The Lost Scholar

CHAPTER: 10

DEATH

It was dead of night, no wind carried the broken diamonds raining from above. Gabriel watch the snowflakes dance in tranquil motion. He held out his hand glowing with his aura in shades of blue and green with hints of reds to catch the snow drops as they melted immediately once they touched his skin. “The aura is the evidence of life…” he thought out loud. Gabriel could only feel the cold numbing his fingertips, he closed his small hands into tight fists watching the ice melt into lukewarm drops slipping through the creases of his fingers and into the layers of shaved ice underneath his boots.

Gabriel hid in the alley beside the inn. Roy had long wondered in the inn He could only assume he was since he could see his platinum aura spellbound doing the same motion over and over again.

If warmth was the cause of light burning continuously then it would mean the eternal sun is the reason why there is light. The Sun, even if it hides behind the shades of gray of the sky, plays a major role in the existence of humanity. However, Gabriel doesn’t really like how the warmth of the Sun feels in spring, he appreciates it but he rather prefers the cold and the ice of the beginning autumn and freezing winter. If he was in fact more in tune with the cold than the heat then there must be a problem with his core if it’s still reflecting the colors of his emotions: fear, anticipation and excitement. “Am I backwards…?” he asked himself expecting an answer.

He heard a croak of a crow up high in the second floor window. He looked up to see the window open. “This is my queue,” he said and climbed up.

He entered the lit room where Roy opened for him he saw a note written with beautiful calligraphy saying, “Good job, remember our goal. I will count on you.’’ the author of such a vague note signed by the clever Roy Firestorm, that was enough motivation to prove to Roy that he can break into a home and steal a diary. “I will make you proud of me, and I will save my mom with your support…”

Gabriel opened the door leading to the hallway and made sure he was alone. He didn’t see any active and lively auras other than the ones he assumed were asleep in the rooms behind locked doors and the ones below the wooden floor boards.

The little Amesthyn remembered where Amelia’s room stood and he tiptoed his way there quietly, to his dismay, it was locked. “Why would this be locked…?” he wondered. then he noticed a faint aura from behind the door, pure white. Just as he managed to see color, it vanished. Something was behind that door and was being kept there. Now he understood Roy’s curiosity, there were some big conspiracy going on and he really wanted to know what was under the many layers.

He then realized he needed to find the keys. This wasn’t as simple as Roy planned it out. But this wasn’t going to stop him from saving his mom. He tiptoed back to the room and locked it tight searching for a pen and ink jar, and he was thankful there were a quill and very little ink. Little Gabriel wrote his message as legible as possible, then he folded the paper into a plane and snuck out of the room and onto the staircase where he could get a better view of Roy. He was being attended by the tavern wench, she was trying too hard to get special attention from him and Roy was more focused on the drink he slowly drank.

Gabriel drew a heavy breath and threw the paper plane hopping it reached Roy.

“Argh!” it hit a man’s eye, he was very far away from Roy. Gabriel sighed and palmed his face in frustration.

“Who did this!?” the wounded man shouted, crumbling up the paper. He looked up to another man and threatened him with a broken bottle. “What the hell is your problem!?”

“Get off of me, you bottomless barrel of disappointment!”

Gabriel hoped Roy noticed the altercation but he was tuning the entire thing out. “How am I supposed to get the keys now…?” he asked himself. The little apprentice then wondered if Roy tricked him into thinking this was all a mystery but in reality this was a journey to get drunk.

“Hey! Cut it out!” said another man joining in and punching another man. Soon enough every man jumped in, except Roy who was, if anything, annoyed.

“Quit it already!” the dry and unappealing wench of the inn tried to break up the fight. She couldn't handle the roughness that came with inebriated men. Gabriel noticed something tied to her belt, a ring of keys. One of those had to open the room.

He snuck down the stairs to retrieve the keys the wench kept on her belt. Gabriel had to avoid the brawl sneaking and pushing through the aggressive patrons. He was scared but he was able to grab and yank the ring of keys and run up the stairs with no one catching on to him.

He made it back to Amelia's room and after a while of guessing which key opens the lock he was in the room. He took a deep breath, “I’m almost there, mom…”

And so, he searched the room without making a noise, not that it mattered since he could hear the whole commotion down stairs. He felt a plank weaken under his boot, very similar to secret compartments at his home. He lifted it, and sure enough, he found a white book with a doll with realistic looking eyes.

He opened the book at a random page and wouldn't he knew, someone was writing it. Some of the sentences he read at first glance were off to him. He read a particular page from the beginning section of the journal, “‘I can't wait till spring so I can leave this godforsaken place. Once I fulfil my part of the deal, I will leave and never look back.’” the text was accompanied with a few rhymes and circle patterns similar to witchcraft. “Roy has to see this…” Gabriel said to himself quietly.

The boy took both the doll and the book and hid it in his satchel and made sure to cover his tracks. A door creaked from behind and Gabriel froze, hearing the heavy steps of bare feet. As he turned he didn’t know what to do first but screaming was out of the question.

Gabriel witnessed walking corpse of a little girl. Her gray, almost a ghastly green skin pruned with obvious signs of frostbites, rotten and falling apart from long time exposure to time and gravity. Her breathing was gross and sloppy, every breath she drew was an unnecessary attempt of living, and strangely enough, flower petals dyed in dry blood spilled from her matted and chapped lips. Her dress was covered in posies, he even dared think her dress was a garden or she was a human sized faerie. Her blond hair, dirty with grime and dust, was falling apart strand by strand, the bunch of it still on her head covered most of her face amd was also tangled with rose vines and buds. He knew who she was, he knows it. “A-Amelia…” Gabriel wheezed her name as his back hit the door. From where he stood he caught a glance of a body crammed in the closet, he recognized his face, it was the innkeeper. Judging by the mess of gore, his own daughter feasted on him, starting from his stomach.

Gabriel stood there sobbing quietly as Amelia stumbled towards him, she tackled Gabriel and lunged at his skin to bite it. Gabriel slapped her away with the book he had in the satchel, then he kicked her off him and ran to the door but it was locked. He pull at the door and even pounded at it. “Someone!! Help me!!” Gabriel screamed. He hoped Roy could hear him, or any one for that matter.

Gabriel cried out as jagged teeth sank into his shoulder blade. He pulled at her hair and clawed to get her off. Gabriel then slammed himself against the wall and any surface to shake Amelia off. His back prickled and felt lighter. His spikes expunged the dead girl from his shoulder. Gabriel ran to the window and thought about jumping off but it was too high up. The girl didn't give up the fight and dragged herself towards Gabriel.

“K-kih...kill…” he heard her hiss. “kill me…” Amelia begged.

“W-what…?” Gabriel thought he was delusional from the massive loss of blood. “f-free me…” she pleaded with the frightened boy. “I want to die…” she barely added.

Gabriel on one hand felt his heart crumble hearing such a sad girl beg for something so grousm, on the other he wanted to run far away from this situation. Gabriel then realized what she was asking him to do. “I-I can't do that!! Are you insane?!” he shouted.

“P-please… I want to be with my father…” she whispered.

Gabriel stared at her, he didn't understand her abhorrent fate or what lead to it. It only infuriate him. She was a sick child caught in the middle of a war between the church and witches. Gabriel and Amelia were in the cross fires and not even death could offer them a release from the harsh reality.

“..All it takes is brutal force...” He heard Roy speak from a memory deep in his head. He also remembered the panicked look on Roy's face when his only alternative was the worse outcome to save a troubled soul trapped forever in a vessel of pain. He really didn't want to but he could let her suffer.

“Al… alright…” Gabriel finally caved in. The child stepped closer and looked down at the girl clinging to the wood. A sad smile of pain and hope was plastered on her face. He closed his eyes tight and lifted his boot and before he could stomp, he heard her squeak, “thank you--” gabriel kicked through her head and it made a wet cracking sound, along with a string of whines and gurgling noises. Gabriel stood frozen in place, covering his mouth with both hands looking down at what he actually did. The paralyzed boy lifted his boot, and cringed when he felt the slime and blood squish from the sole and soaked into his feet. She was still alive though, so he did it again, and again, and again till no sound came from her throat. The blood and flower petals cluttered up in his clothes. Gabriel's shoulders trembled as little panicked gasps pushed through his red lips staring down at the mess he made. Pieces of her brain clung to his skin and hair, nausea overwhelmed him, his body bent forward and spilled his stomach contents onto the wood near the cadaver. He then realized he had to hide the evidence. He couldn't do much anyway, the mess will never be cleaned up and neither will his soul.

“God… What have I done…?” Fear kicked in when an aura stood idle behind the door, it was a white light. Gabriel crawled backwards into the closet and shut the door. He forgot the other dead body and sealed his own mouth with both hands, silently praying for a miracle.

The door opened and heavy boots walked in the room. He could hear the door close and his heart was ready to leap out of his chest. The feet stopped by the closet door. Gabriel shut his eyes tight squeezing the remaining tears out of his eyes and sobbed quietly.

Pain pierce the boy's hands like sharts going through his skin. He winced and he didn’t realize his voice was getting louder because the man standing behind the door twisted the knob and pulled it open with great speed and hurry. “Gabriel” Roy had a horrified look of regret on his hard face. “What on Earth happened to you...?” He kneeled on his one knee and reached his hand to help Gabriel out of the closet. “I killed her…” Gabriel confessed. “I killed her…” he repeated. “

“Let's get you out of here.” Soon, Gabriel was held in Roy's arms as he cooed quietly, “It's going to be fine… You’re stronger than this.” Roy had taken his coat and wrapped it around Gabriel's frame to protect him from the harsh winter waiting outside and consoled the child to the best of his abilities. Gabriel hadn't been held that way since his father left. His mother did smothered him with love and support but it wasn't a physically strong hold. The warmth Roy emitted was a special light that burnt away all worry from his heavy heart. Roy snuck Gabriel out through the window and into the night, back to the safety of the Atelier.

“I killed her…” Gabriel sobbed quietly all the way back. No amount of support or sugar would ease the lump on his throat and the worms of anxiety ate through his inside claiming his sanity and peace of mind. “What did I do..?” His howls of despair reached far into the darkness for no god to hear. “What have I done?”

“Gabriel, please…” Roy said impossibly low and sweetly. “If you continue to strain yourself you will draw death…” he reasone with the hysterical child. The door of the atelier opened by the Grace of Roy and he quickly rushed in to help the soul he himself endangered.

The child laid over his bare chest on the plushed bed. Little Gabriel screamed as the wound over his shoulder burned like hell fire. “Shh..” whispered the cleromancer, pressed a cloth with liquid and dried herb medicine over the bite, pressing deep to embed them into his flesh. “I will mend your wounds,” he promised. The scent of the Atelier overwhelmed the child’s senses and pulled him under the cover of darkness.