My sister and I started to take steps back when we saw this... thing of darkness beginning to walk towards us.

1 step, 2 steps, 3 steps.

I almost tripped over something on the street and it startled me enough to get me into a panic mode. Everything went blank for a moment as me and my sister turned our weapons towards it and dashed forward.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!" we shouted from the top of our lungs, as we closed the gap between us and our fate.

"Zeph, Don't do it!!!!" Kellan shouted from further back. He knew we didn't stand a chance.

"Stop it, You won't make it!!!" Lucian called out. In tears with the memory of Sarah still freshly burned in his memories.

But it all had no effect. We kept rushing towards it and raised our spears as if we were about to lay down the final strike to finish off the enemy. Sadly, this could not have been more wrong.

With one swing of his left arm, me and my sister were sent flying backward at least 10 meters. My sister's body hit the spire and was knocked out immediately where I landed on the grass next to it.

When I looked back at the thing, it was already standing just a few meters away.

"Why do you struggle? Your end is inevitable. Do yourself a favor, son of Gaia, and stop this nonsense." He said with his thundering voice.

"Why?" I replied. "You ask why, but I don't even know who you are or who this Gaia is."

I didn't know what it was thinking at the moment. There were no features to his face or body. Everything was just black.

"hmm, Interesting. You seem to be just a casualty of circumstance." It said with a slight surprise in his voice.

"What are you talking about? What circumstance?" I questioned desperately and frustratingly.

"It is of no concern to you. You will be gone from existence soon." It said with his monotone voice.

It started to bring his hand to my neck to grab it. Just like when I was 5 years old. Just like when I lost my sister.

"LET HIM GO!" my sister shouted back then. Bashing into this thing's arm and saving me and sacrificing herself. Now my sister was lying unconscious a few meters away.

Not able to save me this time, ey sis? I thought.

I closed my eyes knowing I had nothing left. There was nothing I could do anymore. No one could help me now.

I felt its hand surrounding my neck when a pulse of energy blasted outwards from deep inside me. My eyes jumped open as some kind of force started to pull me to my feet. I now floated a few centimeters above the ground and I felt like I lost control over my body. Like something or someone took control.

"What is this?!" It called out. "How is this possible." It jumped back pretty far as it looked to be scared of this power that was now emanating from my body.

"GAIA!!!" It shouted suddenly. "You sneaky little vermin! First, you hide like a scared cat and now you intervene?" It seemed almost angry at what was happening. With a blast of energy, it flew into the air letting out a grunt of annoyance.

"Uggghhh!!!! If you won't stay quiet I will just have to do this the hard way."

As it stopped ascending it held one hand in the air and started charging what looked like a massive ball of dark energy. The oppressive force that was coming from it was bringing everybody to their knees though, for some reason, I kept floating just above the ground.

Suddenly a female voice spoke to me in my head.

"My son. I prayed that this day would never come. Alas, it seems my prayers have been of no help to you. I know this is sudden and my time is short. For now, please know that I can only manage to help this once. My powers need to recover after this."

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The soothing voice of this woman made me feel at ease and the stress was disappearing from my mind.

"Who are you? Where are you? What is going on" I called out in my head.

"You have many questions. Of that, I am aware. Sadly I do not have enough time to answer them all. However, I won't leave you in the dark completely.

My name is Gaia. On earth, you were my son. But due to some events that occurred they found you and used you. More I can currently not say nor do I know more.

The one you are fighting is called Umbra. He is out to destroy all worlds and I fear he sees a threat in your existence as my offspring. I do not know why you were picked to fight a war that you are not part of. But I want to ask you to find a way to the Celestial Plain."

The more I heard the more confused I got but her soothing voice kept me calm.

"Where could I find information about this Celestial Plain? I never heard that name before." I questioned.

"Search for the library of the ancients called, Astralum Arcanum."

I took a mental note of that and before I could reply my focus was interrupted by Umbra.

"Gaia! I will find you someday and that will be the end for you!" Umbra called out in frustration.

Then a flash of light brought the now massive swirling ball of dark energy back to the size of a ping-pong ball. Moving his arms in front of him while keeping the small ball in his hand, he started to point the ball in my direction.

"Time to disappear, Son of Gaia!" he said calmly, following with a spell chant

"Vormythos Vynthrac"

The small ball of energy flashed again and a massive energy beam blasted towards me. In a split second, my body reacted and a gold-colored beam shot into the air. When it reached a certain height, it exploded into a translucent layer that spread across nearly the whole village.

The impact of the dark energy upon the shield was felt as a heavy blast of air burst down from the location of the impact. I felt it deep inside my body as well. As if the shield was part of me.

"Hrrrreeggg!!" Umbra grunted as he kept up the pressure. "Why won't you just die!"

All around us, the impact of the blast was felt. Outside the shield, we could see devastation beginning to show itself. Trees flying and snapping in half. Rocks fly like leaves through the air and even pieces of earth come up from the ground.

After a few minutes that felt more like an eternity the energy beam grew smaller and disappeared. As soon as the energy blast stopped, the shield collapsed.

"Arthur," The woman called out in my head again.

"Wait, are you really my mother?" I said with a voice that was hopeful and yet sad.

"Yes, my son. But I need to recharge my energy now, but I will find you in the future. For now, find the Astralum Arcanum. There, you will learn more about us.

Now go to your friends and care for your sister. I will be watching over you from deep within."

With that her voice faded and all the energy I had felt from the moment she spoke for the first time, disappeared. My feet came down to the ground and I opened my eyes again.

Looking up I saw Umbra disappearing like he teleported somewhere. Looking to my side I saw everybody slowly recovering from what just happened.

Kellan ran towards me with the desperation of a parent who almost lost his child.

"Zeph! Zeph! Are you ok? Say something!!! What just happened??"

As Kellan reached me, he embraced me with all his might. His hug hurt a little as the force he was applying showed how worried he was. Worried for the only family he could still hold and care for. Worried for the only 2 people that connected him to his sister.

I started crying. I couldn't hold it anymore. I couldn't take it anymore.

Talking to my Mom from Earth, Hearing my old name again. And now, after 6 long years, finally being embraced by family again. How I yearned for this warm feeling. The feeling of affection for your loved ones. 6 long years of trying to survive and talking to myself to keep me sane. The thoughts of revenge were never far away in my mind, keeping me on edge, all the time. The destruction of our home and the 6 months of loneliness that followed.

Now look at me. I'm sobbing. I'm a mess.

And I am missing something!

All the emotions made me almost forget my sister. I tried to softly push Kellan away to get to my sister's body. Kellan noticed this and let go of me almost instantly.

Lucian apparently was already trying to heal my sister's but though she had no visible wounds anymore, she was still unconscious.

Slowly but surely the senses from further around us came flooding back. The realization of how many people probably died today. The people who got buried underneath the debris of their own homes, where they thought they would be safe. The smell of blood returned to my senses and the the sounds of fires and debris breaking and tumbling down buildings started becoming louder than my own thoughts.

I picked up my sister carefully and we walked back to Kellan's house. When we arrived we saw the house was still intact and a good place to let my sister's body rest. After laying her down in her bed I went back outside to help the people of the city.

Kellan had other thoughts though.

"What are you doing outside, Zeph? You are to go back in the house and rest." He said sternly.

I looked around at the devastation and before I could say anything, Kellan already stood before me pushing me around and back towards his home.

"You are not helping right now. Lucian, Make sure he stays in bed. Cast some sleeping spell or something. But you keep him there."

Lucian nodded as he guided me back into the house.

"Time for some rest. You have been through a lot today. Let's make sure you don't cause us even more worries ok?"Kellan turned around and left us at his home.