Hello! Pleased meet ya, before we begin our little tale I've got a song recommendation to listen throughout the chapter, Radiarc - Once. I listened to it through the writing and rewriting of this chapter and I overall think it's a wonderful song, see you all later and happy reading!
----------------------------------------
BADUMP-BADUMP
BADUMP-BADUMP
BADUMP-BADUMP
BADUMP-BADUMP
BADUMP-BADUMP
BADUMP-BADUMP
His heartbeat, the only sound he could hear right now, not the wind blowing gently, not the cars driving by and not the people walking and going about their day. No, only his heartbeat as he stared down at the busy street with what could be described as a lifeless glare at nothing in particular. He knew people who were actually looking could tell that it was a tired, longing look, a look he felt he made a lot of times recently, remembering all the warm and good memories of home, of the past and.....goddammit.
He had to focus, he'd already gotten everything into place, now he just had to take a step forward....right? He sighed, shaking his head and just going over it one last time.
"Close your eyes and take a step forward, right?" There was no one else here, no one would hear that last question. Closing his eyes, he prepared himself, feet together, arms spread out and take
A
Step
Forward.
Everything seemed to rush as a cacophony of sounds started and almost instantly stopped as the breath he was about to take changed almost instantly from air to...water? Frantically grasping around and grabbing onto something solid he pulled himself out the water and crawled forward, coughing, spitting and breathing in short bursts in between the two. He felt so, so weak, he felt like his whole body had just been hurt, nothing broken even, just a dull pain and feeling almost unbearably sore.
He hadn't felt like this since the time....wait, why can't he remember, ANYTHING? Except....why was everything he'd read, watched, played and listened to he could recall almost perfectly, but only CATEGORIZED into, 'I like this.' Or 'I don't like this.' More importantly, why was he alive? Didn't he just try to? Was he being punished? Was this hell? Was this his hell? Every question he could think of at the moment swam frantically his head as his breathing picked up, tears began to sting his eyes as he slammed them shut, hugging both legs as best as he could close to his chest with one arm, using his other arm to hold his head as he tried to think of any memory of who he used to be and falling on his side. Only muttering a single question, the only one his brain could think of...
"Why?"
Before he felt himself fully go off into the deep end he felt his body being moved and his arm hugging his legs moved away as he felt someone embrace him, his muttering stopping as he soon a hand on the top of his head stroking his hair, an arm gently placed itself on his back, gently moved his head forward onto something soft and a soft lullaby like hum soon followed, he didn't bother opening his eyes as he felt his arms do the only thing he wanted them to do right now, seek comfort. He wrapped his arms onto the person's back and started crying, holding onto them as if the second he loosened his grip, they'd instantly disappear and he'd be alone again. He could feel everything as he cried, the tears that stung his eyes, his clenching teeth, the breaths that managed to make their way through his teeth, the snot that occasionally dripped out of his nose only to be gently wiped away, his throat slowly beginning to ache from his sobs turning into loud wails, slowly dying into quiet sobbing and mutterings of incoherent words and feeling that the person was still there, holding him with the same gentleness, only moving once to shift into a more comfortable position.
He didn't realize how long he'd cried, he only got an idea of how long when he slowly began to fall asleep and drifted in and out, catching blurry glimpses, a faint almost unnoticeable touch, something soft being placed on him, distant, muffled voices and other noises. He caught a glimpse of the moon from a window as he felt himself lying down now and covered even more by what he could tell was a blanket and the arms embracing him from behind and gently pulling him toward the person they belonged to as he finally as he finally drifted off to a dreamless sleep.
----------------------------------------
Polydeuces Larcray, her new name, the only name as far as her "father" was concerned. She had assumed today would be another day of training the summoned "heroes" from another world, they were teenagers, ones that seemed to grasp the concept of fighting of using magic a little bit faster than normal recruits at least, at least when some of the boys and even a girl or two weren't ogling her when they thought she wasn't looking, she'd be lying if she said she wasn't suprised that some of the girls looked at her like some of the boys did. A few of the bold ones even tried to flirt with her, actually made her laugh a bit, told those few to get ready for some personal attention, they received her hellish training via her Phantoms and after training for everyone had finished for the day, she asked if they wanted to try again. The silent "No" from each of them made her smile, but one of them asked why and her inner smile widened.
"Because, if you want a chance to date me, you have to prove your worth getting to know you and that I won't have to deal with a deadweight, some idiot with a self sacrifice fetish with starry eyes, someone looking for a quick one night stand or some proud little shit thinking they own the training ground because they're a summoned 'Hero' who's just figured out how to swing a sword and only knows how to punch down. These 3 things, I saw all of you doing at least one if not two of, so I'm doing this to kill your horses immediately, doing my job to both train and weed out any chances for you all to die and doing my duty as an Aspect Bearer and enacting Vengeance on all of you, because I know the type you all punch down on, the type that won't fight, but unluckily for you, I will. So get this into your heads and get them out of your ass or the dirt or I'll put them in there."
"None of you have a chance short of a miracle or me feeling pity for you, that is all, now head down to the dining room for dinner." She'd seen their faces go from exhausted indignation, to shock, to fear and finally a frustrated resignation as they all began to sulk toward the door and hopefully the dining hall. She sighed, she was only 4 years into being a knight for Kaidria and not even half a year yet for her time as one of the few Wyvern knights here at the capital and she was barely into her mid 20s and already felt as tired as some of the senior guards looked. Making her way through the halls, her armored boots gently clanking as she walked toward her increasingly favorite room, built specifically for Aspect Bearers when they either require a moment alone or somewhere quiet to pray to their "parent."
She almost laughed at remembering the king say parent the way he did, but as she opened the door, for a moment she swore she heard splashing. Brushing it off she walked around the corner and saw....a Beastfolk, a red Lionkin? She blinked as she saw the young man? Woman? On their side as she heard muttering of why coming from them, as she moved closer she heard their breathing quicken and their muttering getting uncomfortably faster and faster, so she did the only thing she thought of when she used to cry or throw a tantrum and her actual parents said always made her feel better.
She hugged him, her? Them? Them and began to hum the lullaby her mother sang to her and taught it to her before she became an Aspect Bearer, before she even became a knight and before all the feelings of responsibility she had on put upon her. Her fond memories of the lullaby made her feel oddly, motivated to help this Lionkin. It took more than a few hours worth of affection, humming, moving at one point to a better spot so that the Lionkin and herself were more comfortable, a few magic messages making sure she was fine, just caught up in something and a lot of tears and snot from the Lionkin, but they eventually tired out and she gently took off her dark blue cloak and put it on the now sleeping Lionkin, locks of his simple red hair slightly poking out of the hood.
She lifted him up in a bridal style hold as to do her best to not wake him up as she carefully made her way out. Using her magic to open and close the door was easy enough, the maids, butlers and other servants who'd appeared almost all audibly gasped at the sight, the Lionkin who only looked a slight bit older than the summoned "Heroes", tears still staining his face slightly, red marks around his eyes and his slightly wheezing breaths. Lowering her voice she said to the nearest maid. "Keep the hallways to my room clear until morning and I hate to ask, but could you ask someone to bring me some food for both dinner and something simple for breakfast for me and him tomorrow?" Clara, one of the older maids in the castle nodded silently and started quietly as she could, getting the others to move and keep the way clear and then darted off to the kitchen.
The trip back to her room was for the most part uneventful, the occasional gasp and mutter from a maid, butler or any other servant she passed by never seemed to stop her as getting into her room with magic and setting the Lionkin down on her bed was more than easy enough. Switching from her training armor to regular night clothes took longer than she expected, given the fact she'd occasionally peek back into her room to check and make sure the Lionkin was still asleep. After changing, she heard a soft knocking at her door and quickly, but quietly made her way and opened it, Clara arrived with a tray that had a bowl of tomato soup, some bread, a small glass of wine and a piece of Hordeberry pie.
She silently gasped and Clara just nodded as she quietly came into her room and set the try on Polydeuces' desk before telling her.
"No need to give the tray back when your done, I'll just come back for it in the morning when I bring you two breakfast." Clara smiled as she left quietly, to not wake the sleeping Lionkin. Polydeuces smiled as she sat down to eat.....after eating, cleaning up and doing some light paperwork, she finally got into bed and pulled the blanket up and over her and her new temporary bed mate and spooned him. She couldn't help but chuckle at the absurdity of how quickly she came to care for this Lionkin after basically destroying 4 trainees hopes earlier today, shaking her head she decided to just go along with this for now and get some answers in the morning. Holding him closer as she drifted off to sleep.
----------------------------------------
Waking up in the bed he guessed he was placed in and he slowly sat up, noticing he was wearing a cloak he guessed, the color was a nice dark blue and it felt....right wearing it, seeing the light in the room, it was morning, probably early morning. Blinking away the sleep from his eyes and rubbing them slightly, he looked back down and.....oh, that's a penis he's stark fuckin' naked and only has a cloak on to hide his bits looking around frantically, feeling his face turn about as red as a tomato he looks around spots a woman sitting at a desk.....looking at him, obviously trying to hold in a laugh, the only thing he can think of is to break the tension with a greeting.
"G-Good morning?" A for effort, D for execution, dumbass, she obviously started laughing, almost immediately grabbing onto her sides and wiping away tears from her eyes. After a couple of minutes of her laughter, her giggle fit seemingly ended as she cleared her throat.
"G-heh-Good morning, apologies if I scared you there, you already seemed a little frantic, there's some clothes for you on the bed, you can put them on in there if you wish or if you're more comfortable as is you can wait." She pointed to a door across from the bed where he was sitting, he grabbed the clothes and darted into the room, changing quickly and walking back out, cloak still on as he approached the desk she sat at and saw a chair in front of it and went to go sit in it. Sitting down and scooting the chair a bit forward, he looked back at the woman and she had a big smile on her face, as if the most perfect set of hilarious effects just happened in the best order right in front of her. Still blushing a little he cleared his throat and asked her the obvious question.
"So I'm guessing you're the one who found me in that room and brought me here?" He almost wanted to ask the obvious, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. She gave a small hum and pushed a plate forward with....what looked like a leg of meat maybe? Getting a whiff of it didn't really get him much, smelled fine enough, hints of pepper maybe? He never knew a lot about food, picking it up he realized it was a little heavier than it looked and deciding he'd have to trust her if he wanted to eat....it's good, it's damn good in fact, he didn't realize how hungry he was and started tearing into the leg pulling small chunks off, savoring each and every chunk pulled off and chewed with what felt like was a smile so bright it was only rivaled by the sun itself.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I see you're enjoying the Drake leg the chefs prepared after they heard a Red Lionkin was here and was going to have breakfast." He heard her chuckle as he stopped and blinked a couple of times, tilting his head slightly he couldn't help but ask.
"Red Lionkin? I'm afraid you got me wrong, I'm just a boring old hu-" His words died as he saw the claws on his hands digging into cooked Drake leg, looking down at the tray nearby he saw, sharp teeth with small hints of meat, warm sunset red colored eyes, somewhat young face with small bits of grease and small bits of meat on his cheeks and red hair, it was a simple red, but red nonetheless. The Drake leg fell from his hands as they slowly took off the hood of the cloak he wore and saw two red furred lion ears on the top of his head as the face had the same look of shock as he saw the ears. Slowly looking away from the tray and back to the woman sitting across from him, he felt small, like a kid in the principals office and only now just realized how giant adults are compared to a kid, gulping nervously as a shaky question escaped his throat.
"Wh-Who are you?" He didn't bother trying to keep a brave face, he saw almost a quick shift in her posture, she leaned forward, elbows on the desk, fingers intertwined, covering her mouth, eyes narrowing and her demeanor went from friendly to....he could only think to describe it as interrogative.
"I think I should be asking that question young man. So you didn't know what you are until now? I suppose that lines up since you seemed so inconsolable yesterday, since most Red Lionkin are very assured of themselves to the point of arrogance. Your arrival in that room specifically before I even opened the door now makes me realize, what caused you such distress? You sounded as though you'd lost your mind." The silence from him as that memory ironically enough was all too clear, sighing he looked at her and began to explain that before he arrived, he was trying to kill himself by throwing himself off of a building. Him being alive was a small factor for him going nuts, he began to explain that only very specific memories were kept when almost everything else seemed to be gone from his head.
She never laughed, her face never changed, the same narrowed eyes, stern gaze and intertwined hands, as soon as he finished his tale, he finally got a good look at her, or he finally took notice that she definitely looked very different from everyone else at home. She looked a bit older than him, her eyes looked like a sparkling dulled Violet, her hair was burgundy with a red tint, a loose bang on the right side of her face while the rest looked mostly well kept, bar a few loose locks, her skin was a fair white with a clear hint of tan forming, her clothes looked fairly fancy, a grey dress shirt, a singular black glove on her left hand, a silver pin with dragon like wings attached to a spear attached to the lapel of a custom made navy blue suit draped over her shoulders and what looked the pants of her suit were what she was wearing. He couldn't tell from here he sat, although that wasn't particularly important right now.
The seconds seemed to last hours as she seemingly came to a conclusion.
"Alright, I believe you." He blinked, more than likely confused. "Recently, the kingdom summoned heroes from another world and that spell has brought others on occasion from what history says and they've all seemingly had strange things happen to their memories, either missing one, two up to many of their own personal memories. Some even gaining memories of this world even though they've never been here, so hearing your story and the...unfortunate precedent, I believe you. Not having many memories while others are simply categorized, I can't begin to imagine how it feels. For what its worth I'm so-"
"Don't apologize for something that wasn't your fault, it'll just make any apology you might give me later mean less. I just, I think I needed to hear I genuinely am in another world. How about for now, you can just call me Red and please tell me your name." His tone sounded a bit hollow even to him, but he thinks the point got across, he didn't want an apology. She looked shocked for a moment, before clearing her throat and extending her left hand forward with what seemed to be a tired smile, responding with his own tired smile, he took her hand and shook it.
"Pleased to meet you Red, my name is Polydeuces Larcray, I hope we get along swimmingly."
----------------------------------------
Their breakfast continued in silence, the sounds of utensils softly clinking and clanking against their plate and bowl respectively. An unspoken agreement hung in the air, finish eating and then attempting to get answers/showing Red around the castle and hopefully to meet the king...
----------------------------------------
The walk was silent as they passed through a hall with stained glass windows and each one had art of many figures he couldn't figure out who they were but he could tell they were heroes fighting monsters, the classics, hydras, dragons, a horde of skeletons, goblins and....demons or devils. A part of him couldn't help but feel so...uneasy at the prospect of demons and/or devils, his pace slowed, but he continued on as the last window approached and he saw....a man with 6 black angel like wings, a calm almost serene smile, two short curved horns atop his head looking more like a crown than horns, flowing black hair with hints of silver, his eyes were closed, his hands raised up as is he was offering something and from his hands a parade of hundreds, no thousands of demons.
Hearing her boots walk back, Red saw Polydeuces out of the corner of his eye, a proud smile across her face as she approached. He continued to look as she explained in a proud tone.
"All of these windows are my work, this one is of Lucifer, Father and Eternal King Of Fiends, he's the only one other than a few people here that ever seemed to enjoy my work and not treat it as another thing the king owns. For being The First Fiend, he's always been respectful and kind to-" She's cut short as distant shouts are heard, Red seeing her hand go to a short baton like object on her back as she turns to him. "Stay close to me." Red nodded as they heard the shouts quiet down as footsteps were being made as it sounded like they were being made as purposefully as loud as possible without becoming stomps.
The steps got closer, closer and closer until he rounded the corner, that same damned serene, no, knowing, an almost arrogant smile, eyes opened, showing a bright gold eyes, simple robes that he could describe as kingly or royalty and his posture, not arrogance, but confidence, confidence in the self, confidence in where he is, just confidence. Lucifer, Father and Eternal King Of Fiends, The First Fiend. Was real and approaching Polydeuces and Red.
He stopped only a few steps away as he finally noticed Red, the cloak covering most of Red's head, his smile never wavering as Polydeuces relaxed and gave a good hearted chuckle.
"I apologize sir Lucifer, I'd almost forgot you were showing up today, yesterday was....particularly eventful for me and I'd lost track of when you'd be arriving." The chuckle from his mouth didn't make Red feel any better as he was staring AT Lucifer, his stare seemingly going noticed as Lucifer asked.
"Who is that cowering behind you? I don't think I'VE ever met them if you're showing them your favorite windows." His tone was scarily even, like he had control over every bit of his body, every word, even that hint of whatever emotion he put into that "I'VE" seemed so...controlled and practiced. Steeling himself and gently pushing off of Polydeuces, Red took a hesitant, but assured step forward and gave a respectful nod and spoke.
"My name is Red, Lord Lucifer, Polydeuces here assisted me yesterday with a problem I had been dealing with and offered to show me around this morning, my apologies if I kept her from other important business." He didn't know how he channeled that seeming noble speak, both Polydeuces and Lucifer seemed....shocked, Lucifer quickly recovered and "spoke" once more.
"A pleasure to meet you Red, since it seems you both stopped here, you were admiring Polydeuces' work?" Red nodded, the look of a noble on his face, to anyone he seemed flawless, but he could tell Lucifer saw every crack, every failure, every fault and the whole slapped together mask he had.
"Excellent, as arrogant as it sounds, I think her art of me and my children is some of her best if not her best work." Red felt small once more as he nodded and before he or Lucifer could say anything else a Fiend walked forward from the hall and spoke.
"My lord, King Hadrict wishes for your return so he and the one who attempted to slay you may properly apologize." They spoke so, monotonously Red's noble mask fully slipped and he relaxed, somewhat. A strange silence filled the air as Lucifer nodded and began to walk back, Polydeuces, the Fiend and Red following him, Red pulled the hood back up and shadowed Polydeuces, taking the seat next to her, a few looks of realization from what he could see under the hood seemed to flash amongst the....high schoolers? He kept a mostly straight posture as everyone then turned their attention to Lucifer, the one who attempted to 'slay him' Red guessed and King Hadrict after what seemed like a very, very strained apology. Everyone resumed eating, chatting and simply trying to ignore what just happened, having a second pair of ears were already proving to be a bit of a burden as a handful of conversations, that he could hear, were about him.
"You have any idea who that is?"
"I caught a glimpse, I think it might be a cute girl!"
"I wondered who that extra seat was for, at first I thought it was for Lucifer."
"How come some random nobody gets to sit next to her, it's criminal I say."
"I don't think they're Japanese, at least far as I can tell."
"You think it's some unintentional extra person?"
"I heard from some of the wizards that this happens every time, though they usually end up dying or going crazy. Poor guy."
"Hey, sensei where are you going?"
Hearing footsteps approach, Red couldn't help but shrink slightly into his chair, unintentionally moving his back toward Polydeuces. The footsteps stopped as he looked up slightly locking eyes with an older woman as she bowed and greeted him.
"Hello, I believe this is the first time we've met, I apologize-"
"Please, you don't need to apologize, this is simply a side effect of the spell, it's not like you were the one who cast it. Although, I do apologize for cutting you off, please forgive me." There was a palpable silence, before the "Sensei" cleared her throat and continued.
"That being said, I'd like to extend an invitation to meet me and the rest of my class properly, perhaps later today would work?" Red nodded once before looking over at Polydeuces who mouthed 'its alright, go ahead.' In which he nodded at Sensei again.
"Call me Red for now, I'll probably have a better name for you later or tomorrow." Red offered his hand for a handshake as Sensei looked a little caught off guard before shaking his hand and smiling.
"You may call me Ms. Hanamura, pleased to meet you Red." It seemed like the greeting didn't draw too much attention, which was good enough for Red as he went back to eating and the breakfast seemingly had no real interruptions minus a few students finishing and excusing themselves. Red soon finished as well, but stood nearby Polydeuces as she mentioned something.
"Before meeting up with that class, I'd like for you to come with me for a moment, there's something important we need to do." Red nodded and waited for Polydeuces to finish. Soon after she finished eating, she led Red to a room with a few strange looking sculptures on pedestals and there were a few people in the room, one of which being King Hadrict and a few people he didn't recognize. He turned to Polydeuces and she nodded, he took of his hood and a few of the people went wide eyed, a young man with glasses, a messy head of verdant green hair approached who was also covered by a cloak and was carrying a large book hummed as he looked over Red.
"He's most definitely a candidate, I'm just unsure for who as of now, give me enough time and I can give you an educated guess." The way he spoke reminded him slightly of Lucifer, but as in control, more curious and slightly cautious. Polydeuces nodded and motioned him to step back.
"Thank you Daedalus, Red, out of all of these sculptures here, which one either catches your eye the most or you feel pulled toward?" Looking around, Red walked toward one that looked like a broken mirror with an image sword broken by the cracks. He touched and looked back at the group.
"This one, it's this one." He never felt so....sure of something recently, but this sculpture, this was the one that pulled him toward it. Before another word was said he felt something wrap over him as light seemingly wrapped around his arms and body, it didn't hurt, it felt....so warm and soft, like when Polydeuces hugged him and soon a name popped into his mind that felt so right and then he heard it said to him.
"I welcome you, my newest son, Aspect Bearer of Honesty, Castor, brother to Polydeuces and son to Larcray, God of Violence, Honor, War and Weapons.
Castor fell to his knees, coughing, feeling just like he had yesterday after getting out of that pool of water, though he coughed up no water. Hearing footsteps approach as he looked up and saw his sister, Polydeuces, he knew this instinctively now and he smiled as she helped him up. He nearly stumbled as he got up.
"I don't think you'll be able to make that meeting you had with that class today, or do you think you think you can manage?" Castor shook his head, he felt, weak and exhausted, like he'd spent the whole day exercising, everything, all he wished for was somewhere to lay down and sleep. Polydeuces chuckled and slowly helped him make his way back to her room, he'd be staying there while she....
----------------------------------------
She didn't know how to feel, she knew from her "father" that her namesake had a brother by the name of Castor, but she can't say she fully expected to meet him after, all this. She couldn't help but wonder if there was some meddling happening, she was sure of it! Unfortunately for now, she'd have place that thought down on her list of priorities, she had many things to do and most importantly, was to deal with the aftermath of this. She sighed and looked out of the window in her room, the noonday sun was high in the sky, a gentle breeze blew into the room, through her hair and across her face. Maybe...maybe having someone like him won't be so bad, for now she'd have to head back and talk to King Hadrict and hopefully Daedalus let the other available Aspects know what happened. Smiling down at her newly named brother, more than likely her little brother now, she kissed his forehead and gave a simple
"Sweet dreams, my Little Castor." She then made her way out of her room, gently closing the door as the breeze in her room continued as she strode back to the throne room where many other Aspects had finally arrived and she gave a playful sigh. "Time to go to work."
----------------------------------------
Hello again! I hope this first chapter was at the very least kinda enjoyable for you, I'm sure there's a lot of things I'll need to work on, I hope to get better to make this story better to enjoy for you all! Until next time, happy reading!