"I hate going outside, but I guess I have nothing else to do..", Aggravian swirls the cup of tea in his hand, as the aroma of the herbs spread across the room, combatting the overwhelming smell of rotting flesh that envelopes his abode. From a window of a ruined building, he looks at the skyscrapers of Thannatopia that's looming over the hills.
The young teenage boy takes a sip out of his cup, humming softly as the tastes of the tea soak into his tongue. Sunlight illuminates his pale skin as he places the cup down onto a worn table. "Okay, one more time.", he gets up from his seat, stretching around, before setting off to the outside, as something otherworldly follows its creator.
"Oh, hello, Natalia and Anom.", Hurlem mumbles, maintaining silence in Thannatopia's Grand Library, whilst waving to the two. "Hey, Hurlem.", I wave back to him, answering as small as I possibly can, Natalia is completely absorbed by the book she's reading. "Are you taking Miss Natalia out on a date?", Hurlem tilts his head with a little devious smile. I look at him for a minute, then respond, "Don't talk about what you don't know. You're too young to understand.". "I am arguably smarter than both of you, combined.", the little kid crosses his arms, hugging the book that he's holding, that's almost as heavy as he is. I sigh, shrugging. "It's been a little nice and quiet recently. Have you seen Raven ever since that happened?", I ask the child, getting down to his level to keep the talk concealed. The boy shrugs, probably having no idea just like me. "We've been receiving reports of a strong odor coming from the outermost North of Thannatopia, pretty close to the ruined city. That place has been a hotspot for strange activities ever since it got destroyed, but I can't really get much of its history.", Hurlem whispers, covering his mouth a little. "I'm telling this to you because I want you to be careful. Your magic hasn't bloomed and because of that, many things will be out there to get you before something happens.", he continues, tapping my forehead a few times. "Well, don't worry. I can't really die that easily with the protection of the elites.", I scoff, rubbing the kid's head lightly, messing up his hair a little bit before standing upright again. "Don't get cocky. You're a very important figure, don't get yourself killed. You wouldn't want to die, too, right?", Hurlem frowns, shaking his head to get my hand off of him, then fixes his hair. "Yeah. I'd like to live.", I nod.
"What are you reading about?", I ask Hurlem as we walk to the table, with Natalia following us around. "Just a bestiary, I need to reinforce my memory with a few run-throughs.", the little kid answers, approaching a table. Hurlem hops onto the chair, standing instead of sitting because he's too short for that, then he places the big book on the table. "Woah, you need to revise? I thought that you were already too good for that, Einstein?", I scoff, sitting at the table, examining the cover of the book. "Yes, I do. I'm not a superhuman. And who is Einstein, anyways?", Hurlem opens up the first page, raising an eyebrow at my reference. Right. "Well, you're almost like him, in terms of intelligence. Not much to say.", I shrug. "Cool, cool.", Hurlem mutters, flipping through pages almost instantly, as if he isn't even reading any of it. I watch him go, not asking any questions to let him concentrate. Then, he suddenly stops at one page. He frowns, again, confused by the existence of that one page he stopped at. "I haven't seen this before.", Hurlem lays the page flat on the table for us to see. Still, Natalia, who is sitting next to us two, is still absorbed by the same book. I look at the page. There is not a name. Not a description. Just a horrible, messed up scribble of what seems like a "face" with a deformed lower jaw. The kid stares at it for a while, feeling a sense of dread suddenly washing over him. He closes the book quickly after. Hurlem sighs softly, "I guess it's just a prank that some kid did for fun. I'll go ask the librarian about this.", he hops off the chair, walking away. "Alrighty..", I nod, watching him leave as he soon goes out of sight behind a row of bookshelves. Hm.. I guess the universe is all out of things to do to me. Pretty nice to spend some time not shivering for my life.
YOU ARE READING
Of Thousand Lives
FantasíaOuroboros - death and reincarnation in one tragic loop. Justice's life was on a constant downhill ever since he was abandoned by his family until he sought for the embrace of death. In this foreign world of bladeworks and sorcery, the soul and memor...
