The world of Laifel

Eleanor was silent for a moment. "Are you feeling any better?" she asked Tristan. "I mean, as far as your wound goes.. I'm supposed to be protecting you and you almost died..."

 

Lanan had made a decision as they walked. With the prince's help, he would find a way to stop the Demons. After all, both of them had Summons. "Gemini?" He said, turning his head, "I know you want to see the world, but there is a safer way to do it than by traveling with me...I already told you, it's going to be extremely dangerous from here on out."

 

"I know that." Gemini agreed, smiling to herself. Deja Vu... "If you don't want another person traveling with you, then I'll leave you two on your way. But don't worry about me otherwise." she continued, dismissing his concern.

 

Lanan smiled. "I'm just looking out for you." He looked forward again and kept walking behind Ruby, "What is it with girls and danger?" he muttered to himself.

 

Gemini looked around as they walked, ignoring his muttering. She was curious to find out soon what all the 'important' things he said he hadn't told her were.

 

Tristan thought about his dream before answering Eleanor's question. That dream felt so weird. I'm going to bring about the world's destruction? Impossible. Tristan dismissed the dream as being nothing more than that, a dream.
Tristan smiled at Eleanor. "I also would have died had you not been here. I am indebted to you. I couldn't have expected better. Don't worry about my wound. I'll live."

 

"Well," Eleanor sighed, genuinely glad to hear it. "If someone said that to me I'd want them to believe me, so I'll take your word for it. As for getting out of this pit of a town... I'm not sure how we're going to manage it."

 

Lanan's heart was beating fast at the thought of finally meeting Tristan again. He had been stuck in standstill in his life since meeting that red haired Demon and Ruby. He wasn't going to join the Demons, nothing they could offer him would change that. He would not destroy Demoir. But he couldn't oppose them alone; Ruby, despise being a Summon, could barely handle one Demon at a time. Tristan had a Summon, Naserrea was her name, according to Ruby, so he must know about the war already, he would know what to do. "Pick up the pace," he said to Ruby, who nodded and started running. Lanan followed suit.
Ruby was still against meeting Naserrea and her master, but she had no choice, Lanan commanded it.

 

Tristan thought for a while. "Then perhaps getting out of this town is not the answer. Perhaps we should stay. I need to get that crystal back and... And these people..." Tristan glanced sadly at the streets of ruin. "These people have lost faith. Faith in the government. Faith in the world. Faith in themselves. The people are crying out for help but I can't help them as I am."
Carefully, Tristan removed his shirt and rubbed the area of his skin where his royal tattoo lay. "If I am to help these people I cannot be Tristan Alzeire. My life as Tristan Alzeire will have to come to an end...." Tristan looked at Eleanor. "Eleanor.... could you please use your knife to remove the skin with my tattoo on it?"

 

Eleanor nearly choked out of shock. "You..." she began, and then shut her mouth for a moment, thinking. Now would be the best time to do something like that, she thought. "You're medicine should make it less painful," she said aloud, reluctantly agreeing. "But, Tristan... what about helping your sister? She's the reason we set this way."

 

"Sameire? She could be anywhere by now. Besides..." Tristan chuckled to himself. "Once I get started here, Father will forget all about her. Time to say goodbye to my old life. Eleanor, cut it off."

 

Eleanor grimaced and took out the dagger on her right hip. She leaned forward and placed her hand on the skin around the tattoo, applying pressure to stretch it. "There's no way I can argue with you about this, right?" she said with a small smile.

 

"Nope. My mind is made up."

 

"Alright," Eleanor said, already knowing his answer. She began her incision slowly, and then worked faster, not wanting to make the pain that he was surely feeling any longer than it had to be. Once she had traced a bloody line around the skin of the tattoo, she tilted the blade of the knife so she could get the length of the sharp edge under the bottom of the tattoo.

"The only way to make this easy now is for me to pull the loosened skin off... the blood will act as a lubricant so it shouldn't split or break into several peices. Take a deep breath and hold it for three seconds, and then push it all out as hard as you can... and I'll pull."

Eleanor finished her shaky instructions and waited as Tristan inhaled. Three seconds later, she braced her hand and the rest of her body and pulled up hard with her knife. The tattooed skin came off well enough, and she immediately dropped it and her blade to the ground, reaching for the white bindings in the pack and applying pressure to the raw, red flesh.

Once she had bound the wound tightly enough to stop its bleeding, Eleanor picked up her knife cleaned it on the hem of her skirt.

"Any other parts of you that you'd like me to cut up, Tristan?" she asked with a small smile.

 

Tristan returned a shaky smile. "Perhaps tomorrow." Tristan said jokingly. "Now, time for me to fill you in on my pl-"
Tristan stopped talking in mid-sentence. Three figures had entered the ally. Only one of them looked familiar. Lanan, the crossbreed. What was he doing here, and who were the other two with him? Nas, in her ferret form, had begun to hiss and spit at one of the girls.

 

Eleanor tensed almost as quickly as Nas, and sprung to her feet and placed her stance in front of Tristan, both her daggers in her hands. She narrowed her eyes and frowned, trying to see better in the dark.

 

Tristan stood wearily on his feet. he examined the two girls with the crossbreed before staring him in the eyes. "Lanan?" Said Tristan questioningly.

 

Eleanor didn't move her eyes from the three strangers. "You know that one?" she asked quietly.

 

"I do but.... We met all the way back in Triwn. It's strange that we should meet again, so soon, on the other side of the continent."

 

"Calm down, rat!" Ruby hissed at Naserrea, trying to provoke her.
"Ruby, sh." Lanan said, without taking his eyes of Tristan. He noticed the girl was tending to a wound, but that wasn't important. "It's not that strange, actually...I've been looking for you. I was going to travel back through Baflee to find you, it was pure luck we ran into each other here."