Beating (Book 1: Acts of the Hearth)

Chapter 7.1

Damen slowly paces down the hall to the throne room gripping his head tightly. Images of events flash before his eyes, all unfamiliar to the apprentice Seer.

     “Are these more visions of what is to come?” he groans from the flood of information snapping into his mind. “Is that the King? Why am I seeing the dead?!” Damen begins panting in panic.

     “No, no no no! How are you here?!” A young King Adin stands before Damen with a knife made with a hilt of wood in hand and tears flowing endlessly from his angry eyes. The haunting man runs down the hall towards Damen with unheard footsteps, jabbing the knife into Damen’s chest quickly. The young Seer gasps in pain from the ghostly impact.

     With uncontrolled breathing and the storm of sweat from his brow; Damen falls unconscious on the large tiled floor of the hall.

A violent awakening…

 

     In a silent room within the castle's infirmary. Damen lies asleep on a bed after falling unconscious. The young Seer awakes, looks at his hands; then grips and releases them repeatedly. Without removing the covers around him, he walks off of the bed and falls to the floor. Damen picks himself up and walks to a mirror and stares.

     “Who…who is that?” he ask himself in a baffled manner. Touching his own face suddenly startles him.

     “This isn’t me, yet it is. Right…I remember now.” He touches the left side of his chest and feels a beat. “Adin…killed me in this world. So, how am I back?” The situation seems to leave him confused.

     Logan lights the torch at the door and enters the room. “You seem to be doing better, considering you aren’t napping on the filth of the floor this time.”

     Damen looks at Logan through the reflection in the mirror. “Logan, you have gotten quite old.” he states keeping his eyes to the mirror. “Give it some time with this stressful job and you too can have as youthful a complexion as mines!” the older Seer jokes.

     The young Seer shakes his head in disappointment. “Not much has changed about you… Explain, why am I back here?” Damen ask aggressively.

     “Back here? The fall must have damaged your head. You collapsed in the hallway some hours ago. I carried you here, but I can wait to hear your gratitude, in the form of a tip if you please.” the old man remarks chuckling at his own joke.

     “You still prefer your stale jokes over actual answers, it seems.” Damen responds back. “We are Seers, it is something we all enjoy. Although, with our quirky traits we could opt in as jesters and charge those Royals more.” Logan banters.

     Damen finally turns around and breathes out deeply. “Is everything just a god-damned joke to you?!” he snaps flinging an arm back. “I was killed and all you can do is joke?!”

     Logan looks at Damen utterly perplexed by the question. “Damen, you’re standing right in front of me. You only fell, you have not passed on, yet.”

     “Oh my… It sounds like that fall did more damage than I originally assumed.” Logan voices with concern grabbing Damen’s arm and guiding him back to the bed. “Come along now, you obviously need more rest. Lie down and I’ll get one of the castle’s remaining staff to take a closer look at—”

     With quick precision, Damen punches Logan in his chest and kicks him in his thigh. The older man folds and lands on his knees. Standing over him, the young Seer grips Logan’s cheek bones in his hand.

     “Enough with these jokes! Where is my son?!” Damen asks the injured man. Logan grabs onto Damen’s arm to break free of the grip as his head is slammed against the bed frame. “I don’t understand! You didn’t tell me anything about your family or that you had kids! How would I know?!” the older man exclaims.

     Damen breathes in and out through his teeth and stares him down after taking a break from the head trauma. “On that day, at the Benign Coastlands! You, Adin, Shola and I were all there!” He tightens his grip on Logan. “You watched that thieving bastard kill me in front of my newborn son…!” the young Seer yells fiercely.

     Travis walks down the hall to check up on Damen after hearing the news from Logan. From down the hall he can hear a loud thud sound and an older man crying out in pain. The sight he witnesses as he stands in the doorway is beyond what he could stand to watch.

     Damen has the older Seer knelt on the tiled floor of the infirmary, caught in his unrelenting grip. The young man instantly intervenes, pulling Damen off of Logan. “What is going on here? Damen, is this how you plan to treat your mentor?!” he interrogates.

     Damen turns his fury to Travis, tackling and pinning him to the floor. “Now you’re attacking me? What is wrong with you?” the young man shouts out fighting against the young Seer’s forearm pressed against his neck.

     Travis punches him in the nose and hits him again with the back of his fist as the young Seer’s nose begins to pour blood that spills onto Travis’s shirt. Damen pushes himself off of his target and flees the room through the door.

     The two watch as Damen escapes. Both unsure of what provoked him to act in such a violent manner. Travis rushes over to Logan. “Logan! Logan, look at me! Can you see properly? Can you hear me?!”

     Logan pushes him away. “Would you get off of me?! I’m fine. It’s just a bump on my head, a crown bestowed on me by my apprentice…”

     Travis looks around the room, then pulls himself up using the bed’s frame. “What was wrong with Damen? Did he say anything that could give us an idea on why he snapped like that?” the young man questions.

     Logan dust himself off and walks out the door. Travis follows and cuts him off. “You are aware that you’re blocking my exit?” the older Seer says staring at the young man in annoyance.

     “Logan! Be serious for once.” Travis begs as he refuses to budge. Logan waves him away. “Maybe the boy was upset that I had him clean up my office of some trash. Who’s to say? You know how annoying us Seers can be.” the man expresses nonchalantly.

     “Why would a few chores make him violent?” Travis ask back. “I get the feeling that you know why he’s acting this way. What did he say?”

     Logan sighs at the question. “You really can’t tell when someone is doing something for your own good, can you? I have nothing more to tell you.” the older Seer states as he pushes Travis aside and leaves the infirmary.

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