Under The Moonlight Shadow
The night was dark and bore a full moon that shined brightly. Eternus could barely sleep, wondering about the next day as he gazed at the bright moon.
"I'm going to beat Inura tomorrow… but... something feels off." He said to himself and fell into a shallow slumbler on the window side shortly after.
A while after midnight, someone entered Eternus's room. The shady figure locked the door and sat quietly on a chair just behind Eternus, in the Moonlight shadow.
Eternus's shallow sleep had already broken the moment he heard the screeching sound of his door. He laid carelessly as he knew who had entered.
"What do you want, Mage Vankolv?" He asked while his head was still placed on the window, unturned.
Vankolv, whose figure was still not clearly visible because of the shadow, spoke with a wavering voice, "E-Eternus… We must talk."
This unexpected and odd tone of voice from Vankolv grabbed the boy's attention.
"You never looked me in the eye for the two years I've trained with you… Does my monstrous power scare you so much that you cannot speak properly now?" He asked in a resenting tone.
Eternus turned his head to look at the Old Mage, but what he saw made his eyes wide open.
Hidden in the Moonlight's shadow, Vankolv was looking eye to eye with Eternus for the first time in two years. His suffering showed as tears flowed through his cheeks like rivers and filled the dry wrinkles that infested his aged face.
His wavering lips released a whisper of pure sorrow and grief, "I'm sorry… Please forgive me."
This unexpected sight and wavering words of sorrow from Vankolv shocked Eternus.
"I never expected to see you shed a tear. And What I am supposed to forgive you for?" He continued after a disappointed pause, "This state does not suit you, please do not disgrace yourself." He said with faking empathy and his tone held a hint of coldness in it.
Vankolv took a pause to collect his thoughts after being lectured by his own student. He took a deep breath and blew out a long wave of air that moved his mustache like tree branches on a stormy day.
"Forgive me… Holding such a heavy burden inside is not easy on this old man's chest." He said apologetically but in a more composed manner, "I must confess to you something that my conscience does not allow me to hold in any longer."
Eternus turned around completely toward Vankolv to listen to what he had to say.
"What is it…?" He asked curiously.
Vankolv's gaze dropped as he prepared to open his heart that held painful secrets but before he could bring himself to say anything, he took out a scroll and handed it over to Eternus.
"Before I tell you anything, I want you to take this. It is a map that leads one to his dest-..." He changed his words, knowing how much Eternus hated the word 'Destiny'. "This is a map that will lead you to whatever answers you seek."
Eternus knew that it was just a matter of time before he defeated Inura and set out on his own and this map could prove to be very useful.
"I don't know my way around, so this will be useful. Thank you… But this isn't the only reason you came here tonight…" He said after taking the scroll.
"You're right… I must confess something. The tragedy that occurred two years ago… was a plot."
Hearing those words, Eternus's eyes opened wider and chills went down his spine as his color grew paler.
"W-what are you talking about? A plot?!… A-Are you saying that… someone intentionally caused all of that… to happen?" He asked with his voice trembling with anticipation.
"Yes… and I was a part of it…"Vankolv revealed the cursed symbol on his wrist to the Boy and said with regret embedded in each word, "And this is the price I had to pay, My Freedom." Vankolv answered with his head down in shame looking at the dimly active Blood seal on his wrist.
All sorts of thoughts invaded Eternus's mind and every possibility broke down on his head like a striking hammer. He held Vankolv by his cloak and clenched his fist. His eyes showed pure intent of murder as he asked him angrily, "Who caused this… How are you a part of it… Tell me everything before I kill you and that bastard Inura!!"
Vankolv lifted his right hand and chanted those words while being held up by the Boy,
"By the purity of all that remains pure,
Dampen the effect of this curse,
So the truth be told!"
A brilliant light appeared in his lifted right hand and he ran it over the cursed mark to slow down its effect.
"This should buy me enough time to explain…" He sighed as Eternus stared coldly, still holding his fist tightly clenched and ready to blow a hole in the old man.
"Listen carefully, Eternus… I will die after confessing the truth to you regardless of whether you killing me or not…" He began explaining to the boy with sorrow overflowing in his voice,
"Two years ago, the fall of the Ignotus Empire, the death of the Emperor and your parents… It was all planned..." He stuttered as the pain intensified in his wrist, "I-I don't understand why he would do this… He was a good man and my best friend… Yet I was used like a pawn by him."
The more Eternus got exposed to the truth, his anger increased in kind, "Who is responsible... Who did this? TELL ME NOW!!!" He roared at the Old man.
Vankolv hesitated and his lips wavered as he uttered his next words, "I-It was I-Inura…" The moment he uttered that name, his marked wrist started glowing as if lit ablaze and the pain spread all across his body. Unable to bear the pain, the Old Mage fell to the ground, His eyes began to bleed and so did his nose, ears, and mouth. In a matter of moments his whole body ejected his blood out and in his last breath, he whispered as the life left his old husk of a body,
"P-please, Forgive me… Natum, Narcia, a-and you... E-Eternus."
Eternus was dumbfounded and his current state was a mix of Rage, Sorrow, Relief, Pity… He felt everything all at once, yet his face showed only coldness alone and his grit teeth expressed wrath as he looked down at the Bloody mess that used to be called Vankolv..
As the Twelve-year-old Boy was still trying to comprehend this sudden revelation, a clapping sound echoed from behind the door as it opened with a creaking sound. Inura entered the room, walking with prominent steps and clapping his hands.
"I have to applaud the Old Man's courage, to face death in such a manner…" After saying that he stopped clapping and spat near Vankolv's body.
"A pity, the once wisest man in the entire Ignotus… reduced to a bloody mess. Just because he couldn't keep his mouth shut. He should've known that a petty spell of purity wasn't enough to slow down the curse." He looked down in disgust at his old friend's body.
Eternus whose gaze was still stuck on nothing at all, kept pondering and thinking to make sense of what was just going on…
"I don't understand. The carnage and disaster from two years ago was all your fault… Why did you do this? To your best friend? And all those innocent people?... My Parents?!" He asked with a tone that seemed calm at the tip of the iceberg… but under that coldness, something terrifying was boiling.
"Is the reason all so important? Do you really have to know? You're the same Boy who didn't care about anything at all." He said with a sadistic tone, "So why does this suddenly matter to you?!" Inura taunted him.
However, despite that Eternus remained mysteriously quiet.
Not being able to read the Boy's expressions, "Hmph… I suppose you should know anyway. Not that it was anything special." Inura began to explain as a favor to the Boy, "In that meeting from two years ago, I just found a great deal is all. My power was depleting with my age and I, the Crimson General, was growing old and weak…" He changed his self-pitying gaze to one filled with greed as he looked at the Boy, "I discovered that through you, the Legendary Champion… I can gain power unmatched in the realms. Power is what every warrior desires!"
"It is what you desire as well… Isn't it?" He smirked.
"It is true that I want to become as strong as possible. It is also true that I don't give a damn about being called a warrior or any other title… But do you know what I do care about?" Eternus looked up with his lips extending to his cheeks and teeth grit tightly in a Sinister and Mad expression. Even a madman wouldn't call his expression a smile.
"All I care about… is killing you right now!" He said in a vicious tone.
Inura rejoiced at his words and opened his arms wide, "COME THEN!!! Let your final exam begin!!"
Blinded by anger, Eternus appeared in front of Inura and delivered a devastating punch to his stomach. It was a blow so instantaneous and powerful that it cracked the greedy General's Metal Chest plate and sent him crashing through the same door he entered from.
Eternus's body was surrounded by tiny Black sparks slowly as he walked toward the broken door to finish the job. But just as he set foot on the threshold, An explosion of energy sent him flying across the room, knocking a hole through the wooden wall, he landed outside on the rough ground.
The boy coughed up a mouthful of blood as he looked at the muscular figure approaching from the debris and shadow.
Inura looked through the expanded window and made it as big as a door as he nonchalantly walked through it with a small vial in his hand, containing an ominous purple liquid.
'How did he get so powerful all of a sudden? What is in that vial?... No, It doesn't matter. He dies tonight!' Eternus said inwardly to himself as he wiped the blood from his face with his sleeve.
Inura popped open the lid from the vial and said eerily, "I was told that this will be painful, but I see no better time than now!" He drank up whatever the vial held inside.
And just after that, his veins expanded, appearing all over his body, his muscles puffed up and hardened. His aura rose upwards like a majestic Red flame fueled by Crimson blood, waving in sync with his long hair.
"AAAAGGHHH!!" He let out a brief scream and then settled down, panting after the short painful struggle.
The aura disappeared and a much more youthful voice spoke from behind the veil of his shining Red hair.
"You foolish and ungrateful brat! Your Legendary power might accelerate your body to reach your prime before time while mine has dissipated through the years. I want your power to be mine!"
Eternus kept glaring at him silently, disregarding his every word as if nothing in the world mattered.
Inura released his aura once again and the veil of his red shining hair lifted, revealing a youthful face and eyes bearing the intense ambition of a young warrior. Despite all the change, his evil and selfish smile remained unchanged.
"This is the power of my youth! Now... let me take from you, BOY!!!"