Twinkle's Story: Chapter 36

*Here with Chapter 36. Enjoy!*
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GUARD

"W-What do you mean by that?" a fox stammers, his forehead creased in thought. He sighs, throwing his two paws in the air, a stretch. "What's he got to do with them anyway?"

Another member speaks. "If what you're telling us is true," he turns his head to face me, "then you must be really, really stupid." The other members in the circle nod their heads in agreement, and mutter among themselves.

"Shut it! That's what we're doing, and that's final!" I yell, slamming my paws on the edge of the table in front of me. As someone is about to object, I say much softer, "If none of you filthy brains have respect for him, then stay home. I need to do this for his sake, and none of you are going to change that."

The fox who raised his paw and who I interrupted pipes up. "Guard Taurel, I've known your father before you were born, and I know he wouldn't want you to do this. You're just going to cause us all worrying for no reason at all."

I stand up from my chair, hearing the chair legs squeak on the gray and white tiled floor. My right eye twitches in agitation. "All of you.... All of you are downright wrong! You just don't get it!"

The same fox who spoke my name before says, "Fierdan could just be a coincidence. Perhaps it's just a coincidence that his name also happens to be Fierdan."

"Coincidence, eh? I don't think so. No one in their right mind would choose to name their child after the most horrific fox in Jamaasian history. The word 'Fierdan' doesn't just translate to mean 'little fire'. Except if that Fierdan guy made the true meaning of the word be cursed. I'm not exactly sure myself, but there must be a reason why his phantom name is Fierdan. My guess is that they're connected in some way."

A different member speaks up. "I agree with Guard Taurel. We should go after that renamed Fierdan guy and arrest him at once! He has phantom blood, or whatever phantoms have, in his veins. If that's not a good enough reason for you guys, then I don't know what is!"

As he is about to push his chair back to stand up, I say softly, "No, it's more complicated than that, Guard Risak. We need to formulate a plan before we go and--"

"Execute him!" Guard Risak interrupts.

I slowly shake my head. "Don't get ahead of yourself. Of course I want that Fierdan descendant guy dead more than anybody. He killed more members of my family than any other, and the mention of his name caused my own father to die. Having the sudden weight of being the leader of the fox government's guards is a heinous task to handle, believe me. Fierdan..." My eyes flash open wide, "That's it! I remember her saying that he goes by the name 'Duke' now."

"'Duke'? Why would he of all people go by a name that follows the code? Is he trying to manipulate us, or what?"

I close my eyes and sit back down. "No, I'm pretty sure she admitted that this Duke guy had been purposefully.... purposefully......."

"Huh?" a few of the guard members ask in complete puzzlement.

I stare off at the far right corner of the room we're in. The tiny hint of a scratch is there, reaching from where the wall and the ceiling intersect to where it stops going down the wall a few millimeters downward. "Calliah didn't bring up the guy named Fierdan at all, she just said that Duke's name also happens to be that name. But when I listened in on what she was saying that first night I left her in the prison cell, that was when it began to become rather interesting."

"Go on...." the rest of them say, urging me to tell them what I heard. I take a breath and tell them what she had whispered in the loneliness of that prison cell.

"'I did it to protect him. It's better if he doesn't know all the damage he's caused. If he does, then I'm not sure how he'll go on living. It's better if he just doesn't know and restarts his life than having to endure remembering all he's done. Reincarnations usually have hold of the same memories and actions of the ones they're reincarnated from, but I couldn't bare the chance of that demon coming back to life. So that's why I used the ancient memory-wipe spell on him. So he could be his own person, not having a bad reputation by society; be free from his own scars. I only did it to protect him. To protect....'"

"'Reincarnation'? That means Fierdan and Duke are connected."

"Yep, they're so much connected that they're basically the same person! Another reason why we should track this Duke fellow down! We don't want a Fierdan to haunt and traumatize this generation as well!"

I ask a question meant only for myself in a distant voice. "Why would she go so far to protect him? He doesn't even know anything about any of this. So why...."

Suddenly, I feel a pat on my right shoulder. I turn around to see Guard Risak's face beam.

"Just remember when you think the time is right, I'll gladly go with you. All the deaths in your family caused by this blasted Fierdan will be avenged. Justice will be served, Guard Taurel. I will go find this Fierdan person alive or dead with you by my side. I'm certain on that."

I slowly nod my head, our eyes locking. I end up whispering, "Thank you, friend. I knew I could count on you."

This time I won't make a single mistake. Fierdan, you're going down.

But deep within my heart, something tells me I'm doing the wrong thing.


DUKE

I stretch my paws in front of me, seeing them fade back to being visible again. I breathe a sigh of relief.

Hidden behind a black cloud that formed in what looks like never-ending darkness, I hear that same voice again. "Now do you have the slightest clue?"

"That I'm what? A reincarnation?"

I hear laughter coming in the direction of the voice. I then see this pale gray ghostly fox figure go around the black cloud it was hiding behind moments earlier. The ghostly figure makes that Fierdan spirit seem like an actual physical fox compared to it. I can't even distinguish this person being male or female.

"So you aren't just a voice, huh? Then who in the world are you?" I ask, eyeing it up and down.

The ghostly fox figure finally opens their eyes. They're just blank white eyes. No pupils, no irises, nothing. "That's a good one. A real good one!"

I just roll my eyes. I've never felt so uncomfortable in my life being around this ghostly person.

"You're being used as a tool just by existing and living. You're part of Fierdan's plan, Duke."

I sigh, exasperated. "Yeah, yeah. You've already told me that. You don't have to retell me."

The white eyes continue to stare at me. The eye gaze is so intense it feels like they're staring into me. Observing me inside and out. "If Fierdan isn't so keen on making his existence be known forever, on being immortal, he wouldn't make a copy of himself to live in a later generation- which is you. Without you existing, his plan for immortality wouldn't be as successful. If you were never here, Duke, then Fierdan wouldn't be immortal. Being his reincarnation just gives him more power. But on the other paw, if Fierdan never wanted to try to achieve immortality, you'll not be apart from him. Let's say that Fierdan doesn't want to be 'immortal' anymore. For that to be achieved, you have to die."

I just listen to what the voice is telling me. After a minute's pause, it says, "You don't want that to happen, don't you? You don't want to possibly die. Right?"

I pause in hesitation before saying, "Hold on a second. A few minutes ago, it clearly looked like you wanted me to die. You repeatedly saying, 'exterminated' makes me think you want me gone. But now you're telling me what sounds like a warning. A warning that sounds like 'immortality' keeps me, Duke, alive. So what's your deal?"

I hear a long sigh. "Okay, okay. I'll let myself go. I'll tell you about me."

I perk an ear up. "Well, what is it?"

The ghostly person closes their large blank white eyes, and takes a single deep breath. "I'm not exactly a fox. Or any animal, haha. I'm un-ordinary because I'm merely a mix of emotions. One moment I could be your archenemy, the next I could end up being your ally. And vice-versa, of course. That's just who I am. I'm just a loner whose only goal is to conquer and control the souls of others. Trying to find my place among others. It's complicated at first, but I get settled in at some point."

"Okay, you're just weird," I mutter.

"Well, that's how I am. "

"Do you at least have a name?"

"Why yes I do," the eyes blink open in a flash of white in the dark, "I'm called Soulless."

After we talk for around a half hour, Soulless asks, "So what do you say, Duke Fierdan?"

Soulless seems to be on my side now. I then remember what it said, 'I'm trying to help you'.

But I also remember Soulless causing all those faces to show up. One of those faces was Twinkle's. Saying all those people would betray me can't be let off easy.

Oh, another person I have to destroy.

But I just reply, "Oh, I would love to."

"It's good to hear that we're getting along. I know we went off on a rough start."

"You didn't let me finish. He told me everything. He told me what you did to him. The evil coaxing, the electric shocks, the force," I take a brief pause, "You see, Soulless, I would love to destroy you."

Soulless gives me a puzzling look.

I respond by closing my eyes to slits with only the fiery color of the irises glowing out. I grin as I see my claws surrounded by bright orange flames, followed by the rest of the tips of my fur surrounded by the flames as well.

The white eyes widen in shock. "W-What? I didn't wear off the flame-resistance spell. This can't happen!"

I growl, "I know you're never going to be an ally that supports Fierdan. Saying lies about Twinkle can't, and never will, be left off easy."

I hear myself screaming, "NOBODY JOKES ABOUT BETRAYALS TO ME!"

When I run up to Soulless to devour him or her in flames, even though I already know that won't have any effect on him or her, I imagine Fierdan being at my side fighting.

That thought just makes me smile.

When Soulless looks defeated, I whisper something in one of the gray ears.

"You might of hurt us in the beginning, but you will pay the price. I'm sure of it."

"O-Okay...."

"I don't like betrayals."

The next second later, Soulless vanishes into thin air. It reveals an exit from this area filled with darkness. I stare at it perplexed, but I walk towards it.

As I enter the sunlight, my flames diminish. With Twinkle being the only thing on my mind now, I make myself a promise.

I'll make sure the both of us never get betrayed by a single soul ever again.


TWINKLE

I pace back and forth. Does it have to do with the black flames or something? Where did they take him?

"Hey, why are you crying?"

I turn around. "Duke!" I suddenly feel a rush of adrenalin and happiness, and I run up to him. Tears still flow down my cheeks as I wrap my arms around him in a hug. "I thought you were a goner."

Duke just gives me a confused look. Did he not notice he disappeared? "What are you talking about? I've been here this entire time. Right?"

I take a long breath. "No, you just vanished into thin air around two hours ago. I couldn't find you anywhere or find what took you away. It was the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

"I actually vanished? Into thin air?"

I just nod my head meekly.

"Well, it wasn't necessarily 'fun' being away from you," Duke says. Saying that makes me blush immediately.

As I'm about to ask what happened to him, I notice how worn down he looks. "Whoa there. What in the world happened to you?"

"Ah, it's nothing."

All of a sudden, I smell salt. I perk my ears up. "Do you smell that?"

"Smell what?" Duke asks, exhaustion creeping up on him.

I just walk forward and turn a sharp corner. "Is that what I think it is?" I ask.

Duke's eyes widen in shock. "Oh my gosh Twinkle, you're a genius!"

I giggle softly.

"Let's never leave each other's side ever again!" he says loudly, running ahead of me.

"Hey, wait up!" I call after him, getting on my feet again.

We're both breathless as we see what's in the distance.

"Water...." I gasp.

Off in the distance in the direction we're heading in is a large body of endless flowing blue.

Duke takes short and quick breaths. "We've reached it, Twinkle. The end of Jamaa." He wraps his right paw around my back.

For some unknown reason, that last sentence he said makes me feel like something disastrous is going to happen.

I just ignore that thought, and sigh in victory. Now no more sad tears are here; just tears of joy.