“Why… why should you feel bad? That’s all you have to say to me?” Lavimo wavered, fists clenched tight as cracks formed under his feet, Feather’s eyes narrowing at the sudden destruction. He hadn’t intended for things to be this way, but, well, he’d somewhat expected them to. So he readied his stance, making a signal with his hands for Kya and Leocadies to move back. But Lavimo couldn’t tell what he was doing, so overwhelmed with his desire to have everything back, his desire to destroy the man in front of him who had taken everything away. He wanted to destroy it, destroy him, destroy everything…
He barely noticed it when Feather teleported closer to him, a hand moving to rest atop his head before he was suddenly teleported to the courtyard, right outside the part of the castle they’d previously been in that now had a giant crack centered right through the middle of it, the grey stone turning an ashy black while the glass had shattered into pieces. But Lavimo didn’t see that, his body instinctively moving to grab Feather’s wrist, corruption tingling through his fingertips as Feather flashed backwards, his body phasing in the air before he appeared a few paces away.
“Hey, kid! Do you see what the hell you’re doing?!” the man yelled at him, Lavimo’s anger blinding him as the grass died and shriveled underneath his feet.
“Shut up!! You don’t have the right to talk to me!!” he screamed, cracks thundering with his voice as the trees and rosebushes all crumbled and wilted, Feather looking around frantically at everything that was being destroyed.
What was this?? How could he make it stop?? This was a bit much, wasn’t it? But he was always good at thinking quickly on his feet, immediately throwing up a large forcefield around the area, and luckily, Lavimo’s corruption bounced against it and didn’t pass through the barricade, allowing it to protect the rest of their surroundings. But still, Feather had no idea how to handle this. He’d never handled a rampaging person gripped by grief before. All he could do was stare, his mind thinking through thirty billion ways he could possibly calm this man down, before Lavimo’s amber eyes snapped up to meet his. And well. Shit.
Lavimo’s body lurched forward, the ground being torn apart underneath his footsteps as Feather jumped into the air, light on his feet as he balanced on one foot atop a slab of earth Lavimo had just uprooted from this now destroyed courtyard. And the dark-haired man was running towards him with a hand that corrupted everything it touched, hand swinging at him with fingers itching to grab his hair and rip it off, before Feather backflipped higher and landed on a solid space he’d created in midair for him to perch on.
“Hey!! I’m literally the strongest player your side has!! If you kill me, all of the multiple worlds are doomed!!” he yelled loudly, Lavimo’s corruption climbing the forcefield he’d thrown, streamers of black claws moving to chase Feather down, the amber-eyed man controlling it as he threw all sorts of debris at him.
“I refuse to be on the side of a murderer!! You killed my entire family, I won’t let you get away with it!!” Lavimo screamed, tears stinging his eyes as Feather felt people teleporting over, Cirrus and his family right outside of their forcefield as Nadia’s fingers touched the see-through sphere. Luckily, he’d made it sound proof. It would be bad if they heard Lavimo accusing him of killing his entire family. What a misunderstanding that would be… but either way, he’d have to clear things up.
“It was never my intention to hurt anyone!! I didn’t know my actions would start the apocalypse!! I was just trying to survive!!” Feather screamed in return, the entire ground cracking open as ash laid foot around them, a black whirlwind of crumbled soot chasing the blond as he maneuvered around it. “You’re the one corrupting this planet, can’t you take a look around?! Stop being so self-absorbed, eh?! You won’t be the only victim here if you keep this up!!”
“I don’t care!! That doesn’t matter right now, you just need to die!!” Lavimo retorted, his corruption reaching yet another level of strength as Feather felt his forcefield crack.
Shit, there was no way he could afford to let this corruption spread further onto the planet. There was no telling how many lives that would kill, or if it might even kickstart an apocalypse on Lilino. Was that even possible? Feather wasn’t sure, but there was no way he was risking it.
“Look, I’m sorry about this, kid,” he gritted his teeth, phasing through the corruption tainting the air as he appeared right in front of Lavimo’s face, fingers tapping against the poor boy’s forehead as a fair hand met smooth chocolate skin, Lavimo’s conscience slipping the moment they made contact. And his eyes rolled back into his head, Feather catching him under the arms to carefully lay him down. “There you go, maybe you’ll be more levelheaded when you wake up. Don’t want you corrupting your second home, now do we?” he sighed, letting down his forcefield thinking that must be it, before he immediately blocked a blast of ice that came shooting at his head for a kill shot. It was a rather strong blow, and it probably would have killed most anyone else, and yet the moment the sharp ice made contact with his hand, it merely melted and turned to steam. And he laughed darkly at that, entirely annoyed at everything he was being forced to deal with against his will as he turned to Nadia, her arm outstretched and snapping with frost.
“What did you do to him?” her voice thundered, Cirrus looking entirely shook as he tried to step in front of his mother, carefully shielding Feather while the blond glared with full disrespect, entirely pissed off.
“No, wait, mom… we should hear him out, we weren’t even here to see how it started,” Cirrus pleaded, but Nadia merely pushed him aside, her son stumbling out of the way as she glared at Feather.
“You best answer me right now, or your death is imminent, you unrighteous, arrogant fool…” Nadia seethed, Feather meeting her with his own nasty glare as he prepared to shoot some lightning at her. If she was going to try and kill him, he’d gladly return the favor and give her a few scars.
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
And he really would have attacked her had someone not stepped in, a calm voice picking up amidst all the whispering going around. They were a grounding presence, a force Feather was unfamiliar with, and he watched with narrowed eyes while Nefion strutted onto the scene with full confidence. “Now hold on a moment, mother. You wouldn’t want to kill our new ally already, would you?” they smiled pleasantly, Nadia finally calming down just a bit as her amber eyes turned to stare at her eldest child.
Ah, Nefion. If Feather recalled correctly, they had the concepts of the ship, navigation sense, and hawkeye. If they targeted something, they could visually watch it in their mind from anywhere, so long as they had looked at it within the last forty eight hours. And they were smiling brightly at him, clearly having been watching everything he’d been doing this entire time as they moved to stand in front of him and shield him from their mother’s fury. “Lavimo was the one who attacked first, I’m afraid. Our friend Feather here was just minding his own business,” Nefion gestured, giving Feather enough time to calm down as Nadia’s glare lessened.
“And why would my nephew do such a thing? I find it hard to believe he attacked this man unprovoked,” Nadia questioned them, Nefion looking completely unbothered as their smile stayed wrapped around their face.
In fact, if Feather understood their concept correctly, they could also hear whatever they’d targeted, as well. Meaning this person had probably heard his entire conversation with Lavimo. That sounded like a bad thing, but Nefion didn’t look angry or unsettled with him in the slightest, and merely replied to their mother with ease. “It seems Lavimo has been fed some misinformation. He thinks that Feather here started the apocalypse. But I highly doubt that’s true,” they waved off, turning to glance smug eyes at him, who could only watch, dumbfounded. “Lavimo also just met that strange Oracle recently, who seemed to be trying to get him to pick a fight with Feather in the first place. She must’ve been purposely trying to trigger this new concept of his, I think. It looks like the rare concept of corruption to me, but in any case, Feather is the innocent one here.”
“...I see,” Nadia nodded solemnly, eyes turning to glance at the man she had just threatened mere moments ago. There was guilt seeded in her eyes, and Cirrus was sighing in his relief before she gave Feather a deep nod. “Then I apologize. I will compensate you for my actions with whatever you wish, so long as it is reasonable,” she offered, Feather feeling as if his attitude was finally being restored. Now this was more like it!
But no. In front of nobility, he must keep on his mask. The mask of Arcadia, the mask of the ice princess. And so he lifted his head high, glare jutting forward to meet the queen’s gaze with nothing but unbridled disrespect. “I don’t need anything of yours. And I already told you this once, but you best learn to keep your children under control. I don’t want to have to keep cleaning up after you and your incompetence.”
Nefion was the only one who laughed at him, looking entirely amused with that as Nadia said not a word, only lifting her head high as she stepped in front of Feather and took Lavimo from his grasp. And she held him gently, like a mother. They were aunt and nephew, after all, and she’d raised him since he was seven years old, so it made sense. She brushed his hair behind his ear so soothingly, her hands gentle and full of care, before she picked him up in both her arms, dress and robes flowing as she gave Feather one last nod. “I relent. Take my son and train him. I am in your debt, miracle worker.”
…well, that was certainly unexpected. Nadia didn’t say anything more, instead turning around to leave without even casting him a further glance, and Feather couldn’t help but wonder what the hell had gone through her mind for her to suddenly agree to give Cirrus to him. And everyone was standing around awkwardly as Feather’s eyes suddenly traveled elsewhere, his little pushover prince looking in between his older sibling and Feather with clear anxiety, unsure why the two seemed to be having some sort of twisted staring contest. They were both grinning at each other, and as confusing as that was, Cirrus also felt relieved that Feather had seemed to have turned back to normal, his chaotic and sly grin just proof of that. He wanted to break the silence somehow, feeling uncomfortable between the two, before Feather suddenly blurted, “So how long have you been watching me, you stalker?”
“My, no need to go that far. I was just trying to gauge whether or not I can trust you. Be glad I didn’t tell my mother everything you and my cousin discussed inside that barrier,” Nefion grinned, snickering like the menace they were as they tossed their arms to the side with a wide shrug. “You owe me one, Feather.”
“I don’t owe you jack,” Feather stuck out his tongue, still on the ground as he turned to look at all the land that had been destroyed and blackened away. It made him glum to see it. It really did look like a portion of this land had been affected by the apocalypse, and it was a large section of the royal courtyard, at that. That just wouldn’t do. Though it did give Feather an idea, and a grin slipped back onto his expression as he replied cheekily, “But I guess I’ll repay you anyways, since I’m so kind.”
And with that said, with just a flick of his wrist, the land began to restore itself. He used a special concept that turned back time on its target, restoring the grass and the rosebushes and the trees and the broken cracks in the castle. It left Nefion feeling rather defeated, since they’d wanted to use that owed favor as a way to scavenge more information out of him, but instead of showing any of their annoyance, they merely smiled. “I guess you have. Well done. I thank you,” they applauded, clapping their hands rather sarcastically before they turned on their heel, walking past Cirrus as they began heading back into the palace with their smile still firm on their features.
What an interesting man, Nefion thought. They might not have been able to get any leverage with him just now, but he was still a rather interesting fellow, and this exchange had been rather pleasant overall. Though, on the other hand, Feather was very clearly Arcadia, no doubt about that. Nefion had clocked it the moment he’d walked into the meeting room. They were surprised and honestly a little disappointed that Cirrus hadn’t been able to catch on to it, as Arcadia’s fiancé in the past, but, then again… their cute younger brother had always been a little slow. Though, when it came down to it, Nefion didn’t think Feather was a bad person, so they’d keep his little secret about starting the apocalypse to themselves, for now. If it ever looked like they needed to, they could always use it for blackmail later, so there was no point in making their mom more paranoid than she already was.
But oh, what fun this was… maybe they’d watch Feather a little more for the next two days, while their concept allowed them to do a bit more scouting for information. The man’s little conversation with Alroy had already been so intriguing! Who knew such a guy held a depressing past like that! They might even be able to get embarrassing blackmail on their darling little brother while they were at it, too! He was very clearly head over heels for Feather, and his obvious attraction to the man was bound to create some interesting moments! Nefion would love to have more things to tease Cirrus about. Oh, what a jackpot! Feather, what an amazing soul, Nefion would make sure to thank him profusely for all the opportunities!
Out of these, who is your favorite character?
