XIII

"Everyone, get away from that thing!" Sevor yelled.

The monster of tar grew further in height and width while he absorbed more unfortunate souls within its body.

Stratiotes that became a part of him poked out from the gooey substance of his form. It was like Segreth became a carbuncle of repulsive mutation that you could never escape from.

They wanted me to marry this thing? I must be the luckiest man to have ever lived. Imagine waking up to this grotesque handsomeness; I would never want to wake up again.

My head throbbed. I was still losing an excessive amount of blood because of uncrowning myself. It was weakening but I never felt this free. That crown was the very reason why I was suppressed. It silenced my voice, shackled my heart, and bound my wings. Though dethroning myself was the reason why I was bleeding now, keeping that crown would only cause me to bleed for eternity.

Segreth's emerald eyes became clouded like a dead fish. His new form swayed abnormally as if he was dancing. Arms were thrown left and right, aiming to hit anyone too slow to dodge. I managed to avoid the darts of his assault, but my body was warning me of my limits.

The voices inside my head, including that man who always spoke whenever I was overwhelmed by negative emotions, became quiet. Children screamed in fright and the adults led by Elik assisted the little ones up to the cliff.

At first, Segreth's movement was sluggish and harmless, but as we continued to dodge his eccentric motions, he became more aggressive and harder to avoid. A limb shot out from behind him, making its way towards the fleeing group of adults and children.

My left foot stomped firmly on the floor. A wall of steel loomed in defense. More limbs grew out of his back to pursue the children, but shields of steel continuously rose in response to his every assault.

Wooden spears with metallic heads pierced through his body of tar. I summoned dark clouds from the skies to shoot electricity towards the blob. Segreth screamed menacingly. Sevor the shouted:

"Lucian no! Burning tar will release poisonous chemicals into the air!"

To reverse the effects of my harmful attack, I swerved the smoke away from anyone and splashed polluted water on the burning tar. Due to the lasting effects of the blaze, he proceeded to emit smoke.

Sevor leaped and landed by my side. He took a deep breath and inhaled the smoke into his lungs. The strength and capacity of his lungs were outstanding. Almost everyone lost their balance as he breathed in.

Slade, Crowley, and Caleb hurried in rescuing and reviving children who had lost consciousness after being deprived of oxygen. Their expressions were disheartened and frightened. Slade's voice cracked as he screamed the name of the child who he was trying so hard to save.

"Oi, Maru, wake up damn it! Wake the fuck up! You can't just leave like this, kid. Open your eyes! Maru!"

His scowling face may show coldness and an uncaring nature, but Slade was the one who cared for these children the most.

And it was my fault that these children were suffering now.

If I wasn't here, this wouldn't have happened to them.

I was the cause of their deaths.

All of this was my fault.

Kox floated beside me, moving from one spot to another before a limb could reach for him.

"This is bad," Sevor murmured. He was coughing badly.

"My lungs...can't filter this kind of—" he collapsed on his knees. His body racked with intense barks of cough. I knelt beside him, placing my lips against his.

The older twin was taken aback by my action and when he realized what I was doing, he weakly tried to shove me away. I took the hazardous element from his body and kept it concealed in mine. It was true that a dragon's lungs were the strongest of all races, so what could my lungs do to compete against theirs?

Nothing.

I just simply did not want to burden anyone with my mistakes. I will take responsibility for everything even if it ends me.

Sevor lost consciousness. Zephyrs carried him away. I would have to last longer than him. I need to.

"Cage him, "Kox instructed.

My head jerked to the right; an enclosed steel cage hovered over the giant and dropped. My lungs felt like they were being stabbed by thousands of needles. It was laborious for me to breathe and I was sure that this was what those children felt as they sank into their deaths. They were alone, hopeless, and scared.

The children who lived lost their precious brothers and sisters. Their plans for a new game tomorrow and the bond that they shared as a family were stolen from them. I could never look at them straight in the eye. How will they look at me after this? They had the right to blame me for their misfortunes.

Segreth's growling kept going. His vicious body clashed against the metal aggressively, creating small dents. A line of silence was drawn once the monstrous growling halted, yet the line was abruptly severed when a metallic stinger jabbed through the cage. It allowed spiky and familiar tentacles to skim through the gape.

"Number XII?" I murmured.

The tentacles easily stretched the hole. Bebe's urchin head rolled out. XII then transformed back into the viscous XIII and mutated into another form— someone I haven't seen yet. He was a well-built man based on XIII's construction. He hit his fist against his palm; multiple balls of tars floated above us and erupted.

Before the drops of tar could touch a single person below, the soil from the surrounding walls bridged over us and caught the drops. He hit his fist against his palm creating more balls of tar, but this time near the ground.

I managed to contain the spherical tars inside the steel balls. That made the unknown man smile with jagged bronze teeth. He stole the play from me and made the balls his orchestra, toying with them and hitting them from wall to wall.

Slade caught the ball that was spiraling towards Crowley, but because of the lack of preparation, he was knocked to the lake.

"DId yOu think thAt I wAs just a sImple blOB of tAr?"

My eyes narrowed at him as he hauled a burst of coughing laughter.

"I Am XIII, I cAn bE of aNy nUmbEr of the HIghEr OrdEr."

"Are you at your limit?" Kox asked me.

The fresh wounds on my scalp sustained blood that never ceased to race down my cheeks. My heart thumped loudly; my breaths became more strained. With every breath I take, it was as if a knife would pierce through my lungs. My legs gave up. I clenched my chest.

"Kox, get Lucian out of there!" Crowley shouted.

Kox hummed, looking away from me. "That's not written in these pages..." He murmured. "You are supposed to be plucked away from here and I am not supposed to lift a single finger about it."

"Lucian, I'm coming!" Caleb growled.

My body couldn't follow any more commands. I wasn't even capable of emitting any mana to protect them.

"Kox what are you doing you idiot?!" Crowley snarled.

The boy rolled his eyes. "Forgive me, it's nothing personal," he muttered, turning away.

I was not even surprised by that child's behavior. This rotten wing behind me became onerous to carry. There was no doubt that my parents were keeping something from me. Perhaps it was the very reason why I was kept like that.

All these deaths, my weakness, my incapability to protect...perhaps I was never meant to be released from that darkness. But for a moment it was nice to feel the warmth. It was nice to see how the sun rose in the sky. It was nice to not feel alone. It was nice to feel even when there were days when it hurt.

Segreth's multiple limbs launched towards me.

"We wILL bECOMe oNe Prince Lucian and nO oNe cAn spLit uS aParT!"

"Onii!" Buck's voice pierced through my senses as I was tackled to the ground.

His eyes were filled with tears. He laid on top of me, trying his best not to cry. The wails of children became louder in my ears as I slowly lost my vision and my ability to breathe.

Buck's tears dropped on my cheeks. He pulled my torso up and hugged me. I felt the tremble of his body as he tried to protect me against this monstrous force. Rui ran in front and shielded us both— two small children standing up against a monster.

I couldn't hear anything. I could only see a small dot of light. I embraced Buck back, stroking his head.

"Thank you..." I murmured.

For still protecting when you should not have.

For still accepting me when you should have denied me.

For still being there when you should have left.

My body rose on its own, my feet dragging themselves forward. My hand grasped another head that must have belonged to Rui, and I ruffled his hair.

A limb snaked its way around my waist and I was hoisted up like a doll. With the intent to just give in, my vision and hearing miraculously returned.

"LUCIAN!" Caleb shouted.

He was pulling my other hand, playing a tug-of-war against Segreth. The other half of my back ripped open and a colorful wing of flower petals emerged in contrast with the other.

'You have already died once, nephew, we won't let that happen again.'

Light blasted XIII away. I regained my breathing. My chemically filled lungs were suddenly purified. Caleb caught me. The light pestered XIII and zapped him back to his normal form, making him approachable for the vengeful living.

Though my lungs were saved, I still cannot deny the fact that...I was still losing a substantial amount of blood. My head lagged back; Caleb panicked.

'Oh, dear....'

Echoes of voices, a wave of whispers, and the peaceful chirping of birds brought me back into a thinking mind. I was in a bright place with colorful shades of plants. There was a crystal-blue lake that was sparkling from the sun's rays of light. The scent of grass made me focus.

A long raven-haired man stared at me with the gentlest, most caring, and wisest eyes. A flower crown adorned the top of his head. He was wearing a red robe of royalty.

"You're awake," he whispered. "You had us all scared."

The man helped me sit up, rubbing the top of my head where my crown was supposed to be.

"Ripping the proof of your royalty is not the wisest of things. It rendered your body weaker and less durable. It lessened the capability of your body to handle mana. Why would you do such a thing?"

"It held me back," I answered. "I did not want it."

Lucius will have the same question once he realized that something was missing from me. The man sighed, tucking some of the long strands of hair behind his ear.

"Such a troublesome child, that is what you are. You are much like your brother, a man of troublesome nature," he chuckled.

"You know my brother?" I asked.

He must be the 'uncle voice'. Where was the other one? Was I inside my own head?

The man cocked his head. "Yes, he is my nephew and so are you."

I faced him, folding my knees underneath me.

"Who are you?"

He smiled softly at me and brushed my cheek with the back of his hand.

"My name is Caspian, the husband of Queen Titia, your mother's sister. I'm also very much dead."