for his father to emphasise that meaning was very embarrassing to him. Rafael laughed out loud.

"Oh, it is interesting now that Kairi is here. He must have wanted to hear many funny stories when you were little..."

Rafiz gasped.

"Don't tell Kairi, dad, if you don't want me to break your chess pieces one by one." He threatened playfully.

"You dare...?" Rafael challenged him with a sharp gaze.

"If that alone prevents Kairi from leveraging and embarrassing me all the time, I will do it," Rafiz replied with a sharp gaze too.

Both laughed afterwards. A few weeks passed after that. Aries, Virgo, and Pegasus have been living in their house. On condition, they become the temporary workers for the tavern.

Every morning Kairi would go to the river with them. It was the location where Kairi had found the Pegasus emblem. Now, they were having fun and relaxing before the tavern opened in the evening. Rafiz comes along with them.

"It's cold!" Shouted Aries with a laugh when Kairi and Virgo splashed her with water.

"Aries, let's play!" Kairi and Virgo invited her.

"I don't want to! I want to sleep. I slept late last night. I'm sleepy... And I'm too lazy to play with you. I don't know what you guys ate before going to bed until you're still energetic this morning." Aries replied then laid her back on the open grass, away from the river.

"Cute..." Kairi thought.

Then, he splashed the water on Virgo. Virgo retaliated before he ran towards Kairi and pushed him into the water. At the same time, Kairi drags him as well. They both fell into the water and laughed.

Pegasus was leaning against a lush tree near them. He sat there reading a book he had borrowed from Kairi while Rafiz was watching Kairi and Virgo playing in the water. He was amused to see their behaviour until they looked at him with a wicked expression.

"Rafiz..." Kairi and Virgo called sweetly.

Rafiz gulped. He started getting up and running when both of them came after him with mud on both their hands. They dug it on the river floor and wanted to wipe it on Rafiz's body. Now, they were playing catch-up.

"Urgh, they're noisy..." Thought Aries who was trying to sleep and Pegasus who could not concentrate on his reading.

However, the atmosphere was a bit peaceful for all of them.

"Rafiz, come down! We won't do anything!" Kairi laughed as he looked at Rafiz who was standing on a tall tree.

"Yeah!" Agreed Virgo.

"I know what you guys are holding! Don't expect me to come down. No!" He screamed when Virgo jumped onto the trunk below him while climbing up to where he was.

"Rafiz..." Virgo called with a cynical smile.

Rafiz had to jump to another tree. He could not go down because Kairi was waiting below and Virgo was chasing him on the tree. He felt miserable for teaching Kairi how to speed up while controlling his breath so that he would not get tired so easily.

Kairi was near any tree he was on. Suddenly his jump stopped. He discovered a scary aura was heading towards their town.

His body releases a little sweat. "With this distance... He will arrive tonight! Who? Who is he?!"

Rafiz was sure that person was a Deorc Star user because the aura was too big for him not to feel it.

"Rafiz, what's wrong?" Asked Kairi who saw the changes in Rafiz's expression.

"Hm? Oh, it's nothing..." Rafiz immediately hides his worries.

"Argh!"

He shrieked when Virgo finally reached him and swept the mud down his neck. He shuddered at the sticky feeling. He also lost his balance and fell from the tree. For revenge, he pulled Virgo along.

"Oh, no..." Kairi said as the two fell towards him.

He didn't have time to escape and widened his arms to catch them. All three of them groan in pain after the fall. Their play stops when Pegasus tells them the day was getting late and they need to go home right away if they do not want to be scolded by Rafael. They all went home after cleaning themselves.