Chronicles Of Yositania: Of Demons And Men

Chapter 3: The Oddball's Struggle

For a few seconds, Cronos stared at his family; and they stared back at him, with looks of struggling confusion on their faces.
"Uh Cronos........ what are you doing?" Wun finally asked with significant difficulty; as the others continued to watch in confused silence.
He had always known that it would come to this eventually. And so, there was no point in hiding it anymore.
"Just trying to summon an old and powerful demon," he replied in a perfectly calm tone.
The reaction to this extraordinary declaration was incredibly diverse. Both Ryu and his father gasped in shock; while his mother clasped her mouth with her hand in horror and Claudia continued to look at him in a dumbfounded manner.
Wun's reaction, however; was completely different. He didn't gasp in shock, clasped his mouth in horror or leaned back in fright. Only his expression of significant confusion changed to one of complete understanding and sincere dread.
"And why....... are you trying to summon a demon, Cronos?" asked Wun in a tone that matched his expression perfectly.
It was most like these words, combined with that particular expression and tone; that finally made him abandon his facade of forced calmness.
"Why? BECAUSE I AM A WORTHLESS PILE OF TURD, WUN!" he shouted in a tone so filled with hate, so filled with grief that he actually made them all, except Wun, take a step back. "BECAUSE I AM NOWHERE NEAR AS GOOD AS YOU, AS ANY OF YOU! BECAUSE I DON'T BELONG IN THIS FAMILY!"
"That's not true Cronos," Wun said in an incredibly forceful tone; taking a step forward. Of course he would say that.
"IT IS TRUE! I MEAN, WE ARE NOT EVEN BLOOD RELATED, ARE WE?!" tears began to stream down his cheeks, "I AM SO USELESS THAT I CAN'T EVEN PROTECT MYSELF FROM A COCKROACH! I AM SO LAME THAT I CAN'T EVEN CLIMB A FIG TREE WITHOUT FALLING DOWN! HOW CAN I EVER BE RELATED TO YOU PEOPLE? HOW CAN I EVER BE A TRUE MEMBER OF THIS FAMILY? I WAS A MISTAKE, WUN! NOT EVEN MY BIOLOGICAL PARENTS WANTED ME! I WAS SO UNWANTED, SO USELESS THAT EVEN THE WOMAN WHO CONCEIVED ME THREW ME AWAY! ADMIT IT, I DISGUST YOU, DON'T I? I MAKE YOUR SKIN CRAWL WITH SHAME AND REPULSION, DON'T I? WHY COULDN'T YOU GUYS JUST LET ME DIE LIKE THE MAGGOT I AM, HUH? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO BRING ME IN? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE ME INHERIT THE CRESTIN NAME? WHY DID YOU HAVE TO FORCE ME TO LIVE?!"
"Cronos, I understand how you feel, I really do. But as your brother, I cannot let you endanger your life," Wun said in an equally firm tone; taking another step forward.
"No Wun, you don't understand how I feel," Cronos replied in a much calmer tone; but one which contained twice as much grief and hate. "But that's okay. I am not asking you to understand. All I am asking for is to be allowed to use my life as I see fit."
"Cronos, my son..... please, I beg you; step out of that circle!" the Queen pleaded desperately from behind.
"I am afraid I  am not your son, my Queen. But despite my earlier outburst, I truly am grateful to you all for taking me in; for giving me a place to stay. And this is merely my repayment," he replied with a smile; which must have given him a very weird look, combined with the tears.
And before anyone could do anything; he bowed down and touched the circle with his bloodied hand.
The deed was done. Now, they wouldn't be able to stop him even if they wanted to; they wouldn't be able to hurt themselves even if they wanted to.
-x-
The circle glowed bright and a sphere made of pure energy surrounded Cronos; locking him away from his horrified family.
Markings appeared all over his body and for a second, nothing happened. For a second, it seemed like everything was going to be just fine. That both he and his family had worried over nothing. That perhaps, Cronos just might be able to tame an ancient and powerful demon without losing his life in the process.
And then, he began to scream. He began to scream so loudly, so painfully that everyone present felt like their skins had just been coated with melted, red-hot lead.
"NO TRESTOS, LET ME GO-" his mother screamed at the top of her lungs as she tried to free herself from his father.
And Wun knew why his father wasn't letting her go. A demon summoning ritual was an extremely dangerous and volatile ritual after all; and the fact that the demon being summoned was an ancient and powerful demon didn't make it any safer.
However, that didn't matter to him. He had already lost a member of his family once; he was not going to lose another.
He rushed headfirst at the sphere as it began to discharge bolts of energy in all directions; completely ignoring his father's shout, "Wun, get back here!"
With each step; the air around him got heavier, and an invisible force tried to push him away with increasing intensity. He ignored all of them and continued to push forward; as his body began to emit a blue aura- proof of the fact that his spirit had already begun to defend him from the external forces.
The air was almost trying to crush him now, and the force was trying to blow him out of the kingdom; but he continued to walk forward, his aura glowing even more intensely.
Cronos' room had already gone dark and only the energy sphere was emitting light; within which his younger brother writhed and screamed in pain. It was just a step away; just one more step, and he could pull him out of that dreadful sphere.
Wun took the final step, and touched the sphere. It immediately tried to blow him away with a powerful pulse; but he leaned forward, and with all the strength that he could muster; pushed forward.
The energy of the sphere turned completely yellow, and tried to push his hand away; while his own spiritual aura glowed with an unparalleled intensity and defended his hand. The blue and the yellow clashed furiously; neither giving a single inch of ground.
And then finally, his blue aura pierced through the yellow energy of the sphere; and his hand reached through the sphere.
Suddenly, the pressure and the force dissipated greatly; almost as if Wun had damaged their source gravely. He grabbed the writhing Cronos by his shirt and was about to pull him away; when he was blinded by an incredibly bright flash.
Screwing his eyes up in pain, he continued to hold onto his younger brother tightly. He was not going to let go, no matter what.
-x-
The Royal Family watched in shock as the sphere actually widened and absorbed Wun within its perimeters. However, as soon as it gobbled him up; Cronos stopped writhing and screaming and became perfectly still.
Light returned to the room and the ominous atmosphere dissipated significantly. It was almost as if Wun had done something to the entire process by being absorbed into the sphere. But no one knew if that something was good or bad for them.
For a few seconds, they stared at the two boys in a stunned silence; quite unable to process exactly what had passed in the last few seconds. And, it was finally broken by the queen.
"Trestos, you can let go of me now," said the Queen in a perfectly reasonable and calm voice; making the King let go of her immediately.
"Yeah, sorry about that," he said apologetically; although he didn't really sound remorseful, quite far from it in fact.
"No, its alright. I understand why you did that."
"So, what do we do now?"
"Now, we send the demon back from where it came."
"We can do that?"
"Well we couldn't, at its initial stage. But now that its force has been weakened significantly, thanks to Wun; we can get close to it and send it back."
"Let's get to work then. The sooner we can get those boys out, the better."
"I agree. The longer we wait, the stronger the demon gets."
"Oh and you two," the queen began threateningly; pointing at her two remaining children, "Stay here, and don't move."
"But they are our bro-" Ryu began protestively; but was silenced by a single glare from his mother.
"Yes they are. And you will do them a favour by remaining in the safe zone," she replied in a calm but very stern tone.
"Don't worry Ryu, we will definitely save your brothers," said his father kindly; grabbing him lightly by the shoulders.
And after a second's pause, he finally nodded, "Please save them."
"We will."
-x-
Cronos was wrapped up entirely in a black, sticky goo; with only his face still free from the enwrapment. However, he knew that it was only a matter of time before it was covered too.
He had lost the gamble; this sticky covering goo was the proof of that. And now, he was on the verge of losing his life too. It was also just a matter of time.
Well, it wasn't like he hadn't seen this coming. He had known from the very beginning that this was a highly probable outcome. And it wasn't like it was all bad. At least now that family could be truly free from his stain.
He........ didn't want to die. He didn't want to leave that family; his family behind. He didn't want to leave Claudia's tearful tantrums, Ryu's adventurous grin, Wun's wise smile, his mother's sternly warm scoldings and his father's kind pats behind. And worst of all, he didn't want to leave his life behind. He......... was truly a selfish bastard, wasn't he?
But, he still didn't want to leave them. Because they were the only ones who accepted him for what he truly was- a failure in every sense of the word. And.... he wanted to stay with them.
What an absurd thought. He had brought this upon himself, all of it; and now he was too wimpy to accept the consequences?
He looked at the endless white void before him; imagining all 5 members of his family standing there, grinning at him. Yes, this is what he wanted his last memory to be of.
A single teardrop flowed across his left cheek, and dropped softly on the void. He wanted to break free and join them so badly; that it hurt. But he knew that he never would; both because he couldn't break free and because in a way, no, in truth; this is exactly what he wanted and why he had done this.
The image slowly disintegrated, and with a deep, tired sigh; he closed his eyes for the last time. It was all over.
In the next second, however; a bright flash forced him to open his eyes.
"Cronos, I have come to save you," announced Prince Wun-yang Crestin; his eldest brother with a highly assuring and deeply confident smile.