Chapter Text
Lukas sat on top of the hay stacked near the cow’s stall.
It was still spring at this time of the year. Or maybe that’s how Lukas wanted to believe.
The sun shone just above his head Sure, it could be reaching him whenever it wanted. But as long as Lukas stays under the roof? he won’t be worrying about that at all. His body is already accustomed to such conditions. To say that he would sweat and whine is out of the question. For him, the heat meter marked itself in quite a familiar way where Lukas would still nod and go through his day.
Other times like this, he would’ve been holed up in the house just beyond the village. Unlike what people like him used to have back then—cooling magic spreading all over their palace not leaving any corner uncovered, the bed that made itself by the moment they got off it, spoons lined up as trenches and wine dripped down through the corner of their mouth, and all those that had considered as something as luxury they had always been born with—Lukas couldn’t even remember how those felt like anymore.
At least, Lukas Askanier—no, he wouldn't call himself that thing anymore—Lukas Muller wouldn’t want to associate himself with those thousands specks of mud.
When he cast his sight downwards, his regularly cleaned shoes caught his attention. With its surface reflecting the light, he noticed how off it looked like to be put beside the ground that is no more of what all nature grew on top. That contrast made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. Lukas then swiftly rubbed his shoes to the ground, so that the clean and its shiny surface became slightly covered in mud.
That’s better.
He didn’t even want the hay he sat on to be covered by a cloth on top of it.
So he got up, gently reached over each end of the cloth and folded it. With a practiced gesture, he finally put the stacked folded cloth to the other side of the hay where he wouldn’t be touching.
Lukas knew that the plaid patterned cloth was only there because of a certain considerate brunette friend of his that worried over nothing.
It was never something that Lukas needed for Ulrike to do, but the other won’t take no unless he understood it—which almost never. Lukas stretched his body, a yawn escaped from his mouth. He quickly covered his mouth, maintaining the same languid posture.
“Louise, do you need any help there?” Lukas asked. Letting the other end of his voice sway. Though his intention is more of like let me help, he just went ahead and offered a question first.
“No! Lukas just needs to stay there!”
The cheerful voice greeted him from the other end.
The corner of Lukas’ lips twitched upwards, forming a rather gentle smile he always saved for certain people. ‘Certain people' here means someone that is dear to him.
“Okay then.”
After a couple of minutes, Ulrike got out of the barn stall. He dusted his hands. “Look, I was just trying to feed that one cow I told you about and—”
Ulrike was all smiles before, he always had been, with freckles lining up like constellations in his face, but when his sight reached Lukas, spotting the folded cloth he had always spread under wherever Lukas sat—his smile dropped.
He blinked. Twice.
“Lukas, why di you put that off again...”
Lukas chuckled, “Louise,” Slowly patted the cloth beside him and said, “I already told you, I don’t need it.”
Ulrike looked a bit disappointed at it. Looking at that sight, Lukas could’ve sworn he saw a dog's ears drooping just on top of Ulrike’s head.
“I just think you will feel more comfortable…”
“Louise, it’s fine. Why wouldn't I be when I come here to meet you?”
Ulrike beamed at that.
Lukas felt bad, but if he didn’t repeatedly remind Ulrike about it, the more gap Ulrike might have drawn between them. Lukas doesn’t consider himself anymore as one of the nobles anymore. Furthermore, he had something else to worry about—
“So, how’s your search going?” Ulrike plopped down beside Lukas.
This was it. The true reason Lukas had come all this way.
Lukas pulled a map from his pocket and spread it across the floor. The map looked too worn, its creases turned yellow on its edge. Numerous X marks dotted its surface. Most of them clustered around the land surrounding Lukas’s village. At the sight, Lukas winced. Realizing how his effort went to nothing. He then picked up a pencil that is also older than him and drew a line, marking another X just an empty space surrounded by it.
“I looked through this area and I still haven’t found him.”
Lukas added, pointing to another area that already crossed out too with the pencil, “This one too. But the people here said that I should search for him on the opposite side of the border. Actually, almost all people say the same thing. He is probably out there just beyond the borders.”
“...which is separated by the sea.” Ulrike continued, weakly.
Ulrike that had always been like the sun shining in its own wayーturned dim in a second he realized what that meant.
Crossing the sea would mean letting Lukas go out there far away.
Lukas looked at Ulrike. He had known about Ulrike for almost all his life now. Right after the fall of Askanier, Lukas had carried his body so young as a boy back then, crossing seasons and the land, he happened to reach a certain village that’s located nowhere, where people wouldn’t recognize his face and would only know him as a boy who had fallen unconscious in the middle of the winter. Lukas had grown so much older than then. He is now a bit above twenty, already getting enough taste of how unfair this world could be.
“Well…” Lukas voice went faint on its end, turning into whispers.
Ulrike knew Lukas did this when he can’t say things outrightly so with a sigh, he smiled. It looked a bit strained but it formed anyway.
“If… finding that person will help you break your curse, it wouldn’t be something I should stop you from doing, right?”
Lukas went silent at that.
“Louise…”
The name ‘Pleroma’ had never been far from the empire, flowing away from one mouth to others. A dark curse that would make one crave for blood as they reach a certain age. People in the empire had always believed that it’s true, to a certain extent. But what makes it far too cruel is that people had always expected the Askanier to come clean because of a certain prophecy that made people sit with edge, ready to point out a reason to exile everyone in the family. There was a child mage who held the power of foresee.
That said mage holds the power to tell a prophecy.
The prophecy claimed that one child born in the empire would carry a curse destined to doom everything in the empire—a child with eyes of a color never seen before.
That put the entire empire into chaos.
Everyone with a newborn child were inspected one by one, they crossed every color and there was Lukas Askanier who appeared as what the prophecy had written itself.
His pink eyes contrasted the list out of every listed color in the paper.
Ever since then, Askanier had been put in front of everyone’s eye in the empire. Everyone pointed at that family to be removed as soon as possible, and some regions stepped down to offer their assistance.
For Lukas Askanier, his entire existence started as politics.
Some of the family stood up and offered their assistance in keeping an eye out for him. One of the ruling families in the north stood out, but everyone just hastily brushed it off as a naivety wrapped in humanity.
“That family asked to adopt that cursed child, how stupid is that?” They whispered.
Lukas was just a child back then, clearly unaware whatever happened in the court, he could only wonder why he wouldn’t be allowed to stare at someone too long. The servant had rather acted quite cautious around him. What didn’t change—is how his older brother treated him.
Adrian Askanier had rather been someone that put Lukas in spiral.
Looking back, Lukas had always been rather afraid of him for another reason. When everyone stared at him in rather scrutinizing expression, Adrian would look at him with so much affection in his eyes. Adrian had always been a good older brother for him. Perfect, even.
And that, put the young Lukas on a pedestal.
It would have made more sense if Adrian had shoved him around and hated him like everyone does. But Adrian didn’t. When Adrian asked how Lukas’ day had been—Lukas temperature went cold. He had never really looked at his older brother’s eye. That hauntingly so ever blue contrasted with his pink eyes. Lukas could only tremble and said he didn’t do anything that would put everyone in danger.
Lukas had never looked up, so he didn’t know what his older brother’s expression looked like. How he felt towards Lukas. Was he scared? Was he ashamed? Was he…
The fire had been so vivid for Lukas to forget that night.
That day, right after the news of Lukas biting and drinking a hound’s blood—everyone who had been sitting on the edge of the seat immediately burned everything that had been there in the castle. Lukas remembered that all he was back then was that he had ever been so little to fit in a carriage that his older brother led him to get inside, all he had ever been is that something that should be sent away.
“Luka, drink up.”
He hadn’t been sure what Adrian made him drink that night.
Lukas only remembered what he drank was a potion.
A cold, foreign feeling filled his throat. Lukas could only feel a slight pain tearing up his heart, slowly turning into a tremendous pull on his core, making its way to carve its way out of his heart. It felt like his heart broke into pieces, strained and left cold. When he felt hazy and the world blurred, he could only feel a pat on his head and a warm hug, something sounding closer to a soothing and unheard whisper.
Lukas didn’t remember anything else, he could only feel like the world moved on its own, moving him from places to places, he stopped riding a carriage and walked. Walking turns into running, and desperation cries into nothing but a substance for him to swallow. It pained him in a sense that he didn’t understand what was happening. He didn’t have something simple as a destination, and comfort had turned into a privilege that he never deserved.
When Lukas blinked, he had been loved in a village out of nowhere. He blended with everyone here. He stopped being anything and yet remained in that fallen name.
It wasn’t until Ulrike leaned his head on Lukas shoulder that finally loosen all strings that formed in Lukas’ mind.
“Everything will be fine. You will send letters, right?”
Lukas downcasted his eyes, letting something heavy tie its knot on his heart.
“What if I never meet him, like, at all?”
“But he does exist,” Ulrike corrected. “I’ve heard so many stories about him even as a commoner you see.”
Ulrike poked on Lukas cheeks, “You two had something in common, after all! Both of you are fallen nobles.”
Lukas laughed at that, “I’m not sure if you mean that as something positive or not…”
“Well, he had different circumstances than you, of course. But he is definitely real!”
Here we go again. Lukas gulped.
“See! Elias Hohenzollern had been going around like a Robin Hood all around the empire! He had helped hungry and poor people, killed evil people, and banished every corrupt official!”
Lukas rubbed his face with his palm, “Louise… just what kind of yellow newspaper you had been reading while I was away…” More importantly, hearing the word ‘kill’ coming out of his beloved friend that had never strayed so far from the sun felt so absurd.
Ulrike is—if Lukas could be honest—wouldn’t even hurt a fly. Maybe in a universe where Ulrike had to realize how there is so much more than love and whims in this world, that out there people could turn love into blades—Lukas shook his head quickly. No, no, Lukas would be so heart broken at that.
Ulrike stood up and put up a fist, turning it upwards to create a comical dramatic effect. “They called him The Eternal Protagonist all over the newspaper!”
“The… Eternal Protagonist.”
Of course, Lukas had also known that.
The Eternal Protagonist.
It is indeed a wonderful choice of words and pretty fitting for The Knight—but when it’s said out loud and widely scattered all over the empire, Lukas felt rather a bit embarrassed of it. He really didn’t know what to say to that.
It is rumored that once a young boy was casted away from his family, making him a fallen noble in the same age as Lukas. That boy had grown into a brave knight, leaving heroic tales all around the land wherever he went. Lukas on the other hand, his footsteps are like nothing but a reminder of what the prophecy wrote him as.
Despite Elias’ popularity, in the eyes of the nobles out there, the topic of Elias Hohenzollern is considered to be controversial.
While in the eyes of commoners they practically idolized him as a figure of justiceーin the eyes of noblesーthey put him as a symbol of something closer to treason.
However not all nobles had the same view, some said that the brave knight solved numerous cases by himself, making the police workload lighter by the end of the winter.
But what makes humanity grow to be somewhat visible, is that every time the forces took the initiative to put up a wanted poster of Elias Hohenzollern, a few days later it would be gone. At first, the police didn’t give up, whenever that silent resistance began, they took it as the opportunity to put up new posters. Years later however, they started passing by numerous scrapped off wanted posters and prioritizing more dangerous ones.
Ever since he grew up alongside Ulrike, the two had always been reading anything together. For commoners, gossip is like free entertainment. A privilege that didn’t cost them anything but a coin. So by the end of the day, what Ulrike reads is also what Lukas reads.
So when Ulrike told Lukas all about this legendary knight… Lukas had gotten used to it.
It’s just—when liking things—there are two types of liking. One is what Lukas would call the ulrike type when they are constantly talking about what they like and admire. The other one is what lukas would call the…
Yeah, three dots.
The type that will go “...” whenever he comes across something that they like and admire. This type of liking is when they just don't show anything that they like and keep it to themselves. Lukas has always been one of the latter kinds. Self claimed, he wanted to let whoever read this know.
Looking at it, Lukas had always been wondering about Elias Hohenzollern, who was rumored to be wandering from one land to another. People had always been so vague about him because even though his entire existence in the yellow newspaper had been painted to be a symbol of justice, they had always been so careful about how they described him. Some said his hair should be as pale as a snow, some said it would fit him if he had jet black hair instead.
In conclusion, no one had ever blatantly met him. Or maybe someone in power made it clear that they’re not allowed to share any crucial information regarding how the knight really looked like.
Personally, the reason why Lukas had always been looking forward to meeting this Elias Hohenzollern runs deep other than a mere admiration.
In one of the yellow newspapers that spread his heroic tales, one of the authors said Elias had been very close with a certain ruling family up in the north.
The ruling family up in the north is what you would call them as The Wittelsbachs.
The Wittelsbachsーhad always been known as one of the most closed off families in the empire up in the north. Contradicting with how cold in the north up there, where snow is the standard weather up in those lands, the family expertise in medical practices and mediums. Potions and medical practices had been developed all around the empire and all of those could be possible because of The Wittelsbachs.
But quoting that the Wittelsbach had been very closed off kind is an understatementーmostly because it is never easy to cross the north borders unless you got one of the wittelsbachs to let you in. They did this because Wittelsbachs knew their true worth and standing in the empire.
What made it weird is that Lukas had found out so much later that the family that had offered to adopt him before was The Wittelsbach.
Lukas wasn’t sure why at that time when he was just a child and put in the ruling court that family would have been the only one to put their hand up and offered Lukas a shelter whereas every other family there offered Lukas a cage. Lukas had only vaguely seen a figure the same age as him standing just beyond the audiences, he must be the crown prince.
Lukas never really had been familiar with the nobels even in his childhood, mostly because banquets turned into something so suffocating for him to stay in. He just remembered he had accidentally helped a boy with his magic once and he never really remembered anything else beside that. He could only remember George was leading him to go back and behave later, separating him from that boy.
Which makes it circle back to one of the yellow newspapers mentioning Elias could easily go to the north without permission. Lukas didn’t understand why, maybe Elias helped the prince once? So maybe they felt indebted enough to let him roam around in that restricted region of the empire?
Whatever the reason is, Elias is Lukas' only hope to break his curse.
Drinking blood had made Lukas into something that he had never wanted to beーbecause being human is his only option left.
He never succumbed to that urge, of course, but when it gets too much, Ulrike would get him a chicken’s blood and make Lukas contemplate his life.
He can’t keep on living like this.
He knows for sure he can’t live like this.
He can’t rely on drinking blood all his life in order to stay alive. Not when he knew all he needed had ever been so much more than animal’s blood.
So if there’s a potion that could break his curse, Lukas wanted that.
Even if it means to chase that wandering knight.
The earliest dawn where the first ship sailed arrived.
Lukas had packed up all the things he needed. The gold savings he had after working over there and there, some clothes, and a packed chicken’s blood poured to a costrel.
A warm meal packed inside a paper bag was put in Lukas hands.
“Lukas, promise me you will send me letters! You will send me one, right? One every month!” Ulrike chimed in just when he gently dropped the meal on Lukas hands.
Lukas held Ulrike’s hands and smiled, “I will, Louise, I definitely will. I promise.”
Ulrike looked at him, clutching his hand tighter.
“I hope Elias will be able to help you.”
That earned a laugh from Lukas. “You’re saying it as if you want to say ‘may god bless your journey’...”
“Well, he’s basically your god now…” Ulrike trailed off.
Lukas chuckled, “Yeah, yeah. I guess Elias is really my god now.”
After a short silence with just the two not moving away from each other and sat beside each other on the bench just facing the ship that had yet been sailing.
“I just want to break the curse and live as a human for once. That’s why I need to go.” Lukas said.
Ulrike looked at the sea.
“I knowーthat’s why you should go back here once you’re done.” Ulrike slowly put his sight on Lukas and smiled.
The smile was so genuine it made Lukas' heart feel that pang of guilt.
“And then… you will tell me how that goes.” Ulrike continued. “Finally living as a human, that is.”
The bells chimed, people shouted ‘last call for departure!’ and Lukas was halfway lining up to board. He looked over at the people who were on the other side, everyone bid their farewell to the people they came here and to see them off.
Ulrike had always been taller than Lukas but right at that moment, Ulrike looked so small.
Something broke in Lukas, and Lukas immediately left his spot in the lineーhis spot that had guaranteed him the most comfortable seat that had never been something he cared about.
He ran over to Ulrike.
With a jump, he hugged Ulrike tight. Ulrike caught him just in time.
Lukas repeated again, giving one reassuring smile that Ulrike might not see, “I will be back, Louise. I promise.”
Lukas could feel the brunette trembling at that right moment, a faint sob held back just right at his throat.
“You have always been a friend to me, Lukas.” Ulrike finally said while hugging him tighter. “You are never just a curse to me.”
“...I know.”
“Please take care.”
Ulrike pulled back a bit and cupped Lukas’ face, “Say hi to Elias for me!”
Lukas laughed at that.
“I will.”
“Are you kidding me?!”
On the other side of the borders, stood a figure leaning over the wall just under the bridge. His hands clutched the newspaper so hard it crumpled. His finger turned pale with how hard he had gripped the paper. He grumbled and murmured incoherent words, full of swearing that might have come from different languages at once.
He had always known his act of justice had always been amazingーhe himself could vouch for it. But the eternal protagonist getting plastered all over the headlines made his eyes twitch. He could only imagine beating up his childhood friend who tried to keep their plan work. Sure, Leonard had always been dependable for him when it comes to covering up his steps. But.. but this..
‘The eternal protagonist that stole everyone’s heartー’
Damn right, he is going to steal whoever onto this’s heart and crush it to a million pieces. Whoever wrote this shit straight up from ass...
Then his eyes shot up.
“How many times do I have to tell them…”
His body went rigid, trembling so hard out of anger.
“How many fucking times do I have to tell them to stop making everything more dramatic than it actually is!”
Elias shouted to the sky.