In the dark of the night, illuminated only by the light of the moon outside, Ethan ran the pen across the paper. Sliding the black pen lead across the notebook, he watched the words appear on the sheet.
Thanks to Zeraphiel's help, he managed to make great progress in the library. Now, he was back in his room, enjoying the stillness and quietness of the night.
Earlier, Zeraphiel stopped by Zegrath's bedroom only to find the wolf already deep asleep. Afterwards, Zeraphiel went to give Ethan his birthday gifts : a total of four books.
Ethan was happy, no, ecstatic. Not only did he have new books to read, but those books were special too. All of them were written by the same person : Deryn Hook, the twelfth ruler of the Wolf Clan and his favorite Crown.
Deryn Hook was famous for a lot of things, ranging from fighting against Laws he found unfair such as the Mixed-blood extermination Law, to providing education to young wolves by teaching them to read, write, paint, fish, cook or even sew.
He also earned the nickname of 'Unruly king' because of the numerous essays he published, starting by explaining that the people shouldn't be afraid of openly pointing out their rulers' mistakes and that those rulers should listen to those complaints to improve.
However, as time went on, he slowly but surely began calling people out, regardless of their social status or gender, politely at first before simply letting his rage transpire on the page, making his writing full of heat and insult towards everyone he saw as a nuisance due to their behavior.
But more importantly, he introduced picture and fiction books !
For Ethan, who often had a hard time reading people, having a book where the characters' feelings and thoughts were laid down for him to read and dissect was cathartic.
Although, barely anyone gave Deryn's books any interest, judging them to either be devoid of any sense, or just plain boring.
Deryn Hook was also shredded in mystery as he suddenly disappeared one day.
And Ethan had a slight strange fascination with historical and mythical mysteries, craving to unravel those mysteries and uncover the truth behind them more than anything.
With no sounds coming from Zegrath's bedroom, Ethan took this opportunity to firstly note down informations about the author.
A necessary exercise to train his memory and knowledge.
He silently and diligently filled the pages, his eyes squinting in the obscurity of his room, as his mind slowly started drifting off.
"Ethan."
The voice, close yet distant, warm yet cold, young yet old, echoing through the room, made Ethan flinched, his head wiping around.
However, nothing was there. Only the darkness.
He told himself that he most likely just imagined it, as he was clearly not sleeping. Yet, something bothered him, he didn't know what exactly, and he tried to ignore it. But, like a nail racking the back of his brain, the strange feeling of uneasiness made it impossible for him to focus.
He turned to the window, his body moving on its own as he got up and walked closer, staring at the night sky.
Outside, the Moon shifted slightly, Her gaze settling inside his room with condescending pity, humming grimly along with the dark sky. The passing Wind blew through the leaves of the trees, dancing to the Night's somber melody.
Ethan stared in silence, barely noticing the growing obscurity in his room. He glanced down, his eyes falling upon a small golden thread spider quickly crawling away.
Never had he seen such a creature before. Yet, he couldn't bring himself to be intrigued nor fascinated, his feeling of uneasiness increasing progressively.
Cautiously, he started slowly wandering around the room, trying to put a finger on what was bothering him. He opened the wardrobe, expecting to find someone hidden inside, but found nothing.
'What would I have done if there was someone inside anyway ?'
He then walked towards the bed. As he got closer, his feeling of uneasiness heightened with each step.
"Ethan."
Feeling a chill running down his spine, Ethan stopped right in front of the bed. His red eyes stayed fixed on it as a cold whisper echoed in his mind.
The voice, barely audible, continued to whisper but the words were so imperceptible that Ethan had to focus to make any sense of them.
It took a few seconds to distinctly hear :
"Fate's Guardian is here."
He slid his hand under the pillow. When his fingers touched nothing else than the mattress, his heart pumped faster.
'No, no, no !'
He frantically lifted the pillow and found that there was nothing under.
'The knife, where is it ?!'
As the current heir of his Clan, Ethan had an important family heirloom bestowed upon him : a dagger passed down from generation to generation.
Receiving it was both an honor and a painful reminder of the situation his family was in. What's more, he always felt strange whenever he was holding the dagger, therefore he preferred keeping it hidden and out of sight. Bad idea visibly as now he seemed to have lost it.
"Fate's Guardian is here."
Ethan almost cursed. Fate, Guardian, he had absolutely no idea what the voice was talking about and now with the knife missing he began to feel agitated.
'If uncle found out I lost the knife...'
He rubbed his wrist in an attempt to calm himself. His gaze roamed around as he desperately tried to recall if he accidentally misplaced the weapon.
Slowly, his focus turned to the bed again. Could it be that it somehow fell under ? Or...
'If someone broke in, Zegrath would have noticed it, right ?'
Although they didn't have any magical powers, wolves were quite good at tracking due to their developed sense of hearing and smell.
So, naturally, if there was a stranger in the manor Zegrath would have most likely the first one to know. And even more naturally, he would have immediately warned everyone else.
Naturally, right ?
Ethan tried to convince himself that it would be the case and got on his knees, took a deep breath, and hesitantly looked under the bed. He felt like a little child, making sure there was no monsters lurking under the bed to catch and eat him.
But monsters don't exist, so of course there was nothing under the bed. However, it didn't reassure him. The knife, that has been passed down from generation to generation to the heir of the throne in his family, was still missing. How was he going to explain that to his uncle ?
"Ethan."
He jumped and turned around just in time to see a man wielding a knife standing behind him. The man was gripping the weapon tightly, ready to strike, but paused when Ethan's eyes landed on him. Neither one moved. They stayed still, waiting for the other to make the next move.
The stranger was wearing stereotypical villain clothes, all black, striking with the golden mask covering his face. Ethan wondered how the man managed to see anything with that but his mind became soon preoccupied with something else.
In the dim light of the moon, Ethan noticed that the dagger the stranger was holding had a flame engraved into the blade. He immediately recognized it as the knife he was looking for.
Ethan breathed and rubbed his wrist, his eyes turning towards the blade, a thousand thoughts running in his head.
Gulping, he suddenly became acutely aware of certain parts of his body. He could sense his heart beating in his chest, heavy and loud, almost suffocating, begging to be pierced by the blade.
He imagined the knife slitting his throat, opening his veins, the blood flowing out of his body, slowly pushing him into the comforting embrace of Death.
Or perhaps the intruder will grant him a slow and painful death, torturing him first before allowing him to draw his last breath.
Ethan shivered and shook his head, chasing those thoughts away. Losing himself in such fantasies would be nothing else than unless. He wasn't allowed to die yet, therefore he had to survive, no matter what.
He still couldn't help but wonder : it has been so many years since the last attempt on his life, but could it be that his opposers were only biting their time ? Or did him becoming a Pillar sparkled a new desire to see him dead ?
"..."
The stranger's limbs shook violently. Due to his mask, Ethan couldn't see his facial expression and couldn't decipher what caused such a reaction in the man.
"Ack !"
Abruptly, the stranger began suffocating, coughing and gasping. Ethan was taken by surprise, his eyes widening as he watched the man stumbled back, practically tripping on his own feet.
Ethan's knees left the floor as he stood up, confused and unsure what to do. Never had he encounter such a situation before, where the person sent to kill him acted like that.
What was he supposed to do ? Help ? Attack ? Run ? He wasn't armed, nor did he have any confidence in his strength or speed.
He took a step forward. The stranger kept stepping back, his hands now gripping his head, groaning in pain. He stepped back so much that he ended up near the window before suddenly stopping.
Seeing this, Ethan didn't move closer. The two of them were illuminated by the Moon's light as they stayed still, in silence.
"All Fateless must be eliminated."
Before Ethan had time to proceed the stranger's words, the man closed the distance in a flash, grabbing him by the collar and threw him out the window, breaking it in the process.
The shards tore up pieces of Ethan's clothes and skin, digging itself into his back when he painfully landed on the ground. The stranger jumped down the window, straddling the younger one's hips to prevent him from escaping.
The Wind was already gone, leaving the Moon and the Stars to witness the upcoming scene.
"Therefore, my little prince, allow me to pierce your precious heart."
'Why didn't you just do it ?'
Ethan wanted to reply but the only thing that came out was a shaky and bloody cough.
One of the stranger's hand wrapped tightly around Ethan's neck while the one holding the knife prepared to strike, aiming right for the heart.
"Hm ?"
The stranger froze. Not that he was hesitating due to a change of heart, or debating if he really should do it, and even less was he losing control of this body. Rather, he got intrigued.
Aren't people supposed to be scared when they are about to be killed ? Yet, the child under him had his eyes glued to the sky, a strange smile stretching his lips, a dark light flickering in his gaze, deforming his thin face into an expression of sadistic amusement.
How unusual.
He had spent the last few days observing him from afar and, except for a strange aura emerging from one of the manor's resident, didn't noticed anything particularly strange. Perhaps has he been too complacent and accidentally missed something.
The stranger immediately dismissed the thought, deeming it utterly and purely preposterous.
As the best of his Fate's Guardians, the mere idea of being fooled by someone like the child in front of him was outrageous.
"Such a twisted expression."
Ethan gasped, suddenly realizing he accidentally let his true emotions slip free. He squirmed a little but didn't try to free himself from his enemy, his smile widening while the grip around his neck tightened.
Not to misunderstood, being thrown out of a window and chocked truly hurt. What's more, he actively felt the danger he was currently in. Having said that, Ethan would argue that this kind of pain was exactly what made it all more... Freeing.
He tilted his head back, a low chuckle rumbling inside his throat, his vision blurring, his chest rising and falling under the rhythm of his rapid shallow breath.
The stranger hummed. Truly, this mortal was strange. Is that what mortals call a masochist ? How repulsive, the stranger shook his head, gripping the dagger tighter.
In the distance, the call of a crow was faintly heard. Somewhere a little further, the cry of a bat resonated attracting the attention of the young boy, his head turning towards the forest surrounding the manor, his mind still clouded by the pain.
There, barely visible among the trees, a small purple light flickered in the darkness, so little, vanishing as quickly as it appeared that Ethan believed for a second that he imagined it.
Yet, as he blinked, he felt the weight on his hips disappear. At the same time, the hand strangling him retreated and he found himself able to move freely once more.
Looking over, he saw the stranger smashed against the manor's wall, a large dent where the impact happened. Confusion painted his face at this scene.
One second he was being pushed towards the edge of death and now his assailant was knocked out against the wall without him having done anything.
He let out a breath and glanced back at the forest. The trees were standing proud and silent, unmoved and unchallenged.
Not a speck of purple light in sight.
'What happened ?'
His legs wobbled as he lifted himself up, spotting the dagger laying on the grass near him. His fingers clenched around the weapon as he slowly came out of his stupor, the contact with the handle of the dagger sending shiver down his spine.
The golden mask covering the stranger's face crumbled pieces by pieces, falling on the grass in a overdramatic way, before mysteriously evaporating by turning into golden threads that fade away almost immediately.
"Fucking hell..."
Ethan centered his attention back on the man all while in awe at the strange way the mask was disappearing. The stranger rubbed his face while groaning in pain and staggered as he painfully rose to his feet. Ethan's fingers shook around the dagger.
The hood covering the attacker's hair had fallen down, revealing long and messy blond hair through which the stranger's fingers ran, allowing the young boy to see his facial features.
Ethan faltered, his eyes widening as the face in front of him brought him back to an horrible night ten years ago.
No, perhaps was he being dramatic. Perhaps was he exaggerating. The Clan moved on pretty quickly so surely it was nothing.
But his presence here, tonight, months before Ethan's coronation, surely it couldn't be a coincidence. Could it ?
The young prince gulped as the man stabilized himself. He didn't know what to say, nor what to do in that exact moment, so simply whispered one word, one name, almost quietly and hesitantly, praying to Elyon that he was dreaming.
"Azin ?"
Upon hearing his name, Azin flinched, his hand slowly retrieving from his hair as he turned to his brother, his lips arched in a sad smile.
"I'm back, baby brother."