Chapter 16
The Other Side
“What are you thinking, Arthur?” Duliri whispered as soon as Katarina walked out of the door. “Are you trying to get me destroyed?”
“No,” Arthur gently opened his eyes. His hands parting the blanket above him. He sat at the upper end of his bed. His eyes refused to look at Duliri as he bit the back of his lower lip. “I’m sorry. I was carried away at the moment. It’s just…” He finally glimpsed at staff with a sad expression. His fingers alternately poked his upper leg. “I don’t want to disappoint granny any more than I did. I am disobeying her and keeping it a secret. It’ll be worse if we keep this for too long.”
“I can see that. Of course, she would be upset. That’s why we’re in this together.” Duliri drew closer. He tilted diagonally, the vibrating stone glowed a foot away from Arthur’s eyes. “But if you have to tell her, I won’t stop you anymore. What we’re doing is very dangerous. It’s for our best interest to tell her.”
“But I don’t want her to think less of me.”
“Listen to me.” Duliri moved again, now only half a feet away. He didn’t only release some light but also an unusual warmth. “Lady Allegia will never think less of you, Arthur. Remember that. If you’re afraid, I can take responsibility for this. I should have stopped you from the start, anyway.”
“No… I can’t do that. I forced you into this.”
“Shhhh…” The staff glided away. He quickly spun clockwise, and then he reversed.
“Aw!” Arthur cried out as a slight knock echoed from where the pole hit him. He massaged his head, his eyes flashing in annoyance.
“C’mon little Arthur,” Duliri said before Arthur could voice his protest. His choice of words made him more irritated. “You’re just a three-year-old boy. Let this adult staff take the blame for this, okay?”
“No!” His eyes rolled mockingly. His ears twitched. “No one’s telling her this. This is an order!”
“What? Why?” Duliri inched so close that Arthur had to shut his eyes, the gemstone atop him just an inch away from the boy’s nose bridge. “After I sounded so reliable that only happens once in a while, you’ll put my words in vain?” He added melodramatically. “I was only thinking of your well-being!”
Arthur clicked his tongue. His hand shoved the staff away on instinct. “If I know, you’re planning to tell her this all along.” His glare sharpened still. “Right?”
Silence enveloped the room for a while, their whispers halted in a flash. Several more glares from Arthur and Duliri cleared his nonexistent throat while shying away.
“Well…” he stuttered. “It’s not that I’m selling you out!” His voice came out louder than intended. “I’m telling you, studying magic without the lady’s supervision is very dangerous. But so much already happened today, so I stopped you.” The pole straightened as though he wanted to lift his hands to get his point through. “Still, these are all abnormal. Your way of thinking, your attitude… and your early awakening.” Now, he looked like he wanted to shake his head. It made Arthur think about how easy he can read his staff.
Must be the Absolution Enchantment, he convinced himself. “Am I that strange?” Arthur asked in a low tone, much lower than their common whispers as his thoughts treaded somewhere else.
“I don’t mean it in a bad way.”
“I know.” He replied immediately, the words coming into his head before
Duliri beamed, not literally, but Arthur could picture it in his head. Perhaps, if he was a human, it would be his most genuine smile. “You’re smart and talented, Arthur. You awaken more than four hundred fifty days earlier than your father. He was already considered a genius and yet, you surpass that by a year. Most–”
“Stop! Stop!” Arthur raised his right hand, palms open towards Duliri; the other covered his face that blushed in embarrassment. “Please, don’t speak for my heart’s sake.”
“If you know what I’m going to say, then I’ll say it anyway.” Duliri laughed playfully, not audibly but inside Arthur’s head.
“Yes, my lord,” they said in unison. However, Duliri’s overly dramatic tone overpowered Arthur, who followed his line of words. “You are a genius. And as I was saying, most children awaken at age five, some even at age seven. It’s strange. Yes…” Duliri inched closer while Arthur arched down and covered his ears. His eyes shut tightly. “But with your talent, I could see nothing but greatness ahead of y–”
“DULIRI! PLEASE!”
Duliri froze. He certainly heard the scream, yet he also didn’t. He hovered stiffly in the air as he looked around. It seemed that Katarina didn’t hear anything since she wasn’t coming down. “Wait!” he mumbled, his fur standing at full length.
“Do you realize now?” Arthur scoffed. Still, no voice came out of his mouth. “Your thoughts have been leaking out for a while now.”
“ARTHUR! We can use telepathy?”
“It seems so…” Arthur got up and looked at Duliri despairingly.
“Why the glum look? Shouldn’t we be happy now?”
“How could this be good? You’re all over my head now.” Arthur dived in his bed. His voice in Duliri’s head sounded like he was about to cry. “It was just so faint a while ago. But now…?” His face sank deeper in the pillow, goosebumps spreading over his body like a blanket. “It’s so clear that you even have a human figure in my head. And your face makes these silly expressions like a pedophile pervert. This is so creepy…”
“I’m not a pervert!” Duliri feigned a gasp, the smile on his face still wouldn’t disappear in Arthur’s head. “I don’t know what you’re saying but we should be happy. Your awakening must have caused us to have some form of connection.”
“I know… It would have been great.” His voice dropped as his hope slipped away. “If only we could get rid of this – this face. You’re smile looked dreadfully crooked. That expression is worse than any nightmare.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Yeah! It felt like you’re ready to jump on me anytime.”
“Why would I? I’ll never hurt you. Besides, even if it’s minuscule, I’m just glad that we’ve got some useful ability.”
“I KNOW!” His body spun in reflex. Fumes came out of his ears and nose. “You kept muttering, ‘Power. Power. Power. Power. Power.’ And make a sickening face!” He looked away, realizing how much he’d been lashing out at the poor staff. “Sorry… You’re supposed to be my partner, but this telepathy thing is making you very suspicious.”
“I thought you trust me?”
“I do… But I think we should postpone learning magic for now. Let’s first figure out how this telepathy works.”
The moment Arthur finished his sentence, a gasped left his mouth open. His body warmth dropped. His heart skipped beats. He came face to face with Duliri’s human figure, its eyes burning with rage. The color of its body became pitched black before it disappeared without a trace. When he looked at the staff, it hovered a few meters on the ground, unmoving.
“Duliri?” Arthur whispered, tremors filling his voice.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The loud pounding of his heart even reached his eardrums. He stared at the staff unblinkingly. A foreboding sensation dawned onto him that even his nose twitched. He cussed. He slid backward but his distance didn’t change. A few more heavy breaths and the gemstone changed into black obsidian. No, it was even darker – and ominous.
Arthur gulped.
“At last, we met, my lord,” the staff said, it’s voice deeper and huskier. And unlike Duliri, Arthur couldn’t sense any emotion from it.
After staring quietly at the staff for a while, Arthur finally let go of the breath he had been holding and opened his trembling mouth, “Who are you?”
