----------------------------------------

Prince ⦽f Madness

 Chapter_6://Star_Gazer

----------------------------------------

One morning, I woke up to Elyan’s progressive cough fest. He was locked in the bathroom, throwing up. He really is trying his best to hide it to avoid the pod conversation.

I needed to find alternatives, his medication is doing more damage than good. Too much of anything can lead to poisoning.

I knock on the door. “Elyan…” 

“I’m fine, my love…” 

“I need to take a shit, get out.” 

“I-... I’m sorry--” he says. Most of whatever he said was muffled with the flushing and the faucet going off. The door opened, and he walked out with a strained smile. “Good morning, my love…” he said as he walked past me holding his chest. 

“Morning… How are you feeling?” I ask before going in. 

“I am better…” He took all his morning pills at once and washed them down with what was left of the grape juice. “Josiah, I have to go get more juice--” 

“You? you can barely walk from here to there without catching your breath…” I said before closing the bathroom door behind me. 

I take my seat and Elyan just walks in casually. “Josiah, can we go together to the market? I haven’t left this room in such a long time--” 

“No, Elyan, can’t you not do this now?!” I shouted. 

“Josiah…” 

“Elyan, I want have one hour to shit out my problems! We can talk later!!” 

“Please--” 

“Alright! Alright! I’ll take you with me! Just let me take a shit!” That asshole smiled triumphantly for a couple of seconds before he dismissed himself. That fucking manipulating butt-hole always gets his way. 

I left the city of Prism to go grocery shopping with Elyan. I kept a close eye on him and he seemed to be fine for the most part. 

We have done this before many times and many times, the bastard would toss things without asking, but this time, he behaved. Elyan actually walk close to me and spoke quietly. “Josiah, is it okay if we made soup?” 

“Hm… That actually sounds like a good idea.” I make a turn to the next isle and grabbed the low sodium stock and dropped it in the basket. Elyan tugged my sleeve to gain my attention. “My love, can we make it from scratch…?” he asked quietly with a serene smile. “I am not sure how to make soup, but I guess we can try--” He was holding in his cough till he couldn’t anymore. He covered his mouth with his hands. He was in so much pain his body scrunched over. “Elyan…” 

“M-my love, I’m alright…” he said after catching his breath. 

“I can take you home and I can just order out--” 

“N-no, I really want to make soup,” he begged me. 

“... Then let’s hurry.” That little scare didn't stop him from sneaking a box of sugar free lollipops into the basket though… I got them for him.

It was harmless, and while it is not the best thing to eat when sick, he may not last long and perhaps something sweet would ease his deterioration. 

After that ordeal, we passed by a greenhouse on our way to the car. Elyan didn’t even warn me, he made a sharp turn and ran inside. 

“E-Elyan!” I ran after him, arms filled with groceries. Nothing prepared me for what I found inside, Elyan literally held a man in a choke hold. I almost dropped the bags. “Elyan! What the hell--” the guy he was holding had a gun, and he was firing it wildly. Elyan snapped his neck, and he dropped like a dummy. It happened so fast that my training was put to shame. I also didn’t see the mother, and the daughter huddled up in a corner fearing for their life.

“I told you, mommy! The king came to save us!” The little girl broke free from her mother’s arms and ran up to Elyan and latched onto his leg. He smiled, kneeling to the little girl. “Are you alright?”

“Yup!” She giggled and threw her arms around him. I ran to the mother, dropping all of my groceries in the progress.

“Are you okay, do you need a hospital?”

“W-were okay, he just burst into--...” she hesitated.

“To what? rob you?”

“He heard about what I sold under the counter and… Oh dear what I put my daughter through…?”

“What are you even talking about...?”

“Please! I will give you anything you ask for, but please, don’t tell the police…!”

“Okay, lady, I won’t since you’re not telling me anything.” I was irritated, and I wanted to get home fast. But since Elyan had to be a hero, we are now involved in whatever that woman was selling in her questionable establishment.

The police arrived, someone must have heard the gunshots. Elyan took the child away from the scene while I and the florist explained what went down. Mostly the florist… I still don’t understand what happened. Miraculously, Elyan nor I were charged with anything. Considering he risked his life to save another they deemed him a local hero.

Upon leaving, the little girl ended up with a braided updo with flowers and plastic crystals tangled in it, and Elyan was gifted a flower crown of magnolias. “Thank you for saving us, your Majesty,” the little girl said.

“It is my honor to serve you, Venus,” Elyan spoke while straining and holding back his coughs. I have to admire him for acting like he wasn’t sick. The little girl was shocked. “You know my name!”

“Your mother prays for you every night, so I already know you judging by your mothers description.” He chuckled and a few coughs slipped out.

“Can I know your name?”

“My name is Elyan…” He smiled humbly as he took her hands and plucked— yes, he plucked— one of his scale stars from his sickly skin and placed it in her hands. That isn't cute that was disgusting! “As long as you pray and sing, your nightmares won’t reach you…” The little girl’s eyes opened so much they almost fell out of their sockets.

“Keep it a secret…” Elyan whispered, and the girl nodded with a smile she could barely contain before she ran to her mother. I never thought Elyan would actually be a hero.

I never heard any other rumors around that, not even slight references. I guess he is anonymous till it involves a child.

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

He is very gentle around children, the perfect hero— no, God. But it is an illusion, his perfection is just that.

He can be dying, but he will do anything to save someone’s life, when he said he was a god he probably meant that he felt responsible… If he really is a hunter, a rogue hunter, then he really is going against his nature and he is helping those in need instead… including me.

The moment Elyan and I closed the car doors, he broke into his coughing streak. At this rate he had trouble breathing, and it made me haul ass back to the apartment.

I helped him inside whilst holding the groceries. He ran to the bathroom, dry heaving till he, eventually, spilled the little contents of his stomach into the ceramic bowl.

I rushed to his side to check on him. “Elyan, let’s get you to bed.” He didn’t fight me, he nodded and leaned on me to help him.

He was too ill to help me make the soup so I had to sedate him.

Elyan slept the entire afternoon into the evening till I woke him up so he could eat the soup he really wanted to make with me. He looked disappointed.

Elyan barely ate a spoonful, he coughed the entire meal and I couldn’t give him his medication till it was time. I just resorted to give him a therapy with steroids to stimulate his lungs. He didn’t question me, he just let me work.

I was glad he put up with me and behaved, because the next day I had a drill, and boy, was it brutal…

I was grateful that Elyan woke up slightly better, and he promised me he would stay in bed, in exchange I would take him with me if I had to run errands.

So I ran, I jumped, I fought, I ran some more, I punched, I kicked, I hurt, I ran some more, I fell, I ran even more, I jumped higher, It never ended. I was running in the same spot even as I showered. 

The drills are a normal routine for us... only when war is declared.

So, we had an actual crisis that same day, I had to run to the hospital for an emergency outbreak. I groaned and searched for my uniform but something was missing. I looked all over the locker, the floor, my uniform, my bag, everywhere. “Where the hell did I put the ring…?” I couldn't believe I lost Elyan's ring. Yes, I actually wear it every single day.

“‘Looking for this?” I heard someone say.

When I turned I saw Darrell and his friends dangling the ring in my face.

“Darrell, stop acting immature and give me back the ring.” I was livid, but I was too tired to even scowl.

“What does this even mean to you? You don’t care about anything. I can just throw this out and you won’t feel a thing,” Darrell mocked me. God, if I had a hammer then I would not have hesitated to break his fucking teeth...

“Darrell, give me the fucking ring…”

“Go and get it…” The son of a bitch tossed it across the room. Many things went through my head, mostly the one hundred and one ways to murder this asshole and get away with it. I stared at him for too long which made him hysterical.

“Is that all you will do!? Gawk at me?! You should attack me! Hurt me!”

“I can't. As much as I want to dig my fist into your fucking face, I can't harm my teammates… I really hate you, Darrell, but, I will take a bullet for you or anyone for that matter if necessary. I don’t know what fucking stunt you are trying to pull but I swear to god I won’t let his slide… You better be careful, Darrell. People like you can easily disappear if you piss off the wrong person… Now, piss off.”

He growled and walked away. I spent more than thirty minutes looking for that ring. I never found it and it cut me deep. I didn’t know how I was to tell Elyan I lost it. I rather he never found out.

My first patient was a woman found brutalized in a back alley. She is dead but she, miraculously, is still in labor. Even with the smell of iron I could faintly detect the scent of cherry blossoms. I had a couple of minutes to save the baby. When we got it out though it was decapitated. The stab wounds to her stomach were a clear sign as to why. Another weird symptom was her purple tongue. It was very weird, and I never seen it anywhere.

Then, another arrived alive, and she was high as a kite, brutalized and raped. She also had a purple tongue. Then I got three more patients, all with purple tongues. It was crazy. After a few hours they started to throw up and have seizures. My colleagues saw more patients with it too and we had to report it for future documentation incase we were dealing with an epidemic. We had probably around three hundred patients with the mystery illness and they were dropping like flies.

I managed to stabilize my patients and had to help a few others with theirs, however I couldn't stay for long, I had to check on Elyan.

The first thing I hear when I walk through the door is complete silence. 

I encountered Elyan on his way to the bathroom though. His green eyes glowed in the dark. He wrapped himself up in my coat and blanket. “Josiah…” he whispered in a dreamy state. He sounded different too. Elyan leaned in and kissed my collar bone. I just pushed him off me and said, “sorry I am late. We had a crisis at the E.R.” I walked past him and quickly undressed. I checked if he took his meds by counting the pills in his supply and after doing the math I fall face first on my bed.

I could ignore the mess of candy on the nightstand, but what I couldn't ignore was the multiple dried cum stains on the sheets. “God fucking dammit…” I said lowly. Of course he was exhausted, he came all over my bed like a degenerate. I got up to change the goddamned sheets, but when I turned on the lights I realized the spots were actually black. I think he just spilled something on the bed, like cola or caramel, either way I had to change the blankets.

A dirty blanket was the least of my problems, Elyan kept waking up, which woke me up whenever he came and went. “Elyan, for fucks sakes, go to sleep!” I shouted. I tried to go back to sleep but Elyan left several lights on and I had to stand up to shut them off. Then the smell hit me like a bad déjà vu, I could smell the stomach acid. I then saw Elyan hunched over the toilet trembling. “Elyan? What's wrong?” I walked up to him.

“I feel so sick…” His voice quivered. “Elyan… please” I sighed, “let me put you in the pod--” He panicked and clung to my boxer shorts. “D-don't hurt me…! I am sorry…! I didn't mean it!” The rest was siren gibberish. “E-Elyan, I need you to relax!” 

“Nrishma! Aleok!!” He choked up on his words, he was sweating. “Elyan, Elyan! Be quiet!” I pulled away from him to get his epipen. “Josiah! Maei!” He fell on the floor clutching his chest. I acted quickly and stabbed him with his pen. Once he calmed down, I carried him to the bed.

“I am going to fix you up, Elyan…” I took his blood pressure, and it was dangerously low. I gave him an intravenous therapy and medication to ease his pain.

He stabilized, for the most part.

So, I mopped the floor and disinfect the apartment. I noticed a peculiar thing in my mop, it got stained with purple dye. I stare at it and the smell was faint of grapes. I looked at the lollipops on the nightstand, perhaps they were connected. I went back to check on Elyan. “Elyan, say ah…” I flashed a light and when he opened his mouth, I saw his tongue and teeth stained with the dye. “Elyan, what did you eat today?”

“I… ate pancakes… Then I had some rice cakes… Then I ate all the lollipops,” he answered weakly and his accent was thick. I sighed before I resume the interrogation. “Are you sure? You don't remember anything else in particular…?”

“I felt… happy after I ate the first loli so I kept eating them. Then I... I wanted nothing but you. I missed you so much but I stayed in bed taking in your scent. It was sweet and addicting. Then I felt sick. I am sorry...” he smiled sweetly.

“Don't worry, I will get you better…” I checked the packaging, and each pop was wrapped carelessly, which raise the question, what the hell were in the pops? I called Darrell since he was still on shift.

“What the hell do you want--?”

“Save it, butt-face. I think I have a clue for the mystery cases.” 

“Is that so?”

“Ask all the patients if they ate a pop in the last twenty-four hours.”

“A pop?”

“Yeah, or any sort of candy.”

“It is so weird you mention it because we had a little girl who was eating a pop from her mother's purse. She’s now in ICU after a horrible seizure.”

I instantly hung up the phone after hearing Elyan's cough fest.

His blood pressure sky rocket. I prepared the necessary to lower it and changed his fluids. Despite my efforts, I was losing him. His heart was beating erratically. “Elyan… please… stay with me…” I worked faster to normalize his pulse. His body convulsed and his eyes rolled back. “Elyan, hold on…” I begged while I increase the dosage. He reached my shirt and pulled me down. With shivering gasps he said to me, “my-... m-my love… I don't want to be in the pod...” he flatlined.

“Oh, hell no!! You are not going anywhere!!” I puncture his chest with a needle of adrenaline but he never came back...

I ran out of options. My back hit the wall and I panicked.

Against his wishes I hooked him into the pod. I felt as if I betrayed him again but, as much as I hate the pod, it did have its advantages. I overwrite the pod and it scanned Elyan head to toe, inside and out and it basically report me what I already knew. Two new factors were presented to me though. One, his body contained dangerous levels of Methylenedioxymethamphetamine, or MDMA: a drug used Prism as a psychotheraputic method to make hunters into sex fiends. And two, his heart had many scars since early life but one in particular was physically inflicted by a spear like weapon type. Or an arrow.

“Oh, my god…” I choked on my realization. Elyan can do many things, he saves humanity because that is a promise he made in order to possess such powers. He didn't think twice to save me that night of the rapture and in return I gave him the most miserable days of his fading life. I shed tears staring at his findings. The bastard literally gifted me his heart to save my miserable life.

I understand now why I was hunted down, I was the faulty soldier. My heart was sick, and I was going to die. Now his heart beats wildly in my chest. "Oh my god…” I could hear the phone ring but I ignored it. I just stood there staring at the God of Stars and Dreams sleeping comfortably though his coma, even then he still wore his serene smile.

I wanted to die. I broke down. I pressed my hands against the glass to hold myself up but I slowly slid down to the ground and sobbed quietly. Was I really worth saving after all I did to him?