When His Magick Exploded ✓

5: "Cypur the Softy Sorcerer"

When Cypur finally arrived at Wegginfaezerie's city gates, the drumming vibrated in his chest and dangling lanterns let a golden glow flood the streets. The smell of sweet, oily snacks wafted over the breeze.

He took a deep breath, ready to face the world as Cypur the Proper Sorcerer. With confident steps he entered the gates and nearly crumbled his composure at the sight of Arius.

"Cromlight!" Arius called, his voice a chest-vibrating baritone. He was still in his dance attire, standing near a knick-knack stall and a snack one.

"Baron," Cypur addressed Arius with the shortened version of his last name. He gave a brief smile, making sure it reached his eyes.

"What happened? You missed my performance." Arius frowned down at Cypur, his brown eyes glimmering with shades of orange and gold.

"Something came up concerning my runway performance a few days ago," Cypur said without missing a beat, ignoring the ugly feeling in his chest for lying.

"I was looking for you in the crowd." Arius sighed and scratched his head. "You did promise."

"I'm really sorry. Please, can you forgive me?" Cypur fell silent, heart thumping so hard he thought his would crack and tell the truth out of nerves. Could he be losing the platonic relationship, too?

A group of noisy children suddenly bumped into him and Cypur lurched forward. In that split second, he thought about how embarrassing it was going to be. But then arms caught him. Arius held him up.

"Be careful around here, kids!" Arius scolded them. "Are you alright?" Arius asked and Cypur only managed to quickly nod his head. His mind had suddenly gone blank, and it was like his mouth forgot how to speak. Arius' hand was still on his shoulder, and he could feel the warmth transferring onto him.

"When do kids grow up, do you think, Cromlight?" He smirked and butterflies fluttered in Cypur's stomach. He needed to respond, to say something, to act normal, but nothing was coming to mind and only an awkward silence wedged between them.

"Thank you," he managed to eventually shove those two words out after too long a pause and Arius smiled the warmest smile with the crinkles in the corners of his eyes. It was the smile Cypur loved.

No, not love. Not anymore. That's illegal. Cypur shoved those forbidden thoughts away and raised his gaze to Arius as he went on talking about how the dance went.

Lights of Carnival danced across his green-tinted skin, illuminating his profile. Cypur let Arius' tender voice soothe him. Despite what he had promised himself, there was no denying Arius' voice was like a comforting blanket, making him forget all the bad things that happened today. It seemed like a different world here.

Citizens were indulging themselves in a once-a-year mega-celebration. Wegginfaezerie City seemed to outdo itself every year with decorations, coming up with some new attraction. This year it was ribbons that fluttered in an invisible breeze and glowed different colors depending on what angle you caught them at.

Many citizens were still coming in from as far away as Zarkentauf city. They rode their sophisticated grigs being mindful of pedestrians. Some of the poorer folk from smaller cities used a torb which were traveling orbs to attach to the bottom of their shoes to fly overhead. The problem with torbs was sometimes they had a mind of their own and threw the user off balance.

Arius let out a shout sigh. "And they all cheered." He finished the story. "I really did hope you could have come, Cromlight."

The spell was broken and the pain in Cypur's chest returned. A shadow filled his mind. It hurt to hear that, but there was nothing he could do about it. The Universe wanted to work against him today.