A Pursuer

Aure had never felt so much rage, as he left impudently to the castle backyard. It was dark when he walked along the small path that later widened into a multi-colored beach of every size of rock - from boulders large enough to sit on, to grass that got caught between his toes. Beyond there was a flat lake, the far shore a thin line in the distance growing into a sheer thick forests. In twilight the surface of the lake was as smooth as black glass, as Aure approached the shore, unintentionally kicking a stone causing it to skip across the still water, the radiating ripples caught the moonlight. Aure immediately removed the old ring from his finger and hurled it into the lake with his body.

Poff!

In the blink of an eye the ring turned into a beautiful young man. The young man grabbed Aure's hand and threw his weight against Aure for a momentum before he made a backflip over Aure and landed on his feet on top of a boulder. Aure glanced back to the boulder and narrowing his eyes to the back of the young man.

"Just now you came out," Aure scoffed keeping his head high that full on himself.

The young man turned his body towards Aure with his frowny face, "Why are you throwing me?" He shifted his stance from standing on the boulder to squatting as well as holding his chin with his hands.

"Why...? Did you just asked me, WHY!?" Aure's eyes widen in disbelief.

Aure could no longer suppress his emotion anymore as he yells, "THEN LET ME TELL THE BRAWNY BRAIN OF YOURS WHY DON'T YOU COME OUT WHEN I CALLED YOU?"

The young man thought for a moment before answering him in a calm tone, "I told you before, I hate noble."

"AND ONE OF THOSE DAMN NOBLES IS YOUR MASTER!"

The young man looked a bit sullen. He closed his burgundy eyes, clearly calming himself down. Something told Aure that the young man in front of him dislike hearing those verse he'd just uttered. This is because the young man's eyes are full of displeasure, the second he opened his eyes back. But Aure doesn't even care anymore.

"Watch your mouth, young noble. You displeased me."

His voice sounded icy cold. Hate burned so deeply in his heart that it was ingrained in the tissue. This time it was Aure turns to furrow. What is this feeling? It was eerie all of the sudden.

Eventually, the unpleasant aura shook off when the young man started to speak again after observing Aure's expression in some time, "That's being said, you still need me and I'm still need you."

The young man jumped off the boulder and walked towards Aure. He could see the view of the lake behind Aure. Away from the shade the insects stay away, lurking a way off in the shadows of the trees – limp leaves, thirsty roots. Even with shades on the lake is a glitter of diamonds, every one of them more valuable than the real thing – those stones that are so common and so rare.

He glances back at Aure who now has an irritating expression on his face. Aure snorted before he countered what the young man had just said. "What the use of sense of needing when you, yourself won't come out?"

"I've got some circumstances."

Aure raises both of his hands in stop gesture, obviously fed up. In the end, he lets go of a heavy sigh. Too much energy for him to get hyped up again, particularly for the person in front of him, no matter what you threw at him, it just impossible for him to take it seriously.

"How about a deal? We're going to help each other," said the young man in a flat tone. No one could guess what was really on his mind, especially with his expressionless face.

Aure was about to open his mouth when the young man cut him off as if he knew what Aure was trying to say. "The Magic Knight is unlikely."

Aure scowled at him in defiance.

"That place is tainted," the young man went on, totally ignoring Aure while staring at the castle, which looks like a monster with several eyes through their eyes with addition of light coming out of the windows.

Tainted!? In either case, Magic Knight is unlikely!?

What does this person even talking about? If he can't be the Magic Knight, what will he do? It's his only dream to become a Magic Knight.

"Not now, at least," reassured the young man when he saw the changes in Aure's expression. "With you (he looks Aure up and down) looking like that you barely progressing anywhere."

Wow.

This person literally just threw a dagger through Aure's heart.

"There's evil in there."

"The only evil I see here is you," Aure remarked.

The young man gives Aure a brief look and smirked, "You know nothing, young noble."

"Tell me, then! Tell me what I don't know!" cried Aure. He's so sick of being criticized or personally attacked by other people. Yeah, it is true that he doesn't know anything but every that darn single person never tell him the reasons!

"We're cursed," the young man finally told him.

The moment played out in slow motion as the young man finished his word, a fast-paced arrow targeting the young man's back.

"Watch out!!" Aure shouted.

In that suspended time Aure's heart stopped beating, the powerful wind brushed against the arrow with a strong force coming from the bow, making it more frightening. The young man's face split a grin as he catches the arrow easily without looking back like it was nothing. Aure watched his reflex with his mouth open in amazement.

"Excused me." said the young man.

As the young man flipped the arrow for a few seconds, Aure saw three scratches mark on the shaft that looked like they were carved by a stone which almost covered by the young man's fingertips. The young man saw it too before he twisted his body with all his might and quickly hurled the arrow back at the person who shot it.

The arrow flew way faster than the original speed -Aure assumed that the young man had added his own magic to the arrow. Because if he don't, the arrow won't fly in a speed of light which almost invisible that it's actually hitting its own owner. Both of them could heard someone's groaning in agony.

The young man clicked his tongue, "I missed the vital point."

V-vital point? Aure thought in his mind. He looked at the young man with his eyes bulging.

"Looks like someone is doing their homework on history. It's no wonder I felt that somebody was watching us, and I do not think they're dumb enough to act."

"Huh? Which history?" asked Aure, puzzled.

"And I'm sure I hid my aura well enough. I guess they're on different levels," said the young man again who completely ignored Aure while stroking his jaw, thinking.

"Ah!" he spoke out in sudden as if he had discovered something. With his serious expression, he glances at Aure, saying, "Get out of here, now!"

At that point, an arrow flew past both of them and landed on the ground near Aure's leather boot. Crazy. If Aure had only moved forward an inch, the arrow would have penetrated his brain. Aure shook his head. He did not want to imagine if that was going to happen.

It was very terrifying!