Chapter Text
The marketplace has always been lively, even late in the evening, when people go out into the taverns. Some sat around outside as well, including a bard named Venti, who earned his bread by songs and storytelling. "Good evening, Mr. Bard! The usual again today?" the innkeeper greeted the laddish balladeer.
"You know me all too well, my dear Charles!" he called to him and winked.
"What do you have in mind for us today?", a guest at the next table asked, leaning back in his chair with his pint of ale.
The bard grinned and hopped down from the tree so he could join the gentlemen at the table. He lowered his voice and spoke a little mysteriously: "Today I have something very special for you in mind. A story! A fairy tale, you might think, but it's based on a true incident!"
The guests made big eyes and leaned just as excitedly close to the bard.
"I'm curious about that! What's the name of the story?"
Venti put a finger to his lips before continuing. "Before I tell you, let me give you a well meant warning... Because this fairy tale is nothing for the weak of heart! Maybe some of you need a glass of apple cider to go with it?~", he announced and raised his cup, which the tavern keeper had just given him.
The the flock of people laughed and waved away his words.
"Well - are you folks ready?~" he asked, after taking a sip of his favorite drink.
"Now! The story is about a prince..."
He paused in suspense, with some of the guests rolling their eyes. But none dared to interrupt him.
"... aaand ..."
He took another sip of the exquisite cider.
"... a monster."
Now he had everyone's attention again. He grinned with satisfaction and began to narrate....
1
Fluchtwunder
The young Aether had not even dared to dream how it would be to encounter a real prince. One could see it at once, because he was of such breathtaking beauty that one had to think of a fallen angel when looking at his face. His fine features were just like a painting, his bright eyes and his softly curved, rosy lips. Aether had been a child himself when they first met, but he knew at that very moment that he had fallen immortally in love with the prince. Since status was of great importance in this land, he resigned himself to never being able to please him. For little Aether was merely a poor farmboy who earned his daily bread by selling turnips at the market. His hands were always dirty from the muddy soil, his knees scraped from skidding on sharp stones and grasses. Someone like him would only see the prince from a distance if he ever went near the village. But fate sometimes likes to twist the truth and open up a completely new path.
A path, like this forest clearing, through which the farmboy was just now ambling along with his sister Lumine...
They took a rest from the long way towards the new marketplace with their carriage and while the father Cyrus comfortably smoked his pipe, the children headed into the forest to play. Aether had been hiding from Lumine and she counted to thirty before setting out to find him. He had made himself almost invisible in the branches of an apple tree and was very proud of his hiding place. The scent of the fresh apples on this tree rose to his nose and his mouth watered. Could he pick one without his sister spotting him? He reached out for an apple of his choice, an extremely juicy looking one, but he could only reach it with the tip of his finger.
"Aeeetheeeer, where are youuuu?", she called, distinctly close to him, and he froze in his motion. Peeking through the branches from above, he could locate her white dress, in which she was unsuccessfully hustling past his hiding place. Yes! I'm hidden pretty well!, Aether thought proudly, and after a few more breaths he tried his luck again to get the apple, and yes! There he got it! But his right leg gave way as well and slid down from the bearing branch, he lost his balance and slid out of the tree, landing on the back of his pants in the grass. He quickly got up again, his face twisted in pain, and looked stealthily in the direction in which she had been running, but there was nothing there. Aether breathed a sigh of relief and rubbed his aching rump before he winced again as a voice sounded.
But it was not Lumine.
"Are you all right, traveler?"
The addressed turned around with a jerk to the foreign voice and caught sight of a boy around his age who had silently appeared in the clearing looking at him. He wore elegant clothes of noble shades of white and gold, with very light blond hair that was braided at the sides, and on his head, perfectly framed amidst the silky strands, sat a silvery tiara.
Aether's eyes widened and the apple, which was half rotten anyway, fell out of his hands. What should he do now? Ah, exactly, bow!
"Y-Your Highness!?"
With a flushed face, he stared at the ground, which he almost touched with his nose, before a gloved hand gently touched his shoulder.
"No need for formality. It's just the two of us." Aether lifted his head and saw his smile - a warm, beautiful smile that was so captivating it pulled one corner of the farmboy's mouth right up as well. This boy was a prince for sure, and he was just touching him like that?
"I am Albedo. What's your name?", he introduced himself, placing a hand to his chest. His every move seemed deliberate and as elegant as if he was a statue brought to life.
Aether did likewise, placing a hand on his chest as well.
"Um... My n-name is Aether."
"What a beautiful name." Again he smiled and picked up the apple from the ground.
"Ah- I'm sorry, I didn't mean to steal it! I was just so hungry, ...-", Aether began, somehow minimizing his thievery, but the other boy merely eyed the half-rotten fruit in his hand, looking as if he were trying to hypnotize the apple.
Then - as if through magic - a golden glow surrounded the apple and it looked all at once so bright and juicy red and flawless. The rot had disappeared. The farmboy's jaw dropped.
"You- you can do magic!?", he called out less formally than in surprise, and took the picture-perfect apple again.
"It's much more enjoyable now, isn't it?" The young prince smiled into the still amazed face of Aether and then put a finger to his lips. "That will be our little secret."
The farmboy nodded heavily and then took a bite of the juicy, sweet, rich apple that tasted like it was out of this world and closed his eyes with delight.
"Broootheeeer!", his sister's voice sounded from very close by and Aether widened his eyes in shock. The magical boy had disappeared. The apple slipped from his hand in startlement as Lumine caught up to him and bumped into him from behind.
"You weren't even hiding, Aether! That's not the way to play the game!", she scolded, hands on her hips, while he still looked somewhat blankly at where the young prince had been standing just a moment before.
Was it a dream? Perhaps he had only imagined him...
"Are you all right, little brother?" She looked at Aether from the side, slightly concerned.
He glanced at her, then grinned. "I' m fine, I just got a bit lost. Let's go back to father."
Aether was unsure why he had kept this incident in his mind for so long, remembering this mysterious encounter every time he looked at an apple. Sometimes at night he dreamed of Albedo showing him new magical things, or just standing in front of him smiling. Aether was disappointed every time he woke up.
Even after some years, as a good decade had passed and he had grown into a handsome young man. He still had his golden braided hair, which by now reached his hips, and a straw hat to protect him from the sun. But it could not be avoided that his cheeks and nose always took on a rosy tone from the sun.
It was a hot evening in late summer when Aether kneeled in the cornfield, clearing a section of troublesome weeds. A normal day on the farm, if it weren't for that strange glow among the trees at the edge of the woods. He looked at it for a while, wondering if the sunlight and heat were playing tricks on him. He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his working gloves and got his face dirty with soil. There it was again. The golden glow in the forest. It looked like when the magical young prince had enchanted an apple. This light...
Then it disappeared again. Aether looked at it for a while, but when nothing else happened, he went back to his work until the sun set and everything around him turned crimson. He slowly got up and stretched with relish before grabbing the wheelbarrow and taking it to the compost at the forest's edge.
As soon as he had dumped out the weeds, he saw a silhouette right in front of him in the forest. It had silky, light blond hair and wore a noble robe. In the hand shone a golden light.
That was him. That had to be him!
He also seemed to have grown up, at least he looked taller than he did in Aether's memory.
"Albedo!", he called out his unforgettable name, making him stop, the golden light continuing to hover over his hand so that he could see it clearly. Then he started running, moving deeper into the forest. Aether left the wheelbarrow and hurried after him.
"Please, wait!" he cried, but Albedo always appeared to be faster, even though he wasn't running.
At some point, when he was barely visible, Aether stopped, breathing heavily and holding his stinging side. Why was he running away from him? Had he done anything to him?
It had grown dark by now and it occurred to the farmer that he had no idea where he had been running. The forest was dark and gloomy, everything looked the same. A bad feeling crept into his limbs and he looked around helplessly in all directions. There was no more golden light to be seen, only darkness, that had swallowed him more and more. But all at once Aether could make out something in the sky. It was a warm light that made up part of the sky in the trees. The crescent moon was abruptly covered by what looked like a cloud, only dirtier.
It was smoke.
Then the smell hit his nose.
It was a fire.
He immediately ran in this direction, hoping it wasn't his farm, his home. But with each passing second, the area seemed more familiar and the smoke spread, rising into his lungs, and he started coughing.
Once he reached the edge of the forest, his worst nightmare opened up: his home was engulfed in sky-high flames. His little sister's voice rang out from within, screaming for help.
"Lumine!", he yelled and rushed there immediately, holding the fabric of his shirt protectively over his mouth and nose. A wall of flames in the living room separated her from him. She crouched beside the motionless body of his father.
"Aether!", she screamed, coughing as well.
"I'll get you out of here!", he shouted, holding out his arms. "Come here, quickly! Jump!"
She looked desperate, but stood up, looked once more at her father, and before she could run, a supporting bar of the roof came crashing down, blocking her way to her brother. The flames climbed even higher and Aether could barely see them.
"LUMINE!", he screamed, the smoke scraping painfully in his throat.
"I love you, brother! Please...please don't ever forget that!" Her voice rang out from the flames before she suffered another coughing attack and the wall of fire closed around her entirely.
Full of horror, he was staring towards it, before his survival instinct took hold of him and led him to the exit. There he jumped over some of the flames and tumbled down the hill outside, landing in the field with a heavy thud. He remained there coughing and breathing heavily and suffered a crying fit.
Why them?
Why not me?
Why was I running away?
If I had stayed there, I could have saved my family from the fire!
Outside, a few villagers had gathered and were looking at the burning house. One grabbed and shook the boy by the shoulder.
"You! Lad! Are you all right?" But Aether could no longer give him an answer, as the shock and lack of breath had caused him to faint in the end.
As Aether opened his eyes, he saw nothing but darkness. Something was covering his face. When he tried to move, he noticed that his arms were tied behind his back. He was kneeling on the floor and slightly bent forward. However, something kept him from falling over.
He could make out echoing footsteps and voices.
"…Cyrus' boy? When?"
"They found him after the farm was already on fire," he said.
"Uncover him, but just his head."
The cloth was torn from Aether's face and new oxygen flooded into his lungs, making him feel dizzy without further ado.
In front of him stood a lady with ash-pale skin and red hair that flowed like blood out of her hood. Her eyes, tired yet piercing like frost, were resting on his face and seemed to pierce him to the marrow. Next to her stood a guard who kept glancing furtively at her to take her reactions and instructions.
"What's your name, boy?", she asked in a hard voice, crossing her arms in front of her corpulent chest.
"Aether, Cyrus' son, Your Grace.", he answered honestly, because he surely couldn't go wrong with the truth - he thought.
"So you are the only one alive. They found the bodies of your father and your twin sister. They are burned to the bone. Nothing of the farm was spared from the fire.", she stated dryly and coldly, a shiver running through Aether's body and tears gathering in his eyes given her crude choice of words concerning his beloved family.
Taking in a breath, he was startled when she suddenly leaned down close to him.
"Do you have an explanation for this?"
Aether swallowed for a moment before answering.
"I... I hadn't been at the farm when it happened. Just when I came back, suddenly everything was on fire..."
She was still close to his face and her already heightened eyebrows now disappeared entirely under her red hairline. She had pressed her dark lips together and slowly formed them into a smile. Aether's blood ran cold. He knew now that it made no difference what he told this woman.
"Well, well, well... All of a sudden everything was on fire? How extraordinary..."
Her hand with needle-sharp nails settled under Aether's chin, forcing him to continue looking into her eyes of frost.
"Perhaps we've been doing a little... hexing?"
Now it was entirely clear to him where he was. Those cruel people of the church, who had targeted his family before, because every year, no matter what weather the farm had been exposed to, they had the best harvest. That this was something good after all, none of these people wanted to admit, because it was unusual. Just like it was unusual for a single father to raise twins.
"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Your Grace.", he replied boldly, and she immediately dug her nails into the soft skin of his before letting him go again and falling backwards onto the cold hard floor.
"Your hair is so long, boy... You don't even need an extra rope to be twisted for you," she added, laughing maliciously. "Take him to the cell and prepare for the torturing.", she ordered the guard, while the man who had been standing behind Aether grabbed him by the collar and pulled him to his feet, put the bag over his head again and dragged him down the stairs in front of him, where he threw him over his shoulder and carried him down the stairs. This was a quite friendly gesture, after all, he could have just simply shoved Aether. The rattling of a metallic door sounded and he was pushed through it, where he lost his balance after all and fell onto his side. The floor was moist and it smelled musty. The door slammed shut, a key was turned and it was quiet, only the receding footsteps of the guard and the steady drip of the dungeon could be heard. Aether could see nothing, but he knew he was not alone in the cell. Breathing sounds, which became steadily more intense, as if someone was inhaling air through his nose at full force. Probably his cellmate also had something on his face. Then there was a rustling and chains sounding, the breathing coming closer to him. It almost sounded like an animal sniffing him.
Aether flinched as something touched him and quickly tried to roll away.
"Not this close! You'll scare him!", a voice sounded from another direction. It sounded like a young man.
"But... smells good...", a slightly raspy voice came close to his ear, making Aether's head vibrate and he flinched again.
"Leave him in peace. You don't have to lick everything just because it smells good, do you?"
"L-Lupical... "
"Apologies, Razor's a bit special. He grew up with wolves!" the other seemed to address him directly.
"We can't see each other right now, not to mention shake hands, but I'll introduce myself anyway: I'm Bennett!", he announced, sounding unusually cheerful for being locked in a cell.
"We got caught out in the woods by the inquisition and now we're accused of being a wicker and a werewolf. Insane, huh? Who are you?"
"I... I am Aether... I...", he began, getting up a little so he wasn't lying face down on the cold, damp floor. "...I supposedly set our farm on fire and murdered my family."
Bennett exhaled in perplexity, and Razor snorted lightly.
"That's tough. I pray for you that you get through well. I've been told some things by my fathers about these torture techniques of the Inquisition. And how cruel this woman, the Inquisitor Rosaria, is. It doesn't really matter what you say, they always bend the truth to suit themselves."
Aether wondered what he had done to deserve this. He had lost his family... The thing that was most important to him, the thing he had lived for. And now they were both dead and he was being tortured for it....
"Just let them kill me. I have nothing left to lose.", he said quietly, feeling the tears welling up inside him again.
"Hey hey, there's always something worth fighting for. Don't you think?", Bennett's voice tried to cheer him up, with the appearance of the magical boy, Albedo, coming into his mind at that moment. But this one could just as easily be a pipe dream on his part. And yet it was a pleasant feeling to think of him. He followed this phantom and that's why he didn't get home in time. Maybe Albedo was a bad omen? But why did he always have this pleasant, warm feeling inside when thinking about him?
At that moment, heavy footsteps sounded again on the stairs and the cell door was unlocked and creaked open.
Without words, Aether was grabbed and dragged out, just as another guard must have tampered with Razor's chains. Apparently all three of them were getting interrogated.
Aether was led down a hallway for quite a while before he heard another door and then someone taking pity on him to pull the bag off his head. Again he enjoyed the renewed flow of oxygen, although the place smelled like rotten flesh. He found himself eye to eye with the ashy inquisitor named Rosaria. "Are you ready for some questions?", she asked, snapping once with her fingers to make an executioner appear from around the corner, grinning at him from under his mask with foul teeth. He raised a dagger to Aether's throat, who immediately held his breath.
"Oh, no need to worry, no one will be killed here.... At least not intentionally.", she announced with a diabolical smile, as the guy slit the blond's blouse all the way down and roughly stripped it from him. Aether's hands remained tied behind his back at all times as a rope was attached to them, which was put into the hands of a guard. The former, unlike the inquisitor and the executioner, looked somewhat sympathetic.
"Are you familiar with the so-called Rack, little wicker?", she whispered near his ear, and then nodded again to the executioner. "Lift him up and tie him down." Without resisting, since it probably would be of no use, Aether let the maniac set him down on a wide ladder, and, while the guard pulled the rope of the bound hands tight and fastened it to a step of the ladder, the other put shackles on him, tied them to another rope on a handle.
"Don't worry, our executioner will be gentle with you, as long as you confess your shameful crimes and dealings with the devil. However, if you do not comply..." She approached his ear again and breathed coldly: "... you will be stretched out nicely. Some say you can see a light when a body is stretched so much and almost as if it becomes glassy and you can see the insides shining through." She laughed again.
Aether began to shake all over and tears gathered in his eyes again.
"Let's begin the interrogation: Did you, Aether, Cyrus' son of Springvale, burn down both the farm and your family with your devilish powers?"
"N-no, Your Grace.", he said without a tone, sobbing quietly. He had closed his eyes and at the moment wished for nothing more than to have fallen with Lumine and his father.
A snap of fingers echoed off the walls and the creak of the handle could be heard. Then Aether felt his legs being pulled down and slid forward a step in the ladder.
"Tell me something of the devil - what is your relationship with him? Did you sell him your soul in exchange for such powers? Or... did you possibly even commit fornication with him?", she kept asking more awkward questions.
"No, your grace. I ... I know nothing of the devil."
"Is that so?", she pursued, and the handle spun again. At this, his arms were drawn back painfully and he gritted his teeth. A moan of pain escaped him.
"Look at me, witch brat.", she commanded, grasping his chin. Pointed nails dug into his skin again, but he bravely kept his eyes closed.
"OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES!", she screamed, causing his ears to ring.
"Wagner, THE IRON!", she commanded, and footsteps approached the cell.
"Let's see how you look at me when one of your eyes is about to be burned out!", she threatened, seeming to take the iron in her own hand to have full control.
"Hmmm... let's try another part of your body first... it still looks way too flawless! How about... " A source of heat approached Aether's face, causing him to immediately break out in sweat and begin shivering again. The warmth traveled down his body. "...Here?" A stabbing pain went through his entire body as the smoldering iron was pressed against a spot on his waist. The hiss was covered by his bloodcurdling scream. At that, he wrenched his eyes open and breathed heavily as she removed the iron again.
"Well, you see, it's as easy as that! For a moment I thought you were immune to the heat, the way you were shivering...", she remarked coldly, smiling into Aether's face, who was on the edge of losing consciousness from pain and shock.
"Nuh-uh!" She tapped her hand against his cheek. "Stay awake. Or is this now going to be a communication with your devilish master?"
The handle turned again and Aether's arms were about to spring out of their joints. He screamed again at the top of his lungs, not knowing what sort of pain was stronger, the pull on his limbs or the burn at his waist.
He could not take any more.
He no longer wanted to.
What was keeping him alive?
This miserable life with no family and now to be condemned as a wicker, a murderer...
A golden light appeared before his eyes.
Since the inquisitor and the executioner kept looking at him, he probably had to be imagining it....
"Well?", she echoed, eyeing his every reaction.
"Ah...", it came out of his mouth softly.
"'Ah'?"
"A...Al... Albe..."
"I beg your pardon?", she asked, fixing his eyes, which rolled upward from near faintness.
"Alb... edo... Albedo..." The last was now just a whisper on his part. Aether didn't know exactly why he was speaking that name, perhaps it was the only thing keeping him alive. A potential fantasy that had twisted his head as a child and then lured him away from his home. One that had magical powers. Was this perhaps the devil in the body? Aether could no longer think clearly....
"Your Grace..." one of the guards spoke in shock. "That... that is an alchemical word."
The inquisitor laughed mockingly. "At last you show your true colors! An alchemist! That's nothing more than a wicker who uses science to back up his cursed sorcery. A person who imitates God and wants to create life. Only God can give us the true life!", she judged, and at the same time one of the guards cried out. Aether couldn't see anything through his fading vision, but he seemed to be frightened by something.
"An arachnid! An arachnid!", he shouted in fear, and the inquisitor also took a step back. "The devil is here! Exterminate this monster! And throw this... this alchemist up upon the stake!", she yelled the instruction and at that moment Aether completely lost his consciousness.
The rattling and rumbling of the ground on which Aether lay bedded on dirty hay gradually woke him up and he realized that this time he had no fabric over his face. He looked up and gazed into two stranger faces leaning over him. That of the white-haired young man brightened immediately and that of the other, who had more of a wild, silver-gray mane, remained unchanged. A pointed canine tooth peeked out above his lower lip. Both of them look dragged, dirty and restless.
"Hey you're awake! Now we can finally look at each other!" the white-haired one said cheerfully, and it was a mystery to Aether how he could still be so cheerful in a wagon on its way to the stake.
"Bennett...", he addressed him, trying to sit up. His shoulders ached and the burn at his waist had soaked the dirty white garments that had clothed him with blood. But his fellow victims had also been treated badly, Bennett's left leg was covered in blood and Razor had burn blisters on his arms.
"Yaaa the bastards put the Spanish boot on me after I walked over burning coals and fell down so bad one flew into the executioner's face." Razor grinned, snorting as he did so. "And they had Razor get a rock out of a kettle of boiling water...and what did they do to you? It looks really bad?" asked Bennett, nodding towards Aether's waist.
"That... that was a hot iron... Actually, she was going to burn my eyes out."
The two looked at him sympathetically, though they had to be in at least as bad pain.
"So with that, we all... failed, right?", Aether inquired, trying to peek outside through a slit in the darkened car.
"Looks like it... They want to burn us off so 'our corrupted souls can be purified by fire,' or something like that." he quoted, sounding like none of this was news to him.
"We die. They just kill innocent people who are different. It's horrible.", Aether muttered.
Razor shook his head at that. "Not human." He placed his hand on his chest. "Wolf."
Bennett laughed, nudging him in the side. It occurred to Aether then that someone who had grown up among wolves would probably never claim to be human. He smiled as well, enjoying the company of these two slightly quirky gentlemen on his final journey.
At one point, Razor looked at Bennett a little more intently before the former nodded at him and gave a thumbs up.
"Hey, Aether. You're welcome to join us!" the white-haired man spoke to him with a grin, earning only an uncomprehending face.
Then Bennett closed his eyes and seemed to recite a formula.
"Behold the Evil Spirit
and the hangman's hand,
Behold the cross to bless each man,
and run for escape whoever can!"
With these words Razor reared up, letting out a howl that made Aether flinch, and transformed into a large beast with impressive fangs and claws. With a well-aimed strike, he freed both Aether and Bennett from their shackles and then tore open the roof of the carriage with ease. The horses drawing the carriage gave a startled neigh as they saw the werewolf leaping past them with the two battered witch boys over his shoulders. The coachman merely froze, probably still processing what had happened, when the three were already over the hills. With certainty they tried to catch up with them again, but Razor was running so fast, carrying the two on his back, that they could never be caught up.
Aether was shocked on the one hand, and fascinated on the other, at how Bennett and Razor had apparently managed to escape from their condemnation every time.
At least, that's how they had told it at a campfire in the middle of the wilderness.
Aether traveled for quite a while with the two fellows, from whom he learned some survival skills and regained the joy of living. It is true that he often dreamed of the fire and the wall of flames that had taken his sister and father away from him. On other nights he saw the golden glow again and the silhouette of Albedo, which had been etched firmly in his memory. He did not tell the other two about this vision, nor about his experience as a child, even though the desire to communicate was strong, especially when they went to the taverns of foreign villages and drank a little too much now and then. Sitting at the table with them was yet another young man, apparently a bard, who told them both crazy and miraculous stories, which all seemed to be true. Aether now believed in many things as well, having experienced the miracle of escape with Razor. But he never thought that the next moment would turn his life upside down again.