REDEMPTION

13. DARKENING.

Shawn was not sure what he was looking at. He blinked a couple of times to ensure that thee picture his eyes painted before him was actually real. Maybe it was prank or maybe it wasn’t. After the whole household had been in an uproar due to the appearance of the black fog, he decided that they should talk things over in the house. 

Ralph had been all about, gazing while his mouth gaped in amazement. His anger almost blew out of proportion when Audrey stopped him. She instead held Ralph’s hand and dragged him to Shawn’s study. One of the maids brought them tea and went to report to their parents. His study was neatly arranged, however, a huge stack of opened books lay on his desk. 

This made them seat on a set of sofas that had been at the end of the room, near the window. The setting provided a great view. It was the best vantage point to observe what was going on outside. Shawn looked at Audrey for an explanation, signaling her that he could no longer hide his anger back because of how foolish Ralph acted. 

“His memory was wiped.” 

Shawn who was in the middle of sipping his tea spit it in an instant. His eyes fell on Ralph whose smile had not left his face. Ralph looked like he had left his mind goofing off somewhere. His eyes fell back on Audrey asking for an explanation. 

“Am not sure who it is or what their intention was. But,” she paused. “I don’t think the kidnappers did this, it was either someone with great magic skills as you or dad. That is reasonable but my guess is stuck elsewhere.” 

Audrey looked at Ralph while saying this. When she arrived in the death realm abruptly, she had been asking herself why she ended up there. Her answer presented itself when she saw Ralph. This led to her second question. What was the reason behind Ralph’s coming to the death realm when he knew even if it was a place to restore a demons ability and health, it was also a forbidden realm due to a prophecy that was made long before they existed. 

The prophecy mentioned the rise of the dead who will be set free by the re-birth of the last trigger King. A trigger king was a being that could bring destruction of nations and world and the creation of life as he pleased. He had been prophesied to rise among the demon or angel clans. His reign would bring the destruction of the wicked and the rise of the fallen. 

The prophecy was something many feared. It had been interpreted in many ways too. Some said that the fallen were the vengeful souls that roamed the death realm, while others said it would be the annihilation of all demon races. Others did not wants to think about it and made assumptions by hunting down any creature they thought could be the next trigger king and executing them. 

This action led to many clans and races becoming extinct. Thus, the races left made an alliance with a clause that stated that whichever clan would produce the trigger would hand over the trigger king once they had confirmed his existence. All triggers were of the male gender so the females were excluded. However, one of the advisors warned them of the possibility of it being a woman but the rulers of each clan laughed saying that that was outrageous. 

Now that Audrey thought about it, she was sure the advisor had already found out where the trigger king was. Now, though, that was not important. What was, was Ralph’s memories. She looked at Shawn who was waiting for her to finish what she had started. She set her cup back on the stool before her a’d took a deep breath. 

Shawn prepared himself for what he was about to hear. He had a feeling it was not something he wanted to. 

“The only explanation that makes sense was that, Ralph sealed his memories himself.”

Shawn was about to laugh when Audrey continued on to voice what he was thinking.

“He can’t do something like that? Or his magic is still too weak for that? That might be true but let me ask you this. Why only call me to a place only we were before? The same exact place he had found me all those years ago? Why only act in a way that makes him look like a fool? Why not erase all his knowledge? Why did he leave the know how of his magic and magic source? Think about it… if someone wanted to erase his memory, couldn’t they have erased everything including the skills he cultivated as well as reduce his magic source to make him vulnerable? 

So why did he erase only a portion of it? And why call me, why not you? What was so important, that only my ears had to hear? That he had to go there and not here? What was it he was running away from? Or who? And if this is the case, did it mean that someone here would come for him or me? Now that I have laid it on the table, what will it be, brother?” she mocked. 

Shawn looked at Audrey in surprised that she had come up with such an analogy. He wanted to ask her who she really was. His curiosity was growing but he could not ignore the great doom laid out by his younger sister. He wanted to speak when he heard someone make choking sounds.

Ralph seemed to be struggling with something. He kneeled over while holding his head. Veins popped out from his hands and neck. Shawn and Audrey called out to him wondering what might be the cause of this. He held out his hand to stop them from interrupting. Agonizing as it was to watch, they waited. 

A few seconds passed and Ralph lifted his head. The fog in his eyes stemmed to have cleared. Was his memory back? They both wondered. He immediately mentioned that he did not have time to explain and asked them to heed to whatever he was to say next. 

“T-t-take c-care, they are coming for you next.”