Start All Over Again. (FINISHED.)

Chapter 6: The Curse.

Warning: Violence!

"Rumours say it's dangerous to fight the prince of the Moniyan Empire! Especially if you're alone by yourself."

Martis' POV

And that's what the people said from the village, children, teenagers, even adults. When did this rumour come from anyway? Is it real or fake? Who fucking knows. I was just wandering around the Empire like usual, when I suddenly caught something in the corner of my eye. It looked like Aurelius was bandaging up his chest, is he hurt? I went up to him and he jumped a bit. "A-Ah! Mart! What are you doing here? Haha..." Aurelius smiled at me, but I could tell it was forced. "Are you alright? Did you get hurt?" I was worried about him. "No no, I'm okay! Don't worry!" Why is he lying? I wanted to help him but he kept denying and ran away. How strange, I didn't see blood at all. I was about to go somewhere else when Granger popped up behind me, this guy... I swear. "Excuse me Mart, have you seen Aurelius lately?" "I chatted with him a bit just now, then he ran away for some reason..." I pointed at the direction of the hallway where he ran to. Granger thanked me and went away.

A few hours later, I went outside the empire then I saw Aurelius again, this time talking to Silvanna. I hid in a bush, trying to listen to their coversation. "Brother, do you want me to tell Angela to cure y-" "I-I'll be fine! I'm strong enough to handle it..." ...What? What was happening? Aurelius ran away, covering his chest. "Brother w-wait!" Silvanna was about to chase him but she noticed me. "...Mart? You were here the whole time?" "Sorry for eavesdropping, I was just wondering what's going on." She sighed. "Aurelius has some bad thing we don't know but he won't tell me about it, I'm worried about him." I tap on her shoulder, "Don't worry... I'll try to find out." "Thank you, Mart." She gave me a smile and went inside the empire. I went to the direction Aurelius ran to.

I wandered around the village for who knows how long, then I heard Aurelius' voice. It came from the alleyway, oh fuck. I peered around the corner and saw him speaking to three unknown people, it looked like they wanted something from him. "Well well, if it isn't the prince." One of them said to Aurelius. His hands clutched to his chest. "Leave me alone..." He tried running to another direction but they blocked it. "You're not going anywhere, weakling." "Guess the rumour is fake, after all, the prince doesn't even dare to hurt us!" The three of them laughed mischievously. "I don't want any trouble, just leave me alone then we're all cool." He said, clenching his fists. Should I help him? Is he going to be alright? "We're not leaving until you prove to us that you're strong." Suddenly Aurelius laughed, it didn't sound like a normal laugh, it sounded like an evil laugh. "How dare you underestimate the prince." Uh oh.

He dashed towards one of them, hitting and slicing them,  One retreated, and the other stayed back. "YOU IDIOT! WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY?!" Their face was filled with anger, they looked at Aurelius and pulled out a blade. Aurelius was distracted because of the dead body, the man approached him and stabbed him in his arm, they tried to stab him again, but he kicked the weapon off his hand and hit him. I watched in silence, blood was splattered all over the ground, he fucking snapped. He grabbed the man's blade and gave it to him. "You should practice fighting more, poor you.~" He said, "Since I'm feeling merciful today, I'll let you go this time!~ But if you dare fight with me again, I'll make sure you're gone from this earth, you hear me?~" Aurelius forcefully grabbed the guy's hair, staring at him while smiling, he nodded and started sobbing. He let go off him and the dude ran away. I saw a black scar on his left eye, his eye was red, it looks like a demon's eye from the abyss... Aurelius was about to leave when I walked forward to him. "...Mart?" He looked at me, I could see the fear in his eyes. "I-It's not what it looks like!" I tried to calm him down but he kept panicking. "I know what I saw, Aurelius, you don't need to hide it from me." He stayed silent, I sighed. "...I won't tell this to anyone, I promise." But how the hell did his eye turn like that? Was he originally from the abyss? "I-I'm sorry..." He buried his face in his hands. "T-The curse... I couldn't control it, I-I didn't want to tell anyone about it..." ...Curse? I pulled his arms into a hug, he hugged back, sobbing. "We should get the hell out of here." I grabbed his hand and we both ran away from the alleyway, hoping no one would notice us. We made it back to the empire.

"Your highness... you were keeping this a secret the whole time?" Angela asked him while healing his wound. Aurelius nodded with an exhausted face. "Well... we'll try to find a way to cure you from the curse, alright sir?" I sat there, didn't know what to say nor do. I just stared at him, just hoping he would be okay again. Granger came in to guard him, and told me to leave the clinic. I did as he told, now I don't know what to do. I had so many questions in my mind, it was obvious that the curse came from the abyss... but how? I've never seen him there, so how the fuck? This might connect to something... I saw Silvanna and Harith rushing to the clinic, that's understandable. I waited in my bedroom, and an hour later, I heard a knock on my door. I was about to open it but Aurelius barged in, falling on top of me. "Oh... oops." He quickly got off me and blushed. "You alright?" "Yeah uh... sorry about that!" He scratched his head, well, at least he's fine now. "So what do you wanna do?" I asked him while searching for books. "...I feel like sleeping here for a night... cause I'm starting to have nightmares, is that okay?" ...Oh. "Sure, no problem." I checked the time and it was 8:55 PM, I have an idea. "Do you wanna play games? Like Mario Kart?" Aurelius' eyes lit up, "Oh yes, I would love to! I am 100% going to beat ya!" We started playing Mario Kart, Aurelius kept winning and I kept losing, it has been a long time since I played these kind of games.

Two hours later, Aurelius fell asleep on me, guess he was too tired. I brought him and put him on my bed, giving him a blanket. I took one of the pillows and a carpet, and slept.