Miraric

13| Nine Arrows and White Wings.

He is dead. He is dead. He is dead. My brother is dead—

Edric's endless confrontation with the harsh truth came to a halt when he heard a voice, making him stop breathing at once. "Are they all dead?"

Someone laughed. "It's quite to hard to tell because of all the blood and the bruises in their pathetic faces,"

Edric had never wanted to kill someone so badly as much as he wanted to right now.

"We should go and check for more," and then he heard shuffling of feet slowly approaching him, making his heart beat so fast he worried if it'd betray him and let them know how loud it was.

They were approaching the throne, Edric realised — the very throne where in the behind of it, laid the Crown Prince in an eternal sleep and another prince having no time to mourn or grieve for his brother — and they were approaching that throne, slowly.

Please. Edric prayed, to whom, he didn't know. Maybe to the gods he used to cry to for making him a Naught when he was a kid? Please, don't let them come here.

He shut his eyes tightly, holding his brother's cold hands firmly.

More footsteps.

Edric had long forgotten to breath.

There was no use of praying. Edric had to do something. He looked around, as if looking around would give him some sort of answer, or an escape from this situation but in the end, he found nothing.

Quick! Think something! He had tears forming in his eyes as he bit his lip tightly, almost peeling off the skin.

Think! Think! Think!

His eyes landed on his brother, and then on his abdomen, where blood was still gushing out, spilling all over the floor and drenching the lower part of Edric's clothes.

Edric remembered the Ezèrian's words: "It's quite hard to tell because of all the blood and the bruises on their pathetic faces."

And that was it before a Edric's hand reached his brother's abdomen, all while tears fell on his brother's face, somehow washing away some of the blood from his face, even if it was barely noticeable — but it still washed away some blood.

Edric looked at his hand which was already covered in blood but he knew he needed more. He placed his hand on his brother's abdomen, his hands touching his brother's warm blood, greeting it and then smearing as much as blood as he could in his hands, he brought his hands to his face.

He applied all of the blood in his neck and face aggressively, making sure to not leave any part behind, making sure he wasn't crying anymore so the tears won't meet the blood, making sure his face was full of blood, making sure to make it look like he was killed by one of the Ezèrian.

When he was finally done, he leaned against the throne, keeping his eyes wide wide opened and never once making the mistake of blinking. He sucked in a deep breath and then released it, being ready.

More footsteps.

By now Edric had stopped holding his brother's hand and was sitting in an awkward position, his body so still and stiff no one could ever guess he was alive, and with so many bodies being around him, there was no chance of him being caught but still, there was one part of Edric that was afraid but he had no time to think about that as the Ezèrian had finally reached him.

Stay still. Absolutely still. Keep your mouth slightly open and eyes wide opened. Don't move at—

"That filthy of a prince got what he deserved for messing with us," The Ezèrian said, referring to Eric and not Edric.

"These Elysians didn't even have the chance to attack us, that's just how weak they are,"

"What about this guy laying dead beside the prince? Who took his pathetic life?" One asked, ignoring the previous one's statement and kicking Edric's body slightly.

"Who knows? I lost count of the renèi Possessors I killed today. Maybe Mylo killed this one? You know, how he always goes for the face and all?" he said and laughed.

"That Mylo and his sister are beyond everyone. It took only a few minutes for the siblings to take down three groups of soldiers! All by themselves!"

"One burned the soldiers to crisp and another one blasted the soldiers with pressured water. It was gruesome to watch,"

"They were raised by the monster himself. That's what you expect from his children."

When they were done talking about matters that Edric couldn't wrap his head around or make sense out of anything because of everything going around him, the Ezèrian left — where, Edric didn't know but they were no longer in the throne with him and Edric could finally blink.

Edric slowly looked around again for confirmation and saw there were only countless dead bodies lying around, one above another, still bleeding, making Edric nauseous and with his brother's blood all over his face, it was hard for Edric's stomach to not turn and throw up in a corner.

"Prince Edric . . . ." Relief washed all over Edric when he heard a soldier calling his name. His eyes immediately followed his voice and realised it was coming from a man who had his bones broken, along with his face deformed due to the heavy collision with the floor.

Edric immediately crouched down and took the soldier's hand, grabbing it firmly. "I killed . . . seven of them. . ." The soldier managed to say, smiling. "Archery. . ." He let out a weak laugh. "Our arrows work on them . . . well. But. . . You have to be quick . . ." The soldier paused, trying to catch his breath but he only ran out of it. "My Prince. . . you are good at. . . Archery . . . ."

Edric realised he was going to take his last breath soon. "You did a great job. You served the King. You served the country with every bit—" the soldier's head tilted right and the he closed his eyes.

Edric only watched him for a few moments , wondering if he heard anything that he was telling him as the life from the soldier's face slowly vanished away before finally, he let go of his hands, standing up afterwards. His eyes landed on his back where his quiver was attached, making Edric lean in towards it, unbuckle it from his back and putting it on his back instead.

There are only nine arrows.

Edric looked for the soldier's bow and it took him a few seconds for his eyes to find it laying in a corner. He picked it up, and with a sudden endless courage, he made his way towards the stairs, crossing all the fallen soldiers and crossing the Crown Prince of Elysia.

Nine arrows and my wings are all I have right now.