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..........“Zsolt?”

..........“Hmmm?”

..........“What is Laxis doing here?” Rance asked in a somewhat patient voice.

..........“Using the keyboard?”

..........Zsolt didn’t seem to get at what Rance was trying to ask him. The bassist gave up quickly.

..........“Do you think he could be our keyboardist?”

..........“No.”

..........Zenile looked up from his scores, partially irritated at the constant rebuttal the two were giving each other. They were at a band practice session, and Laxis was using the lonely keyboard at the back that no one played, so what? He flicked a strand of raven hair behind, his golden eyes attempting to pierce through Rance, telling him to shut up. It didn’t work.

..........“I mean…you could at least let him try, mister.”

..........“No.”

..........Rance had an exasperated look on his face, as if he were desperate for Laxis to try out as a keyboardist. “What harm would it do?”

..........“It’ll cost us a few thousand more to get more wires, another amp, two synthesizers, more manuscripts, a new stand, printer toner for lyrics and notes…and a hell lot of other stuffs.” Zsolt roughly placed his guitar on its stand. “I don’t see what it adds up to.”

..........“It adds up to more girls attracted, with him being a famous musician if this works out…hell. We might even get sponsors.”

..........“And, he gets less bored, enjoying himself and playing the keyboard rather than stoning himself to death in your sad house.” Chris added cheerily. He let his sticks fall onto the snare. “Come on Zsolt…what harm would it do?”

..........The demon seemed as desperate as the rest of them were, uttering a defeated “alright” as Chris’ face burst into his signature, boyish smile. He ushered Laxis to come over with the keyboard, and Laxis quietly obeyed, bringing the keyboard with him, along with the manuscript book he was holding. Zsolt’s eyes only seemed to focus on the book as he roughly scanned the notes, chords, accompaniment and keys. He’d never known about this music-writing skill that Laxis had, and he was pretty good at it.

..........“Laxis, play this for us.” Chris said as he jovially plopped down a heavy book – one that was filled to the brim with Sonatas, Sonatinas and Preludes of all kinds. He flipped to a page. “Sonata in C, my fave.” He continued.

..........By his own initiative, Laxis had grabbed a chair and started playing, his fingers delicately flowing over the keyboard, the classical music slowly diffusing through the air. Adriana, who so happened to be there, looked up from whatever she was doing and found herself surprised that Laxis was actually playing the music without any difficulty at all, the sweet melody pleasing everyone’s ears. Even Zenile had come over for a closer look, observing the prodigy as he finished the first movement, going onto the second. Zsolt was utterly speechless, not knowing what to say. If he had had allowed Laxis to play his guitar he would have known of this ability a long time ago, but he didn’t, and now his tongue was tied as to what response he could give to this wonderful, sweet harmony of perfect notes that were effortlessly being played by his own adopted pet.

..........And he didn’t bother finding it out.

..........“Whoa, hold it there boy.” Chris stopped Laxis just as he was about to go into the third movement. “I think you’ve amazed everyone enough.” He slammed the book with a widened look on his face – he hadn’t expected such a response to come through, but he decided to make things clear.

..........“Okay, I’ll ask you some questions.” Chris coughed nervously. “What does the double ‘f’ stand for?”

..........“Fortissimo, very loud.” Laxis replied quietly, an air of seriousness stretched over his face.

..........“ ‘sfz’ ?”

..........“Suddenly loud.”

..........“ ‘rit’ ?”

..........“To slow down.”

..........“Where did you learn all this?”

..........“You won’t believe me if I told you.”

..........Adriana came over, her face wiped over with amazement. Somebody must have taught this boy how to actually read music that well. The only thing she knew was that there was something called “middle C”, and that’s it. And a young demi-human boy of 19 years could play one of the most well-known pieces perfectly with all the little embellishments, perhaps the first time, or maybe not.

..........“Fine then, I won’t go into details.” Chris was not as curious to know about how Laxis got his skills, but Zsolt was. He wanted to explode with curiosity, feeling the need to actually start knowing more about that dog he had actually adopted. He needed to know more. Zenile had taken the manuscript book and started singing from it, his boyish tenor voice attracting everyone’s attention in the room.

..........‘When the truth comes/it hits you hard/you don’t know what it’s about/and you didn’t care/ at least until now.’
..........‘I’ll never forgive you/nor remember that fateful day/when you came/right beside me/that forbidden language/you told me the truth/and now I know/ how painful it is/to reveal it to me…’
..........‘I’ll never regret…’

..........He looked up and smiled. “Perfect for that last song we need.

...............

..........Laxis was now an official member of Rance’s band. He was given his position of keyboardist, which Zsolt had no comment about whatsoever. His only concern was whether the novelty of actually being in the band would wear off after awhile, in which Laxis would start to get bored and skip practice sessions and gigs, not that Zsolt would allow that in the first place. They were now trying out Laxis’ song together.

..........“So you want that to be a G-sharp minor chord, or just a D minor seventh?” Rance asked.

..........Laxis though for awhile before answering, his voice now more childish and jovial, “It doesn’t matter really, its all a matter of opinion, so whichever you think would appeal to the fans and supporters, you decide.” He was still amazed at the level of answers that he could reply with, and wondered what he would sound like when giving a sarcastic remark. That chance would appear soon.

..........“So you want me to decide?”

..........“Oh no no no no no…” Laxis shook his head, surprised at the level of sarcasm his voice was dripping at. That was way past what he was used to. Rance grinned as he played the D minor seventh, strumming the four-stringed bass with experience, the orange and black body standing out vividly, the concentrated brown eyes focusing on the score.

..........“Okay, take it from…bar twenty seven.”

..........Chris’ drums started the flurry of music. The melodious blend of the bass, guitar, drums and newly added keyboard making such a different sound that none of the band members were used to. They’d have to get used to it.

..........“You know that boy/that lives down the street/he grew up with you/he left you./ I was there/a new experience/we were together/we were together/ nearly forever.”
..........“Till that fateful day/that drove the secrets/through out minds./ It blew us up/with each other/we never said goodbye…”

..........Zsolt really felt a sudden rush of memories – being together with Adriana previously, all the different times they were together, the fateful day where she cried. She cried and she wept like there was no tomorrow, while he sat there, just like some dumb a*****e, not being able to do anything about it. He had let her head rest on his shoulder, and that was the last time she did such a thing.

..........The hole in his soul was just too wide.

..........“Um…Zsolt? Dude? Like, you totally spaced out?”

..........Chris nearly shouted as Zsolt snapped from his revere, putting on a temporary façade, as if he were completely alright.

..........“Yea…dude. I’m cool.”

..........Everyone was surprised at the response – Zsolt never spoke so casually in his whole entire life, and now he was saying words like “dude” and “cool”? There was something seriously wrong.

..........“I think everyone needs a break.” Zenile ordered as he downed yet another bottle of mineral water, shooting the empty plastic expertly into the recycle bin.

..........Zsolt collapsed onto the floor mentally exhausted.

...............

..........Jereon quickly ran toward the studio, desperate to find Zsolt. His mind was filled with a black dream, and it was filling quickly, corrupting his mind and spirit. “I must get to Zsolt quickly.”

..........He unconsciously slammed the door open to find the rest of the gang inside, gathered around Laxis, a sweet heavenly music flowing through the air. His stopped to enjoy it, the murkiness clearing from his mind.

..........‘The music of the lower heaven…already with such wonderful qualities. What can the music of final heaven do? What divine intervention does it have to humans?’

..........He noticed that everyone was staring at him. He quickly blushed, and everyone stared at him even more. It wasn’t like Jereon to actually blush from embarrassment at any time. Come to think about it, it was the first time Jereon had actually expressed some kind of an emotion in his whole entire life. It seemed that there was something wrong with everybody that day.

..........“It seems what I had intended to ask for had been fulfilled, never you mind what it was.” He declared in an overly-loud voice, choosing to proclaim his words in some form of a decree to appear to be his normal self. It was such a cliché.

..........“Just for your information, the British accent is officially passé. The urban is now in the slang.” Adriana informed Jereon of that slight fashion urban statement, not that he would care anyway. Golden eyes accompanied a soft navy blue mop of hair that the magician was proud of – only the highest of beings in this world were granted with navy hair with golden eyes, and Zenile was just a little away from that ranking, his black hair an immense difference from what was necessary to be considered a high being.

..........Jereon had sat down at a table, not knowing what else to do. He managed to somehow endure the loud rehearsals that the group was having, occasionally looking up to observe their progress in the song. His pen scribbled somehow neatly on a faded diary, taking notes down in some form of a runic language. He was busily observing Laxis.

..........“Um…Jereon? Wanna go get dinner with us?”

..........The magician slowly got up from his seated position and silently followed the group, still not uttering a single word. He was too deep in thought with his medication studies, with pictures of various scenarios coming to mind.

..........He didn’t notice a dark silhouette following the group, who were blind to the fact that somebody was stalking them. It was only when Jereon turned around did he notice a dark and unearthly presence near him and his friends. He thought nothing about it, walking on, his shoes making clacking noises against the concrete. He sensed it again, and was not afraid to get rid of it. He wanted to turn around to face it, but found himself shouting for Zsolt to get out of the way as a bolt of ice appeared, missing its target by a hair’s breadth.

..........“What the hell…” The demon muttered as he drew out his Trident. Jereon hands began to glow an eerie blue, and reacted quickly to the sudden lurch in speed that the silhouette raged against the two. It was cloaked figure that had three distinct scar lines over his right eye. His eyes were coloured a silvery-grey and were filled with lifelessness, much like Jereon’s own. Wielding a white scepter, he was extremely trained in both melee and magic attacks, and both the elf and demon was struggling to hold his back. They didn’t even have his reason as to why he was fighting them, but as soon as his eyes made contact with Laxis’, he immediately took a small step with his right foot, parrying Zsolt’s attack while he muttered something that Jereon couldn’t make out, not that it was necessary as both warriors stood frozen to the ground, unable to move.

..........The cloaked figure moved towards Laxis, Rance immediately stepped in front of the fox in defense. The person pushed him aside roughly as Rance struggled to keep himself balanced. That guy was strong.

..........“Are you Saxil Arcadius?” A numbing chill was present in his voice. Laxis refused to reply.

..........“Are you Saxil Arcadius?” The person asked again, this time his deep, mellow voice was tinged with a hint of poison. Laxis responded now with a slow nod, deciding to comply with the stranger’s question.

..........The person tapped his foot, breathing a sigh before he faded in the wind, his voice still in the air.

..........“Inconse…”

..........Zsolt and Jereon woke from their frozen stance and blinked, once or twice before realizing that the stranger was gone. Zsolt immediately noticed Laxis’ legs go weak, buckling under himself. He quickly ran and grabbed Laxis, carrying his full body in his strong, muscular arms. “How…how did he know…my name…” was what the young crimson-haired adult heard from Laxis’ desperate, weak voice. That whole incident had somehow weakened him.

..........“Hush, go to sleep and rest.” Zsolt told Laxis as he nuzzled his pet’s forehead, letting him drift into blissful rest.

..........Silence followed as everyone watched that moment of caring that Zsolt was expressing, before a sudden burst of someone shouting cracked the silence.

..........“OKAY, I SO DID NOT SEE THAT.” Rance declared, facing the opposite direction.

...............