DEVIANT

Dominic

For several days, neither Seoras or Gengrick said a word about Dominic to Emmy.  And Emmy went back to her days of training and cultivating. She was giving her men time to work out their feelings.  Giving them the space and respect to come to her to tell her about it when they were ready to speak.

In the meantime, Dominic trained along side of her and the other soldiers.  He put in more work, just to prove that he was determined to stay. And everyday their friendship grew.  

Dominic had made it a habit of his to cultivate next to Emmy every night, in hopes of his mage powers to strengthen.  He asked her for tips and advice for cultivating and guide him to become a stronger mage. When Emmy turned in for the night, he would still be out, in the middle of Emmy’s flower garden, cultivating deep into the night.  

Becoming a strong mage was based on the talent you were born with and the dedication of cultivation and training.  For Dominic, it had been 9 years since he cultivated, he had lost a lot of time and chances to become a stronger mage.  His veins were clogged and his storage for magic in his body was weakened due to inactivity.

He had three regrets in his life.  The first, leaving Gengrick and Seoras.  Second, not seeing or saying goodbye to his parents on their deathbed.  And lastly, not making time to cultivate his mage power the last nine years.  

For the past two weeks since he started training beside Emmy, they had an easy and friendly rapport. Who would have thought that Emmy still had not shown him any emotion except indifference.  She was cordial towards him, but she was that way towards all the soldiers. It made him feel as if he wasn’t any different from them.

He wanted her treat him differently.  He wanted her to smile at him, like she did to Gengrick and Seoras.  Her eyes would soften and her guard would relax. She would speak lovingly.  She would become a different person next to them. He wanted that as well. At first he thought he would be jealous of Emmy, because she was in Seoras and Gengrick’s lives.  But only after two weeks did he realized he was jealous of Seoras and Gengrick because of Emmy’s affection towards them.

“Aren’t you curious at all?”  Dominic said one night as they sat next to each other cultivating.  “About what happened between me, Seoras and Gengrick?”

For a long time, Emmy did not say anything, when Dominic almost lost hope for Emmy answering him, she finally opened her eyes and answered him truthfully.  

“Of course I am.”  Emmy told him. “I’m so curious that it’s beginning to bug me.  However I know my men. They’re not the kind of men who can easily speak about themselves or their past.  They’re not the kind of man to show any weakness. However, I know, they will tell me when they are ready to tell me. I can only wait until they are ready to do so.”  

Dominic nodded his head in agreement.  But his heart felt as if it was blocked.  He wanted their misunderstanding to be cleared away, but he knew it would take time for Seoras and Gengrick to forgive him and let him into their lives again.  

“Then let me tell you my side of the story, first, since they haven’t come to you to speak about what happened.”  Dominic said as he sighed heavily. “Then that way, when they come to you to speak about it. You’ll have your own opinion about it.”  

Emmy turned to Dominic and saw how his eyes became sullen.  His smile that was on his face was filled with regret as he spoke about his past.

“You see, Seoras, Gengrick and I were all disciples of Master Uema.” Dominic admitted.  “Master Uema is a powerful fighter and mage. However he is also very eccentric. He likes to wander around, picking up talents along the way, teaching them the ways of life. We’re all a year apart and all met each other when Master Uema picked us to be his disciple.  Life with Master Uema were hard at times, because we lived our lives through experience. He would let us make our own choices and we would have to be responsible for them. If we made trouble, we would have to solve them ourselves. If we wanted to save a damsel in distress, we would do it and suffer any consequences afterwards, if there was any.  If we wanted to help out a family, we could do it. Our experiences, choices and decisions were caused by our actions and we learned from them really quickly.”

“Master Uema wouldn’t really get involved, unless we were in real danger or we caused him to lose face.  There were five of us disciples traveling with Master Uema. Life was carefree. We trained, studied, ate, slept, cried, laughed and traveled together.  For years the five of us were thick as thieves. I guess it started when I was 14. Seoras as 15 and Gengrick as 13. Our hormones were raging and we were curious boys, however Master Uema always instilled in us to respect women and treat them kindly.  Min and Yaling were off limits to us. So when night fell, we would gather together and give each other release. Our affections for one another grew as the days came by. Our love grew and when Seoras had to leave because his father was killed during the coup, we left with him.  We couldn’t think about leaving each other behind, so we fought beside him. We helped him win back his rightful place as Lord Ceco. However during this hectic time, I received word that my brother, who was studying at Lire Institute. He suffered an incident at school that forced him to come home.  When he did, he found my father and mother lying in a pool of their own blood. They died in his arms and everyone in the village said that they didn’t see anything and didn’t know who would kill my parents.”

“I had to leave.  However, during that time, Seoars had just fought and won against General Rokae.  He needed to stay in Ceco to establish his reign and authority. He needed Gengrick by his side. So I left to find my parent’s killers and help my brother overcome his ailment.”

“And you left without letting Seoras or Gengrick know any of this?” Emmy asked.

“At that time, I wasn’t able to share with them my troubles, because I thought they already had enough troubles to deal with.  I couldn’t add more problems into their lives. And I knew, I wouldn’t be able to leave, if I saw them and said goodbye to them.”  Dominic told her. “At that time, I thought it would take a couple of weeks or days, to find my parent’s killer and I would be able to come back to Seoras and Gengrick and they’ll forgive me. However, it took seven years to avenge my parents. And by then, you have entered Gengrick and Seoras’s life.  And so many years have passed by without any communication between us. I figured they have forgotten about me because they have you. And yet, when I saw you. I knew, I still loved Seoras and Gengrick. I never stopped loving them. I couldn’t bear to spend the rest of my life without them in my life.  After you left, it made me realize that if I didn’t go back to the men I love, I would regret it for the rest of my life.”

“So here I am.  Asking for their forgiveness.  Asking them to let me back into their lives.  Apologizing for hurting them. Accepting my punishment and knowing that I caused my own unhappiness through my own actions.  And in hopes that they give me a second chance. And in hopes that I’m worthy enough to be in their lives again.” Dominic confessed.  “I also hope that  you could accept me as well.”

Emmy sat there for a long time before getting up.  

“My acceptance of you or not, depends on your actions.”  Emmy told him. “The rest of it, you would have to speak and make it up to Seoras and Gengrick.”

“Even if it takes me the rest of my life.  I’ll prove to you, to Seoras and to Gengrick, that I’m here to stay.”