An Encounter

Amidst the fog and the rain, the carriage continues to travel through the woods, gradually slowing it's pace as they strayed further away from Ironhaven. Suddenly, they came to a stop. Disturbed by the sudden halt, Carlos awakened from his nap.

"pr....i...n...c..e....ca...r...lo...s....." A coarse, whispering yet somehow loud voice echoed from outside the carriage. ".....y....ou.....p...ro...m...is....e...d....."

Carlos felt that someone was calling out to him, it was someone he had heard before. Hurriedly, he stepped out of the carriage. As he turned to see what stopped the vehicle from its tracks, he froze where he stood. Tears almost escaped from his eyes, he felt himself drowning in grief just by looking at who's standing before him.

A tall, thin white being with long black hair was blocking the road with its long limbs emerging from different sides of its body. The being's face was elongated, its eye sockets were empty and its mouth's corners were sewn. The long thin limbs had small holes where some had eyes looking towards the prince. Blood dripped from its chest, and its lower body was drenched with unknown red and black fluids.

The coachman pointed his sword and Fauna aimed her gun at the monstrous being. But the prince sensed no danger and urged them to lower their weapons. "Don't scare her."

"And don't go near it. It might be dangerous." Fauna responds.

"She won't hurt me." Slowly, the prince walked towards the monster.

"Pr....i....nc....e.....I'm.....g....l...ad.....y....yo....u....e....sc....a...pe....d....." the monster softened their voice as the prince approaches her.

"Is... Is that you...?" Carlos tries to touch her face gently with his hand, but the hideous monster pulled herself away from him.

"I'm.....s.....o..rr....y....I....lo....ok....li....k...e....th....i...s.....p...ri....n...c...e....."

"What have they done?" Carlos tearfully says. "I thought I told them to allow you to live and stop doing experiments!"

"It.....s.....al...r....i...gh.....t....m....y...p.....r....i...nc.....e.....it.....s.....no.....t...y....ou.....r.....fa.....ul....t..."

"Is it because I left?"

"Yo....u.....h...av.....e.....d....on.....e.....en.....ou.....gh....fo...r...us...bu....t....ca...n...we....as.....k.....yo.....u...."

"Yes, anything! Say it!"

"Co....m...e.....b...ac...k...a...nd...sa....ve...m...e...a....nd.....the...o...the.....r.....s..."

"I will, I promise! But you can come with me now, I'll turn you back to your normal body! We'll return to the courtyard together and see the others again!" Carlos tries to reassure the monster and plastered a painful smile on his face.

"N.....no....so.....me.....on.....e...is...wat.....ch.....in....g....."

"Who?"

"Lu...ci....u...s..."

With the blink of an eye, Carlos catches a long shard of glass from behind, almost impaling him and the monster. Angered by the sudden attack, he shouted. "WHO'S THERE?!"

Fauna then aims her gun towards the direction where the shard came from, observing the dark crevices of the forest. "Someone's been following us." she says as she rests her finger on the trigger.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" Carlos continues to shout.

The monster started to shiver after hearing his wrathful voice. Her limbs reached his shoulder to try and pat him. "P...ri...n...ce....."

Carlos didn't notice the monster trying to calm him down. He was filled to the brim with uncontrollable anger. A few moments later, he raises his right hand, pointing his finger towards the darkness behind the carriage. "I command you to show yourself. Who are you?!" Carlos demanded.

Once his voice reached every corner of the forest, birds flew out of the treetops and critters ran out of their nests. There it came, a mutilated, larger bloody white beast with several heads and limbs emerged, with each hand carrying a sharp glass shard.

Carlos' eyes widened, immediately lowering his hand after realizing who this monster was.

"P....pr....i.....nc....e....m...my.....si.....b....lin.....gs.....th.....e....y...re...st....i....l...l.....un....d...er...Lu...ci....us...con.....tr.....ol..." The monster beside him tries to explain what was happening, but each time she tries to speak, the pain from the stitches was spiraling out of control all over her face.

The beast roared with all its might, causing the earth to tremble. And yet, it was struggling to advance and move backwards, almost as if it's fighting itself. Many of its limbs were stabbing itself, while many tries to stretch forward. Its eyes were all over the forest, confused where to look at. Seeing the prince made it lose its mind, no longer knowing what it will do.

"...g....o...I.....wi....ll.....tak....e...c...ar....e.....of...th.....e...m....."

Carlos turns back to the weeping monster after hearing her. "But, Lucius will hurt you if I don't save you now!"

"Do.....n'....t.....w...o...rr...y...we.....wi.....ll....w....wa....it...fo....r.....y...ou....."

At last, the beast loses its defiance from its controller and started galloping towards the carriage. The white monster who once stood beside Carlos hurriedly blocked the beast with its arms, holding it down until it couldn't move. ".....P....r...in....ce....!" The monster calls out to him one last time. ".....G....o....!"

"Carlos!" Fauna yelled at the Prince, who was blacked out by the scenario. "You heard her clearly, get back inside!"

Snapping out of his silent delirium, Carlos hesitatingly went back to the carriage.

Inside, he gasped as if he was running out of air. His hands were shaking uncontrollably and his head was spinning. What he felt worsened when the carriage journeyed once more while panicking to get away. "I... I almost... I almost killed them..." the prince spoke to himself. His ears rang, making it hard to hear what was happening outside. He looked at his pale hand, violently quivering. "I... Wasn't supposed to... I thought... It was someone else... My hand, it just..." He could hear his heartbeat getting louder and louder. He held his miserable head. "This is exactly what Lucius warned me about. I can't control my urge to abuse my own strength. I'm not supposed to use it, but it keeps on surging out of me. I... I shouldn't have asked Ami to save me. I should've just stayed in the palace. But if I did, I wouldn't have the chance to save them. I'd stay enslaved for the rest of my remaining life until the awakening. But now that I'm out, everything has become worse. I should... I should've just... I should just kill m-"

"My prince." Ami abruptly spoke through the earrings. "The Asperities left Ironhaven, you no longer have to worry."

Hearing Ami's voice, Carlos was quite startled. "Ah... R...right... Thank you..." But he reminded himself not to let her hear any of what was happening to him, thought he knew that the leader might've already sensed it with his shaky voice.

"Are you alright?" Ami asked worriedly.

"We were chased by... some..."

"Chased?"

"I...It's fine, we escaped, I suppose. We're on our way to Iyesgarth. Nobody's following us anymore."

"If dangers are to follow you, you have Berryll, Fauna and Dragonfly with you. As for the Pugilist Leader, she'll be with you again soon."

"I see... Thank you."

"Keep safe my prince." Ami says with a soft, caring tone.

The call ended.

To Carlos' surprise, he only noticed now the raven black dog sitting quietly on his lap while he talked with the leader. He smiled at the sight, gently placing his hand on the dog's head. "Thank you, Ami."