Reincarnated As The Fated Villain - Chapter 55 CHAPTER 14

When I opened my eyes

I dropped to the ground like magnet.

My body pivots on instinct and broke my fall, crouching on three’s,

wind bursted around me.

I have no idea if I gained power or not.

I don’t particularly feel anything different.

I turned my focus at the sky where the sinister glow of fire is seen simmering, lighting the night heavens.

The orchard is on fire.

I can smell the burning of terra lingering in the air,

the minute tremors of the ground that tells me the battle is still on-going,

I raced towards the said place in a hurry.

Somehow my jumps are higher and my feet are faster, like a weightless sensation, I was but dashing through the place in an unbelievable speed.

But I can’t brood how I could, I need to go where Aeron is.

Soon, I reached the field farms.

I looked around and saw everything burning.

Ahead of me were people watching hopelessly as the scorching flames dances around, destroying their years of hardwork and livelihood before them.

As I look around, it was then that I just noticed that my hair is black.

I can’t let anyone see me, is what I thought but then I remembered how my fear of being rejected had held me back far too long, like a captive.

I walked forward.

Swallowed the knot in my throat and headed to the crowd of people.

One step taken after the other,

Some people turned to me.

I saw how they look at me.

I focused my eyesight ahead and just went on walking forward as they made way for me in utter silence.

Through the quiet and shocked crowd and towards the fire ahead of me, I stepped in, feeling the scorching heat as it begin to wrap around me.

But I wasn’t burning,

Not even the clothes I wear.

Further and further I went,

till I was out of sight.

Deep in to the flames,

and towards the middle of the fields.

Soon, I was surrounded by the fires.

Everywhere I look is burning

With black smoke hovering above.

I remembered what it all looked like just this afternoon…

The once colorful fields where workers, farmers, and its landlords were working in harmony.

Even soldiers of different nation were once here earlier,

the entire place was buzzing with activity.

It was a busy yet lovely Harvest day.

So many smiles and laughters.

Everyone was nice to me….

But now… I wonder if it could still stay the same.

Not a single person from the crowd of people tried to stop me when I walked to these fields of flames.

Not even any single one from them seemed worried for me, like they used to when I was working with them earlier this day.

If anything else, they looked rather baffled and terrified at the same time.

I wonder, has my eyes turned red along with my hair turning black?

Giving me the image of my shadowed reflection?

An apparently real dark magus.

I closed my eyes and I can recognize my weary heartbeat,

If they hate me,

So be it.

I will protect them still.

I stretched both my hands open wide,

feeling how the wave of heat embrace me.

and took one deep breath.

In one exhale,

I opened my eyes.

And like blowing off a candlelight, the heat vanishes.

Slowly, the extinguishment of fire spreads outward from where I stood,

leaving nothing but the oxidates and coal black grounds where it once danced on.

Soon it even reaches around the farthest fields and towards the margins where it scorched right in front of the crowd of people.

Far and wide, the fire fades off everywhere

until the only light left were the silver and golden beams of moonlight from the two round moons,

leaving me in the open, standing on the vast field of ashes and ruin.

The surprised reactions of the people left the atmosphere silent and drowning.

Not a sense of peace,

just this growing unsettling dense ambiance of doubts.

I opened my eyes and looked at them.

Their parted lips lock close and they all began to step away, slowly and almost uniformly.

“A dark magus…”

Is what I only heard clear.

The rest where bitter glares

mixed with confusion.

My heart sank.

So I just veered my eyes away.

“I’m just glad you’re all safe” I uttered.

There was not a single response heard.

Until…

“It’s her… she caused these…”

A growing murmur amongst the crowd.

“She’s cursing us…”

“But isn’t she—?”

“It’s making sense now…”

“But why? We did nothing wrong to her…”

“That’s just the way dark magus are…”

So many whispers….

I crunched both my fist tight on each of my side.

And just shut my senses off from them and focused to the direction to where the orchards are seen.

With the stagnant ambiance,

the sounds of chaos emerged out from the silence.

My twin needs me…

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I scurried off and ran as fast as I could,

but then I reached it just after few seconds of starting my run.

It seems I really have become nimble.

I focused to where my brother is and saw him hurled across the orchards, breaking through the palisades of fruit bearing trees.

“Aeron!”

The monster hastily launched itself towards where my brother is and wrapped both its claws tight around each of my brother’s arm, picking him up to meet its eye level.

It’s jaws opened seeming to grin wide, showing its huge teeth that looks disturbingly similar to that of a human.

A silver celestial-looking scythe that dropped from Aeron’s grasp suddenly lit and turned back into human.

“Eriol…” I murmured, watching him as he quickly spin in place in a split second,

a charge of wind gathered to his feet,

Squarely lands one kick to the face of the monster,

and the blow bursted in a huge implosion

shooting off the monster away like rocket.

Off it dashed across the orchards,

It clears all the trees along it’s way

skidding and skipping in a bounce as it covered more distance,

further and further…

barrel rolled some more…

And then slowly comes into a halt.

A cloud of dust spreads out around and covered our view of it.

Eriol is unexpectedly strong.

I hurried to my brother’s side.

“Aeron!” I held him up to my lap.

Eriol darted me a look, wide eyed. “Aerra?!?”

Aeron wearily opened his right eye, “Aerra…”

I studied him, his hair is covered in dirt. His face is far stained with tar and soot with dried blood and cuts. An open gash by his left eyebrow still bleeds like rolling tears, staining his cheeks and his already-blood-soaked coat.

I can see a bone dislocated under his skin by his collarbone, swollen and bruised.

Looking at him is like looking at flickering light of a dying candle.

Oh how long has he tried to contain that dæmon….

“My twin brother…” I murmured low in a congested cry, running my hand lightly over his hair.

He raised his hand like a wobbly gel reaching for my face, “Your h-hair… and… y-your… eyes!” he hem and hawed, eyes gazing all over me. So much wounds all over his hands. “Is it r-eally… you?”

“Silly, who else could I be?” I muttered in a weak smile.

I can sense his energy and magic fitful. He really is exhausted. How long has he been fighting, I wonder.

“Let’s get you out of here” I tried to help him up but he mildly pushed me off.

“The p-people… will get… hurt… the mon-ster… must be taken… care of…” Aeron began to stand up on his feet again but he slides back down to his knees, hopelessly.

My brother is strong but Aide is right, he still lacks more training and experience.

Right now, his magic is all over the place. There’s no focus, no restraint, like a leakage. He’s using it up haphazardly.

I can sense it.

No…

more like…

I can see it.

He’s sparking here and there like a dysfunctional live wire.

He can’t seem to discipline and direct it at will unlike…

I side-glanced Eriol who stood beside us watching.

Unlike, Eriol.

Right now, his envelopes him faintly in a very stable and serene form.

“I’ll take care of it. You go back with her and rest. You’ll die out here…” Eriol says in a sigh

“Shut up…” Aeron grumbled, fists clenching against the soil.

I can see his jaws tightening.

He’s frustrated.

“I will… protect… the people I… care about.” he uttered under his ragged breath.

“If you die out here, there would be no one to protect them next time. Like they say, ‘live to hunt another day!’ I can handle things from here.” Eriol retorted, getting on his one knee. “Besides, do you really want to die in front of your sister?”

Aeron hid his eyes in the shadows, head bowed down in bitter silence.

“And you— black haired Aerra,” he looks at me. “Take him away from him and just—”

I looked pass his shoulder and saw the daemon from afar with ragging yellow eyes and clouds of breath coming from its mouth.

It’s charging towards us

and the grounds are quaking as if a stampede is afoot.

Eriol sighs, “Just don’t do anything rash and stay put!”

And then he turned about, facing the dæmon while it came towards him ragingly,

I watch and studied the dæmon as Eriol began to lunge an attack at it.

His hands morphed into a crooked blade,

Hacking and slicing at it

But the dæmon is formidable.

It seems like he’s only scratching against a resilient metal.

The dæmon doesn’t even get wounded from any of his attempts to stab it.

I stood up.

“No, stay here…” Aeron grabbed my wrist.

I looked down where he sat and saw him looking at me directly in my eyes.

“That dæmon… how did this happen?” I asked Aeron as he grunts a breath.

He stretched his arm and pointed, “Look closer at …its chest…”

I turned and studied the monster and realized

Something was different on it’s chest.

A melted figure of a human face, bulging out from it is seen.

with a nose, up turned

and mouth gaping wide open as if it was screaming.

A man is incorporated by its chest!!!

I gasped.

“It’s the… r-real Mr. Roderick…” Aeron stated.

My lips parted open, unsure what to say or ask.

“Scias told me himself… Mr. Roderick was turning… so he killed him not just to take his image…”

“And you believe him?” I turned to Aeron.

He looked down and nodded.

“The rot… has already… b-begun…. even before we… were taken by the Ouboros… we weren’t just able to see… and feel it then.”

I sat down my heels and cupped Aeron’s face.

“How do you know these things?!”

Aeron went on, ignoring my question, “Cerguz went to… Osteell because… of the rot. They were… awaiting for it to manifest… but you were… incidentally there… so when he saw you… he fancies to take you… and sell you as a slave… but in reality, he wa— *cough* sssupposss to… *cough* he… was supposed to… investigate the growing rot in the eastern nation as… requested… by Claude, the strongest… elite mercenary of… Ouboros..”

Aeron turns his head and looked at the dæmon as Eriol is currently fighting it alone.

“Where the rots are… the Ouboros will be there… to watch…”

My brother knows so much things…

“I began… to suspect all of these… when we f-found that dungeon… by the Lake… and what we saw… in there.

I wanted to understand… why we had such peculiar dungeon… under the lake… and… so close to home.”

I released him and just fisted my hand by my lap.

How ignorant have I been all these time?

My brother was sharp and wise enough to know what to look for to gain answers.

But…

His leads are different from mine…

“The bandits we captured… from the dungeons… were just a decoy…

Faram tricked them… to search for the dungeons for him…

Because those dungeons… actually leads to our castle…

The place… where the rot is originating from… so when… the b-bandit were able to find a way in… Faram and his comrades… sneaked inside the dungeons and… to our castle… that was the night of… our… birthday party.”

Aeron slowly stood up, pushing himself up by the knees then pulled his back straight to stand up despite all his wounds.

“The rot has spread… to the fields and orchard… and Faram wasn’t able to… find the main source of rot… so they tried to hasten it’s progress for it to manifest… by awakening your null… a dark element he knew well… you won’t be able to control yet…”

My eyes grew wide.

Aeron knows I have null?!?

“Lady Mirel and Leon… were the first to see… the manifestation… the real Leon were infected by it then when they… came… so Scias… killed him b-before he… turned into a dæmon…. after that, Faram sent Scias to us… to unstablize your null… to make the manifestation of rot… appear one more… time.

But then, when it did came out… it seems like… Mr. Roderick was… at the wrong place… at the wrong time… and now…

That’s him.

He… also ate… Alessa,

Recca…

and… Theah…”

Tears went streaming uncontrollably down by Aeron’s cheeks.

He grinds his teeth together tightly.

His shoulder shaking

With both fists clenching on his sides.

“I was… s-sssuch a fool…. I only focused on Scias… thinking he was… the enemy. I kept an eye on him… not realizing… he had tried to warn me… and even help Alessa and the children… but it was too late… when I understood everything.

I failed, Aerra….

I failed to protect them.”

He shot me a look,

I can see frustrations and despair in his eyes.

he held his sobs in,

but his tears poured down uncontrollably,

far difficulty for even him to control.

I reached out a hand to him,

but I hesitated

and put my arm down.

Is this why Aeron has been leaving the castle for the past few weeks with Eriol?

They were investigating everything…

While I was…

I was so immersed in my own dilemmas.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“You’re amazing, brother.”

I opened my eyes and steadied my gaze on him. He watched me, confused.

“You are sharp —and brave.

You manage to find out everything

Yet held it all from me.”

His eyes widened. “Aerra…”

I shook my head, “I’m not mad. I understand why you did it. You’re just trying to protect me. Always trying to do everything on your own for me. You’ve done your best

But the truth always finds a way to reveal itself on it’s own so it seems.”

I glanced at the dæmon and then swept my eyes back to my brother, who eyed me anxiously.

“I can never be like you… A hero that people will look up to…” I added, “You can become so powerful someday and it’s not just because of the magic you are gifted with but because you can turn your weaknesses into your strengths. Living above the fear and bracing it.

You have so much potential.

You can’t die out here now…

Otherwise, there would be no hope for people to hold on to.”

“Aerra… what… are you planning…?”

“You’ll be the hope for the people… it’s your destiny. Not just within Greenrun…. but for the rest of the seven Kingdoms.” I stated as I cup Aeron’s face on the palm of my hands.

“Aerra! Don’t do… anything stupid?!” He yelled, grabbing both my wrists and knitting his brows.

“Live on, brother. This battle is not for you yet.”

I watch the veins in my hands slowly appear black as my arm becomes cold.

“Sleep…” I said. And I can feel abating the flickering light on the palm of my hand.

“AERRhh—!”

I watch Aeron slides down like lead in front of me when I released him, unconscious.

He’s asleep.

I stared at my hands and watch the black veins crawling throughout.

I just suddenly—

know what to do.

I turned to look where the dæmon is,

narrowing my eyes

as the corner of my vision began to lit

my focus thinned at it.

and I bolted up and crunched my fingers.

There was a distance created between Eriol and the dæmon,

Eriol is panting

But the dæmon was still brimming with vigor.

I leaped in between Eriol and the dæmon.

I can see it’s eyes switch towards me.

The face on its chest… the image of Mr. Roderick embedded like a dried cement in the color of the abyss.

Eternally lost and wondering now as a shadow creature.

I can feel his pain,

his despair and agony,

because he can still see what’s happening.

And from the monster’s eyes,

I can see Mr Roderick crying,

asking for these madness to end.

A nightmare he can never wake up from.

A night we all can never forget.

“Hey! What are you doing here?!” Eriol fumed.

Soon the dæmon charged

to close the distance between us.

“Go back to Aero—! Huh!?…” I can hear him gasp from behind me. He must have seen Aeron unconscious on the ground far behind us.

I glanced at Eriol over my shoulder,

My eyes met his

and his met mine.

He just stared at me back unsure,

Somehow, I think he knew what I want to say.

Stay back and be quiet.

I blinked for moment.

While I turned my head front,

In my mind’s eye,

…the dæmon is running in a speed of a sloth.

But in reality, it was speeding like a raging bull, with the ground shaking towards me.

the daemon suddenly plunged right in front of me

Jabbing it’s claws, that curled in a fist, right into my face

But I already had my one finger held up, impeding the blow.

It felt like just a poke.

Air pressure bursts like steam

The ground rumbles in a low hearty roar.

and dusts spreads out radially from where I stood.

I sweep my eyes to its own.

Side stepped and leaped up.

Landing on its arm

—running up it’s length

and towards its wide grinning face.

The cold winter temperatures has joined us, making it seem like smoke is coming out from its mouth.

A crooked smile that depicts all but happiness is seen from its huge teeth that resembles that of a human, gleaming against the faint moonlights like stained pearl as the Harvest moon was settling down to its end.

“It’s alright, Mr. Roderick…” I whispered, able to grab its head and saw him from its eyes. “You can rest now.”

I tear escape from me when I blink.

A sorrow I was holding back,

And on it reflected the face of the dæmon as it rolled down my cheeks, like a mirror of the reality around me.

A reality I still wished was just a dream.

Pass my chin it fell,

seen reflecting from it

was the hand I buried on the dæmon’s eyes.

It screeched and the noise echoed throughout

It swats at me

but I rolled up overhead,

and off to its back

where the neck was open and vulnerable.

I cracked my fingers,

Levelling it up to my eyes where I can see it.

They were razor sharp as they were black.

I hovered for a second behind the dæmon.

And sighed.

I stretched my hand up straight to the side…

As finally, the fallen tear lands down to the grounds, sparking the final reflection of a beheaded monster

as my arm slash pass and across its head

clear off it’s shoulder.

I jumped away

While the tear slowly dissolve down the raw soil, where the orchards where once brimming with fruits and bountiful harvest happened.

Now, like graveyard of memories, it called for the body of the decapitated dæmon,

as it dropped to the ground in one huge thud.

The battle ended for me far too fast from when it just begun.

I wonder if I really became that strong or has the long fights just weakened the dæmon?

It only took one blow for me, after all.

And yet— its the same dæmon my brother and Eriol wasn’t able to kill on their own….

Suddenly, like a ball thrown up, the severed head drops down

at the exact same time I landed on my feet, just in front of Eriol, who just stood there in utter silence.

I looked down at it

as it rolled pass behind me,

Further towards ahead

and stopped just by the feet of Eriol.

I turned to Eriol, who just rose his eyes up from gazing at the head of the dæmon by his feet.

His eyes are wide as a circle;

jaw dropped open,

gawking at the remains of the monster behind me on the ground

and then steadied his focus to me.

I remembered the reaction of the people awhile ago as they studied me,

but Eriol’s reaction is one I cannot paint.

“Do you think I’m disgusting now?” I uttered. A question I’m not sure why it feels nostalgically familiar.

Have I asked the same thing before, I wonder? Or is it the other way around?

I looked at my hand, covered in a thick viscous black fluid like liquid asphalt.

I can see my fingers turning back to normal from under the blanket of the dæmon blood.

“No.” He replied as he shook his head and looked more calm now while he sneered at me, both his dimples showing, “I think you’re breathtaking.”

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