Shrunken

Chapter 43

  ***

  Seto was ten years old again.

  He stood in front of his father's office, watching in horror as his brother drank from a vial and collapsed, writhing and crying.

  His father did nothing, only watched his youngest son's agony through cold, calculating maroon eyes.

  Seto pressed his small hands against the barrier of magic blocking the doorway, screaming in panic for his mother.

  She came and the scene changed.

  His father tried to explain himself, but she wouldn't hear it.

  His mother blasted the man into a wall with a fierce strike of water magic.

  His brother, nearing age 7, continued to quake, his cries echoing the pain searing throughout his body.

  Seto began crying his name, having lifted his limp arms and dragging his frail body aside.

  The boy's eyes began to flash, from a beautiful blue to a malicious gold. His pupils became slits. His voice was silent as his eyelids drifted closed.

  The visible pale skin on his arms and face turned gray. Long crooked claws slid out of his fingertips.

  After moments of strange transformation, he and his mother watching in tears, his brother suddenly sat upright.

  His eyes opened wide, bright glittering gold surrounded in black.

  He took a shaky breath in and grinned in an odd way, revealing slightly pointed teeth. He examined his hands and claws with a look of triumph. 

  Then his eyes fell on Seto and his mother, glinting with malice. 

  His head cocked to one side when Seto crept backward, breath quickening in terror.

  In a deep voice not his own, his brother laughed. "Something wrong, Seto? Don't you recognize me?"

  "What did you to my brother?" Seto cried, his voice small.

  "Nathaniel Magius isn't home right now," he sneered, clicking his claws against the floor as he stood.

  He walked up to Seto placidly, claws held out in front of him. Golden mist swirled around his unnatural eyes.

  "...But if you'd like, you can leave a message." He finished with false sincerity.

  "They call me Nightwing where I come from, but names don't matter much where you're going."

  The demon lunged at him with wicked claws, maniacal grin wide. But quick as lightning, his mother stepped in front of her oldest son.

  The blade-like nails raked right through her protection spell.

  They slashed through her stomach, then ripped into her throat.

  Blood gushed onto the floor around her fallen body, blue eyes wide as she lay there.

  The demon chuckled and smiled, staring at the red stains on his nails eagerly. Then he collapsed.

  Seto screamed and sobbed over his mother, cradling her face in his arms. "My baby..." she kept whispering in her dying moments. "My babies need me..."

  He heard thudding footsteps and his father stand above them. For the first time Seto had ever seen, his eyes filled with emotion. "Brooke?" 

  She ignored him and focused on Seto. "He didn't mean it, honey... I'll always be here with you."

  Her eyes became glassy. Her chest didn't rise. The only movement was the stream of blood dribbling onto the floor.

  Seto got up and backed away, hands over his mouth, color drained from his skin.

  The scene changed.

   His brother was himself again, bawling in the corner of a wall. He stared back at Seto in grief and hopelessness.

  That was Seto's last memory of him. Sprawled on the floor, patches of blackened skin covering his throat where his father had grabbed him and beat him and almost killed him in rage of his wife's death.

  Seto was dragged out the door by his grief-stricken father.

  "You can't just leave him! He needs us!"

  "He'll die soon with that monster inside him. Better him than us, Seto."

  "But he's your son too!"

  "Not anymore."

  "You did this, you can fix it! You have to! This isn't what Mom would've-" He was silenced once more by red aura on his lips.

  "Shut up."

  The image of his demonic form filled Seto's vision. Red tally marks smeared the walls of the office, glowing in the darkness. His sweet shy brother cackled in a sickening voice, blood dripping off yellow claws. 

  Wide golden eyes stared straight into his soul.

  " I ' m s t i l l h e r e . "

***

  Seto sat up quickly, heart pounding in his chest. 

  Morning light bathed his body in gold, songbirds twittering above. The sun blazed forth in a brilliant blue sky. A soft breeze shook the trees' placid limbs. The meadow grass was soft beneath his palms and the smell of wildflowers filled the warm air.

  The sorcerer brought his knees up and placed his palms on them, still shaken from his nightmare. It wasn't unusual to have this dream, it came rather often. But something was off about it. The memories had become more intense, brighter, longer, more terrifying. He had tried to keep his past out of mind for so long, but now it felt like yesterday. But why? What had sparked such terrible memories?

  He sighed and shook his head. He couldn't dwell on this any longer. Trying to stand, he found it difficult. His upper body and limbs ached terribly. Squinting against the sun's rays, he got to his feet and looked at the ground. The dried blood stains that painted the vibrant green grass blades reminded him of last night's events.

  He shuddered at the memories that flashed through his mind, but was soon filled with question. First of all, where was Angel and why hadn't he returned to finish him? Who was that sorcerer that healed him? And...

  Seto's eyes widened and he hit his own forehead. Kay! Where was she? Did they get away with her? Or did she escape? His thoughts whirled about in a panic. What if it was too late? He looked up at the sky. How long had he been asleep?

  A strange noise in the bushes snapped him out of his frantic mind, followed by faint rustling. Hesitantly, brows furrowed, he walked toward the source. A sharp yowl struck his ears and he pushed through the underbrush.

  One of his questions was answered.

  Before him, on a crimson coated patch of grass, lay the limp body of Angel Silverfang.