The Lost one's journey

Part 23: The past

Folmon wakes up and slowly gets up. "My head." He groans out. "Are you ok?" Pocu asks, seeming to pop out of nowhere. Folmon looks at Pocu, enraged, but quickly calms down as he senses an immense amount of mana behind him. He slowly turns his head around, seeing a cheerful Raphael. "Yo, Fol," she says with a grin. Folmon's heart suddenly sinks as he quickly bows to the ground. "A THOUSAND PARDON LADY RAPHAEL!" He shouts out. Raphael sighs. "Don't even worry about it." She says much to the surprise of Folmon. "What really? But I tried to kill the both of you." He asks in disbelief. Raphael waves her hand dismissively. "You and about five others. The difference is that your reason was because of anger. I will always forgive those who act purely out of rage because who else will?" Raphael says as she extends her hand to Folmon. "Why not join us? We're sure to run into Beliynn. Direct your rage towards the one who sprouted that seed of fury." A warm aura surrounds Raphael as she speaks to Folmon, who looks up to her in amazement. Folmon takes her hand and stands up. "I will gladly accept if you'll have me." He says it with a happy smile. Raphael smiles as he takes her hand. "Great! I'm happy to be working with you, Folmon, but what of your friend? I was made aware that there were two survivors from Rodet's rage." Folmon briefly looks away before he answers. "H-Domo was... taken to Etapa." He says it with a solemn expression and tone. Raphael's eyes seem to almost shake as he says this. Her palms form a fist and quickly tighten and shake. Her happy smile quivers and quickly falls. Her eyes contract in a silent rage. "We're getting him out." She says it in a confident voice while putting a smile back on her face. "I-I can't trouble you with this lady, Raphael. It is my own duty to get him back. It was my fault he was taken anyway." Raphael puts her hand on his shoulder. "Be it as it may, Etapa isn't a place where you should go alone. Please let me help your friend escape that horrid place." Folmon looks at Raphael, grateful, as he nods his head. "Thank you, Lady Raphael." She smiles with her eyes dilating. "It's nothing. We'll have to save it for tomorrow, however. I am, honestly, very exhausted. I came from Dagat and was here in a day and had to fight so many powerful creatures." Raphael sighs, exhausted. "Oh yes, of course I don't mean to bother you." Folmon says this while taking a step back. "Nah, it's fine, man. Just a quick nap, and I'll be fine. Go ahead and have a nice chat with the little one while I sleep." She says with a smirk as she walks off to climb a set of stairs. "Boo," Pocu says as she seems to pop out of nowhere once again. "How are you doing that?" Folmon asks, confused. "Magic!" Pocu happily proclaims. "You know magic?" Folmon asks skeptical. "Yeah! Mr. Rodet showed me how to! I just imagine the blank paper and then draw what I want! Then boom! Invisible Pocu!" She happily says as she closes her eyes and focuses, then turns invisible. "I see. How is..." Folmon shudders as he speaks. "Mr. Rodet." His body shakes as he remembers what happened that night. "He's here with us! Somewhere. Ms. Cat said that he probably went up ahead of us because he was being grumpy because we were so late." "Her name is Raphael, not Ms. Cat! Show some respect to your betters." Folmon says annoyed. "He went a head, you say? I wasn't even aware that there were other places besides the ruins." "How long have you been here, Mr. Pointy Ears?" Folmon flinches in annoyance as she calls him Mr. Pointy Ears. My name is Folmon Wysaven you foolish human. I've only been here for a week, so not that long." "Oh ok. I'm going to go play with Gary now." She says as she wanders off. "What the hell is that?" Folmon says confused as he follows Pocu. Pocu walks to an open space in the tavern away from all of the sick and injured. She plops onto the ground and closes her eyes, focusing. In her mind, a canvas of a burning village is thrown to the side as a new one replaces it. A hand grabs a paintbrush and draws an intricate design of a small child in black paint before dipping itself in a red canister of paint. The hand then draws flames around the child, then draws flames onto the child. Pocus eyes open, and the small buddy of flame known as Gary appears back to life. "Yay!" She happily cheers, and Gary starts to break it down once again. Folmon watches this in shock. "What the hell?" He says in disbelief. He walks over to Pocu and asks. "How did you do that? Creating a golem isn't an easy feat, and I doubt you spent much time training with Rodet and much less with Raphael." He asks as he watches Gary break dance on the ground. "Oh well, I picture a paper and just draw it!" She explains in a very simplified way. "What? There's no way—unless.. did Rodet teach you this?" "Yeah, he did!" "My god... that's his secret." Folmon says as he begins to chuckle, which quickly becomes laughter. "I did it! I figured out what no one else could! I FIGURED OUT WHY RODET IS SO PRECISE WITH HIS SPELLS!" He shouts out in joy. Folmon then sits on the ground and closes his eyes as he begins to picture in his mind a blank piece of paper. He picks up a black pencil and draws a simple picture of a ball of flame. He opens his eyes and clicks his tongue as he lifts his hand in the air, but nothing happens. "What?" He says confused. He tries it again. Closing his eyes and drawing the ball of flame once again, but it doesn't work. He repeats this for awhile until he shouts out, enraged. "WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING?" He then turns to Pocu, seeing her playing games with Gary. "She probably didn't explain it correctly. Damnit... damnit damnit damnit!" He repeats damnit for awhile more until he slams his fists on the ground in frustration. "I'll get it eventually." He says to himself as he walks off to the upstairs rooms. Pocu sees this and quickly follows him. Raphael rests in her room. She holds her sheathed blade in front of her. She stares at the blade with a cold gaze. "It's your fault. He was stolen from you because you are weak. Still the same cub who dared to go against your own blood. You don't deserve your names. Both of your names were merely given to you. You didn't earn those names, nor did you earn that blade." A voice is echoing in Raphael's mind. A figure seems to form behind her. The figure is of a tall black panther beast with long, slick black hair similar to Raphael's and the same purple eyes as her as well. He wears a black robe with a panther gem adorning his chest. The panther beast seems to tower above Raphael, easily standing ten feet. Raphael doesn't respond to the beast's remarks, only keeping her eyes on her blade. "You abandoned your people, and for what? To be with that human? To be with those lower races? How did that go? Why would you even leave a country that loved and adored you? Did you want to be forgotten? Did you want to be hated? You had a happy and easy life, didn't you? Was that just not enough?" As the beast asks Raphael these questions, her grip on the sword's handle tightens. "You aren't nearly as strong as Beliynn or Galdur Rodet. Both were born with talent. You weren't born with anything that was yours. Everything you were born with was because of me. Your powers aren't even yours. Your swordsmanship isn't yours. Your beastly abilities? That may be the only thing that is yours. Someone of my blood couldn't have such disappoint-" before the man can finish his sentence Raphael slaps her thighs and stands up. "Welp, that's enough of that." She says, chuckling as she heads into a restroom. Raphael pops a finger, and a silver canister appears in her hands. She opens it up and reveals white dye within the bowl. She takes a deep breath and places her finger in the dye, but her hands shake and cause her to miss instead of causing it to fall. She takes another deep breath, but it's shaky this time as she bends down and grabs the dye again. Her eyes are tearing up as she grabs it. She stands up and stares at herself in the mirror once again. For a split second, she sees a different version of herself. A younger version of her stands in the mirror across from her, wearing a crown and black robes, as the large beast stands behind her, his hand on her shoulder. Raphael breaks a finger of hers and seems to snap out of a trance as she forces a smile and clears the tears in her eyes. She places the bowl of dye on the desk and starts to dye her hair white.