《Amist the Reign of Starlight》 The Beginning of the End I sat in the confines of my bedchambers that doubled as an office. Looking around the room, I noticed the candles had all been burned down. I¡¯d guessed that was better than them fading out. My sullen superstition. I scanned my surroundings through the dark, taking in the window that had been framed in right above the old desk''s final resting place. Noting my salvaged oil lamp on the nightstand next to the bed, I grabbed it and lit it with the snap of my fingers. Next, I reached for the canister that contained the old roll. The top clicked off and I pulled out the worn piece of parchment. The ancient text unraveled itself as I tugged on the waxy string holding it together. I adjusted the rusty lamp for maximum visibility. My fingers scanned to the top of the parchment as did my eyes, beating them there. The Light of a Star 111 A.L.E. Espianne, the goddess of the Lux. She was forged from the dust of forgotten stars and shaped with the fire of living ones. For Her aura burned with the might of 1,000 suns. To say She was the Lux, would slight Her ascendancy. The Lux was Her. And Her makers remain unknown. Even our Stella did not know of Her creators. For this truth was lost to Her and She spent much time seeking, but the secrets of Her origin remained. In Her plight, She stumbled upon something else. She traveled the heavens for 500 years looking for a truth that had escaped Her since Her beginning, for at that time, She had not yet discovered humankind. Until one fateful day when Her searching ceased. The Day of Lumen. Our souls beckoned Her here and She came. ¡°Laud the Lux¡± ¡°Kato!¡± I heard a voice yell from outside the window as I finished the first passage. ¡°Dammit.¡± I jumped up and grabbed the old faithful dagger from the desktop. It had always seemed to happen that way. My concentration shattered to bits as soon as I started to actually focus it. I always had something or someone interrupting me, especially when I was reading. But, did that roll say what I thought it said? She? No. Loud knocks began to rattle the decaying old door that stood guard in the entryway of the long-standing hut. ¡°I¡¯m coming! Coming.¡± I got up from my antique Cherry Wood desk placing the old jade blade back down and headed to open the door. It wasn¡¯t strange to have visitors so late into the evening for me. But I knew right away that something was off when I heard Soren¡¯s voice. Was it time? When I made it to the door, I pulled it open, and my cell brother and second closest friend rushed inside, nearly knocking me out of the way. ¡°Soren, what the hell?¡± I said, noticing the blood smeared across his face. His eyes glanced at mine before wandering off, as if looking at something in the distance. Fear, gripping his words and strangling them before they could leave his lips. His usually bright, aqua blue eyes were now pale and gray shaded. His armors had been torn, no shredded at his right thigh and left bicep. Blood seeped through the openings of the would-be emerald material that had since tinged to a dull brown. The sandy hued scruff on his face had turned crimson and was matted with dirt. His gaze was lost. Fixating on something in the corner of the room that wasn¡¯t actually there; or at least I couldn¡¯t see it when I turned around to look. I studied him, minding his muddied boots and bloody, dirt-stained armors. The golden seams had retained their color in most places at the forearms and down the outsides of both legs of the uniform. Somehow avoiding most of the dripping blood from wounds that for some reason hadn¡¯t been healed over by Rail yet. ¡°What happened to you Soren?¡± I said, a little louder this time. The sound of my voice broke him from his trance-like state for a moment. ¡°There is something out there," he shuddered. ¡°What do you mean there is something out there?¡± I demanded, I was growing impatient at this point. And worried. ¡°I¡¯m not sure wha-,¡± he coughed, blood spraying from his lips and misting towards me before continuing. I swatted it away as my lip curled in a pang of disgust. He didn¡¯t have to cough right in my damn face. The gloss over his eyes reappeared, ¡°It was pitch black in the Mourning Forest, we couldn¡¯t see a thing. We only heard leaves rustling and twigs snapping. Fast . . . so fast.¡± He paused, holding out his arms, fully extended palms facing up, examining. ¡°Kato, something else was out there, and it took Rail and Leif¡± he paused, ¡°they didn¡¯t make it back.¡± The words landed on my heart with the weight of a mountain. Not Rail and Leif. Not my siblings. I shuddered, the hair on my arms beginning to rise. Judging by the looks of Soren, they must be dead. No, that couldn¡¯t be. Surely, they managed to escape whatever this ¡°something in the woods¡± was. We were all trained with our Lux and being in the Mourning Forest would have most literally been ¡°in our element.¡± Soren is an Aquae, Leif is a Ventus and Rail is a Terra. Terras have the capability of willing vegetation into being. Anything that grew from Mother Gaia was an Earthlights toy to be played with. The dew of the wood at night would have been more than enough for Soren to wield, him being a Waterlight and all. And Leif. Leif is the most feared Airlight in this realm. Then there''s me. The one who can¡¯t wield their lux. I did train with them, but my light had never fully manifested. Leaving me only with the ability to manipulate very little of all the luxs¡¯ after my revelation ceremony. Which was ¡°strange¡±, the Earthlight elders told me as a teenager. ¡°Well, we have to go back out for them Sore.¡± The words lingered but I didn¡¯t, I was bee-lining to grab my armors from the washroom down the hallway. But Soren followed and put his hand on my shoulder, my back was turned to him. ¡°We can¡¯t go back out there in the thick of night¡± he paused, ¡°that wouldn¡¯t be wise considering we haven¡¯t had the chance to investigate whatever the hell just happened to us.¡± Voice steady, he said, ¡°I think you should sit down, Kato.¡± Anger pricked my skin from head to toe. Sit down? Is he serious? ¡°You¡¯re the one who surged in here too frozen with fear to even blink, you left our cell out there Soren.¡± I paused, turning to face him so he could see the fire behind my eyes, ¡°We don¡¯t do that.¡± ¡°Kato,¡± he spoke. Strangely, causing the anger buzzing around my skin to calm. ¡°The Night Watch is already out there looking for them. The most highly trained lux wielders in the realm are looking for them. But right now, I need to talk to you.¡± ¡°O.K.¡± I said wryly as we headed back into the sitting room from the hallway passing a tiny closet. Soren sat down on the bark shaded two-cushion sofa while I took the recliner hand grown by an Earthlight carpenter. I reached over to my left to click on the archaic battery powered chatterbox I had stolen from the Old-World market, to see if I could pick up any background noise through the sounds of static. Somehow I¡¯m comforted by the melodic tone of Sorens¡¯ voice despite the bombshell he just dropped and the state of his current condition. I reached for another oil lamp, placing it on the drooping diminutive coffee table fixed between us. Soren grabbed a couple of maple leaves from his pocket, still bright green and alive, even though it was the end of fall, and winter was nearly upon us. Surely imbued by Rail. He placed them over his wounds and began to move his lips as if to say something, but then he stopped, scrunched his eyebrows, and leaned back into the sofa. ¡°So, are you going to tell me what the hell happened out there, or would you prefer I get down on the ground and beg?¡± I seethed through clenched teeth, attempting and failing at masking my growing agitation despite the comfort pressing through my mind, trying to blind me from the severity of the situation. His eyes began to fixate again, on the corner of the small white wall adjacent to the door he¡¯d just barged through. Maledicere Lumina, I swore to myself. ¡°Is there something on the wall over there?¡± I asked, hoping he would tell me what in the Great Lights name was going on. ¡°You don¡¯t see it¡± he said, his eyebrows raising slightly, then slumping back into their normal position on his brow. ¡°See? What exactly?¡± But then, I did see something. In him. Past the fear and confusion. I saw his Light. But it wasn¡¯t the normal sapphire blue colored light Soren had always wielded. Something was wrong with it. It was still sea blue but had been outlined with a deep violet that was damn-near invisible unless you were dissecting it with surgical precision, like I was. I snapped my fingers in front of his face from across the table. His eyes wandered and then locked mine. Within a heartbeat, it was like something broke inside of him. His eyes went light and milky hued with that same violet color, but now much deeper. A voice that wasn¡¯t Soren¡¯s at all, spoke to me. A sinister voice that cracked through the sound of static, splitting the very air I was breathing. The words seemed to catch in his throat with a gargle as he, or something, began to talk. ¡°It is you.¡± The voice struggled out. Soren¡¯s head twitched unnaturally to the side as the voice continued, ¡°The home-less boy, concealer of the Light.¡± The words hit my ears like nails dragging across metal. I stood up from the recliner without a second thought, cocked back my fist not wanting to hear another word, and connected, square with his jaw stunning it into silence. His eyes rolled back as he slumped down into the cushions. I waited for him to come-to. My thoughts tantalized me, daring me to escape off into my bedchambers to the comfort of my scroll and close the door, pretending that this night had never happened. I mean seriously, my Luxorbis is tomorrow. I¡¯ll be 21. The day my light entered the world all those years ago. Seems like a lifetime. But I couldn¡¯t leave Soren sitting there knocked out after he was just, possessed or something? And the voice that had escaped him was so eerie and dark. It wasn¡¯t him at all. So, I waited, remembering it was never a good idea to try and wake someone who had just been knocked out cold. Besides, I knew the Night Watch was good; I trained them. I thought back to what the voice said. Soren knew I wasn¡¯t from Terragan where the Terras reigned. But he would never call me homeless. Everyone had accepted me into their kingdom for the almost 10 years I could remember being here with open arms. Well at least it felt that way when I was a boy. When I was normal. But since I was almost 21 years old now and my Light still hadn¡¯t fully manifested like it usually does around 16, that had started to raise some suspicion. People avoided my gaze in the markets. No one approached me in the Crypts of Knowledge. I was an oddball. Misunderstood. And people ire things they cannot understand. But maybe their suspicions are well placed, hell I don¡¯t even know what¡¯s wrong with me. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. Being a pariah really just rolled off my shoulders anymore, a lesson I had learned pretty quickly after almost 5 years of never being invited to the breweries and catching revolting stares everywhere I went. But honestly it was better this way. Less obligations. Virtually no commitments besides my work. Tranquil. While waiting for Soren to wake, preferably in control of his voice and body this time, I thought about my cell. Leif, Soren, Rail. Me. We were unstoppable in all the Lux Games as teens. A band of mates, all misfits, all experiencing this life, together. We were inseparable as kids. We all grew up in Acheon with the same vine covered walls in the wards for abandoned children just inside Terragan limits. The building was run down but it was a megalith of a structure; erected by early Earthlights that still had the ability to manipulate stone and soil. The gray slate fortress towering at the edge of the city was placed strategically in the mouth of the Mourning Forest to protect Terragan from the Lurtchers that once roamed the woods freely. But time had since begun to reclaim the structure, leaving its mark as ivy-covered walls, inside and out, and trees that had started to grow up through the ceilings with branches that reached out windows. Gaia always collects what is borrowed, in Time. ¡°What the fuck just happened?¡± I heard Soren say, tearing me from my wandering thoughts. ¡°Well, I was really hoping you¡¯d answer that for me.¡± I said, turning back to face him with a forcedly sarcastic smile. His eyes were back to the deep aqua blue color that I had known my whole life. ¡°Rail and Leif.¡± He whispered to himself as if remembering why he was here. ¡°The last thing I remember is that Rail and Leif had sped up into the woods, following the sounds of twigs snapping, leaving me trailing.¡± Soren had always been the slowest of the 4 of us, I¡¯d thought to myself. ¡°We were doing our routine checks in our zone of the wood, and we started a little earlier since Rafa gave you the night off¡± he hesitated with eyes full of concern, ¡°Not like it would have made much a difference if you were there¡± he added as if to reassure me this wasn¡¯t my fault. I knew that it wasn¡¯t. ¡°And then, from the black of dusk we began to get picked off one by one. First, it was Leif.¡± He shuddered, recalling the events of earlier that night. ¡°We didn¡¯t stand a chance, Kato. It happened so fast. And our visibility was zero.¡± He said, shaking his head into the palms of his hands. But what he¡¯d said was bizarre because everyone who wielded the lux was enhanced. We had superior strength and stamina. Our hearing was keen, and our vision was more than abnormal. So, to not be able to see in the night didn¡¯t sound right, but I let him continue on. ¡°All I can tell you for sure, is that whatever cut me, was also draining me. I felt my lux dimming in my soul, like a piece of me was peeling itself away from my core. It was like my bones had turned to shards of glass and my skin was Starfire, Kato. I managed to fight my attacker off me, and I vanished into the cover of some undergrowth.¡± Soren reached in his pocket and pulled out a piece of dark black, bloody fabric with half a Jackal signet showing. ¡°Was even able to lift this from them¡± he gestured the fabric to me. I took it, studying the material, recognizing the pattern of the stitching immediately. A General. His lips quirked into a forced smile that didn¡¯t make it to his eyes and I hoped he didn¡¯t notice the twitch of my jaw as he handed me the material. ¡°And then, I was here.¡± ¡°So,¡± I began, trying to internalize everything I had learned, ¡°Just so I¡¯ve got this straight, you guys were checking our zone and then literally out of thin air Leif disappeared and you were snatched and- and I¡¯m sorry did you say your light was draining from your soul?¡± The words terrified me as they departed my lips. His answer was a curt nod while looking down at his boots. The only two things that had the ability to drain your light were Lurtchers and Umbras¡¯ I thought to myself. Neither of which seemed plausible because Lurtchers were supposed to be isolated on an island, lost in the middle of the sea and Shadowlights were extinct. Except for one. I filed away the information into the recesses of my mind, cursing to myself. ¡°And what about Rail?¡± I asked, hoping he had a more tangible response. ¡°By the time I made it out of the forest I was so dazed and confused I didn¡¯t know what was happening.¡± He looked up at me, his cheeks drooped with disappointment at the thought of leaving our brothers behind, or maybe something else? ¡°Hell, I still don¡¯t¡± he rubbed his hand to his left cheek, ¡°and I¡¯m pretty sure I got punched in the jaw¡± he gurgled while reaching two light tannish fingers into his mouth and pulling them out bloodied. ¡°Wait a minute.¡± I stood up, my own blood chilling to winter beneath my flesh, ¡°You don¡¯t remember us talking when you first got here?¡± I asked, knowing I already knew the answer. Soren looked up at me transferring his gaze from his healing maple leaves across his cuts to my expressionless face. ¡°I remember knocking on the door, and then you opened it. And then¡­¡± He trailed off ¡°And then I woke up here. On your couch¡± he said. ¡°With a bloodied mouth and some loose teeth.¡± A dry chuckle left me. I was relieved I wasn¡¯t going to have to tell him I was the one who decked him in the face, again. I had done that to him more than my fair share growing up together, although he did deserve it in most cases. But not remembering a conversation we just had not even ten minutes ago? How hard did I clock him? The static broke in the background. ¡°Come in Command, this is Night Watch One. Confirm?¡± ¡°Night Watch One confirmed, go for Command.¡± ¡°One victim.¡± ¡°K.I.A.¡± there was a pause. ¡°Body recovered.¡± Without even having time to process what we¡¯d heard both our gazes fixed on the door. Someone was approaching. Not someone. Multiple someones. ¡°Do you hear that?¡± I said, jumping up as quietly as I could manage. ¡°Four. There are four inquisitors approaching. And they¡¯re armed.¡± Soren just turned to look at me, accusation in his glare. Most aquae¡¯s are placid by nature. But the look he was giving me now was murderous and full of uncertainty. Bile burned my throat as the secrets I kept in my mind swirled around in my stomach making me un-easy. The worst part of it all is that most of the secrets I keep, even I don¡¯t know their details. It¡¯s like my brain is a safe that someone else has the key to. That someone else deposited there, hidden away even from the person entrusted to keep them, much like my lux that constantly evaded me. Breathe. In two, three, four, five. Release. I will not come un-done. It isn¡¯t time. ¡°He¡¯s in here!¡± Soren yelled and I swear to the dead gods I almost killed him as soon as the first word left his lips. I reached for my daggers but they weren¡¯t there at my side, instead they were stashed away in my desk for the evening. I cursed a vile slew of profane things in latin to whoever was out there in the universe pulling the strings. And then the door flew open and the old roots of the recliner arms reached up to twirl around my forearms and seat me with a thud. The vines from the bottom of the chair did the same, securing me in place just as 4 inquisitors garbed in deep purple cloaks embroidered with patches I¡¯m not familiar with gliding down their right sleeves flooded into the personal space of my home. My living room. Using my own furniture against me. The room instantly chilled and my breath became visible white smoke puffing out with the rise and fall of my chest. This is already not going well. What do they know? My mind is racing between secrets of my own and locked doors with who knows what damning information hiding behind them. I breathe in again, locking eyes with the person whom I assume to be in charge of this group of high class thugs. Perfected nothing fills the void of my face. Hollowing me out to the potential impending doom standing 6¡¯5¡± in my doorway. He looks at me and a sadistic smile creeps across his features showing the slightest bit of teeth. His beady blue eyes are honed on me with laser focus. Unflinching and unyielding. The hair on my arms rises at the sight of him. His eyes are tiny blue specks that seem to burn right through my shield of blank indifference. His ears are long and almost pointed with his silverish brown hair combed over perfectly to one side. A true super elite to the T. ¡°Ah, Kato Valati,¡± he pauses, nose pointing up in the air and eyes now elsewhere observing the modest living quarters I inhabit with clear disdain, ¡°I¡¯ve been watching you, and I think that it''s time we had a little chat.¡± He feigns a sincere smile my way but it lands more threatening than charming, and dips his head to the other 3 inquisitors in the room. ¡°Please, would you oblige me?¡± His voice is slick like oil. Charming and dangerous all at the same time. I cough and hawk the biggest most obnoxious loogie I can conjure up my throat, then proceed to spit it down onto his shiny black shoes with striking accuracy- I think he might jump out of his skin with disgust. He quickly gathers himself just barely letting his mirage of control slip for the tiniest second. ¡°Um-hm, I¡¯d thought as much.¡± The man snaps and one of the other finely dressed inquisitors kneels down at his boss''s foot and pulls out a kerchief from his robe pocket, wiping the sludge from his shoe with an expressionless look. As he stands, the piece of cloth in his hand turns to ashes and he blows them into the air, right into my face whilst flashing me a condescending wink. ¡°Fucking Ignis.¡± I whisper under my breath. So at least one of them is a Firelight. Brutish by nature yet this man appears to be at least moderately tempered given the circumstance. At least while his leash is on. The older man with the stocky build and long white beard is the Earthlight, binding me down to the confines of this chair with his palm and fingers facing me like he was holding an invisible ball. But there''s a shorter man in the back standing just behind the Ignis who catches my attention. He adorns the same expensive looking garbs as the others but his Crest is one I¡¯ve never seen before. It looks like a waxing crescent moon. Merda. His short and maddeningly curly white hair is a stark contrast to his darker complexion skin that peeks out around his neck like worn leather. His eyes are ethereal. They glow with a soft white aura creeping just behind the pale grey opals that are his pupils. Lunaes¡¯ are supposed to be extinct too. What the fuck is going on? I look back up to the man in charge from my captive throne of vines and tangled roots. ¡°Who the hell are you people?¡± I finally ask after a long moment of tense silence. ¡°And we will get to that. In time¡± the tall man says, nodding to the other man at his left. The one with glowing white eyes. He steps forward as if gliding. Like his feet are inches off the ground- his body completely weightless. And I¡¯ve got to hand it to him, the display is pretty impressive. ¡°I¡¯ve gotta learn how to do that.¡± I say under my breath, but loud enough for them to hear. The white haired man raises a hand as if he can command the world to stop rotating with the simple gesture alone. Everything goes completely still. Even the critters of the wood seem to have paused their song momentarily to listen in. He looks at me for the first time since occupying my space and I swear I see a hint of- is that trepidation? His hand tremors just the slightest bit, but I see it. His voice is like wispy smoke, wise and old. Stern but quiet all at once. ¡°It has come to our attention that your actions may not be entirely pure. After further investigations, we have regrettably turned up more questions than answers when it comes to your mysterious existence.¡± He puts his white gloved hands on the breasts of his robe as if wiping off the grime of being in such a scanty space. His lip sours before he continues, ¡°This matter seems to be of the utmost importance. You are linked to a cosmic event that is going to change the course of history forever should we not intercede.¡± His tongue clicks off his teeth, ¡°And I do believe we know some things about you that even you do not yet know. Like why did your parents abandon you?¡± My heart thumps like a wild rabbit is jumping around in the center of my chest. Waves of panic and wonder crashing in the bluff of my stomach. I can feel a trickle of sweat starting to bead up at my brow from trying to resist the pull of the vines against my limbs. I need to calm myself. Relax. My face heats as warmth pools behind my cheeks, and I smile. A teeth-y, ear-to-ear, kiss my ass type of smile. ¡°Very well then.¡± the blue eyed man says from the entryway, voice almost a croak. The terra closed his fist into a ball and the vines holding me in place sprang thorns and pierced into my flesh. I felt a warm sticky substance welling and coating my limbs. My legs and arms started to tingle, numbing me from head to toe. Poison. And then, darkness swallowed me, pulling me under its veil.