Chapter 20: History

A Chapter by Andrew Akuna

History

"Xero! Xero, wake up!"

"What do you mean? I'm not asleep." Xero replied. "Halim, why do you suddenly sound like Longinus?"

Xero felt the side of his face get hot as if someone had slapped him. He gathered himself and reached forward. In his sight, he saw nothing, but felt fur. His eyes opened, making him realize what had happened. In an attempt at waking him up, Longinus slapped him. He, in turn, reached out and grabbed the Wolf's throat. Not yet fully awake, Xero continued to squeeze Longinus's throat until Vladimir stepped in and grabbed his wrist, making Xero let go.

"Xero, are you awake now?" Vladimir asked, trying to get the Panther to look him in the eye. Xero nodded, finally managing to collect himself. "Good. Now, what did you see?"

At first he did not reply. Instead, he stared blankly at Vladimir. "Xero!"

"He...he... Aadrik Black...he..."

"He what?" Longinus asked after he caught his breath,

"He ki....killed our...p-parents..." Xero managed to say after great difficulty.

Vladimir nodded. "I think I recall him asking me a rhetorical question in that direction." He sat down on the bed they had put Xero in and placed a paw on his chin. "He asked 'Would your brother hate you if you killed someone to save him?' "

"How close were you two?" Longinus asked after a few moments of silence.

"We were decent friends, but as I told you before, only in that we agreed upon one thing, that thing being that we hated each other." The older Wolf fell backward onto the bed and continued. "We were partners in an underground organization that worked saboteur operations and carried out assassinations worldwide. The group saw talent in us and paired us for several missions. We spent years as rivals, then slowly became friends."

"When was the last time you saw him?" Longinus asked.

Vladimir paused before replying. "At his funeral..."

"What happened?" Xero asked, finally sitting up.

"About four centuries ago, he and I, along with some random assassin from the organization, were on a mission." He ran a paw through his hair. "We were in Cruz, near present-day Italy. Supposedly there was another organization working against us. It had been reported by an anonymous agent from ours. Turns out it was a rogue wanting revenge. She knew we'd be sent and had planned to kill me. Aadrik stepped up and, being the show-off a*****e he was, tried some fancy marksman move and his gun misfired." Vladimir paused to catch his breath. "The bullet got him between the eyes." Vladimir stood. "I need a drink. You two converse amongst yourselves." With that, the elder Wolf stood, bowed, and exited the bedroom.

Longinus rubbed his throat and sat in the chair next to the bed. "Damn, you've got a grip."

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay. Hey, do you think all this has anything to do with whoever tried to get you to kill me?"

"It's quite possible actually." Xero said, swinging his feet off the bed. "Aadrik told me that he personally led me to believe that I was an only child. That he only wanted me to remember him now because he needed me. Thus far, aside from showing me what happened when we were young, he's been quite subtle. Perhaps he has something to do with it. You never knew him and didn't know why you were in my forest that day."

"Sure that sounds helpful, but there's one thing." Longinus replied. "Vlad just said that Aadrik was killed about four hundred years ago."

"You're right, but there's one more thing. Something Aadrik must've never told Vlad."

"What's that?"

"Aadrik, like the three of us, was an Eternus. There is no way he's dead."

*****************************************************************************************************************

Over the next few days, Aadrik Black had given Xero several more memories in his sleep, all guided by the avatar that he had created for the younger brother. They were of their childhood together in the forest. Aadrik, though barely over thirteen himself, had raised Xero since their parents' deaths until he was old and experienced enough to use magic proficiently on his own. The last memory Aadrik had given him was of Aadrik, who still answered to Halim Blake at the time, writing a letter.

"Look over Halim's shoulder." The still seemingly younger Halim said, gesturing to his now twenty-eight year old self as he wrote at a desk in the old Blake mansion. The mansion, at this time, was still whole. It had all of its walls and the floors and ceilings were still intact. Outside was still the lake, but on the other end was not a forest. The forest did not exist at this time. In this memory, The mansion was still in the woods, but beyond them, the surrounding community could still be seen. It was Raven's Way until something destroyed most of it.

Xero stepped up to the memory Halim's shoulder and read the letter as he wrote.

Malik,

        I'm sorry you never got to know our parents. Also that I must leave you. It seems that our remaining relatives are blaming us for the deaths of our parents and not understanding why I did what I did. I am abandoning my name and severing all ties to this family. If you are wise, you will do the same. If ever we meet again, I will explain everything. Until then, take care of yourself. When you've finished this letter, you will lose all memory of me. I guess this is goodbye.

Halim Blake no more,
             Aadrik Black

"Do you understand now?" The guide asked. "I had to leave you because if I'dve stayed, our relatives would have killed me. It's true that we're both Eterni, but they had a method. They'dve taken my shadow from me. In our cases, our shadows are our souls."

Xero nodded, staring blankly at the scene before him as the adult Halim waved a paw over the letter. The letter folded itself and several symbols burned into the outside of the parchment it was written on. Xero recognized the symbols. They were the marks that made up his internal anchor; the tattoos around his arm and torso.

"I've given you enough for now." Halim said. "I'll show you the rest of this when you find me." The smaller Panther walked up to Xero and pushed him. In the real world, the push would not have had any effect, but here, it caused Xero to fall backward as if he were falling off a nonexistent cliff.

He woke up again, this time in the castle's library. Xero looked around for Vladimir and Longinus, but saw no one. There was a stack of books in front of him with a note on top.

    We've gone to Raven's Way for supplies. Thought you might like to go through these books. New spells will be handy.

                                    Vladimir.

Xero looked to the books and picked one up. He thumbed through it idly, having no intention of putting any effort into learning at the moment. After a few minutes, he put the book down and rubbed his eyes. The instant he moved his paws out of his eyes, his heart skipped a beat. Sitting across from him was Aadrik's avatar, the younger Halim.