Cuddlefish Corner
Thread Topic: Cuddlefish Corner
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"Shiva Jimmu Story 3"
My red eyes steadily gaze at the white-tiled walls before me. I sweep aside strands of black hair, dripping wet with water as the drops continue to fall on my face. As I close my eyes and let the water wash over my face, I feel myself slipping into deeper thought, hearing my mind race with growing concerns.
“It's clear that I can't do anything to help Akina, on my own. If I try to Darken him again, I may kill him; his White Magic is still present. I don't know any spells that can REMOVE the effects of Darkening someone, and Akina doesn't seem to know how to reverse it, either. So, hopefully, Charkamorah will be able to fix this with her elixir she's working on.” I sigh, taking my fingers and running them through my slick, loose, and soaked hair. But my thoughts don't let up. “Still, I can't be sure that Charky's elixir will work. And she never did say how long it would take to make it. It's been a week, already, and she doesn't seem to be anywhere near done, yet.”
SCREEEE!
The handle shrieks with a metallic cry as I turn off the shower.
I wrap myself in my towel and continue my thoughts aloud, exiting the bathroom and locating my clothes in the bedroom. “If things don't work out with Charkamorah, I may have to consult a higher power...one who knows absolutely every spell in the book—both forbidden and sacred.”
Having put on my baggy, navy-blue pants, I slip my dark-grey double belt over my waist as I stand in a mirror. After doing so, I reach for the towel on my head, snatching it off and whipping my hair around, eyes closed. The black tips of my hair fall to my eyes, and I sigh with the satisfaction of feeling clean, but as I open my eyes, I'm met with an unimaginable sight.
“(Gasp) I—I'm—” I'm speechless as I can't believe the man standing before me in the mirror—the person with white growing out from the black strands of hair. “—growing weak,” I finish in complete shock. I stumble backwards, gripping the white towel in my hands.
The bedroom door squeaks open at the wrong time, and I imagine Akina's standing behind me, frozen in disbelief.
“Shiva,” he gasps, covering his mouth and shrinking away in fright.
I scoff, throwing my brownish-yellow, long-sleeved shirt over my head and pulling my arms through. “Look, I'm fine, alright? There's nothing wrong with me! I'm probably just tired,” I say, slipping on my black, cropped jacket and heading for the bathroom. But as I walk towards the door, I begin to feel lightheaded.
I fall up against the wall, gripping it as if my life depends on it. Feeling sudden sweat break on my forehead, I cry out, being seized all over by intense agony.
“Raahhhhhhhhhhhgh!”
“Shiva!” Akina rushes over and catches me as I collapse to the wood floor. “Shiva, wake up,” he calls to me, but I don't respond...
“Please, Charkamorah,” Akina pleads, standing at Charky's shop and leaning me up against the counter, “you must help him. I'm afraid he won't be alright.”
Charky climbs up onto the counter and examines me, standing over my head and walking around me. She bends down, grabs a section of hair, lifts it up, and sniffs it while saying, “Hmmmm. Hmmmmmmmm.” She walks around to my face and lifts an eyelid; my eye rolls back as she gazes into it. “Hmmm.” She releases my eyelid and grabs my ear, flapping it up and down like a bird's wing. “Mmmm-hmmmmmmm.” Finally, Charky ends her examination, stands back up, and faces Akina with a serious face. “He's been infected with foreign magic,” she states, jumping backwards onto her toadstool and taking a seat, crossing her legs. “Did you happen to have anything to do with that?”
Akina thinks long and hard...or he pretends to because he already knows the darn answer to that! “I—oh!” Akina gulps. “I did manage to hit him with Light Purge, but he recovered so quickly, I didn't think it damaged his being,” he sorrowfully admits.
“So, to a lesser extent, Shiva is dealing with the same problem that ails YOU,” Charky says frankly, pointing to Akina as she spoke.
Akina grips the golden fox head charm keeping his white cloak clasped over his shoulders. His eyes steadily well with tears and he looks away with grief. “This is my fault! I thought I was helping him—curing him—but now, he is suffering because of me!” Akina anxiously whips back around to Charky. “Don't you have anything that can help him right now?”
Charkamorah shrugs. “Mmm-nnnh.” She jumps down from the toadstool, rummaging through a bag behind the counter. “I have a cancellation elixir. It'll temporarily cancel out both types of magic. While Mr. Manners will probably fly into a fit of rage for not being powerful and junk, he SHOULD be relieved of all pain. Nothing will get better, buuuuuut, nothing will get worse, either,” Charky finishes, holding up the bottle of silver, sparkling elixir.
Akina reaches into his brown pack around his waist and pulls out two pieces of silver. “I'll take it.” He trades the silver bits for the elixir, nodding firmly. “Thank you.”
“No problem. By the way,” she says as Akina turns to leave. Akina turns back around, holding me in his arms. “I'm almost done with that elixir you wanted. You wouldn't believe it, but it actually takes years to make it. See, the elixir has to age a while, but luckily, I already had a little bit left over from the last time,” she whispers, winking. “I just needed some revival ingredients to awaken its dormant effects—you know, freshen it up a bit. I want to try a drop on Shiva once it's complete, that way, I'll know for sure if it'll work on you.”
“Yes,” Akina agrees, “that would be good. And I would feel better if you healed Shiva, first.”
Akina grips me tight and carries me back to our cottage. Once he gets me there, he props me up against the couch and administers the elixir to me.
With a sudden gasp, I open my eyes, coughing and turning about in confusion. “What? Where? Where am I?”
“You're on the couch,” Akina replies.
I smack my lips, tasting something sweet and tangy with a—linty aftertaste??? I open my mouth to ask what I'm tasting, but then, I see the empty bottle in Akina's hand. “That—what is that,” I demand to know, scrambling to the edge of the couch and pointing at the empty bottle.
“It WAS cancellation elixir, which I gave you. Now it's just a bottle.”
“Cancellation elixir,” I breathed, suspicions growing. “Why'd you give me that? Don't you know what it does?! I'm practically powerless, thanks to you!”
“Shiva, it saved your life,” Akina tells me. “You're sick because of my attempt to Light Purge you; it had to be done, otherwise the two magics would tear you apart.” I silence myself, folding my arms and further listening to Akina as he continues to explain. “It would seem that your Twilight Magic is more violent than my White Magic; while mine saps itself away, trying to heal me of your Twilight Magic, your magic works hard to fight my magic, hurting yourself in the process.”
“I know that,” I snap, jumping off the couch. “Listen, I am 38 years old; you don't think I know how my magic works,” I question, intimidatingly closing in on him and putting my finger to his face. “You don't think I've been wounded by your kind before? You don't think that I can get by just fine without you pretending to be the hero all the time?!”
Akina flinches, dark-blue-grey hair flailing out in front of him as he feigns away from me. “I'm sorry that I offended you in offering my assistance,” he quietly states, “but I just didn't want you to suffer. If it's what you want, Charkamorah probably has an elixir to undo this one, and I can buy it immediately.”
“Yes,” I snappily reply, “you do that. And the next time you have the bright idea to help, DON'T.”
Sweeping the hair out of his left, red eye, Akina turns away and sets off for the front door. On the way to the market side, Akina ponders his mistake, talking to himself. -
“I suppose it wasn't the best idea to take away Shiva's magic entirely. I think—if he wasn't just being mean about it—that Shiva was so furious and hostile because we're both currently staying in uncharted grounds; we don't know what threats await, and stripping Shiva of his magic at a time like this would be just as bad as breaking the horns of a wounded bull. Shiva has no protection, and I don't know how to use this Twilight Magic that seems to dominate my White Magic.” Akina nods, nearing Charky's stand. “Shiva was only trying to look out for us, in a strangely hostile and demanding way. But, then again, sentiment isn't a Darkling's strong suit, I've learned.” Akina is in the middle of humorously shaking his head, smiling, when a shout in the wind causes him to jerk his head up and frantically search around.
“HEY, PUT ME DOWN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING, YOU BRUTES?!”
“Huh?!” Akina listens again as the shrill and familiar voice calls out again.
“LEAVE ME ALONE!”
“Charkamorah!” he gasps, sprinting over to her stand and finding two white-cloaked men holding her up in the air—one gripping her rose-gold ponytail and the other holding her cyan and powder-blue tail. “Unhand her,” the Aura Warrior roars, drawing his golden scepter and pointing it out in front of himself. Akina initially finds some gut from somewhere, actin' all tough like that, but his tune changes real quick as another cloaked being comes out from behind him.
“Please, boys,” she instructs them, “handle her gently. We're not here to harm her.”
Akina's eyes shoot open in bitter agony as he freezes up as if he's seen a ghost. “That voice,” his mind gulps in a whisper. Slowly, regretfully, he spins around on his heels.
The third cloaked entity removes her hood, revealing her warm, hazel eyes and glowing, pink cheeks; she sternly gazes first to her assistants, but then to Akina as her orange-ish-blond pigtails tumble down past her shoulders. “Akina Sho? Is that you?” she hesitantly asks.
“M—Mei...”
Mei's face brightens up. “Akina, I didn't think I'd see you again without that terrible Darkling Destroyer by your side! I thought for sure he'd Darkened you for good.” Mei rushes over to Akina, hugging him tight and gazing into his eyes.
On one hand, Akina is overjoyed to see her; on the other hand, he's not feelin' it while she seems to be still romantically attached; on a third hand that I have no idea where it's coming from, CHARKAMORAH IS STILL BEING MANHANDLED!
Akina puts aside his boyfriend/girlfriend issues to address the most important issue, pushing away from Mei with a disapproving glare. “No, wait a minute,” he nearly shouts. “What are you doing to Charkamorah?”
Charky folds her arms and rolls her eyes. “Nice job; it only took you centuries to remember me,” she retorts.
Mei regains a serious look, herself, though slightly off put from Akina's reaction. “Charkamorah Leftahdi is under arrest by order of Master Lumin for assisting Shiva Jimmu. She will be reporting back to the palace in Avalonia to tell us everything she knows about Shiva's whereabouts.”
“WHAT,” Charky and Akina both shout in disbelief.
Charky begins to kick and swat with her arms and legs. “You can't arrest me just because I helped a paying customer! If he was some secret, wanted criminal, that's his business, not mine!” Charkamorah grunts as the two men tighten their grip on her. “Mnh!”
Mei's eyes soften again as she glides over to Akina. “Akina, now that we've found you, I'll be able to take you back to Master Lumin so that we may heal you; then you'll be back to your true strength, able to help us finally catch Shiva Jimmu.”
Trembling in a train wreck of emotion, Akina wildly shakes his head and gnashes his teeth, unable to take the agony anymore as something strange arises from the deepest place within him. “NO,” he shouts. “I'm done hurting Shiva!”
“Hurting? We're not—”
“Darklings are what they are,” Akina goes on, “and we can't purge them for being who they are! So what, Shiva has Twilight Magic?! That doesn't mean he's evil, but we're going to purge him anyway because we think he is?! There's no way I'm joining you when Shiva's sick because of us!”
Mei worriedly cups her hands. “Akina, the Twilight Magic is affecting your better judgment. That dark magic was never meant to be used; the art and all that is associated with it is pure evil. Darklings worship the darkness; they embrace every negative feeling and use it as an endless supply to their powers; they assassinate young and old alike with their Dark Aura Purge, and once Shiva recovers, he will only turn against you. Such is the way of a Darkling,” she finishes, closing her eyes.
The boy wants to speak. He wants to oppose everything Mei said to him, but he doesn’t know how he could even begin to challenge her over it, especially since he knows essentially nothing about us Darklings.
“Come with me, Akina, and leave these foolish thoughts behind,” Mei coaxes.
“I've had enough of this!” he shouts, swinging his scepter out, but to his surprise, it unleashes a broad blast of black and purple energy that knocks back both Mei and her assistants.
“Whoa!” the two men cry out, stumbling and releasing Charky from their grasp.
“Eeeeee-hehehehehheh-haaaaaaaa!” the succubus cackles in shrieking laughter, falling to the ground and landing on her feet before multiplying into several little Charkys. The Charkamorah mob jumps up onto the two men and slap them senseless.
Mei draws her staff, frowning at Akina. “It's clear that you're too far gone.” Spinning her staff out in front of her, she takes up a firm stance, snatching the staff back and pointing it out behind her. “I will just have to take you to Master Lumin, myself.”
Akina began to give off a dark-purple and black aura as he laughed dryly. “Ha. Good luck with that.”
“HAHHH,” Mei roars, unleashing a beam of light from her staff's tip.
“Iiiiyuh!” Akina grunts, waving his scepter in a high arch over his head and sending out a thick, semicircle-shaped wall of darkness. Akina's Dark Shield absorbs Mei's blast. “Heh, heh. I could get used to this.”
Mei gasps, seeing her pathetic little beam of light did nothing. But she's not done, yet. Mei's staff starts glowing light-blue as she holds it at both ends horizontally in front of herself, and with a sudden lunge, she jumps into the air and comes down hard for Akina with a spinning slash. “Yahhhhh!”
Akina feigns to the right, having his back to Mei, and as her staff nearly meets his white cloak, Akina Shadowshifts and seeps into the dark patch on the ground, slipping right past Mei and taking form again behind her.
Mei hits the ground with a boom, launching dust into the air, but to her surprise, she's missed her target entirely. “What?!” she chokes in frightful bewilderment.
“HIIYAH,” Akina snarls, jumping behind Mei and spinning to her with a dim glow around his right foot. Mei turns around and cries out in shock, but it's already too late.
“DAH!” Akina's foot locks into Mei's midsection and she's sent flying across the market side. Mei crashes into an unsupervised stand, destroying it completely. “Ohhhh,” she groans, just barely able to keep a hold on her staff. Deciding she's had enough, Mei jumps up with a shout. “Fall back!”
The two men fighting the Charkamorah mob swat away all the Charky's. One man kicks the final one, which happens to be the real Charky.
“YIIIIIIIIIIIIIIH,” Charkamorah squeals in pain, rolling across the dusty, dirt road and collapsing against a rock.
Mei dusts herself off, placing her staff on her back. “Take the stand so that she can't help the Darkling anymore!”
The two men then pull out staffs, pointing them at Charky's stand and lifting it off the ground. -
Akina grits his teeth together, watching as Mei and the other two Aura Warriors depart with Charky's elixirs and stand. “That belongs to Charkamorah; bring it back!” he orders, not that they care. Akina grows enraged as the trio ignores him, and though he initially looks as if he's going to chase them down, his anger subsides when he hears Charky cough and quietly moan.
Akina whips around in concern, snapping out of his Darkened state and regaining his natural, calm and sentimental disposition. He rushes over to Charkamorah, kneeling down and gently placing his hand on her shoulder. “Charkamorah, are you alright?”
Eyes moist with tears of fright and sorrow, Charky brings her head up to face Akina and look him in the eye. “My—my elixir stand. Everything I worked for is gone! That was my life’s work!”
Akina growls, scooping the diminutive demon up into his arms and tucking her close as he looks to the sky. “Grrrrrrr.” Slowly, Akina’s red eye glows brighter.
“We should go back and check on Shiva,” Charky suddenly suggests, lying weakly in Akina’s arms.
Akina’s attention is drawn back to her. “Uhn? Shiva?” He seems pretty shocked to hear Charky suggest this (or he forgot me like a total idiot).
“The Aura Warriors were in the area searching for him. We should make sure he’s okay,” she explains.
“Ah. Mm-hm,” Akina agrees, nodding, and he carries her all the way back to our cottage. “YAH,” Akina grunts, kicking the door wide open.
Charky stares at him with a blank, unimpressed face. (Heh. I would've, too.) “You couldn't use a key?” she asks, not really expecting an answer, but making more of a suggestion.
“Ahhhhh, welllllll,” Akina sheepishly sighs, scratching the back of his head.
Charkamorah jumps down from sitting on Akina's left shoulder, stepping into the cottage, cupping her hands around her mouth, and calling for me. “Mr. Manners—I mean, Shiva! Where are you? Growl or say something rude and annoying about me if you're here!”
Akina draws his golden scepter off his back, pointing the blue-gemmed tip out ahead of him and shining a light around the dark living room area. “Shiva? Are you here?” Slowly slinking into the darkness, Akina gently nudges the door to close it behind himself, then taking his time searching around the cottage.
Charky poofs away in a puff of pink smoke, disappearing from the floor and reappearing on the couch. She does this again from the couch to a table, from the table to the bookcase, and from the bookcase back onto Akina's shoulder. “I don't see him anywhere,” she says, growing concerned.
“Well, he couldn't have gone far; he wasn't feeling well when I left,” Akina replies, at a loss.
Charky's golden eyes lose their lively glow as she begins to think the worst. “You don't think he was captured, do you?”
Akina retracts his scepter, spinning it around and placing it back into its carrier strapped to his back. But then, something unusual overtakes him as he replies—a darker nature mingling with his usual zeal for justice. “If he was, then we'll just have to go after him, and the Aura Warriors will just have to face me, and I will stop at nothing to free Shiva, and I will right the wrong I have initiated, and I will teach them to respect Darklings, and I will—”
“H—hey,” I stammer, voice muffled.
Akina pauses, mid crazy-rant, and gazes around with only his eyes. “Huh?”
“Hey! I'm not gone anywhere,” I state, slithering out from the darkest corner of the room as a shadow with no apparent form. “I just thought I'd recharge my energy in the dark,” I finished, regaining my Darkling form and sort of flipping my jet-black bangs. “It was the smarter thing to do. Now that I have more of my own energy, yours has subsided. Problem solved,” I say, flicking my arms out and not amused.
Akina blinks twice. “So, then...all you had to do was recharge your Twilight Magic?”
“And it would choke out your stupid White Magic. Yeah,” I answer, initially giving no regard to the fact that I probably just blatantly offended Akina.
“But, what about the cancellation elixir? Shouldn't that have hindered your recovery?”
I momentarily close my eyes. “It wore off.” When I open my eyes back, my pointed ears droop a little in weary curiosity. “You brought Scrappy with you,” I ask, briefly eyeing Charkamorah.
Charkamorah huffs, folding her arms. “Well, it's nice to see you too, Mr. Manners.”
Akina gives a funny smile. “She was worried about you.”
“No,” Charky clarifies, “I came along because I don't have anywhere to go, now; my elixir stand's been evicted by your people and I'm going to lose my house anyway without the money. THAT WAS MY ONLY JOB,” she snarls; Akina cringes.
I slip past the two of them and face the front door with a scoff. “Huh. Great. Now I have TWO pests to look after.”
“Excuse you,” Charky retorts, “I'm WAAAAAAAAY older than both of you, so if anyone has to look after anyone, it's me! And I say you two are the pests!”
“Now, wait just one second,” I snap back as Akina takes up a funny look.
“Uh, guys,” Akina nervously calls, but neither of us listen.
“You're the one who decided to come here with Akina, so that makes YOU the burden to ME,” I argue.
Akina hangs his head low. “Guys?”
“Please,” Charky laughs, “I'm the one who has to cure you AND Akina, so that means YOU TWO are the pests.”
I grit my teeth together, leaning closer to Charky. “You're a pest!”
“You're a pest!”
“YOU'RE A PEST!”
“YOU'RE A PEST!”
“YOU'RE—A—PEST,” we both shout, screaming at each other like lunatics until Akina finally bursts.
“Stop fighting! Or-or flirting—or whatever you guys are doing!”
Charky and I both whip around to Akina, deeply horrified and disgusted.
“Ew! What's wrong with you,” I gag as Charky shouts, “We're not flirting, you dolt!” And with that, we both turn our frustrations on Akina.
Akina sighs, tuning out our ranting. “I REALLY don't deserve this,” I mutters, shaking his head...
The End
(Story 3 Ending) -
"Shiva Jimmu Story 4
I look down to my black boots and find myself standing on dry, cracked ground. For a moment, I think I'm back in Midstrom, where I fought alongside the Bladeers against Akina's people; but as I bring my eyes up to the sky, I find the sky to have a unique, pink and purple glow unlike any other. There was only one place in the world that experienced the mind-boggling phenomenon of witnessing eternal twilight. There was only one place that sat so elevated to the celestial blanket above that the moons could be seen so vividly among the blinding stars.
I gasp, turning away from the edge of the rocky cliff I'm standing on and stare in awe of the entire kingdom behind me. I can see the old stone castle on the highest cliff and the little village houses scattered throughout the dusty landscape.
My eyes water as I struggle to swallow, and I warily draw near to the kingdom, almost as if I'm being pulled by a slow-motion magnet.
My ears drop like a sad dog's and my red eyes grow wide. “Is...is this...?”
WHOOSH!
“Uhn!” I duck, uttering a startled cry as three balls of light streak across the sky, nearly snatching me off my feet after stirring up the wind. I lose my balance as three more dart overhead. “Uh!” I turn over on my side, lying on the ground to find several light-blue balls of light speeding towards the kingdom. I stifle a gasp and push up from the ground, rushing down a dusty hill and across the barren terrain.
WHOOSH!
SWOOSH!
I am knocked around by the current created by the light-emitting entities. A few fly past me, so close I could touch them, and they pull up into the sky, all heading for the same point. I'm at a loss when I see this.
“Huh?”
I run until I am standing under the gathering point, and directly above me, there is a huge ball of black and purple energy—dark energy that strengthens me—calls my name—as I stand beneath it.
“Mmm,” I contently sigh, closing my eyes and absorbing the energy, but something sends a sharp pain through my body. “Aagh!” I open my eyes, writhing in pain, and I look up again to find the balls of light surrounding the dark one.
Beams of light come out from each of the bright balls and wrap around the dark one, but darkness seeps out from the dim sphere over me, crushing the light of the others. Once the light fades from around the entities, I can easily recognize them.
“The Aura Warriors,” I growl. “But, who—”
“Enough!” a man shouts from across the sky.
I turn around, searching for the man, but I only find a really bright flame in the sky—light-blue and white. So I imagine there's a man in the center of that flame, and I grow weak yet again just from his very presence.
“I will end this!” he shouted. “Your child will never come to this world; he will not bare your evil will, and you will not continue your reign of terror!”
“(Gasp) NO,” I cry out, reaching for the sky though I don't even halfway know what's going on.
“Don't do this,” a woman replies. “You are only bringing death upon yourself,” she says darkly.
The man charges up a ball of light between his hands; the dark sphere starts to grow bigger, but when other Aura Warriors show up, they blast their energy straight into the sphere and shrink it down to naught.
I tremble, watching the man's ball of light grow bigger and bigger, and I immediately know what this familiar attack is.
“Light Purge!” he roars, releasing the beam from a sun-shaped mark on his right hand and aiming it directly for the woman.
“Dark Aura Purge!” the lady shouts, sending out a blast of dark energy.
The light and dark reflects off my eyes as I stand beneath them, frozen in sheer terror, and as the beams collide, a shockwave is sent out, and the explosion is blinding.
I cry out as I struggle to keep my footing, being pushed by the shockwave. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!” When I lose my footing, I fly into the air and close my eyes.
“Shiva—”
“Ack!” I jump straight up, panting and gripping the bed sheets. I give my eyes and head a minute to register just what it is I'm seeing.
“Shiva,” Akina calls again, leaned so close to me that I can feel him breathing on me.
“BLASTED KID,” I exclaim, shuffling around on the bed and retracting away from him.
“Are you okay?” he questions, excusing my startled utterance. He proceeds to slowly reach his hand out for me, settling it on my wrist in hopes to calm me down. “You kept moaning and tossing and turning; I couldn't sleep,” he states, genuinely concerned (or tired of me keeping him from sleeping as we have no choice but to share a bed).
“Wh—I...” I abruptly fall silent, taking hold of Akina's wrist and gently turning over his hand, examining his palm.
Akina gradually becomes flustered, slightly curious to know what I'm doing, but also, maybe, surprised that I'm touching him and not hurting him. Akina takes his left hand and nervously sweeps the hair out of his eyes, timidly turning away and lowly addressing me again. “What is it, Shiva?”
I stare down at Akina's right hand; his palm is marked with a sun-shaped emblem. Akina quietly gasps as he notices what I'm staring at; his cheeks turn red against the blue glow of the moonlight as he turns away again, volunteering an explanation.
“It's a birthmark. I'm sort of self-conscious about it.”
I release his hand and slip back to my side of the bed, deeply dismayed.
Akina's eyes fall on me again as he notices my sudden withdrawal. “What's wrong, Shiva?”
“I don't want to talk about it,” I lowly reply, turning my back to him and trying to lie back down. I hope to go back to sleep and forget what I've seen for the hundredth time in my life.
Akina's expression falls as he pulls himself away from me, taking a hint and saying no more. But as he starts to turn over to face the bedroom door, something on my body helplessly catches his eye.
“What's that,” Akina asks.
I turn back over and find him pointing to my right hip. I sit up and gaze down at my hip, then back up at him. “It's called my hip. Why?”
“No, on your hip, I mean,” he says, pointing again.
My eyes briefly see what Akina's asking about, but I act as if I don't see it, moving on to pull my pants up over the spot and lie down again. “Why are you staring at my hip, anyway.”
“Is that your birthmark—a crescent moon?” he questions, pointing one more time but reaching so close he almost touches me.
“Touch me and you die,” I threaten, not bothering to turn back over and look at him. I feel the air pull back away from me, and I imagine Akina's retracted his hand. I sigh. “You could say that. All Darklings have this mark somewhere on their bodies.”
“Hm. It seems familiar,” Akina says aloud, putting a finger to his lips. “Yes, I've seen it before—on a book!”
I snatch myself back up from the bed and whip around to face Akina, not realizing how close I am as I frantically question him. “Wait! You've seen this on a book before? Where?!”
“Ack,” Akina chokes, leaning back away from me, cupping his hands and worriedly gazing at me as replies. “In the Aura Warrior palace—there's a book in the library that's kept in glass; it's a forbidden book acquired from an ancient evil.” My eyes sharpen as Akina takes a minute to connect the dots (or should I say, symbols). “Ohhhhhh,” he breathes, realizing that he just somewhat called me an “ancient evil”. “That book must've belonged to your people.”
“Then I bet it's a spell book,” I grunt. “And not just any, but the ancient book of Eliminaara, the Twilight Enchantress!”
“E—liminaara?” the boy stammers, growing weary.
I close my eyes. “Long ago, there was a witch who fell from the heavens. Like a shooting star, she struck the clouds. No one knew where she came from, but everyone assumed her arrival was a bad omen. The witch was covered in darkness—clothed with the dark mystery of the celestial scape above—but she was by no means dangerous to anyone.”
Akina sits down on his legs and keeps a steady, intrigued gaze on me as he waits for me to tell him more. -
Recalling the legend with a little pride and awe showing on my face, I carry on, forming a micro smile, which is not at all a smile to anyone else. (You’d only know when a Darkling’s smiling if you’re a Darkling, yourself.) “Even though the people of the cloud kingdom didn't trust her and shunned her, the witch was not alone. She found herself roaming through the ground world of Midstrom and across the fields, eventually meeting a barren land, being exiled all the way to this broken kingdom. But once she arrived, another being from the stars came down and gifted the broken witch with strange, new magic. She was given Twilight Magic, and the celestial being gave her the whole barren land to be her domain. There, she would build a kingdom, and there, she would give birth to the child she carried all the way from the stars.” My eyes shimmer before becoming self-aware; and on top of that, I find that my eyes steadily meet with Akina's almost in a comforting way as he gazes at me with sympathy. I cringe and quickly scatter my expression.
“So, Eliminaara was pregnant when she came to this world?”
“Yeah,” I reply.
“Did she birth the first Darkling?”
“Uh, I don't know,” I answer, sliding out of bed and grabbing my black, long-sleeved shirt off from under sleeping Charkamorah, curled up at the foot of the bed like a puppy. “I do know that there were others who came along with Eliminaara, and the legend states that she shared her powers with them and provided them with a place to stay; she crafted Selenia, the kingdom of eternal twilight—home of the Darklings. Every Darkling calls themselves children of Eliminaara, but no one really knows who the true child of Eliminaara was.”
“Ah, I see,” Akina says. He raises a brow, just realizing that I've put my shirt on and strapped a brown bag around my waist. “Oh, Shiva, what are you doing?”
I grab Akina's white, long-sleeved shirt from off the top of a dresser and toss it to him, accidentally hitting him in the face with it. “You're going to take me to Avalonia—to the palace—and you're going to help me get that book back.”
“W-what?!” he shouts, nearly falling off the bed.
Charkamorah mutters in her sleep and kicks her leg out, shifting around after hearing Akina exclaim.
Akina quiets himself, speaking in a hushed voice as he pulls his shirt over his head and follows me out the room and down the hall. “You want me to take you to the palace? Shiva, do you even know what will happen to you if Master Lumin gets his hands on you?”
“He won't 'cause I've got YOU,” I say, slyly. “If I use you as leverage, he won't hurt me because you're his favorite pupil, correct?” Akina remains silent, anxiously tapping his fingers together. “So, take me to the palace; I need to get that book. If it belongs to Eliminaara, it probably holds more spells in it than any Darkling knows—spells that can possibly heal both of us.” I rush down the stairs and Akina follows after me.
“No,” Akina refuses. “I will not put you into harm's way, nor will I do so to myself. Is there not another way to heal the both of us?”
I stop and turn around, facing Akina. “None that I know of. And it's not like we have a choice. You and I being together is harmful as it is. Our magics clash nonstop, and we're slowly being damaged by the process, anyway. And your people are hunting both of us, are they not?” Akina bites his lip, shrinking into the shadows as he is hesitant to reply.
Akina gasps, looking up as he feels a breeze from my subtle movement; my hand is reaching out to him. “Uhn...”
“Help me get this book...please,” I ask in a calm and quiet tone.
“Uh?” Akina stands in pure shock as he wonders if I really just said “please”. His eyes flit around as he raises his hand in uncertainty, but hovers it in place.
I flit my eyes to the floor, almost getting lost in doubtful thinking when I feel Akina's cold hand softly take ahold of mine. I bring my eyes up, startled.
“Yes,” Akina whispers with a calm but steely-eyed gaze. “But, one thing,” he says.
“What's that?”
Akina and I start off on our journey to Midstrom; he leads the way as I walk behind him, using shadows to bind sleeping Charkamorah to my chest like a baby in a carrier.
I scoff. “Did I really have to be the one to carry her? And why are we even bringing her along? She's asleep anyway.”
Akina closes his eyes, somewhat taunting me as he replies. “Well, Shiva, it'd be rude to leave our new comrade behind, wouldn't it? And you asked ME to take you to the palace, isn't that so? Then you should have no problem carrying out the only favor I ask of you.” Akina walks on with his head held high and hands behind his back.
I growl. “You're still insufferable,” I mutter.
“Shiva,” Akina suddenly asks, holding his staff as a walking stick while going on. “Mei told me that Darklings worship the darkness and other evils...Is this true?”
“What,” I scoff. “Of course not! Why would we? That sounds dumb.”
“Oh.”
I roll my eyes. “We don't worship the darkness. It's just that we keep to the dark because it's where our magic is from. In any dark place, our magic is fueled as it comes from twilight and the literal dark of night. There isn't a hidden meaning behind this; the darkness is our light.”
Akina nods. “I see. So then, what empowers you when you use your magic? What circumstances fuel your will to fight and make your magic stronger?”
“Well, while you use the sappy power of friendship and love or whatever the heck it is,” I begin, “Darklings dig deep and let out the repressed feelings of stress, sadness, anger, loneliness, heartache, and so on so forth. We've never known a hope like the one you seem to hold, so our pessimism or darker feelings are usually what triggers us.”
“When the Aura Warriors attacked Charkamorah, I was able to freely wield the Twilight magic inside of me from you; but I didn't feel anything different than what I use for my White Magic.”
Curious, I turn to Akina. “What emotions were you feeling?”
“Well, I'm not really sure. I was upset that Mei was attacking Charky; I didn't feel like it was fair to Charkamorah. I was angry that Mei would do such a thing; I wanted to make it right,” Akina replies, looking back over his shoulder at me.
“Your anger is what triggered it,” I state.
Akina gasps. “But, I didn't think I was that angry!”
“You don't have to be,” I say. “Your anger was justified anger, but anger, nonetheless. Likewise, a Darkling can have justified anger, but as it is anger, it's enough to trigger their Twilight Magic. See, not every 'negative' feeling is truly negative. They're just feelings we'd rather not feel, but they serve a purpose.”
“What feelings fuel your usage, then?” he questions, gazing straight into my eyes.
“That's not a question I'm willing to answer,” I plainly state, gripping my arms and looking away with a distant gaze.
“Then I will respect that,” Akina replies. He suddenly stops in the middle of the dirt road.
“Guh-uh,” I choke, nearly bumping into him as I will myself to stop. “What now?”
“We need to fly, of course, as Avalonia is a kingdom in the clouds.” He turns back to me with a straight face. “Surely you didn't think the palace in Midstrom was the Aura Warrior palace.”
I scratch my head, looking away. “I...”
“Have you any wings?” he asks, moving on.
“Well, of course, but I don't think I can use them. Ever since I was infected with your magic, my abilities have been impaired. I can't access certain spells. What about you?”
Akina closes his eyes, gathering up his will power (or something like that), and out from his back spawn two blue-grey wings in a burst of falling feathers. Akina gasps, seeing his wings.
Though the wings are dark as it is, the feathers constantly drop off to reveal black within his very veins, coursing through his wings and stemming from his back. -
“Whaaaaa!” he cries, startled by the sight as I breathe, “Cool.” Akina swings his arms out to his side and his wings scatter into feathers, dispersing from his back as he pants. “I don't think I should use my wings with them like this.”
“Alright, well, how do normal folk get there, then?”
“There's a Rocket Hex we can take,” Akina says. “If you find a glowing area on the ground, just stand on it and it'll shoot us into the clouds.”
Half of me wants to know how people get back down after taking the stupid thing, but the other half of me doesn't care. Being at a stalemate with myself, I say nothing.
The night is quiet, the road is long, and the company is far and few, but slowly, we find our way to a Rocket Hex, locating it at the boarder of Keljor.
“Ever taken one before,” Akina asks, gesturing for me to stand on the Rocket Hex.
“Why would I,” I scoff in response.
“They're a little scary,” he states, “and it's hard to keep yourself steady.” He reaches out to me. “If this is your first time, then I'd advise you to hold on to me. We could easily get split up, otherwise.”
Hesitantly, I take hold of Akina's hand, ears drooping in response to the strange, unenviable moment. He pulls me up onto the Rocket Hex and we stand face-to-face. Akina takes hold of my other hand and looks off to the side with a strong sense of readiness.
“Brace yourself,” he warns, and no sooner than he says this, we are thrust into the air by a rainbow tunnel of light.
“Yiiii-ahh-ahhh!” Startled out of my wits, I almost immediately release one of Akina's hands, quickly finding myself hurtling towards the edge of the light trail.
“Huhp,” Akina grunts, lunging out for me and grabbing my wrist, pulling me back in; the sudden force from his jerking me in sends us spiraling around like tops as we fly upwards.
“ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME,” I roar, fearing for my life. “What were you thinking—having us take this thing?!”
Akina helplessly lets out a giggle, smiling. “You're too tense.”
We stop spinning and get knocked off from our upright position, now being in more of a skydiving position.
“Just stay inside the light tunnel, relax, and you'll be fine,” Akina instructs as we flip over onto our backs.
I look across at him from the other side of the tunnel as my black hair blows wildly over my red eyes; his blue-grey hair streams out in front of him as his red and light-blue eyes sparkle. Somehow, Akina is just fine, and here I am, acting like a baby. Bet he's sitting there laughing on the inside. You never know with that kid because he almost never stops smiling.
I'm taken out of an inward debate when Akina gently squeezes my hand before addressing me. “Just close your eyes.”
I close my eyes as he closes his, and already, I can feel the light guiding us around in the tunnel, displacing us yet again. We flip back over, right side up, and spin around the center of the path, keeping a grip on each other. Gradually, I feel myself steadying out again, being set on my feet as if I am standing, and I open my eyes back as Akina opens his. A sudden rush of wind propels me to the center of the tunnel, and I sort of bump into Akina, unsettling Charkamorah.
“Huh?” the small fox/lynx/demon utters, opening an eye.
“Sorry,” I say to both of them.
Akina nervously laughs. “No, that was my bad.”
Charky glances between us. “Hm...
“Where are we?”
Akina jerks his head up, seeing the white light quickly approaching us. “Hold that thought.
“Shiva, ready!” he orders, and I scramble to brace myself.
We're shot out of the Rocket Hex tunnel and into the air, descending on the clouds, firmly landing on our feet.
“Nice landing,” Akina congratulates me. “And here we are—Avalonia!”
Charkamorah shuffles around in the carrier on my chest, gripping me around my shoulders and scurrying up my face, climbing onto my head and jumping down into the clouds as I sputter. “Why are we here?” she questions in a disapproving tone, folding her arms and stamping her foot.
“Because Shiva needs to retrieve a spell book that belongs to the Darklings. It might have a spell to heal us both.”
“And you plan to just waltz up into the kingdom like no one will catch you?” she remarks.
My eyes sharpen. “Akina, can you Shadowshift?”
“Well enough,” he replies, nodding. “But what about Charkamorah,” Akina asks.
Charky waves it off, then being engulfed by light and growing in size, taking form to resemble a woman with ears and a tail, dressed in a short, green, wrap-around dress. Akina and I both stare, wide-eyed as Charky sashays a few steps out in front of us. “It's not polite to stare at a lady.”
I walk through the busy market side in Avalonia, cautiously making my way to the palace. My long, jet-black pigtails sway with my movement as my red eyes shimmer in the blinding light. I grip my deep-red cape as the silver chain belt around my waist jingles with every step, knocking up against the edge of my red, plaid mini-skirt.
Akina runs up to my side, catching up with me, as his face burns red in embarrassment. He sweeps his hair out of his face as he looks to me, clenching the edge of his plaid blue skirt and ruffling his light-blue vest. “Shiva, was this really necessary?” he whines, again, brushing aside his short and slightly-curled white hair.
“Look,” I snap in a hushed tone, “I have no problem doing whatever it takes to get into that palace. You think your little buddies won't recognize us if we simply walk in wearing hats and mustaches? Or do you think they would let us in if we Shadowshifted into little kitty-cats?”
“We couldn't just enter in as shadows?” he asks.
I rest my hands on my bare midriff. “You're kidding me,” I state as a sort of question. “You're kidding me, right? The Aura Warriors won't find two rogue shadows suspicious in the least bit.” Akina bites his pink-coated lips. “Stop being a baby and woman up.” I halt at the bottom of the trail that leads to the palace. “And, by the way, the guards will be much faster to let in 'three beautiful women' than anyone else.”
We go up the trail and to the palace, standing at the doors where a burly guard meets us. -
I fling my hair over my shoulders as Akina cringes for fear that I'll be found out, but I boldly walk up to the man. “Excuse us, we're mages in training, and as an extracurricular activity, we were assigned to tour the Aura Warrior palace and possibly study in the library. Would that be alright with you, sir?”
“You will have to ask Master Lumin; he is in charge of Avalonia and the palace as the prince is away, for now. But you may come in,” he says, opening the doors. And just like that, the sucker's let us in.
“Real smooth, Shadow,” Charky whispers. “But had you let ME do the talking, that guy would've been carrying us in and offering to wipe our feet,” she finishes, suggesting that she has more feminine charm than I.
I turn to Akina, gazing towards him with a look of triumph and pride, not that he can tell. (Most Darkling expressions are finite like cats; you can't easily tell what we feel aside from anger, discomfort, and possibly sadness. Hence the reason why I “always look angry”.) “Well, we're in. Now what?”
“I guess you follow me and we can go to the library,” Akina answers, stepping around me and walking on.
Roaming the halls, I take in the sight. There are light-blue-crystal chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. The floor light-blue marble, covered with a long, white, embroidered rug made from the softest carpeting. The walls are grey and stony, and after every five feet, on each side of the hall, there's a square pillar built into the wall. Between the breaks of pillars, there are suits of armor and weapons decorating the walls; tapestry and symbol charts also clothe the stone walls.
“This is...” I briefly close my eyes and bow my head in consideration—also admiration.
Charky flicks her tail out as she drags the tips of her fingers across a suit of armor. “Gorgeous,” she breathes. “Whoever decorated in here needs to decorate my burrow.”
“Yes,” Akina says, “it IS quite the palace, isn't it? Most of the plain-looking artifacts displayed here are actually from centuries ago, and they hold more value than even the pure crystal chandeliers.”
CRASH!
Akina and Charky flinch, turning around and finding me standing at a pedestal, pointing my finger to where there USED TO BE a plain old vase.
“Oops,” I sarcastically gasp.
Akina's eye twitches as he stands motionlessly, and when he looks like he's about to jump at me or possibly curse me for my deed, old man Lumin comes around the corner, surrounded by his followers.
“You there,” he calls, and the three of us jerk our heads his direction. “Who are you and what are you doing in this palace?”
“Uhhhhh—” Akina freezes up.
Again, it's up to me.
I push Akina out the way, crossing my leg out in front of the other and standing before Lumin in attempts to look as innocent as possible. “I'm Kali. This is my friend, Kat,” I introduce, gesturing to Charky, “—and my sister, Kami. We're mages in training, and we would like to visit the palace library, as a part of our studies.”
“’Kali’,” Lumin repeats, stopping and thinking for a moment; and I realize that I probably should’ve used another name. “Ah, new mages to join the Aura Warriors.” Lumin's tired old face brightens up. “But of course! Just please be careful with the books—they're very old—and do stay out of the backroom closed off by curtains. We protect our ancient books in that room.” Lumin carries on and so do we.
Akina leads us to the library, and when we enter in, we're met with the sight of books—books on shelves miles high.
“Ahh,” Akina sighs, grabbing a book and seating himself in the middle of the floor. “It's been forever since I've gotten to read in the old library.”
Charky's eyes grow huge. “Oooo! A book on mixing elixirs.”
I poke my lip out. “Have you forgotten what we're here for?”
Akina's eyes stay on his book as he replies. “I brought you here, Shiva; do what you need to and let me know when you're done. Am I your keeper? You call me a child, after all, and feel the need to frequently remind you that you're SO grown up.”
My face contorts to a look of annoyance mixed with soreness for walking into that. I storm off and say nothing more as Akina continues to read his book.
“Hm,” he says to Charky, “did you know that a Darkling's saliva is a tell-tale sign of their emotions?”
Charky looks humored and disgusted. “What?”
“'The color and consistency gives away a Darkling's true emotions, and it also plays a major role in conveying thoughts and feelings to their partners. Similar to the way bees give off pheromones to communicate, Darklings release pheromones only found in their saliva. This mechanism can be used to mark territory, express feelings, or influence other Darklings.'“ Akina falls totally silent, at a loss on what he just read.
Charky lowers her book. “So, Shiva goes around licking things to show that they're hers? Weird.”
“Maybe I should start studying more about Shiva's behavior. It'd help me understand her as well as give me something to do, as so long as I am stuck with her.”
“Yeah,” Charky retorts, digging her face back into her book, “just don't get too close; she might spit on you.”
I walk around the edge of the walls, locating a doorway concealed by black curtains. “Protective curtains? Pheh,” I scoff. I snatch the curtains back, thinking I'm going to unveil a huge, mysterious room with the spell book sitting in a display case.
No, I find a large, air-tight stone door underneath the curtains, sealed up from top to bottom with nowhere for the light to get in.
“Crud,” I growl.
I pace back and forth in front of the door, fidgeting with my black crop-top and pulling at my matching leggings. I can feel my anger and frustration rising faster than usual in this form—something that is a given and could put me at risk if I keep this.
“Hah!” I lash my hands out to my sides, briefly being swallowed up by a pitch-black shadow and having changed back to my normal form once the shadows disperse. “Now then.”
I turn towards the stone door, pointing my left pointer finger at it and slowly drawing a circle around in the air, focusing on the stone door and only that. A gentle breeze begins to pick up as purple energy swirls around at my fingertip, beginning to resemble a shaky image of the moon. The wind picks up as the image stabilizes and grows black in the center; my hair rises into the air as my eyes grow completely red and I grit my fangs together. -
“Kepah toda eclipsa...HIYENA,” I chant in a powerful roar, and I'm thrown a few inches back away from the door as a blinding blast of light-purple and black shoots out from the dark ring, large enough to cover the entire door and blow it to pieces.
Charkamorah and Akina gasp as the whole palace shakes.
The smoke clears; pieces of debris fall down from the ceiling and around the doorway; I'm panting and sweating, but I feel really good.
“Why—(pant, pant)—do I feel—(pant, pant)—stronger?”
I step into the room that is only lit by the lights in the main room of the library. Within the room, I see weapons, shields, armor, and potions; skeletons of animals and people alike.
“Dark,” I whisper, mesmerized by the sight. But then, all the way off in its own little corner, a glistening object catches my eye.
A golden, crescent-moon pin sits on the wall all by itself, and as I draw near to it, I can feel my body reacting to a strange and radical surge of power.
Every few seconds, I can feel my blood pulsing in my head, pounding like a drum. My vision is disrupted with every pulse, leaving me blurry-eyed for a moment after. My hand starts shaking as I lead it on to reach for the pin. A warmth like I've never known pulls me in deep.
“What—is it,” I quietly ask myself, pushing hard past the indescribable feeling and grabbing the pin. I hook it to the collar of my shirt and turn back around to the rest of the room. Spotting the spell book, I snap my finger, expecting to let out a small Dark Spear, but instead, it's more like a Dark Javelin.
CRASH!
The glass around the book shatters...and so does part of the wall.
I suck air in through my teeth, looking over my fingers. “Yeesh.” I snag the book and leave the room, and when I double back to the area Akina and Charky last were, a stray blast of light flies out of nowhere and knocks me off my feet. “Gah!” I fall to the floor, releasing the spell book and watching it skid across the floor as I land on my right shoulder. “Uhhhn.” I struggle to push myself up from the floor, dazed and confused. I reach for the book, but a brown-shoed foot stomps down on it hard.
“You will not retrieve this book, Darkling.” I jerk my head up to meet the old man's silver eyes.
The lone fang sticking out from the left of my mouth shows itself more as I growl. “Give that here, or else!”
“Or else what?” he asks, unfazed by my half threat.
“I have your prized pupil here, with me. If you don't give me that book, I will send him AND you to kingdom come.”
Lumin turns away, holding his hands behind his back and walking around the corner of a bookshelf as his long, royal-blue robe trails behind him. “Bluffing” he ridicules, “because Akina is right HERE!”
I stand up and run to follow him, gasping as I can't believe my eyes.
Akina is trapped in a light sphere being held up by 11 Aura Warriors, and in the center, he's sitting on his knees with Charkamorah in his arms—she having lost her human-like form and regained her small demon body. The two of them both look agonized—Akina sorrowful and weary while Charky's unconscious altogether.
I feel something shake me from within when my eyes meet with Akina's.
“Shiva,” he calls, faintly, but with all the strength he possesses.
I cross my hands over each other, pulling them away from the center of my body and in front of my chest; my katana spawns between my hands—my left hand gripping the handle and the blade resting in the palm of my right hand.
“Either you're really evil, or you're that stupid,” I state, lowering my katana to my side. “Don't you see? Akina will die if you Light Purge him. I've Darkened him, and it was my mistake. I'm trying to help your prince, even though you jerks don't deserve it and I hate his guts, frankly. If you let me have Eliminaara's spell book, I can probably fix this, probably,” I repeat, uncertain and stressing my uncertainty as a disclaimer. “For once, I'm not here to harm you, but if you harm me, Charkamorah, or Akina, then I will.”
“Hm,” Lumin utters. “But this was never about Akina, was it? You could care less what becomes of the boy, and frankly,” he states, turning to Akina, “now that he's powerless, I could, too.” Lumin unleashes a blast of light without warning, aiming straight for Akina.
I gasp, sink into a shadow, and slither across the floor, getting to Akina and taking form just in time to deflect the blast with a Dark Shield.
Akina—I can hear him take short, stifled breaths out of fear and exhaustion, maybe even shock, as I...protect him. “Shiva,” he breathes, eyes somehow finding their glimmer through his pain.
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU,” I snarl, lowering my shield.
Lumin stars at me with a frown as he slowly approaches. “I said this was never about Akina, and that goes for both of us.”
I grit my teeth together, bracing myself for another attack.
“You see, YOU only wanted this book; I wanted this kingdom. Akina was declared to be Avalonia's ruler when the king and queen adopted him. Akina isn't even of royal blood!”
Akina gasps, eyes watering. “No. Tell me this isn't...so,” he pleads, falling weak again. He lets out an agonized cry as his body gives in to the Light Prison around him. “Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”
“AKINA!” I spin back to face the Aura Warriors when something inside of me takes over. “RAHHHHHHHHHHHH!” I'm consumed by purple energy, and when I break free, I have dark wings like bat wings on my back, my sword has a purple flame around the blade, and a purple, black, and white-emitting crescent moon appears over my head.
For a second, I sit in shock, and I glace over at Lumin, who gasps and stumbles backwards. I hover in the air as my wings keep me off the floor, and I look to my sword, meeting my reflection.
I suddenly pull my sword up into the air and slash out in a fanning motion across my body. “Iiiiyuh!”
A large wave of purple fire shoots out from the blade and cuts across the group of Aura Warriors, knocking them out of place and putting out their light beams, shattering the Light Prison around Akina and Charky.
“What the?”
“What was that?”
The scattered Warriors struggle to make sense of things and get out of the daze my attack puts them in.
Lumin balls his fist as I sprint through the air and towards Akina. “Stop him!” -
One of the warriors jump up from the floor, picking up their scepter and drawing a symbol in the air. A blast of light-blue fire comes at me. But I slash my own symbol in the air and a pillar of fire launches out and knocks him them through the wall.
Another guy comes up to me and takes a swing at me with his scepter; I disperse in a cloud of shadows and retake form behind him, swinging my katana out and taking him down. And when I'm nearly confronted by two more guys, I slip into my shadow form and slink across the floor, becoming solid yet again once I reach Akina.
“Charky, Akina, are you guys okay?”
Charkamorah pushes herself up from the floor, blinking twice dreamily before jumping wide awake. “Yeah, I'm fine. Light Magic makes my kind sleepy.”
I kneel down and take hold of Akina as he lay motionlessly in the floor—his blue-grey hair now streaked with white. “Akina—”
“Shiva, look out,” Charky warns.
I pull Akina into my arms and Shadowshift, carrying him away from the area as a warrior tries and fails to Purge me; Charky scampers on all fours across the floor, diving over to my left leg and grabbing on as the blast blows a hole in the wall.
Lumin casts his free hand out towards me as he holds tight the spell book in his other hand. “Give up, Shiva Jimmu; this is the end for both you and that imposter of a prince! Once you are gone, the Avalonians will praise ME for the extinction of Shadow Warriors; and with Akina Kareen out of the picture, I will finally be the ruler of Avalonia—something that would've happened long ago had the king and queen not adopted that child!”
I stand my ground. I want to fight Lumin, I want to hold off the Aura Warriors, but unconscious Akina is in my arms, and if I let him go, Lumin and his men will kill Akina immediately. So then, is this it? Have I finally lost? Have I really found a battle I cannot win?
“Shiva,” Charky sternly calls, catching my attention.
“Yes?”
“Get behind me,” she orders, holding her arms out in front of me, though she's only a few feet tall and shorter than my legs. “Get behind me and cover your ears; don't look into my eyes, either.”
I want to question Charky, but I do as she says. I back myself into a corner and sit down, lying Akina down across my lap; then I cover my ears, only peering at Charky's back out the corners of my eyes.
Charkamorah stomps, opening her eyes wide as they turn entirely golden and she begins to chant in a demonic voice. “Chuvede t'su ya manna keh duu! Chuvede t'su ya manna keh duu! Chuvede t'su ya manna keh duu!”
“Aah,” Lumin cries, turning away and covering his ears, knowing what will happen, but the rest of the Aura Warriors stare into Charky's eyes, falling into a trance as their eyes turn yellow.
“Geivweh nanta chuogk,” Charky hisses, pointing at Lumin, and at once, all the Aura Warriors turn on Lumin, attacking him and going after the book. Her eyes regain their normalcy as she turns to me. I slowly uncover my ears and look to her as I pick up Akina and get up from the floor. “Let's go,” she urges.
“What did you—did you just possess them,” I ask in frenzied stupor.
“It'll wear off,” Charky replies. “Let's get that spell book and go.”
Seeing that Lumin is crowded by all the Warriors, I hoist Akina over my shoulder and free up one hand. “Gravitasa.” Purple energy flows from my hand and to the book, snatching it out of Lumin's hand and bringing it back to me. “Good.”
Charky scampers up onto my shoulder and jumps back down into her carrier strapped to my chest. “Aren't you glad you brought me?” she asks with a wide grin.
I nod, then turning to a window, spreading my wings, and flying out the palace.
“Yahgh!” Lumin breaks free from the mobbing Warriors in a pulse of light, and he runs to the window, but I'm already out of view. He bangs his fist on the windowsill, watching the sky with a scowl. “You cursed Darkling...”
“Ummmmmn. Uhhhhhhhhhn. Uhhhhhhhhhh.” Akina groans and subtly shifts around on the couch as the morning light shines into the cottage from the window. “Huh?” He sits up on the couch, gazing around and trying to recognize his surroundings when several strands of white hair tumble down from Akina's head and hang in front of his face. “(Gasp!)”
Charkamorah comes out from the kitchen, smiling and carrying a cup of hot tea. “Morning, sleepyhead. Feeling better?”
“My hair is white again! Have I been cured?” Akina jumps up from the couch and walks over to the mirror propped up on the mantle above the fireplace. He sweeps aside his hair and examines his shimmering crystal-blue eyes, afterwards noticing the golden light halo over his head. “My eyes are blue again and my aura is fully charge! And I feel—incredible! Shiva—”
“Brought you back from the palace and immediately went to work,” Charky says, handing him the cup of tea. “Shiva was up all night, trying to get the spell to work, but he was able to lift the effects of Darkening you after FINALLY getting the spell right!”
Akina feels across his face, happy to feel the warmth and comfort of his old self again. “So then, he—he kept his word. He really helped me!” Akina's look of joy slowly fades as his eyes flit around the room. “But, where is he, now?”
Charkamorah turns towards the front door. “That spell took a lot out of him, especially since he had to do it twice—once to experiment on himself and again to heal you.”
I let out a sigh, lying on the roof in the shadow of the chimney, watching the moons set while hiding from the sunrise. Even though I am resting to recover from the exhaustion of my energy, the dark moon above my head is still present as well as the wings on my back.
My ears perk up when I hear a flutter like a bird's wings from overhead. “Mnh?” I sit up as a white feather falls down from the sky, followed by other sparkling-white feathers.
Two feet make a muffled thud on the roof, then, I hear shifting around as my newfound company sits down beside me, gripping one knee with his arms and letting the other leg sit flat before himself.
“Shiva, you've done so much for me. You've healed me, and for that, I am in your debt,” Akina says.
“Hardly,” I scoff. “I Darkened you, you Light Purged me; I fixed you, and you spared me, so I'd say we're even. No debt to pay. Besides,” I say, standing up, “I was only keeping my word.”
Akina stands up, tapping his fingers together. “Keeping your word—as an honest promise?”
I look into his eyes. “Do you not believe that Darklings, too, can make an honest promise?” Akina doesn't respond. I lift my eyes to the sky. “One day, I hope that you'll come to understand my kind. You may shock yourself to know that you and I aren't too different.”
Akina jumps. “Huh?”
I turn to him as my hair blows across my lips. “This is something I have learned, albeit recently, I have learned it.”
Akina eyes me silently as I take hushed, cleansing breaths. He low-key takes a look at my fangs as I briefly lick across them (a habit of mine), noticing a small but present glimmer of golden saliva.
Ears dropping slightly in timidity, Akina flicks his white wings out as he quietly raises a question. “I've decided to get to know you better and understand Darklings; I read in a book that their saliva indicates their feelings, correct?”
I raise a brow, gazing sternly at him. “Yes, that's right. What about it?”
“What does golden saliva mean?” he pushes, meekly gazing down at his feet.
“Well, it means that I don't hate your guts. What I said to Lumin back there was just tough talk,” I tell him, looking out the sides of my eyes and keeping a firm gaze.
“So then,” he inquires, looking up at me with a feeble smile, “does that mean you like me?”
I look straight into his eyes sharply. “Not quite.”
“Oh,” Akina replies, wings drooping as his hope of us being friends is shattered.
“And frankly, I don't think I ever will.” -
Startling Akina, I step towards him and grab him, gently putting my left hand on his cheek; he stumbles forwards into my arms, resting his hands on my shoulders to steady himself before he is aware—before he can tell what I might do.
Both of our cheeks grow torrid as I kiss him, and I can feel his fingers grip me tighter.
Slowly, quietly, I back away, shocking myself, even, to find that I would do such a thing. I look to Akina, who stands frozen in awe, then trying to explain myself. “J-just to be clear, that wasn't a love confession. I—um—I forgot that you’re n-not a Darkling,” I awkwardly state. “Darklings DO express the indescribable feelings through our pheromones, and it just so happens that this is usually the best way to do so…b-but, you would’ve only gotten it if you were a Darkling… Er…”
Akina blinks twice, staring blankly at me. “Well, also not a love confession,” Akina starts, laughing, “my motive this entire time—the reason why I wanted to Purge you and make an Aura Warrior out of you—it was not to please Lumin, but myself,” he says with a mysterious look in his eye, turning his back to me. A shadow falls on his face as he continues. “I...wanted you to be one of us...because I pretty much idolize you,” he finishes mischievously, glancing back over his shoulder at me.
“What? Really? But, why do you like me,” I ask, curiously eyeing him.
Akina shrugs. “Not sure. When I learned about you as a young warrior in training, the very thought of you piqued my interest. It was wrong for me, being an Aura Warrior, but something inside of me was drawn to your darkness.” Akina suddenly lets out a groan, gripping his head, and his wings turn from snow-white to a sooty blue-grey.
“Uhn.” I let out an unsettled utterance, seeing Akina's halo slowly turn purple, white, and black like the dark aura moon over my head. “The healing spell didn't work,” I worry. “But, it worked just fine for me! What did I do wrong?”
Akina takes a few steps until he's only a few inches away from me. “I don't believe I'm an Avalonian, and perhaps, this is what Lumin knew all along. If I really am adopted, then now I know why he wanted me dead.”
My eyes narrow. “If that really is the case, then I think it’s time you met someone...”
The End
(Story 4 Ending) -
"Shiva Jimmu Story 5"
The wind howls through the canyons as the icy crystals dart down from the clouds; the thundering of hooves along the snow echoes around the lonely ridge, competing with the song of the wind to see who would be louder.
Riding his horse over the freshly snow-covered mountainside, the valiant warrior leads his men. Traveling across the mountains, the black-haired, blue-eyed captain searches for shelter from the late-winter storm in hopes to arrive before the next blizzard hits. When he slides down a steep hill, coming across a small, inhabited village, he lightly tugs the reigns, signaling for his horse to halt; his men stop behind him and he turns around to face them.
“I’ll see what I can find for us,” the man says as the gust catches his long mustache. He slides down from his horse; his black and silver armor clatters as he touches down into the snow. Before leaving, he eyes a young soldier mounted on horseback, standing at the front of the assembly. “Lieutenant Zacharius, come. I want you to cover me.”
The olive-green-haired, silver-eyed Lt. nods before replying in a calm but sort of shy mutter. “Yes sir.” Sliding off their horse, they walk over to the captain, leading their horse along and stopping by their captain’s side.
“The rest of you will remain here. If too many of us go, they may get the wrong idea,” he says. “We don’t want any trouble.” His black cape flails out from his shoulders as he spins back around and sets off further down the hill.
Zacharius looks over their shoulder with a sharpened, authoritative gaze. Grunting lowly and nodding in approval, they lead their horse away, carefully finding their way down the hill and going against the wind as it brutally beats upon their face.
Entering a dimly-lit lodge, Zacharius and the captain make their way to the counter. The bar that was once filled with lively chatter is now filled with murmuring and gasping as all eyes fall on the two soldiers.
The Captain stops at the counter, finding a blond-haired, golden-eyed girl drying a hug mug with a white towel. “Excuse me, miss,” the captain introduces, “I am Captain Otfrid Kohler, and this is my first lieutenant, Zacharius Ulbritch. We are nomad soldiers who have come all the way from Midstrom to escape the cold, but it has already beaten us here. Would you mind telling us where we could stay for shelter? We have with us horses, as well, and are in need of a stable for our livestock.”
“You say you have livestock, hm?” the woman asks, putting the mug down on the counter. “I know of a place not too far from here. There’s an inn just a little further into the village; I’m sure they’ll be happy to take you in.”
Captain Kohler gives a quick bow of the head. “Thank you. We’ll be going, then.
“Come, Zacharius. We will tell the others.”
SLAM!
Capt. Kohler and Lt. Ulbritch jump as the doors to the bar swing open; the customers within the bar gasp and exchange worried whispers as a trio of white-cloaked entities enters the building, backing Kohler and Ulbritch into the bar.
A woman with red hair and red eyes uncovers her hooded head, staring straight into the captain’s eyes. “Are you the rightful captain of the Bladeers?”
“Who’s asking?” the captain replies, on guard and holding his hand out to nudge his understudy back behind him.
“Lord Lumin of Avalonia,” the woman says.
“’Lord Lumin’?” the captain repeats in stupor. He shrugs. “Never heard of him.”
“He is the new ruler of Avalonia, and he orders that you tell him where Shiva Jimmu is or else he will have your head,” she threatens, drawing her sword and pointing it at Kohler’s neck.
“As if I’d know where he is. That was a few weeks ago when he helped us; I don’t keep track of the man’s whereabouts. He’s a mercenary, for crying out loud! Do you really think that Shiva would stay in one place for so long? And it’s not like he doesn’t have other business to attend to when I don’t hire him,” the captain states, infuriating the woman with his final remark. “You can’t just threaten me and expect me to magically know where Shiva is; it doesn’t work like tha—“
“YAAAH!” the girl roars, stretching out her free hand and binding him up with light.
Zacharius gasps, uttering a fearful cry as they back away. “Uhn!”
“You think you’re so funny, don’t you?” the lady grits through her teeth. “I know for a fact that you keep close ties with Jimmu. Now, if you don’t tell me where Shiva is hiding, then I will have to force it out of you…with Light Purge.”
Zacharius’ pointed ears lay back and pointed outward in horror as they choke. Then, feeling a sudden rise of anger, they utter a stern but calm command with a heavy, German accent. “Don’t you dare lay a finger on him.” Zacharius spreads their feet apart, taking a firm stance before the trio of warriors and, swinging their hand out in front of their body, unleashes a burst of flying knives headed towards the group.
The customers within the bar scream and hide under the tables, taking cover from the flying knives as some miss the Light Mages altogether and others are deflected by their weapons.
Zacharius crosses their arms over their chest and fling them out to their side, spawning razor-sharp, claw-like blades on the knuckles of their black, fingerless gloves. “Hiyuh!” they grunt, taking a single strike at the light rope that binds Otfrid, breaking him free.
The red-haired woman leading the other two Avalonians breaks off from the group, going head-to-head with Zacharius, meeting their claws with her sword. She pulls back her sword and swings low to Zacharius’ midsection; Zacharius spins away and counter-slashes at her, knocking her across the bar.
The two other mages draw their swords and jump on Zacharius, nearly pinning them down as they are caught off guard.
“Niyyah!” they shout, struggling to keep their footing and not get crushed under the Light Mages.
As one mage slams her sword down over Zacharius’ head, Zacharius stops the blade between their claws, grabbing the sword and slinging it off from over their head so forcefully that they fling the girl as well.
“Ack!” the girl cries, hitting and denting a wall; the two customers who were seated at the table the girl crashes near jump up and abandon their table; the utensils and plates clatter as she unsticks from the dent in the wall and falls on top of the table.
“Shadow Entity,” Zacharius quietly chants, dropping to the floor in a shadow and arising as a dark ram. -
“Wh-oah!” the second mage cries, falling onto Zacharius’ back and getting her arms hooked around their horns. “Uh-oh,” she gasps, realizing what comes next. “YIAAAAAAAAAH! OOF!” she grunts, getting flung off Zacharius’ back and into the other mage who just got up from the table; and together, the two crash back into that same dent in the wall, this time, falling through the wall.
“Hrm,” Zacharius lowly growls, turning around and seeing Captain Kohler dueling the Avalonian leader. “Shadow Fall.” They become a shadow yet again, taking form as a humanoid once more before a purple cloud of darkness appears within their right hand. Bringing their hand down like a crashing wave, Zacharius draws up a sea of shadows behind themselves and commands it to fall down on the entire bar, smothering out all the lights and living the place pitch-black.
“Uuh-ahhhn!” the girl cries, taking swings in the dark. “I can’t see anything!”
Zacharius’ eyes pulse with blue-green light; they hold their palm out flat in front of themself. “Then let me help you. Vela Nova.” A sudden blast of white light rips across the bar, scattering the shadows and striking the blinded warrior, pounding her into the wall. Zacharius’ cold gaze remains locked on the woman as if they saw her even in the darkness. Slowly, their eyes turn silver once more, and the bar is lighted once again.
Everyone stands or sits around in shock, eyeing the powerful mage before them as Zacharius bows their head and tucks their thumbs into their belt.
Otfrid stands back up, using a turned-over table to help himself up. “Good work, Ulbritch. I know I can always count on you to—GAAAHCK!”
“CAPTAIN,” Zacharius shrieks, reaching out to him. They slowly retract their hand, wide-eyed and trembling at the sight of a Light Blade piercing their captain.
The two mages that had been blasted through the wall snuck back into the bar while the lights were off, and together, then easily ambushed Captain Kohler, bypassing Zacharius as they were distracted.
The first mage pulls back her sword; the second catches the unconscious captain in her arms; the third mage jumps up from the floor and lands in front of Zacharius.
“Let this be a lesson, Darkavonian: when Lord Lumin commands, you listen,” the leader bitterly states, sheathing her sword. “We’ll be taking your captain for questioning, but when we’re done, we’re coming back for you and the other Bladeers. It’s on our agenda to finally deal with you, now that Lord Lumin is in control. So, you can either fight me now and speed up the process or hide until we hunt you down. The choice is yours.
“Come on, girls. Let’s hit it. We’ve got what we came for.”
The three Light Mages spread their wings and take off out the bar as Zacharius stands frozen in morbid shock.
The Bladeers talk amongst themselves in growing concern as the snow picks up and the horses grow restless.
“Where’s the captain?” one asks.
“What’s taking them so long?” another questions.
“Do you think they’re okay?” a third wonders, but before a forth can reply, Zacharius is spotted walking back up the hill with a horse’s reigns in each hand—their own horse in one hand and the captain’s in the other.
The second lieutenant slides down from her horse, fighting against the deep snow to approach Zacharius. “Sir, where is Captain Kohler?”
Zacharius says nothing, but their gaze says it all. “Kase, I need you to lead the others far away from here. Do not stop in the village; the Avalonians will be searching for us, soon.” No sooner than they say this, the whole assembly gasps and murmurs again in fright.
“Avalonians?”
“Again?”
“Are they going to purge us?”
Kase’s charcoal-black eyes look right into Zacharius’ eyes, worriedly. “And you?”
“I will do all I can to bring him back; it is my duty,” Zacharius replies. “Now, take the Bladeers to Gambrolhiem.”
Hesitantly, Kase turns back to the other soldiers. “You all are to follow me, by command of Lieutenant Ulbritch,” she proclaims.
“Sir, yes, sir,” the soldiers reply.
Kase mounts her horse and solemnly gazes down at Zacharius; Zacharius nods, holding a fierce gaze. Kase flicks the reigns and starts her horse across the snowy hills, avoiding the village as the rest of the soldiers follow her.
Zacharius sighs, mounting their horse and tying the reigns of the captain’s horse to their saddle. They start back down the mountain, heading back in the direction from which the Bladeers came…
Akina sits in the floor of our small cottage, staring down at his cup of tea as Charkamorah sweeps the wood floor with a much-bigger-than-she-is broom. Akina watches as the steam swirls about the cup and rises into the air, wishing his thoughts could rise like the steam clouds and stop weighing him down.
Charkamorah exhales, wiping across her forehead and propping the broom up against the wall. “Phwew! What a job! Have either of you ever heard of sweeping?” she asks, flicking her powder-blue and black tail out. But when she sees troubled Akina, her lynx-like ears droop. “Aw, what’s the matter, Angel?” -
“Charkamorah, have you ever loved someone?”
Charky sits down next to Akina on the floor, folding her legs and putting her hand on his, comforting him. “Yeah, actually. She was really pretty. I used to wake up and see her luminous, golden eyes every day. The sight of her charming smile always made me smile, and her hair was ALWAYS to die for. But then, one day, I couldn’t see her anymore. She was just too far out of reach.”
Akina’s light-blue eyes gaze curiously into Charky’s eyes. “Did she move away?”
“No. Ever since I lost my elixir stand and had to move in with you guys, these mirrors have been too high up for me to see myself!”
“D’hahhh,” Akina groans, annoyed as Charky starts up in her chackling fit of shrieky laughter. “I meant in love with an actual person, Charky, not yourself! You’re not helping!”
Charkamorah abruptly stops laughing, seeing the more troubled look in Akina’s eyes and hearing the distress in his voice. “My bad,” she plainly apologizes. “What’s on your mind, though?”
“Mm…well… How do you know if someone likes you when you kind of like them, but they don’t appear to like anything?”
“I ask ‘em,” she says, shrugging. “Or probe their mind while they’re sleeping so I can see all their deepest, darkest secrets,” she finishes with a dark grin, rubbing her hands together. “But, you’re not a succubus, so you can’t do that. So I would just ask, if I were you.”
“But, how could I do that when I seem to annoy them with even the slightest question? How could I hope to ask if they LOVE me when they don’t even LIKE me? And then, they’re always just slipping away from me and making up every excuse not to let me come with them. (Sigh) Perhaps I’m in over my head.”
“To be clear,” Charky asks with a blank face, “we’re talking about Shiva, right?” Akina freezes up with a look of embarrassment and terror. “I mean, ‘cause you certainly don’t like ME like that, and I don’t run from you; I like you!” she says, gripping her paw-like feet and smiling.
“I know he said that I’d only understand his kiss if I were a Darkling, as it’s a common way for Darklings to communicate, but I…I… I can’t stop thinking about him, and he said it wasn’t a love confession, so I don’t really want to tell him that I feel this way.”
“Theeeeeeen don’t tell him,” Charky says, point to Akina with a wink.
“Should I or should I not, though?!” the boy cries, confused.
She shrugs. “Mmn-mm. I’m not the one in love with a weirdo.” Charkamorah gets up from the floor, and as she walks towards the kitchen, Akina’s ears perk up, catching the sound of feet crunching down into the snow.
“Shiva’s back,” he says, smiling and getting all worked up like a lonely puppy. Akina rushes to the door, catching Charky’s attention as she undoes the locks and opens the door.
The moment the door unlocks, however, I force my way into the cottage, unknowingly slamming the door into Akina, and I step into the room, walking on all fours in the form of a Shadow Wolf.
“Uhhhhngh,” Akina groans, pushing the door closed behind me as I shake the snow off my black coat and hit him in the face with clumps of snow. “Aagh!” He puts his hands up to shield himself.
I turn around, realizing that Akina has been behind me the entire time. “Sorry,” I apologize with a steely-eyed gaze, retaking my humanoid form and heading towards the fireplace to warm myself.
“Oh, boy,” Charky mutters, walking into the kitchen and shaking her head.
“Sh-Shiva,” Akina stammers.
I sigh, knowing it was only a matter of time before the kid gets all clingy and worried about me again. “What is it?”
“I just wanted to know if you were okay,” he says, fidgeting with his fingers. “Do you need something warm to drink or some soup, maybe? That blizzard was really rough.”
I briefly turn away from the fireplace to face Akina. “I was born and raised in the mountains of Midstrom; this blizzard is nothing compared to the ones of my childhood. Now will you please go entertain yourself? You act as if I can’t take care of myself.”
“I…was only trying to help,” Akina sorrowfully states.
“And I don’t need your help, thanks,” I sort of snap. “If you wanna do something, why don’t you look after yourself, okay?”
Charky comes back out the kitchen. “Oh, Shiva, while you were out, I forgot to ask you to pick up some ingredients from the store. We’re kinda low on soup stuff.”
“Hm…” My ears lay back in reluctance.
Akina glances over at me, seeing this before turning back to Charky. “I could get them for you, Charkamorah.”
“Are you sure, Angel? That blizzard DOES look pretty bad,” Charky says, looking to Akina with worrying eyes.
“I’ll be alright. Besides, I think it’s best if I…get a little alone time,” he says, gripping his arms and turning his head away from me; I roll my eyes.
Though she feels bad for Akina, Charky continues to hand the list to him. “Well, alright, then. Here’s the list. Just hurry back, okay? I don’t want you catching a cold out there.”
“Yeah. No problem.” Akina shoots a broken and lifeless smile at Charky before pulling his white hood over his head and fighting with the wind to get out the front door.
As Akina goes out the door, I suddenly gain the urge to tell him something, jumping up from the floor and turning around. “Akina, wait!”
Akina stops at the doorway, looking back at me with some surprise. “Yes?”
“…Don’t get eaten by the mountain lions; they’re usually hungry at this time of year, and if food is scarce, they WILL settle for your flesh. Or do get eaten; I don’t care.”
The door slams behind Akina as he jerks it closed, inwardly burning with fury and heartache as he leaves, then he sets off for the Melehmuna market side.
“Bro,” Charky asks with a blank face, “why you gotta be so cold to Akina?”
I watch her over my shoulder. “I’m cold to Akina?” I scoff, flinging my black cape over my shoulder. “Hmph. That’s your opinion.”
“No, man, it’s a fact,” Charky says.
“I need not explain myself to you or anyone else.” I start up the stairs to go to my room.
Charky folds her arms and mutters under her breath. “Like, who dumped kitty litter on your food, Mr. Manners?” I pause on the stairs, hearing her rhetorical question, but I set off again, ignoring her and going up the stairs…
Two hours after having left out to go to the market, Akina is walking back to the cottage when he notices a couple of overturned wagons blocking off his path.
“Hm. I suppose I’ll take another route,” he says to himself, turning off from the main road and taking a trail up the mountainside. “I’ll cross back over once I’m past this mess.”
The snow comes down hard to the point of blindness past six feet. Forced to bring his walk nearly to a crawl, Akina hold his free hand over his eyes to protect against the sharp crystals pelting the ground. (In weather like this, snow blindness also becomes a concern.) However, as he carries on, something rather bright catches his eye.
“Waah!” Akina shouts, losing his balance and, momentarily, his eyesight as well when a reflective object sends a ray of light right into his eyes. “Yiahhhhhgh!” he wails, tumbling down a hill and landing on his back beside the object. Akina groans, opening his eyes and staring up at the grey sky as his fingers graze a cold, hard, metal object. “Huh?” Akina sits up and shakes the snow off his head, taking his hand and uncovering the thing that blinded him. “Armor?” Akina brushes off more snow and uncovers an entire shoulder covered in silver armor. “Ungh!” Akina chokes back his fear, getting down on his knees and frantically digging and scratching at the snow, hurrying to uncover a black sleeve; a little while later, he finds a white belt; carrying on, he finds grey pants; and when he’s finished, a pair of tall, black boots. “Good heavens!” he gasps again, standing up and observing the body that lay face down in the snow. -
Akina bends down again and grabs the shoulder of the unconscious one, turning them over and sweeping their long, wispy, olive-green hair out of their face; but when Akina turns them over, he immediately drops the body back into the snow, crying out in fright as they quietly groan and hold their midsection. “Yi-eeee!”
The right hand that lay across their midsection is moist with blood; the snow beneath them soiled with a tint of red. The lone warrior is wounded and just barely alive. But slowly, they open their silver eyes, frailly reaching their trembling hand out to Akina.
“Please,” they beg in a hushed voice, “help me.”
“Oh. O-okay,” Akina nervously agrees. Akina spaces his hands apart and grows a white ball of light between them.
When the wounded soldier sees this, they jump up with all their strength and spawn a slender sword between their hands, holding it out at Akina, startling him.
“Aack!” Akina stumbles backwards into the snow. “What are you doing?!” he frantically asks. “Are you crazy?!”
“I could ask you the same,” they reply, holding the sword firmly over Akina. “Of course! Why didn’t I recognize you before? You’re the prince of Avalonia, aren’t you?” they ask—their voice subtly growing more defensive by the second. “And you were going to Light Purge me while I’m helpless and weak, is that right?”
“What? No,” Akina defends, inching away and standing back up. “I’ve never successfully done that to anyone, and I don’t plan to try it ever again. I don’t know who you are, but if using Light Purge hurts you, I’ll find another way to heal you.”
The soldier grits their fangs together, tossing a lock of hair off from over their right eye. “Like heck you will,” they scoff. “I know you’re people are already after us; you took our captain—caught him off-guard—but you won’t be taking me or my people without a fight.
“YUHGH!” they grunt, swinging their sword at Akina.
Akina gasps before ducking and chanting, “Shining Scythe!” Akina’s golden scepter forms in his hands and a light-blue, curved blade comes out from the light-blue crystal at the end, making the scepter into a scythe. He stands back up and immediately blocks the next attack with his scythe. “Giyugh,” he grunts. “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, but I said I’m not trying to hurt you!” He pulls away his scythe and swings again to stop a third attack. “And I am not even the prince of Avalonia anymore. Whatever you speak of, now, I did not ordain,” he finishes, gasping as the wounded soldier suddenly jumps into the air and slams down for Akina with a rapidly-growing blade. “Illumigh!” With a blast of light shooting out from his body, Akina knocks away his unknown attacker.
They land on the ground, sliding backwards and getting caught on mounds of snow. They nasally huff like an angered bull as their sword disappears. “You fight very well, but you’ll have to do more than that to take me hostage.
“Shadow Entity!” They transform into a ram and charge at Akina.
“Aaah!” Akina lets out an unsettled exclamation as he realizes he’s far too close to avoid the attack. The ram hits him and he’s thrown into the air by the horns, landing several feet away on his back in the snow, sending a huge puff of snow into the air like a bomb dropped. (No, no bomb. Just Akina heavily hitting the ground. Ouch.) Struggling to get back up, Akina sticks the end of his scythe into the snow, using it for support as he wills himself to stand, taking short, agonized breathes. “Gih-huh-huhh. Nuhhhh.” He wearily gazes up from his feet and sees the ram rushing towards him again, but looking towards the ram’s belly, he can see the wound still fresh and in need of treatment. “P-please,” he fearfully starts, dismissing his scythe and holding his palms out in front of himself, “—you need to calm down; I don’t want to hurt you, and I don’t want you to hurt me; there has to be a mistake.”
“Make no mistake,” they say, coming to a screeching halt and kicking up more snow, “I don’t make mistakes. I know what you did to Shiva, and I won’t let you do that to me!”
Akina’s eyes widen and his thoughts race in his mind, wondering how this angered soldier could possibly know me. But only one word escapes from his mouth. “Shiva???”
“Huuah!” They charge again into Akina, thrusting their horns into him and slamming him into a wall of snow and stone.
“GAHHH!” Akina hits the wall so hard that it rumbles and little rocks crumble off from it, falling all around him as he drops into the snow, barely conscious. His fingers grip the cold, icy ground as he lies almost motionlessly in pain.
The Shadow Ram’s eyes glow completely red as it paws at the snow, readying itself one more time to charge at Akina and trample him.
“Uh-ahn,” Akina weakly grunts, bringing his head up from the snow and opening his delicate eyes to see the ram coming for him again.
The ram is three feet away from Akina when I dart down from the sky in a field of black energy and spread out my bat-like wings, coming to a total halt, just centimeters above the snow and hovering in place for a split second with my katana drawn.
Akina breathes a single word in quiet relief. “Shiva.”
“Shiva?” the puzzled, Shadow Entity gasps. They then try to plant their feet in the snow, but it’s all too late.
“Sladava Eclipsa!” I raise my sword into the air, slashing upwards in a curve and back down, leaving a purple, crescent-moon; and when I come back down, the energy is sent out and right into the Shadow Ram.
“Nuhhahgh!” they cry, losing their shadow form and taking shape back to their humanoid form, flying into the air and falling into the snow from my attack.
I turn around as my wings flap, glancing back over my shoulder as my black hair streams across my face. I settle my eyes sternly on Akina, sheathing my sword and touching down on the snow. “Can’t you fight for yourself, or must I always come to your rescue,” I question, and somehow, Akina can tell that it is a good-humored question.
Akina smiles weakly. “Thank you.”
I offer him my hand to help him up. “Are you alright, Akina?”
Akina’s tired eyes shimmer as his cheeks turn red. “Yes.” he takes ahold of my hand and rises to his feet.
Very briefly, my eyes soften before I release his hand and take off across the snowy terrain, hovering over the soldier lying in the snow on their back. I land on the ground and my wings disperse as I stand still, staring in astonishment. “Aries?”
Zacharius opens their eyes. “Hah,” they laugh dryly. “You got me real good, Shiva.” I pull Aries to their feet. “I thought you were dead.”
“Dead? I didn’t say I was dead, you idiot! Who told you that,” I ask, wiping the snow off their shoulder and gazing at them, amused. -
Akina suddenly jumps, taking his eyes off of us and settling them by his side when he feels a paw rest on his leg.
“’Sup,” Charky greets.
“Where were YOU,” Akina asks, slightly startled.
“I was riding on Shiva’s back.” Charkamorah’s eyes flit over to me and Aries as we converse with one another and slowly walk back towards them. “Are those two friends or something?”
Akina shrugs. “I don’t know, but that one tried to kill me,” he states, pointing at Aries.
“Technically,” Charky jokes, “they both tried to kill you at some point, and yet, you’ve taken to Shiva… And I guess I somewhat tried to kill you by cursing you guys for stealing my elixirs… Hm. Do you have any friends who HAVEN’T tried to kill you,” she asks; Akina utters a noise as if he’s going to speak, but promptly shuts his mouth and says nothing.
“No,” I reply after Zacharius explains. “Akina didn’t do any fatal damage; he’s inexperienced in Light Purge. Additionally, he’s not an Avalonian.”
“Did you say ‘NOT an Avalonian’? How so? He is the prince, correct?”
“Not anymore,” I tell them. “It has something to do with his birth. See, I was actually hoping to find you sooner; you just might be able to confirm an itch I’ve grown about Akina.”
“An itch, you say? Well, hold that thought,” Zacharius says. “If your itchiness can wait, I really need you to do ME a favor, first
“And what would that be?”
Zacharius holds up their finger and opens their mouth to speak, but as they take a step forwards, they suddenly drop to the ground with a drained exhale.
“Zach,” I call, concerned. I kneel down next to them.
They lie in the snow, gripping their wounded midsection. “Yes…my wound. I forgot. In my haste to ‘defend’ myself from Akina…”
“I’ll take you back to my place,” I tell them, “but you have to let Akina heal you, this time.”
“I’ll comply,” Zacharius lowly responds.
The four of us go back down the mountainside and return to the cottage. Then, I proceed to clean Zacharius’ wound as Akina sits on their other side and casts a healing spell to speed up the recovery and mend the scarred flesh.
Zacharius sits up on the couch, wrapped up in their forest-green cape. “Thank you,” they sigh contently before jumping up, “—but I cannot rest. My people are still in danger, as long as the Captain and I are away.”
Akina’s eyes fall on Aries as Charky slips between the two and sets a cup of tea in front of Aries. “So then,” Akina asks, “if I understand correctly, Lumin ordered the Aura Warriors to abduct Captain Kohler, the leader of the Bladeers; meanwhile, your people are braving a storm to reach Gambrolhiem for shelter?”
“Exactly so,” Aries replies, nodding and picking up the cup of tea. “And when I was on my way here, another Aura Warrior spotted me. I fought them off and was able to flee, but not without sustaining damage; and I lost both my and the Captain’s horse in the heat of the battle. So, after all that, I was hoping that Shiva would be able to help me rescue the Captain.”
Sitting across the room in a shadowy corner, I take a sip from my drink, frowning as I consider this predicament. Lowering my cup from my lips, I think aloud. “Something’s been really off about those Aura Warriors, lately—especially Lumin. It’s almost as if they’ve gotten stronger, but…what strengthens them to that extent—to easily combat against MY magic? They would have to have some sort of power-enhancing relic or elixir or—I don’t know—something. You can’t just suddenly be stronger…”
Zacharius carries on, hearing my comment. “Whatever the case may be, I felt that I should call for backup especially with the Aura Warriors planning to come back and purge us all.” Zach laughs dryly, attempting to lighten the situation. “Hah. In desperate times like this, we might even need a hand from Kali,” they finish, staring straight into my eyes.
Akina raises a brow as I seem to be petrified in a mix of horror and remembrance. “Shiva, is that not the name you used when we entered into the palace library disguised as girls?”
Charky chimes in, sitting on the floor between my feet. “Oh, yeah! That’s right. I kinda like that name.”
“You shouldn’t,” I sort of snap, standing up, “and Zacharius shouldn’t joke like that.” Without volunteering any more information, I then turn to Zacharius. “Zacharius, we should get a move on and not waste any more time, here. Any other discussion can be held later.”
“So, you’ll help me, then?”
“…For hire,” I reply, turning away.
“Shiva Jimmu—always working to meet mercenary demands; a hecka good fighter to have on your side, but not a man about the charity work.”
I turn back around to face them. “You know it’s nothing personal—just business; I gotta eat.”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.” Zacharius reaches into their pocket and tosses me a sack of silver. “This should cover it.”
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