Homecoming
Original



He felt a shudder run through his body and he tried to fight off the sudden suffocating feeling. It had been so long since he had last seen this city… Even though he had lived here for nearly his entire childhood, it was just like walking into any other city. The familiarity of it was never anything he had experienced. From the castles windows he could gaze at awe at the expanse of houses as far as he could see. But he had rarely stepped foot in the actual city. Once he had visited the port along side his former Professor with a small secretive escort—but that was all.

He walked with a sense of wonder on his face—perhaps a little fear. He knew why he had been confined to the castle. He was born a demon. In this country, demons were feared—despised. When he had been born under the King and Queen of Aurora he had been a blasphemous birth. He had been hidden. Although the secret had eventually let loose like a terrible wildfire, his father had never truly acknowledge him. In a way, Yami understood. At the same time he hated him.

“Hey, are you all right?” Mathais asked, elbowing the shorter man. Yami glanced up at the redhead and the started look he gave the elf made Mathais smile a little. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

Or perhaps stirred a few ghosts of the past, Yami thought quietly. He nodded his head in non-comment.

It was the first time Yami really allowed himself to look around. Although many gave him horrified stares, they did not recognize him as the former Prince of Aurora. After his exile the road had not been nice to him. He was not as delicate and innocent as he had once looked. He had a more hardened look to him. His eyes weren’t quite as wide and forgiving—but more critical, mistrustful. His hair wasn’t a perfect veil of black anymore. He had ruined that many years back by taking a knife to his once long locks. It grew uneven now, sporadically and untamed. His grace, however, had managed to survive over the years of exile. Had anyone looked long enough they would have noticed he had the presence of royalty. But, he was a demon and so none dared to let their eyes linger long.

“Word will get out a demon walks freely,” Ryshar chimed from Yami’s left. Ryshar glanced over, golden eyes openly searching the demon’s face for any sign of emotion. “Someone will be sent for you. If they recognize you, you’ll be hanged.”

Yami didn’t comment. Although his exile had been under pain of death if he returned, he had little worries. If they attempted to restrain him Yami would kill them. He had no loyalties to this city anymore. Many years ago he would have naively died for it. Today he would destroy it with barely a thought. Except—Yami sighed—he couldn’t because of a simple factor of two; his mother and brother.

His gaze unwilling turned to catch the spiraling castle towers. He wondered if his mother was looking out her bedroom windows now. Or maybe she sat alone in the gardens… The thought made him nostalgic for her.

They turned a corner and simultaneously the trio’s eyes rose. They were cast in the shadow of a pulsating stalagmite crystal dominating the town square. It rose high into the sky and every inch of it gleamed. Although the crystal itself was a soft blue, it sparkled with the usually colorless mana, which only on these stones, would burst over its surface in brilliant explosions of color. The Blessing Stone of Aurora was a mighty stone. Its very presence was intimidating. If one were brave enough to touch the crystal, they would find that it was curiously warm… almost as though it were alive.

However, Yami knew not to touch it. When his race had once been known as Protectors and not demons, they were able to bless the stones—which often resulted in death. It was an excruciatingly painful wish for the innate-magic wielding men and women to touch it. For them the mana would enter their body, capture all of it within and tear it out of them and enter the stone. For those whose body did not carry the mana in them, it would simply tickle throughout their body like a warm pleasant wave.

His crimson eyes searching the stone, the ex-Prince wondered how many Protector’s lives the stone had claimed.

“That is the biggest Blessing Stone I’ve ever seen!” Mathais finally blurted as he overcame his initial shock. The redhead took a few steps back, head craned back as he stared in open-mouth awe at the mighty stone. “You could fit four or five of Kaoidji’s stone in there!”

“Well, in my opinion,” Ryshar started quietly, a smirk tugging the corners of his devious expression, “they’re making up for something.”

There was a brief moment when the eleven-inch height difference between Ryshar and Yami was almost tangible. Ryshar smirked, awaiting a reaction. Yami did his best to shake his sudden flush with an uninterested look. To their right, Mathais let out a whistle of admiration as he continued to marvel at the stone, oblivious to the other two.

Finally, to Ryshar’s disappointment, Yami simply laughed and continued towards the marketplace without comment.

Sometimes that demon was hard to read.

[Ramirez]

A/N: Because of drawing the drawing: http://LexSterling.deviantart.com/art/The-Stones-149862544 I had to write the little scene that went through my head. A little sliver of my novel that may or may not make it to the final edition.

Ryshar and Yami's continuous jabs at each other is always fun to write... Mathais I see much like a really ignorant hick (I mean this in the nicest way possible) who is terribly lovable. Anyways... got my laugh over with.

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