I stood there, bleeding. Something, someone had wounded me. It’s been a long time since I felt the thrill of battle…
Léandro’s sincere voice took Kai by surprise. He remained silent, figuring that the prince would say anything except his secrets in his current state. He contemplated whether or not to stop him, but he was curious about it. Why would a prince be out and about, risking his health, instead of living the good life?
“But then you left… and we went our ways. I met more people during my travels, some of whom were better than others. Some I killed, some I spared… some…” He didn’t continue that sentence, perhaps losing his train of thought from all the alcohol flowing through his system. “But a lot of them knew who I was, the few that didn’t suck up to my wealth, and when I hid even that… that’s when I felt normal. But it didn’t last, as they turned alien upon discovering my identity. Hahaha…” Léandro half laughed and half cried, gasping for air.
“The people at the court treat me like a peasant, the civilians treat me like loyalty… my party treats me like a bunny needing protection… But at least they treat me like Léandro, not as the prince of a country.” He paused briefly.
“We went… looking… for medicinal plants. Each time we found one, we transported it back to my mother’s side of the family. They’re storing them safely… as they… as they wait… for more. I have a recipée for a potion that could… that could save her… hahaha.” This time, the laughter was merely a transition toward tears, and he only laughed at his situation.
Kai got up and crawled his way toward Léandro, struggling to lift the heavy boy and propping him against the bed frame. “Here, drink some water.”
Léandro took the glass from Kai and gulped it down, letting out a satisfied sigh. “Thank… I was feeling thirsty…” He wiped his mouth and leaned back. “You know, my mother… she’s been sick for… so many years now. I don- I don’t even know how much time had passed since… she fell ill… enough time though for… that bastard of a king to- to wed two wives! Hahaha… two, while my mother is DYING,” he yelled with a broken voice, tears streaming down his reddened cheeks.
The blue of his eyes turned hazy, and he tried to control his breathing, but to no avail. “DYING… for years. I don’t remember when she fell ill… but it’s been too loong. So long… ah… He doesn’t care, though… He immediately replaced her… but I have hope. It’s all I have.”
Kai gave him another glass of water. “It’s so hot in here… dude… ah… so hot… I’m boiling- I-” Kai cast a minor wind spell and created some sort of makeshift fan with a crystal to cool down the drunken man. “No, I’m cold.” He protested and shoved the stone away. “But I- I’m also hot… fuck, I’m hot again.”
“Pfft.” Kai chuckled at Léandro’s momentary bipolarity but couldn’t do so for a long time, as the bipolar man in question had already fallen asleep. He sighed and dragged him up on the bed, at the very least, then went back to Onyx. Snuggling deep into his fur, he also felt the sweet embrace of sleep take over him.
He didn’t sleep well that night, though. He tossed and turned, scratched his skin, and let out low growls akin to a cub’s. His body burned to the point that even Onyx had to sit up and stay away from him, though he couldn’t sleep due to that. Beneath the layer of clothes, silver-black scales popped in and out of his skin, and his claws grew unevenly across his limbs.
That was the first time Onyx had seen him like that, and to say he wasn’t scared would be an understatement. The Obborik yipped and yelped, scratching at Kai’s mask, trying to get him to wake up. However, he couldn’t do that no matter how much he tried.
…
Kai sat on a platform in the middle of a forest. The platform was white, akin to bone dust, and colder than the frozen lakes during winter. The trees surrounding him were dead, red, and eaten away by termites. The wind blew, making his clothes flutter, and a shiver ran down his spine as the moody white sky turned dark. Then, a bright red covered the world as a sun rose high in the air.
His pupils widened upon seeing it, and a shiver of fear struck his heart as he stared right into it. It didn’t burn his eyes or skin, but it sent him into a panic, and a fury rose within him. It was comparable to the one he felt after seeing the strange creature earlier that day.
He recognized the sun, of course, but it wasn’t quite a sun. The large star hanging in the sky was an eye, a large, red eye with a snake-like pupil. His teeth grated against one another, and a pair of draconic wings grew out of his back. They were covered in shiny white scales and resembled those he had when fighting Haniard for the first time. The wings were a new addition, though.
Without hesitation, he put them to use and shot toward the eye, flying through the sky. A violet sword manifested in his hands, aimed right at the pupil.
However, just as he got closer, a massive, hellish red fire burst out of his wings as they burned, and the searing sound of burning flesh reverberated in the air, alongside the smell of charred pork. Kai screamed and dropped the sword, and then he fell.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
As he did, an ancient voice rang in his ears, “You are not safe!” and disappeared just as he hit the ground.
…
He gasped as he woke up in a cold sweat. The moonlight passing through the window kissed his skin, and he quickly took off his cloak to cool down. Onyx rushed to his side, but Kai jumped to his feet and dashed out the door, disregarding his exposed hair.
His body burned, his soul burned, and his entire being felt like it was aflame. ‘He had to get out’, his tightening chest told him so, ‘he had to leave’, his fears told him. Slamming every door, he made his way out, Onyx following him.
The night city greeted him, as did the people looking at him with fear and worry. His disheveled appearance struck him as odd, and his erratic footsteps gave them a scare. The Obborik following behind didn’t make it any better for them, and they all ended up making way for him. They made way for the crazy person running through the streets.
At least, that’s what he looked like to them. To him, though… they were nothing but veins, blood streams, litters upon litters flowing through their flesh. He hated the way he saw them, but he couldn’t help it. The part of him that held rational hung on as much as it could, shocked at the sudden development.
Kai suspected that it had something to do with the amount of blood he had vomited and the exertion he felt, but something like this had never happened before. Except for that one time… a sudden burst of hunger, a sudden, unquenching thirst took over his body. He tried not to remember that moment, tried not to bring it up, tried to forget it. But how could he? At that moment, he had lost a friend and killed some part of himself.
He acted like everything was fine, though, as he barely felt any different from before. Regret? Guilt? Pity? None of these feelings passed through him, he didn’t feel them, at least.
And now he ran through the night streets of a foreign city, passing by dozens of people and doing his best not to attack them. He wanted to get out, to anywhere except inside the populated town. Kai dashed toward the wall and climbed it effortlessly, then jumped over it and into the forest.
Onyx tried to follow, but, much to his dismay, he couldn’t scale the tall wall as easily as Kai. After trying a few times without much success, he gave up and ran toward the gate.
Kai didn’t stop fleeing, however. The darkness of the forest didn’t prove to be an obstacle for him as his crimson eyes glowed with a faint light. He dodged the bushes, animals, twigs, and random branches as swiftly as he would during the day and kept running forward. However, he didn’t know where he was running.
With an unknown destination, Kai was just happy to be away from everyone and anyone that he could harm. He didn’t want to feed again, he didn’t want to forcefully drink someone’s blood again. No matter how good it felt for him, no matter how euphoric the feeling was and how powerful he felt afterward. He couldn’t.
He kept running for what felt like hours, but he didn’t truly know how much time had passed. The moon still hung high in the sky, its light scattering through the branches.
Finally, he stopped. Leaning against a tree, he took off his mask and gasped for air. The cold breeze cooled down his flushed face to an extent, but his stomach growled, and his entire body screamed and burned. It felt like a fever had taken over him. Kai fell to his knees and clenched his tightening chest. Please… stop… He begged as tears streamed down his face. Please…
However, his speeding, clenched heart didn’t slow down but continued beating as if it were about to burst. For some reason his thirst grew stronger with each passing minute, and, despite having to suffer before, he didn’t expect something like that to happen. It has to be the hand of that dragon… He thought, blaming the one thing that appeared in his dream.
And he had good reason to, after all. He couldn’t be sure that the creature that proclaimed itself a God was the root of this problem, but that was his only path for now. Yet, even as he thought about all of that, he couldn’t help himself but dig his already outstretched claws into his flesh, hoping that the pain would wake him.
It didn’t, though. The mask he held within his trembling hands fell to the ground as he growled and dug away at some of his flesh, and then he turned to the tree and scratched it as well. His muscles spasmed and contracted, then relaxed and repeated the process. Kai felt like his body had forgotten how to act, and the resulting pain brought him to the brink of despair.
He felt like he would attack even a pig if it meant satisfying his hunger, but he was afraid that he would lose himself by then. A sudden cramp in his stomach knocked him to the ground, and he curled up into a ball, trying to bear through the pain.
Damned… God… Kai cursed inwardly, yet could do nothing except suffer. The thirst and hunger intensify with every passing second. Drool mixed with blood escaped his mouth as he bit down on his tongue, and his fangs showed as he gasped for air.
Someone… please… He begged as he lay on the floor, and tried to think to Onyx with no avail. He couldn’t focus enough, and he didn’t even know where he was.
He lay in the forest at the feet of the tree, growling, mumbling, reverberating in the air, accompanied by the occasional snarls. His entire body spasmed and cried out in pain, hunger, and thirst. He couldn’t do anything, though, and his consciousness began to fade ever so slowly. Fear plucked at his heart. What if when he came to, he did something he could never forgive himself for?
Kai had little time to contemplate such questions, though.
His ears twitched as a rhythmic set of footsteps approached him. They were light and soft, unlike any animal he’d ever seen, and it was easy enough to discern that they belonged to a human. Taking a whiff of the air, a sweet, feminine fragrance inundated his nose. He jumped to his feet, despite the pain, but didn’t immediately attack. Watching the approaching figure, his heart sank upon seeing who it was.
“Ya-sa…” He struggled to say, but his throat felt like it was stuffed with ten thousand bees.
The woman’s beautiful brown eyes stared right into his crimson pair, and he shivered. He watched as she took out a dagger from her spatial ring, and, without a flick of her wrist, it sped toward him at an incredible speed.
Do you all know who Leandro is now?!
