"Morgan! Morgan!" A nimble voice running along with the cool breeze. Where am I? Owen looked around. This mansion... It feels familiar. "Morgan!" His head turned from the building to the lush garden.
That child! Isn't he the one I saw at the Oleander's? Who's he running to?
"Owen!" A husky voice squealed with excitement as a blue-haired boy turned to face him.
Me? Is he calling out to me?... No, it's that child.
"Didn't I tell you not to bully others?" The child pouted, his hands holding onto a book.
"Ah this?" The blue haired boy turned to the servant he had suspended midair by water. "He deserves it."
"Morgan! Let him go." The blue-haired child frowned and sighed, but decided to leave the servant. He flicked his finger and the water holding him disappeared making the servant fall to the ground. He ran away knowing it would be trouble if he stayed there much longer.
"It's not a nice thing to be mean to others." The child smacked his finger on the boy's head. You should be nice."
This is Lilian's memory.. it's not mine.
"Did being nice make Rosalind and your brother be kind to you?" Morgan's golden eyes flickered with anger.
The child hesitated, his rosy cheeks flushing a deep red as he looked on the grass near his feet. "It hurts." His voice was barely audible. "It hurts when someone is mean!" The child's voice cracked, "That's why... That's why you shouldn't be mean to others! They get hurt too."
A kind soul. I wondered what happened that made this innocent soul turn into the cruelest one.
Morgan's expression softened seeing the child on the brink of tears. "Say Owen. What's that book you're holding about?"
"It's a book about herbs in Arcadia. Do you want to read it with me?"
"Even if I wanted to, I can't read." Morgan refused, his head resting on his arms as he lay on the grass. The child sat next to him, opening the book. "You said you're a hundred years old, Morgan. You don't know how to read?"
"I'm a dragon. Of course I don't stare at scribblings and hallucinate words on a piece of paper." His voice was a bit annoyed.
"That's okay. I'll teach you how to read and write." The child's face beamed with enthusiasm while Morgan's contorted in annoyance. He argued for not learning the works of humans but gave up his stubbornness as the child made an innocent face. "What will become of you in this cruel world? You're too pure and innocent." Morgan tucked his shoulder-length hair behind his ears.
A dream? But why am I being shown that? What was I doing before I fell asleep?
A memory flashed. The heavy rainfall, the tide and being swept away with it. That's right. I was drowning. I have to wake up.
His eyes snapped open, still in the ocean's water. He looked around to find something to hold onto. My halberd! His halberd appeared in his hands.
With a desperate attempt to get out of the ocean, he twirled the halberd in his hand, rotating it with high speed. Now! With a strong force, he slashed the waves above him finally able to breathe but only for a second. The wave came back, moving him back into the ocean.
"Hold on to this!" He heard a male voice screaming at the top of his lungs as he caught glimpse of the golden flames once again. But this time, it was accompanied by a stream of water, both moving helically like ropes around each other.
Owen reached out to the rope with all his might but his hand missed from a few inches. The flame at the end of the rope took the face of a beast and captured Owen's hand with its fangs pulling him out of the water with all of its might.
He moved in air for a few moments until the rope that held onto his left hand shrunk and forced his movement to the deck.
"Owen! You alright?" Hugo ran to him with his pale face partially from worrying and partially from sickness. Owen coughed hard gasping for breath until he finally spoke, "I'm okay."
"You alright, Mr whoever you are?" The same voice that had called out to him moments ago called out to him again. Owen turned around to see an unfamiliar man looking at him with worry. He was a tall athletic man with burgundy hair and pink eyes.
His hair's dyed. I can see minute silver roots near his scalp.
"Owen. My name is Owen Lily." Owen clearly didn't like how he called out to him at that moment.
"Right. I'm Christoff, a mage from the magic tower." He gave a warm and playful smile.
"How did you get here? And that redhead too." Owen hinted towards the girl standing next to Luna.
"I summoned him through a paper scroll." Luna clarified the newcomers' visit. "I summoned Christoff to help us as he's a water mage. Unbeknownst to me, Princess Mathilda was with him, so she got summoned by accident."
Princess Mathilda. Owen observed her as Hugo covered him with towels. She was about the same height as Luna and equally short hair except that hers were in a small ponytail. The cloak on her body indicated she was in the magic tower for some business.
"You must be cold, I'll warm you up." Princess Mathilda released flames from her hand that instantly covered around him.
"Stop! You can't do that! If the body is suddenly warmed up after being in the cold, it would rupture his vessels or worse make him lose an organ or two." The captain stopped Mathilda. "It's best if we let him warm up at his own pace with blankets and towels."
"I appreciate your kind gesture." Owen spoke, seeing Mathilda baffled at her actions. "By the way, congratulations on the victory. I heard you contributed a lot to the war."
" Ah...yes...tha... thank you." Mathilda spoke awkwardly feeling unsure of how to respond. It wasn't exactly thrilling to be in war especially if you consider the fact that the rule there is to kill or be killed. In one's defence, they would argue that they were defending their nation, but to Mathilda, it was killing other people for people— a cruel reality of war.
"Well since I'm here, I'd like to help you reach Noirblumen as quickly as I can." Christoff announced. He turned his back towards them, "If you may."
Owen, standing behind him, pondered what he was asking for. "Your hand on my back." Christoff explained, seeing his confusion.
"Are you sure about that?" Owen asked for affirmation.
"Positive."
Owen slowly placed his hand on his back, and after a moment of thought, pushed him forward.
It was uncalled for, making Christoff unable to keep his balance as he hit his nose and forehead on the door and then the floor.
"Hey! What's your problem? What did you do that for?" Christoff rubbed his forehead as it throbbed.
"I pushed you like you asked me to."
"Have you lost your marbles? Why would I want that?" Christoff was baffled at his explanation. "I was asking you to lend me your mana."
Hugo and Luna giggled at this. Who knew Owen could be clueless sometimes.
"I'll lend you my power in his stead." Hugo stepped forward. "I can't have him use his magic no matter what."
"Do you have enough magic?" Christoff gave Hugo a suspicious look which clearly ticked him off.
"I have the most magic in this ship!"
"Alright then." Christoff smiled as Hugo channeled his magic into him. "We'll be in Noirblumen in ten minutes."
True to his word, Christoff made them reach Noirblumen in exactly ten minutes. He felt proud in keeping his word but he dared not take the whole credit. Hugo's immense magic helped him pave the way in the water for the ship to easily sail through it.
The wind was ice cold and the dark clouds seemed to be everywhere. There was no rain on the island, yet a chilling wind blew making them shudder.
As the ship docked at the shore, Owen's eyes halted at the sight in front of him. The mansion that he had seen in a dream almost half an hour ago was standing tall looming at a distance. The only difference— it was covered with overgrown ivy and strangling creepers that spoke volumes of its abandonment for centuries.
In the midst of the island, he crows cawed and flew around the graveyard as a voice echoed there,"Owen?"