Chapter 32.6: A Little Curse

  Ace hooked the metal plate on the tip of his finger under the flaking paintwork and lifted a small part of it. It fell off with a soft ‘snick’. He charged up the runes on the armour and let the bluish glow illuminate his handiwork. He had found the spot on the wall right next to where he slept and had been chipping away at the paint when he could not sleep. I can cover it with a pillow, he thought, taking off another piece.

  “Why is he so… uptight?” Ace complained aloud as he absentmindedly traced the patch of old paint. “Damn, what does Felix even see in him?”

  He picked at the paint aggressively. Part of him was irritated that the paint chipped off in such an unsatisfying way; the other part was simply venting his frustration on the lousy paint job. On one peel, he dug his finger in, but instead of lifting just the paint, he dislodged a small chunk of the wall.

  “Shit!” Ace sat up and grabbed his phone. He turned on the flashlight, making quick haste in assessing the damage. “Oh shhhit…”

  There was a sizeable palm-sized chunk that he had taken off in one nick, but it was not how much he had taken off that made him swear again.

  It was what was living in the hole.

  A small black blob with tiny pointy ears and a long, fat tail was staring back at Ace with comically bulbous eyes. In front of it was a dirty green orb covered in deep violet slobber, as though it were freshly spat out. They locked eyes, unsure of what to make of each other. Ace narrowed his eyes at the unblinking phantom, which hardly flinched. One of its eyes drifted sideways slowly like a chameleon, staring in two directions.

  Ace held out his pointer finger and was about to exorcise the phantom when it leapt onto his uncovered hand. It reared its head and sank its fangs into his skin.

  “Ow.” Ace smacked it lightly with his other hand and wiped it against the bedsheets. The tiny phantom was unlike what he had encountered before. He hypothesised that it was more fixated on swallowing the green orb than attacking him.

  Ace reached out and picked up the orb. It was perfectly round and self-contained. On closer inspection, he realised that it was a mix of brilliant green Essence that pushed aside the Cursed Essence as he rolled the orb between his fingers. The orb was not malleable and seemed to be covered by a transparent layer. He placed the orb between his hands and pressed them hard together.

  It was no use. Ace sighed and fiddled with the orb a bit more. There was no reason for him to throw it away, as it posed no danger to him. It was a clammed-up ball of Essence, and its nature was worth inspecting further.

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  After all, Essence was his playground.

  Ace was hardly concerned about the speck of Cursed Essence. A well-timed sneeze could eliminate it if it decided to take form and rear its head. “Allow me,” he whispered. “To see the lingering wills of the bygone past.”

  His Essence coiled around the orb, picking apart the clear layer effortlessly, like how Chupa Chups wrappers come apart once their bases were picked apart. Breath caught in his throat, he watched as three silhouettes gradually sharpened into human form. In the middle stood a bespectacled child, not older than five years of age. The voices were muffled, but judging by the clenched fists and stiff gesticulation of the couple he sat between, it seemed that they were quarrelling. For some reason, the adults were mostly faceless, and Ace could only see their mouths. The child’s head was bowed, his features barely visible.

  Suddenly, the woman turned to leave, but the child sprang to his feet and his tiny hands latched onto her skirt. The woman yanked her skirt from his hands and stalked off.

  With no say in adult affairs, the child used the only thing he thought could keep them together before they separated forever.

  The ends of his mouth turned downwards. His lips started to tremble. Tears welled up in his eyes “Where is Mummy going?” he whimpered. His cries grew louder and more desperate as the distance between them grew.

  Without warning, the man spun the child roughly by his shoulders so that he faced him and gave the child a tight slap across the face. The little glasses clattered onto the floor, and the cries stopped instantaneously.

  The child raised his head slowly towards the man, his eyes moistened with unshed tears. The small mole under the left eye spasmed a bit as he choked back his snot.

  No more tears flowed out. The gentle, hazel eyes became blank and unfocused.

  “You are a boy! Don’t you ever cry like this in front of me!”

  The man’s voice was so loud that Ace had to clap his hands over his ears. It can’t be!

  The beauty mark under the left eye. There was only one person he knew who had that mark. Does anyone here have a normal childhood? But… Dante's eyes are green, not brown.

  Before he genuinely understood what he saw, someone shouted his name out loud.

  The door to his room was open, and for how long it was open, Ace did not know. He had been so absorbed that he did not notice the door open. Dante stood at the doorway alongside Shiro, who was trying to push him away, but he did not budge.

  Dante's brows were twisted in an emotion that Ace could hardly decipher. Ace released his technique immediately. Before he could say anything, Dante stuffed something into Shiro’s hands and stormed away. Shiro gave chase, but Dante’s Regalia flared its thorns and blocked them off from him. They retracted when tyres screeched against Shiro’s driveway.

  “I-It was an accident!” Ace stammered, breaking the silence. “I didn’t know! I-I…”

  “You…” Shiro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Do you know what you have done?”

  All Ace knew was that he had ripped open old wounds. How old and deep, he had no clue, but he was sure about one thing: Whatever between him and Dante had collapsed like a house of cards.