Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

Winnter stopped in front of the ruins of an old building outside the outskirts of the city. We had been walking far from the settlement, no lights but the moonlight shone dimly over us.

  "It is in there," Winnter said, pointing at the entrance of that building. Aspherical boulder the size of an aeroplane was carved by human hands thousands of years ago forming a majestic building like a palace was now left dark and quiet ruins inside it. 

"This voice?" I walked slowly towards where the voice sounded faint but still audible in my ears. 

In the darkness inside the ruins, Aras stood amidst the thousands of animals. It stood there as if it was the centre of them. The melody coming out from the horns made me peaceful. I sat at the back and enjoyed the show. Meanwhile, Winnter was doing the same as me. We were both lulled by the music coming from the horns. 

"How come Azalea wants us to catch it? Anytime I see it I don't see even the slightest danger posed by that animal." I said slowly, shifting slowly to approach Aras. 

Before I could move further, the melody suddenly stopped, Aras looked in my direction, and I froze in shock. "Hello, I –" I was unable to finish my words because Winnter pulled my arm and threw me to the side before that animal kicked me with its hind legs. 

"THA, RUN!" But my brain was too slow to respond to what Winnter instructed me. Perhaps I was too shocked looking at Aras that suddenly turned to be so aggressive, like the one which was just like in that drainage. All the small animals surrounding it scattered in all directions due to fear. 

Winnter wrapped my head with her jacket, pulled my arms and carried me away, running nowhere. My feet stumbled a few times and got caught in the sand. It seemed that she took me out of the ruins. 

"Winnter, what's going on?" She let go of my arm and when I unwrapped my head from that jacket I saw Aras that was about to step on Winnter with the front leg. "Winnter!!" I immediately screamed and that creature ran back to me. I was just stunned and closed my eyes, confused and afraid, didn't know what to do. 

"Tha!." Winnter yelled at me and I opened my eyes. She pulled me to get up, and on the other side, Aras was calm again. It kicked the sand with the front legs and neighed, just like a common horse. Someone was with Aras, he brushed its mane that made. Apparently that it calms down. 

"Marionette?," my reaction was in disbelief knowing who was there with Aras. He was a wooden doll which was so familiar to me. 

"Zie?" That marionette turned his head slowly and stiffly, his eyes were on me but empty ones. He walked stiffly towards us. Something in me said that he was not Zie but I refused to accept it. "You really come for me?" I was incoherent to taking everything. Was it the effect of Antonie's illusion spell or that marionette was not someone I knew so far? 

"He asked if you were okay," Winnter said. 

I did not get it because I could not hear Zie's voice. I did not even hear if he just asked about my condition. 

I was just quiet, and could not really absorb what had happened. I was so sure that this marionette was Zie, but he looked so different. He gave his hand to me with his broken movement. "Zie?' He nodded so stiffly. 

Then we were both quiet, doing nothing, just looking at Winnter who was moving around Aras. I looked at that woman in confusion as to why she was circling around the animal she was supposed to catch. 

"Tha, tell me how he is like?" Winnter asked. 

I still didn't understand her doing it. I just kept quiet. 'We finally found it, Tha!" she said enthusiastically, "This is Aras!" 

My eyes were just fixed on what she was doing, then she said, "Let's go home now, boy. There is nothing for you here." She persuaded it gently. 

Aras didn't respond to it, just sniffed Winnter's hand extending towards it. "Aras is sniffing your hand, is that okay?" I warned her doubtfully. 

Winnter just smiled at me before she bent down in front of that animal. Aras sniffed her body, then its eyes went towards us, Zie and me. Later, that animal neighed like a horse. 

"Good boy. Can I hear one more of your most beautiful melody?" Asked Winnter. 

Aras bent down its head and strains of soothing melody as the wind blew out of the blue. I sat at the front with Zie. The night went down beautifully as the melody from the horns accompanied us together with piercing cold weather and cloudy sky. 

I did not know how long we were sitting in the middle of the desert with Aras playing the lulling melody. Then, of a sudden, that creature looked up and glared to one point. The melody stopped. "Winnter?" I was ready, but she gestured me to stay calm. 

Aras suddenly ran in the direction it was looking at, then it was gone like a flash white dot. 

"Tha, we meet Azalea tomorrow and we will tell her what we saw this night," Winnter said as she helped me to get up. 

I was so shocked when Winnter kicked the marionette next to me. "What the hell are you doing? You hurt him!" I shouted at her, covering Zie. I was suddenly furious at what she had done to that doll. 

"Woho! Calm down," She was trying to cool down my emotions. "it is empty now." She opposed it.

I ignored her and pushed her hard to the ground. "You hurt him!" I growled. 

Winnter stared at me in shock. That look made me come to my conscience. I helped her to get up, "Sorry."  And then I turned my eyes to Zie. 

I looked at what I saw in front of me in bewilderment. That doll didn't move an inch. "Winnter?" 

"The seal is very weak Tha," She tried to convince me, battering her body from the dirt. Let's take it home or shall we leave it here?" She gave me options. 

"What do you mean?" I asked, unsure. 

"There is a kind of seal in this doll that ties someone's spirit to stay in the world," She looked at me. "I know you have known it as you called a name just now," She glared at me. 

"Tha, this is forbidden and you must know it." And again she kicked that marionette and pulled me away. "He will get up soon. Let's go. We'd better not get involved in a more complicated problem." 

…

We went home when it was almost two in the morning. I did not realize that we had been listening to Aras melody for quite a long time. Winnter chose roads that had fewer guards from the police watch. Summer was over, it was replaced by autumn, a very cold morning. Dews was frozen at almost all surfaces of leaves we passed through. Coldness penetrated into our thin skin that had no jackets on. 

"The autumn will be very short this year. We'd better take that animal home sooner or we have to explore the nights in the coldness of the snow." Winnter tried to scare me off. 

"Okay," I replied unenthusiastically. My mind was still occupied by Zie, the marionette, that was in the desert. "Winnter, let's come back." I whined. 

Winnter stared at me in disbelief. And without her approval, I ran back to that place. 

When I arrived there, I found nothing but traces of feet heading somewhere. I wanted to follow the traces but Winnter pulled my arm. "Get a grip of yourself, Tha! He has gone. When the seal is getting weak, he can be very dangerous, not like he was before!" She said curtly. Her hand flew on my cheek. I fell down to the ground. My cheek felt pain. 

"Let's go find him, Winnter," I cried, "Let's take Zie home. Please!" I knelt on her feet, begging her to allow me to find that marionette. I just could not understand why I behaved like that. The last time I remembered that I left Zie with Mr Oka. 

Winnter ignored me, she hit me once again, instead. I didn't stop begging her and cried, ignoring the pain. But it was useless. Winnter dragged me home. Her small body was so strong that I could not defeat her.

"Listen to me! That creature is not your Zie anymore! The seal is very weak now so I almost since none of the presence of that spirit. you just have to be very careful." She warned me, pulled my collar. "He has turned into a demon with little conscience still remaining in him.. If he helped you today, it was just luck," She added curtly.