The Prince is dead

The atmosphere started to grow heavy as the solemn beat of the drum merged with the faint pulse of his heartbeat. The marching footsteps shaking the ground accompanied with the ramming noises of a wooden creaking rolling below him. Up in the air, the crows sang their ominous melodies, imposing a dreadful lullaby upon his ears.

A man's voice approached, and for a couple of minutes, he monologues by himself. His voice traversed through the air, although Leonard couldn't grasp what the man said. And for a while, it fell silent. Leonard, although couldn't move his body, but he could hear the approaching footsteps, followed by the sweeping of hands caressing against the surface above him.

He desperately tried to speak, crying out for help, but to no avail as he couldn't move his mouth. The jarring sound of the cannon banging, breaking the silence. Ringing out ten times as it echoed through the air vibrating to his body.

All that commotion suddenly became silent as the time passed on. But suddenly a soft whisper beckoned through his ears, echoing his name in a weep and sorrow. It slowly grew louder as the haunting grief traversed to reach him. “Leonard.” cried the weeping voice. As the air around him became more dense, suffocating him with a sense of impending doom, he slowly grasped for breath as he awoke in the midst of the night. He caught himself tearing up.

“I-it was just a dream” he gasped in disbelief while wiping away his tears. He sighed in relief.

“Huh? Where am I?” He found himself gazing at the unfamiliar ceilings, alone by himself shrouded in darkness. As he rose up his upper body and gazed around the room. He noticed the stained glass windows to his right, the moonlight casting its blue light through the windows, painting a mirage of vibrant colors across the floor giving a sense of calmness to its surroundings.

He attempted to get off from the bed but to his avail his body was still recovering from the wound and he has not yet regained all his strength. "Arrgh" he groaned —his left hand covered the tended wound— and tried to get off the bed.

“Anne? Sheera?” He called their name as soon as he heard a metal crackling followed by the door creaking open.

The sound of a match flicker echoed through the room. As he looked at the floor, a sudden light seeped in through under the wooden wall to his left. A shadow appeared, as it danced with the light. A sound of footsteps reverb as their gentle step merges with the creak of the wooden floor. He tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t resist ignoring the sound.

A faint tap of wood waltzing with the sound of footsteps, he heard the sound getting louder just right to his left. The sound ascended upon hearing it, like it was to grab something high. A sudden sound of books tumbled down, crashing into the floor with a loud noise. Followed by a voice groaning in pain.

“Arrgh… ya… ya…” groaned the voice. A boy's voice, Leonard thought. “Not again! This is the second time this week.”

“Tch… I told them many times to fix the stupid ladder.” The boy argued with himself. He rose up, his footsteps grew louder as he approached the door.

"Why did they give me this crappy dorm?" he murmured, while opening the door. Surprised to him, "Oh? You already woke up?" The boy approached him while holding an oil lamp, illuminating the whole room with its yellow hue. As he approached closer, Leonard was surprised. "Capybara? Is it you? No...zomi?" he muttered. "Who is Nozomi?" the boy replied, slightly annoyed.

"Who's Nozomi?" he thought to himself, not realizing saying a name that was somehow familiar to him as soon as he saw the boy.

Leonard looked at him with curiosity. A boy with a rodent like appearance, with his lavish blue monk garment and an oversized blue beret on his head, with a white sash on his belt indicating that he was still a novice. As he came closer, Leonard realized he was only slightly higher than an ordinary table.

"I'm a Capibarien, my name is Oskari... Oskari Osmandius" he replied as he looked at him while fixing his glasses annoyed by his ignorance. "Usually, you ought to apologize for your ignorance. But, since you are my guest, I'll forgive you," he took a seat on the chair beside Leonard and placed the oil lamp on the table.

"Now… let me study in silence," he grabbed something within his robe, a book, a rugged one to be exact. As he opened the book, the smell of the musty scent swirled up in the air. Aloof with Leonard's presence, he continued engrossed in his reading.

“You know Oskari, you look too young to be a monk.” Leonard asked curiously while rolling his body to the side and leaning closer towards him.

“That's because I’m young!" Oskari replied, feeling a bit agitated. "I've just received my blessing, and I've only been a monk for two weeks.”

“Eh… Ain’t that an achievement,” Leonard remarked.

Overwhelmed with frustration, Oskari slammed his hand on the table. “WRONG!" he exclaimed with anger. "I never asked to be a Monk," he balked a little bit. "I’ve been sold off... by my own parents because of my Blessing," he fell silent for a moment. "Sorry…I got agitated”

“No, it was my fault asking you that.”

“You should go back to sleep, I’ll tend to your wound again this morning.”

“How could I sleep knowing you are still here.'' Leonard turned his gaze back to the ceiling. “Its kinda awkward you know,”

Oskari sighed slightly, while still looking at the book.

Leonard lay back on the bed, trying to sleep but couldn't help looking at Oskari dwelled with his book. The monk mumbled a lot as he lost in his reading. However, Leonard had just realized the Runestones, scattered around the table beside him, some of it were broken.

His eyes fixated on the broken Runestones. He reached out his hand to grab the pieces and noticed it was engraved with a red tint. As his finger touched with the runes, a faint red patch was left on his finger. "Blood" he whispered. “You are a Delusioner?”

"Heh… Delusioner," Oskari softly muttered, catching Leonard off guard. "Yes, perhaps the only Delusioner in this temple, maybe even in the whole city,” he added while flipping a page in his book.

Out of curiosity, Leonard then reached out and grabbed the intact Runestone. As soon he touched it, a surge of divine energy flowed into the Runestone. In an instant, the runestone glowed with a lustrous red hue, radiating a dazzling light that flashed before their eyes.

For a moment, Oskari stopped reading his book. Oskari awed at him, lost for a word for what he saw. He couldn’t ever imagine there would be another person blessed with Divine Delusion. His jaded face turned shocked as he saw it.

“Y-you are a Delusioner?”

“Eh?” he blinked, taken aback by the revelation. “Really? I don't know”

“The stone glowed for you!” he added as he rose from his seat. “Wait here! I’m going to grab a book for you to read,” he hurriedly ran with his tiny feet to the other side of the room, retrieving the book.

“A! There you go” he gave the old musty book to Leonard.

“What is this?”

“The Manuscript of Haermesu” he added. "It's basically the holy book for us Delusioner. Here! try open Chapter III "Er Inkantatio" at page 134. It has the whole section dedicated to incantation."

Leonard's eyes sparkled in awe, intrigued by the look of the book. Although at first it looks old but the book was decorated delicately, its edge of the pages was gilded with gold. As he flipped the pages a shimmering light flashes into him. Never ever he thought, a book would be this very well made before. The scents of the books swirled up with the surrounding air.

As he opened page 134. The page flourished with an intricate border and vibrant miniature illustrations. The script was carefully written with golden ink and adorned with black outline.

“Since I have only the blood Runestone, so for now we try the blood Incantation first. Here look at the first incantation, Sanius Sanitus the Blood Rejuvenation. Try and aim it at your wound.”

“Sanius Sanitus!” he said loudly. But nothing happened. “Eh?”

Oskari facepalmed. “Silly me,” he added. “You need a Catalyst for it, here use mine.”

“Sanius Sanitus!” An immense flow of Divine Energy channeled out from the Catalyst to his hand, As soon as he touched his wound he could feel a soothing sensation from it. “Ah… It’s working!” He suddenly felt better, and his wound was already closed.

“Haha” Oskari brightened, clapping his hands out of happiness. “I-I can’t believe it another Delusioner” he exclaimed. “Let's introduce ourselves!" he abruptly suggested.

"B-but you already did Oskari,"

"Did I? he smirked. "My name is Oskari Osmandias, the no longer single Delusioner in this Temple." He looked at Leonard for a while, taking a good look at him. “So… what’s your name?” He reached out his hand to Leonard

“Leonard, Leonard Aeronharte"

"Wait what?" he was startled to hear. “That's the prince's name right?”

“It is,” Leonard replied. “I’m the prince.”

“A-are you some sort of ghost?” he gulped while looking at Leonard in disbelief.

“Why did you say that, that's rude.” he pointed his finger at him. “I’m here, live and well.” he rose from his bed.

“The Prince is dead," Oskari exclaimed.

“D-Dead?” Leonard's eyes widened as Leonard stuttered upon hearing that. “You're joking!” He was confused by Oskari’s statement.

Oskari shaked his head. "Leonard… if that is even your real name. Besides, his hair was auburn. Yours are black.”

His heart pounded fast and his hand trembled. He noticed the reflection of him in the mirror to his left, near the door. His hair turned black just like Oskari said. Leonard slowly walked to the mirror, his eyes started to widen in disbelief as his face turned pale. Cold sweat came out from his skin while his hand shook uncontrollably, struggling to stand by himself. As his fear materialized, it gave him a shiver through his body, dumbfounded by the reflection before him. He mouthed in disbelief.

“Ka...zu...ya”