by Arantes
Angelione lay very still on the ground while Aleister was tormenting him dangling and twirling his sword. Angelione stared at the sword, not even fearing for his life. Aleister was swinging his sword. He lunged at Angelione and went in for the kill with his sword. The sword was inches from Angelione’s head and Sonia yelled.
“Noooooo!” Her body was in agony from the electric shock.
Angelione didn’t even flinch. The sword was so close to hacking into Angelione’s head that it slivered pieces of his hair off as it stabbed into the ground. Aleister kneeled over top of Angelione grinning. He grabbed him by his throat and stared into his eyes.
He said, “Shattered!” It looked as if Aleister had stopped moving for a few seconds, his body looked frozen. His eyes didn’t blank at all, it wasn’t till a few second had pass that his eyes started moving. “Could it be, yes it is.” Aleister realized something. “I knew there was something odd about you when you release that massive force of lightning against me. So tell me, does she know?” They both looked in Sonia’s direction. She was slowly breathing.
How could he know, thought Angelione.
Aleister got up and gave Sonia one last look. He smiled and the pair left, leaving Angelione and Sonia dumfounded.
“What just happened, are we still alive?” asked Sonia. She walked towards him, still badly hurt.
Angelione said, “Why didn’t he kill us? And who’s Dawson?”
She didn’t say a word. She was still frail. She slowly helped Angelione to his feet; but with the hole in his stomach, from Aleister’s blade, it was going to be hard. She grabbed her medicine out of her back pocket and closed the womb. “Are you all right?”
Angelione looked as if he wanted to faint; using this ability drained him. “Sonia, I’m sorry about what happened.” If I had continued on using the lightning, she would have died.
“I’m fine, don’t worry about me. I only got it with your lightning for a second or two. We should leave now, our work here is done,” said Sonia. She wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.
“It would be wise to go see King Henry. We don’t want to leave any bad blood behind,” said Angelione.
Sonia helped him out the cave. Once outside they saw torches as the town’s people were approaching. Sonia and Angelione hid themselves and watched.
The town’s people were told of what happened by the guards who fled for their lives. News was sent to King Henry. Samuel was still alive when the people got to him, but barely. They dragged his body outside of the cave, took him in the middle of the city and hung him.
“My apology for the trouble we put you through. I hope you don’t think badly of us,” said King Henry. Now that Samuel was found guilty and the Black Reapers’ names were cleared, they had his permission to leave.
“Thank you for your hospitality lord Henry, but now we must leave,” said Angelione.
Sonia let Angelione do all the talking; all that was on her mind was home. She wanted to see Albedo.
“Please go see one of our healers,” offered the King. He noticed Angelione was badly hurt from fighting Aleister.
“Thank you but I’m a Pureblood. My body will heal itself in no time,” said Angelione.
“So tell me something. Is Aleister as strong as they say he is?” asked the King.
Sonia answered this time. “He’s stronger than you think.”
The King wondered. “Hmm, interesting.”
Sonia and Angelione bowed and took their leave.
Chapter 9
Enter the Councils
(Past)
King Victor was not pleased when he woke up just a few hours after his Black Reapers went looking for Aleister. He sat on his throne, got up, and then sat again, getting fidgety waiting to be called by the high council. On this same morning great confusion and excitement prevailed in his head. He had sent out two of his best warriors in King Henry’s territory, Odeon. His father had died leaving him to rule and there were none to succeed him as ruler of the Kingdom better than Victor. Even the high council acknowledges that, but he hated each and every one of them who tried to tell him how to rule. It puzzled the high council when he made a decision without their consultation. He wondered if he had made the right call by sending the Black Reapers after Aleister, or about getting Albedo ready for what’s coming.
“My Lord, it’s time to go,” said a man with great pride in his voice. He was the King’s most trusted servant and adviser; this was one of the only men he could trust. This man was not afraid to tell him when he was making the wrong decision. Dory was his name. He was a short man with a short temper. His voice barely reaching the King as he was thinking of all the decisions he had made lately.
“What do they want from me now? When will they all stay in the shadows where they belong and let me rule as King! Every move I make they want to know. If it wasn’t for my late father we wouldn’t have a council,” said the King with an angry tone. It always boiled his blood when he had to face them. They would always tell him his father would have never made such a radical decision.
“My Lord, you know you could always lie,” said Dory.
Victor smiled and they both laughed, it wasn’t in the King’s nature to lie. The council would find out eventually, they had spies working for them within his army. He walked toward Dory and patted him on his back, saying it was time to go.
The chamber was located just outside of the castle, up the mountains, inside a dark cave. King Victor walked steadily to the high council’s chamber. The closer he got, the vaster the darkness grew. King Victor knew who the members were, but they preferred to hide their faces behind the shadows. The King stood in the middle of the chamber. He looked up; all around him were men hiding in the shadows. There were maybe fifteen, no twenty-five he counted. The sudden quiet hit the chamber and a man started to speak.
“King Victor, it has come to our attention that you sent out the Black Reapers into foreign land. The Black Reapers are the most powerful warriors that we have. If something would to happen to them the consequence would be severe.”
King Victor recognized this voice; it was the head of the council, Viper. He was at least two thousand years old. He had been head of the council for a millennium. Second in command, next to Viper, was Jarvis. He was the younger brother of Viper. Not much younger than him. They had long gray hair and gray eyes. The King sometimes thought of them as Siamese twins.
The only way to distinguish those two was by the length of their hair. Viper’s hair was very long while Jarvis was shoulder length.
The King now responded, “It was necessary to our survival that I did what I had to do! The one known as Aleister has come out of the shadows and made his first move! He sent out one of his companions into Inferno, Vincent. So I retaliated and sent the Black Reapers after him.”
One of the men yelled out, “Why should we care what happens in Inferno! We have been protecting these humans for thousands of years. How much longer are we going to risk our lives for them?!”
The others applauded him; they had felt the same way.
“Enough!” said Viper. One thing King Victor and Viper agreed on was protecting the humans and this land. “Victor, rumor has it that this boy Aleister is one of the five Kings of Awakening, is that true?”
A great silent passed. The Kings of Awakening had been the world’s greatest enemy for as long as anyone could remember. The King nodded. Viper started running his hand through his beard thinking.
The same man’s voice shouts again, “What preposterous thoughts are these! It’s been fifty thousand years and no one has seen a sign of them! If Aleister is in fact one of them then where are the others?! ”
The King thought to himself, it’s him, Absolute. This man had much hate towards Victor. “They’re not just anyone, Absolute. They had promised their returns into this world.
Their powers even surpass the power of the Elder.”
Absolute jumped down from the balcony, coming closer to the king. The
small light revealed his face. He was wearing an all blue outfit, a scarf around his neck. “So ladies and gentlemen, are we just going to let him put our greatest weapon in the hands of the enemy?” He pointed his finger at the King “This man is not fit to be king, his father I respected, but this man is not even a fragment of the late king!”
They all said rest in peace to the late king.
Absolute continued, “Now don’t tell me you all forgot what happened with the Corpse,” with a grim on his face this time looking at the King.
“That was different!” shouted the King with anger. Hearing about the Corpse had put a chill into the King’s spine. He had never wanted to hear their names again.
“You told us you could handle them by yourself! And we all remember what happened, they nearly destroyed this kingdom, do we really want another incident like this!?” The room was filling with approval, all on Absolute’s side.
“Yeah! Yeah! Absolute,” roared the crowd.
“And that’s not all my fellow people. A few months ago our King sent Sonia to train the son of Dragan.”
Viper jumped down as well, he had heard enough. He started to speak, “Dragan did many services for our kingdom that you will never understand Absolute. If he feels his son is ready to carry on his legacy then so be it. As far as Aleister, King Victor will do all he can to bring him in if he is truly one of them. We have to believe in our king, if you cannot trust your king then this kingdom will fall!”
Absolute stood there with much anger on his face. Viper was the only man who could bring order to this room. The meeting was cut short. Viper told them there was nothing more to discuss. Absolute was still angry that Viper had let the King do as he saw fit.
King Victor invited Viper and his twin Jarvis to have dinner with him. They had been good friends of his father. “Thank you Viper, I don’t know what would have happened if you weren’t there.”
Viper took a small sugar cube and dropped it in his tea. “Tell me something, Victor, that boy that you have your eyes on, Albedo. Can he really be ready in time to join the Black Reapers? Time is not on our side.”
The King sat quietly, his loyal friend Dory was sitting next to him. “Sonia told me his physical training was going faster than she anticipated. Just like his father Dragan, he awakened the power of the Elder at an early age.”
“Somehow I’m not surprised.” Viper closed his eyes with disappointment; this was a blow to their preparation.
“Maybe I can give the young lad a couple lessons,” offered Jarvis. Jarvis loved to refer to young ones as lad.
“So it’s done, my brother will train him until Sonia’s return,” said Viper. “What about Dante and Axil? They’ve shown much promise, at such a young age they surpass most of your Purebloods.”
King Victor had always wondered if they were ready to join the Black Reapers. It’s true that they were one of his most powerful Purebloods.
“Just like Albedo, they may be ready physically, but are they ready mentally,” said Dory.
Viper responded, “I believe Sonia was about their age when she joined the Black Reapers. It was after Dragan and Cecelia relinquished their powers, her and Angelione took over.”
The King got up and walked closer to the window. “When Angelione gets back from his mission, I will talk to him,” said King Victor. “It’s been almost fifty thousand years since they walked among us. If we allow the five Kings of Awakening to take back their powers, many innocents will die.”
Jarvis looked at his brother and said, “So it’s true then. Aleister is one of them from Dragan’s report. But you also must take into consideration; Aleister is not our only threat. The Numeral Society is also getting more active.”
“Yes you are right brother. As of right now we only have four members in the Black Reapers Division. All four are in missions as we speak. When Dragan and Cecelia left, it was a major blow to our power defense. That boy Dragan was strong. For a second there I thought he was as strong as you,” said Viper referring to the King.
“He truly was the strongest Black Reaper this organization had to offer,” said Jarvis.
“You don’t suppose he might want to come back to us do you?” asked Dory.
The King said, “Dragan has been a Black Reaper since my father was ruling. I had never seen him this happy until he fell in love with Cecelia, who also did many great things for our land. When Albedo came into the picture, I knew he wanted to leave us and devote his life to them.”
“Just like Dragan, Albedo cannot escape his path,” said Viper. “Those like Albedo who were born with great strength will eventually seek out battles.” Just like his father did, he will also. To be most powerful a Pureblood would possess one of the Excitaret Quad. The Excitaret Quad consists of: The power of the Elder, the Bloodhound, the Twin’s Blood, and the most powerful one of them all, the Reawakening. The Excitaret Quad has a way of bringing people like those into battling each other. I guess it’s the curse of controlling one of the greatest powers a Pureblood can wield.
Jarvis started stroking his beard. “Hmmm. I wonder.”
“Is everything all right, old friend?” asked Dory.
“It’s nothing really. Today at the council’s meeting, I thought I felt something strange. There was someone amongst us that didn’t belong there. No one else noticed it because they were too busy praising Absolute.”
“Now that you mentioned it I did feel someone also,” said Viper.
“A spy maybe?” suggested Dory.
The King started to think, “How could we have missed it. A spy sat amongst us and we didn’t even notice, too busy bickering at each other. Who would dare send a spy, this is much disturbing news?”
***
(Present)
King Henry was alone in his throne, deep in thought. The Black Reapers had left a couple of hours ago. The lost of Samuel and William had meant nothing to him, they were easily replaceable. By the window, a man stood there looking outside, staring at the red moon. This man had an unusual set of eyes, blue and red.
“Well Aleister, I’m surprised it took you this long to kill Samuel. I hope you got your fun from all this,” said King Henry. The King looked content; he had no fear in his eyes for Aleister. So, that fool Samuel is finally dead, what a pity. Those in the Society were hoping he would someone find a way to kill me, me a High King. I would’ve killed him a long time ago myself, but I was curious to know how he was going to launch his assault against me. At the end he became too feeble and acted as if he was one of us. I know everything that goes inside of my castle, even about him framing the Black Reapers. If they had acted irrationally against me, I would’ve killed them, but at this point I must be careful and avoid war, soon it will come, soon.
Aleister had a smile on his face, but this was no ordinary smile, it was dark and cold. “Just remember, Henry. You’re sitting on my brother’s throne.” The killer-lust in his eyes did not faze Henry. He had the same lust in his eyes. Aleister stared into the King’s eyes; his face had an eager expression.
“Well of course Aleister, I did not forget our covenant. You let me continue to stay as King until your brethren awakens. In return, I make sure you’re not bothered. You can use my city to hide and do what you need in the shadows,” said Henry. The King was probably the only man Aleister could stare at eye to eye and not even flinch. Henry had no fear for the man; warriors would shiver in the sight of Aleister, or just by hearing his name.
Outside the blood-rain had started pouring. Aleister grabbed his left arm, still oozing and bloodily stripped from the electric slashes; it was not fully healed from fighting the Black Reapers. Half of his skin had returned, fresh and rejuvenated. “Henry.” Aleister looked into his eyes with intensity. “Do I put fear into your eyes?” with a grimed look.
The King laughed unexpectedly. “Fear is only an illusion! Those who choose to accept it are nothing more than peasants! ”
The lust in Aleister’s eyes was gone. He had accepted his answer. �
�I stayed in the shadow for too long.” I found what I have been looking for. Aleister opened the secret passage leading outside the castle. He looked back and said, “Henry, if you betray me, I will not hesitate to kill you.”
Henry knows this was no idle threat as he smiled.
Aleister closed the door, which vanished back into the wall. He put his hood over his head to prevent from getting wet. Outside Dmitri sat there waiting for him. “Dmitri, its time. Vincent has put my plan into motion, the next move is yours.”
“It has already begun!” Replied Dmitri.
***
As Sonia finished setting up her tent, the blood-rain started falling harder now. She had washed Aleister’s rage from Angelione wounds. She wrapped it up with medical herbs they had brought with them. She used her ability to warm up the tent and start a fire. She started to think, Dawson, white flames, blue and red eyes, what does it all mean? She wondered if Albedo had met Aleister before, if Vincent had told him about his ability. No way could he have known Aleister had the ability of the White Crimson Flame. And, why did the king want me to train him? It’s true he’s the son of the legendary Dragan and Cecelia. She stopped and shook her head. It was too much information to process all at once. She took a deep breath as she watched Angelione sleep. He had drifted to sleep as soon as she put the tent up. They had nearly died fighting against Aleister. “Why couldn’t you kill me, Aleister?”
Angelione started moving around, good he was awake now, and he needed blood.
She put her hand on his chest. “Don’t push yourself too much.” She filled of her flask with the blood-rain and made him drink it. She drank some herself; blood was always the fastest way a Pureblood could heal.
“In a couple days you’ll be newer than ever,” said Sonia with a smile.