Chapter 71: Rainfall

Aries was done with the most recent mission from his uncle. He was ready to leave that bloody place when a man in a black hooded overcoat intercepted his path.

He was a towering figure. Aries could not see the eyes of the stranger for it was well-covered with the hood. The place was also poorly illuminated.

"Aries, you should stop killing for the benefit of one person."

The deep voice of the stranger was riveting. Aries could not stop listening.

"That man is only abusing your ability," the hooded man went on. "If you are to kill, it should be to protect more people, not just one. Save Serestral. Kill our true enemy. Live your life as you are destined to be. You are a Zodiac Knight."

And with that, Aries left his uncle and followed the black-hooded stranger. It was a decision that he never once regretted.

The black-hooded stranger taught him a few important things about Serestral. He became aware of the corrupted souls threatening the entire kingdom. He also learned how to perceive those dark essences. 

He was seeing faint traces of dark smoke from people around him since he was little and thought that he had a problem with his eyes. He understood only then that those dark smokes were his true enemy.

From then onwards, he became a hunter of corrupted souls.

It was in one of those hunts that he encountered the witch. It was a tall and angelic woman. Her eyes, hair, and clothes were as white as snow.

She looked frail but her power was overwhelming. There was no need for her to move. With only a wave of her hand, Aries was paralyzed.

She gracefully approached him and tenderly caressed his forehead.

"I know how tired you are, Aries. I am here to save you from this hateful place."

Aries was telling his body to move but to no avail. He was completely paralyzed and his vision was starting to get foggy.

"I will help you forget," her melodic voice was making Aries drowsy. "Let me take away all your unpleasant memories. Forget those hateful people. Forget Serestral. You are no longer a Zodiac Knight but my beloved knight. You only have to love and protect me. Just stay right next to me and I will never give you a heavy burden."

His memories were not erased. Cari could only lock them deep within his mind and replace them with temporary hallucinations.

The lock was also not that durable. It was fading with the passing of days and, as soon as that happens, Aries was back to hunting corrupted souls. That was the reason Cari thought about mixing his memories with her hallucinations.

Aries assumed that Cari was his master but he had no master. He wanted to treat the black-hooded stranger as his master. He even wanted that man to be his father, but he had been strictly told that they should remain strangers to one another. That black-hooded man never wanted any lifelong connections to him. He only wanted to share a few crucial pieces of information with Aries.

At that time when Aries strayed far away from Cari and had been saved by Gust and Gale, it was because the spell cast on him greatly weakened, and his obsession to eliminate the corrupted souls led him outside Serestral.

Cari could not find him back then because Gust surrounded their sanctuary with a powerful concealment spell. Fortunately for Aries, the twins were hiding against the world. Gust only allowed Guardian Aika to find them.

But like the spell Cari had cast over him, the effectiveness of the concealment spell had faded over time. It was the reason a girl surrounded by a dark aura had breached the perimeter of the sanctuary. At that time, Aries was unaware of how a spell works. Now that everything was replaying on his mind, he understood a lot of things. Back then, he was too eager to hunt corrupted souls and could not analyze what was happening around him.

He told Gust and Gale that he had to trail someone. He promised to return. It was a pledge that took a decade to be fulfilled.

The girl he had seen at the sanctuary and decided to chase was no other than Pieffer. It was a short encounter. He tried to grab her hand but she escaped through the shadows.

He had forgotten about it because Cari had caught up to him. Though she succeeded in locking his memories, it became difficult for her to control his urge to hunt corrupted souls all over Serestral.

Cari could not do anything but let him do what he wanted to do, at least until she could find a way to restrain him for good.

That momentary freedom gave him time to search the House of Maiden and he crossed paths with Gin-Ren. Once again, he made a promise that took a long time to be fulfilled.

Cari could tolerate his need to save Serestral. What she hated was him making promises to anyone, especially to the other Zodiac Knights. And with that, his memories of Gin-Ren had been shoved to the deepest part of his mind.

From time to time, Aries would encounter Pieffer. Their meetings would always feel like the first for him because of Cari meddling with his memories.

Even though she was successfully locking his memories of Pieffer, her blood was still boiling from the fact that she could not stop their paths from intersecting.

Cari created the story of the witch and her disciples. The woman covered in white fog whenever she arrives was Cari herself. She allowed Aries to remember the pain of getting his memories 'erased'. She wanted him to be cautious against a powerful foe and her subordinates.

Since Cari was struggling to stop Aries in his knightly responsibility, she could only follow Aries in silence. But trailing him was also hard. There were those times that he was moving faster than her watchful eyes. And whenever Aries was slipping away from her sight, it could only mean that her spell on him had greatly weakened.

When Aries got himself caught and confined at the House of Bull, he had completely forgotten about Cari. His memories getting tampered with a lot of times must have made him more forgetful.

Hunting corrupted souls were the only thing he was not failing to remember. And the dark aura that surrounds Pieffer had become his new obsession, a strong fascination that brought him confusion and a lot more unfamiliar emotions.

He thought she was an enemy that needs to be annihilated but his impulse to kill her was weakening the more time he spent with her.

Aries thought that Pieffer was only trying to fool him when she said that saving Serestral was important to her, but she was as serious as Aries had ever been when it comes to the welfare of the kingdom.

Her passion to help made Aries forget about the dark aura that once surrounded her entire being. He never even inquired about it again.

From enemies, they became good friends.

But not for long.

Cari finally caught up to Aries. He and Pieffer were practicing shadow traversing in the middle of a forest just near the House of Bull.

Aries felt chills run up his spine when a thick fog enveloped him. He tried to move but his arms and legs were paralyzed.

"Why do you keep running away from me?" a cold breath touched the back of his neck and his vision started to blur. "And why are you with her again?!"

"What is wrong with that?" Pieffer walked through the thick fog and grabbed Aries by his left hand.

"What is wrong with that?!" Cari roared back and seized Aries by his right hand. "You should not be together!"

You are reading story A Hell Called Serestral at novel35.com

Aries gasped as piercing pain shot through his brain. He collapsed on his knees.

Cari let go while Pieffer knelt in front of him.

"What did you do to him?" Pieffer asked without looking away from Aries.

"What he should do a long time ago," Cari coldly replied. "Aries, kill her."

Aries had no intention to obey but his body was moving on its own. He released his crimson blade and slashed it in front of him.

Pieffer jumped and avoided the blade in time. She quickly unsheathed her silver sword and parried another attack from Aries.

"Aries, stop this!" she loudly yelled after deflecting the crimson blade.

Though Aries wanted to stop, his body was not listening to his aching mind. He kept on attacking Pieffer. 

Fortunately for both of them, Pieffer was good at evading.

"He will not stop until you are dead," Cari exclaimed.

Pieffer was furious. She swiftly evaded the crimson blade aimed at her neck, bent her knees that it almost touched the ground, and stabbed Aries in his left leg. She quickly followed it with a slash in his right foot.

"I'm sorry," she whispered as Aries lost his balance and collapsed on the ground.

Before he could regain his foothold, Pieffer rushed towards Cari. The dark aura was surrounding her again. It even enveloped her silver sword.

Cari waved her hand and tried to repel the blade with her spells but Pieffer cut through everything and slashed her white overcoat.

"Leave Aries alone or I will kill you," Pieffer threatened and the coldness in her voice sent chills towards Aries.

The deadly glare in her eyes was alarming. She was ready to kill Cari without hesitation. She also made sure that there would be no interruptions from Aries by inflicting deep wounds on him.

"Kill me. I don't care," Cari replied just as coldly.

Pieffer tightened her grip on the hilt of the silver sword that was covered with dark smoke.

She attacked and Cari tried her best to dodge and counter but the dark smoke was repelling her spells.

After a few missed slashes, Pieffer finally managed to hurl her opponent onto a tree.

Cari hit her back hard on the trunk and she slumped on the ground, nearly unconscious. Pieffer was slowly approaching her.

Despite the pain in his left leg and right foot, Aries bolted upright. And as Pieffer raised her silver sword to kill, Aries dashed towards the two women.

He was planning to grab the silver blade but his last step sent paralyzing pain all throughout his body. He lost his balance and his hands missed the blade but he could not just give up. By quickly gathering all the strength remaining within him, he regained balance and jumped in front of Cari.

He caught the sword just in the nick of time. But his weak hands were not enough to stop its momentum. The silver blade slid through his palms and pierced his chest. The stab wound burned with pain but he was grateful that the sword did not hurt Cari. And most important of all, Pieffer was back to her normal self. The dark aura around her had vanished.

"Aries…" Pieffer quickly let go of her sword with tears in her eyes.

"I told you…" Cari had weakly spoken. "In the end… she will kill you..." she closed her eyes and disappeared through a thick fog.

"I… don't care…" Aries coughed out blood as he pulled the sword from his chest.

Pieffer quickly caught his falling body and healed his wound.

"Why is it not closing up?" she was starting to panic and more tears were pouring from her eyes. "I should have studied more," she wiped the tears from her eyes and helped Aries up. "I will take you to the castle."

"No need…" Aries whispered and coughed out more blood. He could already feel his own heartbeat fading. "I… want to rest here…"

He pulled away from Pieffer and lay down on the grass-covered ground.

"This is… perfect…" he glanced at Pieffer and asked her with a weak smile. "Can you… accompany me?"

Pieffer wiped her eyes once more before sitting right next to him. She put her hands over his bleeding wound and tried to heal him again.

"Pieffer…" he held her hands. "Just lie here… beside me…" he glanced up at the starless sky. "Let's enjoy… the rain…"

Just as he had said that last word, a light rain had poured.

Aries closed his eyes and took pleasure in the cold droplets that touched his skin. After a few seconds, he heard Pieffer lying down right next to him.

"I love the rain," he whispered with a smile. "It washes away the blood… the pain… everything…" he opened his eyes and glanced back at Pieffer.

The rain hid the tears pouring from her eyes.

"I'm sorry…" Aries laughed weakly until he coughed out blood. "Your clothes had gotten dirty…"

"I love you…" Pieffer tightened her grip on his hand and kissed it. "Believe me, Aries. I love you..."

Aries wished he could say those words back to Pieffer, but everything went black before he could open his mouth.

^##########^

You can find story with these keywords: A Hell Called Serestral, Read A Hell Called Serestral, A Hell Called Serestral novel, A Hell Called Serestral book, A Hell Called Serestral story, A Hell Called Serestral full, A Hell Called Serestral Latest Chapter