Girl of Myth and Legend (14 page)

Pain pulsates throughout my body as if the blood running through my veins is on fire, as if the magic inside of me is breaking apart. I fall onto the snow, wincing, unable to make a noise as I spasm. As soon as it comes it goes, and O’Sah stands over me.

‘That was for the ones lost by your idleness all those years ago,’ he says.

The pain shoots through me again, tearing at me like claws digging into my flesh. When the pain ends, I manage to breathe, blinking the haze from my vision.

‘That? Well, that was just for my own satisfaction,’ he says.

He walks by me. I remain sprawled on the ground, heart beating fast. I put an impassive face on, though. None of this is new to me. Chosen sometimes hurt us for their enjoyment, or watch us hurt each other; the Beasts’ Fighting House is a favourite among them. What are we kytaen against them? Even in my other form, I wouldn’t have been able to stop O’Sah.

I manage to sit up, pressing my back up against the side of the temple.

So, here you are, Korren. Liking it so far?
The falling snow burns as it lands on my skin. I look up to the sky, the colours of the sun spreading a soft red across the powder blue. I can hardly believe I’m here, a kytaen serving once more. I don’t want to bid welcome to the world I left long ago, but the stargods’ plans differ from mine. Why,
why
did the stargods decide to give birth to another Pulsar? What will her purpose be for this world? Maybe there’s not a purpose. Maybe the stargods don’t even exist, but if they do, I wonder why they would want this, why they would want me here. They would know I would be the one to protect her; they would
know
that. So why would they do it? Punishment? Is that what this is—punishment for what I did and for what I did
not
do? They know well what I lost and how that tortures me every day. Isn’t that enough to quench their vengeance?

No, never. Never. My sins are too terrible for redemption. I’ve already been judged unworthy of mercy, and that… that is a sentence not even I would dispute.

LEONIE

SPLINTERING SHIELDS

After O’Sah and the other Thrones say goodnight and leave, I walk through to the antechamber where O’Sah took the kytaen. Dad follows me. I glance around but don’t see the kytaen, and then I notice that the door to the temple is open. I go outside and find him sitting in the snow, leaning against the wall.

‘Hi there,’ I say. He doesn’t look up at me. ‘Hellooo?’ He gives me a brief glance that says, ‘Die.’ OK, so he’s not a conversationalist—I can relate. ‘Um, wanna come inside? I should tell you it’s pretty cold out here, since you don’t seem to have noticed.’

He stays silent.

I purse my lips. ‘You can’t just stay out here all day.’

His defiant look tells me he probably could.

‘All right, well, I guess I have no choice but to freeze out here with you,’ I say, sitting beside him and feeling as if I’ve sat on top of an ice cube.

‘Leonie, that’s really unnecessary,’ Dad says. ‘You’re giving it too much consideration.’

‘What am I supposed to be giving him? Inconsideration?’

‘You’re supposed to be giving
it
a direct order to come inside if that’s what you want it to do.’

‘Meh. I’m not really a “giving orders” kind of person, and I don’t think ordering
him
around is a good start to our relationship.’

‘Relationship? There is no relationship.’

‘I mean as friends. Duh.’

He does one of those long sighs that trip the ‘upcoming lecture’ alarm bells in my head. ‘I thought you understood what kytaen were.’

‘I do! They protect the Chosen they’re soul-bound to.’

‘Yes. Exactly. That’s
all
they do. They’re not like us.’

‘I didn’t realise how racist you were, Dad.’

‘It’s not like that. I don’t hate kytaen at all. It’s just… take Pegasus; you don’t treat him like a human.’

‘Yeah, he’s a dog.’

‘And this kytaen is the same. They’re just shields. Some-times they falter, splinter, or break, but they’re expendable.’

‘You make them sound like they’re an
iPhone
.’

‘Well, they are.’

‘An
iPhone
?’

‘No, like a product.’

‘But he looks—’

‘It can take on a human appearance for camouflage, and it’s convenient for those few Chosen who’ve been granted a life in the human realm, like I was. Don’t you think it’d be a bit odd if you were walking around the streets of London with a beast at your side?’

‘Odd, sure. Also cool.’

It had been this morning at breakfast that Harriad had told me about the link between the human realm and Duwyn. Apparently, there was a time in history when ordinary humans knew of the Chosen, before kytaen existed. He told me that when the first Chosen crossed into the human realm they were adored as gods by the ‘powerless’ ones. Then came the Plague. Underfens, demon-like beings, sprung from the cracks of the earth in a vapour of nightmares and scattered their darkness across the globe. The humans blamed the Chosen for the despair and famine, and revolted against these godly beings. The majority of Chosen were not powerful, and the humans slaughtered most of them. Then the Pulsar fought back, only to bring more destruction. The humans didn’t stand a chance and were almost purged from the world.

Then a particular Chosen, who Harriad told me is known only as the ‘accursed’, used all of her power to destroy the underfens in the hopes it would stop the massacre, and many, though not all, of the plagues vanished. What she didn’t realise was that she had actually sent the underfens to Duwyn. That’s what I call ironic.

The massacre continued between the Chosen and the humans. Knowing there would never be a peaceful existence between their kinds, a Pulsar called Imperi Atum used his power to open the doorway to Duwyn, which had closed on the Chosen when they ventured into the human realm, and that’s where the Imperium stands today. Shortly after, they decreed that the existence of Chosen must be kept secret from humanity. Such a primitive race, they declared, were not ready to know the secrets of the world.

‘Don’t be deceived by its looks,’ says Dad. ‘It’s a mindless beast, and this one in particular isn’t worth any pity.’

I’m about to speak when a sharp pain erupts in my arm. ‘Urgh! My damn arm won’t stop stinging.’

Dad sighs. ‘Leonie, it doesn’t itch. You can’t even feel it, plus it was inserted into your hand not your arm. You’re being paranoid.’

‘You would be to if you’d been tricked into having some
thing
put in your arm!’ On the day of my awakening, when Harriad had put the strange stamp-like object he had over my hand, he’d actually inserted a device into it. Apparently it’s so small you can barely see it with the naked eye. The device is used to track Chosen, usually who live in the human realm, but since I’m so ‘important’ or whatever, I would have to have one, too. Harriad told me that it’s impossible to take out, though I’m not about to rip apart my arm to test that theory. Needless to say, I wasn’t thrilled when I learnt the truth this morning.

‘Let’s go back inside,’ says Dad. ‘You’ll catch a cold out here.’

I look at the kytaen and meet his penetrating gaze. I almost flinch at the brutality of it. I think back to when I first saw him, how hateful his eyes were. Maybe he has the unfortunate attribute of looking grumpy even when he’s not; Dad’s the same. But if not, seriously, is he
trying
to intimidate me? If he is, I’m not going to let him, even if he can turn into a huge gargoyle demon.

‘Are you coming in?’ I ask, looking back at him as if he wasn’t so hostile.

His eyes narrow, considering me.

‘You want to become the next abominable snowman?’ I continue. ‘Actually, you could probably pull that off in your other form, but that’s beside the point. Come on, you can either be depressed and warm inside or depressed and cold out here.’

He remains reluctant for a while, but soon concedes. I give him a welcoming smile as he steps into the temple. I, of course, only get his cold stare back.

‘Where exactly does he sleep?’ I ask Dad. ‘I know he protects me and all, but I’m not sure I want him in with me or anything. No offence,’ I add to the kytaen. ‘Maybe the room next to mine?’

‘Kytaen usually sleep in an arux,’ Dad replies.

‘A what?’

‘Arux. It’s an old word for slumber, I think. Like a dog has a kennel, a kytaen has an arux, though much bigger.’

‘Oh…’ I’m not sure if I like the idea, but if it was designed for kytaen, then I guess it can’t be bad. ‘So, I
finally
start training tomorrow!’

‘Just bear in mind you’ll be approaching your training
carefully
,’ says Dad.

I huff. ‘Careful? I’m the
last
Pulsar, I’ve got to kick it in to gear ASAP.’

‘No one expects you to rush your training, Leonie. Besides, you’ve had such a short time to digest an impossible amount of information and now you’ve just received a kytaen. If I were you, I’d be pulling all my hair out by now.’

‘What’s left of it,’ I mutter, but luckily he doesn’t seem to hear me. ‘Besides, my stress threshold is pretty high, proven by my lack of panic when a massive energy wave exploded out of me.’ I give him a curt smile.

‘Arrogance is a clear sign of immaturity.’

‘Hypocrite. Isn’t pushing your supposed wisdom onto me a sign of arrogance?’

We stare at each other, a battle of gazes that neither of us ever wins.

‘Still,’ he continues, ‘we need to take your training step by step. In a few days you’ll be performing a soul-binding, and it’s sure to weaken you for a while.’

‘Do you know why your abilities haven’t surfaced yet?’

That voice. I turn to look at the kytaen, his hard gaze settled on me. His voice has a rough edge to it, as if fenced by barbed wire, and yet within is a voice as succulent as sun-warmed honey, and, I don’t fail to notice, full of dignity—not the voice of a shield, and not the voice of a mindless beast. Dad looks at him outraged, as if he is a servant who’s interrupted a conversation between lords. Before he can say anything, I say, ‘No. I’m told that when they do, they’ll be awesomely powerful.’ I grin in delight over the thought.

‘It doesn’t matter how powerful you are,’ the kytaen says, looking at me as though disgusted, ‘it’s whether or not you have the strength to control it. One day you’ll be expected to use your magic to protect the Imperium, the Chosen—that is a Pulsar’s sole purpose. When you come across your enemies and you don’t know how to control your magic, you might end up killing yourself, as well as hundreds of innocents.’

‘Kytaen!’ shouts Dad. ‘You go far from your place!’

‘Dad,’ I grab his arm, ‘it’s OK. It’s fine. It’s
fine
.’

‘How
dare
you speak to her like that?’

‘My
God
, Dad. Will you listen to yourself? You sound like some wronged duke!’

He takes my hand off of him and turns away. ‘Ridiculous. You would have thought
it
out of all of kytaen would know how to conduct itself.’

‘I’m sorry—’ I begin to say to the kytaen, but his eyes bore into me, judging and unyielding, and it unsettles me to my very core.

KORREN

ALL WE OWN

‘You’re seriously making him sleep in
that
?’ the girl says as Orin leads me outside. ‘This… I mean… come on! This is ridiculous! Look at it! It’s practically a shed! No, it
is
a shed!’ I continue to be surprised by the manner in which she talks, so rough and yet open. Pulsar are usually guarded with their words, speaking only when it’s vital.

The two argue with each other for a while before the girl throws up her hands and storms off. He sighs and walks down the steps of the temple towards the arux.

‘She’s being ludicrous,’ he mutters.

The girl
is
ridiculously unaware.

‘All right,’
I remember her saying,
‘well, I guess I have no choice but to freeze out here with you.’

But if she had known since birth about the ways of the Chosen, I wonder, would she act differently? Would she still attempt to defend me, a mere kytaen, despite acknowledging the absurdity of it?

Why
did
her father never tell her about the Chosen world until she awoke? He’s Chosen, and his parents were probably Chosen and their parents, and so on. There are few Chosen born to ordinary humans, though when they are, it is usually due to ‘breeding’ with a certain Chosen generations before. Sometimes the magic resurfaces in a child who might be distantly related to their Chosen ancestor, and the reasons for this have never been realised. They are taken away from their parents when they awake and are brought to the Imperium.