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𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘 - 𝐓𝐖𝐎 : 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐗𝐘𝐒𝐌
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Ruki's childhood home was a sleeping giant.
Silent, stoic, sublime— stark against the foggy grey of Western Germany.
Plasters of decayed and broken wood boarded up the main entrance, nails haphazardly hanging on. The size was grand, and it was no doubt belonging to a noble family, but the state it was left in made it seem as if it had no value whatsoever.
The more I stared, the more I thought the house would suddenly come to life. The colors would brighten, the weeds would replace themselves with flowers, and the doors would fling open, beckoning us in.
But the house continued its slumber, aging with every second passing by.
To me, it was a sleeping giant.
To Ruki, it was a living monster.
He knew the doors were boarded up for a reason. The house should be covered in cobwebs and filled with cold un-moving air. His memory swims and fades at the memories and only the fractured shards remain.
He knew the house was not empty. There's no way evil can be removed that easily.
He could imagine the tendrils of unfathomable darkness and how it would grab its claws at any signs of life and leech it away, slowly and smiling. The almost garnet stains of blood in the darkest corners of the house would still remain, and the curses his father muttered are still carved into the foundations of the walls.
He is the sole survivor of that house, and he never thought he'd have to face it again.
"Wow, Ruki-kun" Kou marveled, stars in his eyes. "I knew you were from a noble family, but I didn't know you lived like this!"
Ruki breathed out. Somehow the trip with just him and Sayaka was crashed with the rest of the Mukami's wanting to go back and visit as well. He hadn't told them about the possible connection betweenTrismegistus, Karlheinz, and his father, just about wanting to read some of his father's old journals.
He couldn't fault them for coming along, they all had their shadows they needed to confront, but he'd hoped none would have to see his.
Everything looked the same to him. And that's what caused the most unease.
How is it after all these years, after he gave up his humanity for something immortal and everlasting, after watching the world change and shift with every moment that this house has to be the same?
