My eyes opened slowly.

  It was morning. A good dream haunted my mind last night.

  I always hated nice dreams. Preferred the nightmares. Every time I woke up from a nightmare, I was happy that it was just a nightmare. But the dreams… those brought with the morning a sense of longing to a life I could’ve had.

  …

  Oh well, what can you do? Not like my wife is going to revive herself. So I got up from the bed. But then I remembered. I had a bloody pixie next to me. A pixie who realized at the same time the opposite. A pixie who started yelling as if I could’ve done something to her.

  “Kyaaa, a human… no, a vampire! Help me-”

  “Shut the fuck up,” I muttered, covering her entire head with my fist. “Remember who the fuck saved you before you start yelling.”

  “Mm, mmmm, m,” she replied, flaring her small arms and legs.

  “Promise me you won’t yell like a dumbass, and I will let you go,” I continued.

  “Mm!” she promised… I guess.

  So I slowly opened my fist, pixie drool still attached to my fingers. But at least she didn’t yell further.

  “Phew,” she muttered after a mouthful of air, falling back into the bed. “Thought I was a goner for a second.”

  Still couldn’t decide if that would’ve been for the best, but I assumed the Custodians didn’t want me to save this vocal mosquito just for shits and giggles.

  “Did that sleep help you? I heard your magic was almost depleted,” I sighed, letting go of my earlier frustration, seeing that nobody outside the room heard the woman.

  “Ah, yes, that is true,” she muttered, focusing on herself. “It will take a while to recover fully, but that is what happens when you keep a spell active for a decade, I guess.”

  Seeing that she was at least better, I allowed my body to sink back into the bed so I could talk to my sassy confidant.

  ‘Good morning, sassy machine.’

  [Good Morning.]

  ‘What now?’

  [Get Up.]

  [Answer the Door.]

  At her words, a gentle knock came at the door of my room, making me frown.

  “It’s me, Your Grace,” said Stevin from behind the door, his voice quiet.

  “What now?” the Pixie whispered, panicking.

  “Just stay under the covers,” I whispered back, putting the blanket over her head before getting out of bed, still poorly dressed.

  When I opened the door, Stevin looked at me with sad eyes.

  “Did I wake you?” he asked, seeing how I looked.

  “I was up already,” I shook my head, moving away from the entrance. “Come in.”

  With a quiet nod, he entered the room, heading straight toward the table where he took a seat, sighing heavily. The poor boy, for a moment, looked like an old man, stressed on how to conjure the money to pay his gas bill, not a teenager who should’ve cared for silly things like girls and appearances.

  This was not the life Stevin should’ve lived. And from the way he sighed a second time in a row before I could even close the door, I knew he understood that, too.

  “What’s up?” I asked, turning toward him.

  “The sky?” he frowned, looking at me like I was a madman.

  Even in his situation, he somehow found ways to be a smartass, so I sighed. “I meant to ask what’s wrong? You look like crap.”

  “I feel like crap, too,” he sighed for a third time. “Tell me, Your Grace, what should I do?”

  Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  I could only shrug at the boy. He was like me in many ways. Indecisive. I changed my mind several times on things ever since coming to this world. One thing that looked good in retrospect once changed its meaning when faced with the reality of the situation. I wanted to leave, I wanted to stay. I wanted the others to leave me, so that I could be alone, only to want the others to stay, so that I could not be alone and remember my own grief.

  It was a curse in itself, a mental illness that seemed to have come from insecurities so deeply rooted in my brain that they became part of me. And for the worse, it seemed Stevin was like that, too.

  “You know my opinion,” I shook my head. “Leave with me if you want to leave. Stay and fight if you want to stay and fight. I cannot tell you what to do, Stevin. But it is clear to me that you are not enjoying this life, whether good or not. A few days ago, or however long that was, you were grinning from ear to ear at having a princess as a fiancée, but now you look like you regret your entire life. A person cannot live like this. So either you run away from it all, or see it through.”

  “From it all?” he asked in a whisper.

  “Yes, boy, from it all. Your mother, your father, your sister, your brother, your uncles, aunts, cousins, your death, and your madness. Cause that is what it is, Stevin. No choice should be this difficult, meaning it could only be madness. And by the way you look, by the battle that is soon at your doorstep, it looks like it could also spell your death.”

  “Where to?” he asked next.

  “Where else? The Great Velvet Forests. My home,” I replied. “You either leave your claims, all of them. Or stand by them, and see where they lead.”

  That seemed to bring tears to his eyes, finally leaving the facade he wore behind. “But what if… what if I leave and they all die? What if I stay and die? What if… what if I leave and we could’ve won? We’ve got the help of the Royal Family, their troops, and reinforcements are soon to arrive. Maybe… maybe-”

  “Yes. Maybe you win. Maybe you do not. I am not a seer, my friend. I am but Elio. I told you I cannot choose for you.”

  “Maybe… with you here…” he muttered, tears flowing down his cheeks.

  [New Direction: Stay and Fight.]

  I just love it when others make decisions for me. Be like Elio, everyone. Don’t push others to do your deeds. Do them yourself, or don't do them at all.

  “What happened with ‘I do not want you to get involved. None of you,’ from last night? You sounded so confident.” I sighed in Stevin’s place.

  At my question, he chuckled, then sniffed, before wiping his eyes. “I don’t know, Your Grace. I don’t know anymore.”

  Me neither, Stevin… Me neither.

  But still, I made some decisions. Poor ones by some quick calculations, but decisions nonetheless. With the Directive in place, I couldn’t really leave now, but my companions couldn’t stay either. Especially not Silvien, Arther, Melsa, and little Arthur. It was not their fight.

  “How about this?” I spoke, my red eyes meeting the boy’s brown eyes. “I, alone, stand and help you. I am not sure how, but I could. The rest will leave. Frankly, I couldn’t care less about Enna now, especially after the issue with the High Temples, but the others have to go. If that is fine with you, then so be it.”

  Have you ever seen a sunflower slowly turn its head toward the sun? That’s how Stevin’s expression turned when he heard me. He never wanted to leave this place. He was just afraid of losing. And for some reason, he hoped that I could change the final result.

  “Y-Yes, Your Grace!” he nodded sharply, as if he wasn’t crying seconds ago. “They will not be involved. But I am not sure where to send them. Nowhere near is safe. And it would take far too long for them to reach the Forests.”

  “I have ways,” I sighed twice over, fearing the bastard fooled me again. “Go, you have annoyed me plenty for a morning. Go tell the others to meet me downstairs.”

  “Your Grace,” he sprang to his feet, bowed deeply toward me, and ran out of the room.

  …

  Silence fell over the room for a few moments as my head turned inward, trying to figure out what this all meant. But before I could do that, a Pixie revealed itself from below the blanket.

  “I was wrong,” she said casually. “You are not evil.”

  “Oh?” My eyebrows shot upward. “What then?”

  “A fool.”

  Yep. I guess so, but still, I had to check how much of a fool I was.

  ‘Ephe. Can I send them?’

  [No.]

  Well, there it is. I am a fucking idio-

  [The Custodians have intervened.]

  [They Welcome Elio’s Decision to Stay.]

  [They will Allow it.]

  [This time.]

  [But not all of them.]

  ‘Not to worry.’ I sighed for a third time, this time in relief. ‘Not all of them are welcome in Calcan Castle anymore.’

  After explaining my plan to the Pixie and the shadow in my clothes, I got dressed and went straight downstairs. No toilet yet.

  There, in the main room of the guest mansion, stood all the others, including Stevin, watching me as I approached.

  “Your Grace,” Melsa spoke, getting to her feet in an instant. “You did not call for us last night as you promised. I told you I will not risk the life of my child to-”

  “Cover the windows, Stevin,” I interrupted. “All of them.”

  He looked confused at me for a second, but nodded all the same, putting covers over the windows, sending the room into darkness.

  “Now,” I spoke to the barely visible people in the room. “It is time that some of you take your leave. Relia, come out.”

  And as Relia’s shadow took shape, as the cataclysmic Vampire turned and looked at them, they panicked. Perhaps it was my fault, and how I worded it. But it didn’t matter.

  “Can you do me this favor, Relia?” I asked, looking at her.

  “Of course, Your Grace,” she nodded, red eyes meeting red eyes. “I will care for them, even though I am not familiar with the grounds.”

  “You will quickly get used to them,” I replied.

  “Y-Your Grace?” Silvien stuttered. “W-Where are we going?”

  “Safety,” I smiled, my white teeth visible through the darkness. “My home.”

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