Chapter Fifty-Two: Darkness Within, Shadow Without
“Zenith!”
Olivia tired of the falcon’s games. Despite her attempts to befriend it without a fight, it refused. It looked at her like it would look at a mouse. She would have to prove to it that she was worthy of its companionship. If not it, then one of the pretty birds chirping behind it in its mighty nest.
Her rapier stabbed forward, boring holes through the walls of wind assaulted her with. Her wind empowered strikes stabbed a hole through the wall. She jumped through, pirouetting away from a follow-up flurry of attacks from its wings. Glaring at it, she bit her lip.
“You’re kind of a jerk, you know?” Briefly glancing behind her, Aiden stuck a thumb up in support. Turning back, she steeled her resolve. “Doesn’t matter how hard you try, I’m taking you back with me!”
It ignored her, preening its feathers.
“I hope you’re ready! I’m coming!” Darting forward, she danced through its wave of blasts. The faster her speed ramped up, the faster it attacked, matching the progessive growth of her Alacrity.
It’s almost as if…
When the realization dawned her, she could’ve sworn that the damned bird smirked at her! It was testing her!
Totally a jerk!
Pushing herself to her limits, she dashed and dodged away from the continuous assault. Zenith was the only reason this could even be attempted, giving her a healthy speed boost the longer they continued. It made up for the difference in understanding of the wind Discipline.
As much as the phoenix had interested her, she’d felt the wind Essence oozing from this falcon. If she could tame it and take one of its birb-babies home, then she could possibly learn a thing or two.
Not only that, the four wings on their bodies accompanied by the fluffy feathers made them absolutely adorable, and she couldn’t pass that up.
Things became a bit trickier the closer she made it to the falcon. Its attacks were harder to avoid since she had less time to dodge. Only by paying close attention to the way its attacks formed could she progress forward.
Before, her progress was measured in steps, but now she advanced by inches. Even though she dodged side to side, it controlled her movements. It only allowed her to take very specific routes through its barrages.
I’m being played with! She gritted her teeth, frustrations building to the point her eyes started stinging. Digging deep, she found the courage she needed. She noticed from the beginning that she’d never be able to reach the nest.
No, she would have to jump.
And if she didn’t time it right, she had a feeling the falcon wouldn’t hesitate to send her careening down to the bestiary floor. She wasn’t quite ready to test her ability to sky-dive. Even if flight might be an option in the future, it was currently not something she could do now.
An idea formed.
Dancing through the walls and blades of wind, she put her left hand behind her back. Thinking of the ability she wanted to activate, she channeled Essence into her hand to give it a focus point. Then, as she stepped closer to the edge, she threw her hand forward.
A blinding flash of light struck the bird dumb, and she made her leap of faith. Time slowed as she hung in the air, watching as the shocked falcon narrowed its hawk-eyes at her. It opened its beak wide, but she’d already won.
Stepping behind it, its blast of wind missed entirely. With a hop, it turned itself around to glare at her. The intensity of its gaze made her gulp. The way it analyzed her up and down made her uncomfortable.
Then its features softened, and it waved two wings towards the nest of chirping alien falcons. Olivia celebrated her victory over the bird, letting out an excited jig as the little falcons danced around her feet.
“Okay, okay, okay! Which one of you birbs wanna come with me, huh?” Crouching low, she pet each one. They chirped incessantly, but it reminded her of bells in a spring breeze. Soft and musical.
One in particular jumped up onto her hand, scaled her arm, and found its home on her shoulder. Nuzzling against her head, it chirped in delight.
She leaned back to look at the chick on her shoulder. Giggling, she spoke to the little falcon claiming her as its new perch. “I think the choice was made for me. You’re a friendly one, yeah? Much better than your stinky parent.”
The chick chirped, and she took that as agreement. Ignoring the notifications popping up in front of her, she kissed the chick on the head and took it up in her hands.
“So, what do I call you? Birb?” A small wind wall blasted her hair into a mess. “Not Birb. Got it. What about… Zeal?”
The falcon nuzzled against her.
“Zeal it is.” Turning her attention to the notifications, she grinned. “Looks like you’re officially my little buddy. You’ll grow to be a big birb, and we’ll be an awesome team. I wonder… Do you eat Essence like Blizzy?”
She took out an Orb from her pack, holding it in front of the chick. “If you eat these, you’ll get stronger. In a way, I kind of eat them, too. I wonder if that’s healthy? Who knows, but it’s probably fine. So, how about it?”
Zeal pecked at the proffered Orb, nicking her fingers a couple of times before it finally absorbed the treat. Letting out a satisfied chirp, it jumped back to her shoulder and started singing a song. The parent-falcon - since Olivia had no idea how to tell if it was a boy or girl - began to sing along, standing proudly.
The song turned melancholic as the parent-falcon bowed, waving its wings back toward where Aiden waited with a beaming smile.
Olivia started to feel bad about taking the chick from its parent. “You know, this doesn’t have to be goodbye. We’re in an Alliance with the Naudox now, so Zeal could probably come back and visit. I hope so, at least.”
The falcon glared back at her, squinting. Squawking angrily, she took the hint. Waving to the rest of the chicks singing a broken melody of the goodbye song, she took a few short steps and leaped back, grabbing the handrail and throwing herself over. She almost had a heart attack when Zeal opened its wings and nearly fell down to the biomes below.
The cheeky birb just squawked at her like nothing happened.
“Good job, Oli! That was really impressive. Not sure if I could’ve done the same.” Aiden walked over to her and reached a hand out toward Zeal, but the chick squawked angrily, batting Aiden away with its wings. Its little wind blasts weren’t quite powerful enough to do much to him, but the intent got across. Scratching his head, he raised a questioning brow. “Doesn’t seem to like me much. Wonder why?”
Looking behind her brother, Olivia saw Blizzy staring daggers at Zeal. She stuck a tongue out at the baby dragon, laughing as it chuffed out an icy cloud.
“I think I might have an idea.”
Following her gaze, he noticed the grumpy dragon. “Yeah, that might be it. Dauvar said something like this might happen. Probably for the best that he didn’t give me the Quest.”
“You didn’t get it?” she asked, shocked. “That doesn’t seem quite fair. Even if you have Blizzy, everyone else is getting a pet. Would another one really hurt?”
“Uh, apparently so.” Aiden grinned at his pouting dragon. “She’s very protective. I think she would try to fight or eat any other companion I chose. It’s okay though,” he said, crouching low and beckoning Blizzy over. She hopped up, her tail wagging like a dogs. Nuzzling against his open hands and receiving pets calmed her, and he looked back up at Olivia. “She’s a good girl. I wouldn’t want her to think I was trying to replace her.”
Olivia smiled as Aiden played with Blizzy, rolling around on the ground with the happy dragon. She continued to feed Orbs to Zeal one at a time, the little chick filling its Essence-belly until it was ready to pop. Stopping after a dozen, she held her new companion in her arms as it slept.
“Ready to go down?” Aiden asked.
She nodded, following him down.
Disclaimer: This includes potentially triggering material.
You've been warned.
There!
Isaac jumped, grabbing a vine nearby and swinging down to the jungle floor. The game of tag with the alien panthers was exhausting, but it taught him a lot about shadow magic. As they reformed, the tickling feeling slowly subsided as the kittens materialized after the larger panther.
They mewled in delight as he chased after them, and they continued to run him in circles, following their momma. His perseverance drew him closer than ever to catching one of the little kittens. He wouldn’t leave until he had one!
Their grace, their mastery over shadows even at such a young age, their teeth and claws of violet power. It all intrigued him. More so than his knives did, for the moment at least. As he observed their power, he started to feel how it functioned.
He hadn’t yet unlocked his Mastery, but he was close. No, he spent most of his time testing the extent of his abilities and growing his senses. The only way he could even dream of catching the panthers was his utilization of shadows.
Anchoring himself to a point in the distance, he would pull himself to them as he swung or ran. As he did so, the space between him and where he wanted to go shrank. It reminded him a lot of the dungeon’s strange effect - how everything seemed to stretch when the shadows permeated the walls.
Reversing that principle allowed him a speed he otherwise couldn’t obtain. Olivia told him of Zenith, and he had nearly gone green with envy. Without the speed boosting skill, he had to get creative to add mobility to his skill set.
And so, he chased after the panthers.
Pulling himself across distances, he noticed the kittens start to shine a dark violet.
Damnit!
His senses tingled again, and he immediately reached out with another tether, releasing his control over the first. Pulling himself upwards, he jumped from the vine and landed on a large branch. The tree easily held his weight, barely even shaking.
Throwing himself off, he tethered to a point above him, using it to arc his descent enough for him to grab onto another vine. Grabbing it, he instantly latched another tether, a headache beginning to form.
And then they were there, and he landed only a few feet away. They took off running after momma panther, her abilities far superior to the kittens’. The chase continued, but this time would be different.
Circling around the jungle, he ignored most of the other animals within, though he made sure not to trample over or run into any. Angry creatures trying to maul him would make the chase harder than it already was as well as cause him bodily harm.
The former mattered more than the latter.
The violet glowing began again, but instead of attaching a tether to where they might reappear, he attached it to the kitten closest to him. When all the others winked out in a blip of violet, it mewled in surprise as the skill failed to activate.
Stumbling head over heel, the baby panther looked around, growling as he neared. Ignoring its angry snarls, he scooped the kitten up, holding it at arm’s reach. “I gotcha!”
A deep rumbling shook him to the bone from behind. Slowly turning, momma panther was only a foot away. Violet tendrils of power buzzed in the air much like tentacles, writhing and buzzing with power. Momma panther crouched low, stalking around him.
“I win…?” he asked, jumping away from her as she blinked through the distance. A tether pulled him away before the tentacles could wrap around him, but he didn’t get out completely unscathed. Hissing in pain, he looked down at his dirty pants. The pants leg was gone, and his skin underneath began to blister. “Momma panther is very unamused.”
The kitten in his arms struggled, fighting tooth and nail to break free. It clamped down on his hands, causing him to yelp and drop the kitten. Then it vanished, appearing next to momma panther.
“Come on! Really?” He fell to his hands and knees. “Why? I had you. It was a game, right? I wasn’t going to hurt the little kitten. I just…”
Grumbling, he took out his new knife and pushed himself onto his butt. Holding the knife in two hands, he kicked his feet and pushed himself back against a tree. His thoughts began to spiral down as he stared at the knife, the point oriented toward his chest.
“Stop,” he commanded to himself. “Stop it!” His hands tensed against the knife, a conflicting war raging within. “You’re better than this… Stronger than this…”
The tip of the blade looked so inviting though. No matter how many times he told himself he shouldn’t, the thought always haunted himself. Ever since father came home...
“You need to live for them…” That’s what they told him. Standing before three graves, they told him he needed to live on for them. “‘You have to live on to carry their memory’.” The words echoed in his mind. People tried to sympathize, but they didn’t know what it was like.
“‘Be strong, Isaac. That’s what they would want, Isaac. You have to live on for them, Isaac. They would want you to live a happy life, Isaac! To be successful! To keep them in your heart!’ That’s what they said!”
But look at where he was now.
The knife inched closer to his chest.
A soft head bumped against his arm, startling him. Looking to the side, he saw the same kitten he caught, staring up at him. The kitten stared deep into his eyes, mewling softly.
Looking down at the knife nearly pressing against his chest, he panicked and dropped it. Pulling his arms to his chest, he doubled over and cried. The panther licked him, and he tried to shoo it away.
“Go away!” he shouted. Through bleary, tear-filled eyes, he stared down at the kitten. As much as he stared, he didn’t see the kitten.
He saw his father, standing over his mother’s body while holding the gun that claimed her life.
He saw his sister try to stab father, falling to the floor.
He remembered the sound of the knife and father’s groan.
He heard the gun go off at point blank range.
And he remembered being alone.
So alone.
Blinking away the tears, he wiped the snot from his nose with his sleeve. Reaching over, he picked up the kitten. “I don’t have to be alone anymore, right? You’ll be my family, right?”
The kitten purred loudly, and he pulled it to his chest.
“I don’t want to be alone anymore, Emmy.” After crying until he was numb, allowing him a cathartic release of pent up skeletons, he looked at his new companion.
“Shadow. I know it’s not original, but Emmy always wanted a black cat. She wanted to name it Shadow, so you’re Shadow now. Okay?” The panther kitten snuggled closer to him, purring.
Looking up, he saw momma panther give him a long look before shepherding the rest of the kittens away.
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