Chapter 10: CHAPTER I – The Princess, the Pauper, and the Progeny of Conflict.

The teenage girl sighed heavily as she reached up, lifted her glasses and gently massaged her tired eyes. She was draped over a rather large book titled 'Aetheric Projection, Sigil Compendium and Array Formulation’ that she had been studying intently before deciding she needed a break. She sighed again as she closed the book and penned her finger over the author's names, 'Julia & David Cromwell' before opening the front cover and reading the personalized message penned within:

 

    "To Rhystea, our pride and joy:

        Never give up, always follow your heart, and never forget: 

            No matter what, you will always be loved!"

 

Rhystea removed her glasses, folded them up, and set them down on the desk beside her, then taking a deep breath, she exhaled slowly as she closed the book and laid her head down on it. "Hurry back," she said softly, "this just doesn't make any sense without you!" 

She closed her eyes and yawned and upon opening them back up, noticed the blemishes on her pale white skin from the mana injection site. "What good is a regenerative bioaetheric that I can't project on myself?" Rhystea muttered in frusteration.

There was a sharp knock on her door which prompted Rhystea to call out, "I'm getting ready for bed!"

The closed door muffled the reply, "Good night miss Cromwell, if you need anything, we're right out here."

"I'll be fine, thanks!" Rhystea called back, frowning as she thought she should be able to take care of herself for a few days while her parents were away.

She sighed again, thinking about how she should be at the university where her parents worked, spending another late night learning from them and their research team. Unfortunately, they had been called away in an emergency on some super secret project they were contracted by the government for, and Rhystea wasn't allowed to accompany them. 

This was the first time Rhystea had been separated from her parents for even a full day, and it made her anxious. She had fought with them upon learning she would be staying at home - with armed guards no less! 

Rhystea thought back to the argument she had with her parents on learning all of this. She was spoiled - but not rotten - and more often than not, got her way... but not this time. She had just turned seventeen not a recently, and her parents got her two gifts. First was mana, which was both experimental as well as a privilege. The other gift was a promise. Her parents had talked to the university authorities and received permission for Rhystea to start her internship early, under her parents no less! 

That seemed so long ago now and Rhystea had barely received any instruction before her parent's left. She had gotten a grasp on the basics well enough, but didn't have the fortitude required to utilize her mana for a prolonged period. Doing so made her anemic. Her parents told her to practice gathering energy in her hands and holding it there as long as she could, which wasn't long. If she held on more than a minute, her hand would go numb and her arm would tingle.

Not being able to focus this for a long period without exhausting herself, Rhystea aimed to build herself up by practicing periodically throughout the day. Even in just the few days she had been practicing in her room, she had felt noticeable progress. Not wanting to fatigue herself, she released the energy she was holding as her hand started to tingle, and then turned her attention back to her textbook.

Rhystea had been spending hours a day reading through the introduction of the book, but the rest was pretty much beyond her. She'd read a bit while practicing energy control, but with no real direction would quickly lose interest and skip ahead to the Symbol Compendium. She didn't really need to, she had most of them memorized - rather, ingrained into her brain trying to keep up with her parents from a very young age. 

Putting them together into a array, however, took a deeper understanding of how you wanted your array to unfold. Depending on one sigil’s size and placement in relation to another’s could drastically change the effect. Rhystea understood the fundamentals, but could not put them together in a way to successfully complete more than a basic array. 

She sighed yet again, and wondered what tutelage her parents would offer to help her understand. Rhystea growled as she recalled her mother's taunt, "It doesn't matter how many symbols you know if you can't fit them together! What good is knowing the alphabet if you can’t read?" 

Still not grasping something important, Rhystea resigned herself from sigil matrices and decided to work on gathering energy from her mana. She lay down on her bed and held both her hands straight up in the air, closed her eyes and began focusing on her hands as she recalled her father's words, "Don't try and force it, just imagine something warm in your hand, and from there imagine it slowly growing warmer."

Focusing on her hands, Rhystea could feel her energy welling up. Maybe that was the problem? Her parents always tried to get her to project small amounts and were always nagging her for trying to cram in so much energy with brute force, energy manipulation required more finesse than power. 

Thinking she'd try something new, Rhystea mentally tried to calm her energies. Her breathing slowed and stabilized and she allowed her energy to flow through her body. This time instead of trying to focus it at a point, she just let it circulate in her body.

Rhystea could feel her body getting warm, but not like her hands when she focused on them... This was more of a warm sensation washing over her, as if she just laid down in the bath. With her hands, it was more of a gushing warmth flowing down her arms and collecting in her palms and extremities, packed too tightly to circulate.

Was that it? Was she just focusing too much warmth in her hands? Rhystea let the warmth in her circulate, feeling it slowly pour over her body. (But how do I focus only a small amount?) She thought to herself.

All she was managing to do was stress herself out. Keeping her energy circulating, Rhystea stretched - and something unexpected happened. Her feet touched the cold metal railing at the foot of her bed and she quickly pulled her feet off it, breaking her concentration, but not before feeling her energy slide towards her feet.

She sat up in bed and thought for a moment. Settling herself, Rhystea started circulating her energy again, then slowly reached out with a hand and grabbed hold of the cold railing. The second the cold metal contacted her skin, she imagined warmth flowing into her hand and against the cold metal.

Holding that energy into her hand, Rhystea started focusing.  She could feel warmth washing over her arm and into her hand which she had closed into a fist. Her energy was welling up in her palm again, and she already knew that wouldn't work!

Keeping her calm, Rhystea tried circulating the energy that was in her hand, but it was thick, heavy and sticky. Knowing that was too much to accomplish anything viable with, she tried circulating some of the energy out of her hand. Her energy was flowing up and down her arm, this stopped it from pooling any larger in her hand, but the amount that was already there didn't wane.

Rhystea tried increasing the outflow of energy from her hand, which was already tingling. She could feel the warmth start to slowly fade from her palm, and let it trickle into her other hand. Now she was on to something!

First her fingertips started to warm, so Rhystea circulated the energy back to her hand and was quick to even the incoming energy with the outflow, thus stabilizing her energy circulation. Her hand felt just slightly warmer than the rest of her.

Rhystea recalled more of her father's words, "Before you can take hold of that warmth, you'll need to separate it from the rest of your energy, otherwise if you project an aetheric, it will draw off whatever you have circulating, and a large circulation is brute force, not gentle finesse!”

Keeping the circulations separate, she released the energy from her hand, and although it dispersed quickly, she caught a faint glow emanating from her palm! This excited her, and in preparing another attempt, she started circulating her energy again. Rhystea let her warmth flow down her arm, into her hand and back up her arm - leaving just a little in her hand, she started circulating that separate from the rest of her energy.

"Now we’re getting somewhere!" Rhystea said out loud and started to focus, when her concentration was broken with the sound of a pair of loud, heavy blows, each as though something heavy fell to the floor.

Rhystea fell silent and strained her ears but to no avail. What was that sound? She had two guards and didn't even pause to consider any danger. She climbed out of bed and strode over to her door and without hesitation, reached down and turned the door handle, opened the door and stepped through, stopping to allow her eyes to adjust to the low light.

"I'm sorry..." She heard someone apologize, and then, darkness.

 

Rhystea woke up to a bright ray of sunlight that pierced the canopy of trees above her, so she clenched her eyes shut as she stretched. She felt like she had been sleeping for a long time. She slowly opened her eyes and froze. She wasn't at home in her bed, she wasn't even in a building! She recognized trees and other flora around her, but she had never seen so much of it! Upon examining her surroundings closer, she realized there was another girl next to her in an open chamber similar to her own.

It appeared she was on some kind of transport, but there was no lead unit, just a ball of twisted scrap. She started to panic, and not knowing what else to do, tried waking up the other girl, hoping she knew what was going on!

Rhystea hopped out of her capsule and darted over to her neighbor's, grabbed the girl’s shoulders and shook her lightly.

"Uhnnn..." The other girl groaned, prompting Rhystea to shake her harder.

"Mmmmm, I'm awake, stop-" Her eyes opened and her situation started to sink in. In a flash, she rolled over on top of the girl shaking her awake and pinned her down.

Rhystea was taken by surprise by how fast the girl came to her senses as well as her lithe agility. "Easy!" She said lightly as she pulled her hands away from the girl, trying to show she wasn't an aggressor.

"Where... is this?" The girl on top asked.

"I was hoping you could tell me..." Rhystea replied.

The two just stared at each other for a few moments, then the girl on top opened her mouth to say something, but refrained, instead rolled over the side of the capsule and assumed a defensive stance as a low voice resounded, "Be calm." Was all it said.

Both girls looked around for the source of the voice and upon realizing they were alone, Rhystea called out, "Hello?"

"Have you gathered your senses?" The voice called out.

"Where are we? What's going on here?" Rhystea asked.

"Someplace you should not be, via events beyond your control." Replied the mysterious voice.

"Uh-huh..." Rhystea responded.

"If you can keep calm, I would like to explain things to you... but I need you to stay calm." The voice urged them gently.

"That's asking a lot right now..." Rhystea said, looking over at the other girl who was pressed up tight against the capsule, eyes closed and breathing rapidly.

"You're absolutely right, I couldn't imagine being in your situation. I mean you no harm, but I'm afraid I don't really know how to handle this. I need you to stay calm, but I can offer little if anything at all to reassure you." The voice replied.

"I find it hard to argue with a voice of reason, however..." Rhystea paused, gathering her courage, "it would be nice to know who I'm talking with."

"I must apologize, I do realize this is rude of me, but appearing before you would only serve to… complicate things." The voice stated politely.

"Things are already complicated, how about we cut to the chase and clear up everything we can?" Rhystea inquired warily.

"Intriguing..." The voice paused, "then let it be so."

Rhystea's eyes went wide as a dark figure splattered with silver appeared before her. "Please, do not be alarmed, again, I mean you no harm." The voice said gently.

"I..." Rhystea's thoughts were racing, "don't even know where to begin..."

"Allow me," the voice said, bowing slightly to her before continuing, "the both of you were obtained on the whims of a man desperately trying to save his daughter. You were brought to a place you should not be, if for no other reason, because this place will not tolerate weakness..."

"Go on." Rhystea pressed, listening intently.

"You were obtained for your mana, one created to rejuvenate the bodies of your kind. She," the figure held its hand out toward the other girl, "was obtained because she is related and shares certain genetics with the dying girl."

"So he dumps us in the middle of... wherever this is?" Rhystea asked.

"Not quite." The figure answered, "I put a stop to his plans for my own reasons. In addition, I'd like to request your help with something."

"I don't see how I'd be able to help, I don't know if I can even help myself out of this predicament!" Rhystea couldn't believe what was going on, here she was, in a jungle that she thought couldn’t exist anymore, carrying on a conversation about her abduction with an... alien?!

"I will explain, and would be willing to offer my assistance." The figure said calmly.

"After I do what you want me to, I'm assuming?" Rhystea replied shrewdly.

"Well, nothing is free. What I need help with is repairing that which will in return see to your safety for the duration of your stay here." The figure said as he held out a silver bundle that started writhing. "Be still, little one." The figure commanded, and so the writhing mass of silver obeyed. "This child is injured. His body will mend itself, given a short time, but I fear that returning him to the facility would be… unwise.”

"What... is it?" Rhystea questioned as she peered at the mass of silver. 

"Actually..." The figure paused, "He is human... and yet... so much more."

"I don't understand..." Rhystea answered.

"This is a place created to tinker with living organisms. This child was born for one purpose." The Shadow explained.

"Wait, you're saying people experimented on him? What for? What's his purpose?" Rhystea was being overwhelmed so she lashed out with questions.

"This child was born for war." The figure stepped closer and held out the silver child to Rhystea.

"I hate to tell you this, but I'm neither parent material, nor can I prepare anyone for war." Rhystea reached out to take hold of the child, who wasn't about to allow it.

"Be still!" The figure commanded again, and again the child obeyed. Turning its attention back to Rhystea, the figure reached out it's hand, "May I?"

Cautiously, Rhystea placed her hand on the figures. "Pay close attention to the feeling of what is about to happen, that is the important part. Now, allow your energy to circulate freely." 

Rhystea did as she was told, breathing slowly but deeply and quickly stabilizing her energy. "Good. Can you focus energy in your hand?"

Rhystea felt her energy flow into her arm and pool in her hand, warming it. "Good. Now, keeping it circulating, separate it from your main system, keeping them at an equal pace." She did as she was told and could feel the heat in her hand continue to grow.

"And now, simply project it." The figure told her.

"That's actually the part I have trouble with!" Rhystea replied, frowning, yet pleased to be receiving tutelage, which helped take her mind off of the unpleasantness of the rest of her situation.

"Don't worry, I'll show you and then you should be able to replicate it. You can feel the energy in your hand, separate from your main system, correct?" The figure asked.

"Yes." Rhystea answered.

"Good, now separating that energy from your body is the tricky part. Imagine the feeling of the energy leaving your body." The figure instructed.

Rhystea felt her hand growing warmer.

"Now you're just amassing more energy. Like this." The figure paused as he adjusted his own energy to match Rhystea's. 

Rhystea's hand felt hot, then everything around her hand got cold and she just allowed the heat to escape into the cold.

"Yes, now you're getting a handle on it." The figure said.

Rhystea opened her eyes and could visually see her energy pouring into the figure's hand.

"While I'm at it, let me teach you a little on molding it. The rest will come with time and practice." Energy flowed back into her hand, but around her hand felt cold. "No, now you're fighting against it. I'm giving your energy back with a small amount of my own so that I can take control but you can still feel what is happening."

"I'm sorry, this is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced before, I just don't know what I'm doing!" Rhystea apologized.

"It's ok. Circulate it as you feel it flow into your hand." The figure continued instructing.

Rhystea did as she was instructed, grateful for the lesson while trying not to dwell on the rest. His method was working, but it was almost a need for her to know the how’s and why’s of his method - never mind that he was completely alien to her.

"The amount of energy, can you feel it?" The figure asked.

She could, her hand was just slightly warmer than the rest of her body. "Yes!" she replied with excitement.

"Good, you're learning quickly. Now let it flow out of your hand again." The figure praised her efforts.

Her hand lost it's extra warmth as she felt the area around her hand slightly cool.

"OK, I'm going to shape it for you, you just keep it flowing slowly out of your hand. Normally, you wouldn't expend that much energy, but I want you to feel it as I shape it." The figure instructed.

She could feel the energy she released, it was starting to pulse, almost like a heartbeat.

"Good, let it build for a moment until you are familiar with it. The closer you can get this new system to match your own, the easier and more efficient you will be with utilizing it." The figure said.

Rhystea felt the pulse grow stronger and warmer.

"Good, you can well up energy and detach it, although I'm shaping it for you. If you can imitate the feeling, you should be able to increase your grasp on the subject. Lastly, there is just targeting and projection. Stabilize your energy and begin circulating that which is outside your body.

She could feel warmth flowing between her fingers, it stabilized and she could feel it’s pulse, which she corrected into keeping rhythm with her heartbeat.

"For now, we'll just use an immediate range." The figure continued the lesson.

"What's that?" Rhystea questioned.

"It means you are going to project your energy into whatever you're touching with your hand." The figure answered.

"Ok?" Rhystea said, unsure of what she was doing.

Taking her hand by the wrist, he pressed her palm against the child, "Now let your energy flow into him."

There was an uncomfortable chip from the child as her hand came into contact with his back, which was surprisingly cool to the touch. This made it easier for her to concentrate her energy into the child. It felt like something was pulling energy out of her... No... like something was devouring her energy whole! 

Rhystea went light headed as the figure pushed her away. "What was that?!" Rhystea exclaimed upon regaining her composure.

The child seemed to perk up a bit, with the wound on his chest closing, but leaving a rather large scar in proportion to his tiny body.

"Sorry, I should have seen that coming. I thought he might resist your energy... turns out he was... hungry? Rather than attaining a successful projection, he syphoned off some of your energy. Similar, and yet, you were not the one in control." The figure concluded.

“Hungry?” Rhystea needed more information.

“This is a child of man, but not only of man. I can sense both Astral and Umbral features as well. While he was indeed born from a human womb, but his flesh is composed almost entirely of mana.” The figure answered.

“Born for war...” Rhystea somberly repeated the words the figure used earlier.

“It is unfortunate, but the day is coming where humanity will require nothing less.” The figure said.

“But, to put that on a child? I can’t imagine that being in anyone’s best interest.” Rhystea said, almost sad. “Just what is he?”

The figure cocked its head to one side and asked, “Would you like to know?”

Rhystea nodded.

The figure held the child out to her. She reached out, hesitated, and picked him up. There was a concerned chirp as he was pulled away from the figure, then a soft cooing as she wrapped him up in her arms. “What now?” Rhystea asked.

The child was cool to the touch, but Rhystea could already feel him warming up. More surprising was how little he must have weighed. Squeezing down on him gently and prompting a chirp out of him, it felt like he didn’t even have bones; more like he was comprised out of a dense, but still malleable putty.

“For now,” The figure started, “just stay close to here. I realize this isn’t what you’re used to, but there will be no going back - at least not for awhile. For now, you’ll have to make due. Use the storage unit on the transport for shelter, when it gets dark, stay inside, do not go outside for any reason or your life is forfeit.”

With that, Rhystea gulped and timidly asked, “What about food?”

“You will find some small creatures tending to the plant life in the area not far from here. You’ll want to be careful not to eat anything they won’t, as many of the plants here contain chemicals meant to be synthesized into medicines and the like, though in their current state they would be little more than poison.” The figure explained.

“Creatures? Tending to plant life, you say...” Rhystea stated, doubtfully.

“There are… altered? Animals dwelling within this place. I believe this variant is known as a turtle dragon.” The figure said solemnly, “Nothing out here that he can’t handle, if given a short time to recuperate.” The figure reached down and placed a hand on the child in Rhystea’s arms who curled up comfortably.

Rhystea looked up at the figure, unsure of what to do. Before she could say anything, there was a brief, loud humming sound, then a pause. Moments later, rain poured down hard for a split second, then ceased all together. The child wriggled in her arms.

“Ugh!” Both girls groaned simultaneously in protest. They weren’t soaked completely, but they were damp enough that they could cast water off of their arms by flailing them, as Sphaere demonstrated in her aggravation.

“I’ll be back before it gets dark to make sure you’ll be alright. For now, just gather what you need and set up in the transport.” The figure said, oblivious to the falling water before turning away from Rhystea. “Remember, don’t eat what the other creatures won’t, and hide when it gets dark.” With that, the figure vanished from her field of vision.

“Well now…” Rhystea looked over at the other girl still pressed up against the capsule, then down the child in her arms. “I don’t even know what to make of all this!” She said with a forced smile.

The child peered up at her anxiously.

Rhystea held him out in her arms and he just dangled in front of her. Upon closer inspection, he appeared to be little more than an infantile child composed of liquid silver, complete with eyes, a mouth, a nose and ears; as well as an odd tendril emanating from the back of his head and extending down his back that he could extend easily beyond the length of his own body. It was almost like a tail, but with a small bulb at the end. There was a large gash over the left side of his chest. It made for an odd looking wound, almost as if it were being clenched closed rather than healing.

The child reached up with its tendril and ever so gently touched Rhystea’s face as though it was examining her. She reeled the child in close, who in response wrapped his tendril around her neck as if hugging her, though she could feel the end sifting through her hair.

Rhystea turned to the other girl and asked, “Hungry?” She waited a moment for a reply that she didn’t get before heading off in search of creatures and safe food.

 

Fortunately, she didn’t have to search long. A short distance from the transport she saw large reptilian creatures that appeared to be tending to the flora in the area. Rhystea approached them, and when she got closed, they stopped what they were doing and projected a barrier around themselves. This prompted the child she was carrying to wriggle out of her arms to plop down on the ground and, much to her surprise, dart off towards the turtle dragons on all fours, tendril trailing behind him.

When the child reached one of the turtle dragons, it appeared he was more interested in the barrier. Rhystea watched as he got close and probed the barrier with his tendril.

Rhystea approached the both of them and when the child turned to her and chattered excitedly, Rhystea giggled back at him. “You’re more like a pet than a war monster.”

After probing the barrier for a few moments, the child took a few steps back, planted his feet firmly on the ground, tensed up and emitted a sharp ringing sound. The air around him distorted, and much to her surprise, he erected a barrier just like the turtle dragons, but bigger!

“Wow, impressive!” Rhystea praised him with clapping hands. “First try, wish I could do that!”

The turtle dragon he was imitating squeaked at the child before dropping its barrier, to which the child chirped back in a similar manner.

Rhystea stepped closer and held her arms out to the child and with a smile, coaxed him to, “Come here!”

The child’s eyes lit up and with a big leap, planted his face firmly into the side of his own barrier.

“Oh!” Rhystea exclaimed, reaching down and placing her hands on his barrier, directly above him.

The child looked up with big, wounded eyes, and both were shocked to hear laughter coming from behind them.

They turned to see the other girl doubled over in laughter, who quickly reclaimed her composure before slightly blushing and looking away, holding her arms behind her back and pawed at the ground in front of her with her foot.

Rhystea smiled and introduced herself, “Hi, I’m Rhystea Cromwell.”

The child chirped as if giving his own name, but the other girl remained silent.

Rhystea turned back to the child and said, “She’ll talk to us when she’s ready.” The child cooed up at her in response.

“Sphaere… Hanada.” They heard her say timidly from behind them.

“Hello Sphaere,” Rhystea turned to her and smiled, “how about some breakfast?”

Sphaere nodded her head, but still wouldn’t meet Rhystea’s gaze.

Rhystea turned her attention back to the child, who was still apparently stuck in his own barrier. The child was pushing on the side of it with both forearms, his tendril lashing back and forth.

The turtle dragon stepped closer and erected its barrier, then slowly expanded it until it came into contact with the child’s barrier, then squawked loudly to get the child’s attention.

The child turned to the turtle dragon and chirped back before placing his tendril where the barriers converged.

The turtle dragon dropped its barrier and chirped. The child closed its eyes and concentrated as the barrier around him fluctuated and disappeared. Before doing anything else, he probed where the barrier was with his tendril. Realizing he was no longer caging himself in, and much to both girl’s surprise, he lunged at Rhystea and clung to her shoulder. Rhystea lifted and tied him in her arms, prompting a happy chirp out of him.

Sphaere approached them timidly and said, “’E shore is goofy li’l critter! May I?” And reached out her hand to the child.

The girl’s speech caught Rhystea off guard, and not just her accent. “Sure!” She replied, holding the child out to her.

When Sphaere reached in to pick him up, the child casually slapped her hand away with his tendril. “Hey, that’s not nice!” Rhystea exclaimed.

Sphaere pouted a moment before trying to reach for him again, this time he erected a barrier. She looked away, hurt, then lowered her arms and softly said, “Sorry…”

Before Rhystea had a chance to scold him, the child dropped his barrier and wriggled from her hands, plopped down to the ground and took a step towards Sphaere. With a chirp, he cautiously offered his tendril up to her.

Sphaere reached out and gently took it in her hands. Much to both their surprise, as soon as her hand came into contact with his tendril, he chirped and lunged up at her. “Woah now, crazy critter!” Sphaere laughed as she grabbed a hold of him and wrapped him up in her arms.

“Lets see about that breakfast!” Rhystea insisted.

“Sounds like a plan.” Sphaere answered timidly.

Rhystea pulled her glasses off and used her shirt to wipe the lenses and recapped what she was told earlier, “That… shadow? Said we should only eat what these guys eat.” She looked down at the turtle dragon who looked back up at her and chirped. “Food!” she exclaimed as if she was expecting the turtle dragon to answer back.

The child was probing Sphaere as the girls walked together to some nearby fruit bearing trees. From them, she plucked a red banana looking fruit, a brown tomato, and what appeared to be a white pear with green speckles. She carried them over to some nearby turtle dragons and set them on the ground before them.

The turtle dragons erected barriers when they noticed their guests’ presence, but dropped them when they were offered the food. The banana and the tomato were accepted and quickly devoured, but the speckled pear fruit was left untouched.

“I guess those are the edible ones!” Rhystea noted, turning and walking to a brown tomato plant, plucking a few and eyeing them carefully.

Sphaere carried the child over to a red banana tree, pulled a few down, peeled one and; without hesitation, took a bite.

“Just like that? You’re a brave one!” Rhystea said before sniffing her tomato.

“If it’s good ‘nuff fer them, it’s good ‘nuff fer me…” Sphaere stated as she focused her attention on the child.

Rhystea took a deep breath before taking a small bite of her tomato. The expression on her face was priceless as she quivered and slowly chewed before gulping it down and coughing out, “My word, that was awful!”

“Well why not spit it out?” Sphaere laughed and looked away from her.

“A lady does not spit!” Rhystea stated snootily, recalling the etiquette her mother drilled into her.

Sphaere stuck her tongue out at Rhystea, but wasn’t noticed, so she quickly followed up with tossing a banana at her. This prompted the child to grab one of the bananas out of Sphaere’s hand with his tendril and lob it at Rhystea.

The first banana hit Rhystea in the side, prompting her to turn and say, “Hey-” before the second banana glanced off her forehead.

Sphaere doubled over in laughter, squeezing the child tightly, who cooed up at her happily.

“Oh yea?” Rhystea said, plucking a tomato and throwing it back.

The child erected a barrier that the tomato went splat on and then chirped a taunt at Rhystea, causing Sphaere to laugh harder.

Not about to take that lying down, Rhystea turned and pulled three more tomatoes, including one really big one. Turning to face Sphaere with a cross look, she threw the two smaller tomatoes – which Sphaere easily dodged. Maybe it was the chip on her shoulder, but when Rhystea went to lob the big tomato, she instead fell forward, squashing it in her hand.

There was a shrill squeak as the child wriggled free of Sphaere’s arms, who was gasping for air between fits of hysteria, and hit the ground running to the side of a grumbling Rhystea.

“Yuck!” Rhystea exclaimed, standing up and flinging tomato guts out of her hand.

The child looked up at her and chirped, as if apologizing.

“Ooh, let’s not do that again!” Rhystea pleaded as she picked up her glasses and regained her composure. Looking down at the child, he raised his arms up to her and lifted up tippy toe. Oblivious to the fact that he wanted to be picked up, she played coy, turning to one side and replacing her glasses she asks him, “You want to throw food at me, and then make me carry you around, is that what you’re telling me?”

With all the patience of a child, he lunged up and latched onto her shoulder. “That’s cheating!” Rhystea exclaimed. Ignoring her words, the child stuck his probe in her face and observed intently without touching, but getting no more than a hair’s breadth away.

“Ooh, no helping it then, you’re lucky that I’ve always wanted a pet!” Rhystea told him, getting a chirp in response.

Sphaere approached them, still chuckling, “I ain’t laughed that hard in… ever!” 

“Something to drink would be nice, as well as being able to wash this ick off my hand!” Rhystea exclaimed, and with that, they set off to find water.

 

They searched for a couple hours, only managing to find a few puddles. While these would suffice for rinsing tomato off of one’s hand, they offered little in the way of quenching thirst. They talked a bit, Rhystea doing most of the talking with plenty of chatter from the child along the way. After a while, Rhystea sighed and stated, “Let’s get back to the transport, maybe there’s water inside.” And so they did.

Coming up on their destination, they happened upon a deceased man laying face down on the ground. His face was warped beyond recognition and a short bladed weapon lay next to him.

Rhystea wouldn’t get close, but Sphaere brazenly approached, snatched up the weapon and examined it to find a name engraved on the hilt, ‘B. Darklighter.’ She bent down and removed the man’s belt, including the scabbard that was fastened to it.

Rhystea didn’t say anything, just stood there, mouth agape in protest.

Sphaere didn’t notice. She stood up and continued on to transport after softly whispering, “Thank you.”

“How can you just loot and leave him like that?” Rhystea inquired, coldly.

“Ya saidja lived out near the yoo-nuh-vers-ady, right?” Sphaere questioned back.

“Correct.” Rhystea wrinkled her nose at Sphaere’s pronunciation. 

“It nice out that way?” Sphaere asked inquisitively, something cold in her voice.

“Oh, it’s marvelous! One of the few places in the city where you can see any greenery! And the way-” She was cut off.

Sphaere stopped, turned and interjected, “Any idea how many people die every day, right outside the city?” Sphaere questioned icily. “Survival ain’t always purdy. Sometimes ya gotta do,” With pained eyes, she turned mid-statement and continued on towards her objective, “whatcha gotta do.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what to say…” Rhystea trailed off.

“Say you want ta live. Say it over an’ over. Even when yer stomach turns, when yer doin’ things ya know ya shouldn’, when yer doin’ things ya didn’ think ya were capable o’… Ya don’ do it cuz ya want ta. Ya do it cuz ya hafta. That’s what it means ta survive. Ta keep goin’ regardless o’ the circumstance. If ya ever stop, ya’ll be the next one looted an’ left in the street. Survival is the only law, an’ if ya break it, ya die.” Sphaere explained, thinking back to her time in the outskirts of the city and grimacing.

“What law would that be, exactly?” Rhystea questioned.

“The law o’ the jungle. Survival o’ the fittest.” Sphaere answered.

Rhystea couldn’t find any words with which to reply, instead, hanging her head in silence.

"Same law applies here. I don' know if it ain’t actually better here. At least I won' hafta starve ta death. Shore, there’re monsters, but at least they won’ pertend ta be somethin’ they ain’t.”

Rhystea followed after her solemnly, still unable to find any weighted words to speak. In silence, they made their way back to the transport.

"If we're lucky..." Sphaere paused, getting a firm grip on the large door of the transport that was overturned on it’s side in front of her, "we might find some water in here." Pulling the door open and then climbing up and over the side, she waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness. 

Several shelves were knocked over with the floor covered in small boxes, cans and various other packages. Picking one up, Sphaere searched for food or other items they could use. She frowned upon reading the contents and preparations. Sifting through more packages, she excitedly picked up another box, paused, sighed and groaned, "Lovely."

"What?" Rhystea replied as she climbed up on the side of the transport. 

"Jus’ add water..." Sphaere said annoyed, dropping the box back to the floor and checking other packages she added, "so much fer luck."

Climbing down into the compartment and picking up an empty container that was lying on the floor, Rhystea thoughtfully declared, "Maybe we can boil some of the water in those puddles? It's not ideal, but it'll get us by."

"It'll hafta do," Sphaere started, "fer now, let's jus’ take stock on how much food we got. We don’ know how long we'll be here, an’ this unit is also our best bet fer shelter." Picking up one of the shelves and dragging it to the door, she decided, "We can put the stuff we cain't eat on this fer now, keep what's usable an’, well, do somethin' else with the rest."

Rhystea set the child down inside the transport before walking over to help Sphaere remove the shelf from the storage unit. Being careful not to drop it, they slowly maneuvered it out of the transport and set it down just outside the door. 

They were surprised when they heard the grating of metal on metal and were shocked to turn and see the child single handedly dragging another of the shelves across the transport floor. Upon making underneath the open transport door, he turned to Sphaere and Rhystea and chirped as if to ask if he could help.

"Whoa!" Was all either of the stunned girls were able to get out before the child picked up and tossed the shelf out of the door as though it were no more than a toy before crashing to the ground with an angry clamor. 

You are reading story Candle in the Rain, Inferno in the Wind at novel35.com

Chirping happily, the child disappeared back into the transport. Moments later the girls once again heard the sound of metal being dragged across metal as the child produced yet another shelf. 

Tossing that shelf out, the child hopped up on top of the compartment and peered down at them silently. Sphaere stepped forward and started to praise him when, before she could get a word out, he lunged at her aiming to take a perch on her shoulder before he was snatched out of the air.

"Ya shore are a handy li'l fella!" Sphaere exclaimed, reeling him in affectionately. The child responded by chirping softly. He offered no resistance as he dangled from her hands, merely observing her closely with his probe.

Conversing on how adorable this child of war was for a few minutes, he was placed down on the ground while the girls moved the shelves upright, and set one up as a makeshift staircase for easier access to the top of the transport unit they had just cleaned out. 

Sphaere re-entered the unit looking for something to transport water in, and to that end, sought out and set aside various containers. She had first passed out larger containers they could use to store water in, then handed off several smaller ones that would be easier to transport water with; when their water problems were solved, at least temporarily.

With numerous containers set out and each girl having one in their arms, their chatter was interrupted by a brief, loud humming sound. Moments later, a torrent of rain came crashing down, thankfully only lasting a moment.

While not enough water had rained down to fill any of the containers, each one contained some. The three of them had certainly been doused. There was enough water collected between them and the containers that they had set out that they wouldn’t go thirsty immediately and could search for a better source of water.

"OH-MY-GOSH!" Rhystea cried out to a wide eyed Sphaere. Both girls more than vaguely recalled the same sequence of events happening a few hours earlier, shortly after that shadowy figure had woken and explained things to them.

There was a soft whimpering and the girls looked down to see the child shivering. "Aww, poor thing!" Rhystea gushed, hurrying to put the container holding a small amount of water in it on the shelf before snatching him up.

"That's gonna get old real quick!" Sphaere grumbled.

"It's the first drinking water we've came across." Rhystea responded, wrapping the child up in her arms and pulling him in tight. Clinging tightly to her and chirping softly, the child quickly stopped shivering. "If it happens on a regular basis, we can just leave these containers out to collect it for us!"

"Crap! My shirt had jus’ finished dryin’ out not all that long ago, think we could build a fire?" Sphaere suggested as she picked up the last few containers and set them down on what was the sidewall off the transport, now more of a ceiling due to how the transport units had fallen on their side.

"I'll start looking for some wood, surely there’s some nearby." Rhystea replied before scanning the area and finding a downed tree not far in the distance. 

Anxiety spurred Rhystea onward to her destination with haste, and after inspecting the tree, which appeared to have been down for some time, decided to get to work. "Sorry little guy, I need both my hands!" Rhystea informed the child before setting him atop on the downed tree trunk before bending over and picking up more manageable pieces of wood. 

After Rhystea had collected several pieces, the child started chirping at her anxiously. Looking up and asking, "What is it little one?" The child responded by holding his arms out to Rhystea, clearly wanting to be held.

"Not yet," Rhystea replied gently, holding a sizable piece of wood out, she finished with, "we need wood for a fire." In response to this, the child jumped up and down on the trunk he had been placed on while chirping enthusiastically. 

"Well, yes, that would make for a great fire. It is unfortunately too much for me to do anything with." Rhystea stated with a smile before picking up more wood. Having loaded her arms, she looked at the child and bid him, "Come on!" before turning to the transport and taking a few steps.

The child chirped after her a few times and when she turned around, he placed a hand on the trunk. With a look of excitement, he turned to Rhystea and chirped for approval.

"And just what do you think you're going to do with that?" Rhystea asked quizzically. She smiled and started to coax the child over and got her answer.

There was a great groaning of the tree, followed by the snapping and cracking of smaller limbs as the child raised the broken end of the tree over his head as if it were no more than a blanket, and started to slowly drag the entire spectacle in Rhystea’s direction.

Astonished at what was happening in front of her, Rhystea dropped her jaw. She could already tell that this child was something special, but this was simply nuts! How could one so small lift something so big? It just didn't make any sense to her. She looked around for a moment, to remind herself that none of the predicament in which she found herself made any sense whatsoever. Dropping the pile sticks she was carrying, Rhystea crouched down and held her arms wide as she praised the child, "Look at you go, little man!"

Dropping the limb to the ground with a crash, the child shot forward, lunging at Rhystea. Expecting no less, she caught him in her arms, still not used to his near weightlessness. She held him in her arms so that they were eye level facing each other, and after showering him with praise, she softly asked, "Would you be so kind as to haul that heavy log to the transport for me?"

Not understanding a single thing he was just asked, the child looked up at her and chirped happily. 

Rhystea set him down on the end of the log he was carrying and backed away slowly. When the child cocked his head to one side and peered up at her with perplexed chirp. She pulled off her glasses and cleaned them while she thought. After a few moments, she reached down and picked up the largest stick she had dropped when the child lunged at her.

Backing away slowly while dragging the stick with one hand and coaxing him with the other, she softly bid him, “Come on... Come on..."

The child must have understood this, as moments later he had hopped off and lift up the end of the tree over his head again. He also must have been in a hurry because this time, limb in tow, he charged after Rhystea.

Pausing just long enough to be surprised, she started jogging backwards just to stay ahead of him. The child screeched up at her sharply before dropping the limb and darting off after her, stopping just in front of her and hitting her with sad puppy eyes.

“Aww! I wasn’t going to leave you, I just didn’t want to get run over!” Rhystea explained as she scooped him up. The child quickly forgave her and embraced her contentedly.

After a few minutes of showering the child with affection, Rhystea walked over to retrieve her stick then back to the limb and sat the child down next to it before calling out to the transport that was still a ways away, "Sphaere! Hey, Sphaere, check this out!" And waited for the girls head to pop out of the overturned unit.

"Yea?" Sphaere called back questioningly as she climbed up on the side of the unit.

Rhystea dropped the stick, then reached down and grabbed the child's hand, who peered up at her with a curious chirp. She then reached down and picked up one end of the stick, letting the other end rest on the ground before looking down and saying, "Now you!"

The child reached out, grabbed hold of the broken end of the tree, and effortlessly lifted it up and over his head. With a smile, he chirped up happily to Rhystea.

Rhystea was beaming as she looked up at Sphaere, who was gawking back at her in surprise. "What da they feed ‘im?!" Sphaere called out to them.

"I don’t know, but it’s working!" Rhystea stated, still having a hard time believing the scene beside her.

“What’re we gonna call ‘im?” Sphaere asked.

"Hmmm, nothing readily comes to mind!" Rhystea admitted.

"Well ya cain't jus’ rush ‘im inta a name!" Sphaere burst out.

"How about... Heracles, son of Zeus, mightiest of mythological heroes?!" Rhystea exclaimed in excitement.

"How ‘bout not?" Sphaere retorted.

"Well what have you got?" Rhystea shot back.

"I jus’ saidja cain't rush ‘im inta a name!" Sphaere exclaimed.

"Well what do you think, Heracles?" Rhystea asked down to the child who cooed back up to her in response. "I think he likes it!" She grinned up at Sphaere.

"I think ‘e's just a sucker fer a purdy girl!" Sphaere shout back at her.

"Oh no! You're not going to grow up to be a womanizer, are you little one?" Rhystea eyed him warily and in response he chirped up enthusiastically.

This caused Sphaere to burst with laughter, and when Rhystea dropped her stick and tripped over her own feet as she bent over to reach for it, Sphaere literally squealed in hysteria, much to Rhystea and the child's surprise.

The child dropped the limb and ran to Rhystea’s side. "Ugh! I hate being a klutz!" She exclaimed as she nursed a stubbed toe. The child retrieved her glasses for her. "Thank you Heracles!" She said graciously before scooping him up. 

Recovering from her laughing fit, Sphaere insisted, "No, you don't get to name him by yourself!" 

Replacing her glasses and standing back up, they were almost back to the transport. Looking around, Rhystea decided, "This is as good a spot as any to build a fire."

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Sphaere exclaimed.

"Hmmm, I need something to write with, though I guess something sharp to carve with would be better for this type of surface..." Rhystea said as she reached up to adjust her glasses.

There was a thwack as something flew down from Sphaere's direction and stabbed into the tree, it was a the short blade she had looted earlier. "I said, ya don' get ta name ‘im by yerself!" Sphaere asserted herself.

"Ahh, thanks! This will do nicely, don't you think, Heracles?" Rhystea said to the child who chirped back in agreement.

Sphaere growled back at her.

It took both hands for Rhystea to pull the short blade out of the tree, and after choosing a spot a few feet from the end of the limb, she started carving something into the tree.

"Whatcha doin'?" Sphaere asked. Not getting a response, she went back to what she was doing in the transport.

It wasn’t until Rhystea was nearly complete that she divulged her intention. "A double layer sigil array composed of a simple command type sigil, specifically ‘sever,’ along with an array of minor route sigils, which shape the action of the array." Rhystea explained, not looking up from her work.

"Da what now?" Sphaere reiterated her puzzlement as she popped up out of the container.

To answer her question, Rhystea stood up, pointed an open palm at the array and firmly commanded, "Sever!" As if cut by an invisible blade, the tree was divided into several, more manageable pieces, starting right where she had etched the sigil.

This caused the child to get excited, who bounced around playfully on the pile of wood, chattering with enthusiasm.

Sphaere watched silently as Rhystea went to work. Using sigils, she severed the limb into many, even smaller, much more manageable pieces - much to the excitement and growing curiosity of the child. “When did they start teachin’ that class?”

Rhystea started stacking some wood up a short distance away from the large pile she had just severed. "They haven’t yet. They’re still discussing the effects it will have on the world. They are a rather recent discovery, add to that the fact that only someone in possession of mana can activate them. Fortunately for me, my parents are leading researchers in that field.”

Rhystea started to etch a sigil into one of the pieces of wood. "This array will be simpler, with a molecular vibration sigil, you can burn or even freeze something. These sigils control the direction the array takes, and for this single layer array, I’ll just increase it’s molecular vibration to a point that it will catch fire."

The child's eyes lit up as Rhystea finished her etching, she stood up, held her hand out and commanded, "Ignite!" And the piece of wood she etched into immediately started smoldering before erupting into flames. 

The child's eyes were as wide as saucers as he started racing back and forth around, but not too close to the fire, pausing to inspect it before darting to the other side. The fire was growing and the child was getting even more excited. He ran to the fire and threw up his arms, then turned to Rhystea and started chatter-chirping, then darting around to the other side of the fire.

"I think he likes it!" Rhystea giggled as she watched him no less than spaz out, she hadn't heard him make so much noise either. 

Rhystea regurgitated past lectures she herself had received, “The command word doesn’t even matter. It’s just to help mentally envision what you are trying to accomplish. You could opt for silence, or even command, “Potatoes!” But if the array is incorrect or doesn’t align perfectly with your mental imagery, it will fizzle and nothing will happen. For this reason, having a command word increases the rate with which a sigil activation is successful.”

Rhystea turned to Sphaere, excitement filling her eyes, “Besides, it’s much more enjoyable to shout out something like, ‘On my Authority, Ignite!’ before causing something to burst into flames!”

Sphaere was tickled and barely held back a laugh, but not without cracking a smile that sent Rhystea tending to her glasses.

The child stopped charging around the fire and leaned in closer, reaching closer still with his tendril, inspecting the flames in silence, his face was still lit up like a child admiring a Christmas tree.

"Hey, is that ok fer 'em ta be doin'?" Sphaere asked with worry.

"What's he going to do, jump in?" Rhystea smiled and started to laugh, but bit her tongue as the child, as if on cue, confirmed Sphaere’s fears! Rhystea watched in horror as the he let out an excited squawk, reared back and dove straight into the flames! 

Reacting instantaneously, Sphaere threw herself down from her perch on the side of the overturned transport unit, charging to what little water they had collected from the earlier rain.

Rhystea froze. She was caught completely off guard and she didn't know how to react. Her mind was racing, how could she have instigated that, let alone allow it to happen? Her legs were trembling as she tried to take a step towards the fire, but they gave out and she fell to her knees as tears started pouring from her face.

Entranced by the fire and utterly oblivious to the panicking girls, the child cooed happily as he tried to dig his way down in between the pieces of burning wood.

Having quickly consolidated their water into a single container, Sphaere was racing back to the fire before she slowed to a trot, then a walk, and dropped the container (which thankfully landed upright) as she saw the child stand up in the fire and call out with a few happy sounding chirps before bending back down to root around in the burning wood.

"Jus’... what the hell..." Sphaere asked slowly as she walked to the fire, "are ya?"

Curled up into a ball and sobbing hysterically, Rhystea didn't seem to notice that the child wasn't burning.

Holding her arms out to the child, Sphaere called out, "Oi!" Not getting the child’s attention, she repeated herself, this time more forcefully. "Oi!!!"

The child looked up at Sphaere the second time she called out to him, and when he saw her arms outstretched to him, he lunged at her with an ecstatic chirp.

Not waiting for him to make it to her, Sphaere plucked him out of the air mid leap before hugging him tightly. She was surprised when the child was at a cool temperature, as though the fire had not done more than warm him. "Dontcha ever do that again!" She demanded as the tension flooded out of her and tears started to pour down her face, "Never again... never ever!"

Realizing that the child was not hurt, Rhystea climbed to her feet and ran to the two of them, throwing her arms around them both, she started wailing as she inaudibly tried apologizing.

The child chirped out in glee at the attention, then cooed softly as he was being held tightly between the two sobbing girls. Turning his attention back to the fire, the child tried to wiggle out from between them.

"Not happenin’!" Sphaere squealed sharply as Rhystea's wails grew louder - whatever she was saying was still muddled by her sobbing. The two hysteric girls squeezed him tighter, locking him between them. A soft chirp was the only part of him that escaped.

Without resisting them further, the child reached up with his tendril and wrapped it around both of them. They stood like that for a few minutes as the girls stopped their crying and regained their composure.

Sphaere broke the silence first, "Never again!" she insisted as she glared at Rhystea, who started again with her blubbering apology.

"We need a darn leash fer this kid!" Sphaere said before pulling away from Rhystea but not letting go of the child.

Rhystea took a step after her and reached out, but paused and bowed her head to say, "Sorry." One more time.

"I dunno what's crazier, this mess we're in, ‘r this kid here with us!" Sphaere said looking down at the child, who, in turn, smiled back up to her.

Silence fell upon them, which was broken when the child again tried to wiggle his way out of Sphaere's arms. Spinning him around and setting him down, Sphaere grabbed his shoulders and gave him a firm shake to make sure she had his attention.

Once she had his attention and without breaking eye contact, she picked up the short blade Rhystea had been using to carve. Reaching back and cutting a lock of her own hair, she held it up so the child could see it.

Moving over to the fire but maintaining eye contact with the child, she reached out and let the flames lick her lock of hair. As soon as the two came into contact, her hair ignited and she quickly brought it in front of the child.

The child reached out for the flames, but Sphaere stopped him. She simply let her lock of hair burn, and when the small flames reached her fingers, she let it burn her - just a little. "Ow!" Sphaere cried out loudly as she quickly dropped the last bits of flaming hair, which burnt into nothing before making it to the ground.

"No!" She admonished him. "No." She repeated herself as she pointed at the fire. "No." She said again as she cut another lock of hair and threw it into the fire, causing it to quickly burn to nothing. "No!" She said one last time before reeling him in and hugging him tightly.

The child had just dangled there quietly from her grasp, watching Sphaere as his tendril scanned her finger.

"Fire...? No! ...Understand?" Sphaere asked as she peered down at him.

He smiled and chirped up at her in response, but as soon as she set him down, he turned towards and made off for the fire.

Sphaere quickly snatched him by his tendril and drug him back to her before reaching down and slamming her hand hard on the ground between him and the fire and half screamedg, "NOOO!!!"

He looked up at her with sad puppy eyes and she collapsed on him, drawing him into her arms and holding him tightly and softly spoke to him, "Dontcha dare ever scare me like that again!" There was a pause before she continued with, "An' you!" Rhystea's eyes went wide when Sphaere suddenly turned her attention in her direction.

Sphaere just glared at her for a few moments before saying "Bleh!" As she stuck her tongue out at the sincerely sorry girl.

Rhystea looked away and started to say, "I'm-" when she was cut off.

"I know, I know," Sphaere interrupted, "yer sorry. I get it, this kid is nuts!" She said, shaking the child like a rag doll and then squeezing him tight again. "But yer 'is big sister now an' ya hafta look out fer 'im! 'E'll definitely find 'nuff trouble, so please be a li'l more careful with yer suggestions!”

"I'll do my best!" Rhystea said with a determined and still tearful eyed smile.

Looking down at the child, Sphaere asked him, "If I letcha down, are ya gonna do somethin' crazy?" The child looked back up at her and chirped confidently. "I'll take that as a maybe..." Sphaere said as she loosened her grip on the child.

Regaining his freedom, the child hopped to the ground and turned towards the fire, then back to Sphaere and pointed at the fire before cocking his head to one side and letting out a soft chirp.

"Ya better stay away from there, if ya know what’s good fer ya!" Sphaere demanded, raising her voice. The child chirped up at her then turned towards the fire. Extending the tendril on his head, he probed in close to the fire. "Yer awful testy!" Sphaere protested. The child chirped sharply at her, then went back to probing the fire.

"What do you think he's doing?" Rhystea asked.

"Lookin' fer a way ta get inta trouble!" Sphaere declared, annoyed. The child probed the fire for a few minutes before retracting his tendril and tensing up with his arms outstretched in front of him. The girls watched him intently, waiting for something to happen without having any clue as for what to expect.

The child closed his eyes and relaxed. Something in his chest started to glow faintly, then brighter. The light slowly began to pulse through the child's body. 

"What in THE world?" Sphaere asked in wonder, emphasizing and articulating 'the'. Rhystea didn’t say anything, instead watching intently. "I've got a bad feelin' 'bout this..." Sphaere said hesitantly.

"Think we should stop him?" Rhystea asked. Both girls started to reach for him, but it was too little, too late! Between the child's outstretched hands, a small fire formed! Pleased with himself, the child chirped and turned to a surprised Rhystea and Sphaere and held the small flame out to them.

"My word, he did that even faster than the barrier earlier!" Rhystea said excitedly. "Even though this is just a raw energy emission, he duplicated what he saw and... wow, is that even possible?"

Sphaere had been silent, then suddenly lashed out and clapped her hands together on the small flame, putting it out completely. "Ooh! Hot!" She exclaimed, tending to her hands for a moment, then turning and angry eye to the child. "Oi!" she roared, then softly added "what'd I lit'rally jus' tell ya?"

"Literally." Rhystea corrected in a soft voice. Sphaere turned and stuck her tongue out at Rhystea and in response, Rhystea pouted out her lower lip and turned away.

The child chirped sharply, clearly in annoyance, then tensed up again. The light in his chest brightened as the child began to strain himself. "Uh-oh." Sphaere said, worry written across her face.

"I think we should..." Rhystea paused before finishing with, “...take a step back."

The child was glowing brighter and brighter as the girls took a step back, then another when he started to emit a soft but sharp ringing noise.

"We should stop him, but how..." Rhystea wondered out loud, eyes wide with both curiosity and concern. Sphaere started to take a step towards the child, but it was in vain.

There was an explosion of flame centered on the child as a fire leapt up into the air and came crashing back down on him, leaving him clad in flames but otherwise unharmed. Both girls were thrown backwards a few feet, but were unscathed for the most part.

"Goodness!" Rhystea cried out, followed by a "This kid!" from Sphaere, as the girls climbed to their feet.

The child turned to them with a defiant look and a chirp to match, his body covered by gentle flames.

Rhystea retrieved and replaced her glasses before removing and cleaning them, then donning them once again. "Quite the fast learner, aren't you?"

"He ain’t learn a darn thing!" Sphaere sighed, closing her eyes and folding her arms. "Jus' what exactly are we supposed ta do with 'im now?"

"The same thing you do with any kid, though I guess we really shouldn't treat him like any normal kid." Rhystea said with a laugh.

"I gotcha, a li'l tough love, eh?" Sphaere said with a wicked grin as she slammed her fist into an open palm, cracking her knuckles.

"Uh, no! We have to teach him! You know, to not do stuff like that!" Rhystea stated matter-of-factly.

"Well 'e'll definitely learn not ta do it again with my way!" Sphaere stated as she popped the knuckles on her other hand.

"No, no, no! We can't have you raising him up to be a barbarian!" Rhystea said firmly.

"Oh, we're raisin' 'im now are we?" Sphaere inquired.

"Well... I get that we're clearly in no way prepared, and we very well might not be able to handle him, but..." Rhystea paused.

"But...?" Sphaere echoed.

"But we can't just abandon him!" Rhystea half yelled this at Sphaere, who smiled softly and gently replied, "Yer right 'bout that!"

The child, still completely immolated, cocked his head to one side and peered at the girls with a curious chirp.

"Well what are we going to do with you?" Rhystea said as she looked down at the child.

An excited chirp was the only answer they got out of him. Completely oblivious to the fact that he was still cloaked in flames, he walked up to Rhystea and held his hands up. He wanted to be picked up.

"I... don't think so..." Rhystea said, taking a step back.

The child turned with a chirp to Sphaere and held his hands out to her.

"Don' look at me!" Sphaere said, also taking a step back.

The child's hands slowly lowered as his eyes welled up. This took both girls by surprise, they both started to protest, but it was in vain. There was a shrill squeal as the child started wailing.

"Oh, come now, don't cry! We're right here!" Rhystea tried comforting him to no avail. He reached out to her again, but again she pulled away. Much to the girls' dismay, this caused him to start wailing even louder.

Sphaere quickly ran to get the container of water she dropped a little ways back then quickly returned to the flaming child and doused him. There was an earsplitting shriek as the child's flame was put out, causing him to start shivering. Rhystea quickly scooped him up and held him tight. "There, there! No more tears, okay little one?"

"No more fire!" A wide eyed Sphaere insisted.

The child just shivered and clung tightly to Rhystea.

"I don't think he liked that very much!" Rhystea said as she smiled in relief.

"Tough love!" Sphaere responded, "'E shore likes where 'e is now a lot more than where 'e was!"

"I don't think he'd argue with you on that one!" Rhystea laughed.

The child closed his eyes and clung tightly to Rhystea, shivering less and less as he started to warm up. He looked up at her with weary, drooping eyes and cooed softly.

Wanting to rock him a little, Rhystea attempted to lower him from around her neck down to her arms; but the child wasn't about to have that! There was a shrill squeak when she tried to lower him, but he wasn't about to let go; he clung to her with all the strength he could muster from his arms, feet and even his tendril. "Okay, okay!" Rhystea tried comforting him, "I think you could use a nap!"

"’Im an' me both!" Sphaere stated with a sigh.

Rhystea carried him over to the fire and found a comfortable enough looking spot to occupy.

Sphaere followed suit and laid down next to her. "Helluva day, huh? Is it even half over?"

"Ugh, that's a scary thought!" Rhystea groaned.

"Wake me up if anything excitin’ happens." Sphaere said with a yawn, rolling over to her side and turning away from Rhystea.

"Count on it!" Rhystea insisted as she tried to reposition the child to her arms who squealed in protest. "Alright, alright! You can stay there!"

Clinging to her for all he was worth, the child's eyes would start to droop before opening all the way back up and shaking his head, then leering up at Rhystea again with a soft chip before his eyes started to droop again. She giggled, "Don't fight it, just go to sleep! I know, how about a lullaby? My mom would sing this to me!"

No one could see it because she was turned away, but Sphaere grimaced at the thought. Not because she had anything against lullabies, but because she was immediately reminded of when she'd sing her little brother to sleep, and then couldn't stop thinking about how they last had parted. She forgot all about that.

"It's called 'Why the Caged Bird Sings." Rhystea stated before clearing her throat, and with the voice of a choir angel, sang out:

 

               "Do you know why the caged bird sings?

               Not just for us, but for tears not seen!

               For those who would cry as we try and fail,

               For those who cheer when we finally prevail!

               Did you not know that Guardian Angels are

               Watching over and after us from not so far!

               Do you know not why the caged bird sings?

               Ask you what this innocent prisoner’s song means?

               A song not just for us, but for hurt surely felt,

               For those whom fate a cruel hand has dealt!

               A joyful noise for those with hearts full of mean,

               For those who have felt betrayal’s poisonous sting,

               For those who know what ‘Unforgivable’ means!

               For those who scorn sky with broken wings!

               A Song for those forlorn of Love's comforting!"

 

Rhystea stopped singing as she looked down at the child, whose eyes had been closed, but opened back up a little when she fell silent. Rhystea cleared her throat again, but before she could start singing, she was interrupted.

Sphaere was shocked, the same lullaby her own mother had sung for her, that she herself had sang for her little brother! It was something she never expected! When Rhystea paused, Sphaere took a deep breath, then cried out like a lonely siren:

 

               "Empty feel those caught in Envy’s trap,

               For those who want what they cannot have!

               For those who would err when drunk with wrath!

               For those who get caught in hatred’s game,

               For those who get cut in Malice’s name!

               The caged bird sings for those with too much to bear,

               For those who can no more sweet songs hear?

               A gift of true music for their dreaming ear!

               And for what reasons hath this bird sang?

               For those who would curse their own precious name,

               For those who’ve been clouded with Despair’s eyes,

               Would shed this world and discard their lives!

               The caged bird sings through bars forged of all these things,

               In spite of being deaf to Freedom’s glorious ring!

               Because this blessed bird sings a song of Love,

               Of Love unseen to all but those above!"

 

Without so much as exchanging glances, the girls both started the song over; singing for a child that was already asleep, after which they both closed their eyes and fell silent.

Without another word, both girls drifted off to sleep, neither noticing the pair of piercing eyes that had been fixed on them from up on high. A smile spread across the face of the shadowy figure before he vanished into thin air.

 

"Dammit, this isn't what we agreed on!" Tellamar yelled angrily at the shadowy figure.

"You're absolutely right, that's why I'm holding on to them." The figure replied calmly.

"What is the problem then, you got two instead of just one didn't you?!" Tellamar yelled again.

"Incorrect. I got two halves, and in this instance, two halves no not make up a whole. At least, not yet. That's why I'm holding on to them." The figure seemed to leer down coldly at Tellamar.

"Bullshit! We followed your orders to the letter! The problem is you were wrong!" Tellamar was still yelling.

"Incorrect again, you disappoint me, Tellamar. The problem is, nothing is over yet. Your work is still incomplete." The figure said coldly.

"Well you haven't given me any more orders and I'm not going to simply stand by idly while my daughter nears her death with each passing moment!" Tellamar yelled resolutely.

"Whatever do you mean?" The shadow grinned widely. "You consolidated all our assets into one compound that will see to the Umbral Point, I'll overlook the blunder from your military connections." The shadow continued crossly, "you even gave me subjects to test the Point with and set the stage here at this facility for that very test."

Tellamar's eyes went wide, "So I've been dancing to your tune all this time, is that it? If you not only knew about all that but even counted on it, then what's next? When can I get to my daughter?"

"One body needs to hold both the Astral and the Umbral Points, we've already proven they can exist within a single body. All we need now is a body capable of handling them both, just not at the same time. Keeping them separate will be something they can learn. It will be more of a mental skill. Once they obtain that capability, they will simply have to apply them on both a conscious and subconscious level." The figure explained.

"So what in the hell is it you're wanting me to do instead of tending to my dying daughter?" Tellamar asked, annoyed.

"I want sufficient challenges to present them - obstacles for them to overcome. These tests will spur on their growth, through which they will mature." The shadowy figure stated.

"And if I don't, you'll kill me or something, right?" Tellamar said, annoyed, "My daughter's life means more to me than my own, figure that into your calculations!" Tellamar turned and started walking away from the figure.

"And where are you going?" The figure said with a smile.

Tellamar stopped mid step, just long enough to answer him. "To make a test fit for a monster, then I'm going back to my daughter. If you need something else from me, I'm sure you'll... Let me know." Tellamar scoffed, then continued on.

"Ahh, you're learning. I love that about your kind, so much more than the naked monkeys you appear to be. As a reward, why don't you..." The shadow's grin widened, "...leave your daughter to me?"

Tellamar's eyes went wide, he turned, but the figure had already vanished. "I don't know if I should be thankful... or afraid..." He turned back and continued in the direction he had been. "Monster tests, is it? If nothing else, I can make sure they learn to be... strong. They'll have to be."

Stopping what he was doing, Dr. Tellamar turned to his terminal and started pounding away at his keyboard. “Another long shot, but those are all I’ve got left. I’ll just have to send for the brother too. I just hope it’s not to late.”

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