“Oh lord, what happened, ow…” Ajin yelped with a cry and a huge gasp of air. “Master, are you alright?” Riki exclaimed happily but startled, finally seeing his young master awake. “I am.. AKIMATSU.” Ajin yelled startled seeing Akimatsu laid on the hard cold floor, motionless. “Don’t worry, he’ll be ok, you were supposed to wake up in 48 hours, I managed to wake you in 26 by speeding the process with my powers.” Riki sighed as Ajin simply stared at Akimatsu with grief and regret. “What about Akimatsu, when will he wake up? Will he even wake up?” Ajin asked, his voice cracking, still staring at Akimatsu but slowly shifting himself closer to him. “Don’t worry, he will, he needs to finish the 48 hours, he has 22 hours left.” Riki said, trying to sound hopeful, “Why didn’t you speed up his process before mine.” Ajin insisted angerly with tears in his eyes, “I only had enough power to do one of you, I’m starving now, I used all my energy, and it’s what your father would’ve wanted.” Riki muttered, starting to back up from Ajin who still looked mad. Ajin turned to face Akimatsu with sadness. “…Where is my dad.?” Ajin inquired, finally reaching Akimatsu and placing his hand on Akimatsu’s chest. “I put all the bodies in one room, so you wouldn’t have to see.” Riki said closing his eyes, and opening them to see Ajin who still had his hand place on Akimatsu’s chest, and from his eyes flowed bigger tears. “…Figured. Thank you.” Ajin whispered. “Yes master, I’ll be back, I’ll try find myself some food, so I can regain some power, don’t go into kitchen, it’s pilled with bodies and blood.” Riki said, trying to gain eye contact with Ajin, “Alright.” Ajin said as he lifted his hand from Akimatsu’s chest then glared at it.

Ajin stared up at the ceiling, Riki had been gone for at least an hour, he grew worried at the thought he was the only living person in the whole castle. “Mmmhhhh.” He mumbled, looking at Akimatsu who lay lifeless on the hard cold floor still. He crawled to get near to Akimatsu again, he shifted himself to where Akimatsu's head lay, and caressed Akimatsu’s hair. Silky smooth and still perfectly tied back. He lifted Akimatsu’s head and shifted his legs under his head, he then slowly placed Akimatsu’s head on his thighs and stared. “He jumped in for me..” Ajin thought to himself. Slowly he moved his right hand from his side and reached out for Akimatsu’s face. He touched his face gently, it was cold. He moved his thumb on Akimatsu’s cheek and stared. “He looks so pretty even still….” Ajin confessed out loud, a smile appeared on his face which quickly turned to a frown and more tears. “I can only interact with his lifeless body, what a shame, I could’ve talked to him today, yet I was so stupid.” Ajin begrudgingly said, regretting not talking to him at least that day. “I didn’t even tell my mom I loved her before she died…” He thought, “And my dad who…” Ajin continued, stopping his thought as more tears flowed from his eyes. “Come on, we need to make sure we find the bodies, they can be buried and hopefully some are alive.” A deep male voice yelled. It seemed to be coming from outside the throne room in the hall. “Fuck.. uhhh.” Ajin whispered. Panicking, he got up quick, holding onto Akimatsu’s head to not drop it. He then placed one of his hands on Akimatsu’s armpit, then pulled him into a sitting position, then placed his other hand from Akimatsu’s head to his other armpit and got closer, chest to chest in a hug to fully pick him up. He stood him up and dragged him to an entrance that only opened with his mother’s, father’s and his own hand print. The entrance opened up for him and he entered as quickly as he could. Not a second later he heard talking again. “Is there anyone there?” The same deep male voice said, “No.” Another male voice said.

“Fuck, why are they here? I feel sleepy…” Ajin thought to himself. After a few minutes, he couldn’t hear anything. “I can’t fall asleep, if I do, we will have a higher risk of being found.” Ajin thought, feeling his eyes drooping. “Are you both alright?” Riki whispered to Ajin. “We are.” Ajin said within himself, to Riki. “I’ll distract them away from the exit, you head outside, it’s getting dark, the night will cover you both.” Riki said to Ajin, with this Ajin held Akimatsu tighter, put him to the wall, the wall held Akimatsu up, and he placed his back on Akimatsu, lifted him and got him on his back. “Ok.” Akin replied. Ajin saw Riki disappear with a flash of white light, he waited to see if any noise would be made.

“WHAT'S THAT?” He heard, “FOLLOW IT!” Another voice yelled. “It’s my chance!” Ajin whispered to himself, he unlocked the door, peaked out and no one was around, he ran towards the throne room entrance. He saw blood on the floor, he knew at least some of it had been his mother’s. He moved around the blood to make sure he wouldn’t touch it while running. He went through the hall and saw stain glass windows in every color. Stain glass windows with art of his family. His mother, father and himself. He stared at the glass window of himself, his eyes closed, his hair long and swaying behind him, his left hand reaching on and his right down. A glow of white behind his head and a heart above his left hand. He was the kingdom’s beloved prince. He had planned to rule fairly like his father had, do charities, visit his people and more. He had dreamed of so much and now, his whole family was dead and the only person who could be saved was weighing down his heart and back, the thought of him never waking up shattering his heart. He then recalled he had to go, he continued to dash through the long hall when he finally reached an exit. He pushed open the door and saw the moon beaming down. He ran out and the moon followed him. He ran faster, trying to make sure no one saw him near the castle. He slowly came upon a forest that was behind the castle that he always saw but never entered. He walked through it. He heard crickets chirping and the sounds of the leaves swaying. The moon loomed over him but he couldn’t see it with the trees overhead. He then reached a hill, he looked down on a small town, many homes lit up the dark and people walking about down there on streets. He finally had a moment to think, “He’s heavy.” Feeling his back ached and his head throbbed harder. He slowly got Akimatsu off his back and laid him on the grass. He sat down next to him, and placed his right hand on his chest. He felt nothing. “Back, take this.” Riki suddenly annouced, appearing from thin air. Startled Ajin just stared and processed, the beamed if light that had appeared in front of his face which formed a black bracelet. “Your bracelet? For me? Really?” Ajin asked Riki after taking the bracelet, Riki’s spirit charm to connect them together. “Yes master, put it on.”

“Thank you..” Ajin replied. He stared at the charm, a black stone on a gold chain. He slowly placed it on his left wrist, and then a burst of light was omitted from the charm. “Woah!” Ajin exclaimed with amazement. “You will basically have every skill your father had, but, you need to learn about them, when you pass down a spirit charm, there can be side effects for a couple years.” Riki hinted carefully, trying not to make the side effects sound like a big deal.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you’ll have sudden bursts of your powers, like, you’ll will have sudden fire come out of your body when mad, when you’re sad, water will come out of your body, when you feel love, spells will be randomly casted by your magic power, when you feel bored, your creation people will randomly make things, when you’re happy, your flight or levitation power will lift you or items up, or the earth underneath you will collapse for no reason.” Riki added with a smile, trying to keep a positive tone.

“WHAT?! WHY.” Ajin exclaimed, worried and shocked. “Side effects master.” Riki admitted to Ajin, with a sorry tone. “Well damn.” Ajin complained in defeat, knowing well being upset wouldn’t do any good.

“And master, we better hurry to find some sort of shelter for today, the night will only get colder.” Riki adressed, trying to change the topic.

“Oh uh, right, let’s go.” Ajin piped, getting and slowly moving Akimatsu again to place him on his back. Once he finally did get him on his back, he turned around and walked with Riki.

Silent they walked for minutes non-stop, until Riki stopped and looked around.

“Is this place good?” Ajin asked Riki, who was still floating around looking. “Mmh,” Riki pondered, “There’s trees for cover, it’s deep into the forest, and there seems to be no trails around meaning not many come around here, so I believe it's a good place master.” Riki answered. “I didn’t know this was part of our land, I could see homes, and some lights.” Ajin claimed, recalling the end of the forest which they already strayed far from. “This isn’t your land master, this is the next town over, they know of the kingdom but do not interact with it at all.” Riki told Ajin, “The forest, in a way divides the kingdom and this town.” Riki finished.

“Oh really?” Ajin asked out loud, to himself yet to Riki as well. “Maybe we can have a fresh start there then.” Ajin asserted, looking at Riki directly. “Sounds like a good idea master.” Riki answered. They stayed in silence, when Riki then disappeared. Minutes went by and Ajin simply stared at Akimatsu the entire time, who still laid motionless. He got closer to him once again, moved his head gently and put him on his lap. He then placed his hand on Akimatsu’s chest, no heartbeat. Even more time passed and then Riki appeared with a flash of white light. “Sorry master, I’m back, I brought firewood, so we don’t freeze tonight.” Riki informed Ajin with a light chuckle to lighten up the tense aura he felt omitting from Ajin who still stared at Akimatsu, not even phased by the beam of light that just happened. “That’s fine, thank you.” Ajin said, not looking up. “When do you think Akimatsu will wake up?” Ajin asked, sorely looking up. Riki could see the tiredness in his face, his eyes drooping and his face dirty, his sad frown that seemed engraved and his hair a mess. Riki thought for a moment, “He should be up by early morning hours, after the sun is up.”

“..That’s reassuring.”

“Yes master.” Riki assured, placing the wood he had collected in two piles, one to light up and the other to set aside to later add on.

“But, what if he doesn't wake up?”

“..Then we’ll need to reverse the curse.”

“Is that possible?” Ajin wondered with hope. His eyes seemed to light up. “Yes it is.” Riki approved, lighting up the ‘to burn’ pile with his fire power. “OH THATS AMAZING!” Ajin exclaimed in excitement. Riki got quiet and stared at the fire. “Yes, but it might take years to completely get rid of it.”

“What? How so?”

“You’d need to collect many things to reverse it, you’d need to collect certain plants for their leaves, fungi, flowers, pollen, and a certain rock.” Riki confessed, hoping it didn’t sound like too much. “What? What do any of these things have to do with lifting the curse?” Ajin asked in genuine curiosity. He didn’t understand how plants and fungi had anything to do with the curse, as well as a rock. “You see, you’d need to find all those ingredients and mash them together, find that rock, crush it, and mix them together, then draw a portal.”

“A portal?”

“Yes, that portal will eventually transport Akimatsu into a new life, and he will live once more, he won’t remember his ‘past life’ until he has turned age he died, meaning seventeen, but of course, we can’t know if he’ll believe in such life.” Riki implied, not knowing how well Ajin would take in this new knowledge. Ajin stayed quiet, and then looked at the fire. “Does that mean I’ll never be able to see him again?”

“Not exactly, you can go into the portal as well, you’d get a new life as well, you will also not remember anything however, until you’re the age you entered the portal, which if it's after your birthday, it'll be when you're seventeen." Riki affirmed, seeing Ajin’s expression become more grim as the fire lit his face up. “Will it be the same lifetime as Akimatsu’s?”

“Yes master.”

“…Would you be there for me?”

“Yes master.”

Ajin turned from looking at the fire to look at Akimatsu, “Then, I guess,” Ajin said slowly, “I’ll just hope and pray that he does wake up tomorrow, if he doesnt, then, we can act on that plan, but are you sure there’s no other way?”

“There is not.”

“Alright.”

More silence followed. Minutes passed and all Ajin did was stare at Akimatsu. Riki wanted to break the silence, the tension felt too thick, “Master, you should sleep, I’ll keep watch just in case, you need rest.”

“Ok, I’ll try to sleep.” Ajin sighed. Slowly he started to shift. He removed Akimatsu’s head from his lap and laid next to Akimatsu. Akimatsu still faced up at the sky, Ajin got on his side and face Akimatsu. He stared and reached his hand to Akimatsu’s arm, he got a hold of it gently and closed his eyes. Riki watched this, and thought to himself watching the sad display of Ajin towards Akimatsu. “It’s very unlikely Akimatsu will wake up, I should start writing down what we’ll need to find. Better sooner than later.”