7 The Tale of Two Brothers (1)

After observing Anna for the whole day, Corvus finally returned back to the tower. He transformed back as an imperfect human with feathers on his cheek and neck and then sat on the windowsill as usual.

He was thinking about visiting Swan Lake again, but the moon tonight was not very bright, and Anna must have been too tired to go. Thus, Corvus had decided to spend the whole night staring at the cloudy moon.

"Everyone is so busy, even Anna…" Corvus smiled bitterly. "Everyone is so busy for Ignis."

***

"Everything has been cleaned today?" Queen Seria asked her butler.

"Indeed, Your Majesty," the butler affirmed.

Queen Seria nodded and ordered the butler to take a white cape with a hood inside her room. It was a special cape that should protect her from her own son, a cape that stopped dark magic.

Queen Seria wore the cape and walked towards the direction of the highest tower. "Accompany me to meet my son, and stay outside of the room, if you don't want to die."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the butler nodded.

They climbed the tall spiralling staircases leading to the top of the tower, the safest place for her son. Queen Seria stopped in front of the door with a big holy seal, and ordered her butler to stay, then she opened the door.

Corvus was still sitting on the windowsill, gazing upon the moon, and the Swan Lake was visible from the tower. His eyes could see the empty Swan Lake, basically confirming that Anna would not come tonight.

When the door was opened, he looked at the door, and the gentle gaze turned hostile immediately. "What are you doing here?" he asked the middle-aged woman who entered his room.

Queen Seria sighed, she already put on the holy cape for protection, but she also chanted light protection in front of her son in case of his uncontrollable power exploding again, "With the gentle light of an angel, shall my body unperishable against the evil, witches, and the dark magic."

The air around Queen Seria stilled, and she created a small dome made out of her light power. "I come to visit you, my son."

"Don't call me your son!" Corvus yelled as black feathers grew out of his hands. The air around Corvus slowly turned dark, like a black mist.

Corvus bit his lips as he tried to hold his anger, but the presence of his Queen mother only hurt him even more.

Because whenever she visited him, she would always chant the same light protection on herself. The chant basically called him a monster, the evil with dark magic. It hurt Corvus' heart to hear his own mother using protection from evil against him.

"You know that I have to use this protection to stay alive…" Queen Seria tried to reason with her son. "Your uncontrollable dark magic can kill anyone who breathes same the air as you, you know that…"

"I know! You don't need to remind me!" Corvus yelled again.

Truthfully, he didn't want to yell at his mother like this, but the emotion inside his heart was fluctuating every time he saw her.

Because it reminded him of that day when he accidentally killed his father and little sister, and the first word that his mother said was…

'Monster.'

It was such a hard hit for Corvus, like a sinful stamp on his forehead.

He was a monster, a murderer. And his mother's behaviour only deepened the wound.

Queen Seria did not know how to deal with her son. Because of Corvus' uncontrollable power, she needed to chant such protection against her own son. "My son, you need to calm down. I really just want to visit you…"

Corvus sneered, "Visit me? You might as well never come if all you do is laughing at my existence. Queen Mother, you've locked me here for ten years. If my power is really that scary for you, then kill me!"

"Corvus! Watch your words. I am your mother!" Queen Seria warned, but Corvus didn't back down either. Raven feathers slowly covered all parts of Corvus' body, and a deadly miasma swirled around him, the sign of his dangerous power would get out of control soon.

Queen Seria hurriedly chanted the second protection to double her light dome. When the miasma around Corvus exploded, Queen Seria's first light shield was destroyed, and she was thrown to the wall. "Ah!"

Corvus finally regained some of his sanity once he saw his mother got hurt. "M—Mother, I'm sorry, I—"

Corvus tried to approach his mother, but Queen Seria stopped him. "Stop! Don't go near me!"

Queen Seria struggled to stand up. She held on the door handle and warned Corvus. "You are still unstable and dangerous. I just want to say that your brother will be returning home soon. Please be nice to him when he comes to visit you."

Queen Seria left Corvus alone and locked the door again.

Corvus watched the door with a lost expression. He looked at his reflection in the mirror, his body had been covered with raven feathers, and dark, rough scales started appearing on his face as well. He looked like a monster.

No wonder even his mother was scared of him.

Corvus leaned on the wall and slumped down;

"Nobody wants me, nobody will ever want me…"