Ruvel could only imagine how difficult it was for the dragoness to take in everything he was saying to her, she was clearly in pain and most likely tired beyond belief but there was little that he could do to help with either. He didn't have her medical charts and without getting a full check up there would be no way to give her something that might have helped. No matter what this whole situation was dangerous to everyone involved, well at least those in the youth's bedroom. The blonde haired youth was at such a loss, he felt helpless and unable to help one in his care, this of course wasn't his fault but something like this wasn't exactly an everyday occurance anywhere in Earthland from the little he knew of the place. He could only guess that since he was seen as a strong light mage that was the reason he had been asked for. Sure, he could have drawn the light out but that held its own dangers as the shadow may have seen it as an attack and struck out at him or he himself could have drawn in the shadows as he was drawing out the light meaning they would be stuck in the same situation just he would be the one in it. He had to wonder if the cunning and calculating dragoness would help him if the situations were switched, he luckily knew better than to attempt eating an element that wasn't his especially one that counterbalanced his own. Then again he had never been in the exact situation she had, the kill or be killed thing? Well, that wasn't exactly new to the youth but then again until he escaped the facility he had never harmed anyone or anything in his life, the mere thought of it made him sick to his stomach. He knew the reason behind that, a secret he had kept from Cirven and even Johann. He was being raised to replace the gods of light and life and so had been conditioned as such, it was the reason he was actively a pacifist and hated fighting even if there was no other way.
Ruvel closed his eyes after he noticed a slight shift in Amuul's body language.
"I realise, this may be a common story you have heard in the past..." he said his tone a bit more quite as if he was scared to be heard
"The place I was raised... I never want to go back there... I'd lose who I am and what I've become." His voice shook as he spoke, it was clear he was scared. It was much more that some lunatic cult where he was the sacrificial lamb. He was a sacrifice sure but there where so many others on that boat, he just happened to have a connection to the light and so that was used due to superstitions. It drained him, made him weaker and even more sickly than he normally was but they made sure he wasn't in critical condition before they threw him back into what he had heard them call the pen. When he was there he thought nothing of it but now he knew more and understood what a pen was and what it was used for he had to wonder if all he and the others were viewed as was animals. Then again from what he had seen even animals were treated far better than they had been and so even now he wondered what they had done to deserve the ire of those who were their caretakers. That was issues for other days, right now he had something more pressing to deal with in regards to Akeya's critical condition, though he still had no real way to know whether or not what he had previously suggested would work but it was better than attempting nothing he guessed. So all he could do at the current time was wait and see what happened and hope for the best, easier said than done though.
"I wasn't raised in a cult if that was what you are thinking, it was far from it. It's... it's a place I try not think about Miss Kuusai, though it haunts me it is in my past and should remain there. Don't you think?" he tried to smile but it was clear it was fake, even in the darkness it was easy to see the fear written on his face, the fact he was holding back tears that threatened to roll down his cheeks. He wasn't one ever to really show any emotion other than the ones that were expected of him at any given situation, right now he was vulnerable and it quite easily showed. The strong, proud god of ishgar, ceo of the best know trading company, guild master to a guild of vigilantes, one of the three heads of an alliance and caretaker of an entire continent that mask of confidence and strength was gone leaving the youth that truly lived behind it, the youth that felt the crushing pressure under all the responsibilities he had thrust upon him so suddenly when his elder adoptive brother went missing. He hoped he was just checking something without telling him and would be home soon but there was a knot deep in his gut that was telling him otherwise. That was a problem for later when it finally arose which he had the suspicion would be soon given how Demi was acting, she was spending a lot of time within Sol's province within Tolgalen and given how she almost killed him when he, Sol, Cirven and Johann all done a job together but turned into kids thanks to a curse he didn't think Demi trusted Sol let alone liked him, of course he could have been wrong about that as he had no idea what interactions those he had contracts with had with other people.
"I know it's difficult but please try stay still." he instructed the other noticing her movements as she tried to get comfortable, he also seen her tail moving a kin to a cat that was irritated. He couldn't really blame her for feeling such a way though he had no idea what she was exactly going through at current. The best he could do was empathise from his own personal experience with what he had been through in his own past. "What do you do if someone get light poisoning Amuul?" Ruvel asked hoping the younger of the void princes in his service would be able to help him with a solution.
'Only the servant cast tend to get light poisoning due to them going to areas with brighter light, perhaps apprentices within the spiritual calling cast gain it too due to going out the void. It is very rare for any others to gain it. Do not worry my summoner my elder brother and I only have that chance being near your light for to long, we have the same protections as a higher of the spiritual calling.' He explained as he watched Ruvel bite his bottom lip softly.
'Light sickness is normally dealt with one of two ways. The first would be in a room like the one we are currently in or the second and more dangerous is we place them into a room without shadow and drag the light out as we slowly introduce void vortex to the room. It is painful from what I remember and only the most sadistic of nobles use it on their servants.' he finished notifying the youth
"I won't do the second, it would likely kill her in her current condition." to be honest with himself he wouldn't do the second even if she was at full strength, it sounded like a torture unlike any he himself had been through. The very thought of it made him shudder.
Amuul looked to Akeya as she hissed and knew exactly why she was doing it
'Like I said, your secrets go no further than myself or my twin. My word is my honour and in my race and culture honour means a lot.' he informed her. Ruvel was startled by the hiss for a moment as he hadn't been expecting it from her
"Shindara, Amuul and... Jasper.." he started hesitating of course on Oykai's alias that he most commonly used when by his side
"They come from a culture much like ancient Midian but their culture is far more structured and strict, everything is followed to the letter and even royals like the three are not above them though their punishments may differ slightly from someone not of said cast but they still get punished. Amuul and Shindara can't help their telepathic abilities unlike the rest of their race they can't filter out or dampen others." he tried to help put the dragoness at ease but not sure if it was helping
'It is the reason we remain isolated most of the time mistress of shadow, we don't want to intrude on something so sacred.' he finished his voice was soft, low and almost depressed at that fact. Ruvel had been the only person to approach them willingly even though he knew their abilities, he hadn't judged them of course that might have been because he was lost, hurt and scared but even when he had recovered he had remained instead of backing away. They were thankful for that and this was why even though his light hurt them beyond words they had agreed to a contract with him and fought to remain even when his magic had changed at his ancestral home in the Silent Glaciers. They didn't know how it would be when they took him there but still it was a gamble they still had to take and it had paid off, at least on this occasion.
"Please Miss Kuusai, calm yourself it will do no good to be riled up like this." he pleaded noticing the tail moving in quicker, sharper movements. His hands moved to her tail as if trying to help it settle, he didn't care if he was hit by it, he would of course wince if that indeed happened. He didn't even know if through her scales she would be able to feel the scars on the palms of his hands, if she did he knew it would lead to more questions that he wouldn't want to answer but right now he wanted her still and as comfortable as possible. When he did manage to hold down her tail he was gentle, it was clear he didn't want to hurt or damage it or her in any way nor was he trying to hold her down with any amount of force, in fact while doing this simple task he was trembling; the shadow dragoness herself wouldn't know the reason behind it. It could have been because he was afraid that he was hurting her, that it was colder in the shadow than outside it or because of some unknown reason in his past, all were plausible after all.
'I did not mean to make you uncomfortable. I understand the mind is a sacred space that no one dead or alive should tread and for that I do apologise to you. I can not prevent my gift so can not say it will not happen in the future because it would make me a liar as I know it will. I can not gift you one hundred percent protection from my own or my elder brothers curse, I can however give you some tips and training if you like to encumber it.' Amuul offered her, it was his form of an apology and within his culture when apologising it was expected that recompence was given in one form or another. His was to help her dampen her mind more from those like himself, where it likely would stop others from completely breaching her mind the chances are Shindara and himself would still be able to see something by the end of it but it would likely be the surface thoughts; Of course this was if she agreed to the training in the first place.
'Your secrets will not pass my own or my twin brothers lips without your expressed permission regardless of whether if you agree to my help or not. I give you my assurance and if we do, we will happily accept the punishment you decide for us as we would have earned your ire.' Amuul finally said after having spoken to Shindara briefly, these were the rules they lived by, rules they themselves had formed over time due to their unique ability of not being able to switch of or hone there telepathy. Ruvel looked to her for a moment before looking down as the conversation changed to the magic he once owned and even now still partly had.
"It was at first, I was alone and desperate so accepted what I could to survive." he admitted, he never really thought about that part of things all that much these days.
"If I hadn't I wouldn't be here to help you now in your time of need." he said with a weak smile
"As bad as some of the contracts were, I accepted because I was so scared. I was in a world I didn't know or understand and if I'm to be honest even now I don't really know it or understand it. I've only been like this for around a year or so." he informed her his voice soft, almost delicate as he spoke to her on the subject.
"They might have been hard on me and it might have been unfair but they kept me safe and at that point, that's all I needed. It was survival." he said his head going to Amuul who had remained silent and honestly didn't want to comment his thoughts on this matter. There was more to it, well at least to many of the summons he had gained but in the beginning he understood how it would be like that given the past the young blonde had been put through.
"My companions were never forced to do anything, they could and still could deny my request for aid. They are living people and so have their own lives and commitments." he informed the dragoness
"Unlike most summoners, I can't create a contract with spirits. They need to be alive so that is how Miss Hisamori's younger brother Sato regained life after the fire that claimed him." he sounded sad as he brought up the youth in question.
"I didn't force him into a contract, he requested it... he wanted to reunited with Yona but such things come with a cost as all things do when dealing with life and death." he continued now pulling at the sleeves a little
"In fact two of my former summons I had absolutely no way of summoning them, they would turn up when they decided to or when I was in danger." he finished, he didn't mind this but as anything it could be somewhat inconvenient when a summon turned up and he didn't need them because they would feed off his energy, but he had accepted the contracts irregardless of this fact.
"There names were Demiari also known as Demi, she's the one who dresses like a maid within the company and Ziian'tuu who was the ancient of the spiritual realm." he said thinking back on the pair
'Not the spirit plane celestial spirits come from but the spiritual plane that the dead go to.' Amuul added on as to prevent confusion given the current topic. Then again Ruvel had already stated he couldn't use spirits or the dead so this may have made this part a little redundant, still he wanted to make the fact clear about what was being spoken about in this instance. Ruvel smiled weakly looking to the grounds his hands clenching on his sleeves more
"The rules they had and still have me bound to is for my own good, I don't blame my companions for it and they always keep to their rules. It helps me and besides some of the former rules I had to follow were so very strict this is nothing." he said shaking his head trying not to think back to the terrible place that he had been raised. He took a deep breath as he tried to stabilize himself once more by pushing that out of his mind.
"Of course there are weaknesses of this room but there are things here that those with magical sight can't see, the reason for this is some of it is blessings which are not magic and there are other things that I won't get into mainly because I don't know everything that has been done to my bedroom." he said to her knowing her magical sight was likely far better than his own, still there was more to this room than either of them knew and for that he was grateful. He knew for every weakness there was at least one other layer to cover it, if anyone was wanting to get into this room they'd had a whole host of problems and likely get damaged for their efforts; his summons former and current left nothing to chance as their main priority was his safety even against allies that had the potential to change their allegiance though hoped it would never have to happen in all honesty. He realised that small talk at a time like this was most likely not what the other needed but it was how he and the others coped if they were helping another pass on, he didn't know any other way to comfort than to talk about stuff that was unrelated to what was causing the distress.
"I'm sorry if the small talk isn't what you need or want right now Miss Kuusai but this is habit to me in such situations. I truly am sorry." he didn't know how much else to explain it, he didn't want her to pass, he didn't want to see another person die or have to comfort them as they were more so if they were in agonising pain. At the end of the day he knew that wasn't his call, Oykai or one of his cast would come if it was her time and there would be nothing he could do to stop what would happen next. He knew it shouldn't affect him, it was just a fact of life one he had seen far to often for his liking. He would hold out hope though that she would survive this ordeal.
The pun hadn't been intentional but the true nature of the saying, he had tried to get the information out of her again and what he had said to her about it not leaving the rooms was true, he after all was unable to lie but he had become accustomed to bending the truth or fully omitting facts. It was the territory that came with his job more often than not as damage control when things went pear shape on a delivery, at the gatherings of the higher eselon he was required to go to from time to time or even in his tasks as a diplomat. Only a few outside his summons however knew of the fact that he was unable to lie and even fewer still knew that he had ways to deal with secrets should he be captured to be interrogated. His mind would be sectioned off by the twins so sensitive material such as his guild's affiliation to the trading company and who were on the roster would be removed from his memory until he was able to be freed. Luckily it had never come to that but he rather have a plan to be safer than sorry. Onyx Moon weren't a dark guild but they weren't legal and often went outside the letter of the law, this would make people think they were mercenaries out only for the pay, this again was wrong. The had been mercenaries at one point but not so much now, not since he had become the guild master, they were now more akin to vigilanties. Sure, they still went outside the law but they had a morality code that was far more set in stone than it previously had been, the jobs they often took may have not paid the best though they came from people who were desperate and often couldn't turn anywhere else.
Of course there were other guilds that could handle such jobs Fairytail might have took it on or there was the mysterious and shadowy members of the whispered guild of Hidden Blades. He had little knowledge on the latter but from what he did know no one knew who they were, how they were contacted, where they were located though there was some speculation on it being a small town, a village, forests, even Era or the capital itself but nothing ever panned out when people had investigated. The one thing that was noted by anyone who had seen a suspected scene from the dark guild was there was little to no evidence and if there was evidence it never lead anywhere but a long winded goose chase it was so very odd but he guessed it would make sense they would have good cleaners that could and would do such things to keep their secrets secret. He wasn't about to go down that dark rabbit hole, he knew it would paint a target on his back and given the limited knowledge on that potential enemy he'd rather not step into that territory if he could help it. He did however know that sometimes it would likely be unavoidable but that was an issue for yet another time, if and when it finally happened. For now his path hadn't crossed that of the darker guild so he didn't see any real need to worry and Fairytail was aligned with Silver Wolf and unbeknownst to both Onyx Moon through the company. The alliance had been going for around a year now and it was still going strong which seemed to make all the guild masters happy at least to his knowledge. He hoped that the alliance would continue even if something was to happen to one of them but the future was never set in stone, well he wanted to believe that anyway but sometimes it just felt as if you were going towards a destination even if you fought against it, it might slow down the journey but you would still end up there regardless of what you done but who knew at the end of the day. He was an atheist that didn't believe in gods or higher powers, to him and so many others that he knew; if they did exist why did he and the others have to endure such torture at the hands of others? Why didn't the stop it? They would have that kind of power right? They prayed and pleaded on a daily basis but it all fell upon deaf ears, he had been lucky finally someone heard him as he was about to break and helped him get out of that place, still he didn't believe them gods.
Ruvel looked back to her as she mentioned about those of light, normally he knew that people would take offence to it but it actually made a lot of sense to him "The same can be said from a good portion of those of the shadow." he stated calmly
"Each element, each kind of person believes they will win at the end of the day but there is a balance to everything and where the light may win at one point it doesn't mean the shadow will take it lying down, they push back and may win the next time the two fight." he said breaking it down logically.
"And I don't follow the light, it's just part of me and I've been hurt often enough to know the light won't always win." it was as simple as that to him, there was a balance and when the scales tipped to much in the one area it then had to be counterbalanced so the other side of the scale then got their turn to balance things out once more.
"It's just give and take don't you think Miss Kuusai?" she asked wondering her thoughts on such a matter, this might have not been the time for such a thing but she was the one who brought up the subject and he actually found the subject matter an interesting one, he could see many a debate between the two arising if she survived this whole ordeal and he was looking forward to it in all honesty.
"True, many secrets are lost but secrets can be found once again. This is part of what Silver Wolf does after all and they are very good at such a task and even building upon it, so again where secrets are lost over the course of time, with enough time and effort they can be found once more and brought into the light." he said with a smile, he chuckled quietly to himself
"Sometimes light and shadow have more in common that they like to admit." he said more to himself than anyone else, he realised they could both hide things equally well but they could if they wanted reveal things just in different ways.
Shadow and light were as water and oil, they never really mixed completely but still there were ways for it to happen though it was more complicated than many seen the worth of doing. Many didn't even dare to mix these elements afraid of what might happen if they did succeed after all both elements were strong in their own rights. What was currently happening wasn't due to experimentation or curiosity but the need to survive just that bit longer and the one who had been in that situation in the first place was under his care, he was her guildmaster after all. The only problem was, he had no idea if what he had done would do anything to help but it was the only thing he could think of with the limited time and means they had; if he believed in higher powers he would be praying right now but he didn't so could only hope that everything would work out in the end.
"Oh, I can imagine. Your body at current is a battlefield, the ones waging the war for dominance are the elements." he said moving to hold her hand in his heavily scarred ones trying his best to support her. It is the one reason he had honed his own magic to be more like a scalpel than a hammer, he was afraid of the damage it might do to the area around him and how it would affect those who still needed to live there. He had found many didn't care about this and would have at it in the middle of a town leaving ruins for the civilians who still lived their to clean up, to him that just wasn't on and so why the company had a section dedicated to helping fix areas that the mages under the companies employ had damaged. He of course did compensate those who were affected and helped paid for temporary accommodation and any medical bills that might have come with it. He was lucky that this was a very rare occurrence but event that was to much in his opinion.
Amuul moved his hand to his sword as he seen Akeya bare her fangs at Ruvel, the youth lifted his free hand to let Amuul know it was fine and so the albino male relaxed but only a little.
"I get that more often than I like, that being said I need to be clever given the secret I keep on top of everything else." He was running a continent, a company, a guild, one of the ruling bodies of an alliance, he had his own secrets. It was a lot of balls he had to keep juggling and in the air and each and every day it seemed like more was being added.
"I am not going to turn my back on you or the secret you are protecting but I have more than yourself to protect so I need to understand what might be heading here and why." he explained, he wasn't trying to misdirect or misguide her he was being sincere and translucent in everything he was saying to her. He tried to go over what she might be protecting, it was unlikely a book or artifact in his opinion because she would be studying it after all there was a reason she requested an ensuite bedroom in the library. She didn't seem like the one who cared about wealth to the point she would get in such a situation as she was at current his eyes went wide as he remembered hearing from Barthenz and Crystal what their race was like when it came to their offspring. A mother would lose their mind if a miscarriage happened and when it came to children both mother and father would go to extreme lengths to protect them, the same lengths that he believed that Akeya herself had done. He didn't understand if it was something every race done or dragons specifically but it was the only thing that made logical sense to him.
"Miss Kuusai, where are the children you are protecting and why are they being hunted by these people?" he finally asked the dragoness, he knew the former question would likely be answered with somewhere safe which he would be fine with for now, the latter he was unsure about but it was important.
Ruvel was caught off guard as the woman who was almost terminally dying started to laugh loudly "Well of course I don't know everything, only what I've read and been told." he explained to her, to think you knew everything was a level of arrogance he hoped nobody ever achieved, he however would sit quietly and listen to her as she spoke about the relationship between humans and dragons being complicated.
"I guessed it would be, the only dragons I've personally came in contact with are yourself, Mr Terumi, Crystal, Barthenz and the twins companions and let's be honest you're all considerably different." he said to her knowing that not all dragons acted or were the same for one reason or another. When asked if he knew how the slayer magic came to exist he shook his head, it wasn't something covered in the books he had been forced to read in the facility.
"I never thought they just took it, I thought that it was a partnership agreed upon by the dragon and the human in question." he said showing he was listening and trying to learn from her like a student at school or even in a private class.
"A crystalized dragon soul?" he seemed confused by that, it was something he would have to talk to Oykai about at a later point but he was interested about hearing it from a dragon first hand.
"Using slaying magic to much turns you into that which you are slaying..." he trembled at that thought as he himself had slaying magic, his wasn't for dragons however, his was for demons. He didn't want to turn into a demon and be hunted by others, he was finding it hard enough just to try be what many considered normal without having to worry about going on a rampage that might kill thousands of people. He still valued life, was still a pacifist as much as many hated it so with this dangling over his head he felt not only scared but sick to his stomach on what he had just learned.
"The room is safe." he said just as Amuul grabbed him, pulling the youth into his arms and jumping back. Ruvel let out a yelp but didn't fight against the other as he knew what was coming next more so as the room started to expand. He had no real experience on the differences between how a lacrima affected a normal person, a slayer almost becoming a dragon and a dragon themselves; this was yet another thing he would have to ask Akeya when all this came to an end and if she had survived but by the looks of it, it had seemed as if she was already getting stronger. Was the lacrima working already on making a truce on the battlefield that was the dragonesses body? He guessed only time would tell on that one. It was when she went motionless he looked up to Amuul afraid that the strength was only a trick before she passed
'She is still alive, barely, but she is still quite connected to her body.' he explained to the youth in his arms, this didn't exactly fill the blonde with much excitement given he had been told barely but it was enough for him to keep hope that this might turn around. Seeing her move once more made Ruvel let out a sigh of relief but knew that she wasn't out of the woods yet going by the movements and jerks her body was going through.
"Amuul, we need to help her!" he started to try and get out of the grip of the taller male who kept ahold of his summoner with great ease
'There is nothing more you can do, this journey is now hers. She must get the two dragons to come to an uneasy truce with each other if she is to survive.' the younger of the void princes explained to the youth in his arms, he knew this was difficult for him to handle given all the death he had seen but it was the truth of the matter, it was all now down to Akeya whether she would survive or not.
"They're fighting! You need to find the similarities of the elements and use them to your advantage." he was of course a walking ball of light and couldn't gain darkness within himself but he had spent enough time surrounded by it to know there was definitely similarities this is what helped him cope and feel at ease even in his current bedroom. If Akeya could find the neutral ground of the elements he was sure that there could be some sort of balance within her body. He could only hope that she heard his words and it was helping her in some way but he had no way of truly knowing, not right now. He had never been in this situation and for that he was glad, he couldn't even imagine what she was going through right now and hoped that it was something that would never happen if he was to be honest with himself just because of what he was currently witnessing. It was then Amuul continued to jump backwards suddenly the room ever expanding once more to allow Akeya's dragonic form the room it needed to grow and then some. Ruvel couldn't see everything that was happening due to the constant jumping back that Amuul was doing but he understood enough that she seemed to had found a way to find the balance required to change and was happy for that. He could feel the spike in magic, his magical senses didn't work as well as others but that did come with its own ups and downs one of them being that given he could only sense a few different magic types he could normally narrow down what a mages type of magic if he could sense them. Downside was that there were a lot of different kinds of magics out there and if it wasn't one of those few then he wouldn't be able to feel the mage full stop.
When the spike dropped in how chaotic it was Amuul let his young summoner down and walked towards the dragoness with him always on alert as he had no idea what would happen next. Both males looked over her scales but had remained quiet until Akeya herself had spoken
"Are you feeling better Miss Kuusai?" Ruvel eventually asked not sure what else to ask at the current moment in time
"Leave the room?" he said in a thoughtful tone as she mentioned about it
"You might have to turn back into a humanoid form to do that because the marking to take the wall away is somewhere but I'm just not sure how far this room has expanded." he said with weak laugh rubbing the back of his head.
"Perhaps you should rest a bit before leaving though." this was just a suggestion, he was still worried about her given how she had been and what she had just went through but at the end of the day it was up to her whether or not she wanted to accept his suggestion or not.
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Total Word Count: 14,375
@Akeya