Playing With Fire

by Jordan Mendez

  A little ways away, Siren burst out of sleep at the first scream, only to scream herself. There, wasting away on the ground, where two dead Shadows. Both of their bodies were already starting to become ashes. At the sound of Siren screaming, Yuki also awoke. Still in the form of a wolf, Yuki could not scream, but she jumped back a whole three feet. Hesitantly, Siren nudged over to one of the dead Shadows, and jabbed it with her dagger. Immediately, it disintegrated and became nothing more than a pile of ashes.

  “Yuki, go get Kyra, now,” Siren ordered with a sense of leadership no one could expect just by looking at her. Yuki grunted in response and bolted off towards the camp. Now fully awake, Siren bent down on one knee to examine the pile of ashes left by the Shadow. The grey ashes smelled distinctly of dead bodies mixed with fresh blood, but that was the way all Shadows smelt. Siren stuck one delicate little hand into the pile and grabbed as much as her child like hand could hold. The grey ashes fell through the spaces between her fingers as if it were sand. Siren examined it as if it were the key to existence.

  “What do you think happened?” a female voice said from behind her, which would have made her jump if she was a normal human. But Siren wasn’t human, and she was used to Kyra’s games.

  “I’m not sure,” Siren replied as she turned to face Kyra. “But whatever it was, it can’t be good. There is only one origin of Shadows, and that origin wants us all dead.” Kyra nodded in agreement.

  “It seems there was something similar to this all over camp,” Kyra said solemnly. “By every occupied bedside there was at least one dead Shadow, already wasting away. What really frightens me is if there was even one Shadow at a time when we were most vulnerable, why aren’t we all dead?” Siren bit her free thumb and tried to think of an answer.

  “This isn’t in the nature of a Shadow,” Siren said, mostly to herself. “They were made for the soul purpose of killing and devouring humans. Velkire wouldn’t have done this just to show us how powerful he is, we already know that. If this was just a scam to scare us into stopping our search for Moraj, then he might be getting rather desperate. But he doesn’t operate like that. It’s just too out of character for him. Unless…” A sudden epiphany struck them both at the same time.

  Siren sprang up and bolted for the tree Scarlet had chosen the night before to sleep near. Siren had protested about it was too far from her, but Scarlet wouldn’t listen. She shouldn’t have let her sleep so far away. Siren hadn’t had much hopes of finding her there, but her fears grew when she saw Al. Alone he wept on the ground, and Scarlet was nowhere in sight. Fear taking over, Siren swept down to Al’s position and forced him to look at her.

  “Where is Scarlet?” she asked with urgency in her voice. She had already lost the child once. Al tried to answer but was choked up by tears.

  “Where is she!” Siren barked at him.

  “Gone!” Al croaked out. The word stabbed his heart with a searing pain. “He took her!” Siren’s heart started racing. Her whole body clenched as her fears became a reality.

  “Who took her?” she nearly screamed out of fear.

  “Who do you think!” Al screamed back at her in rage, but it was himself he was enraged at. “Velkire took her! He and the demon man came and took her! She’s gone!” Al saw fear in Siren’s eye, and his guilt reached a new high. Siren released him, and sank to her knees in disbelief. Once again, she had lost the child that the Healer had appointed her to protect with her life. Kyra saw that neither of them could come to accept what had happened. Kyra didn’t want to—she loved Scarlet like a daughter almost—but she had a job. Turning away from the two, she sprinted back to camp to tell them the grave news. Their last hope had been taken by the prince of hell himself.

  Let me start off by saying, I do not recommend traveling by portals—especially evil black fire, swirly ones. Not only does the swirling make one dizzy, the landing is crude for beginners.

  Without warning, the portal deposited us in another dark room. Unfortunately, it did not deposit us on the ground. The ground or whatever I had been standing on in the portal disappeared beneath me, and I fell through the air, landing flat on my butt. Enzio chuckled as he landed cat like on his feet. Velkire did the same. Apparently warnings were not in either of their plans. Neither of them offered a hand of assistance, and I didn’t ask for one. Ignoring my aching butt injury, I got up and examined my surroundings.

  Like I said before, it was dark. I don’t know what they had against a little bit of daylight, but darkness wasn’t my thing. Maybe it was just a bad guy kind of thing. Never the less, I snapped my fingers and a little flame illuminated my hand, giving me a better look at where ever the hell I was.

  If you can imagine creepy haunted castles, that’s basically where I was. No matter where I looked, there were cobwebs. I cringed. I hated spiders. And these weren’t the average ‘I need to clean the house’ cobwebs. These were like the kinds found in tombs.

  Old portraits of past kings and queens hung on the walls. Their eyes bore holes into me, and even when I looked away I could still feel their icy gaze drilling holes into my skull. Old suits of armor guarded a grand archway, but the once mighty looking hollow soldiers were subdued by dust and nets of cobweb. A grand red carpet rested beneath my feet, and led up to a throne that put the Castle of Wine’s to shame. But the once beautiful carpet was ripped and stained with old blood. Humongous crystal clear glass windows sat behind the throne and revealed a stormy night sky outside, accompanied by a vast collection of towers that guarded a stone courtyard. Lightning flashed, illuminating the damage done. Dead plants, trees and grass lay scorched in the once fine courtyard. A large dry cracked water fountain sat in the dead center. The scene made chills go down my spine, but at the same time filled me with sorrow. So much beauty had gone to waste. Velkire waited patiently as I absorbed my surroundings.

  “Like it?” he asked as I strode over to the large windows. I ignored him and gazed out through the window. Unfortunately, I could not see past the towers, giving me no idea where we were location wise. “This is one of my favorite abodes. Enzio claimed it for me long ago, before you were born. It was around the time I was searching for a new body, and my soul had harbored in a very unique sword. I believe you have encountered it once. Its name is Alma Ladron. As you could probably tell, the language it was named in is not your own, so I will tell you what it means. Translated into our tongue, it means ‘soul thief’. It was named after its first master, a legendary thief that started off much like you. I’d get into details but it’s a rather long story with an unsatisfying ending. But then again, from your position, everything in your life has an unsatisfying ending.”

  “Why don’t you just shut up and kill me already?” I interrupted emotionlessly. “That’s why you brought me here, and it would be a shame if boredom killed me before you.”

  Velkire only laughed.

  “Kill you?” he said. “I didn’t take you here to kill you! I could have done that at any time if I wanted to. No, I brought you here because I found it suitable to reward you for all your hard work. I brought you here to live with me, and stop this stupid feud. Siblings shouldn’t fight you know.” That last sentence caught my attention.

  “What are you talking about?” I spat.

  “I’m only saying that family shouldn’t fight,” Velkire said smiling. “After all, I’ve been longing to see my only little sister since you were born. But our wretched mother kept you away from me and hid you with those hideous rebels.” My heart almost stopped. Suddenly I felt light headed.

  “What are you talking about?” I managed to stutter. Velkire only smiled.

  “You mean no one ever told you?” He said in disbelief. “Scarlet, you and I are brother and sister. Our mothers were the same person. You are my baby sister.” That was all that it took to send me off the edge. I could only manage one last statement before my body completely shut itself off.

  “You’ve got to be joking!”

  Al was still sniffling and wipin
g away stray tears as the king, Kyra and Siren argued about what to do inside one of the big makeshift tents. The sound of raised carried through the night, and Al could imagine his master inside sighing and waiting to leave. His master was not an oppressive man, and he detested conflict.

  It was around midnight, but no one in the camp was asleep. They were all still on edge from waking up and finding a dead Shadow greeting them. That’s like your mother waking you up one morning and her entire face had been burned off. That was close to how Scarlet, Al, Seth, and Darren had been woken up when they were little, even if Jake’s face wasn’t entirely burned. People were all bustling around him, but he felt utterly and entirely alone. All he could think about was that this was his fault. He couldn’t save Scarlet in her time of need. He had changed a lot since he arrived at the rebels’ camp, but he was still the same frightened little boy who depended on his sister to save him. Even with the new powers he had come to obtain through training with his master, Al could not amount to Scarlet or Vaze or any of his brothers. He was ashamed of how pathetic he was.

  A little ways off, Vaze was struggling to make his way to his father’s tent. He was still suffering from his injuries, but due to his acquired abilities his blood was not the only thing that ran through his veins, so he healed much faster than any regular human. He assumed he would be good to go by tomorrow, but he had to consult his father immediately. He heard what had happen from a nurse who’d been trying to keep him from neglecting his bed rest. Of course he had ignored her, but the news was a whole new injury altogether.

  “The girl was taken,” The nurse had said. “The little Guardian says Velkire came in the dead of night, and took her away. I don’t believe her though. I think the girl just left. After all, she has no home here anymore, not after she killed the nymphs.” Vaze had really given the nurse a piece of his mind after that, and the nurse was so confused about it, she let him be.

  Vaze knew it wasn’t Scarlet’s fault that the nymphs were dead. She had come back nearly unconscious. She was most likely fighting for her life, and thus the lives of the rebels. Siren had told him the true story, and he believed every last detail of it. Unfortunately, a lot of the rebels did not. Actually, most of them didn’t believe it at all. Only him, her brothers, Kyra, Ed and the hooded man believed it. Rumors were even going around that Scarlet had destroyed their home on purpose. Hate mixed with loss was a powerful and dangerous thing. Vaze knew that first hand.

  A sharp pain stabbed his gut every time he moved, but he chose to ignore it. Physical pain was nothing to him. He would go through the same pain a million times over if it meant he could keep his promise to Scarlet: to keep her and her family safe.

  Trying to find his courage, Vaze strode up to his father’s tent.

  “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you,” said a broken voice next to him that almost made him jump. Vaze looked down to find Al staring off into space. His eyes were red and puffy, and he was paler than usual. “They are fighting right now about what to do.”

  “That gives me more of a reason to give my opinion,” Vaze replied. Seeing Al like that made Vaze sad. He could tell without being told that Al and Scarlet were close, and it must be devastating for your only sister to be taken away before your very eyes. Deciding on what to do, Vaze eavesdropped for moment.

  Meanwhile, in the midst of a heated debate between Kyra, Siren, the king and himself, Gidian was starting to drift off. He’d had a rude awakening from the first of the screams, and it had almost given him a heart attack when he found a Shadow looming over him. He hadn’t found out it was already dead until it disintegrated at his first blow. He did care about the situation, but like almost every other conference, meeting or debate, he was ignored. It wasn’t like he didn’t try to input his opinion—it was that every time he tried he was cut off. After a while Gidian gave up and stared with his sleepy blue eyes at the other three arguing. At first he paid attention, but he had a nasty habit of getting comfortable at the wrong times.

  Just when his eyes began to flutter closed, Siren flipped the table filled with maps of the country, and that Gidian was leaning on, causing Gidian to fall flat on his face. As he expected, no one noticed. Gidian brushed his clothes and got back up to his feet, seeing that trying to catch some sleep was useless.

  “How can you be so stupid?” Siren roared at the king. She may have been in the form of a child, but even Gidian found her terrifying at that moment. “The son of the devil just stole our only hope of salvation and you just want to run away?”

  “We are not running away!” the king fumed. Gidian could distinctly make out at least three veins bulging on his neck and face. “I must think about the safety of my people before the safety of one girl! They’ve already lost so much, and I cannot risk them losing the one thing they have left to save the girl! I will not risk their lives!”

  “Sir, if I may, I would like to at least have a small party to search for Scarlet,” Kyra pleaded as she stepped between the king and Siren. “Scarlet is my friend and I won’t be able to live with myself unless we at least try to save her.” Gidian found Kyra’s idea to be the smartest thing.

  “Kyra, although your idea is noble at heart I’m afraid I can’t spare any of our soldiers for it,” the king sighed. “Even your squad will be needed. Without Madam Gale’s protection we are like sitting ducks. We have no idea when we will be attacked or even by what we could be attacked by. I need as much man power as possible.”

  “Then let me go alone!” Kyra looked like she was about to explode. “You can have my entire squad as long as I can have a chance to find Scarlet! Please sir, she is like a daughter to me!” All of the king’s anger subsided and was replaced with sympathy. He knew what it was like to lose a child.

  “I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous for you to do that.” The king put a hand on her shoulder, and the weight of it only put more weight onto her heart. “No one can do what you do. You are irreplaceable. If we lost you, we would lose one of the most important military generals in the history of Moraj. You cannot go alone.”

  “Then she won’t,” a new voice said as the flap of the tent parted. Gidian thought that he had lived too long for anything to surprise him anymore, but the world had always found the right time to prove him wrong. This was one of those times. Standing there was the prince, and even though he was bandaged and bruised, he looked like he could take on an army and then some. “I will go with her.”

  “Absolutely not!” was the king’s straight forward response. “I will not have my only son search for some street rat!”

  “That ‘street rat’ saved my life numerous times Father, and I won’t let my debt go unpaid,” Vaze replied coolly. His heart was racing, but he forced himself to stand strong. “I am not a part of your army, so you won’t be wasting any man power on the search party. And even if you say no to it, I’ll go anyway, but alone.”

  “Vaze, you do not understand,” the king said, trying to force his voice to be calm. “If anything happens to you, there will be no heir to Moraj and our people will have no leader. I won’t let your life be wasted on nothing.” Gidian finally thought it was the right time to cut in. He walked over to the young prince and put a hand on his shoulder.

  “Your highness, I will accompany your son, and protect him with my life,” Gidian stated, and happily found he was not ignored for once. “You see, I also have a bond to Scarlet, though she has no memory of me. If you would remember right, she is the child of my two best friends. Since they lost their lives the night Enzio tried to kill Scarlet, I am the closest thing she has to any living family. I do not intend to let what they lost their lives for die by the hands of what killed them.”

  “Nor will I,” Siren cut in. “I’ve been appointed as her protector by the Healer, and I intend to do my job.”

  “I am sorry to disappoint you all, but I cannot risk all of you dying for her,” the king said. “We have to think of everyone’s needs before the needs of just one person.”


  “Sir,” a timid voice squeaked. Every one turned their eyes to find Al poking his head through the flaps of the tent, his big brown eyes wide with fear as he trembled slightly. “I saw my own sister be taken away from me by Velkire himself, and the one thing that is still driving me is the thought that I should have saved her right then and there. But I didn’t. I couldn’t. I want a chance to save her more than anything else in the world. Of everyone here, I am the most expendable. For the chance of saving Scarlet, I will do anything, even give up my life. If you say yes to let us go, I will make a deal with you to ensure everyone’s safety.”

  Gidian looked at his only student. Gidian taught him almost everything, and the persistent lad soaked it all up like a sponge, even though he taught it all to him in one night. Even Gidian was surprised on how fast he excelled. This boy did not know, he was destined to surpass his master in the art of magic. The boy had never been able to read a book before, but when Gidian showed him the book of spells he automatically knew what every word meant, despite it being written in a dead language. In the course of one night, Al had become a sorcerer who could even match the powers of Madam Gale. Al had not realized it, but he was extremely powerful, but also dangerous.

  “If anyone here dies, I can give them life once more,” Al began to explain with a quivering voice. Gidian’s eyes went wide with amazement as he watched his student. He knew exactly what Al was talking about, but the price of doing such a thing was death.

  The king looked at Al skeptically, trying to find some sign of doubt in his eyes. He found none. The king sighed in defeat as he rubbed his temples.

  “Fine,” he said after a moment of silence, and everyone’s heart lit up with hope. “I will allow you five, only you five, to pursue Scarlet. But if on the off chance you do find Velkire, promise me you will not face him, especially you Vaze. Scarlet isn’t the only thing he took from you, and you must control your emotions. Understood?” Everyone nodded in agreement, and at the same time tried to hide smiles.