Rein waited outside the room. He walked around, back and forth. He sat, placing his hand in the side of his head, then stood up. The door creaked open.The doctor came out. The doctor told him that they couldn't identify the cause, and that even with their best, her condition was still unstable.
He sat on the nearby chair, his body slumped. He put his hand together and closed his eyes. For the first time in his life, he prayed with all his heart, prayed to the god he never believed in before. For that was the only thing he could do right now. Suddenly someone grabbed him by the shoulder.
"You okay Rein?" Someone asked him. He opened his eyes and looked,It was Friede, She sat right next to him. “Sorry i'm late, i have to tell father first.”
"Friede?" Rein face was like an ice, and his eyes were blank. "Where's Albert?"
"He's probably still on his way, since his house is far away from here." Friede answered. "How's sister?"
"She was unstable at best, the doctor already did all they could, but they still couldn't identify the problem." He answered . Suddenly a man in white suit approached Rein with two other man following him behind. He stood in front of Rein. Rein looked up and that man looked down on him.
That man raised his hand that was covered with white gloves. His hand flew to Rein face. The sound was so loud everyone could hear it. Then it came again from opposite direction, then again, again, and again. He took it all, without even trying to dodge or block it. His pale face became red because of that.
"Cursed Child!" He spatted on his face. "How many time have i told you? Never get close to my daughter again! Now look what you have done to her!" He shouted, he doesn't care if other people heard him,No, he wanted other people to heard him, loud and clear.
That man raised his arm again. This time Friede stood between them with her arm stretched out. "DAD! STOP!"
Rein grabbed her shoulder. "It's fine Friede, it was my fault after all."Rein stood up and bowed to the man before him. "I'm sorry sir, for all the problem that i caused...To you, and your family" He walked to the exit.
Friede wanted to stop him, but her father grabbed her. She struggled, but that only made his grip on her arm even tighter.
"Don't you dare get close to one of my daughter again!" He shouted at Rein.
Cursed child. That's what people who knew about Rein past called him. When he was 5 years old both his parent died in a car accident. After the accident he was taken by his grandparents who lived not too far from his original house, who soon after, died when a burglar broke into their house.
After that, no relative of him wanted to adopt him, so he went to orphanage. After two month he was adopted by a family of 5, who all died when their house collapsed for no apparent reason. He came back to the orphanage, only for everyone there to died because of an infectious disease, with him being the only who survived.
No orphanage wanted to accept him, his uncle adopt him. Yet his uncle always avoided him, because he was afraid of the curse. Rein was left home alone all the time with his uncle only providing him with money. But even after his uncle effort, he died in a plane crash. After his uncle died, he was abandoned, any relative of him doesn't even care about him anymore and no orphanage wanted to accept him.
He wandered the neighbour, but no one opened their door at him, until he collapsed in front of a small church, where an old priest, Constantine, took him and adopted him.
Constantine adopted him and took care of him like he was his own child. He doesn't care if the kid he took was a cursed child, He doesn't care what the neighbour said to him, he loved the child anyway. Rein was happy, he finally have someone who he could call a father, a family. It was also at that time that he met again with his childhood friend after separated for many years.
Deep inside he was afraid that his father and his friend would die because of his curse. But Constantine was somehow always able to avoided death, many strange accident happened to him, yet he was always able to survive. For 8 years, he took care of Rein, until the he died of heart attack while sitting in his own church.
That was the true reason why Rein doesn't want to get close to anyone, anyone he got close to died. The one who has been able to avoid the curse so far was 4 of his childhood friends . But Iris luck has ran out that day, or maybe it was because they kissed.
He finally arrived home with his body full of wound. He doesn't remember how he came home, as he was spacing out all the time. His body was like an ice, pale and cold, but he doesn't care anymore at that time.
The hospital is located pretty far from his home and he has to walked all the way since his bike broke and he doesn't have any money to take the subway or bus. The church In front of his house was still bright. Technically, he owned that church building since he inherited it from his father . But the church was handled by a friend of his father who's also a priest. His father always tried to teach him about christianity, but he never were a believer of god.
He walked around the small church to reached his house behind it. He looked at it,It's a two story house with two bathroom and three bedroom. He never understood why his bather bought that house, since his father always sleep in the church and never in the house. After his father passed away he lived there alone.
"Rein, did something happened? You're usually full of energy no matter what happened." Father Marcus, the priest who handled the church approached him.
"Nothing Father, it just... i have a bad day today." He answered without any energy.
"Well, don't grieve to much about it son. Your father in heaven wouldn't want to see his son looking sad like that. " Rein smiled a little, the mention of his father made him happy.
After his short exchange with father Marcus he trekked inside his house. He took a key from his pocket and opened the front door. Usually he cleaned his house first, took a bath, and studied before he went to sleep. But he just doesn't have the energy to do so. He sat on the couch in the living room and opened his phone. There were messages from Albert and Friede. He opened Albert message first.
"Dude, Sorry i came late. Friede told me everything. Don't think too much about what that old fart told you, he always hated you from the beginning.You're not the cause of Iris condition. And she definitely won't forgive you if you blame yourself for her condition." He smiled a little. Then he opened Friede message.
"Rein, please just forget what happened today. Tomorrow is an important day for you right? You're able to try summoning your guardian spirit tomorrow. If you failed again this year i bet sister would wake up and slap you in the face. Also don't worry about anything, i'm staying in the hospital for now, if anything happen i call you immediately."
Albert and Friede message eased him up a bit. Friede was right, he promised Iris he would succeed the summoning this year. He should focus all his energy for tomorrow. He woke up, and headed to his bedroom on the second floor.
He saw the same dream again. The dream that felt too real. Again, he was in the same room as before. The door was already broken and he could move this time. The room wasn't that dark anymore since light was coming from the doorway.
He stood up from his throne and looked at his body. Black armor covered his body. It doesn't fell cold or anything, the armor fitted him fine and he felt comfortable.
He walked to the doorway, but after only a few step he noticed something was wrong. The air was very thick and the room smelled foul. He stepped on something, something thick. He took a step back. If he could scream, he would right now, after seeing what he stepped on. The room was a pool of blood, and there were many corpses scattered around the room. He walked to the nearest corpse, he walked in a slow and careful pace, to not make the blood splashed to his body. The corpse has its back side up, he picked it up and turned it around.
His eyes widened in horror. He pushed the corpse away as his body tumbled backward. Blood splashed to all of his body. His body trembled. He was screaming with all his might inside his heart. The corpse he pushed crawled slowly to him. His tried to back away, but something held him. Multiple corpses held his body from behind, grabbing all of his limb making him unable to move.
"You killed us! You killed us all!" They screamed as they held his body.
He looked back, his breathing became chaotic. He knew all those corpse that held him, it was everyone that died because of his curse. His parents, his grandparents, his friends at orphanage, his adoptive family, his uncle. They scratched his body, trying to rip his body apart. The corpse in front of him turned his head to its direction, it was Iris. Her face was pale and her hair white. She smiled, and scream at hs face.
"YOU KILLED ME REIN! YOU KILLED ME! KILLED ME! ME!"
His body jumped out from his bed. He couldn't breath, his mind was filled with the horror of his nightmare. Tears burst from his eye. He looked around like a madman, searching for everyone he saw in his dream, searching for Iris.
"IRIS! IRIS!" He shouted.
Suddenly his bedroom door slammed open. A man in black shirt, Albert aproached him.
"Rein! What's wrong?" He panicked.
Rein sense returned to him. He realized what he just saw was just a dream. He took a deep breath and exhale it slowly. He wiped his tears and opened the blanket that covered him.
"Albert?" Rein asked while holding his head on the side of the bed. "I-i'm sorry, i got a nightmare. For the last few days i always had a nightmare, but today it's just....."
"Relax okay! I bring your breakfast here." He replied.
"Wait Albert!" His head was aching like crazy, but he forced himself to wake up. He followed Albert to the kitchen.
"It's still be a while until breakfast is ready. Just wait in the living room, watch the TV or something!" He told Rein while he cooked breakfast.
Rein walked to the living room and sat on the couch to relieve his headache. After a while Albert came and brought him the breakfast.
"Friede can't come today since she's watching over Iris at the hospital, so she told me to come here and help you. Guess she was right." Said Albert while giving Rein a bowl of soup. "Mind telling me what happened yesterday, before.. you know, what happened to Iris."
Rein told Albert all that happened yesterday while he ate his breakfast. Like always Albert was an excellent cook, even a simple soup could become super delicious if he made it, and it fixed his mood.
"So you two kissed yesterday? I'm surprised that didn't happen like, 5 years ago. I mean, everyone can see you both liked each other, i think even both of you realized it already." Albert commented on his story.
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"Well, confessing your love is hard you know, even more if it was your bestfriend. The fear of being rejected is just too great." Rein replied.
"Well let's just forget what happened yesterday for today, go take a shower or something. Today is our summoning day isn't it, if you failed again Iris would be mad when she woke up." Albert stood up and collected the empty bowl.
"Yeah, yeah you're right." rein replied.
After Rein took a shower and changed his clothes, they went to the Magic Association office to try summon their guardian spirit. Before they left they got inside to the church in front of his house first, since Albert is a christian. When they entered the church Rein looked at one of the window. It was a coloured window with an image in it. He remembered about the story his father told him. About the great hero Reinhard who protect the world from a great disaster. It was a story he loved.
"Say Albert, isn't summoning a guardian spirit used to be forbidden by the church?" Rein asked. "Wasn't it considered blasphemy or something. As you can summon other people soul if you get a B or better ranked guardian spirit."
"Yes, they used to. But two years ago the pope himself told in public that as long as the guardian spirit is not used for evil deed it was alright." After he finished his pray they went out from the church.
"Morning Rein, Morning Albert." An old and soft voices greeted them. It was Kelvin, an old man who lived across the street. He has been his neighbour since he was adopted here. He lived in a small house with a woman, and nobody was sure what their relationship was as no one dared to ask. Maybe she was his daughter, maybe his guardian spirit.
He looked to be in his 80s or early 90s. Anywhere Rein saw him he always wore a fedora with his white hair that reached his neck coming out from the side. Every morning he always sit on his wheelchair outside and greeted anyone that passed by.
Albert and Rein replied his greeting. A women came from inside the house and brought him a coffe. The women is strange, her skin and hair is pale white. Her stare was always blank, she never showed any emotion, and she never spoke to anyone other than Kelvin. "Thank you Doll." She bowed her head and went inside again.
Abert and Rein continued walking. It was always strange seeing Kelvin interacting with that woman, but he always nice to everyone.
They took the subway to the office, it was a huge building in the middle of the town. When they arrived, the hall was already crowded with people. They filled their form and pay the fee to summon their spirit. Even though the hall itself was really large, only 10 person could summon their spirit at a time so the rest have to wait in the waiting room for their turn to summon guardian spirit. The waiting room was cozy, with many chair and a lot of food shop. They both sat on one of the chair while waiting for their turn.
"Well Albert since this is your first time, do you know what to do?" Rein asked.
"Hey, i know okay, even if i don't i could just searched it on the internet." Albert answered. "When our name is called, we go inside and start the ritual. After we summon the spirit, we have to make contract with them, or else they would just vanished in a few hour or a few day."
"Albert do you have any thing you wanted to summon in particular?"
"Not really. I mean of course if i can i wanted to summon a great hero so that i can protect those who are important to me." Albert answered.
"But wouldn't it be hard if you summon a person, since you also have to feed them and everything."
"It's not like they would just slack off in the house either. I would order them to work of course." Albert answered.
Rein name was called. He went into the summoning room. The room was nothing special, it was a white room with a summoning circle in the middle and a TV in front of it. Rein stood near the summoning circle and faced the screen. Rein read the word that popped up on the screen because he doesn't remember the incantation. While reading he tried to remember why he was doing that, not for himself, but for Iris. He tried so hard to focus, but the scar on his neck started to hurt again. The more he tried to focus, the more it hurt.
After a while the summoning ritual was finished. Just like last year and the year before, he failed again. He was disappointed and a bit sad, because he couldn't fulfill his promise,but he won't give up, next year he would try again, and he would succeed.
After his failure, other people laughed at him. He doesn't really mind, it was always the same, anyone that failed the summoning always became a laughing stock, that was the reason most doesn't bother to try again after they failed. Albert however, couldn't stand it, seeing his best friend being laughed at. He yelled at them and almost started a fight. Other people dismissed him, thinking that he would end up being a failure just like Rein.
Oh, how wrong they were. When Albert name was called he immediately went to the summoning room. He walked with fury in his leg. He doesn't need a guide as he remembered the incantation. He read it so fast, not even him could understood what he was saying, but when it was finished a bright light filled the entire hall.
Everyone was shocked, except Rein, he knew Albert would summon a great spirit. Three beautiful women stood before Albert. And not just any women, they're the companion of the great hero Reinhard from the legend.
They are very beautiful that everyone there, men or women stared at them with their mouth open. Their presence is like that of an angel that descended from the heaven. When the three of them opened their eyes they shed a tear of happiness. They hugged Albert from all side and they speak in unison.
"Reinhard!" They shouted as they hugged him.
Albert face was bright red as he was hugged. He never hugged or being hugged by women other than his mother before.
Then the one in the middle, Fear,suddenly held his cheek and kissed him. Albert fainted, all of this was too much for him too handle. Since child Albert doesn't have that many female friend. He couldn't get near a girl without his face lit up like a lamp.
Everyone was even more shocked than before, even Rein doesn't expect that.
"Hey Fear, look what have you done to him. If i were the one to kiss him first this wouldn't have happened."Uriza complained.
"No! It should be me first!" Said Eliel. They argued with each other who should kissed him first.
A medical team came they moved Albert to the infirmary. Fear, Uriza, and Eliel followed them. Rein also followed them,but after only one step he felt an incredible killing intent. A sword of light was held at his throat, a fireball at his face, and a knife is pointed to his heart.
"Don't move Cursed one! I don't know what matter you have with Reinhard, we will let you go now, but if you take another step, not even your ashes will remain." Fear, the one who held the sword warned him.
'they're a strong spirit after all, it would be strange if they didn't noticed it' He thought. He took a step back, he wanted to see how Albert, but it was wiser to just wait elsewhere. Even as he walked away he could still felt the hostility coming from them.
After 15 minutes, Albert woke up in the infirmary bed. When he opened his eyes, he was greeted by the three spirit he had summoned. When he saw them his face became bright red again, he could fainted anytime.
"I'm fear, This is Uriza, And this is Eliel. I'm sorry for kissing you suddenly, but when we see your face, you were exactly like Reinhard when he was younger, so i couldn't help it." fear Apologized.
"I-it's alright. It was my first kiss, but if it was with someone like you i don't think i'll mind." He replied.
"It's your first kiss?"She covered her face and bowed her head. "I"M SORRY! AHH! IT'S EMBARRASSING!"
"Well, i'm Albert. Sorry for looking like Reinhard. So it is true then, all of you were his companion." Albert introduced himself.
"You're not just look like him you know, your smell, and your aura also exactly matched him. It's like you're his reincarnation." Uriza explained.
"Not only his companion, we're his wives." Said Eliel suddenly.
"Eh?" Albert was surprised. "H-how?"
"Reinhard was a true womanizer in his life, when we found out about each other we were so angry, but after a while, somehow we were able to just accept it." Fear answered.
"Well, then his personality couldn't be more different than me then. Even if i were his reincarnation it seems i can't get well with women like he does."
"Don't worry, you're exactly like him when he was younger, he also can't get well with women, his face become all red just like you." Eliel Explained. She looked happy with her mouth smiled wide. "Also we haven't make a proper contract yet since you fainted before we can make one."
"Oh yeah, the contra--- Wait, where is Rein?"
"Rein?" They asked.
"You know, a guy my age, black short hair,bruises all his face." He answered.
"Oh you mean the Cursed one, we're already sent him away since he seemed to be following you." Fear answered.
He gritted his teeth. Cursed one, who the heck were they when they called his friend like that. He couldn't accept it. He got out of the bed and ran. He has to apologize to Rein, it was his spirit that called him like that. He searched for him everywhere, he asked every people he came across. Fear, Uriza, and Eliel followed him, their face filled with concern.
He got out of the building and saw him, sitting on a bench ouside, waiting for him while eating a burger.
"Ah! you have woke up Albert? " Rein asked with a smile in his face.
"I'm sorry!" Albert apologized. "My spirit called you a cursed one." Rein laughed.
"How long have you known me Albert? I think it would be even stranger if such a great spirit like them doesn't even realize my curse." He answered.
"You're not cursed Rein! You must not call yourself like that. If you do, i won't forgive you!" Albert Looked at Rein with a fierce stare.
"Okay-okay." Rein gave up, if Albert was like that no matter what he said Abert wouldn't chaged his mind. Fear, Uriza, and Eliel catched up.
"Fear, Uriza, Eliel, apologize to him! If you don't apologize i won't make a contract wth any you." Albert ordered them.
All three of them kneeled before Rein. "We are sorry, we forget our place, and dishonored our master."
"he-hey it's okay, stand up! you're all making me embaressed." Said Rein. Fear then hugged Albert from behind. Albert was surprised and his face turned red again.
"Well Albert, you're exactly like Reinhard. You're kind to anyone." Fear smiled.
Suddenly a speaker on the street turned on. There was an announcement, everyone shoud cease any activity at 6 PM and no one was allowed to go outside after 9 PM.
"Well Rein, want to come to my house? Since we have breakfast in your house it should be appropriate that we have lunch on my house right." Albert asked. Rein nodded.
Albert house was not that far away from the magic association office, but it was on the opposite direction of Rein house. They took a subway from there to near his house. It was awkward along the way, as everyone was staring at them because of Fear, Uriza, and Eliel following them from behind.
Albert house was a japanese styled house that was located on a hill. It's a large house even if it only one story high.
They entered the outer wall and walked through the front garden before they reached the front door. The front garden was tidy, Albert took great care of it.From the front door they walked a long hallway before reaching the living room. In the hallway there were 2 unused guest room.
Albert told them to wait on the dining room while he prepared the lunch.
The lunch was even more awkward than when they walked here. If it was normal condition, even with only Rein and Albert the house would became noisy, but today it was dead silent. Everyone just sat there without saying anything. Fear, Uriza, And Eliel was not comfortable with Rein around, they ate without making any sound. Because they were silent, Albert and Rein felt too awkward to say anything.
After the lunch, Albert wanted to speak with Rein alone in his room. At first Fear didn't allowed it, Fearing of what Rein might do. Albert was persistent, he convinced her that they were friend, and Rein wouldn't hurt him.
"Rein, can you please sleep here tonight?" Albert was pleading.
"Sorry i couldn't tonight." Rein answered quick. He actually could, but he just feel uncomfortable near his spirit. "Why?"
"You know why! I couldn't handle it man. Even thinking that i'm going to spend the night alone with three girl that i've just met make my heart beat like crazy." Albert replied. His face started to become red.
Albert face was pretty funny. Albert was also like this when the first time Iris and Friede were coming to stay over.
"Don't worry i think you'll get used to it pretty fast. Anyway it's not so bad, you're not going to sleep on the same room as the three of them right? Just tell them to use the guest room or something." Rein know this will not end good. If Albert had already made his mind to make him stay, he couldn't get away. He need to think of a way to get out from this house.
"Like hell i can get used to it!" Albert replied, he knew that Rein was only making excuses so that he could get away from there.
"You know what Albert, remember that girl from high school, Samantha or something?" Albert nodded. "You want to get close to that girl right, but you can't because you're afraid your face would look ridiculous. Now think that today is like a training for you, so that you can approach girls"
"Yeah, but training doesn't have to go to the extreme." Albert folded his hand. Rein had ran out of idea.
"Wait, wasn't that Fear calling for you?"
"Didn't hear anything. Don't try to run away, you bastard"
"No! I'm serious, anyway if i try to run away i would have to go to the living room first, you would see me."
Albert opened the door and walked to the living room to see Fear. His spirit was still sitting there quietly like before, waiting for his return. He looked back and realized that Rein was deceiving him. He ran back to his room, only to see an empty room with its window opened. It was a small window, Rein shouldn't be able to passed through it, but somehow he managed.
"REIN YOU BASTARD!" He shouted.
Rein was still climbing the outer wall when he heard Albert shouting his name. He smiled and chuckled when he heard it. He jumped down the outer wall and sprinted as soon as he touched the ground.