Truly Happy

A small and weak pup the baby inferno beast was easily caught and sold at high price to an outside purchaser. No matter his hissing or fussing they wouldn’t release him, his tenacity seeming to please them. He would be shipped far from Eos the only world he had known, but that mattered little to them so long as they were paid beforehand, and as for the creature, his opinion didn’t count.

The journey he took was long and cruel, the scents strange and accosting. He knew hardly anything of the world and even less of the one he was being brought to. He longed for his mother, for their burrow, that he would never see again.

When at last he was let out of his box it was before a small boy. In those dark blue eyes, he saw something of himself, all the lonely longing that had haunted him through his long journey, the child perceiving the same they quickly bonded to each other. The pup learned the boy’s name was Till and the boy gave the pup the name Mirk.

Mirk loved Till instantly and was able to speak with him, though not with anyone else, but he didn’t care for anyone else so it mattered very little to him that there was exclusivity in the company he kept. They talked of many things, and he accompanied Till everywhere.

But as life continued Till began to change. He grew distant and hard, and in time he pulled away from Mirk until they were no longer companions but master and servant.

Lord Till would lose patience with him easily and send him away to do things he didn’t want to. He wasn’t permitted to sleep beside him as he had when Lord Till was a boy, instead Mirk was to pace the corridors and sleep when he could in the mornings.

“Master, please let me accompany you.”

“Why, do you too have no faith in me?” It was with cold eyes Lord Till had looked at him, his expression the same as when he spoke with people he detested.

“No master, I wouldn’t dare.”

“Stay behind and keep an eye on things here. I expect updates on everyone when I return.”

“Of course, master.”

Mirk had waited hours for him to return. When at last he did, he was cruelly injured. The creature blamed himself. If he had just been able to foster trust between him and his master, if he had not given him the impression that he lacked belief in him, then he might have been able to prove his value, but he had failed.

So, he kept vigil over his master’s sleeping body to ensure no harm would come to him. But he hadn’t expected his master’s body to wake and not have him in it. Instead, it was a young man called Yuji Valentinov, an incompetent other worlder who was sure to ruin everything his master had worked so hard for.

So, in careful order, as a good servant would, he stuck with this imposter and shaped him into something presentable. Teaching him everything he could about his master years’ worth of carefully acquired knowledge.

But Yuji proved not to be as bungling as he had first feared. There were even moments where he thought he managed to handle things better than his master might have. It became conflicting to stand beside him. To resist his warmth. And when Yuji had dared to say, “I might not be able to leave here and Lord Till might not be able to come back,” his confusion only seemed to grow until he couldn’t look at him any longer.

For a long time, he traveled through the castle examining every corner, reliving moments of his life with the boy he had loved and the man he had chased.

Till the child had died many years ago, squashed and tormented by the heavy hand of the margrave, margravine, and their apathetic offspring. The young man born from such an upbringing grew into a scared doll, not a whole man, trying hard to fill holes left in its soul. It was possible, he thought, that in this other’s life those holes might at last be filled. And if this other, this Yuji Valentinov, was to survive this life he would need him by his side.

And so Mirk returned to him and stood beside him. He had been willing to be his servant and took honor that instead he had accepted him as his friend. Again, he was able to stand in the light, to fight beside someone, to feel whole once more in the company of someone who was his family.

-*-

I cannot let this child die. He must live.

Mirk ran at full speed despite Yuji’s protest.

If I cannot make the opponent move, I can make him move. And he will live. And he will have a good life and I will have given it to him.

“I’m sorry Yuji I cannot do as you request.” Mirk came from the woods in a streak of light.

“No!” The pleading in his voice, the desperation, it stung. It hurt worse than any wound he had ever received.

What an honor it is to be loved.

Mirk collided with Yuji. He lost his grip flying into the trees.

“It was an honor to serve at your side.”

With care he had chosen Yuji’s path through the forest so as not to harm him, directing his aim so he would miss trees as he went. He fell to the ground before Lord Dain and at once began to run, run with all his heart after the boy.

It is an honor to die for someone you love… but I wish… I wish…

He watched that body make it to the ground far away with a sense of pleasure.

I wish there had been more time… I wish, I could have seen it to the end… with you…

The light was coming. He could feel the heat of it singeing his fur burning it away.

Thank you, Yuji, in the end I can say I am truly happy.