August sat on muddy grass beside the bank of the freshwater pond. He cupped his hands, took some water in it and drank greedily. Then not concerning himself with the mannerism he leaned on his back against the ground with his eyes closed.
Far beyond the horizon somewhere, the Sun was ready to honour the lands with its bright warm rays in all its glory. It was silence in the dark for now. His condition seemed to be stabilized by now and he had to go back home before anyone noticed his absence.
But before that he wanted to lay there in peace and enjoy this moment of painlessness. Although the whispers of the elements in his ears never stopped he had mastered the art of ignoring them from an early age.
A gentle breeze blew, making him feel the chill of winter in his bones.
With that an uneasy thought resurfaced in his mind which he was constantly trying to suppress from the past few days. As the effect of echoes on him were growing more severe, August feared that he wouldn't be able to endure this all by himself if that were to happen. Therefore he thought of finally telling all this to his parents.
This was completely opposite of his usual thought process and as much as he wanted to hide his suffering from his mother and father— not telling them would also be an act of similar type. It would be betraying their trust and faith they had placed in him.
As the severity of his condition was increasing, the future where he would not be able to endure the suffering by himself and go insane, was also not far. Therefore it should be better for his parents to have known everything already than being unbeknownst and suffering just as much for his sake afterwards.
'Gods, What should I do?'
He sighed and rubbed his temples.
"Nothing. Honestly" A voice said, making him nearly jump on the spot. Had it come from nearby or maybe from afar. Was it someone familiar to him or a stranger? Was it a man or woman? Was it a gentle tone or rough scream?
August wasn't so sure himself. He stood on the spot looking here and there desperately for the source of voice. To his surprise however there was no one there aside from himself.
August thought maybe it could be a monster, a creature capable of mimicking human behaviour. He stood on guard looking around for his sword. When he suddenly remembered his sword Fallen star being taken away from him after the recent battle.
Apparently it was because his father suspected there may be a curse afflicted upon the weapon which caused his unusual outburst on the battlefield.
Right now August was completely unarmed. Because he wasn't a bearer of any core element, his swordskills were the only form of self defence he knew.
Looking around himself he spoke in a cautious tone, "Who? Who is that?"
The strange voice however, stayed silent leaving him to question his own sanity. The thought that it could be an effect of his worsening condition surely made him feel a bit fearful. He had heard a lot about ambivalent people going insane before.
"Finally!" the strange voice exclaimed suddenly, "gosh, can you hear me?" The tone seemed a bit casual but the voice was still unrecognizable. It was like countless voices were speaking simultaneously.
"Y-yes?" he replied cautiously, "I can" for a moment or two there was still silence only the sound of rustling leaves was to be heard, August grew impatient of the eerie calm and spoke, "Who? Who is it playing pranks on me? Show yourself, coward."
For another moment no one spoke as August was growing nervous gradually. The pain of echoes from the recent session was still weighing on him hard. He tried to be wary as much as he could but at last there was no one around him. For which state he was in, he himself doubted he could do anything against an enemy who could hide himself from people's vision.
"You don't have to fear me…" the next words got cut off midway like there was a lag in relaying a voice message.
"Really?" August said while a corner of his lips curled upwards in a crooked smile, "You say that and still refuse to show yourself."
"Oh?" the voices laughed in unison, "Believe me young lord, I should have if I could" the voices sighed and spoke again, "Alas! I am bound by the rules way more than any other being."
"Rules? What rules?" August asked warily, "who even are you? What is your identity?"
"Me? I'm but ..a humble ..entity" the voices seemed to stutter, "Oh! No, it seems …like ...…..my time .....is up" the gaps in the voices increased more and more. At last it was a faint whisper which was so barely audible enough for August to be discarded as a subconscious thought, "....come, find me in your dreams."
August stood there for about fifteen minutes but the voices never spoke any other word.
Finally he decided to head back when the faint light of morning was to be seen over the horizon.
'In my dreams ha?'
— — —
Regardless of what the strange voices said, August thought of the small incident as nothing but the effect of his worsening condition. He slept immediately after sneaking back into the house before anyone could've noticed him.
On normal occasions his absence and sneaky arrival wouldn't have gone unnoticed by his parents even in the darkest night but due to the arachnid search campaign from the past few days his father was too tired to notice that. And it seemed Lord Victor and his father were finally back after a failed attempt to locate the monster.
August was tired too. His head was hurting. His mind was preoccupied with many thoughts and emotions, most of them were related to pain from the last session. He had almost lost control over his thinking. He experienced many jumbled scenarios mixed together like a nonsensical presentation and illusioned them as a dream.
Therefore, many realities seemed as though a dream and the part of dreams he thought, became reality to him.
"Wake up son, it's morning already" his mother said, sliding the curtains aside and letting the light come in through the window, "your father was looking for you."
"Mooom, a few more minutes please.." he replied, pulling the blanket over himself.
When she didn't say anything for some moments August thought of his mother would've already gone. Then she pulled the blanket away from his face slowly, kissing him on the forehead. She said in a gentle tone, "trust me son, you will thank me later for not letting you sleep for another minute."
Letting out a fake annoyed voice he got up rubbing his eyes, "why? What's so special today?"
Well, he found out that apparently May and Damian were finally leaving the town today. He walked up in the living area after dressing up only to find them both ready to depart.
Honestly August hadn't figured out how to respond to this situation yet. On one hand, he was happy that he didn't have to take care of these two children anymore and on the other hand he felt the thought of them leaving was a little disheartening.
While it was true that he enjoyed being alone, it was also true that May and Damian had become someone close to him even in this short time.
His mother was packing some sweets for them to eat on the way while his father was saying goodbye to his old friend.
Damian was dressed like a noble he was and May looked as beautiful as she always did.
"Why don't you stay for some more days?" He said, facing May with a smile, "I have many places left to show you."
"I wish I could see those places as well" she replied, there was an unspoken tension in her expressions which she laughed off, "n-next time."
August understood what reflected in May's emotions. It was …uncertainty. She couldn't possibly be sure if her life allowed her to visit this town one more time.
August's smile grew a little forced,
"Yeah. another time then."
"And you" he turned towards her brother who didn't seem as emotional as he was expecting him to be, so he decided to tease him a bit, "please don't cry if you miss me."
"Cry?" Damian burst into anger almost immediately, "who's gonna cry you idiot. You know what I am never going to miss you and I…"
"Damian" May said, reminding him of his manners while August enjoyed, suppressing a laugh, "alright August. I think it's time for us to go."
Lord Victor stood beside the beast driven carriage along with August's father. They seemed to have ended an important discussion just now.
After May and Damian entered the carriage Lord Victor held Valerius's hand by both of his, "My Lord I am ashamed of leaving you in the middle of a crisis. I don't know if I could ever forgive myself for it."
"Don't say it like that Victor" Valerius shook his head, "you've helped me plenty. I, of all people, have no right to complain" he hugged Victor for the last time before bidding farewell, "take care old friend."
"Lady Sophia I should take my leave now" he bowed down to her, "sorry for the trouble me and my children might have caused knowingly or unknowingly to you."
"Please" Sophia gestured him to raise his head, "we were delighted to host you three. Please come again and next time bring your wife along with you too."
"Young Lord" Victor sat on a knee to match August's eye level, "you are someone people would look up to so please don't sell yourselves short. And please don't jump in the middle of a monster horde next time" he thought he heard Damian chuckle from inside of the carriage, "don't overthink things, you have potential and you definitely don't need to prove that to the world."
August listened to Victor calmly, thinking about how wrong was this man to put his faith in someone like August, how he thought August had potential while his own children were far better than August could ever be.
August laughed inwardly on his own pitiful self, while Victor continued,
"The fact that you are Lord Valerius and Lady Sophia's son, it's proof enough of your capability."
August thought the last sentence made sense, his parents were kind of exalted presences of the town afterall. And no matter how incapable protector he would be for the townsfolk they would still accept him because he was Valerius's son.
August didn't reply but smiled at him. And with that Victor, May and Damian left for the capital. For their home.
August thought their departure would never matter to him because they weren't close enough for him to miss their presence. But there was a subtle hint of sadness on his face. A strange sense of emptiness grasped a little part of his heart.
Wherever he went in his home, every corner reminded him of May and Damian. The liveliness of his home was suddenly replaced with the calmness.
Whatever, it was like this before them all along. The feelings rising in his heart he knew would settle down just quickly as they surfaced.
August let out a sigh. He was wrong, his home was never this calm ever before. Because there was someone also not here who held an importance in his heart more than Fiona siblings. The idiot girl. His self proclaimed big sister.
It turned out he was missing her for too long before he had heard the news of May and Damian leaving.
'I can never say this to her'
Indeed, his pride was too big to lower himself into acknowledging that he missed Shelly.
"Augustus!" Suddenly he heard his father calling out to him as he remembered his mother's words from the morning. For some reason his father was searching for August since morning and he was about to find out why.
— — — — —