"Brr! It's cold!"
With winter now approaching, the chill breeze from the wind sent shivers down Eliot's spine. A few minutes after he got sent back to his home, Eliot had wrapped himself in a blanket and hide under the cover.
He had opened the window to let some fresh air in before he suddenly got teleported to a building by a person he didn't know and was told he had to join a war or something, which totally didn't make sense.
"How could I get teleported like that though? I get that War of Throne contained some supernatural abilities, but history books and the bible I read never say anything about teleportation."
As it was a part of history, history books and the bible did include some information about it. Like how this holy war was bloody and such.
But the details of the process itself were a secret to the world. After each war ended, the long years of war was nonexistence from everyone's mind – as if erased from the world's memory and its only proof of existence was the survivors and destroyed buildings.
Each of the survivors kept their mouth shut so all the history book could tell was how many times this war had happened. That vague information was the reason why kids these days, including Eliot, seemed ignorant about it – thinking that it wouldn't happen in their lifetime.
"But this thing happened to me now…"
Eliot's heart was full of doubt.
"He told me to drop out of school? And not trust anyone even my parents? What kind of sick joke is that?"
If that's the case, who's he supposed to trust then?
Eliot marked Yolan's words as nonsense.
Observing his hand once again, it had a crest shaped like a dome with a slit on its top left.
He muttered, "I'll ask mom what this crest means."
Eliot jumped out of his bed and walked to the kitchen. It's still dawn, but his mother should have already woken up to prepare his breakfast.
"Mom?"
But to his surprise, his mother was nowhere to be found in the kitchen.
'Maybe she overslept?'
Eliot tiptoed to the front of his parents' room to check – opening the door slowly to not startle his parents. Peeking his head in, he scanned the room.
"Huh…?"
His father was nowhere to be found but he spotted his mother on the floor, crouching and curling up her body as she held her head. The furniture around the room had been upturned or crushed to pieces.
That made Eliot alert as he quickly walked up to her.
Holding her shoulder, he asked, "Mom! What happened?!"
"Why…"
"Huh?"
Eliot heard a small mumble coming from her mouth.
"WHYWHYWHYWHYWHY! WHY! WHY DIDN'T I GET CHOSEN BY UOLA?! IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME! I'VE ALREADY SACRIFICED SO MUCH FOR HIM, SO WHY DIDN'T HE COOSE ME?!"
Rocking her body back and forth, she bit her fingers as she kept chanting 'why'. This state of madness shook Eliot's heart. His mother was always calm and gentle, this was the first time he saw her acting like a mental patient.
"M-Mom…?"
Eliot called out as he gently put his hand on top of hers – trying his best to pull her hand so she wouldn't injure herself more from biting it.
Hearing Eliot's voice halted his mother's movement.
"Ah..."
She raised her gaze to her child, the rim of her eyes had turned red. When she met Eliot's eyes, her eyes curved into a beautiful crescent – as if the hysteria before was a lie.
"Eliot, you're already up? It's still early, you should sleep more. I haven't made your breakfast-"
But that state of calmness didn't last long. Once she saw the crest on the back of Eliot's hand, she jumped on her son.
"Kghk!"
Suddenly grabbed on the neck, Eliot didn't have a chance to react before his back was slammed on the floor. His mother was on top of him, glaring at him as if he was the most despicable creature in the world.
"YOU BASTARD! YOU TOOK MY CREST FROM ME!"
"Ugkh! Mo-"
Eliot scratched and clawed at his mother's hand, but as oxygen slipped out of his lungs, his mind slowly turned blank. His hands became sluggish – not moving as he intended them to.
'I'll die… I'll die!'
The grip on his neck hurts but the look his mother gave him hurt his heart even more.
He prayed from the bottom of his heart, hoping that she would release her grip, hoping that what she did to him right now was a lie.
But his fading consciousness proved that reality wasn't as kind as he thought it was.
"HAHAHA! DIE! DIE! DIE! THAT CREST IS MINE!"
'Why?'
Eliot's mind wandered as his last shred of consciousness fought to stay.
'Why is this happening to me?'
Eliot thought he knew all sides of his mother already, but now, he wasn't sure. He no longer recognized the woman in front of him. The woman he once called mother had now become his murderer.
It was a fact he couldn't accept.
CRASH!
"Elliot!"
"Cough! Cough!"
Eliot sharply inhaled oxygen into his lungs. He could finally breathe after his mother was thrown off of him.
"Let's get out of here! Hurry!"
His hand was pulled by a familiar man – his father. Though his legs were weak, he knew he could find safety under his wings, so he followed. It's better than staying in the same room with a murderer.
He took one last glance back. His mother was swaying as she held her head, which was bleeding when she hit the corner of the bed. She was still disoriented after the hit.
But that's none of his business now.
With no more hesitation in his steps, Eliot went out of his house.
.
.
"Sorry Eliot, I didn't expect your mother to be that crazy."
"Yeah…"
His father brought Eliot to their car, driving away from the house. The quiet road was a total contrast to the chaos happening inside their house.
Rubbing his neck, Eliot blankly gazed forward.
He didn't want to think about what had happened anymore, heck, he didn't want to think about anything at this moment.
This was just a nightmare, he must have been oversleeping and this kind of nightmare showed up to wake him.
'Yeah that must be it. No way my mother would ever do that.'
Eliot pinched his leg, wanting to wake up. But no matter how hard he pinched, all he got was pain.
"So you're chosen as a bishop huh?"
His father started a conversation with him, which made him turn his head.
"You know about this crest?"
His father smiled as he kept his gaze on the road.
"Of course, back in my days, school teachers often told us the shape of each mark. From the King to the Rook, all 8 important crests were repeatedly recounted every year. But I guess they don't do that anymore huh?"
He glanced at Eliot's hand, lowering his voice as he narrowed his eyes.
"You're so lucky, I wonder what makes Uola choose a kid like you Eliot. Even though there are a lot of other people more worthy of that crest than you."
"Why…"
'Why do you sound like you want this crest?'
That thought flashed in Eliot's mind, but he kept his mouth shut. The look in his father's eyes was hostile, just like how his mother was back then.
'Huh?'
A glint reflected from the rearview mirror caught Eliot's eyes. The backseat of their car was reflected in it, and there was one item sitting there.
'A bag? Wait, is that…'
An unfamiliar bag, and the item hidden inside it surprised Eliot more. The glint reflected on the mirror came from that thing – a sharp metal his mother often used in the kitchen.
Chills ran down Eliot's spine.
His neck creaked slowly toward the man beside him. His father still had that look in his face.
'No way.'
He didn't want to believe it.
'No… There must be a misunderstanding.'
"Dad, what do you use that knife in the back for?"
"What knife? The only knife we have is in the kitchen."
His father answered him nonchalantly.
He never lied to Eliot.
But this time he did.
That made Eliot's instinct immediately kick in.
Pulling up the lock and opening the car's door, Eliot jumped out onto the road. He rolled on the rough ground as scratches and bruises formed on his body. Fortunately, the road was empty as it was still dawn.
"Eliot!"
The car stopped as he could hear his father shouting his name.
But Eliot didn't care.
He ran in the opposite direction as fast as he could.
The words of the blonde man he met a few hours ago replayed again in his head.
[Don't trust anyone, even your parents.]
Eliot should have listened to his words.
He should have hidden his hand with a glove or something, so maybe… Maybe his life would have been peaceful until this morning.
Tears flowed down his cheeks, blurring his vision. But he kept running off-road, jumping over the road railing and ran to whatever direction his feet took him.
He ran for god knows how long before he finally slowed down when he saw his father was nowhere in sight anymore.
"Where should I go now?"
He had no place to call home or parents who could take care of him anymore. Worse, the only belongings in his pocket were his phone and a few pennies.
"Ah, I also had this."
Rummaging through his pockets, he touched the hard texture of a name card.
[Yolan Carnel]
That's the name written on it.
"Haa… I have no other choice, do I?"
He lost everything overnight, his school, his home and his parents. There's no other human he could trust for protection.
It was all because of this damn crest.