Chapter 14,
Million Vermillion,
Third Person's POV
Zephyr slowly pulled off the kiss, his body slowly drifted away into pieces like fine sand. He stared once more into Eljeric's eyes, still not bothered by the turn of events.
"I love you," he repeated once more.
"I love you...and I will always do..." Eljeric replied with he same affection in his brown eyes—glittering and shimmering but too unexplainable for the other.
The world slowly crumbled, dispersing into dust as Zephyr stared into the ending. For the every first time, he knew what emotions meant, yet it was only for a fleeting time that he lost the feeling into the wind.
The illusions ended, Zephyr's eyes hinted remnants of affection, desperation, longing, and melancholy.
"Is something wrong?" Lyka questioned, her eyes with the look of worry.
His face tuned back to normal, thoughts brushed off, "Nothing, I'm just...I don't know..."
The couple looked at him with surprise as they saw a new side of him. Eljeric, on the other hand, was smiling at him. He knew that something good is blooming inside Zephyr.
"Did you have fun?" Eljeric gave a bright smile.
Zephyr flinched, his eyes looked wavering, "Y-yeah, I'm fine." His eyes softened. He guided his index finger towards Eljeric with a weird look in his eyes— probably affection.
"This is new. I think I'll be able to sleep well tonight. Cozy and warm!" Gella had her eyes with the look of excitement. Lyka knew already, they have interconnected brains when it gets to this stuff.
Tj cleared his throat, "Ahem, you guys took long enough. We already finished."
Both paused, "Were we out for that long?!" Eljeric panicked.
"Well, yeah, obviously. We struggled a little, but yeah. You two were out for waaaaay longer than we could imagine." She grunted, her eyes looking tired. "But still worth it." She grinned, raising her eyebrows on Gella, bringing complexion to her boyfriend.
"Enough with this, let's goooo!" Gella jumped, her hands on the air like a little kid. "It's probably time they reach evolution." She added, diverting her gaze into the red and vermillion bird.
The two flew up in the sky, circling one another until fire starts to catch up to them. Their bodies slowly got devoured by the bright flames and eventually grew and grew to the point it formed a gigantic bird.
It's wings and whole body made of fire; it's claws looking sharp and the eyes deep red like ruby. Embers and cinders fall off it's wings and feathers as it compassed its great wings. Its existence as big as a statue—it's looking more like a phoenix.
"Is that... A phoenix?" Eljeric stared closely from afar.
"No, it's a Vermillion." Lyka elucidates. "More or less like a phoenix... Brace yourselves." She warned.
Just as Lyka spoke, black smoke covered the room, and the others disappeared from the two's sight. Only the bright bird from the sky served as the light.
It's eyes reflected embers as it slowly got itself consumed and fell down. Just as the two was about to check it, the bird made a loud cry and scattered itself into smaller flames.
The flames eventually stood up and formed itself into smaller vermillions. Now, the two have to deal with all of those by themselves. Eljeric couldn't help but wonder how a mere seer who heals, and a hunter could easily pass this stage.
Countless vermillions opened their mouths, forming huge fireballs into their mouths and attacking the two as if it never runs out of mana.
Eljeric used his clock to slow down the fireballs the monsters threw into him that surrounded him, while Zephyr, on the other hand, used his water magic to nullify the attacks from the enemy. Even though they make a good team, their mana is not infinite, and Eljeric 's relic consumes too much mana for him to handle, especially that he's still young and not fully developed.
As soon as Eljeric fell into the ground, suffering from too much mana expenditure, Zephyr caught him on time and formed a shield made of water to fend off of the endless attacks. Although water is enough, it doesn't look like it can hold on for a little more longer. The fire is starting to get stronger and it's slowly spreading through the entire floor and walls.
"Hey, wake up!" He called forth, holding Eljeric on his lap.
Eljeric didn't budge, still conscious, but can barely move his body from the exhaustion. Just a little bit more and he could suffer from severe mana deficiency. His mana recovery isn't enough for him to keep himself stable.
"I..." Zephyr's eyed widened with hope. He held him by the head and leaned closely with his ear near his mouth.
"What's wrong?!"
"I'm hungry..." Eljeric's stomach grumbled, his eyes looked depressed. Zephyr just paused, dumbfounded by his reply.
He felt his patience reaching its end. "Food can wait! If we don't survive, we don't have food for tomorrow!"
"Baby, just one minute..." He grumbled.
Zephyr's face turned red, flustered by his words, "I-I—We're in a middle of a battle! Save the flirting for later!"
He stood up, annoyed and embarrassed. Water lifted Eljeric up and stood him near his boyfriend. He blocked the fireballs one by one and threw water magic at the birds simultaneously. He clearly wiped almost all of them alone.
As for Eljeric, he's still unconscious. The barrier is slowly evaporating from the continuous attacks of the birds. Zephyr has a large amount of mana, but his spells is not yet strong enough to capture such high-level magic from those birds.
"Hey, a little hand here, 'baby'?" He gave emphasis. "Your boyfriend is undergoing his near-death experience."
Eljeric grunts, forcing himself to stand up as much as he could. "Just a little while...buy me...time...."
Zephyr felt his life flashing before his eyes as the birds created a huge ball of fire all together, aimed at the couple. "Eljeric!"
Before Zephyr could realize, he covered Eljeric with his body while putting a large amount of water to envelope him, get the fire still caught him and burned a large part of his clothes and marked a second-degree burn into it. He screamed in agony and pain, scars on his back.
Meanwhile, Eljeric felt himself drowsy and sick. His vision slowly blurred and a voice came from somewhere in his mind.
"Zephyr..." He opened his eyes.
There revealed a boy—he's sure it's Zephyr from the looks. Blue hair and ocean eyes. He's sure of it. His hair is short, unlike the one he had right now, and he doesn't look as expressionless as before.
There stand before him was another guy who is just a little shorter than him. His eyes are black and his hair is orange. They looked close to each other.
"Fire will never hurt you, as long as you're with me," The orange head smiled at him.
"Yeah, always." Zephyr replied, his lips curved into a smile, and his cheeks colored pink. Though it aches as portion of Eljeric's heart, he still found it cute.
A bright light covered the whole place, so blinding that poor Eljeric has to cover his eyes to keep himself. There appeared before him is Zephyr who looked weird.
His aura is that of a fire user, but the magic he still used is water magic. The fireballs that went for him only meant nothing but mere scratches to him.
As the enemy realized it's futile, they went for Eljeric. He was going to cover himself but the bracelet he got from the mud game glowed bright warm blue and depleted all the fire going for him. He felt mana surging, and some wounds slowly recovered.
"D-does it hurt?" He asked worriedly.
He just looked back, his tone back to his normal cold one and never replied back. Eljeric somehow looked offended and hurt in his eyes, yet the emotions it expressed meant sorely left in the dark.
Eljeric fell silent, his eyes wavering with uncertainty and melancholy. His bag teleporting into his hand the moment he snapped his finger. He himself just felt it deep inside that he could do that.
As he rummaged through it, he took out a small scroll. He spun it around himself into the air and but a portion of his finger to make it bleed. He danced along with the extending scroll while writing something on it with blood.
The designs outside has four beings chasing each other; two girls holding each other's hand while there's a lot of small people and a big lizard chasing each other. On the back was mountains, green and artistic.
After the ritual, the scroll flew up and endlessly spun around him, throwing all the fireballs away. Everytime the vermillion attacked, the magic would bounce back, and at the same time, the ground shakes and formed big mountains of rocks, and water spurting everywhere.
Zephyr paused and watched as he gracefully eliminated it all without breaking a sweat. His eyes completely glowing emerald green and the vague image of Eljeric who was enveloped by the scroll doesn't look like a kid anymore.
The spell ended and the place went back to normal. Zephyr was left topless and his wound in the back was healed when water from the scroll touched his back.
The blood splattered across the scroll detached itself from it and fell into the ground.
"Eljeric! Will you be okay?!" Lyka ran towards him.
"Bro, why are you topless...what did you do to him...?" Tj stared into Zephyr. Of course he's joking.
He just looked and didn't reply, until a door opened out of nowhere. There revealed a tall man with orange hair, though Zephyr still won through heights. He stared for a few minutes before having his face flustered from embarrassment.
Zephyr turned his back and covered himself with his hands, knowing it was still futile. "Oh, sorry, I think we got the wrong room...hehe..." Gella paused in shock.
"There's no bathroom anywhere! Look for Hermy!" She was also flustered.
"Oh, Zephyr! Hello~" The man greets, his eyes laughing at his state.
"D-Don't look at me! L-Leave!" He looked more of a tomato now.
The door opened and the uninvited guests left the room, "See you later~" He waved, while Zephyr did the same, barely noticeable.
Lyka signalled to Gella with her eyes and brows, and both looked at Eljeric who was awfully quiet.
"Eljeric, are you okay?" Gella furrowed in worry.
He finally noticed the other and smiled back to his original one, "No, yeah, I'm good. I'm just worried about the two birds, they look worrisome."
Lyka and Tj sighed in unison, "Of course...I don't wanna see those two ever again!" Gella nodded on affirmation. Better brace themselves.
Eljeric looked worried, his eyes flinching, "Okay, let's get this over with...." He sighed, the two girls looking at each other with worry.
"Zephyr, did something happened?" Gella intervened.
He just shook his head no, and went to the birds himself. Something's definitely going on, and the girls can tell that himself.
"You two, stop broading over things out of your grasps. Let them be, I'll cover the details later. It's just a speculation, but it's quite on the spot." Tj sighed, his eyes indicating no good news are going on.
"Oh...kay. Just don't make it sound really offensive." Lyka brushed off while Gella just smiled awkwardly.
As Zephyr disappeared into the illusion, Eljeric watched him, slowly but wisely. "Those two work together, like two sides of one coin. When there is light, there is darkness. When there is darkness, they should be light, remember that." Gella warned as she comforted Eljeric by massaging his back gently.
"Stay happy! Lovelots!" She winked, and have the same aura she always had.
Eljeric felt assured for some reason. Although there's still a hint of loneliness and it's a little depressing for him, he still have these people to carry him from the back. He gently smiled to himself and went directly to the two birds.
"Happy? Sad? Don't worry, those are emotions that makes you feel humane. We wish you happiness." Eljeric stood in shock as he heard the two birds talking, their eyes looking gently at the same time.
"Thanks..." He replied as he disappeared into the shadows of memories.
***