Michael Brooklyn Morgan "Red Alert"
Act 2, Chapter 6 "Devious Wiles of the
Hidden Hoot"
Hidden Hoot"
“That’s messed up.”
Within the endless expanse of Michael’s broken mindscape, three figures stood atop a stone platform with crystals imbued with Michael’s memories. One of them was Aslan, the great archmagi of the (now fallen) empire of the Middle East and the grandmaster of the household servants he employed in his life. On the day Loki emerged to wipe out Ru’in out, he and his household lent their strength in sealing the demon away for good, which, consequently, trapped them as well, suspended in a state of endless sleep until they were woken up a year after the fall of the Arch Vorbrundt Order. “Cthulhu’s and Loki’s powers shouldn’t have been used together.” He was describing the event that transpired during Michael’s confrontation with Wild Rose, the dark guildmaster of the Berserk Amazon, who immediately fell and killed from their combined power. “With this awesome amount of power and his unstable emotional state, he’s bound to become a liability for all of us!”
“Like I said, I can’t use my time magic,” Another one of the three figures said as he fixed his glasses in place. The auburn haired figure with emerald eyes, Alexander, stared at the white lion-man, “and neither can you.” He continued, mentioning the fact that none of them can use their magic to hasten the pace in restoring Michael’s memory. “I- I can use magic! It’s just that I won’t exhaust my power on something as trivial as this.” Aslan said, denying the fact that he can’t use magic. This was all because of the seal’s interference as it was constantly feeding off from their ethernanos to keep the seal in place. Without it, Loki and Cthulhu will be released, and Michael will die. “If only a certain someone didn’t mess up the seal!”
“I couldn’t have predicted the outcome, mind you, nor have I ever anticipated such things to occur. I will admit, things have gone awry the moment Loki breached the seal and influenced a weak minded individual to do their bidding.” The masked figure said, clad in an expensive looking plague doctor’s attire. His name was Sepulchre, a wizard from Fiore who had come to prevent a catastrophe that will happen in another land if he doesn’t interfere. “We’ve only been awake for a few weeks and you’re already complaining. I expected highly from you, especially since you’re royalty.” Aslan was quiet at the comment and turned away, failing to come up with a retort.
“I... WE don’t blame you, Sepulchre. You did everything you could to protect Ru’in.” Alexander said. “And it’s nice to see your children grow to become fine gentlemen, even if I only caught glimpses of his memory within these crystals. Especially the one with purple eyes. What was his name?” Aslan was keen on knowing who one of Alexander’s kids was. He saw some potential within him, and the purple eyed twin Aslan was talking about was none other than the megalomaniac twin. “Francis. Or should I say, Francois, as he took the liberty of changing his name.” He responded as he turned to resume in his duties to repair Michael’s memories. “Wait, why do you ask?”
“I’m old. Do you expect me to remember everything?” Aslan responded as he continued in his work, trying not to be suspicious.
While Alexander and Aslan were busy in their usual banter, Sepulchre stood at the edge of the platform with a thoughtful glare at the gates. He didn’t reveal the truth that he was responsible for the breach, that he was awake this whole time while the rest was in a state of sleep. It was all planned, however, just to take down Loki in the future. The fall of the order Michael was in was, in truth, not anticipated and was collateral damage. He knew they couldn't hold him off for long, and it was only a matter of time before the seal broke. Beyond that, he was unsure, for one of Alexander’s sons had become involved and became the host for the seal. This was unintended as he was expecting someone else to become a host. His involvement has only complicated things.
Not for Michael himself. No, but for his loved ones. His family, his friends, and his comrades.
Requiem is the only saving grace Michael has; a chance for him to live a normal life. From what Sepulchre has read, Requiem is attained differently by each individual. In the past, he recalled someone achieving their Requiem through facing their fear. Aslan also achieved Requiem at some point in the past, and he received the power when he became the ruler of an empire. With his pride as an archmage, his Requiem bolstered his magical prowess. This requiem was also passed down to him by the previous ruler of his empire, who was his father. Determining one’s requirements to achieving Requiem status is difficult, but he has at last found an answer.
It involved Michael’s death.
This was a first, but Michael’s requirements to achieve Requiem was listed in a book he read - that a man terribly broken both emotionally and spiritually who had died a horrible death can be reborn with the flames of rebirth. This fit Michael’s description as one who had lost his memories after his experience with the fall of the Arch Vorbrundt Order. It was harrowing for Sepulchre to relive his memories within these crystals. With this in mind, he had planned several plans in the event that everything goes awry.
In the past, Alexander once asked Sepulchre how Michael would achieve Requiem, “So, what about Requiem that will help him overcome the odds?” He said worryingly, and Sepulchre can tell that he is worried for his own son. He didn’t want to tell him that his son should die only to be reborn. None can say that this path is any guarantee for Michael to achieve Requiem. For all he knows, there’s a chance that it will fail. He’d rather stick to fixing his memories to help Michael than leaving it to chance. “Simple. We just… keep repairing the mindscape.”
However, following Michael’s fight against Wild Rose, his memory fragments broke off, putting their efforts to restore his mindscape in vain. Nevertheless, they kept restoring his fragments of memories, as futile as it is.
Michael awoke with another headache that’s significantly worse than before. It took him awhile to get his bearings and, aside from the predicament he is in that’s easily mended by a common drug, he also saw that everything else was a little duller than before, but not that much. He could tell how dull yesterday was to how dull it was today. How he perceived colors was not alarming to him as he is not an artsy person like his step sibling, Cinna. Still, this could prove an inconvenience to him is this condition isn’t remedied soon enough.
He can rest easy knowing that he’s taking a break from working as a freelance ‘wizard’. He’d need more than a week of rest to recuperate as he stood up and felt everything aching. His experience fighting against Wild Rose was fresh from his mind as he was close to death, but he doesn’t exactly remember how he beat the dark guildmaster. He was unconscious then when he was hit hard by the large woman, and this pain hurt a lot more than he endured in the past, way back when the Arch Vorbrundt order was fallen by the heretics.
Usually he’d be awake to hear Giselle’s knocking on the hotel door of his room. Today was different. She wasn’t looking for him for any job. It’s for the best as Giselle might have been apprised of his current situation. He was hurt badly from the attack last night. Still, “It’s best to look for her.” he thought to himself as he got out of his room.
From the looks of it, the informant was right when the dark guilds retreated when their guild masters were slain. It might have been owed to the annihilation of one of the guilds, the Arctic Thorn, or the guilds collectively decided assaulting Hargeon was not worth losing their life over. That, or the guilds did assault Hargeon but was quickly disposed of by the Rune Knight or another party. As it should be, he thought to himself, and regardless of whether the guilds retreated or not, Hargeon was at peace.
He walked towards Giselle’s hotel room right next to his and knocked on her door. He had not thought what he wanted from her when a voice could be heard inside. “Come in!” the familiar voice said. He entered her room to find Giselle sitting on top of the bed while packing her equipment. “Hey.” He greeted sheepishly. “Hey. How are you feeling? You weren’t exactly looking good last night.” She said, worried in his current condition. She knew that something went terribly wrong with the mission when she snuck into his room to check on him, only to find terribly cleaned blood from his face. “Terrible. Everything hurts.” He said without even attempting to shrug off the pain. It does hurt alot, not unlike any pain he's experienced. “I can’t believe I survived that fight.”
“Me neither. You weren’t exactly trained for close combat against powerful mages. And I didn’t anticipate her to be this strong, either.”
“She saw through the invisibility.”
“Again, not my fault. And neither was it yours. She's just... so powerful.” She, however, did not know how Michael came to win their fight, but she assumed it to be his strong willpower. She finished packing her equipment and stood up, relieved that she’ll be tending to her shop when she gets back to the Neutral Grounds. “Oh, right. We’re going home today.” Michael said, scratching his head and visibly tired even after getting a decent amount of rest. He didn't feel like driving after all the physical trauma he endured. “Yes. And I’m driving. And don’t you dare help me carry these luggages. Your mind needs rest too so no telekinesis.”
“...fine. I’ll go get changed then.” he sighed and left for his room to get changed. It was a good thing most of his clothes have a neutral color with red trims and/or decals because he’d be a laughingstock if he wore a very mismatched outfit. Part of him thought of this but he was unsure why. Perhaps because of a forgotten memory? He doesn’t care at the moment. All he wanted was to get changed. He decided to sport a black hooded jacket with a red trim on top of a black tank top. A black belt with a silver buckle secured his camo paints, and he also wore a pair of black leather military boots to match.
Giselle, on the other hand, decided to go with a white blouse, blue jeans, and a pair of pink heels, pulling it off quite nicely given her penchant for picking the right outfit. These were the clothes Michael bought for her when they were in the Lavanitir Port City.
The two checked out with a bellhop helping them with their luggage. Giselle made Michael rest on the passenger seat of the car as she and the bellhop loaded her baggages into their car. Once all was done, Giselle started the engine and drove off from Hargeon on the way to the Neutral Grounds.
POST WORD COUNT: 1908
JOB WORD COUNT: 1908 / 10000
MEL @ WW