2.3

Raina had her posterior flung to the ground as soon as they reappeared at the circular patio.

“Oww! That hurt me, John,” Raina yelped.

Just as she thought, John would let her off his arms the first chance he got, but not as far as throwing her on the ground as if he was disgusted with her.

Surely, Raina’s feminine virtues should have granted her a softer landing, much so from John who was…

“Ahhh!!! ”

John let out a deafening scream beside her, one that Raina had never heard from him.

He sunk to the ground and curled up into a ball. Atop his head, the familiar dark aura appeared, unlike the time that it had wrapped itself around John like a membrane protecting him, the dark energy now surged itself continuously into John’s forehead.

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! I don’t want to know!” his screams got louder as the dark energy kept pouring itself onto him. The blue light in his eyes intensified as each second passed. “Get it off, keep it away from me!” he wailed as his body trashed and surrendered to the dark energy.

“[Sound Amplification].” Raina quickly used a spell to boost her voice. “Someone please send help to the teleportation grounds!”

Just moments ago, these very energies that heeded John’s every command had brought him back to life, now they were all converging like a drill onto his forehead, forcing veins to pop. The beads of sweat showed no signs of stopping.

Did he offered up his life for that immense power earlier?

Raina shook her head for entertaining that thought.

No, there is no way that he would do that. That is a different category of magic, Johnny is only...

The Elven Queen appeared from an eruption of vines on a nearby ground, a nymph followed by her side. The nymph quickly moved towards the collapsed John and held his hand.

“Mother, help him! Help John! He was completely fine earlier when we were in the human settlement, and then, and then… Those dark things swirling with blue mana started attacking him—”

“I think he has undone his seal, Veissa,” the nymph spoke as she inspected John.

“His own seal…” The Elven Queen’s face darkened. “I am sorry Raina,” Veissa tapped a finger on her daughter’s forehead.

“What...” Raina muttered as her eyes lids dropped, her body became sluggish. Her strength leaked from her body as her eyes closed, falling in to a great slumber on the ground.

“Are you sure you will be going along with the plan, Veissa? The consequences—”

“This was the deal I made with him. If anything, the boy would be merciful when he comes to be. That I can be certain.”

“But what about—”

“If it ever comes down to that, Quinatta. I am willing to sacrifice myself the same way. This long life of mine has lost its purpose to live centuries ago… You of all people should know that...”

“That’s not it, Veissa! Could you not convince your people to accept what is upon them? If only they knew about the truth of what happened during the Great Demon War,” the nymph protested

“And what will that change, my dear Quinatta? What would you think if someone who saved your life from a hellish world was also the cause for it?

“You may be accepting of what I have told you regardless of how absurd it was. Because, out of everyone else, we were the ones that saw it all happened with our eyes, we personally knew the Hero who ended the Great Demon War. Even I had a rough time understanding it when I—”

Veissa cut her sentence short the moment hustled footsteps of a group of elves approached them.

It was the Elven Elite Squad, with the commander at the front, the squad arrived with weapons in their hand, all members present.

The squad members’ faces were painted with shock as they witness the sight of John twitching unnaturally. Their hands curled tightly at their weapons, waiting for further orders from their Queen.

“At ease, I have him under control. There’s nothing he could do to—”

“AHHH!!!”

Veissa was cut short by a scream from John before she could dismiss the elves. An immense tremor was unleashed from his position, creating a great rumble.

No place in A’vetheas was spared from the earthquake. Thankfully the great effort of the Elven Queen who had arranged preventive magic to be cast on all of A’vetheas monthly was enough to reduce such an unnatural force into harmless tremors of the ground.

“He is a demon.”

The single word uttered from one of the squad members caused all of them to point their weapons towards John.

Queen Veissa’s heart dropped, she looked towards Quinatta who gave her a sad nod. There was no use in hiding it anymore, she had expected this to happen not until the boy reach his twenties, alas a simple elf like her could only do what she was told to.

She steeled herself and voiced out the words that she had practiced to speak without emotion.

“Elven Elite Squad, arrest John Sarvod for the crime of practicing demon magic.”

Series of incoherent breathing could be heard in a place covered with nothing but shadows. The boy who looked no younger than 10 moved his feet as fast as he could, reaching for the lights that illuminated at the end of this pitch black hell. The more he moved, the further he was from the exit.

His feet was sore. It has been an eternity that he started chasing this impossible light in his dark world. Never in his life he chased after something so desperately.

Despite the heat stirring up in his lungs telling him to slow down and take a breather, he persisted and pressed on.

For the voices at the light called his for him.

“Master… I love you, please stay by my side.”

“I am sorry for being a burden.”

His pushed his legs on the ground as hard as he could, with his outstretched hand acting as a compass aiming at the lights, the child gained speed and advanced. Slowly but surely, the speed that he generated was enough to chase the shadows that were cast before him.

And so he chased with upmost exhilaration, for something that he knew was impossible. All the boy needed was to maintain his movements, there was still time to spare, he could reach the voices, before…

His legs stopped moving.

The boy fell. His eyes became distant as his legs stopped moving and tripped over themselves. He had failed, failed at his goal for protecting those who needed his protection.

Like the hope in his heart, the lights that he had been chasing all died out, consumed by the shadows, robbing him of the voices that called out to him.

“Don’t go, don’t leave me!” he cried into the void only for silence to respond to him.

A failure. I am a failure.

Feelings of emptiness occupied him as the boy laid still on the ground. There was nothing he could do, even the voices that gave rise to the last of his strength was not enough to let him reach his them.

The voices which had called out to him earlier was from someone who cherished him the most, the only person who would not exploit him, someone who stood by him as the world around him came crumbling down. Someone who he failed to save.

It hurts…

The feeling of his sanity splitting into two increased each time he wiped the mucous off his face. His gripped at his heart as he allowed himself to curl into a fetal position, hoping to subdue the tears the were flowing out from him. The gentleness of the voice, the scent that belonged to the person…

That died because of him.

“I don’t want to know.”

He repeatedly hit his forehead with the back of his left fist like a mindless drone as he fought control of his face from warping into an ugly figure.

He knew what the person would say to him if they saw him in this state, and knowing that only made his heart ache much more. For he was now, abandoned, swallowed by his own darkness, for he has nothing left.

“I don’t want to know.”

John was startled awake by the cold damp floor that his face was laying on. His groggy state was quickly replaced with high alert as the cold air hit his body.

His clothing was thin and provided minimal warmth, the coat that he put on earlier when he left his room was no longer on him. He lifted a hand to his cheek.

“Have I been crying?”

What…

John was in a dimly lit rectangular space, all around him were concrete walls, neither entrance nor openings were to be found, there was zero signs of how he got himself inside a place like this.

To make matters even worse, he was stripped of all his possessions. His trusty messenger bag was no where to be found, the shoes that cushioned his feet was removed, all that was left was his shirt and his pants.

He had been held captive. That was his only reasoning.

Calm down, it was only a dream. It was just a nightmare, nothing more. The dark place has nothing to do with this at all. Raina is safe… Raina…

The events from earlier were still hazy for John who just woke up. He could only remember himself following the guise of his desire to bring the three men to their deaths for so much as to lay their hands on his precious Raina.

Driven by such thoughts, his body and mind moved on their own before he could process it. One moment he had driven his blade into the huge man, the next he was stabbed to death and completely recovered from it, and to… killing them.

He had only muttered a single word, and all of them fell to their demise in the most disgusting, yet befitting way. His stomach tossed at the last memory of Ramos’ final moments in front of him, the man who possessed superior strength, was no match for the command that parted John’s lips at that moment.

But what caused it? Why was it that he could come back to life when he died? Mixed feelings boiled in him as he raced his thoughts at the sudden influx of magical ability in him.

Words that he never would have thought could be used as spells came to him and carried out their intended purpose without prior understanding.

“Could it be?”

To affirm his capabilities, John placed on of his palms to his face.

“[Execute].”

Silence.

Nothing had happened, the dark energy did not come forth, his spell casting failed.

“Hmm… This doesn’t make sense, I clearly did something like this earlier. If this doesn’t work, then...”

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, despite the frosty atmosphere that bit at his skin he relaxed his muscles and placed his palm on his face once more.

“[Defilement].”

John held his breath for what was about to happen. One second had passed, two, three, four…

Eventually minutes went by and nothing was happening to him. Besides a shivering body and covered in cold sweat, he was completely unaffected.

“[Heal].”

His body warmth returned to him briefly before it shivered once more. This iconic spell that he used countless times worked fine. The only thing was….it seemed darker.

“Again, again, again, again,” he spoke out in hopes that the spell could be cast multiple times like he did earlier.

But like a child screaming at the sky for the sun to appear at nightime so that one would not have to go to bed and play more, nothing happened when John tried to cast[Heal] repeatedly on himself.

“It didn’t happen... But I saved Raina we came back to A’vetheas, didn’t we?”

He panicky tapped his fingers on the walls of the cell that he was in, afraid that everything that happen to him earlier was just a dream. If that was a dream, he would not still be alive.

But what caused him to be locked up in this cell? This place of isolation where criminals who are jailed. A place where he could not see the light of day, lose track of time, one that driven many into insanity if remained in such a place for a prolonged period.

“I don’t understand… I came, I saved her. Then why am I in a place like this? There’s not even lights here. What did I do to deserve this?

There was only one reason that he could be placed in a room like this.

His heart replied with the feeling of a needle pulled out from it.

He was imprisoned the dungeons of A’vetheas, the only place where enemies of the elves would be held captive.

“Demon.”

The three beings in this world that yielded untold power that could bend the world to their whims, gods, demons and dragons. These beings were of the highest power known in existence, their actions that were recorded in history all brought about world-altering events.

To those that were reveled as Gods, they were the symbol of peace, entities who lived in the heavens sworn to bring all evil-doers to meet their end.

With limited knowledge towards their existence, Demons were notorious beings who act on their impulses, most often associated with leaving great chaos in their wake.

Dragons were mysterious beings mentioned only in ancient texts, and have maintained neutral in their stance towards the world’s affairs.

That was the basics that everybody knew. Such that it became a universal fact among those who live or passed.

John frowned. He could still hear Alwin’s dreadful voice resounding in his ear, reminding him of the excruciating pain that surged towards him moments ago. The very word send shivers down to his already chilled body.

“Demon,” John muttered the word to himself, unsure what that meant for him.

A taboo among the elves, the one thing that he swore not to let his curiosity wander into, associating with it only meant the end of the life he had.

No, it couldn’t be. There must be a mistake, there is no way…

John’s snowballing panic was interrupted with a resounding woosh, the wall in front of him suddenly faded, revealing the familiar hallways that belonged to the dungeon beneath the Elven Palace.

Two elves cladded in sleek elven armor that radiated with magical particles stood imposingly before him. Behind their brazen helmets that covered their facial structures, the elves casted their condemning eyes at him.

“Get your ass of the ground, the queen is awaiting for you to be trialed. Try anything and you’ll be killed on the spot, human scum,” spat one of them.

“The nerve that you have to so willingly betray us even after we have accepted you. Tricking Princess and the queen with the appearance of a human child, you are worse than lifestock, human,” said the other.

John who was yet to finish listening to their unjust claims, was yanked from his armpits and dragged on his knees across the floor. Not even letting to walk on his two feet, he was treated with respect less than a swine would be butchered.

The elves made sure to drag him up the stairs in a most careless way, such that his knees banged at the stair steps as they ascended to the throne room.

“Hngg…”

“What’s the matter? Trying to resist?” asked one of the elves when they heard John’s suppressed grunts. “In that case…” the elf gave the other a nod, and they sped up their ascend, causing John to take more hits at his knees before they reach the and of the stairs.

“No need to thank us,” said the other condescendingly. “It is the least that we can do for someone like you.”

Their grudge towards him was evident, from the moment that he had arrived in A’vetheas, Queen Veissa had told him that elves were much more cruel than they would let themselves appear to be.

If anything were to threaten the elves existence, they would stop at nothing to act on upon it, taking appropriate measures to achieve their goal. Such was the self preservation instinct that was embedded in them the moment that they were born.

Hence, John had endure it ever since, each snarky remark that went on behind his back, every time someone like Declan who took his efforts for granted, he would swallow his pride.

For the sake of those who did not bore hatred for his existence in A’vetheas. And for the sake for the little girl that had followed him around and treated him as an equal, who viewed him for who he was.

He endured the pain that jabbed at his knees, as far as he knew these elves were intentionally doing this to him as a test that he would not use his new found powers against them.

Not that I can… I tried, it just happened on the spot…

Deep inside of him, a simmer of hope bloomed that this situation would be resolved the moment Raina attested to his actions earlier. For without that dark energy’s untimely appearance, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Gak!”

John let out a cry as he one of his knees made a distinct crack.

The elves that were carrying him turned towards his direction with wry expressions on their faces, daring him to cast his healing magic on himself.

If John were to even cast [Heal], the armored elves would most definitely twist that fact and reported to Queen Veissa that he tried to assault them, diminishing any chances of him of receiving any fair judgment.

Seeing their prisoner not willing to put up a fight, the two elves passed through the hallways and brought John to a clamorous room flooded with great number of elves, the throne room where judgment would befall upon him.

At the forefront of the room itself, Queen Veissa was seated upon her throne with the two court mages beside her. The mages had their staff weilded firmly in their hands, ready to cast magic to intercept any harm that would come to their Queen’s way.

“I told you that we should have never trusted him.”

“Like all humans, they fall so easily.”

“To think Princess Raina had to associate with that kinda of person. Oh, how much you have suffered my dear Princess.”

“If not for his rare magical ability, I doubt the queen would put up with his presence. Have you seen his attitude? He walks among us as if it’s the most natural thing to do. Lower Races can never truly appreciate the privilege they are bestowed.”

“I am sure that one of the Elven Elite Squad members was assigned by the queen to monitor him should something like this happen.”

The voices dwindled as soon their subject of interest was brought before them, the crowd uninimously made a straight path along the thick carpet that led towards where the Elven Queen was.

“On your knees, scum!”

In unison, the two elves pressed John firmly onto the ground, forcing him to prostate himself.

“Argk...”

The pressure against his knees forced a grunt out of him. Curious eyes from all sides of the throne room followed him, taking note of each of his movements.

These were elves who John had aided and befriended. But now, they saw him no more than the dark beasts that lurked outside of A’vetheas. Their preconception of him as the talented healer of A’vetheas was all gone.

“Our benevolent Queen, as per your command, we have brought John Sarvod, healer of A’vetheas to receive judgment for he had committed the highest crime of treason by associating himself with the use of demonic powers which led to the destruction of the previous Elven Kingdom and under the suspicion of being a demon himself.”