They both stepped into the spacious room as each stride was followed by a quiet creak from the rustic floor planks, the room felt fairly cozy, there were two beds, each were on separate sides of the large room, it was nicely lit by candles that were placed on the night stands next to the beds and in the middle of the room on a empty desk that was propped against the wall, the desk was placed directly under the only window in the room, it's rather wide size let the moonlight shine into the room giving it a relaxing feeling.
Yuri looked around and felt mesmerized by how well polished the rock walls were, shining like marble as if they were polished just before they entered, it was almost as if he was looking in a black foggy mirror, he could see a rough reflection of his silhouette on the onyx wall, however his amazement was quickly replaced by a feeling of uncertainty, the rest of the inn looked antique and rustic while the room looked so well taken care of not having a single speck of dust in sight.
"This place gives me the creeps." Yuri thought to himself as he felt watched however since Arthur decided it was safe to sleep here who was he to argue.
Arthur quietly sat down on one of the twin sized beds as the small boy continued to observed him, the man's grim expression still not having faded from they're previous conversation, no matter how dense Yuri was he still understood that bringing the topic of his family back up or any topic for that matter right now would be just plain stupid and would only serve to worsen Arthur's mood, so he decided to just go to sleep.
Yuri walked up to the empty bed on the other side of the room and laid on it facing Arthur who was still sitting on his with his head down, covered by his hood as always, his glaive resting at the foot of the bed, Yuri just wanted to make sure the saddened man wouldn't do anything irrational since this was the first time Yuri had ever seen him this emotional and didn't know how he would act.
The small boy closed his eyes slowly as he snuggled up in a warm bed as it's silky covers wrapped themselves around his small body making him even more comfortable, it was the first time in weeks that he'd get to sleep on something warm and comfortable, his eyelids slowly became heavier and heavier to the point he couldn't open his eyes anymore and just fell asleep, the soft pillows massaging his head.
After what felt like a simple moment of darkness a sudden burst of light made him wake up, opening his eyes irritated while slightly covering them with his soft hands to block out the light before looking at the window, the sun had almost climbed to its summit and it had somehow become noon.
"Huh, how long was I asleep?" He said in a daze. "Shit." Yuri looked at the other bed on the other side of the room but Arthur wasn't there, the covers still intact as if he hadn't even laid there for a second, Yuri got out of his bed and stretched his well rested body.
Impatiently Yuri opened the door to the room and took a step outside onto the hall however just as he had stepped out somebody bumped into him knocking the small boy down on the floor flat on his back.
The small boy shook his head and quickly sat up proceeding to look up with a annoyed expression on his face just to see a trio of mysterious figures, human men in what looked to be black cloaks with bits and pieces of armor from a dark green metal Yuri didn't recognize scattered around they're bodies here and there, however the creepiest thing was that they looked the same, literally, long brown hair put up in a ponytail and piercing green eyes, a darker shade than Arthur's eyes and a pretty sharp face structure.
They were almost like copies of each other, to Yuri the concept of twins and triplets was a foreign one as he had never seen one before and neither heard of them.
Before he could even muster up a word of rebellion or complaint the three men just moved on as if nothing had happened walking away deeper down the wide hallway before entering a random room.
Yuri was still down on the ground and was furious, they bumped into HIM and did not even apologize, he got up and dusted himself off a little before walking up to the door the trio had gone through, his eyes narrowed as looked at the number on the door.
"Room number 12." He wanted to bust down the door and rip the men to pieces however he held back, not only because of Arthur's previous advice on attacking when the enemy is most vulnerable and to be patient but because he knew he couldn't do anything against them.
Yuri had felt they're presence when they bumped into him, while it wasn't nearly as strong as Arthur's is, it was still much greater than his own, he knew that even if he managed to somehow surprise them they would still be able to kill him before he could even cause one of them any harm.
In fact everyone in the inn seemed to be plenty stronger than Yuri was, these weren't your common bandits or thugs, these were warriors, assassins and seasoned veterans of war most having transferred to being adventurers to earn money during times of peace, compared to them all he was is a child with a bit of talent for fighting and killing, his only protection here and the only reason he hadn't been killed or worse was because he was Arthur's disciple and the man had made sure that it was known, he might not have been the strongest there however he is a forced to be reckoned with, right now Yuri was vulnerable without him.
The boy decided that this was a fight he could not win no matter what so he decided to swallow his pride and leave going downstairs to the inn in search of Arthur and something to eat too.
As he stepped down the creaky wooden staircase scanning the bar for Arthur's presence, his eyes ran behind the bar's giant counter made from the same material as the walls in his room, the barmaid was serving drinks to customers who, naturally, looked like grizzled warriors.
Yuri's eyes narrowed. "That's strange she was here last night too." His tone was skeptical. How could someone work from almost midnight till noon without a single wrinkle or dark circles appearing on their face and with no signs of fatigue? Was it a spell? Or something else maybe, who knows.
The slim and elegant woman moved gracefully behind the counter serving the customers mugs of ale the size of her head, her long straight orange hair flowing behind her as her fox ears stood straight, the trace of her narrow, light yellow eyes being left behind by her swift movements, her thin glossy lips formed a sly grin that accentuate her sharp features, her face indicated she was in her late 20's maybe even her early 30's, she was wearing a black frilly dress that reached down to her ankles, tightened by a corset that showed off her tall yet skinny hourglass figure as each -clank- sound of her jet black high heels made was like a complex melody.
Yuri moved his gaze away from the woman's distracting movement and looked around the inn, finally he spotted Arthur who was drinking with what looked like two other war veterans, the small boy could tell they were ex army due to their equipment which was similar to Arthur's, age and scars from countless bloody battles.
Yuri focused his sights on Arthur, surprisingly he had casted aside the grim expression he wore yesterday and now he has adopted back his usual cocky and joking personality.
Subconsciously Yuri let out a sigh of relief, he may not want to admit it but he already saw Arthur as a bit of a father figure now after almost three months of them traveling together, even if his words or actions spoke otherwise he looked up to Arthur and even cared for him a little as family.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Yuri took a step down the rustic stairs and out of nowhere a flash suddenly appeared in his mind, it was of yesterday's dream, the image of Molly's head being cut off by the headless horseman played in his head followed by violent images of death he had witnessed up until that point, from how he burned the pack of wolves that attacked him to the crazy bandits that traveled with Arthur followed by the merchant and adventurers that Arthur massacred and finally how he mercilessly murder of the goat guard and his family last night.
With a cold stare in his eyes the boy continued walking down the steps which now felt as steep as mountains, each step was a new image popping out of the darkest corners of his mind reminding him of the horrible things he had done, eas creek of the stairs a blood riddled memory, after reaching the bottom of the staircase Yuri shook his head nonchalantly dismissing those memories.
Whilst walking towards Arthur's table the small boy could feel as the other patrons of the inn looked at him, some a little more surprised than others each a different look in their eyes however none screamed out friendly, in the Red Light district there were very few children due to obvious reasons, the only ones that stayed here were either slaves or street urchins, mostly not by choice but bound by this districts dark secrets.
The small boy stood next to Arthur's chair looking up at the hooded figure.
"Oh kid! FInally up huh, did ya' get a good night's rest?" He laughed out loud.
The boy's stomach just lets out a growl, Arthur's eyes widen before looking at the other men sitting at the same table at him then back at Yuri, his laughter becomes even more hysterical..
"Ha ha ha, too bad for you but it's already noon brat, the bar here only serves breakfast and dinner here so you're going to have to put up with this, unless....." Arthur took out a nutritional pellet from one of his pouches, Yuri just stared at the brown menacing pellet and its perfect cylindrical shape that seemed to mock him.
Would he rather starve until dinner time or get constipated for the next week or so, he was too hungry to think.
With a sigh of defeat the boy snatched the hell pill out of the smug man's hand and started chewing on it unsatisfyingly with a look of disdain plastered on his face.
Arthur took his mug of ale from the table and handed it to Yuri. "Here, wash the shitty taste down with this."
Yuri took the mug hesitantly before chugging the whole thing.
"-Bleh- This is too bitter." The small boy put the empty mug back on the table with discontent before wiping the foam from the ale away from his thin lips.
Arthur and the two veterans laughed at the small boy's reaction to the ale, suddenly a revelation overcame his drunk snickering.
"Oh kid I almost forgot." Arthur took out a piece of paper. "Here, my friend Elric here made this for you, he used to be a tutor for noble's snobby kids before the war hit and he had to enroll." Yuri looked at the paper which had scribbles that resembled that on the signs he had previously seen on the road during his journey and from the books his mother read to him before bed.
Yuri looked at Elric, who was a short porcupine demi-human around his early 50's, the man had spiked black hair with white tips that looked like the spikes on a porcupine's back and a scruffy white beard, he had a friendly face covered by scars of different origins, some burns and some cuts, however the strangest thing about him were his eyes which seemed..... blurred, he was looking in the boy's general direction but not exactly at him.
"Thank you." Yuri's crimson eyes never left the paper as he seemed to be studying it.
The old man closed his cloudy eyes and nodded with a kind and carefree expression ached on his face. "You should try adding your mana into one of the letters, you'll find a pleasant surprise." He chuckled softly.
Yuri with a small look of confusion looked down at the paper after which he hesitantly put his hand over the first letter in the paper injecting a small amount of mana into it, a sound came out. "a" He jolted in surprise at the paper that had just made a sound, he looked profusely at the paper then at the old man.
"Is this an artifact?"
Elric laughed at his comment almost as if he said something so absurd it was funny. "No little one, this is a spell called Imprint, it lets the caster leave messages made of mana onto solid objects that when infused with mana again will be read out loud by the winds, it might be a 1st tier spell but the level of control it takes for it to be effective is that of at least a 4th tier and spell for simple words and much more for full sentences."
A sensation of amazement washed over Yuri as he stared at the magical piece of paper, he had no idea there were such creative spells and that magic could be used in such a way, a good way that did not lead to bloodshed but to knowledge.
"You better be grateful you little troublemaker, learning how to read is important no matter where you are, and who knows with that you might even be able to learn how to write if you're half as smart as you are good at fighting." Arthur had a smug expression on his face as if he had given Yuri the greatest gift in the world.
"Huh, oh, thank you too I guess."
"What the hell was with that unenergetic response you damn brat!" Arthur hit Yuri over the head with his fist.
Yuri covered his head and rubbed it lightly to make the pain lighter then screamed out. "THAT HURT! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR OLD MAN!"
A few seconds later.....
The small boy is now kneeling down obediently next to Arthur who is looking down at him, the boy's face was now covered in bruises from what looks like a one sided beat-down as he kept his head low almost bowing down to Arthur.
"I'm sorry master, I received a most wonderful gift yet I didn't show any appreciation towards your kind gesture." Yuri's voice was leveled and respectful, he had completely swatted away his ego.
"Arthur, you didn't have to go that far, he's just a small kid, when we were his age we were playing in the mud with our friends and playing stupid games in the forest all day long." The friendly voice came from the man seated next to Elric, Yuri couldn't quite see his face due to a hood similar to that of Arthur's that he wore as it only revealed his mouth and his... light gray skin...
The boy looked at the man then at Arthur noticing the similarity.
"Master is he-" Yuri was interrupted by Arthur.
"Ha ha ha, you catch on quick brat." He leans in, his face a few centimeters from Yuri's ear and he whispers. "He was part of my squad during the war, he's also of the same demon race or kin as me, however you wanna put it, by the way his name is M'Ur."
"I guess demons have some pretty strange names, Arthur must have also had a name like that before getting married." Yuri thought to himself, suddenly the his eyes widened with a shocking realization, demons are roaming the Overworld and most people don't even know this, they still probably think they were sent back to the Underworld nine years ago at the end of the war, or maybe it's just those from Arthur's squad that were accepted by the army than now live in hiding, if that were the case it would be a relief.
Yuri turned his head to face Arthur and signaled him to get closer with a motion of his hand, the hooded man turned his head to the side and leaned in, Yuri whispered in his ear.
"The old man, does he know you're both demons?"
Arthur responded not caring for his tone. "Yeah, we spoke a few times before, he was part of an information gathering squad during the war, well, that was until some demos managed to capture him and tortured him, they made him look directly into the sun and the poor man turned blind before doing many other horrible things, but don't underestimate him, he's still a deadly soldier far beyond your capabilities."
Both the man and the boy went back to normal, Yuri took his seat again while Arthur and the two men just had a blast, drinking and toasting until the fall of night when dinner would finally be served.
As the tables were filling with food Yuri noticed something strange, the barmaid had... duplicated? Just like the trio of men that bumped into him they both looked the same, same elegance, clothing, face and body.
"Arthur, that woman, the barmaid, how are there two of her?"
"Huh? Two of her? They're twins of course." Arthur sounded as if he had stated the most obvious thing in the world.
"Twins? What's that?"
Arthur spent an excessive amount of time explaining to the concept of twins trying to show off his knowledge to his disciple even through it was a pretty simple concept and his explanations were just different variants of the same thing making Yuri bored, the boy felt dizzy as his consciousness slipped away slowly eventually even falling asleep satisfied, his belly was filled and his thirst was quenched, what more could he ask for... well a nice childhood would be nice too but Yuri gave up on that months ago, the moment his village was raided.