Chapter 34:

Monochrome

The Wind Calls the Flowers


The spiteful wind brought the dulled taste of grass into my mouth. The lifeless trees were forced to jiggle around due to the force of the gust while the blackened leaves fell from the only place they had ever known. The beaten path we travelled across felt as though it was the very representation of myself.

There were rough bumps, a lack of congruency and holes which caused other travellers to fall over, hurting themselves on the colourless rocks which littered the path. This path had begun to feel as though it was the only place I belonged. This path is devoid of life.

The people guiding the carriage, whose name I didn’t know nor cared to know, seemed to be speaking to one another. Their mouths moved but I could hear no words coming from them. They looked back at me once in a while, so maybe there was a chance they were talking about me, but honestly I don’t really care.

There’s no point anymore. There was no reason to continue trying to help others. After all, it seemed as though the more I tried to help, the less I actually did anything. I’ve only caused others trouble and pain, so what’s the point? Why am I still going along with these people if I can’t be bothered to care anymore.

It hurts. My heart…..is hurting so much. My breaths tasted of metal, as though the blood itself was ready to leave my body. The beating of my pained heart reverberated through my head over and over, making me feel worse and worse. My body had felt as though it was numb. It was as though it had been this way since I had spoken to the man who no longer had what I needed.

Feeling an annoyance on my arm, I look over to it to see a hand gripping it. By the way the hand was shaking whilst gripping me, it seemed as though the person had been holding on very tightly. However, I could barely even feel the pressure. It was as though a measly fly had landed on me without my attention.

I guess it was a little bit greater than that since it had caught my attention, but not by much. The human pulled me out of the carriage and took me somewhere. I didn’t try to pay attention to what was around me, choosing only to stare at the ground. This way I would be able to ignore the lack of colour the world had chosen to provide me.

As they unsteadily dragged me along, I was able to see the hands of the other people around me as well. It seemed they were all also shaking yet they were not gripping anything. Oh? Could they be scared of me? If I was them, I would also be fearful of a monster like me. This monster has lost its will, so it didn’t even matter what kind of monster I was.

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

“Monster.”

The singular thought had once again entered my mind, multiplying and spreading. The thought was infecting the remainder of my mind that could still process the things going around me. After that part of my brain had finally cured, it seemed as though the people escorting me had stopped moving all together.

I glared into the floor waiting for something—anything—to happen. The humans around me had started to leave, so I tried to follow the directions of one of their shadows, but was abruptly stopped by something. It could have been a hand, a torso, a wall, or maybe nothing at all. It didn’t matter what had stopped me, all I cared for was that it had been blocking my way.

Feeling fingers grab my shoulder, I was moved to the place they had wanted me to be. With a push, the hand sent me forward through what seemed to be a door from the way the marble had turned to carpet. Giving up on the idea of ignoring everything, I decided to finally look up and take a look around.

As I had guessed, the distinct shades of black and white which covered the room resembled the dismal state I had been in since the Capital. The depressing sight of the walls, the floor, the ceiling and the human sitting in the throne in front of me made me all the more apathetic.

It seemed as though he had been speaking all this time, but I couldn’t hear what he had been saying. His mouth moved vigorously, but it was like the things he were saying were simply not able to leave his mouth for all its motion. Taking a look at him, he was pretty scrawny. His hair was white, and his face, while being slim, was grey. His clothes were also grey, the people around him were also grey. Almost everything in this room was grey.

I decided to approach him, making my way closer and closer. The humans beside him with large spears and heavy armour made their way to block my approach. With a breath, all the grey humans went flying away in different directions, one even going right past the human with white hair. I slowly and meticulously closed the large gap between me and the human who no longer had others protecting him.

I bent slightly, shoving my face in front of his. The human’s face held strong in the terrifying display which had happened right in front of it. Turning my gaze from his face to his hands, it seemed as though he had not been shaking at all. I slowly moved my head away from his to stand at my full height right in front of him.

“Are you ready to listen?” A voice had finally found its way out of his mouth, or maybe to my ears.

“Go on.” Slightly surprised at the fact I could hear the human now, but still remaining fairly apathetic.

“Like I was saying, my name is Clauffer Von Verse, a noble of high regard.”

“Oh.”

“I am ranked quite highly by the king himself.”

“Oh.”

“One time his majesty even went hunting with me.”

“Oh.”

“I even attended the royal wedding, a distinction which not most nobles can say they have.”

“Oh.”

“Are you even listening to me?”

“Oh.”

“I should--”

“You should?” I interrupted his sentence, causing him to stop.

“Ugh, whatever. I think I have an offer for you.”

“What could you offer me, oh great noble?”

“Do you want to lose your head!”

“This monster would be far more than willing to lose its head.”

“Damn you! Don’t mock me.”

“Oh.”

“Whatever, just hear me out!”

“Fine, go on.”

“I have a proposal that will help you practice your healing magic.”

“And?”

“What do you mean ‘and’? It means you’ll be able to work on healing magic and experiment around with it.”

“I guess I wasn’t clear enough in my question. What do you get from this?”

“Well it should be obvious! While I won’t let you experiment on my people, I will allow you to do it on the spies. You can heal all their scars and they’ll fetch an even higher price when they're sold. You might even get them to start talking.”

“Why would I even care?”

“Huh?”

“There’s no point in teaching a monster healing magic.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m sorry to waste your time like this, but I’ll be leaving now.” I apologetically said this as I began to leave, shocking the noble.

Making my way out, the humans I had knocked away a while back had started to recover and were once again getting in my way as I attempted to leave. As they were attempting to get up to stop me, I froze them to the ground. I had finally reached the door and was preparing to leave.

“WAIT!” The shocked human cried out.

“Didn’t I tell you already?” I turned to face him while replying.

“You made a promise to a little girl in the village didn’t you!”

A promise. Oh, that’s right. I did make an oath. Attempting to recall the information had caused my head to hurt and had started to bring me to the ground. I covered my eyes with my hands, trying to block out all external forces and light. I forced myself to remember the information that was so clearly trying to stay hidden. I was finally able to recall the reason I had been so determined to look for true healing magic before.

My hands cleared away from my face, causing me to be able to see it. The carpet covering the ground had a crimson colour, causing me to remember my late teacher. Her sparkling hair, her wide smile, and her height which exceeded my own. Most importantly of all, I remembered her kindness.

Would she want me to keep going? How can I keep going now when the person I aspired to be was gone? What am I supposed to do? Would you feel at ease if I found how to push healing magic further? Is that what you’d want me to do Fae?

The image of her I had in my mind could not respond to my multitude of questions. But I had already determined the answers to them myself. The only answer I could find for all of them was “I don’t know”. I knew however, that if I can at least do this, then maybe I could honour her memory.

I’ll do it for her! If I can do it, I can do it for her life. I can learn to heal for the girl. I can learn for my dad. I can learn for everyone else so that I can heal them. I’ll heal everyone and rid them of loss and sadness. I’ll do it for all of them.

Getting up from the ground, I looked around to see my surroundings. The walls were a lovely blue which looked as though they were aster flowers. The people frozen to the ground with the ice had been wearing silver armour, and their faces were pale as though they had seen a ghost. The ceiling had been the same colour as the lovely wall.

The man who once had white hair had revealed himself to become blonde. His clothing had been a variety of blue shades and his chair, which towered above him, was a velvet red. From this distance he seemed he could’ve been tall, but when I remember approaching him, I recall him being very short.

Maybe he was even shorter than me when I had first started learning from Fae. I released the ice which held the people who worked for this Clauffer, freeing them from their cold confines. I once again approached the nobleman who looked as though his heart had just stopped. As I made my way there, my footsteps did not make a sound, as the carpet had been so thick and soft that they were barely making contact with solid ground.

“You have my full attention now. Please, tell me everything again. Tell me a way to save everyone!” I called out to him, stopping much farther from when I had first approached him.