Magic, Love, Family Pt. 02

She isn't busy. She just doesn't want to talk to me. All his anger at Rose and her unreasonable actions vanished in an instant. And here I thought getting injured was an easy way to earn forgiveness from Miranda. He inwardly laughed at his delusions.

Suddenly his eyes widened. He realized from her actions that Rose was actually here to apologize but was too embarrassed to do it. He turned towards her, rested his head on his hand, which was raised at the elbow, and he studied her face from above. There were obvious signs of discomfort. Her lips were puckered; her eyes danced around, stealing quick glances of his face from time to time.

Raymond was amused by her behavior. He thought about letting her stew for a while but couldn't hold himself back from teasing her. "Is this how you apologize?" He grinned at her reddening face.

"Do you want to know or not?" Rose asked, baring her teeth at him.

He continued grinning. "Nah, who cares!?" he said after a little while, finally able to stifle his laughter.

She lifted her brows, looking surprised. "You really don't want to know?"

Raymond just smiled at her. He felt relaxed for the first time in over a day. He realized he enjoyed this tranquil atmosphere, lying in the same bed with Rose doing nothing but gazing at her silently. He loathed to admit the fact that red was his color of choice. Ah, that red hair and those red eyes.

A bit bothered by the bangs covering her eyes, he subconsciously tucked them behind her ears. Satisfied, he stared at her red eyes. "So beautiful," he whispered. He was lost in her eyes, unaware of his own actions as he tenderly caressed the contours of her face. He traced his finger over her lush, red eyebrows, her sharp nose, the edges of her beautiful oval face, her full red lips, and he stopped at her chin.

"Hehe, stop," Rose giggled. "It tickles."

Raymond jerked away in surprise, appalled at his actions. Oh My God. What is happening to me? It's Rose. Rose. The Rose, you despise so much. He peeked at her face and panicked. Oh no. Her face is turning weird. Quick... distract her.

In his panic, he blurted out, "What happened to your boy? What's his name again? Mae? Jay? Sorry, I tend to forget... there have been so many... wait, I remember now. Antonio. What happened to him?" Yes, this ought to distract her. Good job, me. He praised himself for the quick thinking.

"I dumped his ass," Rose answered in an angry tone.

"Really?" He almost yelled in excitement.

She smiled mischievously and stared into his eyes. "Jealous?" she teased.

Raymond turned his head away in embarrassment. He never liked this line of questioning. In fact, being teased about his jealousy towards any of her boyfriends was one thing he wanted to avoid the most. Shit... shit... quickly... distract her again.

"So, who's next? I met that Captain Fjord or whatever his name is today," Raymond said, his head still turned the other way.

"Maybe... I don't know. But I'll tell you one thing, he's definitely dreamy," Rose murmured in a low airy voice.

His mood turned sour in an instant. All his excitement and panic went poof listening to Rose's words about Corey Fjord. He never liked it when she talked about her boyfriends. And he was very grateful that he did not have to deal with this problem when it came to Miranda.

He was sure if she ever brought a boyfriend home or told him about finding someone, he would go apoplectic. And Lily, she was different from the rest. He believed she wasn't even interested in anything other than magic and training. Figures. And just when I thought...

Raymond had realized after their spar that Rose had gone easy on him. She had not used body strengthening magic, and that was the only reason he could take her by surprise. If she had cast it, her reflexes would have drastically improved, and she could have easily parried his strike.

Ha... He sighed, some things never change...

"What's that?" Raymond was interrupted before he could finish his thought. He looked at Rose, who excitedly jumped and fetched a letter from his dresser table. "It's a letter, I think." She quickly opened it without a care for his privacy.

"Sure. You can open it," Raymond said with heavy sarcasm.

"It's from Shania," Rose muttered, almost an afterthought. She started grinning as she read on, growing to a lung bursting laugh by the end of it. "It's a love letter," she barely got out between her fits of laughter.

Raymond snatched the letter from her, confused by her crazy reaction to a simple love letter. His face turned red as he read about their recent tryst written in its full glory. There was a further mention of a repeat performance. By the end, the letter took on a grave tone, as if written by two different people. He read through a brief account of a family emergency and an apology for leaving abruptly. She promised to always keep him in her heart and hoped for the same from him.

"It's a parting letter." Raymond threw the crumpled letter towards the door.

Rose flicked a tiny ball of flame at the piece of parchment. "That fucking bitch... how dare she?!"

"Said there was some family emergency or something," Raymond continued in the same dispassionate tone. He obviously didn't believe a word of it. Most likely she found another opportunity or some other prince. He was not concerned either way.

"Good riddance. I never liked her anyway," Rose huffed. The atmosphere suddenly turned tense. Raymond was once again reminded that, of all the girls in his family, none of them had liked Shania or any of his previous girlfriends for that matter. He always chalked it up to his own poor choices. Now, though, he couldn't help but look back. Hmm, this is interesting. He tried to remember his past girlfriends. Now that I think about it, not all of them were so bad. Hmm. Maybe...he chuckled at the absurdity of it. Yeah, right. Like that would ever happen. He cursed at himself. Not everybody is a deviant like you.

"Then I'm going."

"Huh, why?" Raymond asked.

Rose said while getting up, "Since you don't care about politics..."

"I never said that..."

"So, do you really want to know?" Rose seemed taken aback by his change of mood. Raymond felt smug, as he had long guessed that she hadn't wanted to really explain it. And he just didn't want to give her an easy way out of apologizing.

"It's fine even if you can't tell me... I'm sure it isn't because you don't know the reason." He smirked; he loved it when she squirmed a little.

"Humph." She snorted at his antics. "I can't say for sure, but there is a chance the Eastern Continent is behind this affair," She remarked, her eyes glaring straight at him, daring him to ask any more about it.

Raymond asked, "The Eastern Continent?" His tone was skeptical. They both gazed at each other before guffawing at the same moment. "The fucking barbarians!"

The Eastern Continent, which was the continent to the east of the continent of Paschwes, was commonly referred to as the Barbarian Land by the people of Paschwes. Apart from the folk tales and songs, there wasn't much mention of it in the general populace. There were rumors about a war being fought in the distant past, but nobody took it seriously, and believed it to be a grandma's tale for children.

Raymond had never seen a native of the Eastern Continent, but there was only disdain for them and their barbaric ways, in his mind.

"Just tell me one thing. How do you know so much? Do all of you have secret meetings behind my back?" Raymond impatiently asked the one thing which had bothered him since the afternoon. He always believed himself to be smarter than Rose. He could swallow his defeat at her hands if they used magic, but he could never take being outwitted by her.

Rose turned around, a mysterious smile on her face. She slowly lifted her finger to her lips, "Secret meetings...are secret," she whispered in a throaty voice. Winking at him seductively, she skipped out of the room.

Raymond's heart thumped out of his chest; he couldn't believe how sexy she looked and sounded. I don't think I can survive all these surprise attacks to my heart. He let out a weary sigh. Ha...I should just get some sleep.

***

"Should I do it or not?"

Raymond was back at his usual cave, the next day. He had already failed twice in his attempts to awaken, and was weighing whether to attempt it for the third time.

"There's a risk to my mana pool if I fail. On the other hand, if it's a success..."

"Hmm...tough to decide." He sulked as he recalled the pain he had felt in and after his fight with Rose the previous day. Then a shiver ran through his body as he thought about his upcoming "fight" with Suzanne. "Yesterday was just an appetizer. Aunt Suzy...she wouldn't hold back either..."

He gritted his teeth and decided to try it anyway. The chances were low, but it may yet happen.

It was mid-afternoon when he regained consciousness. "Fuck, my head's all dizzy. Ugh..."

He decided to wait for some time before leaving the cave. Still lost in his thoughts about the beating he was about to take at the hands of his aunt, he was alarmed by a loud roar. He rushed to the cave's entrance, nearly stumbling on the way. His soul almost left his body by the terrifying scene he witnessed.

His horse lay dead by the tree he had tied him to. A Violet Horned Bear stood over the corpse, its paws and snout dripping with blood. Another Violet Horned Bear, which looked a lot older, was circling around, sizing up the younger one.

"Fuck, what are two prime beasts doing this far out?" Raymond cursed under his breath.

He was out of ideas at the sight of two prime beasts, which were about to fight. He wanted to run for his life but was afraid he would be killed as soon as he stepped out. The only thought going through his mind was that he should've been nowhere near this scene.

"Maybe they'll kill each other by the end." After the immediate shock and fear of the situation lessened a little, Raymond felt much calmer. He slowly and very cautiously returned inside the cave, trying very hard to not make a single bit of noise. Curled up in a corner, he tried to recall every little bit of information he knew about the Violet Horned Bear. He remained completely silent while listening to the growls coming from outside.

"Sounds like its ending." Raymond cautiously peeked outside after the sounds completely stopped. The bigger, older of the two beasts was the victor. The younger one lay in a pool of its own blood. The surviving one wasn't much better off. It had wounds all over its body. One long gash across its neck looked particularly nasty.

"Fuck! Fuck! It's alive." Raymond could only curse at his bad luck. The surviving bear moved towards the corpse of Raymond's horse. It tore apart the corpse with its strong paws. Goosebumps ran over his body as he watched his horse being eaten in such a bloody fashion.

"If only I had awakened my attribute... I wouldn't have to hide here like a fucking rat." Raymond sighed at his pitiful condition. He wanted to dash out, but he didn't. He was aware that he could never out-run a prime beast. He prayed for the bear to turn away from the cave after it had its meal.

He waited anxiously, sweat covered his body and made his clothes wet. His throat became parched due to nervousness, and the cold breeze stroking his skin felt like a thorny, icy, whip. The tension had him on edge, and he felt as if his mana would go berserk, leak out his aura, and alert the beast of his position. He gnashed his teeth in frustration of his lack of strength while trying his best to calm down his nerves and control his mana vibration.

Raymond understood that he wasn't equipped to deal with the situation, and if he waited too long, it could prove fatal. "There's no other way. I have to attack it before it discovers the cave." Steeling his heart, Raymond decided to fight the bear when it was at its most vulnerable. He tightened his armor around his drenched shirt. Pulling his sword out from its sheath, he cautiously approached the bear.

The Violet Horned Bear was busy devouring the flesh of the horse, unaware of the danger approaching behind it. Raymond stopped nearly 10 meters away from it, judging it to be as close as he could get without alerting the bear of his presence.

Raymond channeled all his mana to his right arm. He knew he would get a single chance at this. So he decided to forego any protection and used body strengthening magic only on his sword wielding arm. More! More! Silently, he glared at its back. He had never tried to take his body strengthening to this limit and that too only on a single part of his body.

His arm was vibrating and bulged slightly, looking almost as if it wasn't his own arm but somebody else's. It was a thin line between life and death and required impeccable control and concentration to circulate his mana and sneak in behind the prime beast without its knowledge. He had to pierce his sword through the gash at its neck; the beast's body was too tough for him to aim anywhere else. An immeasurable strength coursed through his arm while he studied the length of the wound, and it made him a tiny bit confident; however, he shuddered at the thought of it still not being enough.

Now, Raymond shouted in his mind. The bear had dived down to tear a chunk of meat and that was the opportunity he had been waiting for. He ran faster than ever before and jumped up to increase the power of his strike.

*Screech*

The beast howled in agony. The sword pierced inside its flesh, and Raymond kept on pushing it deeper, extending the wound. Blood jetted out everywhere as the beast thrashed about desperately and almost crushed Raymond beneath its huge body.

There was a short tussle between them before Raymond twisted his arm, which made another fountain of blood to burst out from the beast's humongous body. "Fucking die!!!" He screamed with his eyes bloodshot. He had put in every ounce of his strength in that strike and didn't let up until the beast stopped struggling.

"Huff..." Raymond panted. "Is it over?" Just when he thought it was dead, that he had done it, that he had successfully killed a prime beast, the beast lifted its paw and prepared to slash at him. It was like the flash of the last ember before the flame died down.

Time slowed down around Raymond; everything was happening at a snail's pace. He thought about dodging the attack; however, he gave up on it quickly. He was very short on stamina and was also stuck in his position. It was impossible for him to dodge its paw in that short duration. He realized at that instant, there was no other option but to double down. He had to kill the beast before the paw could touch him.

"Aggh!" He shouted. The veins on his body swelled and his mana channels shook unstably. Scraping the bottom of his mana pool, he viciously pushed the sword deeper and twisted it around. "Die!!!" He did not stop until the sword finally pierced through the beast's neck on the other side. Hot blood sprayed out, painting Raymond in red.

*Crash*

The Violet Horned Bear was finally dead. It died before it could kill Raymond.

"YES!" Raymond screamed in joy, though, an instant later he suddenly shut his mouth, afraid to have alerted any nearby prime beast with his delirious roar of laughter.

He vigilantly listened for a while, sighing in relief when he didn't hear any noise. That... was stupid. He cursed at himself as he tried to pull his sword out of the beast's body. When the sword didn't budge an inch, he quickly gave up on the idea. Too exhausted to move away, he lay down on the spot. He had overdrawn his mana pool and his mana was dry. It felt to him like he was completely sapped of energy, and at the same time, it was painful. He knew it was stupid to remain out in the open, however, he couldn't move no matter how much he had wanted to. His eyelids turned heavy as an unprecedented spell of drowsiness struck him.

"Maybe this was an opportunity," Raymond mumbled dazedly. "Yes, I've decided... I will try again to awaken when my mana recovers. I refuse to believe I can't awaken, especially after this..."

***

"RAY..."

"RAY"

He was shaken from his stupor when he heard a loud shout. Someone shouted his name, and he could hear the sound of horse hooves fast approaching his direction. Lily?

Lily leapt down from her horse. She crushed his head to her chest and started to wail loudly. "I was scared..." were the only words coming out of her mouth that Raymond could make sense of. He was overwhelmed by this display. Lily had never been one for showing much affection. She was much quieter than the rest of their boisterous family.

He consoled his sister by gently thumping her back. Gradually, her wails turned to sobs. "I'm fine. This isn't my blood." Raymond chuckled. "I'm fine. I was just exhausted and lying down." Lily finally calmed down after listening to this. She took his face in her hands and tenderly wiped the bloodstains.

"Injuries?"

"I'm just tired and used too much of my mana." Lily nodded her head at his response. She went up to her horse, fetched a few pills from her bag and stuffed them in his mouth. She took a look around herself, seeing the dead horse in between the corpses of the two prime beasts, one which had a sword pierced through its body, she hummed in understanding. "Amazing, extraordinarily amazing," she whispered.

"All in a day's work."

Lily frowned, seeing the smug look on Raymond's face. The more she looked at his annoying smirk, the bigger the frown grew. "I warned you."

"Huh? Warned? Oh, about an increase in their numbers?" Raymond posed; he continued in a carefree tone. "How would I know? This never happened before."

"I warned you!" Lily repeated her previous words in a much louder voice.

"I told you-" unnerved by the scowl on Lily's face, Raymond swallowed back the words he was about to say. He was confused. What's her problem? She should be praising me. Hmmph.

"The other thing," Lily uttered through clenched teeth, her anger barely contained.

"Other thing? What other thing?" Raymond couldn't tell heads from tails. He was totally lost. "What are you talking about-" Yeah, if I hadn't tried it for the third time, I would have not been unconscious. Raymond realized his horse must've alerted him, but he was unconscious at the time. Oh my god, I could've avoided all this. He sheepishly turned his eyes away from her suddenly hurtful stare.

"Get up," Lily ordered. Raymond obediently followed behind her, too ashamed to say anything. She retrieved a fresh set of clothes from her bag along with a bar of soap. She glanced at him and marched on towards the nearby lake. Although artifacts from the prime beasts were valuable, Raymond and Lily, as royalty, had never harvested any magic beast corpses and were in no mood to start then.

"Why are you carrying my clothes?"

"I thought you ran away," Lily replied in a flat tone.

"Hey!" Raymond shouted at her back. "I'm no coward!" A long pause, then "Hey! Say something! Did you really think I ran away!?" Several seconds passed before he spoke again. "Why aren't you saying anything!? Lily!" Raymond kept shouting at Lily's back as he followed her to the lake.

"Strip." Lily, who finally seemed to have calmed down from her fit of rage at his stupidity, turned to face her twin.

"What?" Raymond started. What does she mean "strip"? Then he smiled naughtily. "Are you going to peep?" he teased.