Lord Shadow

‘Thinking about it again, I would rather it show me dead. Instead, it shows me of a betrayal of a loved one and the death of a brother’

There is a smile on the corner of his lips. 

Will saw it.

And seeing it he felt sad. 

Because the smile is sad. Could someone who smiles shows such sadness. It is like he was smiling at the irony of fate, laughing at himself like a clown that does not have any jokes.

Azief exhale and then he continues his words

‘And for the first time, I found myself scared. With every move I make, I fear that I am walking to that future. I am standing at the top and standing at the top is a very lonesome thing. But at least, when I look down I could see some people that is waiting. I could go down anytime and meet them. And so I did not feel so lonely. One feet of mine is still on the ground. But if even that doesn’t exist anymore, then what is the point of all of this? What is going to tether me to the ground? Truth be told, I am afraid. It felt like I am truly becoming the Heaven. Heartless’

There was silence between the two brothers. 

Will did not know how to comfort Azief. Nor, do Azief need comfort from Will and because both of them know that they both just stand there, waiting for the right moment to speak.

Azief shakes his head, like trying to throw off that thought from his head.

Smiling he then said

‘You were right, Will. I am never one that follows instruction. As such, I need a plan B. I need to confirm thing first. And when I confirm it, then I will need you’ Will sighed and then said

‘I will accompany you to meet her’ Will said, and there is a smile on his face that he is trying to hide.

‘You knew where she is? Azief ask. He thought to himself even Will knew where she was? But before he could ask further, Will shakes his head

‘No, I do not know where she is. If the Oracle really wanted to hide, there is nobody in the world that could find her.’

‘Then…’ Will smiles, looking at Azief questioning face.

‘I bet you know where she is. The Oracle have been hiding from the world since four years ago. No one knows where she is. The World Government, the Republic and the other four great powers have all been trying to search for her. And while they have trained hunters and trackers, they underestimate the Oracle too much. But I bet Loki knows it’

He snorted and then said 

‘That trickster always has some secrets that he kept to herself. Unlike the other world power, he never seems to care that much about the whereabouts of the Oracle. I deduce it was either because he truly did not care about such a dangerous person or he already knew where she is. And then today, when you talk about the Oracle and considering how you did not worry where to find the Oracle, I guess Loki told you where she is. That is all to it.’

Azief nodded

‘It seems you have picked up my habits of being pretend detective�� Will just chuckles. Then Azief said

‘I thought it would be harder than this to persuade you. I thought you would leave’ Smiling Will said

‘And miss that face of yours?’ he laughs.

‘If only you could see your own face. You are very anxious.’

‘And you are way too calm’ Azief retorted. Will laughs and then said

‘Since I could not change it, I should just accept it. That is why I am calm’ Azief shake his head. Will then look back at the painting and then without turning to Azief he asks

‘Will you not visit her?’

‘It seems everybody is worrying.’ Azief simply said

‘She waited six years for you. I think that should count for something’

Will said. And Azief hearing it smiles. And then he laughs. His laugh reverberated inside the gallery. Will hears it and he felt the sound of the laugh is very sad and helpless.

Then Azief said

‘People all think that I treated her bad. I never needed her to do anything for me. I did not love her so she would do things for me. She still felt guilty because of what happened when I fought Purunghasa. She believes that to atone herself, she needs to do thing for me. To sacrifice for me like Katarina did’

Sighing, he then continued 

‘The funny things about this is that I never wanted them to sacrifice themselves for me. If I died that day, I would find it very sad if she lived her life like a ghost. It is the same reason why I never that angry with Sina. I don’t want Sofia to think that she needs to do things and sacrifice things to be with me’ Azief said and there is a bitter smile on his face.

‘No one knows how much I try to protect her and made sure she did not get hurt. And while it is easy for me now to protect her from getting hurt by physical damages, it is not so easy to protect her from pain arising from the heart. Because I do not own her.’

Sighing, he closes his eyes.

‘It is past midnight. It is late’ he suddenly said. Will reply

‘It is not like she need sleep.’

‘I do not know how to face her’ Smiling Will reply

‘It does not matter whether you know or do not know how to face her. What is important is to face her. Don’t be so indecisive. It is not a charming trait to have’ 

Azief chuckles and then he laughs. He opens his eyes and look at Will and he laughs again.

‘HAHAHA’ And the moment he started laughing, he could not stop. 

Will look at Azief and then he also laughs. Nobody knows what they are laughing at and why they are laughing. Maybe because it has been a long time since they laugh?

Or maybe because it has been a long time since these two brothers meet each other. Or maybe because their conversation is really funny when they think about it.

Or maybe it is a simple reason.

Will probably laughs because Azief is laughing and as for the reason why Azief was laughing, who knows? 

Maybe, he himself felt that his action is laughable. Or maybe he suddenly felt that he wanted to laugh. 

Then, they finally stopped laughing

‘What so funny?’ Will ask

Azief smiles and then shake his head.

He did not say anything else as he walks away from the painting. 

The space around him spiraling towards him as the space distorted, creating districted segment of space that crack and then the sound of something breaking could be heard as Azief manipulation of law is creating a horizontal rips of space. 

Before Azief went inside the space rip, he left some words, as his words echoes inside the gallery

‘In five days, we will go to meet the Oracle. Be ready’ 

And when the echoes of the words ended, Azief is no longer inside the gallery. The residence of the Immortal Couple seems to have regained its calm. 

But there is still Will the golden Speedster inside the residence.

Will is still standing there inside the gallery of art, looking at that painting of Pandemonium.

He sighs. He chuckles. And he laughs so hard, he cried. There is a joke here, only he could understand. Probably Azief laugh before is also because there is a joke only he could understand

Will closes his eyes and he dreams of a past that never come into fruition.

Opening his eyes, he is smiling. But his eyes hold a trace of deep sorrow.

‘In the end, we will still meet again’ and as he muttered this word, he thought of the Erika in his vision and the smiles on his face become bitter.

Maybe the reasons that Azief and Will could never smile so freely is because life is so bitter. That even their smiles show their bitterness. 

Some days, they forgot about that bitterness and they laugh and they cry freely. But then, life hits them back and they could only smile bitterly.

His eyes look at the painting, looking at the sky in the painting and the angels with the blackened wing showing their fierce faces to the golden shining sky while knowing fully that their rebellion would end in failure.

He hopes that Azief fate is not as tragic as this painting. 

He then walks away from the painting. Unlike Loki he did not scheme and he did not have so many plans like the Oracles. All he could do is only one thing. 

And that is running. And that is the only thing he needs to do. To keep running. And running fast

‘I think in the end I have to prepare for a race. My speed wouldn’t be enough’ Smiling, he thought of the race had once had before 

‘I don’t want to lose in speed’ he said to himself as he takes a step and only ablur of a flash were left in his stead before even the flash dissipated.

A sonic booms echoes across Pandemonium that night shocking many people. Lightning seems to be zigzagging all over Pandemonium.

And the people of Pandemonium knew, that the Golden Speedster is also finally out. 

Pandemonium do not have any protection formation anymore and as such that flash of lightning not only could be seen in Pandemonium. 

All over the world, the six great powers got reports that a flash of lightning could be seen all over the world. While the night is about to become morning, a flash of lighting circled the world and the six great powers knew something big is about to happen.

Legends are all coming out now like it was heralding the coming of a storm

Meanwhile as that lightning flash leaves Pandemonium, the trees outside the Immortal Couple residence sways and the wind blows gently as calm and peace once again descended. 

The guards all returns back to the residence while talking about their encounter with Death Monarch and probably by the end of next hour the whole of Pandemonium would knew that the Immortal Couple had met with Death Monarch. 

As speculations is abounding among the officials who got the news, Azief arrived in front of a house.

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