My name belongs to me only

Erica's point of view part 1

Four hours before, the argument between Erica Gallagher and Jake Alaric.

Erica had just passed the Alaric's mines, meaning she was closer to the Alaric residence which was ten meters away and Steve was slowing down, each step forward as he neighed in pain, which had forced her to rest for a while near the apple tree. The first place she and Jake had met as kids, their secret hangout place, where she chuckled about all the stupid things they did as kids, like when they had tried to bring down a tree and grow it right back on the same day, which had resulted in them being scolded by their parents, after they got caught with the tree falling down.

She was really stupid, she thought, but her face turned stern, as she remembered the incident that happened in the academy,on the day Rico and Seth joined ,the teacher was killed after a sudden and mysterious release of death Risme, she had seen how the aura of a death Risme looked like before and that surely was something different to what she had ever seen, it was almost alive and capable of its own decision.

Even Miss Emily, the class teacher, was killed brutally. She was considered harmless and incapable of protecting the students, so why did the darkness go after her? It would be understandable if it went to Rico or Seth or even her, since they were both royals, and she was considered important to society. But going after the teacher was just confusing. The shadow was more focused on Jake. They were lucky it didn't harm them, but the teacher was killed and Jake was scared from that moment, it was like he communicated with the shadow but refused to tell the others.

She even asked fellow ghosts about what happened, only to gain their silence and scared looks as her answer to her question. It only made her almost sure that there was someone in disguise, and she had no proof to support her ideas and thoughts on the matter, so instead she only focused on the facts which would bring her answers eventually.

After the incident, which brought nothing but fear of the Alaric dukedom to be feared by both nobles and commoners, Jake was diagnosed unstable to control his death Risme which resulted in him being disconnected from the outside world, but fortunately he could still go to visit his friends and attend some social occasions like the Urani celebration which was for their Lord Urani, who all species worshiped and had faith in but the one holiday, the entire Alaric household stayed home was the founding day of Risme.

He was still as popular as he was in school, but he preferred being with his family and friends even if he was more distant than before.

Steve was finally filled with more than enough energy to even go back to the Gallagher mansion, as he had finished more than enough apples to feed a family of three humans, Erica had adjusted herself back on her horse, adjusting the saddle of her horse, as she had reached the golden gate of the Alaric dukedom.

Their family symbol was the reaper, on top of all living creatures, being the sensible and responsible person she was, she had greeted the guards.

"Good morning, sir."

The guards glared at her only to realize who she was and immediately apologized to her.

"We are very sorry, lady Gallagher, we didn't notice it was you," They apologized with the deepest sincerity they could muster to her.

"It's okay, I can see you're doing your job well, may I please now?"

"Of course, you can."

As they had bowed to her, as they opened the golden and black-colored gate, which revealed two pathways, one with the stables and practice boards for archery, which had already been destroyed, which meant it led to Jake's part of the palace, and the other pathway was filled with beautiful roses which were actually mostly deadly poisons or herbs and opposite of the flowers were different trees which were hiding deadly snakes, which definitely was the doing of Chloe, Jake's mother.

Both pathways were just a warning to outsiders and foes, but they didn't need to go all out, did they? Erica wondered but refused to do such. Jake was half Furlorn and Furlorns have been known to be different from other royals, plus they were skilled in areas that shouldn't even exist or are even considered impossible. For example, the current king of Glath, Clover Furlorn, dealt with boring people to death by talking about the kingdom's financial state. Then there is the princess of Glath, the current king's sister, Christal Furlorn, known as the scarlet reaper, the well known female assassin in the current generation, who has killed people only by glaring at them, like people why do such skills exist? Erica questioned.

It was like she was in some kind of fantasy world. The entire Furlorn family even had weapon Risme, like why them of all people, all they did was control and conduct all the umend kingdoms, and they got weapon Risme, one of the coolest and easiest Risme to learn, like why is life unfair? All they have to do to activate it was to think of a weapon, and it's in the palm of their hands or floating in the middle of the air, aimed at their opponents or foes. Even Jake had it, meaning he had both death and weapon Risme.

Erica had finally stopped thinking about them, only realizing that she had already reached the Alaric Manor. Approaching the door, she was greeted by the head maid, Layla, who had been serving the Alaric family since she was eighteen. She had been taking care of the family for the past fifty years, even serving since Jake's grandfather, Jacob Alaric's reign.

She caught sight of Layla telling the servants to wake jake up, only to be told he wouldn't wake up. She heard that Erica had rushed to Jake's room, which was located on the first floor, the first room on the left. When reaching his room, she noticed him breathing heavily and sweating profusely, meaning he was having a nightmare about that incident.

"Jake!!"

"Jake, wake up."

"Master Jake, please wake up, it's just a nightmare."

She received no response from him, shaking him continuously. He didn't wake up, so she decided to take matters into her own hands.

"Someone bring me some bucket of water."

She ordered one of the maids to bring her a bucket of water, which the maid had nodded her head in response and swiftly went to get a bucket. She arrived quickly and handed the bucket to Erica, who had already poured the water on jake.

He woke up with a sigh of relief. The maids excused themselves, knowing their services weren't required at the moment, leaving only Erica and Jake in the room by themselves.

"Jake, how long has it been since those dreams started?"

Erica asked him.

"Ten years, Erica, ten horrible long years, of course."

He replied swiftly as he avoided her brown eyes, which had a hint of disappointment in them.

She briefly sighed and said "Exactly Jake, it was ten years ago, Seth has moved on from it, Rico forgot about it five years ago, and I learned from it and as for you, Jake, you haven't let go."

"You and Seth are fully human, so you're just different. What about me and Rico? Why should I just forget about it? I am not like Rico. He may have moments. He loses control, at least he can control his urges most of the time, but for me, I can't control this curse. Every single member of my family has gone through this, but for some reason, mine is worse.

Even after we got Victoria Stane, the descendant of Olivia Stane, the woman who cursed my ancestor for some reason to uplift the curse, my curse didn't get removed. Please, I have every right to be guilty, and nothing is going to change that, not even you."

Erica's expression darkened after he finished speaking. Only blinded by rage and annoyance, she slapped him.

"Just shut up."

"But I-"

"Don't you dare finish that sentence, put yourself together, it was just one nightmare that hasn't stopped coming because you haven't accepted it," She exclaimed at the top of her lungs, as her bangs shadowed her eyes, which indicated she was crying, realizing what she did, Jake didn't question her not even once, as he had refreshed himself and got ready to depart to Glath with her.