Sara paused. “I don’t know, like what?”
“From the connection,” Sasha asked frantically.
“I don’t know, I guess,” she said. “Yeah, it was kind of a tingly feeling in the back of my head. Was I not supposed to feel that?” Great, what had happened now? Had something in her head broken?
“No, you weren’t. Do you feel it now?”
Now that Sasha was talking about it, she did feel something in her head, but that was no surprise. That always happened. If someone asked you if you were tired, you’d yawn. This was probably no different.
“Yes, I guess so. What’s the problem, Sasha? What’s gotten into you?”
“You’ve felt it when Legon has used magic, right?”
“Yeah, of course. Arkin wanted us to feel it so we would know what was going on in a fight, but I don’t see how that…”
“Try it,” Sasha said
“What?”
“Try it… magic, try to do it.”
“But Sasha…”
As she spoke Sasha held out her hand. “Flamma.”
Sara stepped back, gasping. “You…”
“I think you can too. Try.”
She thought about it, but the idea was ludicrous to her. Sasha had lived around Legon her whole life, so maybe this was part of their connection.
“Sasha, I can’t.”
“Neither could I until he turned,” Sasha responded. “Now do it.”
“Fine, give me a sec, ok?”
Sasha nodded and stepped back. Sara concentrated just like Legon did, but he had done it so fast. She raised her hand. “Flamma.”
The feeling shot down her arm to her hand, but nothing happened. Sasha looked disappointed but undeterred.
“Try again. I’ll help you.”
Sara felt Sasha’s mind join hers and again she tried.
“Flamma.” A spark! This time Sasha didn’t help. “Flamma!” A flicker of silver flame popped in her hand and then went out. Again and again she tried until a small silver fire burned in her hand. She was a Venefica, a real Venefica. Never had she dreamed of being one. Sasha looked relieved and dismayed all at once.
They heard Keither’s voice through the trees. “Hey, I think he’s waking up.” They rushed back to the camp.
* * * * *
Legon lay with his eyes closed. His head was pounding and he felt something digging into his back. Had he fallen off the horse? He decided to find out and opened his eyes. At first there was just a blur of color and he blinked to bring the world back into focus. Sasha, Sara, Keither, and Arkin were all huddled over him looking terrified, sad, and happy. He noticed how big the pores on Arkin’s nose were. What an odd thing to notice. His head was swimming. He knew he’d been on a horse but wasn’t sure about the rest. He did remember a horrible dream though. Kovos had been killed by an Iumenta and then he had turned into an Elf.
“I wonder what Arkin will read into that,” he thought. But at the same time, where was Kovos? Sasha’s lips were moving. She was so close he could see little specks of brown and hazel in her eyes. He knew everyone had little flecks of color in their eyes, but you needed to be really close to see them. She needed to back off. The sound coming from her lips was just murmuring. He tried to read them. He thought she was asking if he could hear her. Arkin’s lips moved, saying something to the effect of “His brain is coming back up one piece at a time. Give it a moment.” What did he mean his brain was coming back up?
What was that smell? It was Sara. She smelled like blood, sweat, and dirt, but there was a hint of something sweet, too. What was it? He smelled the others too; maybe this was a dream. You can’t smell people like that, can you? Then, finally, sound clicked back in— a lot of sound. Not only could he hear those around him, but also birds, flies, and a bunch of little things he was sure were in the ground.
“Are you back? Can you hear me?” Sasha asked, placing her hand on him. He could feel her pulse through her hand even with his shirt on. It wasn’t a dream. He was an Elf. He sat bolt upright.
“Kovos?”
He looked around from face to face, trying to hear, see, or smell. That couldn’t have happened. He wasn’t dead. He was…. He knew. He remembered everything. He brought his knees up to his chest. There were tears in the other’s eyes now, no one excluded.
“He’s gone, Legon,” Keither said, choking.
All this pain was for him. It was his doing. If he hadn’t let them come…There was only one thing for it. Remembering back to when he met Sara in Salez, he reached out to the others. Not to their conscious minds, but to a deeper part, accessing them in a way that could not easily be blocked. He found pain there. He pulled at the last day’s worth, absorbing it in himself. He felt the loss of a brother, of a friend, and an overwhelming fear that connected it all together. All these emotions and more flooded in. All of them were near the point of insanity, if even just for a short time. The mind had its limits, and they were near theirs. At first they resisted him, but it was so easy to let go of pain when another was willing to take it from you. Eventually they stopped trying. It was immense but somehow bearable, as if this was something he was born to do.
Arkin had said that Venefica had specialties that showed themselves when they hit a class four or five. One was that of healing. Being able to take another’s pain was a gift of the healer. The magic allowed them to take on pain and suffering without destroying themselves. Still, taking this on and still shielding his sanity strained his magic. Eventually the pain would crush the Venefica and they would let go.
Legon didn’t want to be protected by the magic. He wanted to feel it, wanted to know the damage it caused. He let the walls down, letting it flood over him. He felt scared. It was too much. This was stupid. Why did this have to happen? Why did there have to be so much suffering in this life? Was that all life was?
His body was shaking with sobs of fear and pain of all kinds. He had opened the link with the others too far. He’d been warned of this; he could lose his mind.
Darkness shrouded him as all light turned to dark and the litany rang in his head, for it was a litany he realized; it was more than a script that one recited. It was truth and hope.
Fear is the blinder. I am the light and master of sight. I will master my fear and never again see night. I will become the dark and the light, my fear will pass through me, and I will stand alone in the light.
He repeated it again and again in his mind. It was fear that he faced. He saw that now, but to face fear he must leave the light. He let the darkness of pain and thought flow through him, letting it saturate his mind and body. Leaving the others behind, going on a journey that no one else could take with or for him, he was the darkness. He wanted to die but the litany brought him back. He saw a pinprick of light. It expanded and he felt heat from it. Soon the dark was light. The fear was gone but the pain remained as it should, as a reminder. No longer would he be afraid of it. Pain was part of life. Without it there could be no happiness. With this realization he found peace. He would not feel pain and sorrow to the point of no return; it could only destroy him if he permitted it.
* * * * *
Sara felt her body relax as her burdens of the last day left her. This time the void they left was not replaced with love and kindness like before. She would have to fill the void on her own. The pain in her arm left her and she had a feeling of euphoria. It was difficult to feel distressed because when she did, it left her and went to Legon. She did not want to increase his suffering, so she focused instead on the present and the break that she was receiving from her pain. She was grateful for what she had been given. She had experienced many trials, but she’d been given a lot too.
She didn’t notice time go by as she knelt next to her Everser Vald. She looked at her situation with a new perspective, one that was not filled with doubt and hopelessness. Gradually the pain in her arm returned, along with all of the rest of it. But now from her reprieve she knew what she was to replace the suffering with. She st
ill felt stress and anxiety, but now she tried to see the two perspectives separately. Adding them together, she came up with a new one, one that was her choice, one that didn’t discount the bad but pushed her to the good.
Legon sat quietly with his eyes closed. He was breathing deeply. She and the others waited patiently.
Soon he opened his eyes. They were different. She saw them in incredible detail, etching the image in her memory forever. She locked eyes with him, and she attempted to look into his soul to unravel the mysteries of the Everser Vald, but the answers didn’t come. Still, the eyes were different, not just in physical appearance but in substance. There was… more behind them now. Was that from being an Elf, or from what he had done?
She looked away. She wasn’t worthy of holding his gaze, not after all that he had done for her and what he would do for them all. It wasn’t that he was deity or a prophet. No, it was rather what he was destined to do that made her feel a sense of awe. She also now knew his lineage, but Arkin wouldn’t reveal that, nor would she. That was the Elves’ place.
Legon looked around the circle and Sara followed his gaze. Arkin was looking down, but not at him or anything else, judging by the look in his eyes. Keither was looking at him, not believing what he was seeing. Here was one that looked at the world through logic, Sara thought, but magic was still beyond him. Sasha had great tears running down her cheeks now. Sara knew that they sprung from happiness. Her brother was free of growing old and dying. She wouldn’t have to know the pain of losing him. Sara would have to look at Sasha differently as well. Legon spoke to her then.
She was caught off guard by a finger under her chin, guiding her face. No more was this the rough hand of a butcher, but the soft tender hand of the healer. He looked her in the eyes, not letting her look away.
“What are you thinking, Sara?”
What an odd question, but this whole scene was odd. There was a reverence to it that wasn’t appropriate for the mourning of a friend and loved one.
Her throat caught as she spoke.
“Un Prosa,” she said, using what she knew of the old tongue. Her head jerked from his hand as she looked down. She could just see his face. He paused, looking curiously at her.
“Why do you look away from me?” He was hurt, but that wasn’t the intent. Arkin answered for her.
“She means no disrespect. In fact, she respects you very deeply, but I am afraid that she knows more about you than you do.”
“Is it time to break your oaths, Arkin?” Sasha asked politely.
“Yes, I think it is.”
* * * * *
Keither knew that something far greater than himself was happening here and tried to clear his mind. It was close to daybreak, but the moon would not set for some time to come. It was that part of the year when the sun would be rising and the moon would stubbornly hang in the western sky, refusing to bow to its more powerful brother. He sat on his overly large behind. All of them were sitting now. Sasha gave Legon a piece of bread to chew. He would be hungry after all, wouldn’t he?
Arkin took a sip from his water skin, collecting his thoughts. “It won’t do to get right to the part where you two come into this story, so I will start further back.” When he said, ‘you two’ he inclined his head to Sasha as well as Legon. How was she involved in this?
“As you know, there was a war when the Queen took over this section of Airmelia. And in that war, human, Elf, and Iumenta fought. All sides took casualties, obviously; one of these was a dragon. His wife was killed. Now it doesn’t matter what killed her, only that she was killed and his grief was great. All of you remember what I have said about what happens when an Elf’s spouse dies, don’t you?”
They did. Keither wondered how a dying Elf had anything to do with their current state, but he listened on.
“Before this great dragon expired, he used magic and the Mahann to ascertain the future, for he wanted to know how long it would be until the rest of his house fell to the Iumenta.”
Legon spoke, preempting Arkin. “But he didn’t see their end.”
Arkin looked surprised at Legon’s intuitiveness. “No, he didn’t. He saw in the future one man that would either choose to belong to the Elves or the Iumenta. He would be an Elf, but the choice would be his to make. Now this man would do many great and terrible things if he chose, but in the end he would restore order.”
When Keither first started to hear about a ‘prophecy’ he scoffed at the idea, but this was not so much a prophecy but rather a probability. The Mahann used logic to figure things out, and this dragon used the Mahann to tell of these things, so there was logic here. It had to be a probability, but he didn’t see it yet.
“That ‘hero’, as he was called, would be known as the Everser Vald, meaning, in the Elven tongue, ‘the destroyer of great power’. This meant that if he chose the Iumenta side the Elves would fall, but if he chose the Elven side…”
“The Iumenta would lose control of the land,” Sara said, beaming at Legon.
Legon interrupted them all. “Wait, wait. That doesn’t mean that it’s me. You said that there had been others in my situation before. There have to be signs or something to say who it is.”
“Yes, Legon, there have been others. But let me finish. The prophecy spoke of signs that would appear, of course, and I will get to those, but there is more. This hero, this Everser Vald, would be greatly influenced by another.”
Sara said incredulously, “An influencer? I have never heard of an influencer in this story.”
“No, you haven’t. Only a select few have heard the prophecy in its entirety. This was done as a protection, not only to the possible hero, but to that influencer as well. This person would be the deciding factor in what side the Everser Vald would choose, and that meant that we had to step lightly when a potential person fit the signs.”
“But I haven’t had an influencer,” Legon blurted. But he had. Keither saw it, saw her for the first time. Pieces fell into place now. It never made any sense at all to keep one like Legon so deep in the empire but now it fit, she fit! Who else could have had an impact on someone as headstrong as Legon? The same person who had impacted all of them over the past few months. The name came out without thinking.
“Sasha.”
Sasha looked at him, the little color left in her face draining away. But it was her. She had taught him empathy with her episodes, made him a better person. She was his drive for doing everything; he would attack the Queen herself if it would save Sasha from suffering. Keither had truly never seen anyone love another person the way Legon loved Sasha. And it fit. How could he not choose the right side?
“So this whole thing was a setup?” Keither said.
“How do you mean?” Sara said, sounding agitated.
“Sasha is the influencer, so he was put with her to make him the Everser Vald, wasn’t he? And moreover, you said that Legon has been using magic with Sasha during her episodes his entire life. If he wasn’t around her then he may not have turned, correct?”
Arkin looked uncomfortable. Keither knew that he was right and that angered him. All of them had been through hell for this and it was just a setup.
“No, Keither, this is not what you think. Edis and Laura didn’t know anything about what Legon was or who he would become. But yes, he was allowed to stay with them on account of Sasha. Even at a young age it was apparent that she was an unusually good person. If he was taken back to the resistance we don’t know what would have happened. Even being raised on our side wouldn’t guarantee that he was going to turn Elf or-”
“That I wouldn’t become a tool for the Iumenta. I don’t fault you for what you did. I don’t want to think of life without Sasha. Please, tell me of my father,” Legon interjected.
Part of Keither’s mind told him what Legon had said was probably right, and though this made his life harder, perhaps it was better for the world as a whole.
* * * * *
Legon wasn’t affected by the
news that Arkin just shared. Somehow he knew it all. He wasn’t sure when he had figured it out but he thought it was when he had been transfigured. The White Dragon had shared a message with him, but he couldn’t remember it. He wanted to know about his father and his mother, but it wasn’t their character that he was worried about. After all, he still viewed his adopted parents as his own. As he asked the question he saw a look of confusion on Sara and Keither’s faces. Sasha was firmly connected with him and she knew what he was looking for.
She was feeling uncomfortable at the moment, having just found out her place in all of this. She had disconnected the weak network she had established with all but him. He sent soothing thoughts to her, reached over and held her hand gently. She in turn gripped his hand harder and he was aware of just how soft her skin was. He felt all of the muscles in her hand contracting and relaxing as she adjusted her grip. There was a steady pulse coming from her. He had never felt someone’s pulse from their hand before, but he did now. He also felt the moisture building from their hands being together, all odd sensations to be having for the first time.
He remembered what Arkin had said about Elf senses and he concentrated on background noise seeing just how diverse it was. He focused on his immediate area, breathing in Sasha’s and his scent. Hers was soft and almost sweet; his was that of the dirt and the horses. He listened to their hearts beating. Arkin was bringing them up to speed about how rare Elf-human children were. He knew this but he waited so the others would understand.
“Now Legon, you wanted to know more about your father. He was an Elf, obviously, and he held a high place in society. He was a good man.”
This wasn’t what Legon was looking for. He put the question to Arkin, knowing the response that it would cause. “Was he ascended?”
Arkin spluttered for a moment. “Why would you ask?”
“If I am to be the destroyer of power, I must have come from good stock, right?”
“You are more than what you were born with.”
“I am aware of that, but there are things that we are born with. So tell me, was he ascended?”
“Yes.”
There was a collective gasp that ran through them. Legon felt oddly saddened by this news. Up to this point he hadn’t been sure what he thought of this prophecy. It seemed to him that if his dad was just a regular Venefica then maybe that’s all he would be after all. But his father was ascended, and that might mean someday Legon would be as well.