Julius: Her (Ch.2)

The Dead Masters - Julius: Her

Julius Arc leaned the golden-framed window, putting both his hand on his pocket as he watched the moon and the stars moving slowly but steadily. He did this everyday, for only the beauty of the stars and the moon could pique his curiosity. If he looked away, the grand bedroom as spacious as one performance hall was what awaits him. Everything was shiny, everything was gold. It’s not that he hated it.

A royal, yet humble and kind family he had. Julius was never dissatisfied; yet at the same time he was never satisfied. He could get everything he wanted; good grades, companion, girls, position, his life was perfect. Such a perfect life was introduced to him right from the beginning of his life, but he did not became arrogant. He just forget how to desire.

He got everything, yet he wanted nothing.

With his lack of desire, he made a perfect heir of the royal Arc family. Moreover, his intelligent was beyond incomparable, and every company in relationship with his family wanted him in their company. He was also famous among the richest, and many had proposed to marry him. A life without struggle, a time when the world desired him and not the other way around. It was the dream of every man.

Yet when one had such life from the very beginning, he would spot a flaw in such seemingly perfect life; the true meaning of himself that was understood only by a selected few. What in the world have no desire, yet is desired by the whole world? The perfect Julius came to realization that he was no more than a treasure. A lifeless, priceless object, desired by everybody. He was not human, he was an object. Thus, he did not live; his life was a lie.

“Julius?”

A woman with long hair white as snow, and pink-red eyes hid behind the open door, wondering if it was okay for her to come in. Julius remained silent, which was taken by her as a permission. Her robe of pure white garment, her necklace of gold truly blended with the surroundings of his room, which was then lighted in faint brightness. Slowly and elegantly, she stepped towards him, he who left his soul in amazement of the night sky.

“Any news regarding the ‘dealer’?”

His tone was serious, and cold, the way it should not be in front of his fiancee. Lily Octavian, however, knew better than to protest. She knew what he was in; and believed that only she could understand. At least, Julius had then had something to be desired. She then joined him to gaze at the night sky with her palm on the window.

“The fifth has been chosen.”

Julius only gave a quick nod, then continue to watch the sky. But when he noticed tears rolling down her cheek, he could only avoid her face. The perfect Julius always gets what he wanted, right? Then competing in this game would not be a problem, and his wish of obtaining a true life will be fulfilled without fail. And he did not see any reason why one should worry about it. Unable to properly react according to the situation, he walked towards the door to exit the gloomy atmosphere, but he was hugged tightly from the back.

“You’re.. perfect, Julius. I love you.”

His whole body froze. He was truly at loss of words, however capable he was of comforting people. Of course, he wanted to wipe her tears and tell her not to worry, but Lily was the last person to be told lies. He loved her. Both of them knew that it was the game of death, which was a good news for one and a bad news for the others. After a silence moment, she started to loosen her hug and pull herself back. He turned and kissed her.

He remembered the first time he met her, when she ran away from home and slipped to his garden. He remembered the first time she confessed to him, the first time he smiled from the depth of his heart. He remembered their first kiss, much like the kiss they were having. He remembered her comforting him every time he lost his faith in his fake life. He remembered telling her that he wanted to die, and he remembered  telling her about the ‘deal’ he had made, and how she reluctantly accepted it.

“I will win this, Lily. And we will live together forever.”

How she wanted to say that what he desired was wrong, but once he found what he never did, he was not going to let it go. She could only lean her head against his chest, while he stroke her white hair with affection. As the snowflakes began to slowly fall, they remained still. If only he knew that his wish had already been fulfilled, she wondered.

Then darkness ruled, the golden lamps shattered.

A shadow pounced from the darkness and grabbed Lily with a swift movement. Julius instinctively jerked backwards, blood flowing from his stomach. He materialized a gun form nothing, and tried to aim at the shadow. The moonlight shone upon the shadow, although not clearly; a mask with no expression, a black suit supporting extreme agility, and a pair of claws, with blades of one of it barely touching Lily’s neck. Most of the figure remained a shadow.

Taking cover behind her body, the masked man did not afraid upon seeing the materialization of a yellowish-white handgun. Unable to find any opening, especially since it was dark, Julius had a change of plan. The masked man was standing only inches away from the window. And outside, although colder, was brighter than inside the room. It was a plan to change the terrain of the battle.

Appalling the masked man, he charged forwards, pushing both Lily and the masked man to the window. Although the company that sold the window dare to boast about it being really hard to break, Julius was grateful that it was not that hard. The masked man had loosen his grip and drifted past the falling snow, trying to regain balance which he would not met. That was a golden chance for Julius to grab Lily’s body, if not for a blade piercing through his left shoulder.

The claw of the masked man – one of the blade was missing.

Apparently the snow had softened their landing, though it sent the masked man moaning. Julius painfully pulled the blade from his shoulder, as the snowstorm began to form fog and freezing winds. The masked man had regained his balance, and was then charging to attack Julius. Luckily the materialized gun banged, and the bullet struck the mask on the right eye. The mask was proven to strong, since the bullet did not continue to pierce the eye, although the upper right part of the mask was then shattered. The eyes of the masked man was revealed.

On that very split-second, Julius tried to grab every detail of the revealed face. Black hair, brown eyes, thin eyebrow, brown skin. He himself was amazed at how speedy his detailed information collection was, but it was interrupted when the masked man kicked his face, turning it facing the other side. Upon tasting blood, he vomited it straight away with some broken teeth. The cold had prevented him from feeling the pain; he did not even feel anything.

With all his might he tried to stand up, and when he did he could only see a blurred shadow of the masked man running away, carrying Lily. Julius rushed, throwing himself into the fog, but it was not long before he lost track of him. He needed to think fast, predicting the masked man’s location. It was his garden, and although it was foggy, he could still point out where was the main gate.

The whole garden was two hectares wide, and was surrounded by walls as high as skyscrapers.  The garden was structured to have trees in such a way that the lowest tree was placed in the center, and the highest trees in two point; one on the extreme north of garden and one on the extreme left. Those two trees were the only ones higher than the wall. Judging from the direction the masked man ran, it was probably the south point. In this weather, the masked man could not ran that fast, and he concluded that the masked man had not reach the south point yet. All was concluded withing split second.

The gun magically transformed into a yellow sniper rifle. He then took a steady position in which he could aim properly, although the wounds on his shoulder and the raging storm decreased his stance stability. Approximating the position of the tree, and the time the masked man could possibly climb, he waited for a long while, breathing heavily. He could approximate the position of the masked man’s head, since he remembered clearly how high was the tree, at which position will the masked man probably jump, and his head in such situation. He counted every seconds, predicted the masked man’s position, and waited.

The moment he pull the trigger, a roaring thunder was released from the riffle, sending a yellowish lightning straight to where Julius aimed. The speed of the lightning had driven away fog from its path, and it was clear to Julius that the masked man was hit, although not in the head. He shot his leg, right when the masked man was about to jump. The masked man, carrying Lily’s body, helplessly fell from the tree. Satisfied with the result, Julius dematerialized his rifle and ran to the south point.

Only to find Lily crossing the border of life and death.

Julius dropped on his knee after finding her. It was really thoughtless of him to shoot the masked man from such height, since he carried her body. While the masked man was nowhere to be seen, Lily severed a fatal injury from the fall; barely breathing, barely living. Her eyes half-opened, her body unable to move, but somehow her lips could move.

“If only.. find.. your wish.. granted..”

That was all Julius could hear, though it did not sound complete. He could only wet his eyes; something that he had not done for years. Lifting the lifeless body, he promised himself that the first one to fall down was the masked man. She was the only one to know the ‘game’, she was the only one who could comfort him, and losing him would equal losing part of his sanity. Maybe it was just his exaggeration in the midst of sorrow and anger, but he himself did not know how true could that be.