Prince Who?

15: SECRETS

Resent?

I dismissed the spheres of water robbing the djinns of air but kept the bars of iron afloat. They were visibly weak from the suffocation. They sank to the ground, bearing no signs of struggle. I orchestrated the waters to sweep through the fire, relinquishing smoke from the relieved combustions.

'Is it not?' the voice queried, rather amused.

"I feel nothing of the sort."

I did not show manifestations of hatred. I wasn't shouting, frowning, swearing, or threatening. My heart merely stopped. I went stiff and frigid. My vision blurred, I seemed to be drawn away from the center of the screaming and crying as the noise ceased.

'If you're not resentful then you should start breathing again.'

I took a sudden and sharp gasp, as if a couple of breaths were taken away from me. My senses returned. I made a complete turn, surveying the scene and trying to figure out why I lost my awareness just then.

"Hello?"

The voice no longer responded. Was my mind simply playing tricks on me?

The dawn of grieving set upon the village. The Djinns were alive. The abled villagers used the bars of iron that I molded to contain the djinns inside. I have heard from them that they were weak against iron and steel. It was by luck that I happened to use them earlier. I guess.

An outbreak of wails came one after another as the living mourned for the dead. One distinct and loud cry magnetized us to the source. Ziru was beside Guthrie who was visibly being consumed by fire from the inside. He was fading slowly into ashes. Crowley was right beside the boy, also bearing burns on his body. No other Sky Hoods were around them.

"Papa, please don't go. Don't leave me...I have no one else to go back to," he whimpered, holding Guthrie's hand tightly.

Guthrie chuckled. Their short reunion was fate's way of organizing a final farewell.

"Taking that one baby boy home despite all the chiding I received was one thing I never regretted. It was the best decision I ever made..."

He cupped Ziru's cheek that was soaked with tears, moving his thumb to erase those salty tears.

"Papa...Take me with you. I'll go wherever you go!"

Guthrie shook his head. Breaking his son's heart was the last thing he wanted him to remember from him.

"I can't take you with me this time, Ziru." Guthrie continued, turning his attention to Crowley.

"Hey big guy...take care of him...please take care of him..."

"No...You can't make me swear again. You're his father. You have to be there for him. You have to—"

Crowley's protests were severed when Guthrie intervened in a pleading way.

"You know I don't have much time. Please promise me that he won't be alone."

The Hanuman bit his lip before shaking his head. He grabbed the joint hands of Ziru and Guthrie with his bigger one.

"I swear on my life that I will protect him. Hanumans never break a promise. You got the right beast for the job," he assured, giving Guthrie a reassuring grin.

Guthrie pulled the hiccupping Ziru into one last hug. He smiled with ease.

"The skies are so beautiful...Can you see it?"

Ziru sobbed against him. His body became limp as if he had given up pleading. This time, there was no longer a place in the world where he could find his father. No matter how high he jumps, the sky where his father resides was out of his reach.

"I love you, papa... I love you..." he hiccuped.

"I love you too... Ziru..."

With the last of his parts fading, Guthrie closed his eyes for eternity. Ziru had ceased crying. He fell silent while staring where his father once lay. Crowley pulled Ziru against his side to comfort him but the young boy was unresponsive.

"Oh, kid...I'm so sorry," Crowley whispered. "You're going to be fine. I'll take care of you from now on."

Ziru stared blankly at the ground. Life was drained from his eyes.

"How come the good gets to die and the bad gets to live?"

I knew that Ziru's question wasn't meant for me but his inquiry was a direct hit to my actions.

The lives of the innocent were not spared yet I became that person who spared the lives of the sordid. The Djinns were waiting for my final verdict. Will they live to suffer or die to escape?

We left Crowley and Ziru alone. "Fenris, was I wrong to have spared them? "I did not desire any more deaths but what if by pardonning them, they take more lives?"

"That is true," Kox spoke from behind us. "There are two types of killers in this world—the merciless and the merciful. No matter how good your intentions are, you can never avoid hurting people."

"There must be another way."

Kox raised his eyes from the book and gazed at me as if he could actually see.

"I believe you will do your best to search for that miracle, however; would you like me to tell you a secret?"

His secrets were premonitions.

"Tell me."

Kox's eyes went from me to Fenris and then back to his book.

"The very last choice you will make will save the world but will cost a price of shattered hearts and broken souls."

I waited for more but he couldn't elaborate. If I shake him like a rattle would he give me more secrets? Fenris whined in complaint. Kox shrugged.

"That's all I have. I'm just reading my lines from this book."

Garrison arrived with a dirty grin on his porcelain face.

"Oh, Kox~ Can I have a word with you please? Because dear me I think I am in the mood for another secret..."

"The book suddenly ran out of things to say, perhaps another time."

The boy attempted to flee but he was grabbed and sweetly pulled against Garrison's slim body.

"Let's talk it over a glass of wine, shall we?" Garrison offered.

Kox winced. "Why would you ask a minor to drink with you?"

Garrison gracefully released a giggle. He gave Kox strong back blows which were supposed to be mere friendly pats.

"You really don't expect me to believe that now, do you?"

He kept the sibylline child secured within his grasp.

"Lucian, good work. One of the djinns confessed that their families were held hostage by the Right-handlers. They promised full surrender," he told us.

If the man in my head didn't wake me, more children would have become orphans. I petted the wolf's head. The shaking in my hands settled just a little.

"Then what I did was right?"

Fenris nodded enthusiastically. "Woof!"

The village was still in the chasm of the aftermath of loss and woe. I rested underneath a tree with Fenris right by my side. The weeping of the grieving ones added another horrific shade to this place we live in. But in the light of all of this, the world wasn't all conquered by evil and despair. People who carry with them the brightest light will shine them on people who were stuck at the very bottom of desolation.

There will be hellos and there will be goodbyes. The latter would leave a scar on those who were left behind. But I wonder, how can one say goodbye without leaving a wound? Would people mourn for me if I were to become one with the skies just like Guthrie?

"Saying goodbye is the hardest thing, isn't it? I hope there will not be a day where we'll say that to each other..." I murmured.

I feel rather sleepy. Fenris won't mind if I doze off a bit.

Audible cracking of bones was heard from beside me as my consciousness gradually faded. I was pulled into a warm body.

"Fenris?" I weakly called out.

"Fenris will be back but for now, I will accompany you."

He caressed the side of my head with his huge hand.

"He's okay isn't he?" I persisted.

If his fluffy paws even get the slightest of wounds, there will be consequences.

"He is safe..." he reassured me, placing a gentle kiss on my head.

He did not seem to be lying...

"But, who are—" my head was firmly yet gently kept down when I attempted to gaze up.

"Don't look!"

Now that my head was cleared from drowsiness, I was able to get a grasp of the situation.

A man was sitting beside me.

I did not know him but he seemed to be acquainted with Fenris.

He was naked.

"Why do you refuse?"

The man tensed up and... Have I already gone over the fact that he was unclothed?

My eyes trained down from his well-toned abdomen and got stuck at staring at his—

"You ju--just can't. No peeking."

"Coming from a man who decided to sit beside me without a strip of clothing, that is very bold of you to say..." I deadpanned.

I pointed at his ling.

He shrieked in his deep and playfully charming voice. He covered his crotch with his hands, allowing me to look at his face.

He had light brown tousled short hair with defined features of sharpness on his jaw and nose. I drew my face closer to observe the tattoo at the right side of his face. The tattoo was a crescent moon with its body made up of curls of what seemed to be clouds. A single star sat in between the open space.

The man jerked his face to the side. His tanned cheeks darkened when the tip of our noses almost touched. My eyes were then drawn to his golden ones. I had to cup both sides of his squared face to get a steady look.

"You have pretty eyes..." I murmured and drew closer, causing his eyes to widen when our lips ghosted against each other.

His body heat was perfect for cold nights. He would be a great addition to my bed.

"Will you come home with me?" I asked him.

"Wha--what?" he blurted out.

"Come home with me. You may stay on the bed and I'm very sure Fenris won't mind."

I was determined to bring him home. Onii won't mind if I brought a man home without his consent, would he?

At this point, he was full-blown red. He was only capable of stutters.

"Warm my bed...Sleep with me every night."

"I…I…!"

He lost consciousness.

Was it something I said?

I attempted to lift him but his weight proved to be too much for my back. I will just have to drag him back home.

But first... Exhaustion was really taking a toll on me.

I lied on top of the naked man and tucked myself under his chin. Fenris was still a better mattress. He said that he was a temporary replacement for the fluff of a wolf but he was merely a pack of muscles.

Two arms encircled my form. He released a soft sigh. Gradually, his soft breathing and racing heart escorted me through my quest to attain sleep.

I left this troubling world for a little bit.

Once I was awakened by Garrison, I felt myself hovering on top of Fenris' soft fur. I questioned myself if the man earlier was just a product of my imagination and exhaustion but he seemed so real to be an illusion.

"What's the matter, Lucian?"

Fenris stretched his body, yawning from a good sleep.

"I met a man and he had... Pretty eyes." I trailed off, sparking Garrison's interest.

"Oh, is this the scent of love that makes my core excited?" he chirped.

Fenris' golden eyes focused on me as he smiled through his pants. He had the same set of eyes.

"What was he like?"

I released a sigh in an attempt to relieve the manifesting dark clouds from not noticing the man's disappearance.

"Bare and big."

Garrison stumbled back and clenched the front of his shirt. He fanned himself with his other hand.

"My heart cannot take this perfervid hit from such passionate and bold intimacy! Oh goodness me I should have known that you were a hotblooded young man. So soon and under the witnessing eyes of this tree with this thick fog being your jury! Lucian you sly man."

I had no idea why Garrison was so high-spirited about this.

...

...

...

"We'll keep the iron bars around them," the chief assured, bowing with gratitude. "Thank you for coming, Prince of Ancients. We owe you our lives and our loyalty."

"Simple Lucian is fine," I deadpanned. "Please take care."

Garrison shook the chief's hand. "We will send some Scums as soon as we arrive at our base."

Crowley and Ziru vanished without saying goodbye. Kox will be coming with us. He did say he wished to join our group. His premonitions can be useful if he would impart them a little earlier.

The chief sent us away with his own power. We surfaced back to a time of dusk. The pegacorn was waiting patiently with an excited Ziru and a displeased Crowley. Ziru ran up to me, engulfing my lower half with an embrace. Garrison waved at them.

"In which path shall you trace your destiny?" he asked, causing Crowley to let out a rude and confused "Huh?" before stopping himself and shaking his head.

"Oh, you mean where we're heading. I planned on going back to Xoba but this kid wants to come with Lucian."

Ziru looked up to me with a pleading gaze.

"Please let me come. You can leave Crowley behind if he's too stubborn to go."

"Hey, warugaki!"

"We'll be happy to have you with us," Garrison approved.

I nodded. "Yes, we have plenty of rooms."

This would not be a peaceful trip back home. Indeed, it was an unending bickering between Ziru and Crowley.

"Ah... My belt," I suddenly remembered.

"Oh, you mean this one?" Crowley pointed at the belt wrapped around his waist.

"Yes, that one."

"I found it lying around and thought it was fashionable," Crowley said as he slammed a goblin's head to a rock. There were still monsters trying to ambush us but we were secured with Fenris, Garrison and Crowley around. They weren't breaking a sweat.

"Now that it's on you it's pretty lame now..." Ziru mocked.

The Hanuman lifted Ziru by the back of his shirt with his huge hand.

"Why you little—"

"Now, what happened to a Hanuman's integrity?" Garrison reminded him.

"I'm not the first Hanuman who'll break it anyway!" Crowley snapped.

As we neared the hill concealing the hideout, Garrison had noticed something that made him stop us from walking any further.

I squinted my eyes, seeing black puddles surrounding the hill in which I didn't remember being there before.

The earth rumbled beneath us. Our eyes widened when hairy black tentacles shot out from the ground.

"Eyuck! It's hairy just like Crowley!"

"I'd strangle you if I wasn't so shocked now..." Crowley whispered in awe.

The suckers of the tentacles projected metallic needles. The sways of the flexible limbs became excessively tumultuous.

"It's XII..." Garrison muttered grimly. "So the Higher-Order finally made its move to take the younger prince back."

I thought they had given up.

"I belong here," I announced.

There is no prince for them to bring back.