stars fall

Akito is thirteen years old when Ena entrusts him with her biggest secret.

He doesn’t remember much of the leadup to it all, he just recalls opening the door to Ena’s room and meeting her panicked gaze as she sits on her windowsill, ready to jump out.

“Please don’t tell mom or dad.” She had pleaded, her hand clutched tightly at the hooded cloak draped over her. “You can’t tell them, please, Akito.”

He remembers wanting to be stubborn. He was, after all, an annoying little brother before anything else.

“Give me one good reason not to.” At that, she pulled the hood down without hesitation.

Dark horns akin to a young goat’s were growing out of her head. Her ears were long and pointed. Her canines were also longer. Sharper.

The Draconic Curse.

At a young age, everyone in the kingdom was warned of many diseases and sicknesses one could have. The most notorious, and illegal, was The Curse. An affliction anyone could be born with. If one wasn’t born with it, it could infect one later in life if exposed to too much magic at once. The Curse had to be immediately reported to a local knight so the Cursed could be taken care of properly by the kingdom’s Royal doctors. To be cured, his school teachers would tell them.

“Purged,” a friend of his had whispered in his ear on the walk back to their respective houses, “The teachers meant to say purged, not cured.”

“How do you know?” He snarked. She never answered him, just stayed unusually silent the entire rest of the walk.

In all his years of living, he had known only one Cursed. A young adult, who was always dressed in flowy garbs, used to sneak him and Ena free homegrown fruits during his morning walk to class. She was kind, kinder than nearly all of the other adults he knew, and treated all the children she met like her own.

He didn’t know her for very long. A public display of ridicule occurred where it was revealed she was Cursed. In an instant, everyone had turned on her. They threw things at her, jeered and shouted horrible words he would never repeat out loud. As the Knights came to escort her to the castle, they grabbed her hard enough to bruise and didn’t bother to stop the barrage of abuse directed at her.

As they dragged her away, he had accidentally met her beaten gaze. Despite everything terrible happening around her, the woman had smiled as kindly at him as she had before, as if to reassure him everything would be alright. The eaten fruit from that morning felt heavy in his stomach.

He never saw her again.

If Akito turned Ena in, she would meet the same fate as that woman had.

“Aki,” His sister whispers, before she rests her hands on his shoulders. He reluctantly peels his eyes off her Cursed features, and instead meets her watery gaze. “You can’t let them know.”

The statement is weightier than it was before. It’s even worse paired with his old nickname he was sure she had forgotten about.

“I don’t want you to leave.” He says, childishly, almost whining about it. Deep in his heart, he knows that no matter what happens, whether he tells anyone or not, she would always have to leave.

Ena softens, and wipes tears he didn’t even realize were falling, away with her thumbs.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

Akito is thirteen years old and lying to everyone about anything regarding Ena’s whereabouts. He used to feel guilty about it, until he’s reminded of the young woman in flowy garbs's fate.

When he turns fourteen, he’s forced to enlist as a knight just like the other boys. He keeps himself emotionally distant from everyone during training, refusing to associate with those that want his sister dead. His detachment from everyone makes it easier to swing at them without remorse. He wins his duels with ease and they begin to speak his name in fear.

Better him than his sister, he thinks.

At fifteen, after serving for his required year, he’s offered a job in the form of a letter as a personal retainer to one of the princes. He nearly refuses, feeling queasy at the mention of serving the royal family, until his eye catches on two benefits.

- Authorized access to the entire Kingdom and surrounding lands if the one you serve asks to venture out on an excursion.

- Access to the Castle's private library.

He realizes just what a mistake it was for them to put that much trust in a stranger like him.