“Huff… huff… huff…” The blond stood beside the bed in the dark, staring at the sleeping teen with crazed eyes. The sound of his heavy breathing filled the quiet room, getting louder slowly and seething in frustration.
“Damn you…” he cursed with his trembling lips; his whole body started trembling the more he glared at his son, “Damn you… damn you!” he slowly moved his hands as he stepped closer, “Why are you still doing fine even without the diaries? W-Why is his presence still safe and evident in you…?”
The silence he was met with did nothing but agitate him even more. “Haa… haa…” he slowly brought his hands to the teen’s skinny neck, hovering and trembling hands hesitated to even touch the skin. The man oddly looked so fearful and reluctant that he hadn’t noticed the person behind his back.
[https://i.postimg.cc/ZKBtywrD/1.jpg]
With a swift movement, Alvis launched an attack with a powerful kick.
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The Red Flower
Chapter. 29
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“Javi…?”
Elois carefully called his friend, who looked nothing like normal. He observed the silent black… ‘creature’ before him, standing like a real monster from a distance. He slowly and cautiously moved to stand up, alarmed.
Growl…
He stepped back a little at the low beastly sound that came from his friend, frowning worryingly at him, “Why are you...” he flinched when he was met with a horrid hiss this time, looking at his friend, who became agitated suddenly.
He swiftly dodged the sudden attack as Javi jumped toward him like an actual monster with a loud growl, ‘So fast—!’
“Shit—!” He quickly dodged another attack and another, feeling like he was dealing with a hysterical beast instead of a human. He stared with wide eyes at what was previously his friend, “What? What's wrong? What's this?” he tried to stay calm as he kept dodging and barely avoided getting killed every time. He was suddenly reminded of his friend’s past job.
‘I never had the chance to know what became of him after getting experimented on and exploited by the organization…’ he frowned, ‘Fuck, is he like me, then? Is that the monster inside him?’ he recalled how he had turned into in his fight with the man called Karl.
He didn’t know how long he kept running from his friend and was able to put enough distance from the quiet beast. He accidentally stepped on a branch that let out a loud sound in the quiet area.
ROAR!!
He held back a gasp at the monster charging after him so fast in the dark forest. He quickly tried to avoid the attacks silently, finding difficulty in confusing the monster as it quickly detected him with the weakest sounds and movements, ‘Shit— His senses are incredibly heightened!’ he quietly and carefully jumped to stand on one of the trees, looking down at the frantic monster still running and turning left and right without any sounds in the dark. It honestly… looked creepy. ‘This is bad...’
He observed some more in silence as the monster slowly came to a still and silently moved on all fours to one of the directions in the forest. He thought perhaps it was now wandering like any other unbothered animal in a jungle.
He scowled and held back a curse, ‘What happened to you? How did you end up like this?’
He wondered just what had happened while he was sleeping and facing the illusions or whatever it was called.
‘Ah...’ Recalling who helped him get out of the illusions not long ago, ‘That mouthless punk did say Javi was going through the illusions like me or something...’ there was no other explanation for this situation.
He furrowed his eyebrows even more, looking in disbelief. ‘Javi easily fell into the trap...?’ thinking more. He was still finding it hard to believe, ‘Javi…?’ the guy was much more stable and collected despite how playfully he behaved most of the time, grasping his own fears and feelings and facing them according to what was best, or so he thought. So if anyone should become a miserable mess like that, it is not Javi.
He unintentionally clicked his tongue at the thought of the bastard who turned his friend like that.
He quickly covered his mouth with his hands with wide, panicked eyes, ‘Shit, no sound, Elois!’
Hiss…
Gasp—!
He loudly gasped when a horrifyingly quiet hiss came from behind, turning quickly to find the beast sitting just behind him, so close and grinning. It had a mouth now along with the long creepy eyes, it— it evolved… it… became worse?
[https://i.postimg.cc/fk4HdfN6/2.jpg]
Instinctively, he jumped away and down the tree, dashing away from it even though it remained oddly silent and still in its spot. He could listen to his loud and frantic heartbeats, ‘Fuck, that scared the shit out of me— He is like a— Like a...’
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"To them! I was only a tool! Or an animal! Or the deadly shadow!!"
He unknowingly slowed down when the memory of his fight with Javi suddenly crossed his mind, ‘Deadly... shadow...’ he slowly turned to look back at where Javi was seconds ago, ‘So that is the shadow...?’
He felt… hurt, furious… sad. ‘What have they done to you...? Fucking bastards...’ he ignored and blinked off the tears prickling his eyes as he felt upset for his friend. He was quickly reminded of his current situation and looked to the front while still running as carefully and silently as possible.
‘What do I have to do now? How can I turn him back to normal?’ suddenly irritated, he felt the urge to scream, ‘Why did Davante choose to save me instead of Javi in this situation? Agh! I don't know anything about my friend to be of help now...’ he recalled how his friend looked so detached and absent lately, saying that he was okay even as he looked uncertain to himself.
He looked down as he regretted not trying better at helping his friend before falling into all this mess, ‘There must have been something wrong after all...’
“Kuh!” He suddenly froze in place, feeling something gripping firmly at his heart and slowly crushing it.
“Ack— Aa—” he felt the shadow behind him; he didn’t know how or when he had come so close unnoticed, but it wasn’t time to think of answers as his heart was silently tortured and slowly crushed. He forced his body to move, away from the assaulting hand from behind. With great effort, he was finally able to free himself from the shadow and stumbled forward with a gasp, “Ah! Haa! Haa... huff...” he fell on his knees weakly and tried to catch his breath, yet it didn’t seem he was getting any better. He still felt suffocated and in pain, like he was given a short break from a torture session just for amusement. There wasn’t blood or a hole in his chest… how did the shadow get a hold of his heart…? He was sure he wasn’t hallucinating, strangely confident… he sensed its presence with all his being.
He doubted if the shadow had let go of him and if it wasn’t him and the efforts that saved him just now, just because it didn’t feel as fun if he was killed quickly. He weakly turned to look behind and found no one, only him surrounded by the trees in the dark forest that felt more ominous tonight for some reason, or maybe it was just him feeling depressed. He winced at the pain in his heart as he moved a bit to stand up.
He tried to take a breath and felt immense pain again; he settled with shallow breaths for now. He attempted to stand once more and gritted his teeth silently, trembling as he suppressed his cries and fought back the horrible pain in his heart again.
Finally, he slowly pushed himself to his feet and started walking weakly, only to stumble and lean on the closest tree around, ‘Shit... move, Elois...’
He pushed himself away from the tree and slowly walked with his back hunched down in an attempt to lessen the pain in his heart, “Haha... whatever you did just now... it sure... is killing my body... heheh...” he laughed weakly as he sweated, huffed and panted horribly from walking only.
Slowly shaking his head left and right, Elois tried to sober up as he felt himself getting delirious gradually, ‘No sound, I must not let out a sound...’ he says that, but he was still aware of his weak and heavy steps crawling on the ground and his loud breaths in the silent forest, stepping on grass and multiple branches in his way.
‘No sound...’
Thud—
‘No running... so he won't detect me...’
Tssh—
‘Careful...’
Huff…
‘Careful...’
Haah…
‘Until... I find someone...’
He blinked tiredly at the thought, ‘But who...? Who even... knows Javi...?’
He tried to think of someone close enough to understand Javi and know his past, yet he found no one in his memory. Only then realize that Javi had no one besides Elois himself and… Javi’s cousin, perhaps now Davante as well. Both he and Davante were out as they’d just learned of his past, ‘…then maybe… Edmund?’
“Haha...” he weakly laughed as he sounded ridiculous even to himself, ‘That bastard never looked trustworthy even to me...’
He blinked to look properly as his vision slowly turned blurry, ‘Come to think of it... it's been some time since I've seen them together... did... something happen...?’
He huffed in a chuckle again, “This isn't the time... to think of useless shit... Elois...”
He felt himself swaying a bit, and his vision worsened. He stopped and leaned on a tree. “Haa... haa... where are you...? Are you enjoying the show...?” he huffed with a smile and his eyes closed, “Fine... go ahead... hah... fuck, am I dying...?” he couldn’t feel anything in his body except for the pain in his heart.
He tilted his head back against the tree behind him, not managing to look at the night sky in the thick forest. So dark, so cold… ‘Well, fine, but let me do something about the shadow first... there are still people in this academy... after all...’
He whispered with a weak smile, “You wouldn't like to... learn you've killed even more people... right... Javi…?” he didn’t care if he made a sound anymore; he couldn’t even keep quiet if he wanted to, his body was hardly getting any oxygen with his shallow breaths.
He pushed himself away from the tree and started forcing his numbing legs to walk again. He didn’t know how long he had been walking like a zombie, “Where even am I going...? Shit... I'm lost... haha... Davante could laugh at me now...” yeah, he was definitely going to faint any time soon.
He didn’t have time to react when his ears somehow managed to catch a sound somewhere near him, and he was instantly pushed to the ground on his back, feeling a sharp pain in his side he couldn’t even cry out from how painful and constricting it was, “Ack! Uhk... a-ahgh...” he blinked his bleary eyes several times, catching a glimpse of the shadow’s head moving vigorously with grunts and growls like a ferocious animal.
His mouth was open in a silent cry. His body kept convulsing and flinching weakly with every sharp pain all over his body, “I-It hurts... like heck...” he weakly huffed as he felt like laughing for some reason, “Haah- hahah— you- can't eve-n... understand— yea-h?” Finally registering the loud sounds from the beast above him, he laughed again as he was bewildered, “Ah... you're eating... me...?”
‘Fuck... he really is feasting on me...’ his body flinched with each bite from the other. He was going through the process of being eaten alive and thoroughly.
‘Yeah, I'm dying... well, I was never really scared of death...’ he didn’t care if he was crazy for wanting to laugh in this situation. He was going numb at least, and the pain was drifting to the back of his mind as a memory playfully came to the surface. He gave a shaky smile as he remembered his friend’s stupid question in his ridiculous outburst before they went into the silly barrier.
“I— didn't have... time... to cut... my hair la-tely...” he knew he had to save his breath, but he was dying anyway, so who cares if he kept talking nonsense? Perhaps his friend would remember his talk once he finishes eating him, and he would have gotten the answer to his useless question at last, “I was... busy... thinking... and— c-calming... down... hah-hahah... that's... my answer... to your silly... question...”
Cough—!
He knew he coughed out a chunk of blood without even looking, and maybe he should shut up now. ‘Oh, well... Let's die now...’
He tried to recall everyone he owed something to, ‘Ah... I haven't had the chance to spend some time with Owin...’ he felt another type of pain as he recalled his brother’s hopeful face before he left the room after his stupid fight with Javi, ‘What was the last thing I said to Davante...?’ he smiled painfully, ‘It's been four months... hopefully, he's resting well...’ he was then reminded of the punk who claimed to be Davante’s weapon. Yeah, what resting? When the kid has someone troublesome like Elois himself in his life.
‘I would have liked to... apologize... at least...’ he coughed weakly with a sound that sounded like a sob. Was he crying? He didn’t know, and he didn’t really care. ‘I did nothing but hurt the kid...’ he smiled as a thought crossed his mind.
‘Should I haunt him just to apologize and leave him alone after...?’
He humored himself with the thought, ‘It's worth trying... moving as a ghost shouldn’t be that difficult, right…?’ he snapped out of his thoughts at a loud grunt from Javi. He wanted to laugh as the fool wasn’t even done eating after all this time, as if savoring him till the last minute. Was he that delicious? His body kept flinching and shivering from the relentless bites despite going impossibly numb.
“Once... you've had... enough of... me... wake... the fuck... up... okay...?”
‘At least you'd have killed only one person, a murderer at that... so... it's fine.’ He felt like bringing his hand to pat the other’s head playfully, but he couldn’t feel anything. He wondered if his hands were long eaten and gone. He slowly closed his eyes and started drifting away to the land of the dead…
Bam—!
“...?” he hardly forced his eyes open at the loud sound of things collapsing together, and the weight above him disappeared… he found only trees in his vision as they covered the sky above him. The shadow… was gone.
“Haah, I can't say I made it in time... shit, what an awful sight...”
Blinking blankly at the relaxed yet irritated voice, he finally noticed the purple light surrounding him, ‘Who...? Wait... this bubble... from the time we fell...’ he instantly recalled the light bubble that saved him and Javi from their fall from the balcony while they fought. He heard steps getting closer to his side.
“Rest there and let it heal you, don't sleep, however. I’ve so much to say, you moron.”
He felt warm again, and he could even breathe. He was indeed getting healed with some magic he didn’t know how or what. He doubted it was the work of the bubble he was in. He slowly turned his head and glanced at his savior, who sounded upset, standing beside him with a deep frown.
[https://i.postimg.cc/bNHMn4Zg/3.jpg]
‘Ellmer...?’
.
.
Bren remained in his spot on a tree and looked intently with his owl-like eyes at a specific woman in a suit, looking clearly at Gasha Anfinrud even from a long distance. He observed silently as she stood before a secret entrance on the ground in the forest, looking coldly at it with the canvas still in her hand, “Is that... the laboratory...?” he wondered quietly.
“Was that what she came for, then?” Puzzled and intrigued, he slightly widened his eyes to look better at the dark woman, “Beautiful miss, how did you know of its exact place?” an unreadable smile slowly formed on his face, “Who did send you here?”
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The End of CH. 29