The Promise in Your Mithril Heart

“Don’t forget.” Xantas warned. “As a militiaman, it won’t be hard for you getting in the castle. But the way out… It will all depend on you. For if they, if the Militia catches you and somehow discovers your secret, or if I’m tempted to betray you, they will lock you in a room. There, you’ll be no longer allowed to die. That is… Until they pierce the secrets of that curse of yours.”

    These were Xantas’s last words before I left the Militia’s headquarters.

    My head hurts from the effort of remembering our whole conversation, as well as the advices that weird man gave me later last night. When we discussed my plan to retrieve Peccelotte’s heart.

    But, before heading towards the castle, my steps now lead me to another place, not so remote. A place located at the other side of the crystal forest, where I got killed for the first time in this world.

    The quartz sand crushes beneath my boots as I approach a mansion built of multiple buildings, their roofs all shaped as half-spheres, coated with amethyst powder. A powder most likely harvested in the area, given how many natural amethysts grow around here.

    In front of the main building, I catch sight of the figure of a man in his forties, his hair attached in a short black ponytail. A dagger in each hand, he repeatedly sends blow after blow, honing his skills. But at this point, he’d almost make air bleed.

    Gordon ceases only the moment he notices me, turning heinous onyx eyes at the Militia’s outfit on my back. Keeping his blades tightly in his grasp, he holds back from murdering me on sight.

𖢻 𖢻 𖢻

    When I show uninvited at the castle’s gates, the guards don’t leave me long outside.

    I asked Xantas if this wasn’t better to send the king a message to warn him the Militia will send someone. Just in case he’d refuse my the entry otherwise.

    But Xantas answer to this left me jaded.

“A message? Do you really want to risk that they verify it? You can say goodbye to your plan then, since you will be acting without the Militia’s authorisation. Besides, the Militia has a habit of sending men without any notification there. They’ll let you in.”

    It doesn’t stop the king from showing dissatisfaction at my sudden visit.

“An inspection?” He utters with a frown.

“Yes,” I reply with a smooth voice I can’t get used to. Repeating word for word what Xantas told me to say. “I’ve been sent by the headquarters after our detectors noted an abnormal emanation of magic. Peculiar as it is, we couldn’t define the spellcaster. Therefore, it’s very likely to be an artifact failure.”

“So, probably nothing important?”

    I nod, my hands intertwined against my back to better hold back the urge to commit a crime against the royal family. A fake smile plastered on my face.

    My father, this said, takes his sweet time to end the exchange.

“Does he find it strange? Does he suspect anything? No, impossible. No… I bet he simply feels too well my disdain towards him.”

“Alright, do as you wish.” The monarch ends up uttering, already taking a few steps aside. “A maid will show you a room if need be.”

    And with this, he bypasses me.

“To think I just missed an opportunity for a perfect trip. The things I don’t do for Pecce’s sake.”

𖢻 𖢻 𖢻

    I spend the rest of the afternoon searching for the origin of imaginary anomalies, inspecting quantity of artifacts, making practised interrogating faces.

    But, the more the hours pass by, the more anxious I get. I can’t help but glance repeatedly at my silver pocket watch or, well, Yaël’s.

“Will everything occur as planned?”

    After dinner, I pretend to go to sleep and lie in bed, absorbed by the contemplation of the ceiling. I let my militiaman’s hat hooked to the door. Hands crossed beneath my head, all I can do is wait. Never in my life doing nothing had been so infuriating.

“What if I screw up everything..?” I mutter to myself. “I can’t believe I may be able to see her again tonight…”

“I know that magic can anything, but still… what if Xantas lied? No. It’s too late to think about it. I don’t have the right to fail tonight. That’s my chance to pay back Pecce for all she did for me and… to find forgiveness for all I did.”

    I reach out my hand to my chest, covering up my heart.

“Stress is making me too nervous, that’s no good.”

    With a sigh, I stand up and decide to take a walk in the corridor, retrieving my hat on my way.

    It’s sure weird to roam again around here, it feels like ages since last time. But, at least, I managed not to see Seraffel again.

    Lost in thoughts, I don’t realise where my steps lead me before I pause in front of the door leading to his quarters. I turn a glance to the threshold.

“There’s no light. He must be asleep, or reading again a book under a candle’s light.”

    But, the moment I take a step towards it, I hear a piercing noise. A crackle filling the night.

    Beyond the castle’s walls, a huge fireball ascends into the night sky. It lightens briefly the castle, shadows trembling over the walls before beginning to crumble into nothingness.

“It’s the signal! They’re here.”

    And it doesn’t take long for echoes of dozens of boots stamping on the ground to cross the castle, obviously going to the outside.

    Taking cautious steps in the corridor, I only wait for the footsteps to grow distant before deciding it’s high time for me to rush towards the treasure room.

“Good job, Gordon! Semia! This should buy me enough time.”

𖢻 𖢻 𖢻

“Leave.” Gordon bluntly said. “The Militia isn’t welcome in the Di Amethyst mansion.”

“I need your help.” I decided to ignore his warning.

    My choice of words obviously angered Gordon only further, disdain obvious in his onyx eyes.

“This is the last I tell you. Leave.”

“I need your help to save Peccelotte.”

    This one made his blood boil, and the next instant Gordon was holding by the collar a blond boy, the latter’s legs dangling in the void. Well, technically me.

    With a wince, I reached up to grip Gordon’s wrists.

“I… I get it. I need to be more convincing…”

“You’re not allowed to use my young mistress’s name. Don’t sully her memory like this.”

“The day the militiaman came to take Pecce with him, right before that, you gave her a cup of hot milk. It was to comfort her because she was exhausted before the magic theory lesson with her Rosa.”

    This time, Gordon widened his eyes, astonished to hear that I knew about it.

    I proceeded to explain him everything. If one man deserved it, it was him.

𖢻 𖢻 𖢻

    With Peccelotte’s servants diversion, the guards inside the castle will all gather at the gates. The ruckus would make it easier for me to reach the treasure room before getting noticed. I needed the more time I could get for the moment I reach the treasure room.

    For the first time, my knowledge of the castle’s corridors would serve something. When I arrive in front of the place I searched, there’s but a lone guard who rises his head at me, confused.

“Somnare.”

    And he doesn’t even have time to open his mouth before falling with a thud to the ground.

    Approaching the door, I don’t even lose time searching for the guard’s key.

“Enlockeo.”

    Click.

    As I push the door, it opens with a creak. Revealing a vast room lined with velvet curtains and filled with lots of precious trinkets I couldn’t care less about. But, as I take a few steps inside, I spot gems among them. Most likely heart ones, just like the one I’m searching for.

“Pecce, where are you?” I murmur to myself.

    Carefully crossing the alleys arranged between the stacks of precious items, I hold back my breath as I search for a purple, crystalline gem.

“Where?!”

    From inside the room, somewhere in the depths of the castle, I can hardly figure out if there’s still noise outside, if everything still follows the plan.

“Where!!”

    Cracks.

    At the sound beneath my boots, I pause to glance down at fragments of a grey-blue gem carelessly let near one of the stacks.

“Is… Is this mithril?” Not even whole. “Is this my…?”

    Knots in my stomach. I shouldn’t see this. Innards twisting, I placate my hand against my mouth, recoiling.

“A geman’s heart is at the origin of their existence.” Xantas’s words echo in my mind. “As long as this gem remains intact, it’s in theory possible to bring them back with a potent magic.”

    Turning away from the gem, I resume my searches.

“Her heart… It has to be whole. I beg it to be…”

    I scour a stack of useless goblets and necklaces when a catch something purple from the corner of my larimar eyes.

    My heart misses a beat.

    I stand up to approach the place where it lies… Legs heavier than they should be. Slowly, I kneel down, reaching out a trembling hand to push aside the other treasures partly covering it.

    The moment I see, the purple crystal with white specks, I can’t help but smile with relief.

“It’s here… You’re here.”

    I cradle the amethyst heart in my palms, standing up with it. Whole. Perfectly whole.

    Now, to cast the spell… According to Xantas’s warnings, this would be the most risky part.

“Listen, Razzel. This is when you’ll be playing a hazardous game.” His words echo. “You have two main worries to have. First case. The Militia’s instruments detect a terrible overuse of magic and send someone right away. For, even if it’s truth that the tolerance of magic overuse is lifted for members of our group, the forbidden spell you’ll need to cast to revive Peccelotte Di Amethyst exceeds any limits by far. I’m not even entirely sure if Yaël’s heart can handle it.”

    There’s no turning back. As long as Gordon and Semia do their part, I won’t have to worry about the guards. I’ll cast this spell, and then…

    A bright, lilac glow over my stomach. My gaze drops to consider that glow reflecting on my clothes, arms. All I see is the lilac glow pursuing its way towards the wall. A beam which ends up letting a round hole in the curtains.

“Ehh?”

    Crimson drops on the floor.

“How disappointing to find a militiaman attempting to steal my treasures.”

    As the pain, the void left by the missing flesh in my stomach finally registers, I choke on a scream, blood spilling instead from my mouth.

    Turning around, I catch sight of a figure standing on the threshold.

“Second case.” Xantas’s words echo. “The king will find you.”

    I can already feel my legs wobble.

“No. No, no, no…” I tighten my teeth, holding the amethyst heart close to my chest. “Did I already ruin everything? All our plan?”

    Taking a step back, forward, I try not to fall.

“But if I die now… what will happen?” I remember Xantas words. “I don’t know exactly how it works. And Yaël didn’t get to exchange with anyone here. Or, are Gordon and Semia close enough? But I can’t bring back Pecce using the corpse of one of her devoted servants as a vessel. Please, no…”

    That’s when another thought crosses my mind.

“What if it ends here, after all? If it happens… who’ll bring back Peccelotte?”

    I’m the only one with her memories.

“I can’t let this happen. I have… to live…”

   Glaring at the king from under the veil of my hat, I force myself to speak.

“He..leod… Heleod.”

    At the command spell, my flesh begins to reshape, trying to fill the hole in my stomach.

“Stop looking at me like a beast,” The king utters with disdain, “and hurry dying.”

     Not even waiting for my wound to resorb, I decide to chain with another spell.

“Somnare!”

    The king’s eyes begin to close, but in the end all he does is yawn.

“Huhh?..”

“What was it supposed to do?” My father rises an eyebrow. “Make me sleep like the guard at the entrance? Don’t be ridiculous. Even if your heart is relatively strong, it’s nothing that can affect an Od Mithril.”

“Tssk…”

“Bastero umqeo dotte.” The king quickly utters, a dozens of beam like the one which hurt me are summoned from thin air. All hurled at me.

“Merro!” I command, and a few mirrors appear. When the first beams hit them, they’re reflected back to the sender.

    Crack.

    But as the assault of beams continues, the mirrors don’t manage to protect me from all the beams.

    Cracks.

“Nai.”

    When a single word allows the king to undo the beams sent back to him, another beam gets me on the side. Part of my right lung disintegrated along with my flesh.

    A thud.

    The amethyst heart escapes my grasp, rolling off my fingers.

“At least… It remained whole…”

    Numb. Too many parts missing. Void. The hole in my stomach stops resorbing. Too many holes to keep a breath of life.