Alexis was quiet, but she was still there.
Eric was grateful for that, at least. Since
their conversation the evening before, she had been withdrawn - almost
as much as she had upon first meeting them. Eric couldn't blame her
- he had, after all, turned out to be a much more dangerous man than she
could possibly have imagined. And he was dangerous - every bit as
dangerous as he had been before. Years of training with weapons ranging
from nothing but his two hands to the most esoteric of magic arms under
the most skilled of masters had not been wasted on him - and, he shuddered
to recall, he had shown an uncanny natural ability. Just like his
father.
Eric closed his eyes momentarily, forcing images
of his past from his mind. When he opened them, he looked out into
the land beyond.
The land had changed. They hadn't walked far
in these past few days, but already Eric could tell that something wasn't
quite right. His knowledge of geography only extended to his old
kingdom and the kingdoms it had subjugated. For all he knew, nothing
existed beyond that. What he was seeing before him was reinforcing
that eerie idea.
The changes were subtle, and it was likely that
nobody but himself and Chrystle had noticed. Even if Alexis had noticed,
he reflected unhappily, she was not terribly likely to confide in him.
The foliage had shrunk, for one. A few days ago they had been surrounded
by trees. Then the trees had thinned. Yesterday night they
had camped on an area that was little more than a plain. The trees
he could see now all seemed somehow stunted, though they appeared healthy.
The grass was losing color, as well. His sister was getting edgy,
he could tell. Whether it was the reborn withdrawal in Alexis, or
the increasingly disturbing environment, she hadn't told either of them.
They walked for another hour before yet another
change greeted them - their path ended.
Eric called for a halt to their march, though it
wasn't yet evening and wouldn't be for another few hours. He could
tell that the day's journey was becoming taxing for all of them.
Even he felt a strange tiredness that he hadn't experienced for a long
time. Why was it happening now? Something was wrong.
Alert instantly, Eric surveyed their surroundings
- already feeling his old instincts come to the fore. Something was
very wrong.
Chrystle, already sitting down, lied down quietly
and - suppressing a yawn - closed her eyes. Alexis followed suit.
Eric felt the same sleepiness, though not as much as he suspected the other
two did. His alertness was quickly compensating for it though, as
the old skills made themselves available.
Minutes passed slowly, with not so much as a leaf
stirring in the wind. The plain was silent, the strewn rocks and
occasional boulder looking ominous in the fading light. The landscape
really did seem more harsh, Eric reflected. The rocks added to the
overall sense of lifelessness, even though trees and grass still thrived.
A rustling and a shadow of movement caught his eyes,
and he spun to catch it. There was someone here, who didn't want
to be seen. He peered further onto the path where he had come.
The flicker of movement came again, and Eric shouted to catch it.
"Stop!" he cried out. The shape ceased moving.
A shiver came over Eric as he moved closer to it. It appeared to
be a person, though raggedly clothed and dirty. "Who are you?" Eric
demanded of the man.
The man didn't reply, merely growled ferally - it
was clear that he had understood the question, however. After all,
if he couldn't understand what Eric was saying, then he wouldn't have stopped
upon Eric's command. Or would he have? Eric had never tested
his suggestive ability against something that didn't understand his words.
Eric kept a close eye on the man.
"What's happening here?" he demanded. No response
was given, only the animal glare of the other.
Eric's alertness was growing - whatever had made
the other two fall asleep had affected him, if only by a small amount -
and he wanted to know what had caused it. This example in front of
him was in no condition to be using any sort of magic ability whatsoever,
so there must be someone else with him....
The realization came too late - spinning around
in response to a fierce growl, Eric was struck in the chest by what he
first imagined to be a large wolf. The mass of the beast drove Eric
backwards and down to the ground. Using the monster's momentum against
him, Eric flipped the wolf-creature off of him, and sprang to his feet
before the beast had even fully recovered from its aborted attack.
The monster circled Eric warily, and after a few
moments the warrior was able to identify it: It was a Siren Beast.
Eric chided himself for not recognizing the thing before. It was
essentially a large wolf, with one particularly deadly trait - it could
lull a victim to sleep in a matter of moments using something akin to magic.
Likely as not its tactic had failed with Eric himself, so it had to resort
to more direct advances. As for what the human was doing here, Eric
didn't know. His best guess was that it scavenged from whatever the
beast left behind.
The Siren attacked once more, and Eric dodged to
the side, striking the beast in its flank with all his strength.
The beast snarled and spun, growling deeply at Eric.
Eric was tiring quickly, and he wasn't used to it.
The Beast's initial sleepiness attack hadn't worked, but the concentrated
bursts the monster continued to use were draining Eric's stamina.
He fought it off - he didn't need to sleep!
The creature leaped forward again, angling toward
Eric's throat. Throughout his travels, Eric had sustained damage,
the worst of which had been his confrontation with Blackend. Though
he felt pain appropriate to whatever wound had been inflicted, he never
bled, and he never died. He didn't care, however, to find out how
much damage could be inflicted upon him before it killed him... if he could
even be killed. Eric ducked under the leaping beast, lifting it up
and throwing it into a stunted and dead tree with enough force to nearly
crack the trunk. A surprised whine escaped the beast, and once it
got to its feet, it stood its ground, eyeing Eric carefully.
"Go on..." Eric said. He didn't feel the usual
rush of ability whenever he used his suggestions, but the Siren beast turned
nonetheless and bounded off.
Eric breathed a sigh of relief, feeling the false
fatigue leave him as suddenly as it had appeared. Turning, he was
surprised to still see the human frozen in his tracks, looking at Andrews
in fear. The poor person must think he's next, Eric reflected.
"You too, get out of here." Eric said, turning away
from the man. The sound of rustling and a second backwards glance
verified that the man had gone. Finally letting the tension drain
from him, he walked to where his sister and Alexis lay sleeping, and waited
for them to wake up.
"I'm sorry...." Alexis whispered to him, watching
his reaction carefully.
Eric nodded. "You needn't be sorry - your
reaction was perfectly understandable. You can sit, if you want."
It was the middle of the night once more, and the
fire blazed high. In his mind, there had been some debate about the
merits of creating it, but he had decided that it would scare away more
animals than it would attract. Siren Beasts in particular disliked
fire. A few hours after Alexis and Chrystle had awakened, Eric had
heard a few more, but the group had gone unbothered. The three of
them had stayed awake later that night, but Chrystle had finally fallen
asleep. Alexis had remained where she was for about half an hour,
apparently deliberating some point. When she had approached him,
Eric was certain that she was going to tell him that she was leaving the
group. He was surprised to find himself relieved to hear an apology
instead.
Alexis sat next to him, looking at him carefully.
"I've been thinking a lot today.... You claim to have been Andrews
the Last, one of the most horrible men ever to walk the earth. He
started the Tyrant Knights, he enslaved entire countries, and he had no
mercy for anyone. You are a person entirely different from this.
I was frightened to hear you tell me your origin the night before - frightened
because it might be true, or at the very least you had deluded yourself
into thinking it was true. After seeing you save me from Blackend,
and again from those knights on the path, and once more from this beast
that you describe, I find it hard to believe that you were once such a
hateful man...." She trailed off, hoping that she had communicated
what she meant without insulting him.
Eric looked away from her. "You're right,
of course. There's no real way you can believe what I've told you."
He looked back. "But you believe that I rescued you from the Siren
beast...."
Alexis nodded. "I know what Siren beasts are...
though I'd never encountered one before today. I don't just make
a habit of falling asleep, you know.... So yes, I believe you about
the Siren beast."
"Ah..." Eric said. "I didn't tell you
how I bested the monster, did I?"
Alexis shook her head. "No - only that you
had scared it away."
Eric sighed. "It attacked me. I didn't
mention it before because I didn't want Chrystle to know. She doesn't
suspect that I'm any different from anyone else.... She's seen me
stabbed, and hurt, but she still doesn't know."
Alexis looked at him worriedly. "Different?
You mean that magic with the guards?"
Eric forced himself to nod. It wasn't the
strict truth, of course, but he didn't want to tell her everything just
yet. "Yes, different like that. Also, different because of
my ability.... When I was prince, I was trained by the most advanced
experts in almost all types of combat. It was through that training
that I became the leader I did - powerful, strong, and ruthless.
Since those days, I have sworn that I would never take up a weapon in danger,
and I would never take the life of another if it could not be helped."
He paused, to gather his thoughts.
"When I fought that beast today..." he began again,
his eyes looking up to the stars, "I could easily have killed it.
Every time I replay the battle in my mind, I see the opportunities.
It is a testament only to my strength of will that I did not when I was
fighting. I only wounded the creature, and even then not a great
deal. Just enough that it decided to move onto earlier prey.
But Alexis...." He shuddered recalling all of this, but forced himself
to continue. "It would have been so easy to just kill that thing.
And I would not have stopped with it, I would have killed the man with
it. After that, I most likely would have done nothing, for then.
But I would be a different person.
"What I am telling you, Alexis..." He turned to
look into her eyes. "Is that though I seem nothing like the Andrews
of old, that man still resides within me. Every moment, every breath,
and especially every time I contest against another being - I must use
every aspect of my will to make sure I do not become my old self.
This is what I strive for. I don't know if you can believe me, but
every word I speak to you is true.... I have been given a second
chance, but I must work hard to make certain that I never slip, even for
a moment.
"For if I were to slip.... I would be lost
to you, and lost to my sister, forever."
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