Apollyon’s POV

‘Rrr, I don’t want to do this ever again!’

“You don’t seem to have any injuries,“ Mr. Orion said, taking the ‘water’ off of me. “Could you tell me again what happened?” Scratching the wet hand, still having goosebumps over the weird feeling, I tried to remember what happened.

I was too tired yesterday, and the chair was so soft that I ended up falling asleep before Mr. Orion could take a look at me.

Mr. Orion, like Papa, was an Elemancer, and also able to use water. However, that’s where their similarities end. Mr. Orion’s water didn’t come from his hands but appeared out of nowhere. Papa called it ‘ambient Quint’, whatever that meant.

With a few hand movements, the water shaped, taking different forms, from circles to squares, and triangles. It was so amazing to see, but sadly, that was just for show. Mr. Orion knew what he was doing. I only wish I did too.

All that show, to end up with this weird tingly feeling, like small insects with many legs walking over you. Blech! And on top of that, it was so cold! I woke up five minutes ago! I was still very sleepy when it touched me, but the moment it did, my eyes snapped open.

“Erm...no... I remember seeing the Emberfang about to attack Papa, and then... and then...” I looked at the floor, trying to focus, my brows touching, and my head hurting. I just couldn’t figure out this... gap in my memories. I could feel them right at the end of my tongue; yet couldn’t remember them.

“Sorry, Mr. Orion. The next thing I remember is the Emberfang leaving Papa alone and me falling to the ground feeling very tired.”

“There is no reason to apologize, Lyon.” Papa said with a smile. He would usually pat my hair, but..."The important thing is that you are fine and well." He may not be patting my hair, but his smile was as warming as ever.

“Now,” he continued, “with our dearest doctor’s permission,” he gave Mr. Orion a wry smile, “you are free to leave. You don’t have to spend your entire day with us.”

“But—”

“No buts,“ he stopped me before I could say I wanted to stay with him, “so what will it be, Orion?”

Mr. Orion squinted, glaring eyes at Papa, but Papa’s wry smile only grew bigger in response. “I suppose,“ he said to him before turning to me, the squinted glare turning into a shrug. “You are perfectly fine, so there is no reason to keep you.”

“But I want to stay with Papa!” I said out loud, unable to hold it in anymore.

Papa chucked, “Lyon, do me a favor and look outside. See the beautiful day?”

Looking out the window, the sun shined, the birds sang, and the freshly baked cakes from Mr. Herbert’s bakery made my nose tingle. It was a really beautiful day.

“Don’t you want to spend it out there, rather than here?” He continued.

Without it realizing, low funny sounds were coming from my mouth. I really, really wanted to go, but I wanted to stay with Papa. I didn’t want to leave him alone!

‘What to do? What to do?’

“I can see how eager you are.” Papa said, making me flinch. How did he know?

“You don’t have to worry about me. I have Orion to keep me company. Go, and have fun.” He finished, and a weight lifted off me.

“Thanks, Papa!” I said, rushing out of Mr. Orion’s house.

“Be careful!” Papa shouted loud enough for me to hear.

The village was busy today. People were all over the place, each doing their own things. Maybe it was the hour, or maybe we’ll be having merchants visit soon, or as how Papa likes to call them scammers.

‘Ah! Maybe I’ll even be able to find the continuation of the “Legendary Adventurer!” Ah! I can’t wait!

The ‘Legendary Adventurer’ was a story about Twilight, and he went around and found himself in all kinds of situations, each more amazing than the last! And he was so cool! The coolest!

Okay, maybe not as cool as Papa, but still he was up there. He always knew what to do and didn’t fear anything! And his lines were so good! I just couldn’t stop reading! The only sad thing was that the story stopped without finishing. Twilight was about to get into that big dungeon, but the story was cut off there. Papa said the author hadn’t finished the book, but that was like so long ago! Papa had been telling us Twilight’s stories for so long now.

‘Maybe it will be here this time!’

Making my way to the plaza, I ran through all of Twilight’s stories in my mind while the people went on with their stuff. Everyone that came close to me waved and smiled happily... Nothing like what happened yesterday.

My happy mood became a little bittersweet.

Did I imagine it? Weren’t these the same people who avoided me, Theodore, and Papa yesterday?

‘Yeah, probably my imagination.’

Staffing my mouth with the rest of the honey cake (I couldn’t resist), I took a turn for the plaza.

The little bittersweet taste I drowned in honey became a bit more than ‘a little’ when I took that turn. And no bite (not that I had left any, I had just finished my cake) could make it go away.

In the not-as-far distance as I would like it to be, Cain was there, turning my way the moment he saw me.

‘Oh-oh.’

He probably wanted to learn what happened yesterday, or even worse, Theodore told him. Whatever the case, it was no good.

Stunned, my mind began spinning to find a solution. The closer Cain got, the pointier his brows turned.

I flinched, but that was a good thing because I found my solution.

‘Run!’

Making a turn back as normally as possible so that it wouldn’t look weird, I made a run for it the moment I was out of his vision. But then came another problem.

‘Where to go?’

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

Sure, I escaped Cain for now, but what about when I got tired? He was an Elemancer. He could catch up to me easily.

‘Think! Think! Ah!’ And then it hit me. ‘That’s it!’

Twilight found himself in many situations where his enemies were stronger than him, yet he always found a way, and now I found mine.

In the distance, a little further than I would have liked, there was the village gate, and a little over it, the forest.

‘Just because Cain is a bigger fish than me, doesn’t mean he is the biggest!’

“Twilight is the best!” I screamed and ran as fast as I could.

I would look behind me all the time to check if Cain was following me or not, but I didn’t see him at all. That made me slow down a little, but didn’t stop me from going into the forest.

Papa said it was dangerous, but I preferred the dangerous beasts to Cain.

‘Sorry Papa.’

Besides, it didn’t mean I would go deep inside the forest. Just deep enough so Cain wouldn’t follow me.

The moment I was out of the gate, I stopped. The forest didn’t look like such a great idea all of a sudden. The trees were so tall and dark, and there were so many of them! Their branches looked like they were reaching out to grab me and never let go!

Gulp

I mean, did I really have to get inside such a scary place?

Turning around, I got my answer. Cain was on my tail rapidly closing the distance.

Yikes!

I took a few slow breaths, trying to stay calm. Closing my eyes, I waved away the first leaves and moved forward, hoping no beast would attack me the moment I entered the forest.

‘Beasts, please don’t eat me. I’m not tasty at all!’

...

‘Huh?’

Opening an eye, I was surprised that no beast was rushing to eat me. Feeling more confident, I walked deeper into the forest, which actually was a lot nicer than I thought. For starters, no beast around, and that’s always a good thing. Then there was the forest itself.

The trees were big and close to one another, and their branches intertwined, letting small beams of light pass through their gaps. From the outside, that made the forest look darker and scarier, but from the inside it was so pretty, and every time I passed through a beam, it felt warm and funny, like a game of checkpoint!

If I had known it was like that, I would have come earlier!

Jumping from light to light, I eventually reached a wall of leaves. Sweeping them away, there was a small area where no tree was there, and without any trees, there were no small sunlights. Instead, there was a very big one! And, I could hear very quietly a river nearby make this whole… thing, even better!

Tired from all the running and jumping, I sat down on a tree and took in the view. After some time, when I calmed down, I thought to myself how I ended up here and it led me back to the memories I couldn’t remember.

I could still feel them, but something was missing. Something important.

My hands felt like they had to do something, so I scratched myself to the same spot the water Mr. Orion put on me. It was still feeling weird.

I took a deep breath. ‘Alright, let’s think this again. We went to the volcano and then the Emberfang attack. Then Papa explained what Quint was and then the other two Emberfangs came.’

Remembering how scary the two beasts were made me tremble, and in that tremble, I accidentally hit my hand with my pendant.

Ouch!

‘Stupid Emberfangs. Okay, okay, Papa fought with them. Papa won one but the small one woke up and came for me and Theodore, distracting Papa from the other Emberfang, and then... and then... Ah! Okay, okay, then I did something and beast the small Emberfang and saved Papa from the other.’

I repeated my thoughts a few times, trying to remember anything small I missed. As I did, my pendant swung and spun around, and the sun was getting in my eyes, ruining my focus.

“Ah! Stop it already!” I screamed at my pendant, holding it still.

“Wait...” I blinked twice. One of these details was right in front of me. There were also these lights I saw. When Papa explained and later used Quint. There were these lights that appeared!

‘Hold on...’

My eyes opened wide when the realization hit me. I was able to see the lights only after my pendant flashed through my eyes!

‘Hold on! Hold on!’

From then on, every forgotten piece found its place in my memories, and not long after, the whole puzzle revealed itself.

“I remember!”

Before my memories got fuzzy, I saw my pendant and then this weird thing happened and my eyes hurt a lot and then this power came over me and helped me protect me and Theodore, and scared the other Emberfang away from Papa!

‘Wait... does that mean...’

Before I could finish the thought, I turned all my focus on the deep black stone that wrote my name on it. I wasn’t sure what I should be focusing on, but I knew I was on the right path.

“Yes!”

Soon enough, little lights appeared. First around my pendant, then slowly around my body, and not long after the whole sunshine in front of me. The last time I saw them, I couldn’t really pay them much attention, but now... Now I had all the time in the world. They were so...

“Beautiful.”

They danced in the air, leaving sparkles behind their path, enhancing their surroundings. The grass looked greener, the sunbeams shone brighter, and the flowers smelled richer. The trees seemed alive, the rocks innately connected to the earth, and the air fresher than ever before. And that’s not all.

With every different thing my eyes cough on, there was a color for it too. The red, white, and blue I saw in the volcano were just a spot on the whole pallet. Green, yellow, orange, brown, purple, and many more were here; dancing and swirling free of the limitations the world had to offer.

“Quint.”

How could such a thing exist, and I couldn’t see it before? It was so beautiful I got a little sad I couldn’t see it sooner.

I looked back at my pendant and hugged it. If it wasn’t for it, I would have never seen Quint.

“Huh?” My head turned very to the side when I saw my hands.

‘Why are my hands glowing?’

It wasn’t only my hands. It was my whole body. The surroundings weren’t the only ones that had light, but my body also seemed to be full of them. But they seemed a little... different.

They didn’t seem to be as bright as the ones outside, and they didn’t have all the colors. The purple, for example, that loved the darker places near some flowers, didn’t seem to be inside of me. And they moved differently. They moved very slow. So slow that if I hadn’t seen the Quint moving around, I would think they were still. And, most weirdly of all, they wouldn’t get outside of my body no matter what.

‘I’ll have to ask Papa.’

“N-no! Wh- what happened? Where did the lights go?”

Suddenly, the lights disappeared, and I was feeling very tired. Not as much as yesterday, but still tired.

Yawn

Stretching, I turned to the side, laid down, and closed my eyes. ‘Just a few minutes. Then I’ll ask Papa.’

…

Mmm!

I grumbled with closed eyes. It was so peaceful and soft; it was perfect. But then suddenly there was this light beaming in my eyes, ruining it all. I wiggled left and right, but the light found my eyes each time. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to sleep under the sun...

“Stupid su—” I cut myself off as I jump up, finally opened my eyes. “Erm... where did the sun go?”

Everything was dark. The bright day had transformed into a deep night, and the sun shines I was angry on, turned out to be the dazzling moonlight.

‘It was five minutes! That’s so unfair!’

I just wanted to sit down for a while, relax, and then go ask Papa about Quint. Was it that hard?

‘Now it’s night and I’m alone, and there are beasts and I am lost, and, and, and...’

Sniff, sniff

I was beginning to cry, but then a hoot made me flinch and my hands reached for my mouth before I made a sound. The tear fell, but everything was fine. What would have happened if I cried out loud and every beast of the forest woke up?

‘Thank you, Mr. Beasty.’

Wiping my tears, I took the path back from where I came from. I thought it would be dark and I wouldn’t be able to go back, but there was the moonlight to show me the way. Wherever the moonlight beamed through the tree branches, there were these purple and a few blue flowers that sparkled in the light. Their petals glistened like tiny stars, and a soft, sweet fragrance filled the air. The flowers were so beautiful that, by the time I was out of the forest, I wasn’t scared anymore. Instead, I felt a pang of sadness because there were no more flowers to light my way.‘I’m definitely coming back.’

The village wasn’t as magical and pretty as the forest. It was all dark. Just dark, nothing else. Other than the moon, there was no one else outside walking with me.

I paused before Mr. Orion’s house, but passed it and instead went home. It was too late to ask Papa. There was always tomorrow.

At home, no candles burn either. I half expected Cain to be waiting with a candle, ready to pressure me about the volcano the moment I stepped in, but he wasn’t. I checked. He was sleeping.

My bed looked very comfy, but I didn’t jump straight at it. I had to take a bath first. Papa cleaned me before Mr. Orion could check on me, but it only felt right to have a bath after spending all day outside.

After a bath, my body relaxed, and I felt a lot more tired. Before I went to bed, I looked out the window one last time at the moon. If it wasn’t for it, I would be still in the dark and scary forest.

‘Thank you, Mr. Moon.’

Just as I was crawling on my bed, Theodore spoke in a drowsy, more than half-asleep voice. One of his eyes was barely half open and closing. “Lyon?”

“Yes?” I whispered.

“Are you back?” He said, his eye closing back, having fallen already back to sleep.

“Yeah.”