her unusual perception

i am coming for all the monsters that ever touched him,
i am coming for all the ones who twisted his stars into shadows,
they turned him into a nightmare,
so i am going to be theirs.

(Wren)

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"Sir, we have arrived back in Zurich," the captain announced after the plane landed smoothly on the airport runway.

I stared out of the little window by my seat, fearing the total unfamiliarity of all that was around me. Before I could even stand from my seat, the doctors had already walked over to check on my vitals to make sure everything was okay with me. After all, I was a man who had detached from this world for the past two decades of my life.

The chauffeur gestured me into the limousine that took me away from the airport. The whole travelling journey lasted for an hour before I arrived at the front of a huge mansion. The enormity of it didn't inspire awe but suffocation.

A butler bowed towards me and I recognised him immediately together with the old couple standing behind him. They looked at me with widened eyes, as though they had seen through me — that I wasn't the master that they had awaited for. Yet, this was the thing with the Illiades. Their expression went stoic again and they respectfully guided me into the house.

One step through the main door and the dead silence within welcomed me as I remembered how empty the Illiades were, even though this wasn't the main household. The silence struck heavily against me until an unexpected sound popped from my side and strings of colourful paper invaded my vision. A woman exclaimed cheerily, "Welcome back!"

I appreciated this bending of the awkward silence until I saw the frown creasing between her brows. I recognised this woman ahead of me too.

Wren.

It was the name that Alek called with all the tender love that I wouldn't find within him. She stared at me with her striking pale eyes and I couldn't find the words to tell her that all that went through her head right now was probably right about me.

I'm not the Aillard Illiades you knew.

I looked at the familiar face ahead of me with an unfamiliar drop in my chest. During this slight slip in time, I had forgotten how to react to this unexpected guest. The happiness that brimmed my entire chest a moment ago had receded to almost nothing.

I dropped the popper and the sound of the hard plastic impacting the ground had jarred me back to reality as I apologised, "I'm sorry."

Looking aside to Grecia and everyone, I had to check if my assumption was right and to my utmost disappointment, I was right — absolutely right.

"Wren," he spoke my name kindly, but without the usual warmth I recognised. "Are you alright?"

"I-I—" I stammered, unable to comprehend the sudden surge of turbulent emotions that came through the void. For once, I couldn't react to adversity like how I was taught and groomed to do so. Turning around, I ran up the stairs and slammed my room door shut. I knelt to the ground, my palms against the cold marbled ground and that was when I finally realised that I had lost something. My hands fumbled into my pockets as I picked up my phone, trembling. I dialled the number I had been using for months.

Empty.

The number turned out to be empty, as though it had never existed before. Panic metamorphosised itself into the tears that fell relentlessly from my eyes, and fear morphed itself into the air that refused to fill my lungs. I had lost control of my emotions, just like something precious had slipped through the gaps between my fingers beyond my command.

I knew this day would come, only that I hadn't expected that he would leave this way. Inhaling a deep breath, I picked myself up and went into the bathroom to run the tap. I splashed water on my face, allowing the cold to wake my senses up. Then, I walked right into my dressing room and picked out a sweater to change into before leaving my room. Everyone gathered in a living area, the air was quiet and tense. At the sight of me, they all looked towards me with mixed emotions of concern, worry and something unknown.

I walked towards 'Aillard' and asked, "Where is he?"

My question invited a pair of widened eyes staring right through mine as he finally exhaled a breath, "I told Alek that you would see right through me at first glance."

Alek, so that's his name.

"Where is he?" I repeated, my tone firmer this time.

"I wasn't allowed to say. But it's all easier now that you saw everything through."

If it was anywhere else, this would've been a weird question to ask. Yet, we're talking about the Illiades here. I just had to confirm, "Alive or dead?"

"Alive, but pronounced dead," Aillard didn't try to beat about the bush, and I had greater confidence that he could be my ally.

"Good," I nodded, picked up my phone and made a call. I only said, "Send my declaration of war to Eldrick Illiades."

Turning back to Aillard, I asked, "You said his name is Alek?"

Aillard hesitated for a while, replying, "Aleksander Illiades."

"If you stand by me, I'll make sure you get a favourable outcome, or you can choose the losing side right at the start," I stated the offer. "What do you say?"

"If you could bring Alek back, I'll stand by you," Aillard quickly added, with a tinge of desperation heard.

"Of course," I laughed coldly. "I have already found the damned soul for exchange with Satan."

The golden cage that I was ensnared within never defined my weakness.

Aillard probed, "What have you planned?"

"A one-way ticket to hell," I claimed curtly.

The rain pelted so heavily against the large and wide glass pane that kept me within the safe shelter from the heavy downpour outside. The forest of pine trees outside stood sturdily even when a huge gale just swept through and rustled the branches and leaves. I turned around and switched the central heater on, trying the warm the house.

Exiting my room, I went downstairs and was invited by the excited footsteps of my friendly housemate. I smiled, crouching down to run my hands through his extravagant ruff of golden fur. I asked, "Hey buddy, what are you up to?"

Lex looked at me enthusiastically, genuinely happy to see me as he wagged his tail left and right. He followed me to the kitchen and I couldn't bear for him to waste this trip so I reached for the top shelf to grab his favourite dried chews before I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. I went to the living area and turned the TV on, with Lex just resting beside me as we watched Me Before You together — while wondering why Wren had a love for such movies.

I turned to Lex, petting his head and asked, "Do you find it touching?"

Lex whined a little, placing his head on my lap in his attempt to comfort me. I felt like laughing, but the heave that rose and swelled my chest was causing a sharp pain. A drop of moisture dripped from my chin and I realised that the tears had fallen against my will.

It wasn't because of the movie.

It was the memory tied to the movie. It was the night at Clarence's old abode, the beanbag that we shared cuddling while she cried through the movie and the warmth of her loving happiness that filled my entire soul. I wanted to hold Wren again, all I wanted was to ask her to leave with me to this quiet place where nobody knew us. Yet, I couldn't bear to tell her that she will cease to exist, just like me.

If I had to haunt the living side as a nameless shadow, why would I drag an angel to hell with me?

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