"David!" Mr. Smithson arrived and saw his son close to the accursed edge. The moment someone realized that David was gone, he had immediately rushed over. Given Juin"s sudden appearance, Mr. Smithson had a feeling that he would find his son here. And he was right!
He quickly rushed over and picked up his son in his arms, upon which, David struggled slightly before his body went limp. "David!"
Mr. Om quickly reached over and placed two fingers on the side of David"s neck. Once he checked on David"s pulse, he quickly said, "He just fainted, sir!"
"Why is this happening again?!" Mr. Smithson snapped. He then glared at Juin and said, "I told you to leave, didn"t I? This is happening again because of you!"
Since Mr. Smithson was right, that everything was because of him, Juin merely kept quiet and looked down at the ground. He understood now why Mr. Smithson sent him away back then. At that time, a part of him felt that they were cruel, but now, he knew that their decision was right.
"I don"t want to see you again, and I hope that, if you have ever cared for David a little, that you will leave him alone and never appear in front of him!" Mr. Smithson said in a low, threatening voice before storming off with his son.
…
A few hours later, on the long bus ride home, Juin was silent most of the time.
He was too tired after the event today, plus they had to clean up Jim Mack"s house, like getting rid of the creature"s corpse and making sure they didn"t leave any clues behind, so he did not want to speak to anyone about anything.
Besides, there was too much to process, the lost memories, as well as the soul within him.
"Blue eyes… Red eyes… How many different souls are in me…" he wondered to himself. "Or… are they all me? What am I?"
---
While he was thinking, Lucifer, who was on a reclining position above the bus, also thought about the matter.
"A powerful demon who consumes soul… whose strength is so feared upon that a set of powerful shackles were placed on him…" Lucifer mumbled as he looked up at the starry night, which was a contrast to all the memories he saw from the creature"s mind. "There"s really only one who fits all the points… But the last time he was reincarnated, they found him earlier and got rid of him. He should be long dead… Right? Father told me that he got rid of him..."
----
In the west of Alercane, almost at the border of it, there was a quiet forest with ferocious animals unique to the country as its residents. In the middle of the forest, there was a 40 meters tall waterfall that was surrounded by dry land.
What was unique about this waterfall was that instead of clear, blue water, what flowed from the top was flames that seemed to be moving downward.
And at the bottom of the waterfall was a pool of boiling red water. Occasionally, fish that bore flames on their scales would jump out of the water and snapped a poor, flying bird.
Hidden behind the waterfall of eternal red flames was an entrance to a cave that only a handful of people knew about. In the cave, multi-colored trees that bore multi-colored fruits and crimson gra.s.ses surrounded a small, rectangular clearing in the middle, which was the only part that received a small ray of sunlight.
At the small clearing, there was a beautiful but transparent coffin placed on the ground. A simple glance, and one would be able to tell that the coffin was made of an extremely st.u.r.dy material, magical even… and it looked like it was carved out of the highest quality and biggest piece of white jade. And carved into the coffin were multiple diagrams that seemed to s.h.i.+ne slightly in the dark cave, reflecting rainbow-like lights onto the surrounding trees and gra.s.ses.
And within the coffin lay a young, handsome man with long, silky black hair that was tied into braids. His hair was so long that the braids reached his knees. His skin was so fair that it looked as if he had never played outside before.
Extravagant clothes that ranged from a baby"s size to a kid"s size to a teenager"s size were placed neatly in the coffin beside the sleeping young man.
Everything appeared to be new; even the white s.h.i.+rt and black pants that he was currently wearing appeared to be new...
The chest of the young man moved up and down, slowly, so slow in fact that it almost seemed as if he were not breathing at all.
"Lalala…"
A beautiful voice hummed a song, and the voice got louder and louder, and before long, a figure cloaked in the most beautiful midnight-blue cloak that seemed to glitter like the stars in the sky walked to the coffin.
"My son…" said the figure while placing a stalk of multi-colored flower on top of the coffin with a wrinkled hand. The moment the figure placed the flower on the coffin, the diagrams on the coffin shone slightly brighter than before, which made a smile appeared on the figure"s face.
However, this smile quickly turned into a sorrowful one. "There"s news about him, but it"s not good… He"s in danger, yet I can"t go to him… Oh… Why do I always have to choose?"
The figure slowly got down on their knees. With their forehead pressed onto the lid of the coffin, the figure mumbled, "To kill you… To save him… Which is right, which is wrong..."
As the figure spoke soft words to the sleeping man in the coffin, a few strands of hair fell out from the hood of the cloak. The strands of hair were so dark that it was a stark contrast when lay on the coffin.
The figure put their right palm out, and a black diagram formed on it before glowing slowly in black. It then turned white, before glowing brightly, forming a holographic-like image of a das.h.i.+ng young man with grey hair, a green and a blue eyes, and a sad, lingering smile.
"Thadeus, you stupid warlock… Are you protecting my son well?" the figure mumbled while looking at the two babies on the man"s arms. One of the babies had two piercing red eyes while the other had red and blue eyes.
And both babies were looking at the man suspiciously.
The figure smiled upon recalling the words of the man when he first met the newborn twins.
"I can"t believe you gave birth to two of his brats…"
"Two children in one birth is never a good sign…" was the figure"s sad reply to him at that time, and the words were soon proven to be true.
The figure remembered something that was said to the man before his departure from this world; one which required a huge sacrifice. But by then, many sacrifices had been made, so what was one more?
"That child is forever dead to people in this world… And I hope that wherever you take his soul to, he would be able to live on without being hunted."
Looking at the young man in the coffin, the figure said in a soft voice, "A body without a soul… Would you, my dearest son, return to my side one day? Would I be able to make amends to the one I abandoned?"
…