The Creatures Series

Fifteenth Dark

Fifteenth DarkCreatures of the Dark

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##### Fifteenth Dark #####

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Tempt the Devil

Devour by Darkness

Die with the Innocent

Seven more secrets to release

Déjà vu?

"That's her," a male voice says in horror.

"Oh My," another exclaim.

"There's nothing wrong," a woman says.

"You've got to be kidding me."

"Oh My God! She's back from the dead!"

"Run for your lives! She's gonna kill us."

"Arsene! That’s her."

"Everyone! Stay away from her! Let her walk."

I walk casually like nothing really happened (well, that is the fact) when the wizards decide to part the way for me to pass through. I do not mind the various expressions on their faces because I know that nothing is satisfying to look at. When I reach the elevator, I push the button and wait for the doors to slide with a familiar ding.

Nothing matters. None of it, until I reach to the top of the building. When the doors slide open once more and I enter the big room, though, it's not the faces of people I expected to welcome me. Instead, it's....

The edges of his burned charcoal hair brush pass his shoulders when he edges closer to me as something awake from the pair of afflicted older eyes. His skin still pale, or just suddenly get paler, when the changing wardrobe style gives sign of how much times had change.

"Arsene? Is that....really you....?" His lips tremble in disbelief.

My lips curve a little. "Link, it's been a while," I greet him. "Or should I say, Leader?"

"But, how come....? I visited the underground room of family tree after your death was announced. Your flame. I’ve checked it. It had went out. I thought you were—"

"Dead?" I cut him. "There's a really long tale about that. Would you like to hear it?"

I wait for Link to process my presence, and what it means, before his head slightly moves up and down. I share most of the incident to him, leaving anything that involved the Courts (which means starting from ending the entire Rainfold clan, about who saved my body, the Court gathering, and down to the case of our last mission).

"Your turn. What happened?"

I dart my eyes to the name written on the table. It is made of a black stone and carved with gold. Surely he has been having this title for a while.

Link sighs back to his chair. "As you can predict, your parents gave it to me." There's no need to say what it means. "It happened a month after your....you know." I nod, saying that it's okay to say the word.

"They were too depressed to work, even though they let you get caught. I did, too. And so was Artro. Even The Alphas. My, we felt really horrible after we thought you were dead." He presses his hands on his face, hiding the tears that were once about to fall before he blocks it.

"I see. So they finally decided to give it to someone else," I say, my tone is too casually than expected.

This makes Link to jolt his head at me. He looks surprised.

"That's it? You're not angry at us? You don't hate us?"

His lips tremble when he asks me with widened eyes.

"Nope"

"At all?"

"Why would I? We all know that there is nothing we can do when the Wizthority appear."

Except from being a walking Court.

His still look at me like he's seeing a ghost. Of course he already realizes that I'm not, though.

"Really?"

I nod.

"Can I touch you?"

The question comes out so suddenly, making me say, "What?"

"To make sure that you're real," he says quickly.

"Sure," I answer with a smile after thinking about it. "Do you want to walk to me, or do you want me to come to you?"

He gulps before answering. "I'll come to you."

His feet looks like they are about to melt on the floor by any second when he starts circling his table. His eyes lock with mine for the entire time; both are as black as endless abysses.

With ancient Noirmelns' language, I say to him. " Ve rodu, Link. (It's okay, Link.) " I smile softly to reassure him. " Tera nisam les duh ili rednom kera cee vas pohesty, tedom kada dobijete dovolynt blizu da. ( I'm not a bad spirit or a demon that will eat you up, once you get close enough.) "

He calmed down a little bit.

"Alright," he replies sounding a little bit relieved.

He takes another step closer. Another and one more, until he stands right in front of me. I can see his hand rising from below, but drops it immediately when he hesitates. He tries once more, but ends up retrieving it. This will not end if I don't dare to do something about it.

In a flash, I cup his hand in mine. Link becomes surprised with the sudden gesture. He tries to fight me off as a reflex, but I grip his hand stronger.

" Ve rodu (It's okay) ," I repeat in Noirmelns' ancient language.

His focuses on shoving off my hands only become stronger. But I am strong, too.

Letting my guard down openly, I lower my face down so that his hand can touch the skin on my cheek.

" Reev? (See?) "

Cold and stiff, is how it feels like when his hand is on me.

Frail and ethereal, the next.

I look at Link to spot every little movement he makes. He has become calmer. His eyes no longer hold panic. And his body has become less stiff.

"It's not a fallacy. You really had came back from the dead," his lips mutters, palm still on my cheek.

"Well, technically, I never died." I correct him while standing up.

Our faces meet almost at the same level right away. I can see fog forming from him, breathing out coldness.

My eyes travel to his face, spotting how many lines have changed. Even his personality, too. Right from the time I step into his office, I already noticed it. It's not just that he looks more mature, but even the way he speaks already gives it all away.

"You've changed," I say finally.

"Oh, really? I thought I'm just a few inches taller."

"Being Sorcier's leader sure has gave great influence to you."

"You really think so?"

"I know so when I look at one."

"Oh, I just remember. About your parents. After they gave me the position, they went to Hongkong for retirement," he tells me.

"Hongkong? Weren't they there when they went to vacation before?"

"Looks like they really love the city."

"What are you going to do next? You can't go back to The Alphas.”

“Why not?”

“Because they already dispersed.”

Now that’s a surprise. They dismissed? “When?” I have a hard time blinking.

“Not long after the Wizthority caught you,” he answers.

“Why?” My tone is more urging now.

“ They were fighting because some wanted to help you, while some disagree from letting the others to get involved with the Wizthority. They were concerned of the danger even though I knew that they wanted to save you, too. But there was nothing much we could do, because you admit doing the c ─” He suddenly stops. “ Arsene, how did you get out? ”

“I did. Someone brought out my dead body,” I reply.

He arches an eyebrow, looking very doubtful on me.

“That’s the truth.”

“How?”

“Do you really want me to explain the procedure, or do you want to tell me what happened next?”

“Tell me.”

“ First, after they beheaded me, they threw my body away. While my consciousness was drifted forcibly away from my body, it began to heal on its own way. The location of my head and my neck wasn ’ t that far landed at where they disposed it, so my flesh went literally running to each other. Pulling each part together. It helped of what my blood type was. It was almost like stitching myself, without me realizing it. And while my consciousness was in somewhere else, I ─” Link cuts my horrid description.

“Okay, I get it. Now, I will continue with what happened”. He clears his throat. “At that night, the same one when you were arrested, your parents thankfully heard the dispute and stopped them before any of them did anything stupid. The dispute got worse from pointing and screaming at each others’ faces to the point when Crease suggested breaking the team apart. Shara didn’t like the idea, but Shrade worsened it by provoking Nono and Banri. The fight was unavoidable, but your parents didn’t allow them to attack other Sorcier members other than the purpose for practice. And that was when it happened.”

“Where are they now?”

“Crease was the first one to leave. She started to go on solo missions and being away more frequent. Shrade did the same thing, and he even avoided his sister ever since. Their relationship has been drifting apart with no end after that. Shara was still in Sorcier. She’s quiet, I must say. Although in a different section. She moved to teaching and training new members. Arch, surprisingly, became our number one best wizard in Sorcier. Along with Banri. They sometimes worked together as a team, but sometimes still went on solo missions,” he explains.

“They really....broke up.” My voice sounds sore and very low. Turned out ugly. What will they do when they see me? Will we get back again, or will we remain broken?

“A lot had changed when we thought you were dead, Arsene. And not everything is for the best.” His tone holds sadness and....loneliness.

“What a mess. Wait, you still haven’t told me about Artro. Where is he?”

“Now? Probably doing experiments, teaching at the best wizard university ever.”

“He went from studying to teaching?” I ask in another disbelief.

We both sigh.

“You know, when someone comes back from the dead, they tend to hope for a welcoming hug. Not a pile of disaster that was caused by a domino effect on everyone they know. And not that I want a hug or anything, by the way,” I say when I spot him moving his arms from the corner of my eyes. “I’m pretty passive about everything now.”

“ Do you know that you sound just like ─” I cut him.

“My old self? Yeah, I forgot to tell you about that part as well.” I circle the room, admiring the new huge portrait hanging in golden frame on one of the walls, before turning back to him. “I did mention the part about me getting killed and reviving myself when I was unconscious, right? Well, apparently, being dead means I was cut off the ties that bind me to the world. Those seals are gone. Those keys had probably turned to dust by now. And the one flame on our family tree? Has it even died out, or you just didn’t look hard enough?”

Link’s eyes widen even more than ever, this time follow by nausea that I can tell from how his skin turn from grey pale to white ash. His pink lips are dried off from finding out the ugly truth; one that is rated the worst of all.

“ Ah, ra. Vratio tera fin. (Oh, yes. I’m back.) ” I smirk evilly.