Tale of Four

"Stop." Tristan’s foot paused mid-air a small distance away from Elias. Turning back around, he looked at Elias and saw him staring ahead with indifference. "I must ask one thing." Tristan raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms, his fingers bouncing impatiently, waiting. "How did you know William was involved?"

"Is it not obvious?" Tristan rolled his eyes. "He approached me. I know he wanted to use me, or at least Annabell, to help further his plans, even if he used kind words. I will give one piece of advice. Whether you listen or not, I don’t care anymore; it’s doomed to fail anyway. Don’t trust the fox. He is a sly fellow. After all, has he even told you his source?"

"Yes." Tristan’s eyes widened in shock. "Did he not tell you?" With a small smirk, Elias shook his head.

"I can take a guess. Maybe be a good brother and make sure Matthew isn’t tricked by his summon any more."

"Matthew is a broken child." Elias said with pity, "He has always been one. But you misunderstand something important. It is all a test. If Matthew can’t overcome his own summon, the very power his blood grants, then he is almost undeserving of it." Tristan’s mouth fell open.

"He’s your brother. How can you be so... callous about it?" Elias shrugged.

"I have done all I can." Elias said with a tired, almost uncaring tone, "I tried to make him stop the drugs and cutting. Stroked his hair when he was a child and couldn’t sleep alone. I taught him what I could and helped, but after a while, what is the point anymore? Mother, bless her heart, won’t stop, but she should. He failed. His mind is broken, and because of it he can’t achieve what a Cosmaton should, to the point where his summon now acts independently from him."

Looking at Elias, Tristan couldn’t help but laugh. It made Elias stare at him strangely. Seeing his confused look, his laughter grew louder to the point he had to cover his mouth and stop himself forcibly. "I’m sorry." Giggling, he took a deep breath to kill the laughter. "It’s just hilarious how you criticise your brother for his failures when you are equally a failure in my opinion."

"Excuse me?"

"Look at you. Your sense of self has been eroded. You are not the same person you were as a child, when you made a promise with Mabel. Nor are you the same person who I first met in the Rose maze. I mean, at this point, are you even Elias or the summon?" Tristan said honestly, hoping that Elias would see the issues he saw. Maybe it would be the final chance to get through to the man. For a moment he had thought it worked, Elias’s eyes dimming as he looked to the ground, losing the self-pride and disgust.

But when smoke rose from his back, forming a creature of fire, Tristan knew that it was over. He had never seen the phoenix summoned individually, but now that he did, he finally understood why Elias was becoming what he was. Even he, before the burning bird, felt the urge to kneel and pay respect. It wasn’t for a reason he understood, but becuase before the phoenix he felt inferior. There was majesty in its gaze, elegance in its movements. The body of flames, even when they collapsed in on themselves, felt refined. Finally, the way it looked at him. Even if it was an eye made up of white flames, Tristan could feel the emotions in it. Pride and arrogance in itself. But to the rest of the world, indifference or disgust. It wasn’t a narcissistic self-love like Vincent’s; rather, it felt earned.

Instinctively, he summoned Annabell. It was a risk, but he needed soemthing to stop himself from falling and in the face of such majesty, something as childish as Annabell felt like a good counter.

"You say he is a failure." A deep voice came from the phoenix; at the end of each word, the snapping of fire. "You, who are too scared to merge with the very thing you were born with, dare say he is a failure." Tristan went to reply, but stopped himself, noticing something that didn’t make sense.

"How did you hear that?" He knew from Annabell that summonses couldn’t hear things when in the immaterial. They had to be in the real world. And unless they emerged, they didn’t have a psychic bond. Sure, he could sense where Annabell was and roughly if she was in danger or not, but they couldn’t speak telepathically nor transmit a large influx of information without saying it or merging.

The phoenix lifted its head in contempt, its long neck spreading into the sky. "You call us a failure, and yet you don’t understand such a basic truth." It didn’t answer, rather wishing to say what it wanted, "The world is beneath us. But fear blinds you to this truth." Serevus looked to Annabell, "Such fine feathers." His tone shifted from contempt to genuine acknowledgement. "She is power to be wielded, and you fear it. The world is ours. The blood of Cosmatons is the power you hold, and you shun it becuase of things such as self-identity. Embrace the family, ignore the self; the king understands. He is close to the apex of what can be achieved. The next step is within his grasp." Both Tristan and Elias grabbed their heads in pain, hearing Serevus, a knowlegde they shouldn’t know be told. Unlike for Tristan, where Annabelle’s warmth spread over him to ease the pain, Servus didn’t offer Elias the same comfort, rather coldly watching him, waiting for him to overcome it himself. "He walks the paths others have, but is missing the knowlegde to complete it."

"We are the path to the next step, the one the Fox speaks of." Tristan could feel every vein within his skull clearly, pulsating; each time it did, it felt like a hammer was bashed across his head. "To condemn those who walk the path they are destined, to condemn the path you avoid out of fear. It is a belief built upon your fears."

"You’re mad." Tristan forced the words out, but even he didn’t believe it. The pain was proof that Serevus didn’t say complete lies. There was more, more that Anton could achieve. Tristan had already assumed perfect merge was the final step for summon and summoner, but there was a next step.

"Lies are for lowers. Those at the apex need no such things as lies, for their will is the truth." Serveus continued, uncaring of the state they were in, "The fox, a deceitful man who must lie to cling to power, tries to bring us back to how it once was. He learnt the truth, one forgotten by all."

"STOP!" Annabell screamed in fear at Serveus, knowing where he was going. "They shall not survive such knowledge."

"Through hardship, power is attained. Through death, one is reborn." Serveus looked at Tristan. "This one had a chance, a truth that should have never been known, blocked by you. You hinder growth. Your protection weakened him. His fear blocks him from learning the truths, and because of it, he survives the way a lesser does. Lies and deceit. Humility and servitude. He is a Cosmaton. Power is seized, and once done, it is enforced. All shall kneel. Should they not, they will be forced."

"He was going to die!" Annabell cried, "And you say I weaken him."

"Perhaps. But should he have survived, understanding what he learnt, he would have been far greater." The white flaming orbs that were its eyes narrowed. "Your protection is his weakness, and because of it, he judges those who reach for power." Serveus finally landed atop Elias. "Who he is shall die, and from it something grand will be reborn. I do not force this upon him, but allow him the choice. He accepted becuase he understood the truth. A death for more power. Who Elias is will die, and we will return. Let the self die."

Tristan’s eyes shook as he looked to Elias. The man crouched to the ground, holding his face, breathing heavily, shaking. But through the gaps of his fingers, Tristan saw hard, sharp eyes that looked ahead with determination. "You... you... you know what the merging does to you." Tristan asked with a shaking voice.

Elias took a few deep breaths and slowly rose. Even as he did, Tristan could see he was still in immense pain, like himself, but he forced himself to rise, standing straight through pure determination. "Father was right." His voice was quiet, quivering. His eyes twitched as the pain slowly vanished. "Our summons are our power. They bring us closer to our founder. He created the greatest dynasty this continent has seen, and through them we can begin to emulate him." His voice grew stronger. "By any means we must achieve what he did. Even if it means discarding who we are."

"No." Tristan shook his head, the pain finally residing. "It’s madness."

"A coward until the end." Serveus said, "You fear what is yours, but one day you will understand. When you lose all you could have held onto, you will think back to this moment and know I was right. Pray the day comes, becuase from hardship, power is attained. Through death, one is reborn."

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