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The relic was… beautiful, if a bit haunting in a weird way, a round of soft gasps in the crowd. In the glass was a statue of nearly pristine quality, with glass blue eyes and multiple feathers. It even seemed to have wings wrapped around its head, despite being more mammalian in body type… Eye-like markings adorned its cheeks and the middle of what looked like a furry chest, and it gleamed like glass itself. “This rare crystal relic is one of the few remaining pieces of the noble family’s treasure room,” the presenter spoke. “According to what we know of the Last Great Civilizations, this is a very unique take on what is known as a nazar—a protective eye. Professor Pickle has been kind enough to share his knowledge so far. In ancient times, people with light colored eyes were very rare. Blue, green, light gray… ancient societies believed such people could lay a curse upon anyone with a glare.” Whispers abounded in the crowd, and Sonic looked to see Cagu looked absolutely awestruck. It brought a smile to his face, knowing that even the God of Nature could be surprised by what humans and sapients could make. He’d definitely have to let the guy get a closer look. “To combat such curses, mixtures of glass, copper, salt, and water were used to create beads and amulets meant to absorb negative energy. We believe the symbolic nature of the nazar as eyes represents a being watching out for curses in all forms, especially with its blue coloring. With its rarity at the time, the color was seen as sacred and curse-absorbing. Which then would make this statue a protector entity of sorts. We’d love to take a piece of this crystal to learn more, but it is strangely unique in its properties. Cutting tools don’t seem to chip it, nor has it responded to any chemical tests. The craftsmanship is considered otherworldly, with every feather meticulously crafted.” Of course, there were more questions about nazars and how they were used, as well as the way it stayed undamaged for supposedly tens of thousands of years, even during the last Planet Breaking. The presenter fielded several questions, though there were still more. The species it was supposed to represent was still a heated question, as well as the unique shade of blue on its body. Even that had Sonic’s attention. It was so rich, it actually reminded him of the blue he used to have, before he’d gotten some of Cagu’s power. Seeing that color on something that cool really was making his day. He could tell even Tails was impressed, the kit writing down notes as he talked quietly with Professor Pickle to the side. Apparently they wanted to see if it was just as old as the rest of the treasures or even older, but they couldn’t tell without a sample… “Now that we are partnered with the Spagonia Museum, we hope this relic will teach us more about the civilization of the area, and perhaps more about the Gaia Temples they built. For now, we will be keeping it here until we are able to create a proper exhibit with the other treasures. Now, if we head over here, we have…” Sonic almost missed the fact the crowd was moving to the next part of the show, and he stood up to stretch and follow. “Damn, they really could make some cool things, huh? Whatcha think, Cagu?” Silence, an eerie silence, answered his question, and he realized then there was a strange phantom sensation of… anger? Like he felt genuinely annoyed at something now, which was really weird. He couldn’t think of anything that had pissed him off recently. Turning around to try and get the god’s attention, he actually had to step back when he beheld the look on the God of Nature’s face. “Cagu!” Tails and Professor Pickle seemed to snap out of their own conversation, while the tall primordial hedgehog walked toward the exhibit with tears cascading down his cheeks. His eyes were glowing and narrowed in seething rage, enough that Sonic could see nearby plants starting to shake and grow bigger than their pots. “Whoa, Cagu, easy! Your powers! Calm down!” Just what the hell was going on?! He’d never seen his other self so damn mad, especially to the point he’d lost control of his abilities. He tightly gripped the large hand with both of his, trying to tug his attention away from the exhibit. Chaos, he hoped the guy wasn’t for some reason ready to smash it! Thankfully the other two joined in, Tails hugging around his leg while the old human took his other hand. “Breathe, old boy!” Professor Pickle knew technically the being was much, much, older than him, but that didn’t matter now. “What could possibly be so wrong?” “...I can hear him growling something about horrid people and abuse…” Tails’ ears sunk against his head, as he could tell the god was wishing a lot of punishment on some people under his breath. And that was very much not like Cagu… He kept muttering and murmuring words, enough that Sonic was wondering if Cagu was forming his own curse... “...How is it that for balance to exist, it must exist in such extremes? Why is the absence of compassion so… vile…?” It was the first sentence Cagu could speak at a proper volume, and Sonic could feel the sadness lacing every word. “...Cagu?” Sonic was definitely out of his element here. He hated seeing people cry, and normally would just let them vent. But… something was wrong here, especially the way he looked so sad about the statue… “Lupin… my sweet spark… This person is no statue.” Cagu’s voice sounded so low, so empty, but it seemed to almost echo in the silence of the room. Sonic didn’t even know the action had gotten the attention of the rest of the group, who were now staring in utter disbelief. “He was a slave to the family of rich folk that held him…” Cagu placed his hand on the glass, and no one could bother to tell him otherwise as he spoke. “The presenter had one thing correct. It was believed the power of blue could absorb curses. He already had the eye-like marking on his chest when he was born. As such, he was seen as a living nazar… he was even named as such.” Cagu took a slow breath, his voice echoing so much sorrow, Sonic couldn’t help but feel tears prick his own eyes. “He was sold off as a child, purely to feed into whichever superstitious family had the most money and the most enemies…” A broken sob escaped his mouth, and Sonic moved to hug him closer. “You mean… this is actually a living being?” Tails asked, unsure if he understood. There was no way something could be that well preserved… “Yes… He spent years with this family as their ‘amulet.’ Standing guard at their bedrooms, forced to sit with them when they went to travel… He wasn’t allowed eat with them, only shown off like a valuable prize… He was so lonely… Nazar wasn’t even allowed to speak at their events, for he was essentially not even a member of the family.” Sonic could swear he heard a gasp from across the room, but paid it no mind as his lover spoke. “But then, one day… the daughter fell ill. The family blamed him for it, as if he’d somehow betrayed them and placed a curse upon her. All for his bright blue eyes… He cried his innocence, but they were so self-assured and haughty they punished him for daring to speak… Those giant glass beads you see in his head… they took his eyes from him, to ‘ensure he’d only perform his role as their protector’… And they weren’t gentle about it either.” Cagu’s breath only quickened, as he pressed closer. “How… how do you know this, big guy? Did you see this happen from your dimension?” Sonic was completely stunned. This poor guy had his eyes gouged out​?! The beads were just… shoved into his head? And Cagu… knew this? “Sonic…” Cagu hiccuped, and Sonic flinched at the god using his real name. He’d been called Lupin by the big guy for so long, it sounded almost alien to hear it. “Nazar was one of the sapients who held my spark before you. He’s one of your past lives… I was inside him… I felt… every… single… thing those monsters put him through! The loneliness, the shackles, the pain… And now I see, not even his death some months later was a true mercy. Look at him! Immersed in crystal and preserved, not an ounce of dignity for his death. All they cared for was his coloring and the markings on his body…!” “...What kind of…” Tails’ voice was shaky, and Sonic knew it was because his little bro was feeling queasy. “...They dunked him in crystal after he died?!” Cagu could only nod, his body shaking, to the point that they ushered him to sit. “I did not create this crystal… I don’t even know where it exists on this planet now, but it does just as it looks. If it is melted down, it can coat and preserve whatever is immersed in it… It is bonded to his fur and feathers at this point…” He smashed a fist into the floor, a lone potted plant nearby breaking its pot as the roots overgrew. “That poor little harpy…! He was so lonely, so held down… his wings never got to feel flight… And then robbed of his own sight so he could never see the sun even when out in it in his last days! Accursed foolish mortals and their superstitions!” His howl of sorrow thrummed through Sonic as if it were a punch, enough to break his pensive face. It was so painful to see such a powerful being reduced to tears like that. “C-Cagu… hey…” Sonic bit back a pained noise, trying to calm himself. These weren’t his emotions, he had to keep it together. He was just feeling a bit of what his boyfriend felt, his vision blurring with tears. He had to get him to calm down. “...So, he’s a harpy? Like a half bird creature?” He turned his eyes back to Nazar, hoping maybe he could get him to think of things other than the guy’s slave life. “I… yes, that is true. A lot of Aralod’s original children had features of different creatures. Chimeras, hybrids you may say…” he sniffled. “Some resulted in features that evolved out, such as the wings wrapped around his head… I doubt any exist in this era…” He looked up at the frozen male, despondent. “He didn’t deserve… you didn’t deserve… to have a life like that. It speaks to me why you love freedom so much. Your speed carrying you along the ground as if on wings yourself… You were robbed of it before.” “That…” Sonic honestly didn’t have words for that. It was enough to know that all even happened, but to hear it in the fact it was technically him that went through such hell… He shivered, looking into the fake eyes lodged in the harpy’s head. “This is wild, Cagu. All this reincarnation stuff… and here one of my past selves is… this guy… He didn’t get to live really long, did he? He looks so young…” “He lived longer than you would think… But did he even truly live? What I’d give to let him fly for the first time, to feel the sun on his back… Even if he couldn’t see it, he could feel something…” Sonic’s face fell as he looked at those big wings. Wings that never got to fly… And it wasn’t as if reincarnation was possible. The soul that inhabited that body now rested in him. So he couldn’t just give that back… “...The poor lad,” Professor Pickle’s voice was heavy, but definitely calmer than the sobbing god on the floor. “I thought we made an incredible discovery, but who would have imagined it would lead to this? Nazar does not deserve such a treatment. But what do we do? It is not as if we can return him to the place he was disrespected… yet he does not belong here either, to be merely objectified as a piece of history.” Sonic felt a bit lighter as the old human made his claim. But yeah, what could they do? It wasn’t like there was a way to spark him back to life… “Spark… Cagu! You have all of Nazar’s memories, right?” The sudden excitement in his voice must have caught Cagu off guard, as he sputtered a bit before looking at him in utter confusion. “You said you got most of your strength back while in stasis… can you use those memories to make a new spark? Split your soul again and revive him with that?” There was a deep, pensive silence as Cagu stared at him, the god being seated making them nearly eye-level. “...What?” “Like… y’know, a second soul fragment? Put it in his body, do some divine mumbo jumbo blessing stuff, and… wake him up?” Sonic trailed off, wondering if he’d spoken something ridiculous. But when Cagu started to stand up, the look on his face was one of raw determination he hadn’t seen the larger hedgehog use. “Yes. Yes, I can do that. I will do that.” With a snap of his fingers, the glass case around the harpy crumbled like sand. “Nazar… you were robbed of life, of freedom, of joy… but as the God of Nature, as the holder of your soul… I shall return it to you for a chance anew!” Blue, fuzzy hands clasped together and the green markings adorning his body lit up. The glow outmatched the dim lights of the museum, wispy energy trailing from them until he opened his palms back up. A blue flower sprouted from his hands, glowing just as brightly, before he blew the collection of petals. They seemed to flicker in and out of existence around the young male, but as they faded out completely, Nazar’s stiffness faded. Cagu easily caught the falling harpy, cradling him so gently, helping him to stand, and the crowd at the side was left shellshocked. The presenter looked caught between whether or not they wanted to come up to them or run off, but the four standing near Nazar didn’t even care at this point. It was only after nearly a minute that a weak voice said something, but Sonic couldn’t understand a word. “Was… was that him?” he asked, wondering if he was even hearing things at all. But then it was there again, soft and raspy, from the abuse of being hindered. “Shhh… All is well,” Cagu murmured, stroking one of his cheeks lovingly. “...Nazar speaks an old tongue, Lupin,” he explained as he turned to Sonic. “So it is not only weak, but foreign to your ears… I understand it clearly, however. Give me a moment.” The god had to be holding Nazar for a good ten minutes, so carefully petting the feathers and fur. The way it still flexed but had the sheen of glass… Was that what Cagu meant by it bonding to him? Slowly, though, Cagu helped Nazar to stand, though it was clear he was weak. Still, when he took a step and blinked, the gasps and smiles from the patrons spoke more than words could say. Sonic’s was definitely the brightest as he looked to the creature. “Hi there, Nazar. Welcome back.” Confusion flickered across his unsure face for a moment, but slowly, Nazar turned to face him. Maybe it was because they were both sparks now, but it seemed Nazar somewhat understood his emotions, and the harpy smiled. “Lu...pin…” “...Of course you’d use my nickname,” Sonic deadpanned to Cagu, but he couldn’t be mad at that. If anything, he simply chuckled, taking the glass hand into his. It was warm and smooth at the same time, a gentle tink sound as he tapped it, but it also flexed to return the grasp. A soft whisper of a word escaped, before Nazar stumbled back a bit. “Easy, my spark…” Cagu gently hoisted him up. “I’m going to take him to our pocket dimension, so Aralod can make sure all is well. Thank you, Lupin… And Professor Pickle… thank you for finding him.” The two vanished in a burst of sparkling lights, effectively ending the exhibit. “Well, uh… guess that ends that…” Sonic rubbed the underside of his nose as he looked between the stunned crowd and his two genius friends. “They’ll sort something out, I’m sure,” the professor chuckled. “Come along, boys. Let me get you a treat.” With Nazar finally getting the treatment he deserved, Sonic was eager for his own. And maybe, once the guy got back to full health, he could learn more about his past life… He had so many questions! |
Syado1 !
