Authors: Jordan Mendez
“If
you turn into that demon again, there is no guarantee you will be able to change
back, or even distinguish friend from foe,” she continued. “Control your
emotions and whatever you do, do not use your fire until the seal is placed.”
The woman’s image began to flicker from solid to translucent.
“Do
not forget what I have told you,” she said as she began to fade.
“Wait,
who are you?” I asked in confusion. The woman laughed. The world around me
began to fade to white, until I was the only thing left.
“Siren,”
the woman’s voice echoed as the last of the world faded.
~
My
eyes fluttered open gently and were greeted by the sight of a dark purple sky,
heralding the coming day as dawn broke. I looked around and just as it had been
in my dream, my brothers were all asleep, but the cart had not stopped. Vaze
was riding the horse at a slower pace than before I had gone to sleep. The
woman was nowhere in sight. ‘
Why can’t I have a normal dream for once?
’
I pleaded in my mind.
I
climbed onto the seat at the front of the cart where the driver was supposed to
sit. We couldn’t use it because the reigns had been broken. I stretched my sore
body out as much as the seat would allow and stared up at the sky. It was
beautiful to see the dark contrast against the light orange yellow lining as
the sun began to remake the sky like a painter’s canvas. It was a enjoyable
sight I wouldn’t expect after a day of becoming a murderer.
“Pretty,
isn’t it?” Vaze said without turning his head to me. “I haven’t seen this place
in a long time.”
“What
do you mean?” I asked.
“We’re
almost there,” he replied distantly. “I remember playing here when I was
little. Time really flies when you’re running from the devil.”
“You’ve
never really told me about this camp. Mind shedding some light?” I asked,
mostly wanting to pass the time.
“It’s
not really a happy place,” Vaze replied. “You might not like it.”
“I
haven’t liked any of the places you’ve dragged me to,” I said back. “I won’t
really care either way.”
“All
right,” Vaze began with a smile playing across his lips. “None of the survivors
were town people. Everyone who survived was either combat-trained or
invulnerable to the Convergence. My mother was the only exception, and she was
forced out of the city. Everyone has been training since they set up the camp—even
the children they had have trained from the age of three. They send out search
parties frequently to search for Moraj, but none have come back successful, if
at all. Everyone helps in everything, and laziness is not tolerated.”
“So
does Velkire know where the camp is?” I asked.
“Yes,”
Vaze said gravely. “But he does not care about the survivors at all. He gives
about as much thought to them as he does to the dirt beneath his feet.”
“Then
why are we going there for protection?” I pointed out. “If we’re there he’s
just going to come and kill us.”
“It’s
a camp full of trained warriors, Scarlet,” he responded. “It’s the safest place
I could think of.”
I
thought about the knowledge of his decision for a while and let Vaze have a
little bit of silence. A camp full of warriors could be considered safe against
bandits, but the son of the Devil? Even though I had encountered Velkire, I
didn’t know what kind of power he possessed. But if a power house like Enzio
feared him, I doubted I would be able to grasp how much power he had. I could
hardly stand up to Enzio in a fight, and if it came down to a fight between me
and Velkire, I would lose in a matter of seconds. As I thought to myself, the
wagon lurched to a stop, but when I looked around, I saw no camp. I did see
something that made my heart jump.
A
cloaked figure stood in our path, and immediately I assumed it was a Shadow.
Heeding the warning from the mysterious woman in my dream, I did not use my
fire. I let my hand drift to my pocket where I kept my dagger, but there was no
touch of cold metal as I searched desperately. The sudden thought dawned on me
that the bandits took it, and I cursed myself for not checking before we left.
I had assumed that the bandits had forgotten to take our weapons when I had
seen Vaze come to me, unbound, but he must have used his wings to break the
binds or wiggled out. I could truly be an idiot some times.
I
jumped out of the cart and stood by Vaze, who had not dismounted from the
horse. I didn’t feel any anxiety from Vaze. I looked up to him and found he was
completely at ease. He was even smiling—though it was a regretful smile.
The
cloaked figure took a step towards us, and I tensed up. I was weaponless and
couldn’t use my power. I didn’t know if I could defeat a Shadow with brute
force alone. I usually was fueled by adrenaline in fights, but at the moment I
was spent, which only left me my limited strength. The Shadow walked closer,
and I started to coil up to attack.
“Call
off your guard dog, Vaze,” the cloaked figure said, making me stop half lunge.
I’ve never heard a Shadow speak, and I never expected them to sound like a
woman either. A sun tanned hand emerged from the cloak and removed the hood,
revealing a woman with yellowish green eyes and black hair tied back in a long
pony tail that fell all the way to her lower back. She had a welcoming smile on
her face, but with a sense that kind of said ‘if-you-attack-me-I’m-going-to-kick-your-butt-faster-than-you-can-say-ouch’.
She had darkish tan skin, but from her eyes I could tell she was once pale. Her
long coal black hair was tied back, but angled bangs that reached her chin hung
over her face.
“It’s
been a long time,” Vaze replied. “It’s good to see you again, Kyra.” The
woman’s smile faded.
“You’ve
been gone five years and that’s all you can say?” she said with a slight
annoyance. “You haven’t changed a bit.” Kyra snapped her fingers and
immediately Vaze and I were tackled to the ground by two more cloaked figures.
“What
the freaking heck!” I screamed at her. “Is this your greeting party here or
something?”
“I’m
really sorry about this,” said my attacker in an honest tone. “I don’t like
attacking without warning, especially when my opponent is weaker than me.”
“Shut
up Ed!” Vaze’s attacker barked. “You talk too much!”
“Sorry
Cain,” he replied.
“I
said shut up!” Cain barked. I freed an arm from my attacker’s grip and forced
him face down on the ground and held him there.
“I
could have sworn you said something about me being weaker than you,” I mocked.
Cain laughed, but in more of a harsh mocking way rather than a light hearted
one. The woman laughed too and walked over to us.
“Impressive,”
she congratulated me, and then looked at Vaze. “You really are the same.
Release him, Cain.”
Vaze’s
attacker did as he was told and removed his hood. He looked the same age as
Vaze. His eyes were a deep dark blue, and he had dark brown hair similar to
mine. Vaze got up and brushed off his clothes, not looking the least bit
embarrassed. I didn’t release the boy who attacked me—I wanted to make a point.
“Scarlet,
let him go,” Vaze said after about five minutes of waiting. I rolled my eyes
and released him. The boy got up and took off his hood. He looked exactly like
the other boy, except his hair went over his eyes and his cheeks were flushed
red. He muttered a ‘thank-you’ and wouldn’t look me in the eye after that.
“You
sure took your time coming back, Vaze,” Cain sneered. I soon could identify him
from Ed by the look in his eyes, cockiness and a sense that he thought he could
do anything. And he was a jerk. Kyra cuffed him by the ear like a scolding
parent. It shut him up, and I decided even though she had told these boys to
attack us, I liked her.
“Be
respectful Cain, or you’re never going to be a general,” she snapped. “Vaze can
explain when he’s good and ready, and both he and his friend are probably
exhausted and starving. Vaze get in the cart with the girl, Cain and Ed do the
same.”
We
did as we were told and Kyra mounted the horse. We did our best not to sit on
any of my brothers, whom were still sleeping. Vaze and squeezed in on one end
of the cart while Cain and Ed squeezed in on the other side. I relaxed a bit
once I got into a comfortable position, but as I looked around, I saw that the
others who were awake were grasping tight onto the sides of the cart. I was
about to ask why, but I found out myself—too late.
“YA!”
Kyra cried, and the horse whined as it reared up on its hind legs. Before I
could grab on to the cart for dear life, we were racing down the dirt road at
frightening speeds and was thrown against a wall. As quickly as I could, I
latched on to the side so tight that I knew if I fell off the cart I was taking
that wall with me. My brothers each hit a wall and jolted awake, but I was too
busy holding on for dear life to fill them in. The horrifying ride lasted
around ten minutes, and ended when the cart violently jerked to a stop, making
me lose my grip and hitting the front wall and Vaze in the gut with my head.
We
each got out of the cart, with me rubbing my head and my brothers staring
around with wide eyes. Cain and Ed acted like it was completely normal, and
Vaze was struggling to get a breath after I knocked the wind out of him. Kyra
jumped off the horse smiling.
“I
must admit,” she said. “Even if that horse is horribly slow, he sure can keep a
steady pace, even when lugging a cart full of children.” I took my first look
around and saw…nothing. There was literally nothing around in the clearing cut
in the forest.
“Are
we in the right place?” I asked, searching for the camp. Kyra laughed.
“So
young, and so naïve,” she said as she led me off the road into the grassy
clearing.
“Is
the camp in the forest?”
Kyra
laughed at me again.
“Just
walk forward, my amusing new friend,” she said cheerfully. I looked at her
skeptically, but did as she said. I walked forward, and had the strangest
experience in my entire life. My vision rippled like water, and as I took a
step forward, a completely new sight greeted me. I blinked in surprise. I
rubbed my eyes for good measure, to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. Where the
empty clearing and forest behind it had once been was a war camp the size of
Laetus.
As
I stared wide eyed at the camp that appeared from nowhere, Vaze stepped out of
the invisible liquid wall that hid the camp, followed by Cain, Ed, my very
confused big brothers, and eventually Kyra. People who passed by stared at
Vaze, but looked away quickly, not giving the rest of us a second glance,
except for Kyra. Everywhere I looked, people were busy. Some people were
training, while others were making weapons, cooking, or doing chores. Even the
children I saw were doing things that looked important. A little toddler doing
target practice with a bow bigger than he was! My brothers were all observing
with the same disbelief as I was. We only realized it when Kyra pointed it out.
“Shut
your mouths children or finches are going to fly into your bodies and make nests,”
she said, and while most of us laughed, Al shut his mouth tight. Kyra led us
through a maze of large tents, and I began to see things that made the camp
even stranger. Women with faintly greenish skin and pointed ears passed by
every so often, and they gave me and my brothers awkward glances as we gaped at
them. I don’t blame them. We were the only ones doing it.
“They’re
nymphs, in case you were wondering,” Vaze said. I think he was starting to feel
self-conscious leading around five dumbstruck idiots.
“What
other make-believe creatures do you have here?” Seth asked sarcastically. It
was times like those where I could hit my brother, but I was too busy with
being awestruck to do so.
“Those
nymphs seem to be all that is left, but we used to have quite a few actually,”
Vaze replied. I wasn’t sure if he caught the sarcasm. “There were dryads,
ogres, centaurs, Eternals, trolls, elves, griffins, and I think there were even
some water nymphs left in the creek a little ways off.” Seth shook his head in
disbelief. His mind had trouble believing things like that. He didn’t ask any
more sarcastic questions.
Soon
we were standing in front of a tent that was ten times the size of the others.
It was a deep purple with a golden accent. Kyra stepped through the flaps and
motioned for us to follow. Vaze went first a little reluctantly and we all
followed behind him.
A
small fire was burning in the middle of the roomy tent. Two old but strong men
towered over a table with little figurines on it arguing quietly. A large
hammock was hanging from the bowels that held the tent together, but it didn’t
look as if it had been used in a while. Kyra approached the men fearlessly, but
respectfully.
“Excuse
me, your majesty,” she said in a strong voice. The man with salt and pepper
hair turned to look at her with his tired blue eyes.
“What
is it, Kyra?” he asked. His voice sounded exhausted. Stress had taken its toll
on this old man, and it was written on his face. He completely ignored the
‘your majesty’ title that had been given to him, and addressed Kyra rather
casually.
“There
is someone you need to see,” She said. She half guided and half dragged Vaze
over to the king. The king’s glassy blue eyes widened as they met Vaze’s.
“It
can’t be…” The old man whispered. He walked closer to Vaze and touched his face
hesitantly as if Vaze would disappear. A slight tenderness filled the king’s
features, accompanied by overwhelming joy. Suddenly he threw his arms around
Vaze and hugged his son so tightly that I thought Vaze would start choking.
“It
is my son!” he said joyfully. The other man by the table smiled, but still
seemed to be more concerned about the table, eyeing the figurines every few
moments. “Where have you been Vaze?”
“It’s
a long story,” Vaze said while his father released him. “But I need to make
sure my friends are taken care of first.” The king looked to us and nodded.
“Kyra,
please find tents for each of them and see that they are properly fed,” He said
to her. Kyra nodded and led us back outside again, leaving Vaze with his
father.
“Cain,
find the boys a tent they can share, and Ed, you can leave,” she ordered. Cain
took my brothers away and Ed wandered off, leaving me alone with Kyra. “You can
share my tent with me, since saving space is a big priority. Maybe you can tell
me a little bit about what happened.”
Kyra
led me to the outermost tent in the camp. Like the king’s tent, it was larger
than the normal ones, but not as big as the king’s had been. It was a
flamboyant ruby red, but with no accents or highlights, making it somewhat
dull. The golden brown woman held the flap open for me, and I entered. It
wasn’t very flashy; it had a hammock, a makeshift wardrobe (that through the
slightly opened door weapons could be seen piled on top of each other), a table
with a few chairs, and a small pit in the center for fires. Kyra took some
dried wood from a corner and placed it in the pit. It didn’t take long for her
to light it, and soon enough we were sitting around an open fire.
“So
let’s start with names,” she said while tossing off her cloak into a corner. I
followed her example and took off my over coat, but found that my once feathery
silk shirt was stained with dried blood. It was a shame, but nothing I’ve had
in my possession stayed nice for long.
“As
you know, I’m Kyra, and I train any children I find with a special talent for
fighting. Don’t worry, I always ask for parent permission first, so you can
drop that horrified look.”
“My
name is Scarlet,” I said while huddling as close to the fire as possible. I
hadn’t noticed how freezing I was until I came close to heat.
“Nice
to meet you Scarlet,” Kyra said while shuffling through her wardrobe, which I
saw doubled as a pantry. “Are you hungry?” I didn’t have to answer, as my
stomach let out loud groan that resembled a growling lion. Kyra laughed and
pulled some dried meat from the pantry. She tossed half to me and sat back down
by the fire.
“So
Scar, how’d you meet Vaze?” She asked with a mouthful of meat. “You don’t mind
if I call you that do you?” I shook my head. My brothers used to call me by the
same name when I was little.
“I
tackled him, because I thought he was my brother,” I said as I nibbled on my
piece of dried meat. It was a little salty but good. Kyra laughed at my
statement—it was pretty funny now that I thought about it.
“It
happens to the best of us,” Kyra said with a joking smile. “Why did he bring
you and your friends here?”
“He
said something about Velkire wanting to kill me after we got attacked by the
Shadows and Enzio,” I said, hating to remember the horrifying man who would
torment my dreams if I ever had normal ones. Kyra’s smile faded.
“So
Enzio is still alive even after the attack from Aaron, huh?” she said to
herself.
“What?”
I asked confused.
“Nothing,”
she said quickly. “So why does Velkire want you dead? You look like a normal
girl to me, even if you could counter one of my best students.”
“I’m
not all that normal,” I said. I began to tell her all that had happened, from
when Al and I were playing our game at home to when we had seen her on the
road. At first, I left out the dreams I had, but eventually, I told her about
those too. She listened to everything I had to say, and only interrupted when
she needed me to explain something. When I finished, golden light began to leak
through the top of the tent that let smoke escape.
“So
the Guardian really did succeed,” she said distantly. Kyra stood up and
stretched her arms. “I won’t let her efforts be wasted then. Come with me.”
Kyra
strode out of the tent, leaving me to scramble after her. The sun’s early rays
warmed the ground beneath my feet, and changed the nearby hanging mist to gold.
People were just beginning to stir, and yawns and grumbles of not wanting to
wake up could be faintly heard with each tent we passed.
We
didn’t stop walking until we were at the edges of the camp and the forest
greeted us once again. The trees towered over us like mountains, but they were
spaced out enough for light to come in with a green twinge. A few birds passed
by overhead.
“Come
out Ed, I need you to do something for me,” She said, and out of nowhere, the
shy boy appeared by Kyra’s side.
“Yes
ma’am?” he said quietly.
“I
need you to go get Vaze,” she said. Ed nodded and in the blink of an eye, he
was gone.
“Is
he one of your students?” I asked.
“He
isn’t just one of them,” she said. “He’s absolutely the most talented boy I
have ever taught, even more than when I trained Vaze, though he seems to have forgotten
most of his training. Ed may not seem like a strong fighter, but he is the
equivalent to five special unit soldiers, which is what my students are. I want
to see if you have what it takes to be one, and if Vaze still deserves to be
one. If you pass, I’ll take you to the priestess who can seal the curse,
because I’m the only one who knows where she is now. But if you fail, you will
never use your power unless you want to risk becoming that monster again.”
“And
if Vaze fails the test?” I asked curiously.
“Then
I’ll beat him to a pulp,” she said in a matter-of-fact way.
“Well
then I hope I don’t fail,” Vaze said from behind, making me jump.
“Is
there anything else you need me to do, ma’am?” Ed asked from the opposite side
of me, but still making me jump.
“No,
you can watch if you’d like,” Kyra said, and in response Ed chose a tree branch
above to watch at.
“What
kind of test will we be doing?” Vaze asked.
“A
simple one,” she said.
“One of you has to hit me at least once
without being blocked.”
“Is
that all?” I asked in disbelief. “This’ll be easier than I thought.”
“If
you think so,” Kyra said while laughing. “It sounds like you’re ready, so let’s
begin.”
With
her last word Kyra disappeared from where she stood, and appeared right in
front of me. She smiled and let out a flurry of punches and kicks. I had almost
no time to react—all I could do was block. Vaze came in from the side and tried
to punch her. Before he could thrust his fist Kyra had one hand on his head.
She pushed him down, and flipped over him, kicking him in the back and sending
him flying into me. Vaze grabbed my shoulders to keep from hurting me, but it
didn’t stop us from colliding. The minute we hit the ground we both bounced
back to our feet. Kyra smirked and sat on the ground.
“This
might be fun,” She said as Vaze whipped out his wings and took to the sky. I
went for a head on attack and raced towards her. I swept my leg at her head,
but she grabbed me by the heel when my foot was an inch from making contact.
Not missing a beat, I thrust my fist at her face, but she caught it with her
other hand. From the sky behind her, Vaze was rocketing silently towards her. I
thought he was going to get her, but I should have known better.
The
second Vaze was about to hit her, Kyra hurled my body behind her effortlessly,
causing me to crash into Vaze midair. The sudden impact felt as if I had hit a
charging horse head on. It didn’t feel the same way to Vaze, because the second
he touched the ground, he ricocheted straight back at Kyra. He brought his leg
down with one swift movement, but it never hit her. She disappeared from sight
and all Vaze’s foot hit was dirt. Vaze searched around with a confused look on
his face. In the blink of an eye, Kyra was behind him with a smirk.
“Behind
you!” I warned, but too late. As Vaze whipped around, Kyra had already pulled
back her arm to punch him. Soon enough a wide eyed Vaze was sailing back
through the air. Vaze caught his footing again and skidded back on his back a
bit. He looked back up at Kyra with determined eyes and a little blood
trickling out of his nose. He let his wings extend to their full length, which
was twice my height from head to toe on both sides. With one beat of his mighty
wings, he was sailing over Kyra’s head. Kyra tried attacking him, but he sailed
right past her, and straight towards me. He scooped me off the ground and
before I could scream at him, we were high in the air, about five stories more
than I would have been comfortable with.
“What
are you doing, Vaze?” I screamed in his ear. “We have to pass that test!”
“And
we won’t, if we keep attacking without a plan,” He said. “Kyra is always going
to be a step ahead of us, so we have to know how to be two steps ahead of her.”
“You
realize I don’t even know what that means, right?” I said extremely lost.
“It
doesn’t matter; just listen to what I have, okay?” I nodded, and Vaze began to
tell me his plan. With each phase he explained to me, the more skeptical I
became. With the past attempts we’ve already done, it was a long shot. But it
was all we had, so I agreed to it.
With
the first part of the plan in motion, Vaze went back to face Kyra again, but
this time, alone. Kyra searched around for me and looked up to Ed, but he just
shrugged. That was good. If Ed hadn’t seen me yet then I was doing my part
well, or at least well enough.
“Where’s
Scarlet?” Kyra asked, letting her guard down. “Did you make her sit this out so
she wouldn’t get hurt? You know there are better ways to show affection than
risking your own hide for her, right? Flowers work quite nicely too.”