The Dreamer and the Deceiver (The Last Light Book 1)

by Alex Villavasso

  “If that’s what you believe, then try your luck,” Silvia scoffed. The air of confidence that surrounded her seemingly remained un-phased.

  “Omari, you ready?” Emil asked with his opposition still locked in his eyes. From his peripherals, he saw Omari nod, signaling that he was ok to go. “Like I said, she’s used a lot of her energy already, but we don’t know how much she had in the first place. She could be stronger, but there are two of us now. If she overextends and leaves herself vulnerable, she’s done for.”

  “Right. I’ll try my best to create an opening for you. I lack the ability to manipulate energy like yourself, so the most I can do is distract her. Just be careful. Contact with her crystals release that same poison you dealt with before. It doesn’t have to cut you to be viable, it seems.”

  “And you’ll be ok with that?”

  “With the both of us, I’ll live. If I distract her, you can finish her.”

  “Good. We’ll attack from both sides, and I’ll look for your opening.” The blue energy that circumvented around Emil’s blade washed over his body as his eyes pierced into the soul of his family’s killer. The smirk she wore only grew as Emil’s eye contact intensified, almost as if she was pleased with his seething hate.

  In the mutual silence, Omari vanished from beside Emil and materialized in mid-air directly in front of Silvia’s face with his fist drawn, blocking her vision. Immediately, she fired a slew of spires in his direction while simultaneously gliding backwards on a sheet of crystal she manifested from underneath her feet. Before they were able to make contact, Omari phased away, leaving a wave of light in his shadow.

  “What!?” Out of desperation Silva summoned a wall of crystal from the earth to intercept Emil’s ranged attack. The blanket of energy he projected slammed into her barrier, sending a multitude of cracks across the jagged transparent surface it clashed against. A flash of blinding light emitted from the core of the collision as Silvia’s barrier stubbornly held and ultimately nullified his attack. Where did he go? Her minor victory was short lived at the realization that she lost sight of the one who sought to kill her. Still dashing backwards, she scanned her surroundings looking for the light bearer.

  “Looking for me?”

  The feeling of death itself coursed through her body as she heard Emil’s voice coldly call out to her. In the corner of her eye, she saw him emerge beside her. The dried blood caked along his face and on his clothes gave no merit to his fighting spirit. The blows he had endured seemed to no longer ale him. Like a demon, his eyes pierced deeply into her soul, feeding off the fear he knew she felt.

  This is it, Emil thought as he closed in on her in her moment of weakness. The blue hue around his blade intensified in tandem with the cloak of energy that surrounded him as he grew closer to his target. This is for all of them.

  “Rahh!!!” The crackling blade cleaved through a body of crystal, but it wasn’t her own. Mere inches from her body, Silvia created a barrier at the last second, stopping Emil’s pursuit and nullifying his attack. The crystal wall that he tore into gave way, buckling inward, in an attempt to incase itself over his wrist and sword. Emil struggled to break free, but the crystal quickly formed a mold that locked him to the base of pillar. Once the hold was secure, from the pillar Emil observed a series of tiny nodes beginning to form. Damn it! Not like this! Knowing what came next, Emil fed another stream of energy through his body and kicked off the base of the wall, launching himself into the air, narrowly avoiding the spires that jutted out to get him. The smile on Silvia’s face resurfaced as she continued to back track from the duo on the blanket of crystal glazed beneath her feet.

  As Emil drifted in mid-air, his sights remained focused on the counterattack he had just avoided; completely unaware of the crystal specter that was rapidly approaching him from above. Why is she smiling?

  “Emil, look out!” With a running start, Omari warped to the side of the beast, intercepting it before driving his hidden blade from his gauntlet into its neck. Emil landed squarely and met eyes with Silvia who was now a formidable distance away from him. Even from their joint efforts she remained unscathed.

  “Even with the both of us, her defenses are solid.” Omari appeared instantly beside Emil, his breaths still slightly forced from his impromptu encounter with the crystal beast.

  “She plans to draw this fight out as long as she can. From this point on, the longer we fight, the more of an advantage she’ll gain. Omari, how are your spirits?”

  “If anything, it should be me asking you that question. You’ve been fighting longer than I have and your injuries are obvious.”

  “If you want the honest truth, my head hurts like hell, at least three of my ribs are broken, and I’ve been cut into so many times that I lost count, but hey, now isn’t the time to get soft.” Emil clenched his jaw as he sunk into his fighting stance, preparing to re-engage Silvia once more. “If we stop her here, we both walk free.”

  “Are we going to try the same strategy as before? She won’t fall for the same trick twice.”

  “You’re right. The same trick won’t work twice, but the concept will do just fine. We rush her again with you working on an opening for me to finish her off. I don’t have enough in me to launch another ranged attack of that magnitude and still be effective, so I’ll focus what I do have into getting in range for a kill shot. Just do what you can to keep her off me.” Another cloak of energy ignited over Emil’s body before condensing itself into a thin veil that radiated from him. “You ready?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Good. Just follow my lead.” Emil kicked off the ground, ripping through the earth as he powered forward towards his foe. As Emil attempted to gain ground, Silvia began to back track while simultaneously summoning walls and rooted spires from the ground to counter Emil’s progress. Come on Omari! I can’t keep this up forever. Make your move! Emil thought as he dodged her array of traps, narrowly avoiding the combination of spikes, pillars, and spires that came his way.

  “Rahh!” A hole in the atmosphere ripped open as Omari appeared and preemptively struck Silvia from behind, halting her movement. From her crystal encasement, fragments of what seemed like jagged flakes fell to the ground from where his shin met her backside. A pulse ran through Silvia’s body, momentarily stunning her as the air escaped from her lungs.

  It did damage? Omari thought as he hovered in air at the point of impact. The combined force from opposite sides must have been just enough to get to her in current state… Emil was right. She was bluffing.

  “Peasant! I don’t have time to deal with you!” Silvia screamed as she flung her fist at the side of Omari’s face, drawing blood and sending him back several yards as he shot through the air. As he traveled, a specter emerged ahead of his projected path, aiming to tear into him. “Now die!”

  Damn it! I’m too far way I won’t make it in time.

  “Omari!” Emil yelled as he rushed in, taking advantage of the temporary cease fire.

  “Emil, Now!” Before the specter’s scythes could tear through his skin, Omari disappeared into a void of his creation.

  I see, so you used yourself as bait, even knowing the risk. Thank you, Omari.

  As Omari faded away, Emil dashed at full speed towards Silvia with his charged blade in hand, wielding the pain of his fallen family.

  The boy! Over her shoulder a set of widened eyes scanned to find Emil who was now rapidly approaching her. Again their eyes met and she only saw death.

  “Rahh!”

  A blue streak trailed Emil as he cut through the side of Silvia, separating her torso from her body. Unable to stop after the impact, his body skidded across the ground, tearing through the earth until he came to a tumbling halt. Without turning back, he knew that she was dead. The blood-stained blade that lay next to him served as a testament of her demise. Beside him, a small rift appeared in the atmosphere and instantly Omari was by his side.

  “It’s over,” Omari said as he towered over the hero who was
now on his hands and knees. Omari then reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but upon gazing at Emil, his hand slowly receded to his side.

  Between his palms a stream of water droplets fell to earth, drenching the soil as he remained prone. Unable to hold back his emotions, Emil wearily stood to his feet and cried out to the heavens as energy began to flow freely through him. Beneath him, the ground shook violently as he channeled all of his anguish into an audible form that pierced through the heavens. Unsure of what to do, Omari watched soberly; at a loss to console him as his heart openly bled. Then, as suddenly as it started, it stopped. Emil fell to his knees and struck the earth with his illuminated fist.

  Another empty victory. No matter what he did, he knew they would never come back.

  Chapter 10: Omari, the Saint of Everrmore

  “So will she be ok?” Emil asked as he sat anxiously in the next room, waiting for Marona to come to.

  “My sister is doing everything that she can. It’s best that we leave them be, Emil.” In front of Emil, Omari sat in an oversized chair; calm and collected as the crackling embers from the fireplace illuminated the side of his face. “When I brought her to Skye, her vitals were fine, only labored breathing. But that is to be expected. Don’t worry. She’ll be safe here. Though it seems to me that you care for her life more than you do your own. From what she told me, you almost died saving her, only to run openly into death’s arms. Even now, you fail to rest. I know that in time she will be okay, but will you?”

  “I-I just wanted to find my family.” The words poured out of Emil as his eyes gazed at the wooden floorboards in front of him as if he saw what lay underneath. “After the initial attack on my village, I knew deep down that they made it out… I just had to find them. So, I searched and that was when I found Marona.”

  Omari leaned slightly forward in his seat; looking over the pyramid he formed with his hands. “And what happened then?”

  “I was already drained from my battle with Hugo, another member of Legion when I found her. One of the guards was… trying to have his way with her. I stopped him by taking his life and got stabbed in the process. I had no intention of dying that day. More than anything, I just wanted to make sure that my family was safe as well as anyone else involved with the fire.”

  “I see…”

  “After that, I passed out and woke up some time after the fact and continued where I left off. I didn’t know where I was, but I knew she had saved me. I asked her to take me back to the village and she agreed.”

  “Back to where you fought Hugo? But wouldn’t the search party already be in route by then?”

  “Yes. Legion is good with those, so I took precautions. We took the back roads. After I got my bearings, I told her to turn back. Despite my warning, she stayed. After hearing everything that happened… my story, she wanted to help in any way possible; especially after she found out what happened to Edward Harlan, her Uncle. He died by the hands of Hugo, one of the members of Legion. Mr. Harlan, along with a few others from the village, was the reason that I was able to kill him. They gave their lives as a distraction so that I could have an opening.”

  A long pause filled the room as Emil stopped his train of thought as the guilt of their decision ran through him. As the memories replayed in his mind, he couldn’t help but wonder if there could have been another way.

  “I couldn’t let her come along with me. It was just too risky. No matter how much she insisted, I couldn’t just march her to her death… not with a clear conscious. In an ambush, she wouldn’t have stood a chance.”

  “But you did tell her about Legion, right?”

  “Yes, but that only made her more determined to help. After I saw Silvia’s mist the next morning, I left her in a cave I used when I was on the run.

  “You were on the run with your family?”

  “No,” Emil sharply exhaled. “The family I speak of was from Nerai. I lived with them after I saved the mother from a band of roadside bandits. My original family is no more.”

  “I’m sorry. We’ve all lost something, it seems, in these times.” The look of remorse that momentarily overwhelmed Omari’s face slipped past Emil in his troubled state.

  “After I left her, I ran into the mist knowing it was a trap. I was lured in by one of Silvia’s illusions… it was someone that I use to know, and then I was ambushed. I fought them off for as long as I could, but I was overpowered. Once I was beaten, Silvia appeared and said she was there to reform me. She said she wanted to wipe my memories clean using her abilities, but first I’d have to suffer. She wanted me to beg her to take my memories away.”

  “And how did she plan to do that?”

  “Her crystals had a liquid coating to them, probably a more concentrated amount than the fog. Once the stuff got in your system, you were linked to her. Your body no longer moved to your responses as freely and your head floats; almost like a dream. Once I was under her influence, she showed me everything. She was the one who killed my family. Once she entered my mind, she made me relive it through her eyes. The smell of their blood, the screams, the look on their faces… through the link we had, I felt everything that she felt.”

  Omari watched silently as Emil clenched the excess cloth of his pants to the side of his knee. For some time they sat there in silence with only the burning brimstone and sound of smoldering wood to fill the gaps.

  “So…now that you’ve had your revenge, is your heart at ease?”

  Emil’s sunken head slowly rose until his sullen eyes met Omari’s. “How could I have revenge when it was me who killed them?”

  Omari opened his mouth, as if to speak but not a single word escaped his lips.

  “It’s funny… Hugo’s last words were the same thing. I tried my best to deny it, to pay the words of a dying foe no mind, but now I can see that his words were true. I led them there. Because of me, they all died. If they would not have known me, if I would have stayed in the forest… they would still be alive.”

  “That may be so, but everything happens for a reason.”

  “That reason was that I was in their lives.”

  “Hm… if you never would have never met them, what would have become of the mother that day she was attacked by bandits? Because of your intervention, she had that much more time with her loved ones, including you. Often times things in life happen in ways we never expect. That is why I trust in a higher power and pray that he guides my path.” Omari pointed up towards the ceiling as if the being he spoke of was hovering over his head. “Tell me, Emil… do you believe in God?”

  “Yeah… I believe he’s out there somewhere. No other way I could be the way I am. Doesn’t matter though. For someone who is so strong, he doesn’t do anything… he’s just some big guy in the sky that knows everything but does nothing. I can’t trust the man who cursed me. Especially if he knew what was to come and still went through with it.”

  “While God may know the final outcome, free will has always been our birthright since the beginning. He will always know the answer, but we must choose our path in this life, as well as live with the choices we make.”

  “I suppose so. Thank you, Omari… for everything.”

  Omari slowly stood from his chair, his feet creaking on the old floor boards that supported his slender frame as he straightened his spine. “If it was me, you would have done the same thing. It seems that we both have a disposition for helping those in need. Sleep soundly tonight, Emil. There is a room right next to Marona’s where you can stay. This place is secure. I’ve been here for quite some time. They have no reason to lay waste to an old church, at least without proper warning. In addition, I’ll be on watch for the remainder of the night.”

  With his back to Emil, Omari attempted to exit the room, but his departure was impeded.

  “Omari, one more thing. I’ve been meaning to ask… how did you find me?”

  “Through Skye,” he calmly responded. “I believe she is developing the ability to sense others like us. Thou
gh I am not sure. A few nights ago, she had a premonition about your village burning. She saw a figure with an aura of blue light fighting against a man who wielded fire. The following night, there was indeed a fire that blazed from Nerai, holding true to Skye’s vision.”

  Omari momentarily paused in silent reflection before finishing his train of thought. “After hearing of the rumors and witnessing the foreign mist for myself, I decided to investigate further… which lead me to Marona and eventually you. One of my greatest regrets in this life is not intervening when I had the chance. Not knowing the manner of the situation, I hesitated, so I too have blood on my hands. Good night, Emil. I’m afraid I can’t neglect my watch any further.”

  Before Emil could respond, Omari vanished from the room, leaving nothing behind but an empty space of where he once stood.

  From atop the terrace that Omari materialized to, he could see the construct of the town below; dimly lit by the stars and oil lamps that swayed from their respective hinges. It was common practice for him to spend the majority of his night watching the twilight from a distance, as well as the town’s streets, despite the blatant hate towards both him and his people. Abnormals, Irregulars, Demons, whatever they called him, it was all the same despite the fact that he only came in good intentions and often times at their aide.

  As Omari sat atop the rooftop, the cool breeze aggravated his right hand reminding him of his previous battle. In aggravation he raised his hand up from its resting place on his knee and spread his fingers before contracting them into a fist. From behind, a knock against the wooden door frame stirred his senses, causing him to turn his head momentarily to the source of the noise before turning back to the stars overhead.

  In the door frame a girl, not much younger than himself, leaned against the wall, bearing a look of sincere compassion that flooded through her hazel eyes. Her head clung lazily to the wall, cushioned by her neatly braided black hair.