"That was incredibly stupid," Ozymandias chides, not half a minute after I've woken up. I get that I screwed up, but you could at least make me tea if you're gonna try to talk to me first thing after waking up. That's just basic human decency. "In all my years as an Apostle, I've never-" He takes a deep breath to calm himself down, then throws a plate into a wall. "What were you thinking!? That was their trial to undertake! Not only did you intervene and provide illegal assistance, for which your friend might get disqualified, but you did it in full view of the public, dragging a djinn and assassin into it with you!" He's throwing his hands in the air, showing more emotion than I've seen on him up til' now. Speaking of...
"Is Obi alive?"
Ozymandias frowns. "Yes. Everyone's alive, no thanks to you." Pretty much entirely thanks to me, but aight.
"Damn. I was hoping he'd bite it."
At that, the Apostle's face turns as crimson as his hair. "He damn well nearly did bite it! What were you thinking!? Why would you do something so stupid!? Even if your friend was in danger, that was his task to undertake! Either he is the Child, or he isn't! There's no in between!" He then proceeds to rant for two minutes straight, but I tune him out, instead focusing on my wings. They're a hell of a lot bigger now â almost as big as his are, in fact. They still have that dull color, so I guess it'll take me a bit to become a butterfly. "Are you even listening!?"
"Yes," I lie. He doesn't buy it.
"Then repeat the last thing I said."
"Are you even listening?"
He reaches forward and pinches my cheek, tugging on it harshly. "Do you have any idea how many favors I had to cash in to make sure they don't execute you on the spot!? Azazel had a field day with this! Even the twins reconsidered their standing in regards to you becoming a magic knight! What the hell's the matter with you!?"
"He would have died," I reply. "He's just a boy."
"A boy who now has demonic blood coursing through his veins! Do you really think that made his life easier!?"
I smack his hand away, then stand up. "I think that let him keep his life. You weren't there. Ryan-"
"I know full well about Ryan. Contestants Marcus and Aisha have already informed me about it. The trials are difficult, Jonah; That's why they are called trials. They are meant to suffer through them. They are meant to go through hell. The chosen one â the one meant to save everyone in this kingdom â can't be just any average person. They have to prove themselves first."
"If they even exist," I whisper. "Have you made any progress with my family?"
He shuts up at that.
"I figured. Don't expect me to be your ideal errand boy until you actually fulfil your end of the deal. I want my brother back."
"That might be reason to disobey me, but breaking the rules like that is grounds for executing as far as the king is concerned. Don't get involved in the trials again, or even I won't be able to halt his anger. He's young, and a firm believer of the prophecy as of recently. I don't know what changed his mind, but something did, and a fanatic king is a dangerous king. The next time you interfere with the Festival, he'll have your head."
I nod, then go to move past him.
"There's one more thing."
I stop, but don't turn to look at him. I can sense Raksha right outside the door.
"It's about the boy â Snow; His life is more in danger now than ever."
"What do you mean?" Is it the injury he suffered? The possession?
Ozymandias eyes my wings as he speaks. "Not everyone's so keen on having a possessed candidate in the Festival. Most people never believed devils to exist. Learning that they do is a huge shock. Seeing the results of a possession is a another. Believing your life is in the hands of someone affected by a devil is a third. Some cults might be coming after him because of it. You may not be able to help him during the trials, but you're still allowed to keep him safe before the third one. Patrick and Dexter are already in charge of guarding him, but those two have never been all that reliable. I suggest you keep an eye out, just in case."
Flapping my wings a bit, I nod. "You fought a devil back there."
"You remember that?"
"He came at us from the crowd. Was he strong?"
"Almost as strong as an Apostle."
"And there's a whole race of them?"
"So it would seem."
"Were you aware of that before?"
"No. I was as in the dark as all others. I am not from the Great Fairy Age, which was when they were sealed away, according to all myths. That was before my time."
Thinking we're done, I keep walking toward the door, but Ozymandias flies in front of me, not letting me pass. "Jonah, I believe you should look in a mirror." He then snaps his fingers, and a small one flies up to him, so he hands it to me. The image staring back at me is nothing short of startling. My eyes are starting to fade out. They're some sort of murky grey right now, and there seem to be cracks in them. My hair is the worst part, though. It's grey, like an old person's might be. Despite having just woken, I look as if I hadn't slept in a week.
"What..?"
"The consequences of abusing your Magus Crown," Ozymandias explains. "You aren't strong enough to use it properly yet. You lack the mana for it, so it fed on your life force instead. Jonah, if you keep entering the Dream, you'll eventually find yourself taking longer and longer naps afterward, until you inevitably fail to wake at all."
I have the answer ready, and give it to him right away. "If it means keeping my family safe, death is the price I'll gladly pay." I really only mean my brother, though, but I'm not about to tell him that.
Ozymandias sighs again. "I get it; It's a hard situation you've been thrust into." Yeah, no kiddin'. "You barely knew a thing about magic before you were forced to jump into its world. You know nothing of combat or killing, and are surrounded by it. I understand the necessity of your Magus Crown, as it's the only thing letting you keep up, but there are other ways to fight."
"Such as?"
"Support magic. That's what you'd be good at."
"And how do you figure?"
"Magic directly ties into one's personality. Your goal is to keep those closest to you safe. That's what you're fixated on. That's what drives you. You don't know much attack magic, but this is something I believe you'll be capable of learning. I've already asked Sheba to teach you."
Great. Just what I needed. The look on my face must've clued him into my thought process, because Ozymandias is cringing right with me.
"I figured you'd react that way. Don't worry; She's not as bad as she seems. She simply isn't very trusting, but she'll come around. At the very least, you can trust her to have the kingdom's best interests in mind. Azazel is a different matter altogether. I'm honestly surprised he's not on cahoots with Medea and Ryan. That seems like the scummy type of thing he'd get up to."
Right. I guess I should mention something to him. My memory is really fuzzy, though. I could swear someone mentioned there being a third Apostle with the two women, but I can't remember who it was for the life of me. I open my mouth and let the words flow out. Ozymandias may not have my complete trust yet, but I do trust him more than the other Apostles, so I tell him of my concerns, and the memory.
"Well," he replies, rubbing his cheek, "we can't well go and arrest him based on a faint memory. Still, with what's happened with Medea and Ryan, we already have eyes on all the Apostles, to make sure none of them get up to anything. However, there aren't many of us left." His expression turns incredibly sour, and then he gives me some news I was not expecting in the least. "You've been asleep for a week, Jonah. The final trial has been postponed on account of Snow's... affliction. It's still being decided whether or not he would â Right, I'm rambling. What I'm trying to tell you is that, if you exclude Medea, there are ten Apostles left."
"What?" How could that have happened? Who in the world would be powerful enough to kill an Apostle? I know we managed, but that was because of how ridiculous my own dream magic is. Without that, Ryan would have slaughtered us. Even a djinn was no match for her. So who..? "Who died?"
"The ones still alive are myself, Xerxes, Sheba, Azazel, the twins, Sammael, Pacifista, Seraphina and the new girl." I freeze at that.
"A new girl?" There's a new Apostle? How'd they replace them so fast? Where on earth did they find a mage powerful enough to qualify? And she's just a girl, meaning she's young. Is she my age? My age, yet stronger than me?
"She uses strange magic, but she's quite talented. Nanami is her name. I think she's about your age. We were quite surprised to find a mage like her just walking around town."
Wait, did I hear that right? "You promoted someone you know nothing about to the highest possible rank a mage could have?" Is he being serious? What kind of moron would do something so imbecilic?
Ozymandias rolls his eyes. "His majesty is a bit of a dunce at times. Once he gets an idea into his hard head, it's incredibly difficult to dissuade him from acting on it. Truth be told, I think he just enjoys the girl's looks. Still, nothing to do about her but keep an eye out. It's not like many of the other Apostles have proven themselves trustworthy, anyway."
I give him another nod, then try to leave the room again. He gets in my way once more. "I'm starting to feel like you don't want me to leave."
He holds his hand up. "I was just telling you everything you needed to know about the week you've spent asleep. Right now I'm about to give you an order, Jonah. Since you are now an apprentice magic knight serving under me, you'll be going on jobs, just like all the other knights. This, in part, is to make sure you aren't here to interfere with the final trial. However, the job itself is also important, so your friends will be coming with you, along with Dexter and Patrick." Two Apostles? For real? Isn't that a bit much? What kind of help would we be to them, anyway?
"What's the job?" I ask, and Raksha enters the room, followed by Yukiji, whom I couldn't sense. The girl smiles at me, then walks up to me and hands me a bun. "Uh, thanks." When I don't take a bite, she nods toward it. "I'm not really hungry." She nods toward it again. "Maybe, just a nibble." She smiles again as I start to eat. Ozymandias clears his throat to earn our attention.
"Right. The problem we're having is in another town altogether. Along with Patrick and Dexter, you'll be going to Rook. A good number of people there have gone missing â too many for it to be an insignificant monster. Someone is taking them â possibly a mage â and it's on you to put a stop to it. This will also serve as the final trial for the twins, and they'll finally prove themselves worthy of being full-time Apostles if they succeed. They are the leaders, understand? You four are just support."
"Us four?" There are only three of us in here.
"Hey there, master," a friendly voice says as Obi enters through the window. "We ready to leave yet?" Oh, fuck no.
"Him?" I ask angrily, glaring at the spy. "Him, of all people? Why? He left us to die! He can't be trusted to help another person."
Ozymandias scowls. "It may be true that he abandoned, but it is also true that you dragged him into a dangerous situation that had nothing to do with him. Your personal feelings on this matter aren't of significance. You will do as instructed, and you will get along swimmingly. Any mutual fights will be settled by the job leaders. Your stuff has already been packed. Go to the front of the palace. Patrick and Dexter should be waiting for you there."
I think about protesting, but the look the Apostle is giving me is far from friendly, so I just suck it up and leave the room, keeping an eye on Obi the whole time.
"You know I was just looking out for myself, right?" he says in an attempt to start a conversation. I ignore him and keep moving. "Come on, kid. You can't really be mad at me for wanting to stay alive, can you?" Snow was dead because of him. "Fine, be that way. I'll just talk to the other two." He turns toward Yukiji, who gives him the throat-cutting motion with her fingers, so he quickly moves on. "Hey, redhead, what's your deal? Why're you following him? You can just tell the others he's got your urn, and he'll be unable to order you around."
Raksha looks at him as if he's a cockroach who dared set foot onto his plate. "Do not speak to me, knave, or your blood will spill." Hoo, boy.
"Damn. Tough crowd," the spy whines, and I smile. We reach the twins a few seconds later, and I'm once again surprised by how young they both are.
"Hey, dudes," says the one with green eyes. Very professional. "Ya ready to hit the road? Or, well, the sky."
Huh. "What do you mean?" Yukiji looks at me as if I'm a god for daring to speak to an Apostle so casually. I guess serving under Ryan put the fear of them into her.
The other twin, with the blue eyes, responds by moving out of the way and revealing a huge carpet. "We aren't gonna be walking all that way. This'll be our ride." Oh, then that means that's...
"A flying carpet?" Obi guesses, and I shoot him a glare. I can't believe we were on the same wavelength for a moment there. "Sweet. Let's hit it."
There are already several bags thrown onto the carpet, which I guess is all we'll be getting.
"Man, I can't believe we're about to do this," says the green-eyed twin.
"Yeah, dude. We're finally there!" replies his brother.
"Apostledom, here we come!" They high-five each other, and I turn pale. These are gonna be our leaders on this job? We're dead.
Raksha and I exchange a worried look as we sit down on the carpet, with Yukiji clinging to my side. I wish I could put a damn shirt on already. These wings are getting annoying, especially because I don't know how to use them yet. Obi gets disgustingly close, too, while the twins sit at the front.
"You guys ready?" asks one of them. "Oh, right, I'm Patrick, right away." He then turns around and shows his green eyes. "You can tell us apart because my hair is longer." I look at their heads, and they look exactly the same. "Other than that, we're identical." Boy, do I got a surprise for you... "Alrighty, then. Hang tight." He puts his hands together, and the carpet lifts off, then heads forward at an incredible speed. I nearly fall off right away, as there's nothing to cling to, but something appears to be keeping us tied to the carpet. I glance at the other twin, and realize he's facing us now, also holding his hands together. Ah, so each one is doing a different thing. Do they always function together? How good are they when separated? Are they separate Apostles, or do they only take up one seat? Well, I guess I'll find out how good they are soon enough.
When we get back, there better be some news about my family. It's taking the Apostles too long to find them. If the worst has happened, and I found out there really is a third Apostle involved...