Amgyptapan

Chapter 18: Pasts Revealed

"Akiva, (you remind me of someone I once knew.)" Nothile said

"Why must it speak in that gibberish?" Rambled John Doe.

"Do you have any respect for the supernatural? Or do you just enjoy endeavoring to induce them that those of humanistic essence are their exalted?" Hessa asked, smug that she'd used big words.

John Doe gave the exact reaction she was hoping for. He gave her a look that said he thought she'd gone crazy. Hessa chuckled. So much for richer being better.

She suggested harshly, "You're rich; buy a dictionary."

Akiva rolled his eyes at his sister and the curator. He responded to Nothile, "(And who would that be?)"

"(The nephew of a demon chief in Sudan.)" Nothile replied.

"(May I ask,)" Akiva asked, "(why you went there?)"

Nothile nonchalantly replied, "(Thebes was being plagued by the Hun-Ply.)"

"(How was it defeated?)" Hessa asked, intrigued.

"(I-i-i do not remember. How odd.)" Nothile answered.

As Nothile spoke, his eyes glowed an iridescent pink. Hessa gasped, breathless. Her eldest brother was a battle strategist, Akiva was a researcher, but she was an expert in spells of all sorts. From what she had seen, Nothile was under an obsession spell.

From the look of things, the obsession spell was a powerful one. No doubt the strength lay in putting up a mental block around one's soulmate if they had been found and create false love for the caster. The counter spell was simple; the affected needs to ingest no less than a drop of their true love's blood. That task could be easier than getting frostbite on a snowy day while standing still outside, or it could be harder than finding a glass of properly hydrated urine among glasses of lemonade.

"(Are you sure do not remember?)" Hessa asked.

"(Yes, I am quite sure. Forgetfulness is unlike me.)" Nothile replied.

Akiva was sure that he knew what Hessa did in that Nothile was bewitched. The half demon wondered what would happen if the two found out the truth. At any rate, Akiva had to make sure that Hessa didn't find out that she used to be a pure demoness by the name of Serina. Or that Nothile was her mate and husband.

"(Now that I am thinking about it,) Hessa, (I believe I have seen your face somewhere before. I just can not seem to remember where.)" Nothile remarked.

Akiva's eyes widened. The general rule of obsession spells was that the memory of one's true love was blocked. Nothile had, without meaning to, just told his sister that she was his true love. The half demon knew that his sister would figure out her past sooner rather than later as he had hoped. After all, how could they have met if he was supposed to be under a curse and couldn't reincarnate to meet her?

Hessa noticed her brother's reaction. Her eyes narrowed. All of her life, Akiva had kept something from her. Hessa decided that now was the time to find out what!

"((What are you hiding from me, Akiva?))" Hessa demanded in Japanese.

"Now you're speaking a different kind of gibberish? Why can't everyone speak in the only true language, English?" John Doe exclaimed.

"((Hiding?))" Akiva returned, nervous. "((Who's hiding anything?))"

"((Do you remember when we were little? I was five. I had asked you if you knew why I kept having that dream. After you said you had no idea, I asked you if you were hiding something. In a sense, you said yes. What was it?))" Hessa explained.