Everie decided to take a stroll around the town in the morning to clear his thoughts. But he didn't knew what was coming for him.
He found himself somehow lost in one of the alleys but he stayed calm, knowing Elzár was a place protected by monsters. But he had forgotten one danger.
He stopped his walk once he heard a man's voice from one of the dark alley.
"N-no! Please, I beg your mercy!" a man pleaded.
He quickly crouched to the ground then peeked behind a wall to see what was happening. Then his eyes widened when he saw a man. He wore a dark robe, the hood on his head prevented anyone from seeing his face. In his hand, a black fire embarked. Everie's eyes shined from his amazing power.
'What a terribly big amount of mana! Could it be…'
"I don't like people who tails after me," he warned, voice cold as he looked at the begging man.
The man was burned to ashes in a split second. This powerful being looked like he had no symphaty at all. He couldn't care less if anyone even found out about him.
'…the Black Hood!'
It made Everie got goosebumps all over. He tried to silently crouched away. But what he did not realise was that the man had been staring at him for quite a while now. Not that he could tell when his face was covered in the shadow of his hood.
Once Everie saw the sunlight of the town, it made him exhale deeply in relief.
'Gosh! Now I know why everyone's so scared of him…'
He was not just human, he was not just a thief, he was a monster.
Or at least that's how Everie pictured him.
—
He didn't go straight home this time. He decided to walk off the shore to clear his mind from what he just saw earlier. At the same time paying Dean a visit.
"Everie! The harbour is as busy as ever so I can't accompany you on your strolls…" whined Dean with a frown.
It was indeed packed with ships everywhere.
'It's the perfect weather…'
He decided to walk somewhere more quiet. He played around with the water. Kicking his feet and even accidentally fell down on his face.
In the end, he just sat on the sand with a long face.
'The ocean where I drifted in… It's impossible that I even lived.'
The smallest land, Elzàr was the furthest land from the other nations. Meanwhile the sea, deep at it's time and dark in the night. A perfect place for monsters to live in. Knowing how Everie didn't come from here, he could've been their feed.
But he survived.
He clenched his hand tight then flinched when he heard a voice, unfamiliar.
"Could it be… You're thinking of something I might just know!"
The voice sounded like a female's. High pitched and distorted. But where did it came from?
"W-who?!" shouted Everie.
The voice chuckled before Everie passed out all of the sudden.
—
"Yoohoo, are you still alive?"
His eyes then fluttered open to a blank space.
"Where… Who are you?!"
"I'm Miriel!" the voice answered with excitement.
The source of the voice seemed to be standing infront of him now. A girl with her hair and eyes purple. A black dress she was wearing, and there were two pins on each's side of her hair.
She was, unfamiliar. A stranger to be exact.
The girl had a hand on her chin as she think then gasped when she finally got an idea.
"Ooh! How about this. Think of me as your… guardian angel!"
Everie gave her a cold scoff.
"What?"
She groaned before tracing her finger on the flat ground.
It seemed to be her drawing a round looking thing.
'An orb?'
"This! I am born from an orb! Then when I woke up, I was already here… That's just how I work like, alright?"
Everie looked at the drawing for quiet a while before looking back at Miriel with a look of disbelief.
"You think I'm gonna believe that…?"
Miriel scoffed before smirking.
"It doesn't matter when I know something you don't right…?
He raised an eyebrow up then clenched his fists.
"What do you mean by that?"
"Your memories. I might be able to dig them out if you want—"
"How do you know I need my memories back?"
She gave Everie a bored face before pointing around the blank space.
"Maybe because I live inside of your head and I can hear your every thoughts?"
"Oh. Right… Wait, what?! So you've been peeping on everything I was thinking!"
Miriel scratched her head with a nervous smile before forming a purple glowy orb on both hands.
"Well at least I'm of help. The only problem is that my orb can only show you one truth for a lifetime. Are you still interested?"
Everie didn't think twice before agreeing.
"Right away, guardian angel."
But instead of listening to Everie's request, she floated above him, resting her body on the air while she thinks.
"Hmm, but I won't do it without a pay."
He scoffed at her remarks before answering.
"Oh, a weird being like you could be so demanding, hm? Well, what is it that you possibly want?"
She smiled brightly then flew infront of Everie.
"I want something to eat while I stay in your body!"
Everie gave her a bored look while thinking, 'that was it?'
"Oh, but I've already found the thing I wanted to feast on so rest assured. Just sign this contract with me and you'll be done!"
Some kind of paper suddenly appeared in the thin air. A contract of some and a pen for Everie.
He thought carefully before signing it. Just to make sure he wasn't tricked.
'Whatever she's eating is not as important as the key to the truth right now.'
He slowly picked up the pen then wrote his best sign before the paper burned.
"Alright! Now go ahead and place your hand inside of the orb. But I can't guarantee what it'll show you."
'I'm desperate for a change.'
His right hand passed through the inside of the orb as if it was hollow. He felt how his finger tips were getting cold. But he didn't pull out. Instead he was sucked inside of it.
To a familiar place he once knew.
—
"Eve," a boy called out.
'Is this… my memory?'
He seemed to be at a training ground. Where there were lots of wooden statues surrounding him. An a sword on his hand.
SWISH!
The sound of a sword being swinged in the air was heard behind his back. When he turned, he saw the boy that once appeared in his vision. The boy with golden hair.
"The new sword father gave us is amazing! Don't you think so too?"
Everie did not say anything to the boy. He only observed close.
The boy kept practicing his skills on a worn out wooden statue. He never looked tired of it. Rather excited of how he improved each time he does it.
Everie smiled. But he didn't know why. He just felt… warm inside.
But he did utter something. The one thing he meant truly. Maybe words he had kept inside during his time drifting in the ocean.
"You're an amazing person too…"
"…Lyle."
That name echoed in his head. But the boy infront of him couldn't hear it. Everie fully understood that it was just his memory. Nothing can change what happened in the past.
—
The training ground soon faded to him sitting at the edge of a cliff. Everie's hands were bruised and dirty. Blood splattered all over the rocky ground. He felt how out of breath he was as if he was still experiencing that day.
A man stood tall infront of him. Clenching his sword tight. Then, he spoke. Not proud of himself, rather disgusted.
"You could never be a king when you're this weak, Everie. I'll gladly take father's throne for you."
'God, now I remembered how humiliating this day was.'
The man then placed a foot on Everie's chest before he said he last goodbye. But it was more of a happy one for him.
"So long, Everie," he uttered then pushed him off of the cliff.
Everie had something more to say to him as he was slowly falling down to the deep ocean. But he was too weak to shout so he instead whispered under his breath.
"You're a bastard, Lyle."
—
Everie's eyes closed. Completely shut. But it opened again once the place gradually turned back into the blank white space.
"Soo? Soo??? How was it?" Miriel asked in excitement. Clearly thrilling to know what Everie saw.
Everie sat on the floor. Stoned. But now it's clear of the vision he saw.
The chaos that will happen in the future. The fire that burned the whole empire. It's all his doing.
"Lyle…" he mumbled. Only making the curious Miriel even more confioused.
"Oh, you're still out of it. Cheer up! At least you have a lead now. So, what do you think?"
"What I think? Ha," scoffed Everie.
He slowly got up from the ground. For a moment, it seemed like his golden eyes glowed bright even under the cloth wrapped around his head.
"I need to steal that throne from him. Even if it means I have to force my way there."
To Be Continued…