-Chapter 8- New Hero of Justice???

So you want to hear more? I thought you would tell me to stop this cliché story after the first day. Well, then let’s continue.

I stopped at an interesting spot, didn’t I? It was kind of predictable though, wasn’t it?

As this kind of familiar voice called out to us, Cealius flinched. It wasn’t something he planned. There was someone he didn’t expect to come here. His expression was showing his surprise for a moment, but it changed to his usual smile. It looked creepy. I don’t know if it was just me who thought it was.

“Who might you be and why are you interfering our little game? “, He put the bottle filled with that brown poison behind his back. There was no sound for some time, but the soft sobbing of Alycia. “What kind of game is that, I wonder. “, I tried to turn a bit. I still felt dizzy and my view was foggy, but I could recognize that person without a problem.

It was Lycus. That blue hair could be seen even from far away. “I don’t think this matter should concern you. We are having fun, right everyone? “, Cealius looked at the other kids, who nodded as soon as his gaze was upon them. “Using difficult words now? What’s matter and concern? They sound funny. Is that food? “, I nearly forgot about Lycus outlook on everything. He didn’t seem to notice nor care for our situation.

“It means you should leave. “, Cealius’ closed eyes slightly opened. He got annoyed by Lycus, who kept on disturbing his plan. I believe that was the first time I was grateful for Lycus’ rambling. I didn’t know why he decided to disappear or why he thought it was a great idea to appear now. I didn’t even know how he was able to get wiped from everyone’s memory but mine. This whole situation was ridiculous anyway and I couldn’t really think straight.

“But this is my favourite place and… “, I heard some steps. “Why is Alycia crying back there and Zekki lying on the floor? ", I would have loved to shout ‘DO YOU REALLY NEED SOMEONE TO SPELL THAT OUT? ‘, but I couldn’t. Everything felt so far away. “Like I said, why should I tell a stranger, huh? “, Cealius glanced to the side. It was some kind of signal for the other kids to change their target to Lycus.

They covered the distance between Lycus and them pretty fast. I didn’t think that idiot would be able to even hold on for a second, so I gathered some strength to give out a shout “LYCUS, d-Don’t fight! Run! Cealius! “, yes, most of the things I said were a bit nonsensical at that moment. They made sense in my head though.

“Oh, Zekki? You remember me? How did you do that? “, he completely ignored the rest of my sentence. I tried to warn him, which I normally don’t do, and he ignored it. Why did I even warn him? It was his own fault for picking a fight. I could have just run away.

It was probably my stupid habit again.

While I was still struggling to stay conscious, the kids reached Lycus.

I couldn’t really see the fight, but I did hear some noise. “Hey~ you shouldn’t do this. “, I heard someone falling then one more person. I didn’t hear hits, just people falling and Lycus saying some random lines.

“Ah~ See I told you. “

“You should be more careful there~ “

Things like this. Cealius was restless. I still could see that, even though I was so close to passing out. Maybe I wasn’t close to falling unconscious. If it was caused by that hit, wouldn’t it happen immediately?

Ah~ Whatever. I’m not a medicine student or something.

What comes next is one of the things, which made this situation so cliché.

“Who are you? “, Cealius tried to move back slowly.

“Just your everyday Hero of Justice~ “, if I wasn’t already laying on the floor I would have probably fallen right at this moment, before rolling around on the floor and laughing. Come on, who says cheesy lines like this without being embarrassed in the least?

It just sounds good in a certain anime.

Cealius was as surprised as I when he heard that ridiculous statement of Lycus. The person himself seemed to not care about the looks he was given. He even struck some weird pose with one arm pointing in Cealius’ direction and his other hand placed on his hip.

There was silence again. I didn’t feel as dizzy anymore and Alycias crying wasn’t to be heard either. No, not only that. Alycia was completely gone. Sheila replaced her in the matter of crying. Her crying was loud and noticeable. It looked like she hit her head on a tree after attacking Lycus. The other kids didn’t cry or fell unconscious. They kept on crawling towards Lycus.

This kind of turned into a zombie story, didn’t it?

The reason probably was Cealius puppeteer magic, so the kids would keep on fighting even if they are close to dying or unconscious.

Five year old kids were forced to fight. This kind of magic should be forbidden… or given to me. I would have needed this much more than that Cealius.

I again confirmed my justified hate for that person. I had to do something, right? It’s not like anybody would be sad when such a bastard got hurt, right? These kids wouldn’t be able to be free as long as he is still there, right? I wouldn’t be blamed, right? He wanted to hurt me too, so I can do it, too, right?

What would you have done? I bet you waited for him to die, didn’t you? Could you kill someone in real life? Could you stab someone and see the blood spurting out of the body? Would you be able to strangle a person and see them fight for their life? See the horror in their eyes?

I couldn’t have done that. I thought about it a lot, but I didn’t do it. I am a coward after all. As soon as my view was clear I grabbed Cealius legs and searched for the popliteal.

When I found them I pressed hard and pulled Cealius’ legs. He fell down with a thump. I think, I even heard another kind of sound.

Cealius let out a short shout of surprise before it turned into one of pain. He landed on some bigger stones. I was lucky enough to have avoided these. Is that what you call the legendary protagonist power, The Plot Shield?

As Cealius lost consciousness the kids did, too. The only ones still awake were Lycus and me. Sheila seemed to have been under Cealius power, too. Or was it something else? She fell unconscious as the other kids.

At that moment, what a coincidence and not predictable at all, some priestesses arrived at the scene. Alycia was behind them. Lilika was with them. The moment they saw the scene they were in shock.

Some priestesses began to whisper. If you looked at this scene without any context, you’d think the real victims were Cealius and company.

“What happened here? “

“That kid is here? “

“The sinner! “

“Who is that blue haired kid? “

“There is Cealius! “

Of course it would end like that. I couldn’t do much about that. Even if I said something to clear the misunderstanding, they would just think of it as a cheap excuse. Just giving up would be the easiest thing, right?

Lilika just stood there and looked at the unconscious kids. I bet she was in a state of shock as well. She would get trouble for the things I apparently did.

The head priestess was the first one to say something.

“You! Are you treating my benevolence as something granted? Do you think I would forgive violence? I allowed you, a child with the traits of the evil god, to stay here and you hurt kids as soon as one doesn’t look. “, I was quiet. I tried to let it pass, but I didn’t evade her gaze. I looked into her eyes. I wasn’t blinking, talking or moving. I just stood there waiting for it to end.

If she threw Lilika and me out of this cursed temple, I would have it much better. I wouldn’t have to see Cealius again. I could start anew somewhere else, leading a normal life. Was it that hard to just leave me alone?

Lycus moved next to me. “Eh~ But Zekki didn’t do anything. Alycia got hurt by the kids and Zekki got beat up, too. “, I didn’t think Lycus would actually try to defend me. I thought he would lose interest and just go away to avoid trouble. I would have done that. He was weird.

“Who are you? His accomplice? Kids like you shouldn’t even be able to cross this forest on their own. If you go to where you came without complaining, I will show you mercy. “, the treatment was different, like I thought, and who would take some child seriously. “Eeeh… But I live here. “, now that I think about it, where did he sleep for the last few weeks. I wasn’t even sure why everyone forgot about him. Mysteries over mysteries, huh?

“Ah! “, a surprised sound escaped out of another person’s mouth, who was part of the crowed of priestesses. It was teacher S. “Lycus did you do that again? “, she sported a perfect smile, one of her hands touched her face. “I’m not Lycus, I am a hero of justice. “, he struck some weird pose again. I’m sure I saw it in some TV series back in my old world.

“Oh? Did my idiot son hit his head? Or did I train you to little? I see you made some mistakes while subduing some of these kids. You could have ended this fight much more efficiently. Oh, and if you skip lessons again like this I will make sure you will forget a lot of things. Fufufufufufu “, every person who was conscious felt a chill down their spine as teacher S started to laugh.

“Oh no, the evil beast spotted me! Zekki, save me! “, he didn’t take this situation seriously at all. He still had a stupid smile on his face and half opened eyes. He jumped behind me and continued to sprout nonsense. “Evil shall never win~ “.

“Oh? Do you want to have a match with me? I make sure to show no mercy at all. “, she moved closer and closer to our position and nearly stepped on Cealius. A shame she got stopped shortly before it could happen.

“A-Adora… Explain this! “, the High priestess seemed confused and lost. She looked in Adora’s, or better known as Teacher S’, direction looking for an explanation. “Oh, I am sorry. I tend to forget explaining every detail to the unnecessary background characters. Please forgive me. “, It nearly made me laugh. The High priestesses expression was priceless, too.

I was shaking and letting out “pppffft “, sounds. I wasn’t alone. Some priestesses turned red trying to suppress their laughter with a hand in front of their mouths. A glare of that High priestess was enough to shut them up.

I know this scene looks illogically in that kind of situation and my prior struggle. It was just something I wanted to say straight to that person. I wanted to say a lot of things to the people who were there. I never got to do it. Well, this doesn’t apply to all of them though.

This is something for later. So back to that stupid situation.

Teacher S explained everything, while holding Lycus ear, with a smile. It’s hard to believe if you looked at these two, but Lycus is Teacher S’ son. Most of his traits seemed to be inherited from his father. The blue hair for instance.

So the reason for him being here was different from the other kids. He wasn’t abandoned, but was just placed her fore convenience reasons.

Regarding Lycus’ mysterious disappearance from everyone’s memory, but mine and teacher S. It was some kind of magic, which Lycus was able to use. Obviously it was a unique magic, but I couldn’t think of an affinity fitting to such a weird kind of magic. He was able to use it since he was three years old, but never was able to affect his mother.

Maybe it was some kind of limit he placed upon himself or maybe something else. Teacher S just knew, if Lycus evokes the magic, people he wants to forget him will forget him and the moment he lifts the magic no one will remember ever having forgotten him. She didn’t know more about the extent of his power and she didn’t really care.

She was one of the people, who didn’t regard magic as something almighty. She was a swordswoman and wanted her son to follow the same path in the future.

I could say, this would explain his fighting skills even though I didn’t see them at that occasion. Lycus was still a mystery to me.

“This doesn’t change the fact, that they committed a sin! I can’t leave them unpunished! “, the high priestess raised her voice, which didn’t faze S at all. “Hoh? The background character tries to educate my son? “, the blood lust emitting from her body got stronger and even the high priestess could feel it now. “Stop, stop you two. Do you want to create a bloodbath here? First of all don’t we have a witness? Where is Alycia? “, Adella stepped between the two women. I would have loved to see that fight though. Well, if I actually saw it I probably would have had trouble holding my food in.

This is not pathetic. It’s normal. I think we had this conversation before. About real murder in front of you. Seeing that person suffer on TV is something else. Imagine someone cutting a woman up, right in front of you. The blood is splattering on you. You see that person struggle. Maybe looking in your direction, pleading for help, before dying. Her organs spilling out of the cuts to her abdomen. After some time insects will gather around the corpse and the foul smell of death will fill the air.

Maybe it’s common sense in this world, but I sure was not from that world. My mind wasn’t at least. I don’t know how Cealius would feel about things such as murder. Maybe he enjoyed it.

Lilika stood at her starting point looking troubled from one side to the other. She couldn’t say anything, but she couldn’t bear just watching the whole situation. “I-I’m here… “, Alycia was in a pitiful state. She was covered in dirt, her hair stuck to her face in strands. I could finally see her eyes. They were dark brown. It was a warm colour. Like two hazelnuts. Tears were forming in them. They looked swollen, too. She was bleeding from her knees and had bruises all over her body. Well, I meant the parts, which were visible. “That person i-isn’t, *hick*, lying… “

“They forced her to say this. I cannot see this as a valid testimony. “, remember, this was a fight between 5 year-olds. No criminal case or murder. “I believe her. I think you should do this, too. Don’t you have to pay donations to Helios pretty soon? Who gives you the money again? “, Adella had a smile on her face. The eyes weren’t visible due to the reflection of the sun light in her glasses. Her hand was placed underneath her chin.

“This is- Fine. The benevolent Ione would forgive even these two kids, I shall follow her example. “, the High priestesses face turned sour after Adella openly threatened her.

The other priestesses whispered again while giving me angry looks. This whole incident didn’t have one good side. I can’t say it too often. Trying to play hero in front of so many people hating you is a fool’s action.

People would rather see Cealius as a hero before they would even think about me. Well, Alycia was still able to walk and she got taken care of, but the disadvantages just overwrought.

Breathing out a sigh of relief after everyone, but us, left, Lycus clapped his hands three times while closing his eyes. I later found out that this was the method of lifting his memory loss magic. “That was clooose. Good thing the sword beast was around to scare the evil doers off! “, he let out a lacklustre laugh while looking into the distance. He was referring to teacher S when he said sword beast, by the way.

I didn’t say anything. I was neither happy nor sad about this situation. I think, I was a bit disappointed, but it wasn’t such a strong emotion to make me lose my cool. “Hey Zekki? Why did you remember me? Is it fate? Des Tiny has introduced us and now we shall be bound together. “, this whole sentence caught me completely off guard. “Do you think destiny is a person? Did you read Darran Shan or why do you even think that this could be a name, huh? Bound together? Was your Des Tiny some sort of psycho who randomly binds people together, too?!......…. Your puns get worse and worse. “, he pulled me into his pace again. He did that a lot. “Oh, he spoke I thought he forgot how to make words. “, his laugh made me slightly annoyed. I turned around to look at the field filled with unconscious kids.

The priestesses completely forgot about these kids and left them there to rot. Until they woke up that is. “Heey~ Why are you ignoring me again? My trick never failed on someone other than the sword beast. “, he followed me and kept on going “Hey, Hey, Zekki, Hey, Hey…”, it reminded me of a certain video game character. If he said “listen”, too, it would be a perfect imitation.

“OKAY, okay, stop. I don’t know. I have no idea. Not even the slightest, get it? Help me move these bodies to the infirmary or something like that. “, I finally snapped. I had high tolerance against a lot of things, but I was never subjected to such a form of torture. It sounds kind of stupid, but I wasn’t close enough with someone to have them act this annoyingly towards me.

“Huh? Oh! They are still here? I thought they would disappear. “, I didn’t even try to correct him. I would have loved to shout at him “You think this is a Video game?! “, but that would have made some things quite complicated. It would have resulted in a day long explanation.

How does one explain a concept, which doesn’t even exist, to someone like Lycus? Well, maybe he would have understood it. He drew a PC some while back after all….. Even though he called it “Piss-e”, if I remember right.

He did help me though. He grabbed some kids and dragged them away. Well, it wasn’t the best way of moving the children, but I thought they deserved it, so I didn’t interfere. As long as I am not the person who causes the pain I didn’t care. The way of the hypocrite.

After half an hour 5 kids were left. Among them were Sheila, Logan, Zeph and Cealius. There was one more kid I didn’t recognize. After some thoughts I grabbed Cealius first. If I would have left him there and he woke up while Lycus and I were gone, he would have had a chance to use his ability on the kids again.

The moment I touched him, I felt the urge to just drop him again. Who knows, maybe it would have fixed his twisted personality. I didn’t get to finish this thought, because Cealius woke up as soon as I dragged him for a few metres.

“Urg… W-what the… where am I….. !! “, his unfocused eyes now were fixated on my face. “The sleeping beast woke. Did you kiss it? Or is it the evil witch maybe? “, Lycus was laughing about his own comment and continued to drag that other kid to the place where we dumped all of them. “It’s sleeping Bea-…. Ah whatever… “, this wasn’t the time for more comic relief. It got boring rather quickly, don’t you think?

“Why are YOU holding my arms? HEY, you incompetent fools wake up! Do you think it was easy to use that ability on that many?!!! “, he tried to move some mana, but as soon as he tried to gather some to evoke magic it dispersed and caused a small implosion. I had luck I didn’t get hurt. It’s a shame, that Cealius didn’t get hurt either. The implosion happened farther away from us.

“Wh-What…. “, Cealius looked like he saw a ghost. I wasn’t less surprised. This only happened to me up until now. Every time I tried to add an element to some mana it imploded somewhere further away from me.

“What does that mean!!! “, he tried it again with the same results. He didn’t even try to break free from my grip. After three more tries, he stopped. He couldn’t even gather mana anymore. His concentration was completely disturbed. “That can’t be…. That can’t be…. “, he mumbled these words again and again. His face showed despair. This was the first time I saw him like that.

Wait, not the first time. I think it was the second time. Back in kindergarten, I guess. I don’t know the reason for this expression, but after that one time he never showed such an expression again. Well, doesn’t really matter to me. I was kind of happy about this despairing Cealius I had to drag to the “infirmary” even though he was awake.

I didn’t even think about this exaggerated emotional breakdown. The loss of his unique magic could have been temporary. It could have been caused by the hit to his head, too. So why would he have such an extreme reaction? I didn’t notice so many things, I should have. Many things could have been prevented if I just had noticed some things a bit earlier.

After I dumped Cealius and the other kids at the infirmary, I was really alone with Lycus. For some reason he decided to be silent now. He just looked at me and wore his usual expression. This whole situation was awkward. Two kids placed next to each other behind the school building, one staring into the forest the other staring at mentioned kid and that in total silence.

“E-ehm… If you have to tell me something do it…. “, I liked his weird sense of humour better than that yet again new form of torture. “You still remember me? “, this conversation started out weird as always. Lycus stepped away from my side to stand in front of me. He bend forward a bit to look into my eyes. I didn’t take that as an insult regarding my height. I am not that immature as to blow up to something of that degree. Well, maybe I was a bit annoyed.

That doesn’t matter anyway!

“Yes, I still remember you. How can I forget a person, who stared at me for a while now? You’re appearance isn’t really plain either. “, I remembered Lycus drawing of a plane, as I uttered these words.

“Huuuh? So it wasn’t just a mistake! It didn’t go Boom around you either. You’re weird, hahaha. Hey, let’s experiment a bit more! “, Lycus looked like Alycia a while back when she asked me to read out words for her. I completely forgot about Alycia. The only success of this whole mess was her being alive. I looked around, but couldn’t find her. “Ah~ I got ignored again. How cruel. “, ignoring Lycus’ cheap act I started to search for Alycia. I ran around the school building not caring about my forehead, which was in plain sight, or the necklace, which could be seen, too.

I didn’t know why I was that desperate to find her or why I thought she wouldn’t be fine, but it felt like it was a really important thing. “Alycia! “, I called out for her, like an idiot. “Alyci- “, the pathetic me again engaged in romantic activities with Miss Floor, or better said I fell. “Zeki! Are you okay? “, I fell before the feet of Lilika, who looked at me in a worried way. I guess, anyone would have laughed at me or maybe made some video. “The idiot who fell over air “, there we go, a perfect title for such a video.

“I-I’m okay… “, my bloody nose wasn’t that convincing. “Why are you running like that? You know you would get hurt right? “, she wiped of some of the blood and then used her healing magic again. The wounds from that “fight” were getting healed, too. I liked the feeling of Lilika healing me. It was really warm and comforting. It calmed your mind. “By the way, Alycia is fine. She didn’t get any serious wounds. “, as I heard these words I felt a bit relieved. “Is Cealius with her? “, if he was, things would have been dangerous.

“Hmm? I’m not sure. Why do you want to know? Does my little Zeki get jealous? Hehehe~”, her teasing felt unnatural. Her eyes still looked confused. Why did she even stay there and didn’t go back inside?

She was still shaken by this incident. Well, it wasn’t really long since it happened. Explaining the incident was the best I could do.

I told her about Sheila, who called me, then about the things Cealius did, including the weird magic. Sheila’s betrayal. Lycus’ rescue. Though the whole explanation Lilika remained silent. She didn’t get angry at me or tell me I was lying. She listened to me seriously.

“We wanted to bring the kids to the infirmary. I tried to bring Cealius to that place, too, but he woke up before I could carry him. Something weird happened. He tried to use magic, but it didn’t work. He reacted kind of weird, too. “, after I finished that sentence she hugged me. I heard some sobbing. She was hugging me and crying. I didn’t understand this situation at all. I didn’t know for what she was crying. I couldn’t do anything about this nor could I say anything, because I didn’t know the reason for all this. I just put a hand on her back. Well it wasn’t really her back. It was her side, because I couldn’t really reach it, but you know what I mean, right?

“It was hard wasn’t it? “, there was the reason for this situation. It’s what one would call empathy. That thing, which will make you feel sad or embarrassed while watching another persons’ demise. I didn’t really feel something like sadness. I did remember some rather painful things, but my general emotional state did not change. I still hated Kyle. I wanted to ignore him as long as he would leave me alone, but I had to do something about him…. Somehow, or else this whole situation would have spiralled into something much more dangerous.

Lilika let go of me as soon as she noticed my missing reaction. This embrace was much better. It didn’t remind me of a snake trying to strangle its prey, but a loving mother.

My mother often did this back when I was younger. After I reached a certain age my relationship got worse. It was probably the stress for both of us.

Let’s leave it at that for today. The rest was quite boring or do you want me to describe my way back to the room with Lilika or how I slept? Like I said, pretty boring. So see you tomorrow. Ah, and don’t think about starting something funny again, okay? You know it won’t do you any good. Just listen to me. Is it so hard to believe I just want to share this story with you?

Oh yeah! I got you a matrass-like thing. See, I kept my promise so keep yours, got it? Good. See you tomorrow once more.

Authors note:

Ah~ this was harder to write than I thought ^^” I still hope it turned out well.

Like always if you notice grammar or spelling mistakes, please inform me, I want to improve after all! If you have suggestions concerning the story line I’d be glad to hear them, I’m always on the quest to find new ideas! If you liked the story do write it into the comments too, something like that always motivates me to write, just as much as constructive criticism!

As always, thank you for reading this story!

See you in the next chapter