“What?” Lugo chuckled nervously but stopped when he realized Tsugi was being serious. “No, I said Val is, not you guys.”

“She does it because she learned it from me, and I learned it from Yamo. What’s so psychotic about it?” Tsugi snapped.

“What?!” Lugo couldn’t believe what he heard. “Are you being serious right now?” He stared at Tsugi, completely stunned and at a loss for words. He blinked wildly at Tsugi who held his angry, stern look on his face. “Tsugi…” Lugo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “The things that you guys do, it’s just evil.”

“It’s just a job.”

“It doesn’t matter. Whether those people deserved it or not, why would you bring yourself down to their level? Just to teach them a lesson?”

“What would you do if you see them sexually assault people, torture innocents endlessly, and harvest their organs while they are still alive and conscious?”

Lugo opened his mouth, but closed it again.

“Those people deserve it a hundred times over.” Tsugi growled.

“Maybe…” Lugo sighed and ran his hand through his hair in frustration. “I just don’t want ‘you’ to feel like that’s something ‘you’ need to do. It’s not who you are.”

“How would you know if it’s me or not?” Tsugi’s fists shook and Lugo eyed them carefully for a moment, afraid it may end up in his face or perhaps in his chest, yanking out his heart.

“Because I know you. I’ve seen the side of you that is nice and caring and that side would never do something like that. I know it’s what you were taught and you think it’s what you need to do, but…those types of people will get what they deserve when they get to hell. They’ll live that torture and hopefully worse a million lifetimes over. Do you really think Yamo would want you to follow in his footsteps? Do you think he would want you to hold onto grudges for the rest of your life?”

Tsugi was angry, but Yamo’s letter crossed his mind, and his anger calmed even if just a little. Damn, why did Lugo have to be right? He didn’t want Lugo to be right.

“You’re a great person, and though you may not know the difference between right and wrong yet, I know you will make the right choices in the future. You’re still only ten and my only friend. I would rather not see you end up in hell like those people.” Lugo sighed and scratched his head. “I’m sorry if what I said offended you.”

“Should’ve thought of that before you called my family psychotic.” Tsugi mumbled. “I’ve lost my appetite.” He threw his left over to Ruzo and cleared his plate before he left to wander the streets to calm his mind. The more he pondered, he would come upon the thought of that table, bringing back those haunting hallucinations, making him feel sick to his stomach.

The night he killed Sir Gorou felt like a dream. He could barely remember the details as they were just a blur. The thought of it being only a hallucination flew through his mind, but the intense fear of Sir Gorou still being alive haunted him immensely.

-“You think you’ve killed me, don't you?” Sir Gorou’s chilling voice echoed in his ear.

Tsugi fell onto his knees and started hyperventilating. His eyes darted around the streets, like he was waiting for Sir Gorou to pop out from around the corner.

Lugo, who had been following him since he left the house, ran after him and was trying to calm him, but he couldn’t see Lugo. Tsugi’s mind was playing tricks on himself, and he could see all the people on the street morphing into Sir Gorou. All the faces of the men, women, and children morphed into Sir Gorou, standing and laughing at him in their suits, dresses, and children’s outfits.

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***

Tsugi woke up and looked around the room. Lugo was asleep in a chair next to the bed, and the room he was in wasn't his room, but Bel’s room. He sat up and rubbed his head, he had a splitting headache which sent a loud ringing through his ears.

“Hey, are you okay?” Lugo sat up in the chair, his voice was soft and groggy as he rubbed the crust from his eyes.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Why am I in Bel’s room?”

“Oh…” Lugo sighed in relief and yawned tiredly. “...you kept insisting on coming in here, so I brought you here.”

“What happened?”

“You know…” Lugo scratched his head. “You’ve been asking that a lot lately.” He chuckled nervously. “I found you on the street freaking out.”

“How long since?”

“A few hours.” Lugo stretched. “It’s late. You should get some more rest. You seem fine now, so I’m going to bed.” Lugo got up and left.

Tsugi felt absolutely exhausted and made himself a tonic before going to bed, hoping he would be able to get some decent rest.

Another day had gone by and Tsugi was running out of time to persuade Master Lumes to take him under her wing.

“Master Lumes!” Tsugi ran after her on the road. She looked back but rolled her eyes in exasperation when she saw that it was just Tsugi, and continued walking.

“What?” She said in annoyance.

“Please, may I talk to you?”

She sighed heavily. “I’m busy. Walk and talk.” She walked fast, like a woman with a purpose.

“I wanted to ask you to please reconsider and take me as your pupil.” He says, quickly running after her.

“I believe I’ve already said everything I needed to say the other day, Tsugi. Leave it alone.” She said sternly.

“What can I do to make you reconsider?”

“You can’t.” She approached the orphanage and went around to the back.

“There must be something. Please! I need to learn how to heal!”

“Why? I heard you already have dark magic and a lot of it too. Just stick with that, you don’t need to do this too.”

“I do!” He clenched his fists when the images of their deaths flew across his mind. “If I knew how to heal, then they might still be alive. Even if I can’t save them all, I still want to know that I at least tried. Then their deaths won’t haunt me as much.” He muttered.

She glowered but kept her eyes straight ahead. “Pugnote.” She said sternly and it confused him. He gazed up at her wondering if he heard her correctly. Then he finally understood when the grass pushed out of the snow like daisies, forming into a giant door. It swung open and she stepped through it. Tsugi quickly followed her through without thinking as the door closed behind them, disappearing back into the ground.

A strong wind nearly blew Tsugi off his feet, but it brought him back to his senses. Master Lumes, on the other hand, had continued walking without skipping a beat. Tsugi followed behind her and looked around. He was no longer at the orphanage and it was no longer cold. In fact, it was really hot.

He was at the base of a recently erupted volcano, and then he finally heard it…there were creatures screaming, wailing, and roaring in pain. Their flesh burned to a crisp, right down to the bone. Some had already perished and laid on the ground with their half exposed bloody skulls like acid had burned their skin off.

Master Lumes quickly ran to a panicking, small creature that tried to scurry away at the sight of her presence. She knelt down silently and placed a hand on the ground, and the creature calmed instantly. It no longer panicked and tried to run from her, but it didn’t make any move to get any closer either. It just kept mewling in agony.

The little creature looked like a baby phythin. Its legs were horribly burned and it seemed to be in a lot of pain. It winced and cried at every touch to its charred legs. Its head was oversized and it kept falling over onto its face every time it tried to move or stand. Its cry broke Tsugi’s heart. Tsugi looked around, watching as ten’s of other creatures cry and wail across the land, as far as the eye could see.

Without thinking, he ran around and healed each creature one by one. Not only were there python’s, there were hegra’s - dragon species, docile and small, they only ate the molten rocks; red bellied and dark purple scales; gromer’s - giant tortoise sized turtles, but their shell took the shape of the lava rocks, and many other different species.

The more aggressive ones, he approached with caution, but he still attempted to heal them either way. Even when they bit and attacked him, he healed them nonetheless and watched them run off as soon as they were able.

His energy drained immensely after each attempt, and sweat drenched his shirt, not only from the heat but from using too much energy. He started to feel queasy and his stomach churned horribly, but the cries rang and his body pushed on.

When he saw that there were no more plants near him, he proceeded to carry the creatures to a greener area before healing them. His body grew heavy like weights were strapped to his little arms and legs, but the dying faces of his family and friends haunted him and he trudged through.

The wailing noises began to drown out and he could hear nothing but his breath and the pumping of blood past his ears.