YUKINA AYLING

Every other thing happening around me blurred out, and the only view clear to my eyes was the sight of Svan.

“Has Svan gone mad?” I queried myself.

I screamed his name, calling for him to stop but the sound of my voice was drowned in the same ostensible perception that blurred everything around me. I couldn’t help but wonder what came over him prompting him to charge at the demon alone, reminding me of his actions on our first encounter with a falx.

We happened to find ourselves in a hopeless situation against the falx, I wasn’t scared, but rather concerned about Svan’s safety. When I saw him attack the falx head-on, I was terrified. The fear that gripped me at that moment knew no borders because I thought he was about to get himself killed.

This time, he was doing the same thing, and though I felt similar emotions, the conditions were different. I was as scared as anyone who had faced the same enemy in the past and lost twice, but Svan didn’t look scared. There was an unfaltering certainty in his eyes as he pushed forward with burning confidence.

It was surreal how quickly things changed since Svan returned. I was seemingly okay with the new changes though I never gave much thought to it since it brought me some sort of closure as most curiosities that kept me longing for the unknown gradually disappeared. It felt as though I reconciled with myself upon learning that Eliora was my birth mother, and even though there was a conflict of emotions within me, I was happy at least.

The most jaw-dropping revelation was that Svan and I were siblings. It was easier to believe that Eliora was my mother than to believe that Svan was my little brother because I had known him my whole life as someone else. I knew I had a special bond with him and was always there for him when everyone seemingly shunned him, but I couldn’t understand why I was increasingly getting attached to him, not knowing it was the manifestation of the bond we shared as siblings.

Wonders didn’t end there as Eliora declared her intention to get married to Lord Edger, and even though she said it was a means to be close and protect her children, I knew that there was so much more to it. It also meant that Evren and I would become sisters, chaotic ones, and Lord Edger would be my father in the nearest future.

I finally started to feel relevant, I belonged somewhere and had a family, which was all I ever needed. Just when my life was beginning to take a different turn, a threat to it appeared from nowhere. I began to understand what it meant when they say, good things never come easy.

I became a curious spectator, anxiously watching and awaiting the outcome of the confrontation between Svan and the demon. Everything happened so quickly. I couldn’t even keep up with Svan’s movements, almost always disappearing as quickly as he appeared. There was no doubt the demon was also having a difficult time keeping up with him. The next moment, I saw the demon clutching his belly. It appeared that Svan had stabbed him, but I didn’t even notice when the incident happened. I was surprised,

“What is Svan hiding from us?” I wondered.

I was beginning to doubt that Svan’s newly found abilities were as novel as he had claimed. Maybe he had them all along, hiding them from everyone, and as for a reason to do so, the fact that his abilities were beyond the spectrum of that of a typical caster or stillbringer was good enough a reason.

I suddenly felt a strong push force and would have been thrown off by it if I didn’t brace myself. When my eyes fell on Svan again, he was driving his sword into the demon’s chest. I didn’t exactly know what had happened but the only obvious thing I could make out of the situation was that the demon was dead. It was difficult to believe what Svan had just done, but I was proud of him regardless. That fear alone was enough to tell that Svan was stronger than I was, and even though I tried to convince myself that I wasn’t, I knew I was a bit envious of him, wishing I had his abilities. But in the end, I was smiling from ear to ear.

As Svan’s fight with the demon ended, I snapped myself out of the single-minded concentration I had on Svan as I tried to familiarize myself with everything going on around me. I was so close to cursing myself when I found Evren taking on a demon alone. Thankfully, she looked okay

Witnessing the events of Svan’s battle with his demon opponent, I was fueled with a surge of a confidence boost as I dashed toward Evren’s direction with only one goal in mind, killing a demon.

There were changes in how Evren approached the fight. She was clearly no longer over-reliant on her lightning spells as she attacked with a fine blend of fire and lightning spells. The demon she faced reminded me of Vixra as she conjured fire and earth spells. Flames roared, noiseless streaks flashed, disappearing as quickly as they appeared, and rocks shattered, scattering into smaller pieces. I didn’t know if Evren caught a glimpse of Svan fighting, but there was a burning determination in her eyes, and it didn’t look like she wanted to lose again.

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I joined the party, swinging my swords and landing two successive strikes which narrowly missed his neck as rocks from nowhere appeared to meet my blades. The rocks cracked as several fault lines appeared all over their surfaces. I followed up immediately, landing a roundhouse kick on the rocks the demon conjured to counter my blades. The debris from the rocks landed on his body before falling to the floor while a few sharp pieces pierced his skin. The demon countered by shooting numerous projectiles of small rocks at me, which came from all directions. I reacted, augmenting my body with my strength-stillbring and letting the rocks hit me. There was no visible damage done to my body, and though I felt a lot of pain, it was bearable. When the barrage was over, I retreated, and somehow managed to find myself beside Evren.

“What took you so long?” Evren asked me.

“Sorry I’m late,” I replied, smiling.

We needed to finish off the demon as quickly as possible before she imposed her Feel realm. The demons I’d faced so far were obviously stronger than I was, but I wasn’t just beaten like someone who stood no chance against them. I was always so close to killing them.

I looked at Evren,

“You know what to do.”

She nodded, approving she understood what I said to her. I had given Evren a detailed narration of my battle with Vixra, and we thoroughly analyzed it together with our battle against the demon we faced at home. I remembered Evren saying to me,

“If we can’t kill a demon together, we should just give up fighting entirely.”

I triggered phantom steal and my sword seemed to come alive. I unsheathed only one sword because that was all I needed. If things worked out perfectly, I wasn’t going to exchange any blows with her. I charged at the demon, pushing with every speed I could squeeze out from my stillbring, while she dealt with Evren’s spells which came at her from different directions. I was close to her, and all that was left was to drive my sword into his nexus.

“No mistakes this time,” I warned myself.

As expected, she tried to stop me from thrusting my sword into her chest as she conjured a granite slab to stop my sword. I could easily punch through the slab with my phantom steal, but it could just buy her enough time to reposition.

A yellow streak of lightning flashed past me, shattering the slab. There were no more obstacles as a clear path to her chest was paved, thanks to Evren and I struck. I knew I didn’t miss her nexus this time as I drove my sword deeper into her.

The demon wore a horrified look on her face, it was a perfect meld of disbelief and shock.

I left my sword in her chest as I drew out my other sword and decapitated her. Blood spilled angrily from her headless neck, as her lifeless body dropped to the ground.

I was on the verge of screaming,

“We did it,” but I stopped myself.

I had finally managed to kill a demon but it was largely thanks to Evren. I was happy, yet a feeling of dissatisfaction crept in. Evren came running toward me excitedly as she hung her arm around my neck which almost sent me crashing to the ground.

“We did it!” She remarked in high spirits.

I forced a smile,

“Yes, we did.”

Everywhere was surprisingly quiet, and I looked around to find out that the fighting was over. Cold scenes, as I watched Eliora draw out her sword from a demon as he fell dead, and Svan doing the same in almost the same fashion as Eliora. Lady Charlotte and Maven, together with the other five casters that fought alongside them all appeared to be fine. There were no other casualties except the unfortunate guards who were the demon’s first contact.

Eliora walked towards us,

“Are you both alright?” she asked.

I smiled,

“We managed to kill one,” I replied, pointing at the headless demon that lay dead on the floor beside us.

She held us in an embrace,

“You both did well.”

“Svan, he...”

“I know,” Eliora responded. She didn't let me finish with what I wanted to say.

“He is different,” she concluded.

“This feels so weird,” Evren sighed, “Strangely enough, your body feels so comfortable so I will just stay here for a bit.”

“Sure,” Eliora chuckled.

I was relieved, the fighting was over. My needs didn't change, a warm bath, a hot meal, and a cozy bed.

The sound of Lady Charlotte’s voice drew our attention toward her. She looked different in combat garb and I felt it suited her more.

She bowed slightly,

“There is nothing more to say or prove. I am a witness to the might of House Choryth.”

“We were offering our help as promised,” Eliora responded.

“There are lots of things to be said, but at the moment, I am sure what everyone needs is a good rest. Every talk can surely wait till the morrow.”

Svan approached us like he was dragging himself. His face clearly portrayed his exhausted self, and upon reaching us, he fell helplessly to the ground. He was breathing laboriously, too tired to even utter a word. I squatted beside him, smiling.

“You look like crap,” I said.

I knew he wanted to say something back to me, but he was too busy catching his breath. The only visible response he gave was a smile. I was struggling to believe that he was the same Svan I had known all my life. The boy I was looking at single-handedly killed two demons. Like Eliora had said moments ago, Svan was different.

“You didn't need to outdo yourself,” Evren added with a sorry look on her face.

“Give me a hand,” I said to Evren as she helped me place Svan on my back. Eliora stared at us wordlessly, but her expression could easily say a thousand words. Above all, she looked happy, and that was all that mattered.

The rest of the night was uneventful. I had a warm bath, another meal served, and a cozy bed to sleep on, just as I had wished for. I lay on the bed awaiting the sails of sleep to arrive. It wasn’t a long wait, and when the sails arrived, I drifted away in it.