Monthly Archives: December 2014

Terror of living

My brother lay in my arms, feeling his staggered breathing. His hand tightly intertwined with mine, he gave that one last cheeky smile of his, blood trickling out his mouth, down his chin and dripping onto our hands.

He lay motionless. I buried my head into his chest, sorrow and despair washing over me, my chest felt tight, as if it was being strangled by an unknown force, knowing that it’ll never let go anytime soon.

I gripped his cold, lifeless hands tightly, hoping that some kind of miracle would happen… And everything would be back to normal…

Define normal.

When the sun shines down onto our little hut on sunny days, my older brother running through the fields, brushing past all the long grass and rolling around, embracing the freedom.

The butterflies fluttering around, dragonflies hovering around the pond area, with absolute silence but the gush of the river and birds chirping in the distance.

I would run into his warm embrace, laughing like there was no tomorrow. He would tickle me till I would fall over on the ground giggling madly.

As the sun set, we would sit on top of that grassy hill, overlooking the entire town, with all the night lights glowing dimly like fireflies. We would look up into the night sky, stare at the stars and think about all the wonderful things of the world.

Now, it all seemed like a dream, a long long time ago… When he was alive.

Screams filled my ears as I heard the stomping sound of those ‘monsters’ approaching us. Houses were destroyed, people’s bones crushed mercilessly with their shrieks echoing around my ears.

“RUN!!” I could hear people yelling in the distance, followed by more screams of terror and the wet splat of their blood scattering around the debris.

Still, I could not bring my legs to move. They were frozen there, as if waiting for my brother to wake up… I wanted to carry him out of here. I wanted to grow up with him and travel the world with him.

Such dreams existed no more.

A huge gush of wind blew past, and in a split second the kitchen was smashed by a giant foot. It revolted of the metallic smell of blood.

“Run, boy!! Leave him!”

I could hear my neighbour, Mrs Kat, scream to me as she ran right past us, clutching a small bag with her.

As I looked up to her, another huge foot crashed down on her, reducing her to a pile of blood and intestines.

Soon, the roof over our heads was torn off, revealing the disfigured face of the monster, peering curiously into the house for some meat.

I took a good look at it. It was a humanoid figure, yet completely black, with about 20 eyes covering its entire head. It’s mouth hung wide open, black saliva dripping out, revealing long black teeth like a chainsaw.

It gave a loud screeching roar and reached out to my brother.

Instinctively, I grabbed a broken piece of wood nearby to defend my brother, and it grabbed me. It’s dark claws wrapped around my waist, I screamed, aggressively twisting and turning my body; trying to wriggle out of his tight grip.

I don’t want to die yet. Not now. Please, help!

It then grabbed my left leg and dangled me downwards, shaking me violent as my body flung around like a rag doll.
I tried to throw that piece of wood at it; the next instance, my right arm was gone.

My vision started becoming faint. There was so much blood everywhere. Most it came from me.

In desperation, I bit its arm, it gave another terrifying roar, and dropped me heavily onto my now destroyed house.

The pain was excruciating. Yet, I ran.
I ran far far away, unsure when to stop. I didn’t look back. I left my brother there. I left my childhood behind.

As I ran, tears rolled down and streamed past my cheek.

I didn’t deserve this. My brother never deserved this. We did nothing wrong. Yet- why?!

Along the way, I tripped on some debris and fell messily right on my face. I probably scraped various parts of my face right now, it felt as if my whole body stung and ached. I tried to get up with my one good hand, and froze and I felt a foot slam down right behind me, sending a gush of wind towards my back.

I abruptly turned around to face the beasts.

There were 3 of them. I stared in horror at them. I couldn’t move anymore. This is it.

This is how I died.

=======

Merry Christmas guys :}.

Betrayal

Freud’s study was old and dilapidated. After all, it had been centuries since the Mage had passed away peacefully from old age, after travelling around the world telling the story of the heroes who once defeated the Black Mage and sealed him up, bringing peace to Maple World once more.

As Phantom crept in silently, he briefly glanced over the old books and scrolls in his countless bookshelves, with spider webs growing between them. He remembered when Freud tried to convince him to read more and gain more knowledge of the world.

Phantom was more interested in exploring it himself than reading it in some boring old book.

His finger trailed along the study table, now covered with a huge sheet of dust. He looked at his finger, all black with dirt, before blowing it off with dust particles floating everywhere.

Forlorn crept through Phantom’s emotions as he still remembered Freud sitting on that same wooden chair, either writing something with his quill pen or reading some book of some sort. He would always sneak in to disturb Freud from his studies and drag him out into the open to go exploring together.

Those were the days.

Now, the chair remained there, empty and covered with even more dust and webs. He sighed.

Freud’s study had never been of much interest to Phantom, as the sight of books disgusted the thief. Unlike Freud, he never liked reading. Too much effort.

However, Phantom decided to take a
look at his vast collection of books and info just for the sake of it, and to find out what kind of hidden power or knowledge these books held between their lines and what interested Freud so much such that he could spend days in his study without remembering to eat or even get out of his chair to stretch.

Endless wonder filled Phantom as he slowly browsed through the books, page by page.

Until, one black rolled up scrolled with golden rims caught his eye. It was tied with high quality red ribbon strips and was slightly torn. As curiosity washed over the thief, he slid his hand into a small drawer underneath the table and gently took the scroll out, carefully untying and ribbon and unravelling the black paper.

The words written on it were deathly white, but still as clear as it probably was centuries ago.

“Good job. Aria is dead. “, it had read.

Phantom stared at the paper, his mouth hanging open. Wait a minute.

Good job?

A million questions flooded the thief’s
head as he spent minutes trying to comprehend those 5 words, those 5 words which confused him so much. He squinted at the paper to make sure he didn’t misread it, and he sure didn’t. It was written there clearly, right in the middle of the black paper, with no signature, whatever.

“This…” Phantom was at a loss for words. Who was praising Freud for a good job? What did he do? What has Aria got to do with him?!

He then rolled up the paper and brought it back with him to the Lumiere for Colette and Christine to investigate on it.

—-

About a week later, Colette delivered the news to him.

“Master, this paper emanates dark matter from it. According to Demon Slayer, who once worked with the Black Mage before, confirmed that the dark matter originated from the Black Mage himself, and that he distributes it among his fellow Commanders.”

“It is confirmed that the paper was sent from the Black Mage or one of his commanders. Secondly, since the paper was found in Freud’s study, there is a 90% chance that it belongs to him, and thus is highly likely for the scroll to be addressed Freud. ”

“Thirdly, if the Black Mage or his commanders are praising Freud, he must have done something to aid them in the battle centuries ago, and the fact that they included that Aria was dead in the letter showed that he had something to do with her death. ”

“This only means that Freud aided the Black Mage and his commanders in the invasion of Erev centuries ago, resulting to Aria’s death- the main goal of the invasion. Since Freud was with the rest of the heroes during that time frame, it is highly likely that he was the strategist and the planner for the invasion of Erev, eventually leading the Aria’s death. In short, Freud was working with the Black Mage and indirectly killed Aria. ”

“This concludes my research, master-”

Before Colette finished, Phantom had already disappeared, along with the scroll.

—-

The Aurora was a quiet, serene place. Prefect for research, concentration and peace of mind during turbulent times.

Luminous sat in one of the studies, conducting his Light magic research again, finding ways to conquer his dark side and reach equilibrium.

Just as Luminous was about to reach to a conclusion, Phantom barged in noisily- very unlike him indeed- and slammed down a piece of black paper right in front of him.

“What are you doing–” Luminous sternly asked, before noticing Phantom’s unusually distressed face and vigorous panting.

Phantom usually isn’t that much of an urgent person… Unless something is really wrong.

“What-” Luminous started, but Phantom interrupted- “Read. The paper. ”

As Luminous took up the paper to read, his eyes widened.

“Phantom, this is not the time to be joking around-”

“Luminous. I am serious”

This was really very unlike the thief, being serious. Luminous took a look at the paper again. “Explain this. ”

As Phantom had repeated Colette’s report to Luminous, his face became more and more contorted, cringing at the last sentence- “Freud killed Aria.”

“Phantom. You can’t just jump to conclusions like that. You-”

” LUMINOUS! My intel is extremely reliable. I-I picked it up from Freud’s study myself. I spent a week researching and analysing this stupid piece of paper. What other conclusions are there to make?! Is it not obvious enough?!”
Phantom exploded in a rage, his voice cracking halfway through.

There was a long silence, before Luminous said, “B-But Phantom. Freud wouldn’t-”

“He wouldn’t. But evidence doesn’t lie. ” Phantom waved the piece of paper in front of Luminous, revealing the obvious.

Luminous gulped.

Freud, the leader of the heroes, the very first Dragon Master, Luminous’s good friend, aiding the Black Mage? That sounded so absurd even the thought of a man giving birth to a baby sounded less ridiculous than this.

For once, the light Mage was at a loss for words. Phantom stared at him, looking as if he was on the verge of a breakdown.

After a moment, he spoke. “The other heroes need to see this. ”

—-

Upon reaching Elluel, Mercedes was shell-shocked. So shocked in fact, that she absolutely denied even the slightest possibility of Freud working for the Black Mage.

She probably knew it was true. She probably knew there was no way to avoid the truth. She retreated into her room that day and refused to come out.

At Rien, Aran just stared at them in disbelief. Like Mercedes, she refused to accept it. She threw them out of Rien for doubting Freud and didn’t want to see their faces again.

Who would’ve thought, the leader of the Heroes- destined to fight and defeat the Black Mage- was working with the Black Mage himself all this time and totally got away with it?

That’s Freud for you.

—-

“Phantom, we cannot leave this matter be. Even though he’s dead, we must know the truth!” Luminous said as they left Rien, unsure of where to head next.

Phantom looked pretty much defeated the whole time and just shrugged. “I don’t understand either… Why… Would he do this?” He asked after a while, looking up at the clear blue sky.

Luminous tried to sound confident. “Let’s go to Freud’s study and see if we can find anymore evidence. ” Phantom shrugged and followed behind Luminous.

Once your leader and long time friend has betrayed you, how messed up could one get? It’s a terrible feeling, and that was exactly how Phantom felt that instant.

Night fell as Phantom and Luminous reached Freud’s study in the depths of the Minar Forest.

Just as they were about to step into the study, Phantom abruptly turned around and whipped out his cane. “Reveal yourself, coward!” He yelled.

Luminous, detecting the prescience of another person, also brought out his shining rod and got into battle stance.

For a brief moment, there was only silence in the forest, before the bushes nearby stirred a little, and Phantom immediately shroud walked towards it and pounced on the person, his cane raised into a dagger.

The person faced down with his good still on. He chuckled.

“I guess your skills never depleted, even after waking from the curse, eh?”

The voice said, sounding strangely very familiar to both of them.

Phantom slowly got up, without releasing his grip on the person and ripped down his hood.

Just as his face was revealed, Phantom’s eyes widened and he immediately dropped his cane.

Luminous simply gaped, frozen in his battle stance and utterly stunned.

“F-Freud…” Phantom squeaked.

Freud sighed. He picked up his staff which was lying around nearby and dusted himself. “So much for welcoming an old friend, huh. ” he sounded intentionally sad.

Luminous was the first to recover, though.

“I thought you… Died. ”

“I didn’t. ” the Dragon Master replied flatly. “Afrien protected me and I managed to escape the curse. Eventually I lived my life till the end after that and died peacefully… Or that’s what you guys thought happened. ”

“As you have already found out- yes. I am working for the Black Mage. ” At that very moment, in the blink of an eye- Phantom grabbed his cane and gripped Freud’s collar violently, shoving him close to his face, which looked as if he were in a conflict of emotions- Sadness and betrayal.

“So what if I killed Aria?”

The Mage casually said, unaffected by Phantom’s actions. His face showered no signs of regret whatsoever. Just amusement.

“Who are you?” Phantom demanded, his teeth gritted.

“I am Freud, Phantom. Release me. ”

Freud calmly replied, with a tone of threat in his voice.

“Freud wouldn’t do this. He would never have worked for the black Mage, and he would never have murdered the Queen of Maple World. ”

“Well, I did. ” Freud replied as-a-matter-of-factly. “Aria is dead. And so is the Freud that you once knew centuries ago. ”

At that, Phantom released his grip and looked down, his curly hair covering his purple eyes.

“Why?” Luminous asked, his face showing hurt and sadness.

Freud laughed.

“Good luck trying to convince the others of this. I don’t have time to waste on you. ” Freud picked up the black scroll which Phantom had so conveniently dropped, snapped his fingers, and teleported away.

Which left the 2 heroes standing there wordlessly, unsure of what to do next.

—-

To be continued?????? Gosh I don’t even know man.

This was based on an AU that Noct came up with! ^ ^

The Undertaker

“Child… Why do you insist on hiding such beautiful eyes?”

The angel looked at him sadly with such pitiful eyes.

“Do you want to live again?” He asked.

The child, torn and broken, looked up at the angel with his lifeless eyes. He nodded.

—-

“That kid is cursed don’t go near him.”

“Gods look at his eyes. ”

“Just like a monster.”

“Freak. ”

Endless whispers and hushing surrounded the child as he hurried through the market place, hugging himself tightly in his torn up cloak.
Winter was harsh that year, not many dared to leave their house to face the heavy snow that pelted down on the rooftops of the little village known as Terranium.

The boy was sent on an errand by his foster father to gather wood in the forest in this merciless weather. Yet, by the time he had finished his errand, freezing cold and yet panting heavily with the wood strapped to his back, he returned to an empty house.

His foster parents had abandoned him… Again.

And again, he was sent back to that orphanage, which was not much different from a prison, actually. That winter, the children could only have 2 meals a day and 1 battered up cloak for warmth. No one was to leave without permission, of course.

The boy huddled up in his little corner of the thin mattress, blowing warm air into his trembling hands. His dishevelled emerald hair completely covered his eyes, to avoid being criticised or bullied by the older kids and the citizens of Terranium.
He had strange eyes, indeed. One blue, one red. His pupils had rings in them, forming a unique pattern in his eyes, something that resembled a target board for arrows.

This special trait of his was the main factor for his lack of adopters and also his social status in the orphanage.
He never understood why these humans so heavily discriminated against others just because he was different. Just because his eyes resembled those to a demon’s, he would be referred to as a ‘freak’ or ‘monster’, and people would back away from him as quickly as possible, as if he had some contagious disease that could cause an epidemic throughout the world and wipe out humanity with his very 2 eyes.

At any time, he decided death would be the best solution to this torture. He envied the dead people out there in the graveyards. Every time he had the chance to escape his ‘imprisonment’ in the orphanage, he would sneak out to the graveyard, sit by the field and gaze over each and every one of them, thinking about what kinds of life the dead used to live, how they died, so on.
It fascinated him such.
He was constantly monitored 24/7 in the orphanage. Social workers patrolled the area like prison guards. Why do they have to trap children in this building rather than give them their freedom? It was beginning to turn into a mental asylum and he was beginning to feel the effects already.

One fine day, the child could take it no longer.

He sprinted out of his room, ignoring the social workers and headed towards the nearest window. He stopped just at the edge, panting wildly. This was probably the most amount of excitement he had ever had in his life.
He enjoyed those 5 minutes he spent running from the guards.

He took a deep breath, and hopped right out of the window.

—-

“Good evening. My name is Deniere. ”

“Who are you?” The child asked, slightly puzzled. “I thought I-”

“Yes, you died. ”

The child looked up to face a tall man, wearing a golden crown with wings sprouting at each end of it. He had a halo floating above his head, and a pair of magnificent white wings sprouting from his back.

“Are you an angel?” The child asked, eyes full of wonder.

Deniere chuckled. “Yes, my dear boy. Welcome to heaven. ” he paused for a while, and frowned a little. “I see you don’t have a name. ”

“I do. ” the child replied defiantly. “Number 4016. That’s my name. ”

“It is a label, not a name. ” The angel replied sadly. “Do you not wish to have a real name?”

For once, the child looked really baffled. “I don’t understand. What’s a real name? ”

“Well, for starters, a real name does not have a number in it. ”

“Oh. ”

“Do you want one?”

“Um…” The child shrugged. “I’m dead anyway, what’s the point? Can I go to heaven now?”

Deniere sighed. He held up his hand a staff appeared. He pointed the staff upwards and a projection of a lifeless boy lying in the snow, which was stained bright red. “This is you. ” he said as-a-matter-of-factly.

The child giggled. “At least I died properly. Thank god I didn’t survive. ”

The projection disintegrated and the angel turned back to the boy, frowning even more. “You should thank The Lord for giving you life, not taking it away. ”

The child shrugged again. “I don’t want to go back there again. ”

“Your eyes… Why do you cover them? They are beautiful. ”

For a moment, the child froze and stared straight at Deniere. “Um…” He choked, at a loss for words.

The angel knelt down and used his finger to wipe off a tear from his cheek.

“I will be committing a terrible sin for this deed, but I sincerely feel horribly sorry for you, my boy. ” Deniere gave a lifeless chuckle. “I guess I can’t hold it back anymore. ”

The child, at this moment, was struggling to wipe off the endless tears that were streaming down his cheeks. Apparently he had never ever been praised in his life before. Especially for his eyes.

“I will name you Sinclaire, and I will grant you a second chance in life. ”

The boy was beginning to get a hold of his emotions, and croaked “w-what?”

“Remember me. ” Deniere the angel smiled, as his body began to glow slowly.

Sinclaire squinted his eyes and tried to reach out to the angel- “wait-” before the entire world became pitch black and Sinclaire blacked out.

Sinclaire woke up with a start, gasping for air. He began to sweat. A white sheet covered the rest of his body, which was resting on a bed, alone in an empty room.

He slowly crept out, and walked past other rooms whose doors were locked shut.

Sinclaire then made a dash for the exit and he emerged out of the building, with the sun shining brightly in the sky and the birds chirping ever so merrily in the distance.

It was…. Spring?

—-

10 years later

“Aaaaand, that will be 100 silver pieces please!” Sinclaire declared proudly, glad that he had managed to make another proper burial at the graveyard flawlessly.

“Thank you so much Mr Undertaker! ” a woman heavily clad in make-up thanked him as she blew her nose into a tissue, eyes still watery.

“A pleasure to do business with you!” Sinclaire bowed and accepted the money from the woman’s butler who was standing beside her.

As Sinclaire pocketed the money, he took a stroll through the graveyard to admire his work.

10 years had passed since he met that angel Deniere, and he had been brought back to life. He had still hid his eyes with his overgrown hair, such that he managed to survive on his own without anyone figuring out about his eyes, and had started a pretty successful job as an undertaker.

Sinclaire veered off into the woods. The sounds of nature calmed him much during this time of Spring, but it was quickly interrupted by a very familiar voice.

“Child…”

Suspicious, Sinclaire threaded lightly through the bushes, only to find a wounded person sprawled against the river bank.

No- it wasn’t a person. It was an angel. Strangely, his wings were black, and his halo was gone.

“D-Deniere…” Sinclaire gaped.

“I’m glad you’ve fared well, my boy. ” Deniere managed a faint smile. His head, arms, torse and wings were bleeding all over, causing the water to turn bright red. His pitch black wings were drooped in a weird position, and that light aura around the angel had faded to reveal a dark purplish aura instead.

“What…” Sinclaire stuttered.

“I’m terribly sorry. ” the angel started tearing then. “I’ve become a fallen angel…”

—-

To be continued…?

Love is in the air ;)

“Aria!” Phantom yelled over the gushing of the strong winds. “Ever felt this free before?”

The Queen stood right by the edge of the cliffs of Mu Lung, taking in the breathtaking scenery ahead and bracing the cool, mountain winds as they whipped her silly blond hair all over Phantom’s face, all the while as he held her hips. “Goodness, Phantom! ” she yelled back, her eyes close to tears. “I’ve never been more alive!”

The pair started laughing like there was no tomorrow as Phantom wrapped his arms around her, and whisked her off in a flurry of cards, back to the Lumiere.
Phantom wished moments like these could last forever. These memories he treasured so dearly, were never to be forgotten, as long as he lived, as long as he and Aria were alive and happy.

She stood by the deck of the Lumiere, admiring the huge full moon that night. He approached her, and put his fingers on her chin. He tilted her head up to face him.

She did not know what to expect. As high her status of a Queen might be, she was still young. Young and ambitious, like any other adventurer out there.

Their lips parted as they kissed passionately under the full moon, making full use of the romantic atmosphere, before parting again. Aria was blushing madly.

“You’ve never been more beautiful tonight, my love. ” Phantom winked. With that sly smile of his, he raised his cane and before she knew it, she was whisked back to her bedroom, alone. Again.

A single card remained on her bedside table. She glanced at it, smiling slightly at that familiar symbol, and the memory of the thief, the kiss, the moonlight, still fresh in her adolescent little mind.