05: Monster

Exactly two hours and fifteen minutes before Airys decided to summon her companions to attack Seng, a few tens of kilometers to the east, Arkgas was pondering what he was going to do. His eyes lacked the gleam he had from acting like a friendly, broken old man.

Several feet below him were the old Airys's family mansion. Arkgas with the sun behind him walked on the stairs of shadows that he conjured, patiently descended each step while creating a new one to continue descending, forgetting to maintain the previous ones. The tragedy that would happen could have been avoided if only they did not live in a world full of lies.

Inside the mansion, a woman in her thirties was combing her long blue hair in front of a mirror. Her sad face was full of nostalgia, she had a strange desire to see her daughter again; That's why she was combing her hair, because she was certain that her daughter was identical to her and that her friend would never cut the beautiful hair she always praised.

"I wish ... to be able to visit you soon ... to meet you ..." she murmured to her reflection.

"Visit who?"

Celeana turned quickly.

"Mr. Arkgas?" What is he doing here?" She rose from the chair. "I don't remember inviting you."

"I came because an unforeseen event occurred, and I needed to discuss it with you."

"With me? What business would an Archmage have with the leader of a small guardian house like mine?"

Celeana looked around her and cursed keeping her armor and weapon downstairs. To her, the old man's macabre intent was obvious.

"I'm tired of lies, lass," Arkgas said. "I found her."

Celeana clenched her fists and the diminutive opportunity to hide her misunderstanding went out like a candle in the storm.

"If… if you did something to her, I won't forgive you!"

"Easy," Arkgas paced in the direction of the bedroom door. "Yelling is irrelevant, she is with one of the most skilled bodyguards and also…" Arkgas opened the door and went out. "I didn't hide from your husband."

Celeana was startled and although the most certain thing is that she would die if she walked through that door, she had no choice but to go through it.

"Layrom?! Celeana rested her hands on the wooden bar that covered the balcony.

"Here I am love," said the man in the center of the room below.

Layrom was a rather short man compared to his wife, with dark skin pale from lack of sun. Unlike Celeana, he was not in a robe but wore leather armor and carried his sword tied at his belt. Layrom was alert, and although she would rather resolve the situation with words, her instinct made him unsheathe his sword.

"Arkgas… I understand your anger, but there are other ways to deal with this. I don't want to fight with you."

"My anger?" As Arkgas said this Celeana and Layrom turned their heads to the chair on the right. "I think you are misunderstanding something important ...

Arkgas had a goblet in his hand and had poured himself a glass of wine which he took from their stock.

"I'm here to not be like you…" He took a sip. "To make my words true."

A shadow immediately formed to Layrom's left, a claw slowly circling the surrounding air, but Layrom didn't blink before slicing through the strange black substance about three times. Celeana took the opportunity to jump over the railing and fall next to her husband.

"What about my gear?" She whispered.

"When I noticed it, it was gone."

They both stood back to back, they did not have the details of how Arkgas fought but they knew very well that he was a specialist in using shadows and light from the horror stories that bandits and troubadours told at dawn, so they took it for granted that that what they saw on their chair was nothing more than a mere illusion.

They got it right.

The sound of the glass bottle falling gave them both a pre-heart attack, especially since it was in the opposite direction from the couch.

"That was a very expensive wine..." Celeana said mockingly. Like her husband, she wondered if that noise was made by the real Arkgas or had he used some shadow to confuse them.

"We won't get to anything like this" Layrom thought and slipped his hand into his right pocket. "Reveal its location to me." After a short flash a tiny fly emerged from his pocket.

"I suppose it's time to start…" Arkgas argued and raised his glass in toast. "For the parents of the chosen one... the poor who died the day she was born." Instantly Arkgas disappeared and; before the cup hit the ground, seven shadowy silhouettes manifested around the couple.

"Down" Layrom warned, using his sword in a circular slash. Celeana had ducked before hearing him.

After being cut, two of the shadows extended from the torso to tie Layron's ankles, he noticed and tried to cut them again; however by the time she rotated her grip it was too late.

Layrom flew through the air straight to the chandelier on the ceiling and for a second regretted not being as fast as his grandfather. Halfway up it righted itself and slashed in front that generated enough wind to halt its advance and cause its descent.

"Fear?" Arkgas's face appeared out of nowhere in front of Layrom's face, that for the impact kicked the air through that wrinkled face.

For her part, Celeana was being besieged by what appeared to be a dozen black snakes that, no matter how much she stepped on or struck, resurfaced from nowhere.

One of them slipped from behind and jumped onto her neck successfully. Celeana, instead of being suffocated, grabbed the shadow with both hands while she pushed the others away with her legs; and without any resistance from the serpent, she separated it from her neck and broke it in two.

Although the fight did not seem lethal, Celeana understood that it was a matter of time before either of them received a blow that would result in their end. They had to find the filthy old man.

The moment Layrom toppled over, he ignored the shadows around him and with one mighty leap advanced, slicing through the snakes alongside Celeana; however, as if it had foreseen it, a sphere of light was conjured in Layrom's face and a hammer of shadows took advantage of the instant of confusion to send him directly against a wall and reshape it at the shot.

Celeana wanted to run to help him however Arkgas grabbed her arm and with the other hand her face. In less than a second Celeana felt the very sun touch her.

"Aaaaahhhh!" Celeana exclaimed, and filled with anger she used her own hands to push Arkgas's hands away, after doing so and crying with pain she gave the old man a right fist before he became invisible.

Celeana predicted where Arkgas would be and prepared to attack, it was a pity that Arkgas did pay attention to Layrom.

"If you move, I'll kill you," he said, and showed herself only for Celeana to look in the same direction as her wrinkled eyes.

In midair Layrom laid hung by the neck of a shadow, his right hand caught by another and his left was busy holding his sword.

"You miserable!" Celeana spat to Arkgas. "Let it go!"

-No.

Arkgas began to disappear and Celeana saw dark threads emerge from the ground around her. Layrom was drowning, what was the best option? Go for her husband? Risk his death by going after Arkgas? Her heart ached... until her husband stretched out the arm that held his sword and —with a glow identical to that which Airys generated when summoning one of her creatures— the sword became a serpent of steel with sharp edges to spare to get rid of that gloomy gallows.

"Quick! We have to destroy the whole place"! He roared and lunged forward cutting all the air in his path with the snake following his every move of his arms in the air.

Celeana understood her husband's strategy and began to imitate him by striking. And as if it were a miracle they both began to hear Arkgas' agitated footsteps as they dodged their attacks.

"We have it!" Layrom and Celeana thought, full of hope as they felt closer and closer to striking the invisible Arkgas.

Poor deluded.

"I can't believe they were so easy to fool," Arkgas thought calmly, sitting away from them. "Dumbs"

In effect, what Celeana and Layrom were pursuing was a shadow that was covered in light that perfectly mimicked Arkgas who was again covered in light to give the impression that he was camouflaged.

Arkgas watched them scamper all over the place pathetically, were the Chosen's parents really that weak?

"They don't even realize where they are"

Arkgas had covered all the surfaces with his shadow, managing to catch them and what they believed was their room, was more like a huge black box with light inside.

Layrom and Celeana's effort lacked lucidity in the tired eyes of old Arkgas. Were they really the progenitors of the one who would save humanity? Would that girl manage to be more talented than the boy he had raised himself? How ridiculous.

There was nothing special about them, not the slightest hint of talent or wit, not in contrast to Seng's magnificent family.

"His mother… his mother and father would have realized it in the same instant," he murmured to himself with a frown and tears in his eyes.

But that pair continued to fight the impossible, circling and acrobatics that lengthened the inevitable, draining Arkgas's patience.

Layrom smashed the last piece of shadow with his steel serpent and met glances with his beloved to give her the same sensation that he possessed within his heart.

Celeana sensed what her husband meant and reaffirmed that they had done the right thing, that perhaps the only thing they should regret was never having seen their daughter's dazzling smile growing up. They both turned in the direction of the door; continuing the fight was a waste of time, they had to escape and find their daughter.

Layrom took the lead and stepped forward, ripping each of the shadowy claws and threads that got in the way, clearing the way for Celeana to follow.

Layrom's hand rested on the knob.

"You disappoint me."

The illusion that he was a door was broken to reveal Arkgas surrounded by countless blades of shadows that instantly pierced Layrom's chest, legs and arms, lifting him about five meters into the air transforming the environment into a delicate red rain.

"P-please… please…" Layrom sobbed. "stop this…"

"Why do you have to attack us?! Don't you understand that we just wanted to protect our daughter?! Don't you understand the love of a father?!"

Arkgas's decrepit heart creaked. Of course he understood that it was the love of a father, perfectly.

"We... we protect these lands... please..." Layrom's serpent tried desperately to eliminate the shadows that pierced his master, yet each cut was immediately restored.

Arkgas stretched out his arm and —with that very act— Layrom's life vanished alongside the serpent.

Celeana shed all the tears that her body was capable of producing along with the heartbreaking scream that severely injured her vocal cords.

Arkgas only commanded the blades to eradicate it.

To his surprise Celeana's skin was scaly and stiff as stone, which stunned him for a second.

Celeana's bloodshot eyes glowed faint silver that reminded him of Seng at his worst. Layrom's blood that still fell stopped and surrounded Celeana.

"I see…" Arkgas said, and Celeana's response was to shoot each of her late husband's drops at him in an unusual array of bullets.

Technique that destroyed everything in its path that even natural light could enter that death box.

But it didn't matter at all.

Chains of shadows encircled her arms and legs, little by little they began to apply force in different directions. Arkgas —without a scratch— was giving her a scattered, insensitive gaze from where he always stood, in front of her room on the second floor.

"Airys…" she said.

Arkgas turned away so he didn't feel like vomiting.

"You are a monster…"

"It takes one monster to create another." Celeana's skin began to sag. "And a monster to defeat the Devil."

That's the truth.