[Boom!]

Ray hit the ground with his back, he was gasping for air, Eda jumped down, and went to his side.

“Ray! Ray, are you ok? I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” Eda said with a worried look on her face.

Ray pushed himself up with his hands, he rubbed his cheek where Eda had kicked him. “I’m fine, but Eda… Your neck, you got your mark.” Ray said, in disbelief.

“Wha- really?” She touched her neck trying to feel it. “How far does it reached?”

Her mark spread was a thin black line about an inch in width, it went from the middle of her neck to almost reaching her right shoulder. It wasn’t as dark as Senya, but Ray could see how the ends of the mark seemed to be reaching out, trying to spread out even more, but then the mark vanished from her skin.

“It’s gone!”

“What, really? I can’t actually believe I managed to do it.”

“How did it feel?” Ray asked.

“I felt overflowing with energy, like this sudden rush of energy, I felt much stronger, come on we have to tell Charles the good news.” Eda said as she started to walk the path back to the cottage, suddenly Ray grabbed her arm.

“Hmm? What's wrong Ray?”

“.... Doesn’t this mean that you’ll be leaving soon. After telling Charles, he has to inform Master Senya and then she is going to send you on a mission. We are going to be seperated.” Ray shyly said.

“Ray.” Eda gently said, as she put her hand on his shoulder, Ray couldn’t meet her gaze, and just stared at the ground. “You know this is going to eventually happen. I can’t hide this from them. If Miss Senya knew I hid this from them, she would kill us. We have to keep our promise to her.”

Ray desperately wanted to argue, but as he was about to say something Eda stopped him. She grabs his hair, and forces him to look at her.

“I will tell Charles, who knows how long until I have to leave, but I need you to work even harder, so you can catch up to me. Now come on.” She said, as she turned around, and started walking.

They both walked in silence until they reached the cottage. As they arrived they saw Charles talking to someone, Ray recognized the person. It was the same man who came last time. They hid themselves until the man was gone. Charles saw them and waved at them. As they approached Charles they asked him about the man.

“What was that about?” Eda asked Charles.

Charles sighed, he seemed frustrated, he was rubbing his hair. “I didn’t think the village would accept their offer, but they did.” Charles said.

They look at Charles with a confused look.

“The village has decided to accept the church proposal, and in a few months knights will be deployed here.” Charles revealed.

“Knights will come here!?” Ray asked.

“Yes, the man who was here, Mr. Lar, told me about it. He first mentioned it about six months ago. I didn’t want to worry you two, so I didn’t say anything. I really thought they wouldn’t accept the offers, but they did.” Charles said, he seemed angry with himself.

“Do you know why the village accepted their so-called help?” Eda asked.

“The church’s messengers convinced them that they would come here, and do a better job of protecting them, that they are even able to send a blessed knight this time. But I know that they are going to use that as an excuse to further their own goals.” Charles said in an angry voice.

“What do you mean?” Ray asked.

Charles sighed, before he continued. “The church will come to a village and offer protection, but in disguise they would use that as a means to take control of the village. The first thing they would do is build a church, using it as a home base, and a shelter for the homeless people in the village. In time they will grow friendly with the village chief, `in an attempt to have the chief to fully support them, even if they have to bribe them with money. Soon after that they will start spreading the idea of having the village submit to the kingdom of Aevum. They will mostly force everyone in the village to either move to one of the main cities, or they will be forced to earn their keep.” Charles finished.

“And the villagers don’t notice that?” Ray asked.

“Well they do, but by then it’s already too late. I tried talking to the villagers when I went down there, but they wouldn't listen to me.” Charles told them.

“...How do you know this?” Eda asked.

“....Because I saw it happen, the church never bothered with lower outskirts villages before, only the middle outskirts, but I guess now that they have re-train their forces, they can afford to send even more knights to the lowest outskirts.” Charles informed them.

“What does this mean for us?” Ray asked.

“When they eventually come, the two of you can no longer go to the village, or train as much, they are going to be suspicious of us when they arrive here. Mr. Lar told me that they are coming in about five months, so you two have to start training even harder.” Charles said.

“About that, I finally got my mark.” Eda proclaimed.

“What! Already let me see it. Charles got closer to Eda, staring at her neck.

“I…I don’t know if I can summon it again.” Eda confessed.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

“Just focus your energy like you did when you cut down the tree. You should be able to summon parts of it.” Charles encouraged her.

“Should I do it here?” Eda asked, looking around.

“It’s fine, we would have heard anybody coming anyway.” Charles reassured her.

“Ok, I’ll try.” Eda closed her eyes, slowly her black aura started engulfing her entire body, she turned her head so Charles could have a better look at her neck. Her aura finally covered her entire body.

“Remember when you cut down that tree, summon all the energy you can.” Charles said.

Soon her black aura was getting intense. It reached out her body about five centimeters, her face was straining, she did her best to maintain it. Suddenly her mark was appearing.

“Keep going! You are almost there!” Charles encouraged her.

Eda's legs gave out, her aura vanished, Charles managed to catch her before she hit the ground, and gently sat her down. She was breathing heavily.

“Sorry,” Eda said, through breaths.

“It’s alright, Ray, go get some water.”

“Right!” Ray ran into the cottage, filling a cup with water, and bringing it back outside. As he walked out the door, Eda was already on her feet, Charles was helping her stand. He gave the water to Eda, she grabbed it and finished it instantly.

“Ok, I’ll have to get the letter ready for Miss Senya, you two go in and clean. I should have enough time to make it to the village before the messengers leave for the day.” Charles told them, as he headed back into the cottage.

“Do-” Ray was about to say something, but Eda grabbed his hand, Ray looked at her. Eda shook her head. Ray sighed, and scratched his head in frustration.

“Ray, you need to understand, I’m doing this so I can get stronger. For the both of us. We lost everything back then, I have to get stronger so we don’t have to go through anything like that again, especially you.” Eda told him.

“Eda, I know what we are going to eventually do, I’m not stupid, I’m still angry at the church for what they did to us. I will never forgive them. I just wish… Never mind.” Ray said angrily.

“Ray.” Eda said she was starting to worry about him.

Charles soon came out of the cottage holding an envelope. “Eda come with me, Ray can you finish the chores until we come back?” Charles asked.

“Yeah sure.” Ray quickly mumbled, he went into the cottage, and closed the door before Eda could say anything to him.

Eda sighed, and looked at Charles, “why do you want me to go with you?”

“We need to talk.” Charles replied, as he looked at the cottage.

Eda sighed again. “Right.”

***

When they made it far enough from the cottage and made sure no one was around they could finally have a discussion.

“Even though it’s been a year and a half, you will leave soon. The kind of mission Miss Senya will send you; Do you understand what kind of mission those will be?” Charles asked.

“I know Charles. I know. I haven’t forgotten I’m a hybrid. My enemies are the knights of Sez, I know I’m going to have to ki-”

Charles stops her. “Do you think you will be able to?”

“I don’t know to be honest, but I’ll have to get stronger for Ray, Ray is different from me, I know he’s already let go of his grudge against the church. He doesn’t care about the people who are responsible for our village and the death of our dad. So, I’m going to be the one to avenge them. I can’t let that go, but Charles, someone needs to be there for him at the end of this, otherwise he will go mad.”

“What are you trying to say, Eda?” Charles asked.

“If I don’t make it, and he does, I want you to take care of him, for me. Please.”

“I won’t talk about that, I can only pray to Sez everything works out.”

“Me too.” Eda replied.

“So you don’t blame the religion of Sez anymore?” Charles asked, he seemed hopeful.

“No, I remembered your words, they were only following orders after all, but I don’t care about the religion, I’m ok with it, but I won’t follow it like you do, the only thing that matters to me is getting stronger, and getting Ray to survive this.”

Charles sighed. “Look Eda, I don’t know how long your journey will take, but you know you will always have a home here. I considered you two like my family, I wished there was a way to resolve this without violence.” Charles admitted.

“Charles, what do you think of Ray?”

“I have the same thought you did, he is still having trouble accepting who he is. I sometimes catch him saying things that a regular hybrid wouldn’t say. He deeply believes he only will have to kill blessed, or regular knights. I guess he convinced himself everything will be ok as long as he is only supposed to kill his target, but it won’t be easy, he needs to let go of his humanity, otherwise it will cost him.”

They walked in silence until Eda spoke up. “Charles, do you really approve of what we are going to do?”

He took a while before answering. “Yes, but there is also a part of me that really wished you two would let go of your anger, and just live normal lives, but I already know you, and Ray have no choice in the matter. So I’ll turn a blind eye on the suffering you two will someday cause. I will just pray to Sez not too many people lose their lives.”

“I don’t know what kinds of things I will have to do, but I will do anything for Ray.” Eda remarked, while rubbing her neck, where her mark is supposed to be. “I will use this power for the both of us.”

“Just be careful, I heard stories about hybrids losing themselves to their power, I don’t know how strong the two of you will be, but you both need each other to make sure you don’t lose yourself, or who knows what will happen. You and Ray, at the moment can kill a few knights easily, and that is without the marks, once you two master it you will be much stronger.”

“I can’t stop there Charles, I need to be able to do more, no matter what, for Ray.”

“He knows that Eda, just do your best. That’s all you can do. Now come on, we are almost to the village.”

***

Eda and Chalres, headed back to the cottage, after they were done sending the letter. They found Ray outside sitting on the log, looking at the stars. He saw them, and turned his head again to look at the stars.

“Eda, I need to talk to him, do you mind if you could give us some privacy?” Charles asked.

“Sure, I’ll head in, and get some sleep. Ray! I’m heading to bed, goodnight.”

“Night Eda,” He stood up, but saw Charles motioning him to sit back down.

“Sit down, we need to have a talk.” Charles said, as he sat next to Ray.

Ray turned his attention back to the stars, and waited for Charles to continue.

“Listen Ray, I know you are worried about Eda, but the only thing you can do is hope she’ll be ok. Remember she’s doing this for you.”

“...I know that Charles, I know she made that deal with Master Senya to protect me, if she dies it’s on me.” Ray angrily said.

“Eda loves you, Ray; She knows the risk of what she is doing. She knows death is a possibility, but she is doing it anyway. Don’t let the guilt overcome you. She made her choice, the only thing you can do is be supportive, and if… If the worst happens, know that she would have made the same decision over, and over again. Do you understand?”

“I’ll try. I also need to get stronger, so I can leave. I have to catch up to her. I’ll do my best so I don’t lose my way, Charles.” Ray stated.

Charles patted his back. “That’s the best I can hope for. Come on, it’s getting late, let’s head to bed.”