Lucia could not be certain, but she knew the darkness was toying with them. Whatever it was doing would not end here, not so swiftly. The darkness knew no such mercy. A deep chuckle inside her head, a sinister laugh, erupted as images of glaring red eyes flashed within her mind: “Darkness will thrive. You won’t survive it.”
Suddenly there was another roar, and Lucia flew forward as a fierce force pushed up from beneath her. She tried to scream, but instead she inhaled a heavy gulp of unwanted air. Her sight blurred as panic gripped her mind, bleeding it dry. She saw Leo’s face as he watched her fly over his head.
“Lucia!” he called while reaching toward her, losing his balance and falling backward to land next to a silent and unconscious Luzanna. There was a crack as his head hit the wall. It throbbed as he lifted it and searched for that glow, only to see it beneath the rail. Adrenaline burned through his blood as he scurried, hoping to see her. He crawled, reaching for the glow, until his hand met another on the shaking stone.
Lucia could hear her own heavy breathing as she fought to keep herself on the ledge. The tower trembled, and agonizing wails came from every direction. She was clutching the base of the stairway, trying not to slip into the darkness that was forcefully pulling her down. But the strength she was using wasn’t her own.
Leo held onto her as he hugged the stone beneath him. He looked back, only to see a shimmer of platinum, motionless. He brought his eyes back to the glow, using it to guide his sight. What was all this? It was like gravity, but stronger. Colder, bitter, and more destructive. He clenched his teeth growling as he pulled Lucia with all his might, shifting his weight away from the darkness’ strange power.
Lucia concentrated on the warmth of his hands, trying to keep her fragile mind from breaking. She wept, tightening her grip to pull herself up.
“Hold on,” Leo whispered to himself as he pushed up against the stone with his feet. “Oh light, please. Give me strength!” he screamed, using the last of his power and pulling fiercely in a final effort, pushing his body up onto to his feet.
Lucia brought herself up, freeing herself from the hold of the being, from whatever grip it had on her, and without hesitation threw herself into Leo’s arms, smashing her face against his chest.
Leo fell backward as she landed on top of him. Lucia’s heart beat hard against his skin through his torn shirt. For a moment, there was a feeling of peace as his senses homed in on the sound of her breath. He was rushed with a sense of pride he had not felt in some time. He’d saved Lucia’s life. Leo embraced her, almost as if he would never let her go. He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.
She pressed her face against his shoulder as the stairwell shook. Slowly, she raised her face to his ear. Leo listened intently, trying hard to hold on to every word.
She said, “It happens as it should. Be still.”
Leo blinked, clueless, as the stairway trembled, unable to wrap his head around those cryptic words. Her voice was so soft and so calm. It wasn’t like her at all. What did she mean? Did she mean to say that?
The stairway gave another quake, and Leo and the stairway began to crumble. Alert, he tried to rise, but Lucia lay tense and resistant on top of him, as if she were in a lock of some sort. She didn’t move. She was frozen, hard like a diamond. Not even he could break through to her. “Lucia, move now!” he yelled, but it was no use. She lay there, dormant. “Lucia!” he cried as he struggled, the steps widening under him and loosening from the wall they were attached to. “No, Lucia, wake up!” he urged, but still she lay silent, wrapped around his body. The stairs dipped, the pull of the force tearing them from the wall. Her grip loosened as the steps shattered under them. Luzanna drifted into the air, while Lucia seemed to glide upward, as Leo, finally, fell into the darkness.
***
Lucia could not make out what she was seeing. There was no way of telling what it was. Thousands of lights shot over a dark plane like shooting stars crossing the night sky. She was hovering, floating as if her body were weightless; and motionless as she watched those shooting lights glide over her. She was numb and felt no semblance of pain. She merely existed, with the lights. As graceful as they were, they showered around her and Lucia felt no fear or suffering as they consumed her. Suddenly, a golden light illuminated. Drifting among the stars in the distance was a figure, like a sleeping angel, dressed in gold-and-white cloth and with hair like honey. Is that me? Lucia thought. The golden light rose from her other body, rising out of her chest and clinging to it as it was torn from her. The light was not white like the Light Wings, and surely it did not come from within them. This was somehow her own.
Lucia heard the echo of a gentle voice. “Light amongst fragile waves.” What was this voice? What was it trying to tell her? “Sparkling softly as violet lays a blanket over an azure sky. As clear as the fuchsia rays drawn into the golden sun, silver flies, drawn here for a purpose—to serve with light and not dark shadow. Only with an intention renewed and cleansed for good can one bring what’s right to aid this life.” Lucia did not understand the words, so opaque. The gold grew, expelling over her body, drawing everything into it. Lucia’s consciousness dissolved and swallowed her into the light as it overtook her and threw her back to reality.
***
“No! No, please come back!” Lucia struggled as her body materialized and her senses sharpened. She jerked forward as if her spirit had awakened itself rather than her own body. She was breathing heavily, brought back into a gray reality—this nightmare that was her life. The faint glow of a flickering lamp hovered overhead. Her sight was still hazy, and her body ached as she tried to move. Her stockings were torn and her chest was cut. Blood had dried over her blouse and it covered Lucia’s hands, just as soot had the night her manor burned.
She looked around this dreadful place. The walls were worn brick, and the ground was moist dirt decaying with mold. Lucia covered her mouth and held in her breath. The wretched stench made it hard to breathe. Where was she? A drip of water fell from a crack in the ceiling over her. Immediately, she touched her neck, where the chain still embraced it. Lucia gave a sigh of relief and slowly went back to examining the room. Across from her was a wooden door, handle-less and rusted. This place was an abyss she could not escape from, a dungeon of despair. She had an idea of where she might be, but hoped it would not be so. She huddled close to a corner, trying to warm her wet body. She was soaked in sweat and her body trembled.
“Can this nightmare get any worse?” she whispered to herself, letting the words make it all the more real. She held her eyes shut, took in a breath, and remembered something her mother had taught her when she was a little girl. She embraced the silence and closed her eyes. She let go of the distractions and focused. I’m in Moz, sitting in the garden on a rainy day. She immediately felt a sense of being home run through her, almost as if she could open her eyes and be exactly where she said she was. She knew that was impossible, but she remembered what her mother had told her: “Faith is a powerful thing. With it, you can do anything, as long as it never breaks.”
Lucia had faith that the place she remembered truly existed. Still, she hoped to return someday. She could not see it, but as long as she believed in that place, as long as she closed her eyes and imagined it in her mind, even if she wasn’t there her home still existed deep within her heart. “Even for a moment, just let it all go, be home and feel happy.”
She smiled with the memory, ignoring the doubt inside. She refused to let it consume her. The darkness would not win. It would not destroy what little faith she had left. Even in her agony, she still had this memory of home to hold on to. “As long as there is light, there is hope,” she whispered to herself. “There has to be.”
She leaned back against the wall, unsure of what the future had for her. Lucia prayed for a miracle. She laid her head back and held on to her memory, using it to fuel the light she felt inside. She did not notice, but the Light Wings were sp
arkling a soft pink. Though the events of that night did not seem to offer the slightest glimmer of hope, she would soon realize that her prayers carried more power than she ever thought they would.
Chapter Eleven:
From Beneath
Luzanna’s eyes flickered beneath the soft light of the sun as it draped in through a skylight that made up half the ceiling above her bedroom. Her face brushed against the smooth surface of her silk pillow as her eyes flicked open, her breathing slow and deep. Her mask lay beside her. Wearily, she rose from the bed as if she had escaped from some terrible dream. Though still lightheaded, she was strong enough to stand. Her senses sharpened into focus.
“Was it all a dream?” Luzanna whispered. She placed a hand over her mask, trying hard to remember everything that had happened. Suddenly, she noticed two figures observing her from the foot of her bed. Her mother was dressed in similar fashion but clothed in deep blue, with a mask of a prominent jay covering her face. And beside her, armored heavily in the orange of gallant flames, was Luzanna’s father, sparkling in the sunlight beneath the window. His visor rose upward and curved over his head sharply. Atop were metallic feathers carved into the orange metal that hugged his upper face, and at the center of his forehead, placed within his visor, was the Elder Stone, glistening with its cascade of many colors. From his shoulder plates flowed multicolored ribbons that caped down his back.
“Luzanna, did they hurt you?” asked Ofelia, rushing towards her daughter. She brushed a hand to her Luzanna’s face. The delicate touch was enough to draw the rest of Luzanna’s wandering mind into reality.
Luzanna looked up at them as a sudden surge of pain rose in her left hand. “Ugh,” she groaned.
Her mother grabbed the hand as it tightened and twisted.
“Didn’t you both feel it? The quake that took the tower, where did it come from?” Luzanna asked. She panicked through the pain as her mother tried to relax her hand. “Mother, it’s fine.” She tore it from her mother’s grasp. The pain dissipated a bit as she stretched her fingers, but it persisted there, burning to the tips. Luzanna knew this was not normal but chose to ignore it. “Father, tell me what happened.”
Talon looked at his wife, who had understood Luzanna’s sharp actions and receded to his side. “The tower was taken hostage by outsiders. Somehow, they were able to infiltrate the city, but we managed to capture and maintain them. The city is safe once more.”
“Outsiders?” Luzanna asked, confused. She lowered her eyes, remembering the faint flashes of what happened, the sounds of the rubble falling from the tower and the sounds of shattering glass, those horrible screams. She could only imagine the blood, but still, she remembered the stench of it steaming through her nostrils as if it were still fresh, the smell of open flesh. She knew exactly how it had happened, exactly how her head had fallen to the wall, knocking her into darkness. He lied.
“Not long after the attack, gatekeepers from Pinea arrived and informed us of the calamity that befell their respective provinces. They told us of what that boy did to his father and of the girl he ran off with, the daughter of that fool! To think, after all this time and the mercy I shed, they’d return here to terrorize us.
“I can’t help but partly blame myself. The boy has been taken into questioning, and the girl remains imprisoned for the time being. We are lucky they didn’t cause more harm. They were both armed and very dangerous.”
Luzanna hesitated, recalling the warmth of the light she had seen draped around the neck of the girl dressed in soft yellow. Behind her father at the foot of the door, she saw the very bow the girl carried on her back. “You don’t mean Lucia and Leo, do you?” She flared up from the bed. “Father, you have it wrong. The gatekeepers have it wrong! They hurt no one. They came here to help us with the real threat.”
“Nonsense, let’s not take to such fantasies.” Talon smiled and gave her mother a slight wave, signaling that he wanted to be alone with their daughter. She nodded and touched Luzanna’s shoulder before heading to the door and out of their sight. “But I do have some questions for you as well, my dear.”
Luzanna shuddered a bit as a small orb of sweat ran along the side of her face.
“We found you beside the other two, unconscious. Though their attack was one of suicide, I wasn’t sure why you had been so close to them. What did they tell you if they did not try to hurt you as you say?” Talon crossed his arms and lowered his gaze from hers.
“Like I said, Father, they are not dangerous, nor are they radicals. I demand they be released this instant!” Luzanna stood firmly, her throbbing fist clenched. She refused to believe what her father said. “They aren’t the real threat here,” she whispered. “It was . . . ” Her throat swelled as she remembered the chill of its embrace and the coil of its touch as it gripped her spirit. The prophecy, was it coming true?
“Luzanna . . . ” Talon hesitated, suddenly choking on his words as they tried to leave his lips. She saw it in his eyes, a flicker of fear, as if he had something hidden deep within his opaque gaze. “I know what you are trying to say.” He nodded his head and let out a soft breath before staring back into her ocean-like eyes. The phoenix pointed to her hand before pacing to the side, still hesitant to speak.
“You do?” Luzanna looked away.
He nodded. He looked back at her and put a hand to his chest. “It breaks my heart that this day has come.” He walked over and faced Luzanna, placing his hands over hers. “I never thought my own daughter would fall victim to this plague.”
“Plague?” Luzanna asked softly.
Talon broke from her, stepping back and returning his hand to his chest. “Though you feel sympathy for them, Luzanna, you must forget them or you shall fall into sin as well. They are at fault.”
The glare in her eyes rescinded. “What are you talking about?”
“Though they didn’t mean harm, they still brought it into our province. Our kingdom fell victim to their sin,” Talon said, his deep voice echoing through the silence with a heavy bellow.
Luzanna fell silent, waiting for the vibrations to calm before she tried to speak. “They brought what?”
“Luzanna, there are things in this world not meant for the rest of Terestria to know. Becoming master of this province comes the burden of this knowledge. You have always been a smart girl. You know wisdom has its price!”
His eyes closed behind his visor, releasing tears like her mother’s, except Luzanna perceived more pain in them—somehow, she had gained a new perception. This fresh feeling came through her throbbing hand, so strong she could sense that her father was somehow corrupted by his own emotion. The truth he refused to speak, the truth he knew of all this time, was being cast aside and rejected.
He clenched his teeth. “Do you really think I hadn’t seen those wings before?”
She gasped, nearly falling backward onto the bed. He knew. “Father, then surely you must know of the real threat. The darkness of legend, don’t you remember?”
Talon nodded, stepping backward. “Yes, and also I remember that warning left so many years ago by that imbecile. The fall of this empire and the death of its king are all signified with the emergence of those wings.” He turned his head away from Luzanna as her fear heightened.
“So surely you would help them, wouldn’t you?” she asked.
Talon locked his gaze to her, showing nothing more than rage in his eyes. “Never,” he whispered.
Luzanna released a whine of grief. “Why not?”
“Do you know what their war has brought into this world?” His voice held nothing more than burning venom that stung Luzanna’s eyes, bringing only more pain into her heart. “Their sin has brought forth the very pure form of evil, sin incarnate.”
“Father, their war is in the past. They aren’t responsible for the sins of their ancestors.”
“Luzanna,” he cried. “You don’t know what kind of
omen this is, or of the consequences that shall be faced from here on. They are unbearable. And Sigranole”—Talon sounded hurt by this revelation—“my friend is dead, and presumably by his son’s own hand. How could I forgive this?”
“Why call them dangerous radicals or terrorists when you know the truth, Father? Why do you lie as if you know nothing?” She tried to hold firm, but her emotions were tingling beneath her skin. “You’re nothing more than a liar, to me and your own people. That itself is its own sin!” Luzanna’s blood rushed to her chest, causing her heart to clatter beneath her chest plate. It sounded as if rain were falling within her head, making her lips flush bright red. “Tell me what is going on and why it is happening! Withholding the truth is just as bad as lying about it.”
Talon looked wearily to his daughter, exhaling in disappointment and sadness. “I will not,” he said, taking a step toward the door. “Because I will see to the destruction of those wings and the execution of those two for what they brought into this world. I’ll do what I should have done to their parents so long ago. They will be punished for their crimes.”
“Crimes they did not commit! No one is born guilty of their parents’ crimes,” Luzanna cried, throwing herself forward to grab her father’s arm. “Please, Father, you can’t control everything. You’re going to make things worse. We have to let them help us or we will suffer a fate worse than death. The Light Wings are here to redeem us, not destroy us!”
Talon jerked his arm from her before sending a firm hand across her face. Luzanna fell backward and onto the floor. The moisture of her tears stung as they ran down the palm mark on her face. She looked at her father, who stood silently in front of the door. He turned his head to look back to Luzanna as she tried to tough through the pain. She held her cheek with her hand.
“This world is built on secrets, Luzanna. Don’t you dare share what I spoke with you here today or I’m afraid you would have to suffer a fate just as they do.” He glowered at his daughter, who only let out a wail of grief as he bolted out the door with a slam.
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