Chapter 14: My Beliefs

The man roared out in anger at the words Sairek gave him. The child smirked at his taunts angering the man to the brink of attacking him blindly. Sairek closed his eyes when the man soon began rushing at him, listening to the foot falls of him coming closer. When he was almost near, Sairek finally got out of his formal stance. He held his staff in front of him, upright with both hands, as a side sweep from the man's sword came. The staff and blade connected; the staff blocking the blade dead in its tracks. The man didn't try and push, rather, he pulled his blade away, opting for another vicious swing. Sairek took the advantage, flipping the bottom end of his staff up and around, connecting the man's jaw, jerking his head up from the contact and halting his swing. Sairek then quickly brought it down, whacking the man on the top of the head. Sairek spun the staff around and then spun himself around to gain momentum for his next swing. He let out a heave from his swing as the head of the staff connected to the side of the man's skull, jerking the man to Sairek's right. Sairek then held his staff out, bringing forth a spell on nothing but instinct.

"Vulkenhei!" The head of the staff glowed a deep yellow-orange from fire. It looked very much like Balinzer, but the color was different. It seemed... more dangerous. The flames seemed to be far more concentrated and less controlled as the whisked around wildly on the staff as well. Sairek let out one more shout of fury, jumping up into the air, the child flipped in the air as he swung the staff straight down on top of the man. the fire erupted into an explosion of flame and sparks with a loud bang. Whatever happened, it knocked the man off of his feet, and sent him skidding into the ground as Sairek was flew up into the air from the explosion, landing in a bit of a tumble but stopping with a skid on one knee and one foot. The man from the attack dropped his sword when he slowed to a stop, gripping his face and yelling out groans of pain and agony. Sairek stood back up; somewhat surprised at what he just did, but for now, he did not question it. He seemed to have been suddenly able to use a spell he hadn't even tried casting before. He knew of the spell; he read it in a spell book once, he knew what it did, he knew how the spell worked. He had tried casting it a few times before. But now he just did it as if he knew his other spells. Perhaps with the ritual, he finally grasped the missing concept that prevented him from casting the spell before?

Sairek positioned himself back into his formal stance as he watched the man struggle to rise up, he grabbed his sword, and still clutched the right side of his face.

"You... b*****d..." the man growled through clenched teeth. Sairek only stared at the man calmly, although a tense look remained in his emerald eyes showing that he was indeed ready for combat. The crowd cheered around them, shouting Sairek's title, "Master Apprentice" in excitement.

"How were you able to get so much better in just five mere days... You couldn't even defeat a disarmed blacksmith..!" The man coughed.

Sairek twitched his right eyebrow. "Oh, you saw that, huh?" He asked before grinning. "My objective there, was to knock the man off of his two feet. That was a battle to test my wits. Also, in a friendly duel, I am not going to use any lethal spells..." Sairek's left hand lifted and pointed at the man. "And you are a battle to test me. I would be a fool to not give it my all when my life is on the line, when you are a danger my friends. You are however right about one thing... I did get quite a bit better in the last five days since you saw me." Sairek's pointed finger dropped and the boy chuckled. "But how dishonorable of you... You wanted to duel me because you spied on my skill, and thought you would have the upper advantage? You only announce to everyone the coward that you are, plebian."

"Screw you! You piece of s**t, I'll make you eat your own words!"

Sairek's left hand rose up to arms length again, as this time the boy pointed down at the ground in between them. "The only one who is going to be eating anything, is me forcing you to swallow the dirt like you just had again." Sairek grinned a bit as the man shook in anger. Sairek's left hand fell slightly, and he flipped his hand over.

"Sit." Sairek ordered the man.

It only took that one word to break the man's patience as he roared out, pulling his other sword out, he roared as he began rushing straight at Sairek. The boy positioned himself into a stance this time, as he concentrated energy for three spells. He brought his staff around his left shoulder, crouched down, and swept is his staff across the ground while chanting out "Yggial!"

Sairek couldn't see, but Nayleen, the Abbot and Cyial blinked in the crowd as they watched, as Sairek's spell did nothing more, then grow a stream of grass almost instantly where the staff had touched the ground. Sairek then began bringing the staff back, as he chanted out "Balinzer!" The head of the staff catching fire, as he lit the entire patch of grass up in a wall of flame in front of him, effectively cutting the man off from his advances.  Sairek was not done however. He then spun around, facing the flames and the man as he got up onto his feet, his third spell was channeled.

"Wuaie!" He let out. As he held both his arms out with his staff in front of him. A powerful wind ripped up as the man who was close to the wall of flame cursed out loud. The wind threw the fire in a comb like shape towards him, engulfing the man entirely. Sairek heard the man yell out from the heat as he maintained Wuaie for at least six seconds until the flames of Balinzer died out, leaving a black smother where the grass had been The man was enshrouded in a thick black smoke that he couldn't see through to acknowledge the results of his triple spell attack. But from the fact judging the man was literally smothering, he assumed it had worked as planned. The Prince breathed in exhaustion from throwing a large number of spells at once in rapid succession. His legs felt weak, but he was still strong enough to stand on his own two feet.

The smoke after several seconds finally began to clear, and Sairek watched. His eyes widened suddenly as seven blades of translucent green began flying towards him. Sairek recognized the spell as Wilraie that the 'Rafilos' had been able to use. Except the numbers were of course, much more. Sairek had no doubt that the sharpness would be much more dangerous. There was little he could do though, as each separate blade swerved around him, he tried to dodge one to the left, but let out a cry of pain as one sliced into his left leg. He stumbled, and after that, the rest fell in. Sairek let out more grunts and cries as the rest of the six swarmed into him. Two more hitting his right leg. One his left shoulder, two slamming into his gut and chest, and then the last one hitting him in the back. Sairek stumbled a bit, before falling weak on one knee, supported with the thanks to his staff from falling over completely. The spell had split through his clothes as he clutched his chest with his left hand, blood beginning to slowly leak out. It was thankful to him that his clothes had managed to soften the blow; the wounds were bleeding, but not very deep. Even the chest wound had been penetrated and that was where his armor was thickest. Had he not been wearing the armor, that strike right there may have killed him, or put him at serious risk.

Sairek pulled his hand away slightly to see the blood on the palm of his glove. He clenched his teeth, slowly rising his head from the wound to look at the man as he returned his hand to his chest to try and comfort the pain of the wound and slow the bleeding.

"...'Guess I lied... I was caught by surprise... The b*****d can use flipping magic..." Sairek muttered to himself through gritted teeth. He struggled to stand to his feet as the smoke cleared completely now. He saw the soldier standing there, panting with burns here and there on his face. Steam rose from his body. He took slow steps towards Sairek, as each step he took made him wince in pain.

Sairek, despite how weak he felt, took a couple steps back; trying to get a little bit closer to the source of Ethereal behind him since the area he was in now was becoming empty. He had unloaded three quick spells in rapid succession after all. He held his staff out with both hands, ready as he drew in some energy slowly. The man knew how to use magic; if he was experienced enough, that would mean he could feel Sairek drawing in energy unless Sairek did it subtly, which Sairek believed he was indeed experienced. He had just cast a spell under intense pressure without a staff. Sairek was too inexperienced to even sense energy being drawn, so he hadn't been able to tell that Wilraie had been incoming.

With sudden movement, the man reached sheathed his left sword and reached down to his belt. Sairek saw him pull out three short knives, and tossed them in Sairek's direction. The Prince lowered his staff and quickly gathered the rest of the energy.

"Ethirul!" Sairek shouted out. With a swing of his staff from the ground up to the air, the ground in front of him rose about 3 feet forming a wall. Sairek then dashed and ducked behind it; hugging himself against it. He heard two of the three knives hit the dirt. The other one happened to throw over his head; which would have hit him had he been standing. Sairek heard footsteps approaching him hard and fast. That man still had a lot of stamina in him it would seem. Sairek braced himself, as he looked up, seeing the man leap over Sairek's wall of dirt. He spun himself around to face the boy as he landed on the ground. He still only held out one sword, thankfully for Sairek, as he swung it down with both hands. Sairek reached up with both hands holding his staff, blocking the blade and locking positions with it. Sairek clenched his teeth as the man's strength seemed stronger than when they had locked in the monastery. The Prince had to struggle with all of his remaining might to hold the blade back.

"What kind of Prince sides with the monsters that attack us?!" The man spat.

"You ostentatious garbage... How long do you plan on insulting my friend before you take a damn hint? He... is... not a monster!!" Sairek roared out in fury. From his crouched position he pushed the staff up with all of his might, pushing the sword away. His left hand swung down. He opened his palm and chanted "Balinzer!" Rather than the fire appearing on his staff, a ball of flame formed in his hand. Sairek threw it at the man, who quickly retaliated by blocking the small ball of flame with his sword and it dissipated apart upon contact. Sairek moved out of the way avoiding an incoming swing by ducking and then dashing out of the way. As his hand was planted on the ground from his crouch, he grabbed a handful of dirt.

"Balinzer!" He shouted again; however this time Sairek didn't channel energy for the spell; he had no intention of casting it. The man positioned himself with his sword to block the ball of fire, but when Sairek threw his hand out like he had done before, bits of dirt flew out, hitting directly into the man's eyes. He shouted out, stumbling back as his left hand reached for his eyes.

"You piece of--!"

Sairek had already stood up and rushed at the man, using all of his strength he could muster to shove the man back. He stumbled back, unable to see and hadn't expected the child's assault. With distance gained, Sairek brought his staff down level with his left hip. He gripped the end of it with both hands as if it was a two-handed sword as he rushed forwards.

"Vul...ken...heiii!!" He shouted, as the staff glowed that deep yellow-orange, brighter than the first time. Sairek ran and swung the staff with all of his might, aiming for the man's gut. A loud boom rang forth filled with sparks and fire at the contact. The man roared out in pain as he went flying into the air. Ribs shattered from the attack.

"Ethirul!" He yelled out again, as his staff's head was placed on the ground, Sairek swung the weapon up into the air. A thick mass of dirt rose behind the man in the direction he was flying. He collided into it, the caked dirt structure collapsing from the collision, half burying the man in it. Sairek stood on shaky legs as he waited to see if the man would be able to get up from that. It did not seem he was going to though. He certainly was not making any attempts to say the least.

Sairek panted, before he himself fell onto his knees. Barely able to grip the staff to keep himself from collapsing. Sweat dripped off of his face, as he slowly rose it to look at the crowd gathering around the defeated soldier. He heard footsteps rushing behind him. It was Cyial and Nayleen, as they both moved in front of Sairek, bending down to see if he was alright. Cyial offered Sairek a hand and the Prince gripped his staff tighter with his right hand and rose his left to take Cyial's offer. The demon child helped the Prince slowly rise to his feet and held onto his left shoulder and back as if to support him to stand upright.

"Sairek... I..." Cyial began.

"...Come..." Sairek breathed out. Using his staff to help steady himself, he walked forwards. Cyial looked unsure, as well as Nayleen, but they both followed him by his sides, ready to support him if he was about to collapse as Sairek walked over to the man who was covered in the dirt. He opened his eyes, seeing Sairek, his teeth clenched. He struggled to get up, but just cried out in pain.

"...I told you that I would force you to eat the dirt again, wretch..." Sairek said through gritted teeth. "How dare you threaten one of my friends while I am present and think you can get away with it!"

Sairek raised his staff and slammed the tip of it on the man's chest, making him bark out in pain, despite the armor he wore; albeit quite ruined. Sairek's eyes glared at the man as he spoke again. "The actions you have done today have warrant penalties that are worse than death; You have invited yourself total annihilation!" Sairek shouted out. Making his voice heard to the entire crowd to boast his authority. "You have invited yourself to the arms of the underworld, via ritual!!" Sairek shouted out once more as he slammed the staff down once again, but not on the mans' chest but on the ground beside him. Sairek glaring eyes saw the fear that overcame the man at what he was saying. Who wouldn't be afraid of an endless upon endless suffering and torment? Their soul wouldn't go back to the Yggdrasil tree; it would go, and remain, in the underworld. Damned for all eternity. Not able to have another breath of life, forever.

Sairek closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. After a few silent seconds, he slowly lift his staff away from the man and placed it on the ground beside his own self.

"...But..." Sairek began, silent for a moment. "...I've decided to let you live..." Sairek muttered out. Opening his eyes, his head slowly turned towards the man's direction. "I would gain nothing from killing you... I would gain nothing from sending you to the underworld. All I would get, is a very bitter satisfaction. ...But... my father may think differently..." Sairek spoke. Some hushed whispers came from the crowd. Sairek ignored them and continued. "When you are able to walk again, you will head to my father's castle. You will tell them who you are and you will say that I sent you. You will tell my father, in person, the crimes you have committed today. Whether he grants you mercy or not... that is not my choice... but I will remember you. If you don't go to the castle, consider your soul doomed to oblivion when I find you again. I will hunt you down myself if I have to. Do not think you can try to run away to another Kingdom. They will send you to me if I find you, I will make sure of it. After what you have done today, there will be no way you will get away unpunished. This was your choice. You chose this path; you will be mature to face the consequences, or be rid of even feeling the glorious warmth of the sun you take for granted for all eternity."

Sairek didn't say anything more and had almost instantly turned around without giving much of any chance of anyone to react. He began to slowly walk, going towards the gates of the city. Nayleen, the Abbot and Cyial followed him close behind. After Sairek walked a distance away, he stumbled a bit before beginning to collapse. Cyial and Nayleen both moved and caught him before he did though.

"We need to get him to the Monastery... he's exhausted and rather injured..." Sairek heard the Abbot's voice behind him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply for a few seconds, before moving his legs so they would stand on his own.

"I... I need to find out what to do about the tree..." He tried to reason. "I don't -- have time to rest..." he finished in a pained out grunt.

"And what are you going to do? Sit in the library while you're bleeding?!" Nayleen soon snapped at him. She let go of him; which was his right side, which he managed to catch himself thanks to his staff. She moved up in front of him. Sairek looked at her as she gave him an angry glare. "Can you at least listen to what we have to say for once? You didn't have enough time to go off and go on some stupid duel, but now that you're bleeding you don't care if you're hurt? I don't get why people call you a super smart kid -- you are an absolute dumb a*s!"

"I'm stubborn --not a dumb a*s..." Sairek corrected her.

"Like I care which one it is!" She retorted throwing her arms up into the air. "Get to a frigging bed, and stay put!"

"Fine, if that is what you think is best for me than I will just for you. But you have to rest too as well, then" Sairek said with a small hint of a grin.

"Whatever! Fine!" Nayleen shouted out.

Without saying another word, she went back to Sairek's side and picked the boy up again. Sairek looked at Cyial, who only gave a small shrug with his shoulders, as they both helped walk Sairek back to the monastery with the Abbot behind them.







"How are you feeling?" Nayleen asked, as Sairek had been tucked in the bed by now for at least an hour by now. Cyial offered that the Prince be in his room; since there were no other free rooms. The Monastery was actually quite packed it would seem. But because it was secluded it let Sairek be alone from the rest of the people since it was the most isolated room from the rest of the monastery. It was a small bed, but there was plenty of room for Sairek. The Prince looked up at Nayleen when she spoke, his face was a bit red from embarrassment.

"...A... little awkward... They did take nearly all my clothes since they got damaged and I was leaking blood all over them and they had to apply the bandages as well, so... well, you know..."

At least Sairek was covered by a thick blanket.

"Well, they will probably have your clothes patched back to normal and maybe properly cleaned too. Actually, the rest of mine are getting cleaned too. I never really got a chance to clean them when I got to Marid."

Sairek didn't get a chance to respond, as he heard a slight banging at the door that was at the end of the room. Nayleen turned around, walking towards it, and opening the door as she reached it. Cyial stood at the door, carrying a small tray that had three bowls of stew, fresh with light steam rising from each bowl. The Acolyte had to use his foot to knock on the door.

"Alright, food! Never too tired for free meals!" Nayleen grinned, as Cyial motioned for a specific bowl for her to take, which she did, and then sat down at a corner of the room near Sairek. The Acolyte walked over, placing the tray down next to Sairek on the bed. The Prince scooted himself over to make sure there was room for him to do so.

"This one is yours Sairek." The incubus stated as he pointed at the bowl nearest to the Prince. "The Abbot had me sprinkle a little bit of medicine inside of the food. The stuff is very bitter alone, but the soup should help die out most if not all of the taste."

"Why not just use more Ethereal to cure me? Or is that stuff very expensive and hard to get?" Sairek questioned.

"Well, it's not expensive or hard to get, but your body still needs to sort out from the last time at the caves. If you get exposed to it too much too quickly, you will get seriously ill from it. Remember, that is why we need to water it down in the first place. I'm afraid if we gave you a Ethereal potion, that you would feel worse. So we have to resort to different medicines. Actually I am only half done concocting the potion anyways. The process is delicate and takes a while."

"What kind of medicine is in here then?"

"A tiny bit of sleeping powder and a muscle relaxant; both to slow the blood flow and minimize the bleeding, and should help you go into a deeper sleep so you will recover quicker and rest better. I've also added a belated energy tonic into the soup as well. It won't start working for maybe eight to twelve hours, and it will only last a few hours, but it will help you get up easier so you don't sleep for too long and miss out on a proper breakfast. Even with the strain on your body from the wounds you won't feel too exhausted for at least a little while. It's only a small boost; I didn't add very much. Just sort of to help rouse you from your sleep without interrupting it."

"So I guess it's obvious by now that the Monastery is also a hospital in Lamen, right?" Sairek half asked, half stated.

The Acolyte nodded in confirmation.

"Wow, church, school or daycare and a hospital. What a busy place." Nayleen commented as she half done her soup already.

Cyial nodded. "But the problem with that is we have no rooms to store any patients; we can only offer the medicine required. Had we had the room, we wouldn't have had to use my room. This place is quite filled up with Acolytes that we actually can't hold any more people. We're getting more boys coming in than graduates that are coming out."

"Ah, that was delicious!" Nayleen soon let out. Both of the boys turned their heads as the girl stood up, stretching; bowl completely drained.

"...That was... uh... fast. We haven't even touched ours..." Sairek commented.

"Well, I'm sleepy now..." Nayleen soon mumbled.

Sairek looked at Cyial for a moment with a raised eyebrow. "And I was the one who was supposed to have the sleeping powder in mine."

Nayleen giggled. "The Abbot told me he had a room for me, so I guess I'll see you two tomorrow morning... Oh, where should I put the bowl by the way, Cyial?"

"Just set it on the tray. I'll take them all out later." He told her. She did just that, before walking towards the door. She looked like she was about to open it, when she suddenly spun around.

"...Night!"

She then opened the door and closed it once she walked through the doorway.

"...I... don't get her..." Sairek sighed, as he turned his head to look at the stew. He pushed himself up a bit more on the bed slowly from laying down, so he was more properly seated to eat, which revealed his upper torso; having linen patches on his chest where one of the wounds were and the patches on his shoulder where he had been hit as well as one on his back. There were some elsewhere too like his leg for example, but it was still hidden beneath the blanket. Sairek took his bowl,and dipped the spoon that was in it. He blew on the stew in the spoon a little bit to cool it, before dipping it into his mouth. Cyial did much the same. Both children took a few more bites before Cyial spoke again.

"...When do -- or... when did you plan to leave Lamen?"

Sairek set his spoon down in his bowl, and sat the bowl on his lap. He knew that question was going to come sooner or later. He thought a little bit and then spoke.

"I know we are staying another night, other than the fact I'm sitting here like as I am of course. But after that, we may be heading off again. If not then certainly the day after. Really, we should be leaving by tomorrow... but it has just been too long since I have visited my mother..." The Prince let himself smile slightly. "Besides, it seems like it's doctors' orders to stay in bed for at least the afternoon tomorrow. Whether I wanted to leave or not, seems like I'm stuck here for at least another 36 hours. Even stuck in this bed I am sure I can still at least take a look at the books though. Not that much in a change of plans."

"I see..." Cyial said in an almost disappointed tone. Sairek frowned slightly at that response. "You want me to stay, don't you?" Sairek asked. Cyial shrugged. "I don't think that's exactly it, wanting you to stay... I just want to be with you... Sairek, nobody has ever stuck up for me before like you have... The Abbot tries of course, but there is not much he can do otherwise than say I am allowed in the Monastery... The Abbot has treated me like a father, but you and Nayleen are the only actual friends I've ever had..."

Sairek took another bite of his stew as he thought of his next response. "I'll be honest Cyial; I don't want to leave you either... I discussed this with Nayleen last night at the inn... She doesn't want to leave you either. We both like you Cyial for who you are. So... like you had put it; it would be a lie saying that we wouldn't want you to come with us on our trip to Yggdrasil." Sairek took another bite of his stew as Cyial's eyes widened slightly at Sairek's words before he frowned. 

"But I don't see how I could possibly... I may be more of a liability than any help..."

"Now I know that's nonsense." Sairek said. "Your information on medicine would be extremely useful Cyial. Besides, from what I read from the books so far from scrying the pages, we're going to need someone like you... someone from the Monastery... I don't know if that's actually true, but the books do mention it"

"But an Incubus Acolyte...?" Cyial asked unsure of himself.

"Who you are; not what you are." Sairek reminded him. "I don't care what other people think of me. My father has been forced to lie to people about my emotions anyhow. Today, for the first time, I showed this country my true colors."

Cyial nodded slowly, but his head fell down to stare at the bowl of stew.

"You have a long time to think about it Cyial. I don't want to force you to do anything. I want it to be your choice and your choice alone. I'm sure the Abbot would feel this way as well if he hasn't already. Let the decision come naturally. I will admit, I feel like it's a terrible idea to expose you to the danger that we will be facing, but I feel like it may be even more dangerous for you to stay here with the way people treat you. To put it quite bluntly Cyial; the people in this city? They are absolute crap if that is how they treat you for you just being an incubus and nothing else. If I could, I would change that but I just can't."

"Alright, I will think about it..." Cyial promised. As he finally began taking bites of his stew again after not having done so in a short while now. He consumed a bit hurriedly, as if trying to catch up to Sairek, who by now was sipping the soup out of the bowl. He let out a soft sigh as he took a break from doing so. It felt good to have to warm liquid run down the insides of his stomach, especially when he admittedly felt tired. He didn't know if it was because of the food alone, how exhausted he really was, or the effects of the medicine Cyial had put in the food. Or any of a combination of the three for a matter of fact, but he was indeed beginning to feel drowsier by the minute. He decided it was best to drain the rest of the soup before he felt too tired to even eat anymore. Doing exactly that, he put the soon empty bowl on the tray on top of the one Nayleen had left. Cyial finished only a minute later, copying what Sairek did, making a 3 bowl tower. The Acolyte stood up, picking the tray up with him as he did.

"I guess I'll be going now, you need to sleep." Cyial said, beginning to turn around, but halted when he heard Sairek's voice.

"No, do come back. There's plenty of room in the bed. We can share the same room again, right? Besides, it's your room, you should have the right to sleep in it; don't be bothered not to on my behalf."

Sairek felt a little odd asking the boy to sleep with him again; that wasn't something he usually asked. Actually, it was something he never asked. But he wasn't unsure of the boy's answer about coming with him or not. His reasoning was that he wanted to spend as much time with Cyial as he could.

Besides, where would Cyial even sleep if his room was already occupied?

The Acolyte looked at Sairek for a bit, then smiled a little. "Okay," he simply responded with, before turning around and moved his way to the door. Now with the bowls empty, he didn't have to steady the trays as much, and such, let go of one handle to open the door, walk through and closed it.

Sairek sat in silence upright on the bed with his bare back against the pillow for a few moments, exhaling a sigh as he finally began to completely relax. He closed his eyes while he tried to think of what their next course of action would be; with, or without Cyial, but he couldn't really get anywhere with it because he couldn't think straight. Fatigue had half possessed him, and completely clouded his thinking process. He became slightly more alert after beginning to doze off around seven minutes later, when the door handle turn, and opened with a small squeak, as Cyial returned back into the room and walked back over to the bed. The Acolyte slipped out of his boots and sat on the bed next to Sairek. The Prince looked at Cyial seeing the thing black tail with the metal tip swaying around idly.

"Why do you want me to stay with you?" The Acolyte soon asked.

"Which one are you talking about? Right now, or the entire trip to Yggdrasil?" Sairek asked, struggling to stifle a yawn as he spoke, but managed to win the fight for now.

"I mean only about right here." The Acolyte clarified.

"There's two reasons why," Sairek began. "The first... is because I don't want you to feel alone anymore. You always make these offers to leave us be; you shouldn't be like that. Friends should stick close together." Sairek looked up upon Cyial's face, which had a bit of look of surprise. He didn't say anything, which Sairek took the opportunity to continue. "...Which leads to the second reason..." He started, then paused for a few moments.

"...Is, what?" Cyial asked, after Sairek was taking too long to respond.

"I don't want to be alone anymore either..." Sairek finished after Cyial prompted him.. "Nayleen is the first friend I think I ever had, and you are only my second. Well, taking my maid out of the equation of course, I trust her like a friend but I don't know if it's really a friendship to be honest.

"Like her however, you both... you both treat me for who I am, not what I am. I've never even slept with another individual before; not even my own parents... Call me strange, but I felt extremely happy last night sleeping in the same bed as someone else... I don't know why... but that just felt very comforting to me somehow. I no longer felt alone. I don't care if you are a demon Cyial. I see you as a friend; there are no two ways about that."

Cyial let out a light smile at the reason. "I'm happy you think that way, Sairek... but I am an incubus remember..."

"So?"

"Sairek, that is not what I mean it is..." Cyial spoke, turning his head away from Sairek as the Prince could see him struggling for a way to try and clarify. "...As an Incubus, even with me still being a child... I... well, to put it bluntly, I get urges towards almost everyone I meet that are my age of the same gender..."

"Wait, you mean..." Sairek started, and Cyial closed his eyes and nodded. Sairek felt color flush to his face.

"I'm afraid these urges already began with you at the Inn, Sairek... I've been able to control myself and haven't slipped once on anyone in my life. But I have to admit; I would be sleeping next to you Sairek while you are in your undergarments, asleep. I'm afraid I won't be able to control myself easily like that... And you're the Prince, Sairek. Despite the fact I like you for who you are, not what you are, the country does think otherwise..."

Sairek was silent for a good few moments; he had never thought of Cyial that way before. He thought himself foolish that Cyial being an Incubus would only mean he would have a tail and different ears with maybe a strange color in his eyes. He had different instincts as well, despite who he was.

"Well... I still don't want to be alone..." Sairek eventually muttered out. "I don't mind you slipping a little Cyial... as long as you don't try anything directly forbidden or are necessarily off limits." The Prince smiled a little bit. "And, if you do come with us, you will need to control that anyways." Sairek then winced, albeit not out of pain but at a thought. "I'd feel sorry for anyone who tried to do something with Nayleen. Poor sod would probably get a knife shoved into their skull..."

"I don't have the urges on girls. Not even some males. But I know for a fact I do with you." The Acolyte admitted, his head still turned away.

"So only with males...?" Sairek questioned again for clarification. The Acolyte shook his head initially, but then shrugged. "I don't really know, it seems to be completely random to me. But once an urge is made on a person, it doesn't seem to end up ever going away and I've not had it once on a female. Getting these feelings on a certain individual is not as common as I am making it sound. But I guess the entire situation is what makes the hate on me even harder to deal with... It hurts so much when someone you 'want to be with' says things like that to you... I may only had the effect on males because there are very few female members in the Monastery. There's only maybe a dozen girls my age. They stay away from me the most."

Sairek looked at Cyial and nodded slowly, but then closed his eyes as he soon let out the yawn he had failed to win against this time. He covered his mouth with both hands in mannerism, before blinking a bit of water that had accumulated in his eyes from the yawn. "Mm... I think the medicine is taking effect now..." Sairek half mumbled in a tired tone. "It's getting tougher to stay awake, but I still want to talk some more..."

Cyial listened to Sairek, and was quiet for a moment as he shifted slightly in the bed. "We still have plenty of time to talk tomorrow Sairek. You will be in here all morning and noon too, after all."

"I suppose you're right, but I don't really want to pass any time with you..." Sairek said, as he glanced over at the boy with nearly half closed eyes despite him trying to keep them open. "If you don't come with us, then I want to spend as much time as possible... It will be a very long time before we meet again... if we can meet again and father doesn't lock me in a prison cell to keep me from going anywhere after I'm done this." He admitted while letting out a slow chuckle.

"How long do you plan to stay awake for?"

"Until the medicine consumes me." Sairek said, and paused for a moment before adding. "...which won't be much longer admittedly. My eyes are getting rather heavy right now... Kind of finding it hard to listen to you and comprehend what you're saying sometimes."

Cyial watched as the Prince closed his eyes for a few seconds, before shaking his head a little to try and wake himself just a little bit. He slowly blinked his eyes as if he just snapped out of a daze. "Geez. That stuff really kicks in fast. Are you sure you only put a little bit in it, or is it just that powerful?" He asked, before glancing back towards Cyial. "By the way, this may sound strange, but don't sleep with your acolyte robe on." He spoke out suddenly.

Cyial blinked at the request, before blushing a little. "Sairek, when I said we wore not much under these robes, I meant that we wear nothing but undergarments. The robe would be far too hot to wear with clothes underneath in the spring and summer time."

"If it's too hot for clothes, then it would be far too hot with a blanket. And I would feel weird if you slept on top of the blanket while--" he was interrupted by another long yawn. He didn't even bother to cover his mouth this time. "...I sleep underneath it..." Sairek finished slowly before shaking his head again to get the drowsiness out.

"...You are a strange Prince..." Cyial managed to tease. Sairek grinned at the Incubus's response. "Isn't the first time I've heard that." He lightly joked, but took in a breath as his head slowly fell onto the pillow. His endurance against the medicine falling apart rapidly.

"Ah... I can't kid myself..." The Prince muttered out quietly;  "I'll be lucky to last around five more minutes against this medicine of yours..."

Cyial pushed himself off of the bed, as he pulled off his gloves, and tossed them to a corner of the room. He then had his hands disappear inside of his robes as he wiggled a bit, his head soon disappearing inside as well. Sairek's eyes peeled slightly open as he watched the boy, the robe soon slowly lifting off of Cyial's body. Sairek looked in interest at the back of the boy's underpants, where there was a small hole near the tailbone made to fit the child's tail, which wagged around a little bit as if stretching; free to move around easier now that the robe wasn't weighing it down and compressing it. Cyial turned around to face Sairek after he folded his robes and placed them in a corner next to his gloves.

"Well, you don't look pretty 'different' yourself." Sairek managed to tease under his fatigue. Cyial blushed a little at the comment. "Sometimes the manual labor here can be a little bit difficult..." The Acolyte answered, and then added: "And, the trips to the cave I've been doing for a little bit over a year now too, I suppose."

Sairek nodded, his eyes closed now as his head once again rested on the pillow. "Alright, tuck yourself in..." The Prince offered, trying to keep himself moving as much as possible to salvage every last second he could have to stay awake, he moved his hand, pulling back the blanket, which Cyial moved himself to lay down next to the Prince, who then pulled the blanket over Cyial's body. The bed barely fit the two comfortably, so they were forced to stay in close contact.

Sairek was fast drifting away, but he managed to open his eyes one more time as he felt Cyial move slightly; the Acolyte's head moving to rest on his chest and his arms somewhat wrapped around him. Sairek was afraid the boy's urges were already kicking in, but he soon dismissed it when the boy soon said: "Thank you for protecting me, Sairek..." The Prince softly smiled. It was Cyial hugging him as best as he could on the bed; not the urges kicking in. With that, the medicine was able to succumb Sairek's resistance, and he soon blacked out into sleep.

Author's Note

Chapter last edited on: January 22nd, 2013

Changelog:

- Lots of typo fixes. Lots.
- Lots of dialogue refurbishing, with a couple of minor tweaks

Changelog [January 29th, 2012]

- Fixed a few typos, minor descriptions in the fight specifically, and changed a little bit of dialogue afterwards. Nothing else really needed to be changed.