Son of Perseus ✓

Twenty-One

Jasoslav began to stir, his eyes slowly opening.

All he could see was a shabby roof.

Jasoslav pulled himself into a sitting position.

Seth, Akachi, and Lukyan were discussing things with each other--quietly enough so Jasoslav couldn't make out what they were talking about.

Koios was sitting on a hay-bale, hanging his head, silently. It was almost as if he was deep in thought. Then, he slowly raised his head and retrieved the small flask that resided beside him--it contained whiskey. Koios took a swig from that said flask before returning it to its place and looking back at the ground again.

Jasoslav cleared his throat, hoping to gain someone's attention. It didn't work though. So, he just jumped straight to speaking. "Where are we?"

Lukyan, Akachi, Sethunya stopped talking all at once, exchanged a glance, and looked in Jasoslav's direction.

"You're awake." Lukyan sounded a little surprised.

"Yeah. I am. But my head... It's killing me," Jasoslav grumbled.

"I bet it would be," Seth began to say. "Koios had to knock you out."

"He did?" Jasoslav questioned, surprised.

Akachi nodded. "Yeah. He did."

"We're in a barn in Ewionys by the way," Lukyan answered the question Jasoslav had asked prior to the change of topic in the conversation.

"Where in Ewionys?" Jasoslav asked.

Lukyan and Akachi both shrugged in unison.

Akachi then added, "Koios hasn't told us exactly where we are yet."

Jasoslav gazed around the room. "Where's Bohdana?"

"Well..." Akachi drifted off. "That's-" He didn't finish what he was saying.

"When we got to Ewionys, she said it was too dangerous for her to stay with us. So, we parted ways. We stayed wherever the hell this place is," Lukyan gestured to the barn the group was in. "...And Bohdana left."

"She left us?" Jasoslav raised an eyebrow as his eyes grew wide.

"Yeah, I'm afraid so," Seth responded.

Silence fell upon the room for a couple of minutes, before Jasoslav asked his next question. "Why did Koios have to knock me out?"

"You almost destroyed the Prizrak Realm, dude," Akachi answered.

"What?" Jasoslav's heart sank.

"You were shouting, making enormous fires, and causing the ground to shake," Akachi explained to the Ukrainian boy.

"Why- why did I do that?" Jasoslav stammered, nervous.

Akachi pulled a face. "You don't remember what happened?"

Jasoslav slowly shook his head. "No. Care to give me a refresher?"

Outside the window, the late October breezes pushed orange and yellow leaves off the oak-trees.

It would be Jasoslav's birthday soon--the 31st was nearly upon them.

Akachi swallowed, looking at Sethunya and Lukyan for reassurance before looking back at Jasoslav. He sighed. "Jasoslav... Valmog... He-"

"Valmog did what? What did he do?" Akachi's hesitation made Jasoslav uneasy.

Finally, Lukyan just said what Akachi was going to say for him. "Valmog staked Pagan through the heart. She's dead, Jasoslav."

Suddenly, it all came rushing back to Jasoslav--Pagan trying to protect Lukyan and him.... Valmog stabbing her right through the heart.

Pagan had stumbled backward just narrowly missing Jasoslav's open arms.

A single tear-drop dripped down Jasoslav's cheek.

Pagan had looked up at her younger half-brother with wide, horrified eyes. There was something else in her eyes too. Pain, Jasoslav thought it was.

Pagan had tried to open her mouth as if she was going to say something of importance to Jasoslav, but she didn't get to say a single word. Instead, she slowly turned to ash that ended up getting blown away in the wind.

Another tear-drop dripped down the Ukrainian boy's face. And another. And another. Soon, he was uncontrollably sobbing. Breathing began to become difficult for him at this point. Tears clouded and obscured Jasoslav's vision.

Jasoslav collapsed onto the floor of the barn. His head was just hovering a couple of centimeters above the ground. His knees were held close to his chest. "It's all my fault," he kept repeating in between his sobs of despair.

Seth and Akachi exchanged glances before looking back at the crying boy.

Lukyan rose from were he had been sitting, looked at Akachi, and then looked back at Jasoslav. Lukyan then slowly approached Jasoslav and kneeled by him. Now Lukyan could clearly make out what the demon was saying. Lukyan frowned. "Hey, Jasos-"

Jasoslav didn't react.

"Look at me," Lukyan said, softly.

Jasoslav hesitated before slowly raising his head to look at Lukyan. "It's all my fault that Pagan's dead," he immediately said to the siren.

"Why do you say that?" Lukyan inquired.

"If I never would've followed her from the forest, she'd never have to take me to Aexiazan. If I never had run off, I'd never had bumped into Satan. I-If I-I n-never-" Jasoslav's voice broke.

"It's not your fault, Jasos. Pagan sacrificed herself so you could live," Lukyan began to tell the crying demon. "She wanted you to survive. She wanted to make sure Perseus never got his hands on you. What Pagan did was for the good of the world--it was for the good of monster and humankind alike. If I know anything about Pagan, she'd want you to stay strong. She'd want you to fight back against Perseus. She'd want you to stop him. Most of all, she'd want you to be happy."

"You mean it?" Jasoslav sat up, sniffling.

Lukyan smiled at Jasoslav. "Yes. I do." He paused, raising his hand up slightly, before asking, "May I?"

Jasoslav nodded, but said nothing.

Lukyan leaned forward, wiping the tears off Jasoslav's face.

Then, Lukyan and Jasoslav just gazed at each other in silence.

A few moments passed before Jasoslav smiled at Lukyan, tears still in his eyes, "Thank you-"

That's right when there was a series of loud thuds outside the barn door.