“I was afraid you two were going to take us all into that fight,” Eraanel tried to lift his sister’s mood with a bit of humour. He placed himself gently next to her. She was looking down, standing not too far from the massive trees. Night was approaching, the sun setting in the east, stars glimpsing from the west.
“Did I…do that to him?” Manna’s question was burdened by deep thoughts and a deeper sadness. Eraanel wasn’t the smartest, nor the best in dealing with such situations. Yet, as her brother, he felt impelled to give her an answer, even if it wasn’t the best.
“Did I do it to him?” Eraanel asked back, his question slightly confusing to Manna. “Felemous, Salvete or any of our brothers and sisters, did that to him?” He further asked, Manna trying to find his logic. “I think we all caused it. It’s just that he’s blaming you the hardest becaus-”
“We did it, brother?” Salvete interrupted from behind. Her slightly orange glow was ever so dim, as she pressed her hands on her hips, the daggers shifting a bit under the pressure in the clawbear skin pelts she wore from waist to knee. “Last I recall, Manna kept asking more of him, kept looking at him as if he was some sort of wild beast that hunted us,” Eraanel was ready to pin her down and make her shut up, jumping to his feet, his slightly yellow glow growing stronger around his body by some intensity. But, as he looked with light infused in his eye into her own, Manna held his right hand.
“She speaks truthfully, don’t protect me from the truth,” Manna ordered her brother, the power in her voice, while diminished, still strong, with a hint of misery.
Salvete looked him hard in the eye, not even flinching at his jump, she didn’t have that playful nature about her. Eraanel, while he was ready to deal with her mere moments ago, was reluctant. He never saw Salvete like this. She closed on his face, a small distance from it “Say brother. Why do you protect Manna? Is she suffering because of what she did, like Orvus?” her questions and words cutting at a confronting fact, that Eraanel didn’t know how to respond to.
“Is this really the moment to put her down even more?” Eraanel found it within himself to ask. “In case you didn’t notice, sister, Orvus went mad. We still have to venture into the forest, and who is to lead us if not Manna?” His reasoning proved good. Yet Salvete wasn’t willing to back down.
“And you want me to follow the one who made Orvus mad? How should I trust her, when she turns her back on her siblings the moment they do something wrong?" Her flawed logic, led by emotions, still struck Eraanel. He didn’t feel like he could win this argument, a sudden urge to rely on more primal methods, boiling inside of him.
Manna could only listen, as her siblings were arguing. She thought about the wrong steps she made so far, what it cost her, them. She wanted to cry, crawl into a ball and hear no more of the world surrounding her. Manna wanted Kilon to tell her what she should do, where she should go. “None will help me,” she thought to herself, “crying, not listening, wanting Kilon. None of those can help me, not here, not now.”. It was a moment of clarity that refuelled her almost broken spirit. “If none can help, then I have no choice, but to push forward,” a feeling of determination washing over her.
“If you’re talking about turning backs, then how about Orvus who-” Eraanel stopped as Manna lifted herself up, her twin-pointed spear by the side. Manna’s slightly orange glow was steady in its intensity. She looked down at Salvete, Salvete’s eyes burning with anger, frustration, but also fear. Eraanel understood the fear in Salvete’s eyes, it wasn't due to Manna, but the uncertainty which they had to face ever since they crossed the Frozen Passage, and arrived there.
“I will not turn my back, not any longer,” Manna promised, her eyes telling of her determination. Salvete knew her words were true, and Manna’s eyes told as much the same.
“Why should I, the others, trust you, sister?” Salvete’s question was in need of a good response, her eyes searching Manna’s body for it, as her mind was prepared to judge it at every step. Manna knew this, so she didn’t try to fight it.
“You shouldn’t, and I won’t tell you to,” Manna’s response was unexpected by Salvete, her mind unable to find the fight necessary for these words. “But we aren’t in a place where choices are given. Nor can we afford searching for them,” Manna continued, her tone commanding, her voice strong. Salvete and Eraanel, for a moment, saw the wisdom of a leader, of Kilon, shining through her.
“We do have a choice, Manna,” Felemous approached, his words suggestive of eavesdropping at their conversation. His words caught the attention of all three of them, while his slightly blue glow was of a remarkable calmness. “It’s just that you trimmed them down to two instead,” Felemous told Manna, his height meeting more fairly to that of Manna, compared to Eraanel and Salvete, albeit still small to Manna’s.
“Two you say?” Eraanel inquired, “and what would those be?” Eraanel was doubtful of Felemous’ words, yet uneasiness was building within his body. It’s been whispered about Felemous that he gained a new, powerful ability. It wouldn’t be foolish to say that if mastered, it could contest the power of Orvus or even Manna.
“We either follow you, sister,” Felemous presented the first option, pointing at her with his missing arm, only his shoulder moving. Eraanel dreaded the next moment, as he knew what the second choice would be, “or we follow Orvus” he pointed with his right arm at an unconscious, taken care of Orvus.
“Follow Orvus?!” Eraanel protested, “have you forgotten that he attacked Manna? That he led us into this whole ordeal to begin with?!” He was betraying his own words he gave Manna not so long ago.
Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.
“I didn’t forget that he succeeded in protecting you and Manna from certain death. That he helped our siblings recover from death, that he helped me unlock this power, which may prevent further death,” Felemous’ adoration for Orvus was showing through. He forgave Orvus for his missing arm, their dead siblings, for Orvus saved so many still and helped in ways none could.
Manna squinted her eyes, a frown in sadness and pain gave raise to a frustrated, yet concerned look. Should they choose Orvus over her, that would be fine, as she wouldn’t oppose their will. But should they choose both him and her, that could spell the death of many more, as their already smaller group would split into two smaller groups. It concerned her beyond belief the point they reached.
“I do not-” before Manna could finish, a brother of theirs, Gilaate, approached them in a hurry, pointing at the back.
“Orvus! He-he left!” Gilaate’s breath made it hard to understand, but the message ringed clear as day through their ears.
“Where to?” Manna panicked, her body glowing with intensity, as she fused herself with a portion of the lights, ready to fight.
“We don’t know,” Gilaate caught his breath, “the five surrounding him, fell flat at once. That, however, was after there was no sight of him. Once I approached them, they were cold dead.”. Fear could be felt in his breath, his eyes as confused as the others.
“Fell flat,” Felemous repeated, “were there any signs of struggle?”
“There were none, except” Gilaate hesitated “it looked as if they were trying to reach for something, their bodies seemed to want to reach for the forest”. They all pondered in silence, then Gilaate asked “Do you think something from the forest killed them?”
Felemous recognized this pattern. It was the same during the storm. “They were trying to reach for something, it was the same,” he murmured.
“What was?” Manna wanted to know, all of them paying attention to Felemous now.
“The way those that were injured acted before dying,” Felemous covered his face, the dark revelation coming to him. “They were trying to reach for something, or rather, someone. They all tried to reach for where me and Orvus stood during the storm.”.
It clicked inside the minds of all present. No one dared to say it, except Salvete whose face was terrified, much like the others, at the prospect in front of them “You’re saying…Orvus killed…some of us?”
“Isn’t it early to assume this much?” Eraanel tried to rationalise, his face twisted in anger and confusion. “There’s no one to confess whether such is the truth. Orvus could’ve been snatched by something in the forest,” he didn’t want to believe that one of them could so deliberately do such a thing.
“He attacked Manna, didn’t he?” Felemous didn’t want to accept it either, yet as it stood, it was only fair to assume. “He helped me attain this new power. In order to do so, though, he had to take possession of my light. To me, it felt as if someone was trying to steal something away from within. My instinct…was to reach back for it…resist the force pulling at it.”. This further made the scene of death, not so far away, clearer on how it might’ve played.
Manna knew something was wrong with Orvus, but this was further than anything she could’ve imagined. ‘Is that why he acted like a rabid animal?’ more pieces coming together the longer she thought about it. “Are you certain there is no one who saw him?” She had to prioritise the safety of the group.
“No. For all we can tell, he vanished into the forest, although, we don’t know for certa-” before Gilaate could finish, Eraanel stepped up, his eye erupting with sparks and brimming with light.
“I can find it, his trail that is,” he stated confident in his ability.
It only took him a glance from where the bodies laid cold, to tell where he left to, the encroaching night proving no issue. In fact, only making it a tad more obvious to his eye. “He went into the forest,” Eraanel told Manna, Salvete, Felemous, Gilaate and other Lightborn that gathered around. He pointed at the trail, as if they could all see it “Even with the absolute efficiency he possesses in light fluctuation, all those lights,” he paused a bit, thinking of the stolen ones as he said that, “Even for him, they’re too many to completely hide oneself.”.
“Or he’s doing it on purpose,” Salvete confronted Eraanel’s statement “it isn’t uncommon, afterall, in a hunt for us to leave false trails, so that the prey follows exactly where we want to.”. Her hunting instincts and experience, telling her that much.
“I tend to agree with Eraanel on this one,” Felemous added “Orvus possesses a lot more lights, and…those new ones too,” the truth in his words making everyone around angry. “It would take huge efforts and talent to pull something like this, while being wary of his surroundings in the Gargantuan Forest,” his reasoning infallible given the circumstances.
They all looked at Manna. She knew all of them were looking at her, even those behind she couldn’t see. ‘Is this Orvus’ plan?’ she thought to herself ‘Put me in a hard position, so I can make mistakes, and look worthless?’ her anger barely contained, only some sparks erupting at the corners, which only Eraanel and Salvete noticed. “He’s proven himself as highly capable, I won’t doubt that for a moment more, not everything good…and bad, that he’s done,” her words stated loud and clear.
She turned towards all the Lightborn that gathered to see and hear. A sea of individual dim lights, amidst one of the harshest, most dangerous places this world of the Sparks developed over the course of thousands of years. Each of them carried hope, dreams, feelings. It wasn’t something a single individual should have authority over, yet it was needed. The will of the individual cannot survive in this place, this world, not the way this world is. She understood that better than anyone.
“We will wait, we must not act rashly,” Manna commanded all of her siblings. Disgruntled whispers and voices passed between the Lightborn. Manna acknowledged them with a pause, trying to grasp at their feelings, so she could pursue all of them from doing anything rash. “Judgement, however, will be enacted upon Orvus,” her voice loud, clear, strong and firm. “That, though, means that we cannot let him claim more of us. Our lives, our souls, they’re not something he should so freely take away,” the whispers turned to voices, the voices into cries, agreement building up. “In the name of our siblings, of the Creator,” she paused a little before her final statement, “We shall pass judgement unto him! He who sinned against us!!” Manna’s roar for vengeance stirred up the flames of anger within all of them. Their anger, sadness, frustration, they all built up in unity.
‘I’m sorry brother,’ she thought to herself. ‘For I have sinned against you, and turned them to loathe you,’ her twin-pointed spear raised to the sky as these thoughts rose in her mind, her body glowing with the infused light of only hers. The other Lightborn, except for Felemous, Salvete and Eraanel, raised their hands as well. Those three knew better, as they were closest to her, Gilaate too absorbed in her speech. Manna’s arm was trembling slightly.