Chapter 7: Eccel
“Your son? Wait, I thought he died.” Daragon said.
“No? I never said he did.” Relic said in a curious tone. “I just didn’t know if he was or wasn’t.”
“Oh. Okay. Cool. Hmmmm.” Daragon pondered, not being able to form proper sentences. He didn’t know whether to be outraged by the fact that he deceived him to make him open up or congratulate him on the good news.
“I still don’t know where he is. General Bradbury gave me this picture.” Relic showed a picture of a black haired individual with red eyes who looked similar to Daragon himself. The picture in question, however, was too blurry to make out any more details.
“Bradbury? Do you mean Bradbury Faust?” Daragon asked, disinterested in the picture.
“I don’t know his last name but I think so. Why? Do you know him?”
“Nope.” Daragon responded.
“Right…” Relic paused. “Well, you want to follow, right?”
“Yeah.”
“However, I did promise your brother to keep you safe.”
Daragon’s face was full of disappointment as he looked down. He made a soft grunt. Relic gazed at Daragon with a hint of pity.
“Fine. You can follow.” He reluctantly agreed.
Daragon did a quick celebratory fist pump.
“We’ll leave in 2 days. I’ll be waiting outside your house door.” Relic added. “And don’t be late.”
“Alright!” Daragon said, remembering he already had a packed bag from days prior when he dropped down the window. Now he just had to set an alarm on his watch.
----------------------------------------
The next morning arrived. Daragon did not get a wink of sleep as he was too busy being excited over the prospect of travelling. Sure he had to travel with a drunkard, but it was better than nothing. And most of all, he could finally get out of his house.
“Daragon.” Aisha walked in the room. Daragon turned to look at the maid. Large black circles evident below his eyes. ‘Yikes.’
“What’s wrong Aisha?” Daragon asked inquisically while rubbing his eyes and letting out a big yawn.
“Nothing. I heard from Relic that you’ll be following him on his journey.” Aisha said as Daragon just nodded. “Don’t you think you’re rushing things?”
“Don’t worry. I know what I’m doing.” Daragon replied.
“I’m being serious, Daragon.”
Daragon stood up and walked over to her. His eyes staring back at hers. He was unflinching and unnerving as he grabbed her shoulders.
“So am I.” Daragon said and for a moment, Aisha felt relieved.
“Alright. I believe you.” Aisha smiled. The little boy she had taken care of all these years had grown up. Or rather was. “But you’re in no shape to go anywhere. Go sleep first. I’ll pack your bag.”
“Hah.” Daragon chuckled lightly.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. It’s just that you’re acting like a mother would. Even though I don’t have one, I’ve never really felt like an Orphan with you around.” Daragon gave a warm smile. “Thanks for filling in as my mom, Aisha.”
“Daragon…” Aisha muttered before becoming a huge crying mess. She hugged Daragon tightly. “I’m going… to…miss you so much…”
Aisha’s words were paused by her nose blockage.
‘But you can still act like a baby sometimes.’ Daragon thought to himself.
----------------------------------------
“So you’re really going already?” Frank asked.
“Yeah.” Relic answered.
“With Draken’s brother though? Does he know about what you did?”
“Probably not but it doesn’t matter. I’d rather avoid that conversation.”
“Alright then.Are you going to shave?”
“Maybe.”
“What? I just bought a glass of water.” Relic complained
“It’s for the times you didn’t pay. Also the emotional damage and turmoil that you caused me.”
“Man, you already took my money last time. And I already spent it all.”
“On what?” Frank asked.
“That’s a secret.” Relic smirked.
“The tab is now £2000.”
“What?!”
In the end, Relic gave him an IOU card.
----------------------------------------
“Daragon?” Tom called. Daragon, however, was snoring away in bed. This was no surprise as Daragon himself hadn’t slept an entire night and only fell asleep much later in the day.
Tom glanced at the neatly packed back and saw a card written by Aisha. He sighed as he went over to gently caress Daragon’s cheek and slap him awake.
“OW!” Daragon yelped in pain.
“You’re leaving today, remember?” Tom told Daragon. The teen briefly looked at the clock and laid back in bed, putting a blanket over his head.
“There’s still an hour…” He whimpered, going back to sleep.
Tom grabbed the bottom of his bed and flipped it over. Daragon didn’t budge in the slightest, grappling both sides of the bed. Over the years, he had grown numb to these attacks. Tom looked back at the clock.
“Alright I give up. I’m going to go buy groceries. Aisha’s out.” Daragon mumbled in response.
The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
----------------------------------------
A breeze went by as his blanket flew with it. The sun’s radiance shone through the window. Daragon grunted, getting up. He went to check the time before starting to panic. It was an hour after the time he was meant to meet Relic.
‘Oh shit!’ He thought. Daragon changed into new clothes and grabbed his watch from the counter, losing no time. He snatched a bottle of cologne and sprayed it on himself while dashing towards the staircase. He jumped down each flight of stairs.
He opened the door. But nobody came.
Did Relic really leave without him? He didn’t know what to make of it. Did Aisha and Tom not wake him up to say goodbye at least? He wanted to curse himself before hearing a loud beep. The watch he got from Draken started beeping. He stared at the time.
“Oh you’re here already.” Relic said as he walked up to Daragon, taken aback by the fragrance he exuded. “That’s a pretty strong scent.”
Daragon stayed quiet, still wondering what was going on before he felt a head pat brushing his hair. One thought raced his mind. ‘Draken?’
It was not Draken, but Tom and Aisha. His family.
“You’re here. I tweaked the clock in your room so you would stop dilly dallying.” Tom laughed before turning into a worrisome face. “Hey. What’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
True enough, Daragon didn’t notice it at first but his watery eyes were about to burst any second. Relief? Maybe. Thinking about Draken again? Not unlikely. As of right now though, it didn’t matter to him.
“Shut up. It’s not tears.” Daragon responded, wiping it away. Aisha slapped Tom’s back.
“I told you it was a mean prank! He’s already emotionally unstable!” Aisha reprimanded Tom as she went closer to Daragon to try and comfort him. She jerked her head back, smelling his cologne.
“I agree. You go wash up first then we’ll leave.” Relic suggested.
After a deliberate 10 minutes, Daragon was almost ready to leave. Almost.
“You forgot this.” Aisha highlighted, holding a bag. “There’s toiletries, a handkerchief, tissues and your ID. Oh and I gave you some money that should last a while as well as packed your favorite foods-”
“It’s alright Aisha.” Daragon calmed down the rambling Aisha. “It’s going to be fine. I can take care of myself.”
“I don’t know about that but I do have something to give you.” Tom held a necklace with a sword keychain. Relic glanced at it, paying some attention. “Draken wanted to give you this. It was your father’s.”
Daragon wore the necklace, putting the sword key above his shirt since it felt uncomfortable.
“Well then, it’s about time we leave.” Relic said while waking.
Daragon hardened his resolve and resisted the urge to look back.
“Take care!” Aisha shouted while waving.
Daragon stopped in his tracks. He was about to burst again.
“Don’t.” Relic muttered under his breath. “If you turn around, you’ll show that you’re not ready. Just keep moving forward.”
Daragon hardened his resolve and simply waved his hand with his back turned away. The two continued moving forward.
----------------------------------------
“Hey, Relic?”
“Hm?”
“What exactly are we doing here? I thought we were going to Kedah.” Daragon said.
Relic and Daragon were on a hill with a flat land surface. Light yellow rocks covered the area.
“You wanted to learn how to get a Seguri, didn’t you?” Relic affirmed, taking out a piece of wood. “This is worth £120,000. Thanks to my connections, I whittled the price to £30,000. Don’t ask how.”
“So that gives me special powers?” Daragon pondered.
“Not really. This is from Yggdrasill. All Seguri are made from that tree. Nobody knows why, but it allows us to connect with Spiritual beings called Anima.” Relic explains.
“So it doesn’t give powers?”
“Yeah. It just acts as a medium. The Anima manifests in these and forms a contract. Then you get powers.” Relic tried his best to sum it up in a way Daragon could understand. “Whichever Anima you contact, you will only have one try.”
“Alright. So how do I contact them?”
“You take this wood and just concentrate really hard on what you wish for. An Anima will appear. Every Anima has its own abilities though so you most likely won’t have something like my ability.”
Daragon sat down and took the piece of wood. He closed his eyes and said concentrated on his wish.
----------------------------------------
“I don’t think it worked…” Daragon opened his eyes to find himself standing in an empty void. “What the heck!”
He stomped around to see that he’s floating on nothing. That’s when he saw it. Two glowing blue eyes, its form not appearing.
“Are you the Anima?” Daragon asked.
“You’re not the one. You’re taken.” It responded.
----------------------------------------
The void shattered as Daragon opened his eyes back into reality. He threw the stick on the ground.
“What happened?” Relic asked.
“He said I wasn’t the one and just rejected me! I didn’t even say anything!” Daragon complained. Relic walked over to the stick to inspect it.
“Well this is useless now.” He says, taking the stick. “Getting an Anima to respond itself is pretty hard. But the ones that do respond normally accept you, you know.”
“This is bullshit!” Daragon yelled and sat down on a boulder, fuming. Relic found his anger quite amusing and then remembered he also spent all the money Draken gave him on that stick. Relic joined Daragon on his boulder.
“If only we had a Seguri from before.” Relic sighed.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, when someone that owns a Seguri dies, the Seguri stays in the item where they were last bonded to and takes that form.” Relic said while holding up his Katana with a Japanese Charm, an Omamori. “A Seguri takes up the shape the user is most comfortable with.”
“So someone else used to own your Katana?”
“No. My Seguri is the Omamori. The Katana is an accessory of the charm.” Relic explains. “The Omamori is the only happy memory I have of my mother.”
“Happy memory? Do I need a connection with this stick to use a Seguri?” Daragon pondered.
“I heard of people using Seguris without a connection to the item before. But most do have a special connection.” Relic said as he grabbed the piece of wood. “Well, I have to find a use for this now.”
“Can’t you just sell it?” Daragon asked.
“Once someone calls for a Seguri, it will always loiter in the medium. And if the Seguri won’t accept the caller, it probably won’t accept someone that just buys them.”
“Then scam them. Don’t you like money?”
“I may be cheap but I would never cheat. I’ve had my fair share of that and it’s not good.”
“You’ve never lied?” Daragon asked.
“Well. I’ve never negatively affected someone with a lie.” He lied.
“How would you tell something is a Seguri?”
“You don’t. You can tell if someone uses a Seguri though. They have a distinct aura.” Relic explained.
“Aura?” Daragon pondered what he said. What exactly did he mean by aura? Like in those comics where lightning surrounded them? Questions ran through his mind.
“Well, it’s more of a sixth sense. Every Seguri user has one. It allows them to discern people. Seguris pick people who stand out from the crowd. They will not settle for those with no ambition.”
“So I didn’t have enough ambition?” Daragon asked again.
“Maybe not the ambition they’re looking for. My ambition was to not be late and now I make portals!” Relic chuckled before letting out a sigh.
“Lame.” Daragon pouted.
“Well, we tried and failed. Now for my end of the bargain. We’re going to Kedah.”
“Okay. Whip us a portal, man who shan’t be late.” Daragon mocked Relic.
“Are you crazy? That’ll drain so much mana to travel that far.” Relic said as he looked down the hill and saw mountains and trees. “But… it is faster”
----------------------------------------
Daragon walked into a wasteland as Relic crawled on the ground. Lying down after passing through a portal. He was gasping for air and fell asleep.
“This definitely looks like the site of a nuke being dropped.” Daragon said satirically, unfazed by Relic’s actions.
Although Daragon was weak by human standards, he was blessed with a body he never used. His body gains a resistance to poison and radiation quickly. Just like the alcohol he drank back when Relic offered it to him, his body had already gained immunity to radiation.
“I’m going to sleep for a while…” Relic said. Subconsciously, he was using all his remaining energy, which was not much, to shelter him from the radiation. This meant he had to conserve energy, by minimising his movements and taking in the mana from the surroundings.
Daragon rolled his eyes before hearing a sound from a distance. He glanced at Relic and went without him. Finding a large hole in the ground where he could hear whispers.
Daragon didn’t dare make a sound as he didn’t know who was in there. He turned to get Relic before tripping on a rock and falling all the way down.
Daragon made a loud sound as he got up to see where exactly he fell. A bright light illuminated him as he saw three people dressed in black robes. The three were, a tall and muscular man, a woman with a bunch of tattoos, and a bald man. And then the symbol XXX in red.
https://i.imgur.com/qIDB8uP.png
“Shit!” Daragon got up immediately, running. The men in robes stared at him.
“Don’t let him get away!” The bald one said.
The giant dashed in front of Daragon, blocking his path. The brute pulled back to punch Daragon with full force. However, Daragon tried to dodge, making his fist’s trajectory go to his liver instead of the solar plexus. Due to John’s excessive strength, this attack which was only meant to knock Daragon out was now going to kill him.
A vision appeared
----------------------------------------
All Daragon could see was the ceiling, but it felt weird. Like it was someone else’s point of view.
“Hey Vox?” A familiar voice said.
“What?” A distorted one replied.
“My life is ending isn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
“If one of my sons were in danger and you could do something to stop it, can you?”
“I’ll think about it.”
“What about you? I know it’s unbecoming of me but could you pass this on to my son?” He asked another man to the side.
----------------------------------------
Daragon snapped back to reality as the necklace he wore started glowing. It blinded the brute, making him instinctively avert his gaze and miss. The necklace levitated in the air to find its way into Daragon’s hand and formed a sabre.
“Is that?” The woman gasped.
“It is.” The bald one confirmed. “The Sabre of Sir Eccel. The Knight.”