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Chapter 2: Dark Past

Jordan and Mc Arthur had woken up before the sun rose, quickly grabbing a few things and food before heading straight into the forest, as Mc Arthur said it would be completely unwise to travel on a controlled path for now. by the kingdom. Jordan noticed anyway that he had probably taken a tour of his house because he was now wearing a walking outfit with two swords on his right hip and a black cowboy-style hat that he didn't have the day before. Jordan also noticed the bag the man was carrying, which must have contained weapons.

• I think we're quite far from the village, get out now. Jordan ordered to his bracelet.

The wolf spirit then came out of the bracelet as in the priest's house and stretched out its arms as if it had just woken up.

• Why did you take that thing out! McArthur began to grumble.

• I am not a thing but a spirit. Replied the wolf.

• Spirit! Ah, don't make me laugh, I'm not going to take away your demon title just for a nice story you told last night. Highness you should throw this thing away, even I can destroy the bracelet if you want to.

• No, we keep it. went out Jordanunder the incredulous look McArthur. We cannot part with it for several reasons: firstly, it will be able to fight the other spirits that our enemies have. Secondly he is my only defense in case we get separated and finally he surely has some useful information that he can give us when we need it.

• Very well your highness, I can deny that if we ran into several demons I could not protect you alone. Moreover you are right, this beast will surely be able to tell us useful things if it does not lie of course.

• Well, a good thing settled. The next one is “your highness” that you keep saying, is going to have to stop.

• Yet you are a member of the royal family and its last heir and I am your servant, I cannot call you otherwise.

• I am an unknown prince whom nobody knows the existence, moreover by taking him out all the time one risks that somebody hears him by accident which risks to be problematic to maintain my anonymity. And I don't like to be called that at all.

• Very good your…. I mean okay Jordan.

• Good.

McArthur then took the front leaving Jordan and the wolf a little alone behind, he took the opportunity to observe his familiar more closely. Already he noticed that his eyes shone of a ruby color, his skin was entirely black with silver reflections in the sun, moreover one could clearly see through it that the wolf sported a magnificent musculature.

• By the way, I didn't ask you yesterday, what's your name? Because I'm not just going to say orders like that without your name. Jordan asked with a blank goal.

• My name is Shadow. He replied with a happy smile.

• Nice to meet you Shadow, I'm Jordan. He replied with a toothy smile. By the way, what are your powers?

• Ah yes my powers, I am a spirit of darkness to begin with. So I have the shadow power, but it's pretty weak, I can just dive into one and come out. After that I have the power of regeneration, which allows me to heal my wounds on my own.

• You are not a demon but you have just confessed that you are a spirit of darkness. pulled Then McArthur.

• Each spirit has one element and in very rare cases two. And for the record, darkness is just as much an element as light.

• Ok, let's avoid arguments, okay? Jordan cut off. So what's your story?

• I was invoked two centuries before the war of the spirits by a Lord. This one had a problem with his flocks of sheep, in fact the sheep disappeared anytime during the day and there were often traces of blood. He thought it was a simple group of wild beasts, my contract was to help him get rid of the threat and protect the beasts and when he died I was free, for that he made this bracelet on purpose with patterns wolf so that he would be resistant to time and because he wanted a wolf.

Accepting this contract was the biggest mistake of my life, the beasts in question were in fact a neighboring army which gathered more and more in the forest. It happened that when I found out it was too late, the kingdom fell as well as the castle, my master fought to the end but ended up badly injured. I managed to escape with him, but his wounds ended up killing him and I ended up locking up in that fucking bracelet for centuries. All this because Monsignor did not want to die and then had decided that he would live.

• I'm sorry for what happened to you. Jordan said to him while taking him in his arms while taking a puff of his perfume.

• What about the demon war? McArthur asked.

• I already said that I was a spirit not a demon. But hey, no I did not participate, I only know part of the story from what I heard after waking up.

• I know the whole story and the real one. Cut a deep male voice that Jordan recognized.

Jordan then turned back to notice that his spirit friend had followed him, it was Vento. Vento was a spirit of the wind that Jordan had known from childhood, they had never parted except when Vento had urgent business or other matters but their longest separation was five days. Jordan had always found his friend beautiful, he was a half-hawk spirit, and his feathers were all silver with some hint of black in some places, more specifically, black lines that formed stripes on his back. In addition to the stripes on his back, a pair of shiny silver wings was sticking out of it, he flew with ease with her and had shown Jordan his abilities several times. Of course Jordan had studied his friend's body a lot and he had clearly seen that he possessed quite impressive musculature that even once he had asked how he could be so muscular that the hawk had just said "it's natural." ".

• If you know the whole story, why haven't you told me? Jordan asked.

• I wanted to prevent you from sorting out things that might have upset humans. But given your current situation, I think you should know everything.

The war of the demons started with arguments all over the different countries. A person with a familiar trying to take control of a village and then this one being thwarted by a villager who made a contract. That sort of thing.

But all of this has led to a drastic increase in spirit in your world, between the new contracts, the old ones and the ones that had not been released, their numbers have become explosive. There was at least one familiar in every village, and yet some might have more than one.

All of this led to a great deal of tension which eventually erupted in the form of all-out and widespread war. Humans kept summoning new spirits to fight those of their enemies who of course did the same. The war lasted for several years in which many humans and spirits lost their lives, unfortunately this resulted in a very serious reaction.

As you know we are nature spirits, our goal is to balance your world and nature, we act as a counterweight in the balance of the fragile balance of nature. But our numbers having diminished so much, the balance was upset, the war had to end otherwise the humans, this world and us, would be dead.

A big decision was made, the six most powerful spirits made a contract with humans who wanted the end of the war. The contract being to kill the contracting parties and break the bonds of the contract to send the spirits back to their world to fight the imbalance. These six humans are the six heroes of your legend.

With the incredible power of their familiars, they brought the war to an end quickly and we had to make sure that no more spirit contracted, because the balance had not returned and it would take centuries for it to return. Our world was then blocked from humans and spirits from each element were chosen to rule over their element and impose the rules.

The consequence of all this was that by closing our world, our plane of existence has moved closer to ours, so we can continue our mental tasks, which is why you see us as if we were in your world. And finally each hero kept his mind to protect this world and avoid a new war of the spirits.

• I never thought that this war had such serious consequences on our world. Jordan wondered.

Shadow hadn't whispered a word to him of the story Vento had told him and remained very silent.

• So that means that the royal family of this country is really the descendants of the hero of the earth?

• Yes, the spirit of the earth is in their castle well hidden. He has served them for several centuries now. You yourself are a descendant of this hero for information.

• Oh yes it's true. I can't get used to it, me prince, it's really out of the ordinary. It reminds me of when people laughed at me like the pope.

• Yes it's true, but I sincerely hope that this new king who wants to conquer the world will not get his hands on the power of the land weapon. Continued Vento very worried.

• The land weapon? asked Jordan.

• What! What did you just say! Cried McArthur suddenly. How did you hear about the land weapon? It is the legacy of divine power entrusted to the ancient hero who created this kingdom.

• Vento, he told me about the war of demons which were in fact spirits. He told me that the powers of the divine heroes would actually be the most powerful spirits in their element.

• What is this nonsense? You demon or spirit is not trying to change the truth.

• I'm sorry mister truth, but the story of demons was created in order to prevent new people from getting their hands on a familiar. Shadow cut him off then. And if there is such a powerful spirit in the castle, it is in our interest that my former grand master never gets his hands on it.

******

McArthur had had a hard time digesting all this news, he then resumed his journey without stopping once while remaining silent. Jordan and the spirits respected his will for silence andsilently followed him , but when he started to get really dark Shadow intervened.

• And, the soldier. Called out the wolf.

• Leave me alone demon. This call took him out of his thoughts.

• It's going to be dark soon, I don't mind being in a hurry but nobody knows where we are and the people looking for us have surely not learned that the kidnapping attempt had ended badly. We could land for the night.

McArthur then looked back at Jordan then at the sky and stopped.

• We're going to camp here tonight. He declared. I'll go find something to make wood.

• Very good soldier, I take care of the game, everyone.

Shadow disappeared thenin the shadows under everyone's gaze, as for McArthur, he went to look for some kindling to light a campfire. The two had left Jordan alone, well not really alone, he was with Vento. He then sat down on the ground and began to collect stones to form a circle for the fire.

• Not very chatting since Monsieur serious about spoiling the atmosphere. Vento laughed then, which gave Jordan a small smile. What is going on ? You're never that calm, usually, what's bothering you?

• You knew that, didn't you?

• About what ? I do not understand.

• My real parents? You knew who they were, I understood that when you mentioned the weapon. You know the royal family very well, so you must have known that.

Vento could clearly see pain in Jordan's gaze, not anger.

• Indeed, when we spirits, we realized that you saw and heard us, we panicked a little. We then did a meticulous search on you and found out the truth.

• Why haven't you told me?

• I wanted you to be safe, can you imagine two seconds if someone found out? He would have used you and even you might be dead by now. You are my friend, I want you to stay in a safe place, so I didn't say anything.

Giving his answer he put his hand on Jordan's shoulder, Jordan couldn't feel it but he felt the gentle breeze of the wind protecting him, he then put his hand on that of the hawk. They stayed like that for a while until McArthur came back with some dry wood and lit the fire just in time because Shadow came back with four rabbits in his hands.

The meal was spent in silence and calm, McArthur emptying the game, cooking it before giving it to Jordan who ate it greedily, not having been able to eat anything at noon following the anger of the militiaman. After the meal Mc Arthur asked Jordan to sleep while he showed the guard.

• I can stand soldier guard, I don't need a lot of sleep, and I can sleep in the bracelet during the day. So I can stand guard if you want. proposed Shadowthen.

• Thanks for the offer, but I'll take care of myself , demon. He replied dryly.

Jordan seeing another argument looming on the horizon got angry then, he didn't want to go through another day like today at all.

• That's enough both! He shouted. No more fighting, we all know we need Shadow, and McArthur has a plan, so we have to stick together and work together. So McArthur, do a first round while Shadow and less were asleep, then you will wake up Shadow to take you back so that you can sleep, because we need you in good shape for my survival. And that's an order.

The two looked at him with wide eyes not believing what he had just witnessed, even Vento was shocked at the reaction but smiled when he understood the reason. Both were under his command so they were now forced to make peace or else he would risk their master's complaints.

Jordan then lay down with Shadow, this one wrapping his arms around the prince to keep him warm, while McArthur moved away a little to make his patrol.

• You are so soft and warm and you smell Well. came out Jordanhalf asleep.

Shadow did not know how to react to these words, luckily for him, Jordan was asleep, Mc Arthur was elsewhere and Vento was not present. He just tightened his grip around the boy and smelled his scent. From the first night he had found it very pleasant, wishing he could spend time with the boy, but knowing that was impossible. Then the boy had taken the bracelet and had become his new master giving him a chance to get close but this spirit had to step in, he suspected that Vento would not be happy at all if he did something with the boy. He then decided to give up, knowing that he was close to him was already something good, he could protect this one in case of a problem with his body.

His body ... This thought made a choc Shadow who was thought to protect one of his two masters with his life even if he was related to them. He had of course heard some rumors in his day about true masters, a familiar could feel a much deeper connection to a particular human. This leads to several reactions, firstly a desire for him, secondly a willingness to sacrifice himself for him if necessary and finally a bond was created which made it possible to feel each other as well as share their emotion. Fortunately he didn't have any of these symptoms, wanting to protect him at this point surely came from his young age and purity.

He fell asleep then with his very agitated thoughts.

Shadow and Jordan were all alone in a clearing, a fire was slowly burning and you could clearly smell it. Jordan stood on Shadow kissing him vigorously and Shadow returning the kiss while smelling the scent and body of his lover. It was a perfect moment, ideal even, but suddenly Shadow felt someone shake him when he just wanted to stay there.

The jerk was in fact McArthur who woke him up so that he would do a tour of duty so that the soldier could sleep. His dream had marked him greatly. "How can I want it so badly?" I've only known him for a day. This question was circling in his head as he scoured the forest for the slightest danger, but the only thing he encountered was this frightening wild spirit. He wanted to leave immediately after seeing her, but he had questions he wanted to know the answers to.

• We can talk a bit ? Asked the wolf in a polite way.

• Aren't you on guard? What would happen if someone approached? Replied the hawk.

• I know very well that you also stand guard and that you wouldus of warn the slightest concern.

• Alright, you're right. What do you want that can't wait.

• I have several questions that I'm sure Jordan shouldn't hear. As he said this Shadow saw that Vento was glaring at him. I don't plan on telling him, don't worry.

• What are these famous questions?

• Why did you lie to Jordan?

• What are you talking about I never told him a lie! offense The hawk took.

• What about our world? The look of offense quickly turned to shock.

• He doesn't need to know.

• What do you want to protect him from? Fear that the world has been on the verge of being wiped out? That because of humans and their greed we had to make all the sacrifices ourselves? Or that our world was destroyed to save this one? What explains why we live in this world but in a different plane of existence?

• He must not know you understand? Suddenly the mind got angry, letting a large amount of energy overflow.

• If I wanted to tell him I would have. But why hide it from him?

The hawk sighed before looking at the stars in the sky. Shadow followed his gaze and was amazed to see that the sky this day was much more beautiful and brighter than before.

• He's too sensitive. snapped out Vento.

• What do you mean ?

• If he found out, I'm sure he would feel guilty, plus he would probably want to make things right, even if it endangered him.

• I understand ... But I still have a question. How is it ?

The hawk sighed and lowered his head, knowing in advance that this question would be asked over and over again, and that one day an answer would be expected.

• We do not know yet. Me and the others investigated the origin of Jordan's powers, but nothing was discovered. We have been able to formulate a few theories without being able to verify a single one. On the other hand, I am very surprised that the new "king" could have thought that such a person could exist, that worries me a lot, especially since he chose this kingdom by chance for his coup d'état.

"Wait, don't you think he knew someone with that power was in this realm?" It would be absurd, no spirit knew of such a thing, besides the wild spirits did not want to communicate with us at all.

• Normal, in the new rules, it is forbidden to communicate with a familiar unless agreed.

• You were careful, it's good to have included this rule to avoid problems. You react quickly.

Shadow had just complimented the reaction time of the spirits to the situation of the familiars of the old days. But Vento knew that this rule was war and that no one had seen the familiars coming until it was too late. In addition, neither of them had been able to see the king, it was clear that he had a familiar which camouflages him and his gestures. But how ? This is the most important and the most incomprehensible question.

• Well, our conversation is over, you should put some wood back on the fire and continue your patrol, good evening.

Following which the hawk flew into the starry sky, leaving the dark wolf alone in the dark.

******

The next morning the awakening was less catastrophic than would have Jordanthought, in fact, McArthur's mood seemed good and he did not seem to be looking for a confrontation with his familiar. This good humor must have been due to the pheasant roasting over the fire and smelling really good, another Shadow hunt no doubt.

So breakfast went quickly and well, dividing the game into three and then tidying up and erasing the tracks before leaving on the road, still going deeper into the woods. Shadow had withdrawn into the bracelet in order to rest, which had left only Jordan and Mc Arthur alone walking in the woods in a leaden silence.

• Excuse me McArthur, but what is the plan? Jordan asked breaking the silence.

• Ah, yes the plan. It is very simple, I take you to the city of California in the South-East of the country. He explained.

• California! Jordan exclaimed with joy. It's great, I will finally be able to visit the southern beaches! In addition, I have a friend who lives there most of the year, I could finally see him again…. The last time I saw it, it was there there's three years during the hot weather.

• A friend ? I didn't know you had one from there. Mc Arthur was interested

• It's normal, it's a spirit.

At his answer, McArthur made a face. He had to make sure that the prince stopped hooking up with his demonic creatures, and that even if he had to listen to himself on the spot, he would choose another destination. But that was impossible, it was the only solution to put him in safety, as they said to choose between the plague and the cholera, as much to take the less dangerous.

• Ok, so we're going to California, but what to do there? continued Jordan.

• We are going there so that I can entrust you to your grandfather.

• My grandfather ! But I thought all the royals were dead.

• Not him, your maternal grandfather.

• Why are we going to his place? I thought no one knew of my existence?

• It's true, but I have enough to prove your affiliation with his daughter. This will keep you safe while I do what I need to do.explained then McArthur.

• You'll go ? I thought you had to protect me? Jordan pulled out this sentence with a hint of sadness.

• Don't worry kid, it will only be temporary. Do you remember that I was given documents attesting to your heredity? I have to get them back, unfortunately you are a target so it is better that you stay as far away from the capital as possible and under the supervision of someone who will keep you alive.

• He will not find it weird that overnight his little son shows up at his door? Besides, you have to know safer places and people to keep me.

• Like I said, I have irrefutable proof. And of course, I know other places and people, but they will never be as concerned about you as a member of your family. In addition to your grandfather and a rich merchant who obtained a title of nobility, he will be able to teach you etiquette as well as manners and conveniences in high society.

Jordan understood then that going to his grandfather was the surest way to educate him so that he would become king in due course. It was a winner for everyone, he was trained to be a good nobleman and once the "big bad" died, he ascended the throne without being called a bumpkin came out of his campaign.

• Okay, I understand why you want me to go there so badly. But how are we going to get there? By walking like this we won't get there for at least five months.

• We are going to take a train, well, we are going to try to take a train in a rather distant town, so we will only be a few days away by train. And to go unnoticed, we will say that we are father and son and that we are taking a trip to see family.

Jordan exploded with laughter at McArthur's explanation which pissed him off at the highest point, he did not understand how we could laugh at his plan so well thought out openly.

• What makes you laugh so much in my plan? He asked annoyed.

• Look at me and you will understand.

• I see you and I still don't understand.

• Even Shadow would realize the obvious, we are not father and son at all. He replied while laughing.

• What are you implying? That I am too old. He got angry even more.

• Our outfits? I wear old peasant clothes, and you are dressed like a bourgeois. We will never pass for a father and his son, everyone will think that I am your servant. And I don't even know your first name.

McArthur looked better at his clothes and those of the prince and immediately understood his allusion, it hurt his heart not to have any beautiful clothes to give him. But what hurt him even more was surely that Jordan did not see him at all as a possible relative, knowing what was planned before the death of his mother…

• Lancelot, Lancelot Mc Arthur. Here is my full name and for your clothes, we will buy some at the next store.

At her words, he took a quicker step to convey the end of the conversation and put a distance between them while mentally repeating to himself: "You are his servant, not his father." You are his servant, not his father. You are his… ".