Important Things to Hear

 

Night once again filled the sky. I slowly woke up because I could not sleep any longer, but I kept my eyes closed. I listened carefully; of course, I heard no breathing from Flarth or Trans. I heard soft and faint breathing in the other side of the room. I knew that it was Silest. I listened a bit longer and then heard the door opening and someone’s footsteps coming closer toward me. The footsteps became slightly louder, yet still quiet enough for the others to sleep. I then heard something being unsheathed. I kept my eyes closed and continued to listen. That person stopped in front of me.

I heard a faint laugh. “Little brother’s sleeping,” Zen quietly said. I could tell that it was him from his rough, cold voice. “Good. He’s quite helpless then.”

I heard him swing something to his other hand and swung again against my neck. It felt like a metal spear. Zen was about to push it into my neck, but I managed to grab it right out of his hands before he could.

“Don’t even try,” I said with my eyes still closed. “Heh. You’re pathetic.”

I could hear him breathing, but no reply to what I had said. I sat up from my bed and opened my eyes to look at him. He was scowling at me and I replied by raising an eyebrow.

“How did you hear me?” He finally asked.

“I was already awake,” I replied. “Why were you trying to kill me?”

“Killing you would give me back my ‘rightful’ position to be next ruler of this island.”

My eyes widened. “Ruler? Of this island?”  My jaw drops and my eyes twitched in excitement. “Could you repeat that, please? I’m not quite sure if I heard you correctly.”

“You heard right,” he sighed. “You’ll be king in two weeks and a half.”

“Two WEEKS and a HALF?!” I shouted. I was about to shout out some more, but Zen put his hand over my mouth.

“Quiet, you’ll wake the others,” he said. “Lets go somewhere else if you want to shout about it.”

I nodded and he took his hand off my mouth. I got off my bed and we both walked out the door. Everyone else was sleeping at this time, I thought. I ran down the hall and out the door while Zen just followed me slowly. We reached the door leading outside. I opened it quietly and let Zen go out first.

When we were outside, I walked toward a large boulder and sat down on it while Zen just stood there in front of it. I looked down at him, noticing the blood stains on his trench coat from last night’s fight. He looked really messed up. I had bruises and cuts all over my body, and a badly damaged neck from being choked hard many times. Luckily, my wounds have almost fully healed. Zen, in the other hand, had a broken shell, wings that were badly damaged, and a scar above his left eye.

“Zenith,” I started. “Sorry about last night.”

He looked up at me and smirked. “I should be the one to be saying sorry. I was the one who stared it all.”

“Are you alright? The wounds, I mean.”

“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be fine, little brother,” he shakes his head. “I’ll live. You were pretty beaten up yourself.”

I slightly smiled. “Being hit with a red beam and choked almost to death isn’t as bad as a broken shell and being kicked on the chest.”

“Peh, you kidding me?” He laughs. “That’s just as bad!”

We were both silent for a long time. I looked at the night sky. Zen looked down at the ground. After a few minutes, I started to talk more to myself than to Zen.

“Hmm… Two and a half weeks and I’ll be ruler of this place.”

Zen crossed his arms and grunted. “You’re too immature…so am I in fact.”

“But, Zen, why me?” I asked. My eyes faded from sky blue into emerald green. “Why not you? You are the oldest.”

He shifted his eyes at me. “Father thought that you were more suited than I. I have too much greed and selfishness, he said,” he let out a sorrowful sigh. “He told me that when all of you were asleep. He’s right. I tried to kill you in your sleep.”

I scratched the back of my head. “Why now? How come he is making me ruler at this time?”

“He ain’t really happy being king,” he says as he decides to climb the boulder. “He misses mother and he’s miserable.”

“I don’t even remember mother,” I look down.

“Silest can help you with that problem…” he puts a hand over his left shoulder. “Do you remember living in a castle?”

I turn my head to face him. “No…”

He looked up at the star filled sky. “Nor did I. Only Silest knew, with her memory magic and all that kept her from forgetting.”

“Did Mega Flare make us forget?” I asked as I looked around, making sure that Flare wasn’t hiding anywhere.

“Could be, he has magic that’s the complete opposite to Silest’s.”

I look up at sky again. “Yeah, I already knew that…” I look down at my feet. “… I wonder what it is going to be like being a king.”

Zen smacks me on the back of my head. “Don’t you be acting like a wimp now.” Zen rubs his hands on my head and makes my hair messy. “Ya hear me, brother?”

“Yeah. I know. I know,” I said as I tried to push him away. I tickle him a bit and he stops. We both start laughing. Suddenly, I hear the door open behind us. Zen falls off the rock. I turn to see our father. “Hello, father.”

“Hey, dad,” Zen says with a cough.

Father walks over to Zen and picks him up by the collar. “You should be resting,” he sets Zen  on his feet and pushes him towards the door. “Go to sleep now,” he turns to me. “Did Zenith tell you?”

“Yes,” I reply. “Two weeks and a half. I better prepare.”

“You’re fine just the way you are, son,” he says as he walks over to me. “Just be yourself,” he smiles a toothy grin, revealing fangs.

I was surprised. “F-father,” I said slowly. “Can I ask you something?”

“Of course you can.”

“Are those vampire fangs or are your teeth just long?”

He raised an eyebrow at me and started to laugh. “Clever boy. Clever boy indeed! You have a good eye there, my son.”

“….?” I frowned at him.

He stopped laughing. “Yes, Travallian. I am a vampire as well as you are.”

“How can that be? When did that happen?” I asked.

“I was born this way believe it or not. My father was attacked by a vampire when he was young,” he smiles again. “I named you after him, Travallian.”

“What?!” My eyes widen. “Does that make us all vampires then?”

He shook his head. “Somehow, your brothers and sisters didn’t become vampiric, but somehow only you received my curse.”

“But…I became a vampire because of Zen,” I was getting confused.

He shook his head once again. “Your transforming powers were affected. A few of your transformations are vampiric because of me. I don’t know why your ParaTroopa form is normal,” he look at the ground for a few seconds then look back at me. “You should go back in and get some more rest.”

“Okay, father,” I say while jumping off the boulder and walked towards the door.

As I passed my father, I heard him faintly say “You’ll be fine, kid.” I slightly nodded as a reply.