Chapter 4: A Lost History

I take hold of the cross and close my eyes per Balam’s instruction. A nauseous feeling invades my brain as if I’m being spun around by some unknown force, making me lose my balance and stagger forward. The sensation persists for a while, and only after can I hear vague voices seemingly calling out to me:

“…ter…”

“… Peter…”

“Peter! Hang in there!”

I open my eyes upon hearing my own name again. The dim candlelight and the moldy, wooden smell are the first things I notice, and, true to my guess, my eyes are indeed gazing towards a ceiling. Still suffering a bit from the headache from before, I try to ask around to the voices that called me:

“Ugh… Where am I?”

“Your house.” The voice answers and the person in question put their face closer to me, revealing it to be Bea.

“You just fainted as soon as you opened the book, so we carried you back.” Another voice, Pedro, who is sitting on the other side, continues.

“Sorry for burdening you.” I regretfully say. “I don’t know what happened to me.”

“Don’t worry. If you’re okay, then everything’s good.” Bea lets out a smile of relief, before pointing towards my hand. “But before that, can you… put that away?”

Weirded by her gesture, I take a look down as well. To my surprise, the book from before is still in my hand, and it’s as if my hand had a will of its own, as it’s gripping tightly without letting the book go, like a fearsome beast guarding its treasure. Seeing my questioned expression, Pedro answers:

“We noticed you were still grabbing that thing even as we put you in your bed, so we tried taking it off. I don’t know why, but your hand just wouldn’t budge, no matter how hard we pry.”

“Yeah, I can see,” I answer with an awkward smile as I see a couple of scratches on my fingernails, probably due to the two of them frantically trying to remove my hand from the book. As I finally put it away, however, all of us are shocked by its current state – the amber cross, once engraved into the cover, was gone without a trace, not leaving even the hole behind.

“Impossible… How…” I exclaim while touching the now plain cover when suddenly a thought crosses my mind. Frantically searching on my neck, I mumble. “No way…”

My prediction is true, as I don’t take long to find a string on my neck, along with the feeling of something small and rigid, only to find out it’s the same amber-colored cross as I take it out of my shirt to check. My two friends, upon seeing my distressed state, however, turn to me with a curious and worried look:

“What’s wrong?”

“You probably wouldn’t believe this…” I inhale deeply before telling them exactly what happened while I was unconscious. “But…”

 

“So, you’re saying that this… Demon, Balam, is inside this cross?” Pedro is the first to question after listening to the, honestly, extremely hard-to-believe story. “Are you sure you didn’t just imagine everything? Or you had a hallucination while passing out?”

“Believe me, I want to think that.” I shake my head, grabbing hold of the necklace to show the cross out to the two of them. “But the truth remains: we all saw that book having this cross on its cover, and now, for some reason, it’s gone and went up to my neck. I can’t find any other explanation other than what I saw in that dream of mine really happened.”

“But still… This is just too much to handle…” Pedro clicks his tongue in frustration. However, before he gets to finish what he’s trying to say, Bea raises her hand to interrupt, pointing to the book afterwards:

“Perhaps… we should read that thing first. Maybe there’s something inside that can help us.”

“That could be a good idea.” I nod in agreement. “No point in trying to figure out something that we have no information on.”

I grab the book, and, with my hands firmly on its pages, I turn to the two equally nervous individuals to my sides. “Shall I open it?”

A silent nod from the two is all I need to confirm, as I slowly turn the first page.

 

“Peter’s Cross.

That is what I have decided to call this artifact. Each of them possesses an unknown power, and the creatures inside them claim to be Demons, but I am sure, their strength in the right hands shall be used to help people and make a better world – a world where everyone can live in peace and happiness.

According to the first Demon that I found, there are seventy-two crosses in total, scattered around the world, and if united together, they can achieve even the most impossible of feats. The war against the Anglo-Saxons is going heavily against our favor, so this timing is convenient for us… Almost too convenient. As a King, I must do what I can to protect our people and our nation, but who will I entrust with this power?

I finally have to make a decision. I do not know if it’s for the best, but I hope my judgment stays true.”

“It’s like a diary.” Bea is the first to say upon reading the first page. “Someone from a long time ago had encountered these… crosses, as they said, and used their power.”

“However, the Anglo-Saxons war… How come I’ve never heard of this?” She continues with a puzzled look, something that both Pedro and I have no choice but to nod in agreement. I may not pay too much attention to our world history classes, but even I notice that the name Anglo-Saxons is something I’ve never heard before, not as a country or as a tribe of people. However, Bea soon thinks of speculation without waiting for our opinions:

“Perhaps… This happened much earlier than what we learn in school?”

“Lady Beatrice, that’s impossible.” Pedro shakes his head this time. “All of our written records all have the same rules of only recording events from 0 B.G. Anything that happened before were forbidden.”

“Don’t you think it’s a stupid rule?” As if something is urging me, I blurt out my thoughts all of a sudden. However, even as I notice my inappropriate timing, I continue. “Why are we not supposed to know?”

“Look, we’re not in a position to question that. Drill that into your thick skull.” Pedro answers with an annoyed look. “Remember how, even to this day, small rebellions still occasionally take place in deserted lands? Do you want to be like them?”

“Of course not!” His attitude makes me shout in anger. “Who wants to throw their lives away like that? But is it wrong to be like that in the first place?”

“Enough, you two!” Bea interrupts us before another fight can happen. “Anyway, continue reading.”

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With her to calm us down, I return to the book in my hand, turning the page forward.

From the start of the next page is a long, long list of names. I can only assume these are the names of people and their “Demons” as well as which power it brings to them since most of the lines are either smudged or crossed out entirely, unsure if it’s to prevent people like us from reading further or if it’s to act like some sort of marking to track certain progress. All we know for sure, however, is that there are seventy-two lines in total, with only six being legible at the moment. Those six lines include:

“I entrust Byleth, the Demon of wind, to Sir Bedivere.

…

I entrust Bael, the Demon of thunder, to Sir Agravain.

…

I entrust Asmodai, the Demon of flames, to Sir Lancelot.

…

I entrust Belial, the Demon of shadow, to Sir Kay.

…

I entrust Zagan, the Demon of greed, to Sir Galahad.

…

And finally, I entrust my friend, my mentor, my partner, the Demon of earth, Balam, to my side.

With the power of the seventy-two Demons, we swear to protect our land with all of our lives, for that is our duty as King of England and the Knights of the Round.

I’ve decided to record everything I know about these artifacts in this book. To our future, whoever it is, if you find the Demons that this book mentions, I hope you can also use this power for the goodness of the world.

Arthur Pendragon.”

“Hold on.” Pedro is first to react after the book’s contents are revealed. “King of England? Pendragon? Isn’t that you, Peter?”

“So, it is true,” I say, not much surprised by the news, for I was reminded of it in my previous dream.

“But the Royal bloodline right now is…” His eyes glance to his side just for a brief moment, so I can’t tell what he’s looking at, but I know what he’s about to say.

“The Bedryants. I know. But still, we can assume that no dynasties last forever.”

“So, you mean… the current Royal family…”

“I don’t mean that, obviously.” I shake my head in refusal. “All I’m saying is, the fact that my ancestor was once King was surprising, but not unbelievable, and the fact that we’re somehow like this is perfectly understandable, even if it’s hard to believe. And who knows how we ended up like this. Maybe it’s the Angels. Maybe it’s something else.”

“Petey… No, Peter.” Bea suddenly grabs me by the hand and looks straight into my eyes with a worried expression. “Don’t do anything rash, you hear me?”

“What do you mean?” I quickly pull back my hand with a flustered expression. “I’m not doing anything!” However, as soon as I say those words, my face reddens even more, for I know I might have to break that promise very soon. Bea, as if not noticing my reactions at all, however, smiles and say:

“Well, that’s good to hear then!”

Then, like a sudden breeze, she stands up and grabs Pedro’s hand, lightly bowing towards me to say goodbye. “Anyway, looks like it’s getting late, so we’ll be heading back now. Get better quickly, you hear!”

“Sure. I will.” I let out a smile to answer, but, realizing that I still have the book in my hand, quickly raise it towards the two of them:

“Wait! Take this back with you. You borrowed it from your mother, right?”

“You can keep the book for today.” Bea, surprisingly, shakes her head. “It’s about your family, after all.”

“But wouldn’t you be in trouble…”

“Not really. I can manage on my own.” Bea interrupts me before I can finish. However, her assurance seems to not be planned, as Pedro, the other one in her household, immediately protests:

“Lady Beatrice, you can’t possibly…”

“I said it’s fine, Pedro Destreza.” Her voice soon turns to a level of intensity I’ve never seen before in my life. It is still that smooth and gentle tone, but from within, I can almost touch that soul-crushing pressure sending chills down my spine. Has Bea always had this side to her? I must remember myself to not make her mad from now on. Meanwhile, she continues to question her servant:

“I’ll handle everything. Or is it that you wish to question my decisions?”

“… No, of course not, My Lady.” Pedro, gripping his hand, answers.

“Well then, we’ll be off now. See you tomorrow!” With a wave goodbye, the two of them leave through the door, leaving me behind by myself in my room.

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