It was as if there were so many voices around me. Some were crying, some were hysterical, while others were spouting blasphemous words. They seemed to be so furious for reasons I could not understand.
To my surprise, I found myself lying on the ground. I still feel dizzy and my head still ached that’s why I could not tell yet where I was. My forehead creased after a few seconds. I did not remember ever going out of the Royal Castle.
I already felt sick while we were on our journey back to Eliran. I didn’t get why I suddenly felt so cold. It was as if the coldness was suppressing my energy. I was already chilling when we reached the Castle although I tried to brush it off. All I knew was that I needed to be preoccupied that’s why instead of taking a rest just like what everyone wanted me to do, I went to my office to face the piles of documents that I needed to review and sign. But as soon as I reached my office, I collapsed. I had no idea what else happened next. My mind was in a complete haywire.
I blinked several times before my vision started to become clearer. That was when I found out that I was in the middle of the road. My eyes widened when I saw myriad of dead bodies on the ground. There was fire wherever I look. I quickly stood up and casted a rain to put out the fire. Seconds later and it started raining heavily and the fire died down.
But in the midst of that, I had wished that I had died, too, when I realized that the profane words everyone was throwing was all directed to no one else but… me.
“Murderer!”
“Monster!”
“You have no mercy! You killed your own people! How could you do this to us? We respected and cherished you! Our children looked up to you! How dare you do this to us?”
Those and many more accusations greeted me as people began attacking me. Their bodies were filled with blood. The fire may have died down, but not the fire of anger in their eyes. But… why were they looking at me like that? I stepped back out of shock. And then I noticed the blood on my clothes and on my hands.
“W-what’s the meaning of this? What have I… d-done?”
Everyone kept accusing me of so many things. They were screaming at me that my eardrums almost broke down. Moments later and the ministers came rushing together with some of the most influential families in our realm. They were all wounded as they began chanting so stridently. They were casting a spell to produce a lightning bolt. Not long after and I was hit by the lightning. My eyes flickered with tears as I vomited blood. I fell on the ground when my body could no longer take the pain, but the lightning went on and on.
“Crono…” I laughed bitterly. I did not know what exactly happened. But I now have an idea. “Wherever you are, I hope you are satisfied now. You made it. You got your revenge.” My shoulders shook as I wept. “You fulfilled what you came here for. And you were right. This was ten times more painful.”
In the middle of the fuming crowd, Clavia appeared. But she retreated when she saw me.
“C-Clavia…” I crawled to get near her despite of the Armethians throwing rocks and mud on me. And when I got closer to her feet at long last, I struggled to reach for her hands. “P-please listen to m-me first. I am-“
I did not get to say what I wanted to say when she flinched and pushed me away as if I was the dirtiest thing she had seen in her entire life. Disgust was all over Clavia’s face. “Don’t you ever come near me again, you monster!”

Cainta, Rizal, 2012
I HAD STOPPED reminiscing when I had finally reached Theron’s address. A few days ago, he told me he would visit the wizards who offered to help us to catch the Armethians that freely come in and out of this realm. In the beginning, I insisted that I would be the one to face the wizards instead but he refused saying that it was a part of his job as my butler and assistant. Aside from that, Alison and I had also been busy going to different places lately.
But Theron and I were used to not communicating with each other. That had been our set-up for the past years. We also don’t reveal where we go unless we would need each other’s presence there. Theron had not called me for an update, and I thought it was only because he hadn’t talked with the wizards yet… until I received a text message tonight.
It came from Theron’s number. The message contained his picture. He was in the pool and wounded. Along with that was the text saying that I better guard Alison well because she was next.
It had been more than an hour since then. It took me that long to finish the locator spell that I performed to trace Theron. This could be the enemy’s trap to catch me, but I no longer cared. Theron’s life will always matter more to me than whatever danger I might encounter.
The gate of the mansion was open when I got there. My heart pounded out of fear, tension, and worry. I ran inside and searched for the pool area.
The wizards could have fooled Theron. Maybe they were the Armethians’ allies all along and they did this to capture him or maybe he was being followed when he left our house and then they cornered him since everybody knew he was my sidekick. And the enemies wanted to strip me off the only ally I have left in the mortal world.