Authors: J.D. Wilde
“What do we need to discuss exactly?” I ask Kenley.
“Saphira and these,” he says as he takes my other hand with the claw on it. “The armalos. Gifts given to you and your sisters by the Grand Dragons. Do you know how they work?”
This is a weird question. “I’ve practiced with them all, so yes, I know how they work,” I answer.
“Really?” He raises an eyebrow at me. “So you already know how to use them all together then?”
No. No, I do not. I had never even thought about using them all together. “What do you mean use them together? Who are you?” I ask exasperatedly. I am coming across more aggressive than I wanted, but I’m frustrated. I spent nearly two decades training and learning from the dragons, yet this man who has lived in Nilohm his entire life knows more than I do about my own armalos.
“I am priest of life. A devout instructor and follower of the Balanced Principle, quite possibly the last,” he explains. “The grand dragons spoke to me about your sisters’ arrivals as well as yours.” He then further talks about how Oran and Mors never directly spoke to him, but he received visions and has spoken twice to Jenesis. “I preach the need for balance,” he finishes, and I am perplexed. Not once was I told about priests preaching the dragon’s philosophies.
“So what? Jenesis told you how to use the armalos together?” I ask skeptically.
“No, he just told me they could be used together,” the priest clarifies. “But only those gifted by the same dragon will work together. So for the claw to be its most powerful, it will need to be working simultaneously with the other life armalo.”
I shake my head in sheer frustration. I lived in the Otherworld for twenty years, and I feel as if I know nothing. They never taught me these things, and this is vital information we are talking about here! We might have actually been able to kill that devilin back in Saphira if we knew this!
I ask the old priest about Saphira next to try and take my mind off the dragons not bothering to tell me anything. Kenley explains he left Saphira because it was growing too dark. Jo had been investigating, but she died before anything could be done to stop the dark presence there. Kenley firmly believes Sethos has a devout in Saphira, and that is why the darkness is largely ignoring the capital of one of the richest countries. To further his point, he brings up the nation of Elsen where the devlins’ attacks first started. Elsen is the only that can compete with Oriare’s economy.
As I begin to ask more, our conversation is interrupted by several deafening cracks. I turn to see multiple trees falling down and realize Adira and Grace are already fighting. I rush to get up, but Kenley grabs a hold of me. “Wait, Lux,” he says, “This could be beneficial to you! If those two tire themselves out, it will be an easier fight for you.”
I forcibly slap his hand away. I don’t want easy. I want my sisters alive, so I run as fast as I can to where all the noise from their fight is coming from.
I don’t know why they are fighting each other. I thought for sure they would come after me first, but that does not matter right now. I need to stop Grace and Adira before they kill each other. That is my priority.
The fighting grows louder as I approach. When I finally find them, I immediately yell for them to stop. Neither of them heed me. I do not know if it is because they cannot hear me or are intent on ignoring me.
They have turned an entire portion of the forest into a clear landing in matter of seconds. Adira is gracefully dodging Grace’s scythe swiping at her by jumping from tree to tree, and every time Grace misses another poor tree either loses a limb or its life. I yell at Grace to stop, and she turns to me with the angriest and meanest expression I have ever seen from her.
This isn’t Grace, or at least not the Grace I thought I knew. She is bleeding from her left shoulder where Adira more than likely stabbed her. Although that concerns me, there is something very off here. Grace’s eyes are red like the devilins we have been fighting, and when she opens her mouth to yell back at me, I can see several of her teeth have become sharp and carnivorous.
Death is often mistaken for darkness, but the two do not equal. This I know as true, however, death is far more susceptible to hear and mind darkness’s calls. And it looks like Grace has listened. She has become corrupted, and it is all my fault!
I’m so caught up in my guilt, I nearly let her strike me. Thankfully, Adira called my attention just as Grace got within range, and I successfully avoid her scythe slicing at me. As I watch Grace fly past me, I notice her eyes are not the only thing like the devilins. Her blood is no longer the bright red, but putrid black.
Grace is moving so fast, she cannot stop herself without sliding quite a distance away. Adira comes to my side and quickly explains Grace found her and said they should take me out together. When Adira disagreed, a fight broke out, and Grace lost it.
“I think she is afraid,” Adira turns to face me and continues, “And if I am honest, Lux, so am I. Was your intent to kill us the entire time?”
“No!” I exclaim as I push Adira out of the way of Grace’s attack and dive back landing on my stomach. We really should not be discussing this right now, but I do not think I can take Grace on by myself. She is hyped up and full of the nastiest dark energy I have ever seen or felt. So I turn to Adira and quickly say, “My goal is to save you. I wanted the three of us to work together!”
I am forced to lunge away from another attack from Grace and have to quickly maneuver around again as Grace has become keen on us being able to avoid her first strikes. We cannot let this fight continue on. At this rate, a corrupt Grace is going to win.
“Do you remember the cave? I could have easily killed you both while you were in that vulnerable position,” I yell at Adira who is standing off to the side while Grace concentrates on me. “But I didn’t because I didn’t want to. Please, Adira.” Grace aggressively continues her relentless attack. The first attack I dodge successfully. The next one is also a miss but a third? Shit! I am in no position to get out of the way. Grace is going to land a direct hit on me!
I don’t know how many times Adira is going to save my life, but the number is bound to be up there. Just as Grace is about to hit me, Adira kicks her with so much force she goes crashing through several trees. “That will not keep her down long, Lux,” Adira says as she offers me a hand up. “What do we do? Even if the two of work together, Grace is much more powerful in this state.”
She is right, but the two of us beating her together has much better odds than trying to take her on alone. I take off the shadow claw and hand it Adira. She looks puzzled, so I explain to her what Kenley told me. The armalos are more powerful when they are working together. Adira nods signaling she understands, and asks me how exactly to use more than one armalo at once to which I admit I have not the faintest idea.
I am however able to instruct her on how to get the claw to work. She puts it on, and it is a perfect fit. The hidden blade matched up to the claw like a puzzle. Adira not only looks pleased but a little excited, like a child getting a new toy who just can’t wait to play with it. She asks me what mine is, and I pull out the magnifying glass.
We both look perplexed. Although the shadow claw and hidden blade make perfect sense, we both fail to see how a magnifying glass is supposed to work with a bow and arrow, and there is not an abundance of time to figure this out. I can hear Grace storming through the trees that are still standing to get back to us.
Adira tells me she will do her best to hold her off but asks me to please hurry. She creates a world portal and pops up right in front of Grace. Grace is caught completely off guard and doesn’t have any time to react. She is sent flying in the air as Adira kicks her straight up against her chin. Grace does not panic though and simply repositions herself so she can come crashing down with an even more devastating strike thanks to gravity. If I wasn’t terrified of the two of them killing each other, I might actually be enjoying this. My sisters are unbelievably great fighters.
I refocus on trying to figure out the way the magnifying glass and bow and arrow work together. I take the necklace off and look over it closely, but I do not see anything. Maybe it is my bow.
I have had this bow for my entire life, but I never thought another piece would be used with it. I am about to give up and try my best to help Adira without it when I see it. In my bow there is a tiny crevice right about where I my arrow is placed but not quite. It is just large enough to hold the magnifying glass. When I place the magnifying glass’ handle in the through the hole, it snaps in place so that it is angled in such a way that it is directly in front of my arrows when I fire them. It is great that I figured this out, but if I fire an arrow, I’m pretty sure I will be destroying the glass.
“Lux!” Adira screams at me. She is on the ground, and Grace is on standing on top of her pushing the scythe’s blade into her. Adira is holding the blade back with her bare hands and is in a great deal of pain as blood drips from them. I do not think; I react. I position and pull an arrow back.
The bowstring violently vibrates as I unleash the arrow through the magnifying glass armalo turning my ordinary arrow into a blinding white flash. It strikes Grace directly in the wound Adira already gave her, and the force pushes Grace off of Adira. Neither of them are moving.
I run to Adira and kneel down next to her to ask if she is well. After she catches her breath, she slowly lifts her bloodied hands above her head but stresses she will be fine. They look far worse than they are.
“How interesting,” Kenley says as he appears from the trees he hid behind. If he has been behind there the entire time, he should have at least tried to help. He isn’t talking to anyone in particular, but he walks over to Grace and kneels down.
“Did I kill her?” I ask solemnly.
“Of course not,” he responds, “You would know if you did, but take a look at what you did do.” He softly rotates Grace’s body to where it faces us and pulls down her shirt enough to expose her shoulder, and we can see the wound clearly. Or, we would see the wound if it were there, but it has vanished. Her skin is red and agitated, but blood is no longer gushing out of it. “How incredibly interesting,” the priests repeats. “Your gifts truly are above what this world can offer.”
I am speechless but overwhelmingly happy. Grace is still alive, and not only that, I can no longer sense any darkness in her. I hear Adira whisper to me how amazing it is, and I wholeheartedly agree. This is amazing! Kenley picks Grace up without any sign of a struggle, and I cannot help but think for an old man, he sure has kept himself physically fit. This makes me a bit sour as my point of him offering to help is valid. It’s not like he is some helpless elderly old fart.
Kenley tells us to follow him back because there is much to discuss and little time to waste. We will have to inform Grace later when she wakes up, but at least she will be waking up. That little bit of sourness is gone, as I’m seriously walking on the clouds over here. I am not the only one feeling significantly better so is Adira. The two of us exchange smiles and follow Kenley back to his cabin to wait for Death’s daughter to wake up, so we can really get started on saving the world.
When we walk inside Kenley’s cabin, it is instantly apparent the small appearance from the outside is a fluke. The interior is spacious, and its style is posh and rich. As soon as we walk in we are in the living area, which has a blue velvet couch and two large grey velvet armchairs in front of an enormous fire place. They sit on top of a soft gold and white carpet rug. Obviously Saphira’s sophistication was not lost on the life priest when he left his shop. I would argue this is actually more elegantly decorated than the capital building was, and that was decorated for royalty and their guests.
The first thing I notice after the initial shock of the décor and size is how much natural light floods into the space. The entire side of the house facing the lake is multiple thin yet long floor to ceiling windows, one of which appears to be a door. Towards the back of the room is a small kitchen with a single metal stove painted a deep blue and a wood burning oven next to it. While all the cabinets and drawers are a clean and pristine white with golden handles, only the top cabinets have glass on either side of the middle wooden plank to show off expensive dishes and glasses.
Kenley says to make ourselves at home and that if either of us need to rest we can do so in one of the two bedrooms in the back. Neither Adira nor I want to nap right now, so we wait patiently as he lays Grace down on the sofa and checks her breathing and heartbeat. He says she will be fine; she needs some rest but should be back to normal soon.
Kenley then pulls one of the blue cushioned seats from around his small round dining table and brings it to the living area. He asks to see my bow with the magnifying glass still attached. After I hand him my bow, he begins murmuring under his breath about it begin exquisite and extraordinary. Adira and I both take a seat in the other chairs and patiently wait to see what he is going on about.
He has been studying my bow and the magnifying glass as Adira and I watch him long enough for me to become anxious. He pensively runs his fingers down it for the hundredth time, and while I do not want to interrupt him, he is taking a profound amount of time. I have questions I would like to start getting answers to. One of which is when exactly Grace will be waking up. She has not moved in the slightest since Kenley laid her down on the sofa.
I am about to break the silence when Adira starts talking first, but her question is not for the man taking his sweet time looking over my bow. It is for me.
“How did you do it, Lux?” she asks. “How did you make and unleash such a powerful attack? When I put the other two together, they did nothing like that.”
“That is expected,” Kenley answers for me, and I’m interested in what he has to say. I certainly was not expecting it. He looks up to see both Adira and I have no idea why it was expected and sighs stating we have much to learn in a very small amount of time. “Lux is the anchor,” he says, “All of your so called sisters who have already died have transferred their powers to her. You will not be able to use the armalos to their fullest.”
“What? Why?” Adira questions, but I understand.
“It is because Jo’s power is in me. Jo was the other daughter of Jenesis,” I reply.
“Yes, exactly. Lux is the true master of light. She has all of Light’s gifts, but Life’s and Death’s are still separated. Jo’s power is in Lux, not you my dear, which unfortunately means you will not be able to use Life’s powers to the fullest so long as this remains true. It is remarkable though how much more powerful you would be if you could,” Kenley excitedly says. He is loving this. His excitement as he talks about us and the armalos is unrivaled by anything I have ever witnessed.
“So will this work?” Adira asks softly. “Can Grace, Lux, and I continue to live at the same time and win?”
“I am not sure,” Kenley answers honestly. Adira sighs, but Kenley continues and finishes his thought, “Life and death pair up to form half of the balance and the other is light and darkness. You cannot have a perfect balance without all four of them if three are present, but light directly contradicts darkness, not life or death. Theoretically only light needs to reach its full potential to push the darkness back and create harmony again.”
“So, it all falls to Lux?” Adira asks, and her tone is not helping my confidence. She does not think I can do this, and I cannot really blame her. I have not done anything to show I can save this world, and I’m seriously questioning the dragons’ decision in naming me the anchor.
Both Adira and Grace are stronger than me, and both are better fighters in my opinion. I may have been able to save Grace from darkness, but that was only after Kenley enlightened me with how the armalos can work together. If he hadn’t, chances are at least one of us would be dead.
Kenley starts laughing like Adira told him the best joke in the world, and that little confidence I had remaining is pretty much gone. Time to go dig a hole in the ground and jump in. Adira tells him to stop after she notices how down I’m feeling, and Kenley quickly retracts. He claims he wasn’t trying to make it seem like I wasn’t important or necessary; however, there is no way I can do it alone in my current state.
“Look, let me show it to you like this,” he says as he pulls his sleeves up. Magic slowly manifests in his hands and he makes two tall bars appear in the air. “This is Grace and Adira’s fighting expertise,” Kenley explains. “And here is Lux’s.” My bar appears in the middle of them and is almost exactly twice as tall. I think he is lying. There is no way my bar is twice as big as theirs. Grace and Adira fight incredibly well.
I tell him directly to his face he is wrong, but this does not deter him in the slightest. In fact, he looks pleased and says he is happy I have already noticed even if it is only sublimely. He snaps his fingers and the bars switch positions. Now, both Grace’s and Adira’s bars are twice as big as mine. Adira asks him what these are supposed to represent, and the priest smiles.
“These do not represent a single thing; they represent a multitude of things- traits, skills, intelligence, characteristics. Things you and Grace have gained by living within this world. You two are tied to it. You understand its nature far more than Lux does because you grew up here. The people’s roles, how the plants and animal’s fit in, where technology and magic come to play. You might not be able to explain it. I doubt you’ve even noticed that you know, but the truth is you understand an incredible amount more about how to protect our world than Lux because you live here. It means so much to you to protect this world, to protect your homes, your lands. Your mentalities are different. You have a purpose, a reason to fight. That feeling is something that you, Lux, currently lack,” he tell us.
“I know my purpose,” I argue sternly. I know what I am here to do. This priest has no right to state to me with such certainty I lack it. Everything I’ve done so far is for a purpose. “I’m here to prevent darkness form overtaking the entire world.”
“Why?” he asks me with a shrug of his shoulder.
That’s a stupid question—why. Why? Because it is what I am meant for. It is what I am supposed to do. Because if I don’t, nobody else will. No one in this world can match my light power. Not even Linette came close, and she was the other half. I tell him all this through gritted teeth.
“You have no personal stake in this,” he replies simply to my annoyance.
“I have them,” I argue as I point to Adira and Grace, and I mean it. Everything I have done so far is because I didn’t want to have to kill my sisters. I’m sure not about to let darkness take them away.
“It is a start,” he acknowledges I have a point as he nods his head, but then he makes eye contact with me to let me know he isn’t done. I meet his eyes with my chest rising from deep breaths, and he continues, “But you of all people know that isn’t enough, Lux. You said I was wrong about Adira and Grace, that their skill levels are just as high as yours. You are wrong. It isn’t that they are close to your level, far from it. They have not spent the past twenty years being personally trained by the elder dragons. They simply fight with more passion. Every hit, every strike means more to them than it does to you. They truly care for this world. It is their home, but you have no personal ties to it. Tell me; when this is all over, where will you go?”
I do not have an immediate response because I have not thought about it. I guess I just assumed I would go back to the Otherworld. That is my home. I do not answer, and before Kenley can speak again, Grace shows signs of awakening. We get up to take a closer look, and Grace grunts and rolls over shortly after. Her eyes open and she abruptly pulls her head back hitting it against the back of the couch when she sees all three of us staring at her. I’m sure Adira’s and my overexcited expressions are coming off a bit creepy, but I cannot help it. I am overjoyed to see she is awake!
Kenley tells Adira and me to back off a bit while he double checks some things. We sit back down and watch as he helps Grace sit up and asks different questions to see how Grace is feeling. After he is comfortable with Grace’s recovery, he declares he is going to go out to the garden and pick some vegetables leaving the three of us alone.
Adira’s expression has calmed a bit though she is still happy, and I still have a stupidly cheerful grin on my face. However, Grace does not appear to be the slightest bit happy to see us. It is crushing me a bit if I’m being honest. I expected her to at least be a little relieved she is alive and back to her old self, but her slumped shoulders and head hanging low say she is feeling anything but.
“I’m sorry,” Grace whispers barely loud enough for us to hear her. Tears are dropping from her face onto her legs. Adira bends down to comfort her. I sit down on the arm of the chair and pull Grace into a hug. At first she is tense, but slowly I feel her body release all the negative energy and relax.
She is still crying, but that is all right. I much prefer this to the absolutely mad Grace. The sun's light has turned from bright white to a calmer orange, but eventually the tears stop. Grace looks up at both of us and repeats her apology. Adira and I quickly accept her apology, and I also apologize to both of them for keeping a major secret. Without any hesitation, they in turn accept mine.
And with that settled, Adira asks Grace what exactly happened when she ran off into the forest. We sit back down in our own chairs and make ourselves comfortable as Death’s daughter goes over how she lost herself to darkness.