“Hello, children,” is the first thing the Elders say to us as we enter the temple, “We have been expecting you.”
I placed both my palms together, bowing deeply before the Saxum Elder, a man with a long braid and a trimmed beard. His piercing eyes seemed to bore into my soul, looking at me with interest.
I sat cross-legged in front of him, placing my hands on my knees as I looked at the Elder.
The Elders have the gift of prophecy, one which can be attained by years of meditation and giving up all earthly possessions that tie them to this earth.
“Greetings, Elder,” I heard Chantara say, putting her fist into her left palm as she bowed to the Aquarian Elder, “I hope our presence here does not…” she turned and glanced at Ignacio and Aella who were both walking into the temple, “...Disturb you,”
Ignacio and Aella both bowed to the masters of their respective tribes, then sat before them as well.
“Greetings, dear children,” said a female Ignis Elder, bowing her head towards Ignacio, “What is it you seek in the land of the Elders?”
“Advice,” Chantara answered, “We want to know what’s the best way to get the other tribes on our side, and…how to defeat the Tenebris.”
“Advice?” The Aquarian Elder mused, looking at Chantara, “Hmm…” he thought, stroking his long, black beard.
“The answers you seek,” the female Ventus Elder looked at the children, “Are not ones you delve into,”
“Well, what do you mean?” Chantara asked, leaning forward in anticipation, “Why can’t we look into them?”
“The future,” the Elder in front of me continued, “Is a dangerous thing to look into. If you learn too much, the future may be altered in a dangerous way.”
“But-I thought that coming here would give us answers!” Aella practically yelled, “Everyone has been told stories about the great Elders! You should be all-knowing! Why can’t we know how to win?”
“Be calm, dear child,” the Ignis Elder said, “I know you’re frustrated, but you must understand.”
“We can give advice to many people, but this…this information may make the future impossible.” The Aqua Elder looked at each one of us in turn, “In order for you to win, you must not know how you win. Otherwise, you will not be able to win.”
“But I-” Chantara started, but the Ventus Elder held up her hand. 113Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUTGVAy1bQ1
“Although we cannot guide you to your victory, we can offer advice on how you will be changed on this journey,” she continued.
“What you must change,” my Elder looked at me, a wise smile spreading across his face, “What you must learn.”
“You,” Ignacio’s Elder pointed to him, “Ignacio de Rodriguez, must learn humility. You must temper your pride, arrogance, and sarcasm. If you don’t, you may lose friends.”
“You,” Chantara’s Elder looked at her, his face serious, “Chantara Shimizu, must learn to accept your responsibility, and become a leader. You must be ready to assume the role of Empress when the time comes. If you will not, the Aquarian Empire has no chance.”
“You,” Aella’s Elder stared at her, her penetrating gaze boring into Aella, “Aella Sefarina must learn to ask for guidance, and accept help. You must accept that you are not alone, and realize that you need help. If you do not, this war will be lost.”
“And you,” my Elder turned to me, and I looked into his green eyes, searching for an answer, “Jian Aarden, must learn bravery and courage. You must become a leader, and not fear the dangers of the world, but be careful not to become arrogant. If you don’t become a braver man, you may not be able to save those whom you love most.”
“This is the advice we will give you,” the Elders said together, “Do not let it go in vain.”
Then the four Elders stood up and walked away in four different directions. My Elder went to the right, Aella’s Elder to the forward right, Chantara’s to the forward left, and Ignacio’s to the far left.
And then they were gone. They had left as soon as they had given us our advice.
“Well…that sure was a fountain of knowledge,” Ignacio smiled, waggling his eyebrows at the others in an attempt at making them smile.
“I can’t believe it…” Chantara said as she stood, then began to walk down the steps of the temple into the sunlight. We followed her, curious about what she’d say.
“All my life I’ve been told the wonderful stories of the great Elders,” Chantara said as she sat on the steps, “And all they have to tell me is how I should change?”
Chantara picked up a pebble on the ground, chucking it down the stairs in frustration.
I glanced at the others. Aella shrugged and Ignacio put a thumbs up, as if egging me on to talk to her.
I sighed, sitting on the steps next to her, “I know how you must feel, Chantara,” I said, kicking a pebble of my own, “We’ve all heard the stories of the Elders. I’m disappointed as well. But…” I trailed off, not being able to find the words.
“But what?” Chantara asked, her voice tense.
“Maybe it’s for the best…that we don’t know. Who knows if it’s something bad? What if someone…doesn’t make it?” I didn’t want to scare her or anything, but we all were thinking about it. There was a reason the Elders were keeping this information from us, and it couldn’t be good.
“Look…” I said, trying to not bring down the mood so much, “Whatever it is, we’ll face it together. Even if it is bad, it seems that we’ll win.”
“Yeah,” Chantara said, looking at me with a small smile, “I guess we will.”
“That’s the spirit,” I got to my feet and looked at the others, “See? As long as we keep a positive attitude-” I stopped as I felt small tremors in the ground below me and I turned around, feeling the tremors as someone walked up the stairs.
“My…lady,” said the captain of Chantara’s royal guard.
“What is it, Captain Bolivard?” Chantara asked, looking intently at the captain.
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Bolivard crouched down for a moment, panting as he tried to catch his breath. He held his hands on his knees, muttering, “That’s…a lot of stairs,”
“Bolivard? What is the problem?” Chantara demanded, her tone commanding.
“The Tenebris…” Bolivard said in between gasps of breath, “They…they attacked our…troops. We won, but…we lost a few…of our own men…”
Chantara was already on her feet, sprinting down the stairs before Bolivard could even finish his sentence. Aella was already soaring above me, followed by Ignacio, using his fire as rockets.
I sprinted down the stairs as well, with Bolivard close behind. Although I hadn’t been very close with the royal guard, I still felt guilty that they had been attacked while we were seeking knowledge. They were ordered to protect us and now some of them were dead.
“We captured…” Bolivard was still gasping out, panting behind me, “A commander of the…Tenebris tribe…he might…offer some answers…”
I didn’t know if Chantara had heard what he said but she continued to run down the steps, ignoring the fact that she tripped a little even as she did it.
As we reached the bottom of the steps I saw the real damage that had been done.
There were the injured sprawled about on the ground, some of them with parts of their faces and bodies covered in black goo, the original shadows. Others had stab wounds, and a few were dead.
I glanced at Chantara, whose face had gone white. She looked at the injured with widened eyes, and the dead with a solemn and scared expression.
“No…” I heard her softly say, “No, this is all my fault!” she said louder, looking at the dead and wounded with a ghastly expression. “It’s all my fault!”
“It’s not your fault, Chantara,” I said, looking at the dead and injured as well, “Nobody could’ve predicted this.”
Chantara gasped as she recognized one of the wounded men, half of his face covered in the shadow. He had a stab wound on his side, and he was coughing as Chantara recognized him.
“Maj,” she said softly as she held his hand, looking at his injured face.
“Your Majesty,” Maj hoarsely responded, looking up at Chantara, “I am sorry…that I couldn’t…that I couldn’t…” he coughed then, turning his uninjured side of his face to the ground and spat out blood.
“You did great, Maj,” Chantara’s voice broke, and although I couldn’t see her face, I knew she was close to tears. “Now tell me, Maj, what happened?”
Maj looked up at Chantara’s face again, and I saw that his eyes were slowly losing the life in them. He was dying, and we couldn’t do anything to stop it.
“They…they surprised us. They came out of the shadows…there were so many of them. Nobody has seen a Tenebris in a hundred years…we didn’t know…we didn’t know how to…how to fight them.
But we…we outnumbered them…so they ran away, but not without…” he coughed again, each cough sending his body into spasms, “But not without…taking some of us out…first.”
“You fought bravely, Maj,” Chantara congratulated, “And you kept us safe. You can rest now, Maj. You can rest.”
Maj closed his eyes, letting out a breath of gratitude. “Thank you, Your Majesty. Thank…” he trailed off, letting out another breath. I waited a moment to see if he’d take in another breath, but he didn’t breathe in again.
Maj was dead.
Chantara saw him take his final breath, and now she stood. She turned around and I saw the tears in her eyes. I expected her to walk away and spend some time alone, but instead, she started to storm over to Bolivard, saying, “Where is that Tenebris commander you captured?”
“Over here,” Bolivard started to lead her away from the injured and dead, and I watched her march with anger and purpose as Bolivard showed her where the Tenebris commander was sitting, his hands tied behind his back.
I followed, worried about what Chantara would do.
Chantara crossed her arms as she stood there, looking down on the captured Tenebris soldier. He looked up at her, his dark eyes staring into her own.
Chantara glared at him for a moment, then demanded, “Who sent you? Why are you here? And why did you attack us? We didn’t do anything to you, and you come here with your comrades and attack my men.”
The Tenebris man glared at Chantara, a smug look on his face. “I will tell you nothing, Aqua scum,” then he spat at Chantara’s boots.
Uh oh, I thought. He should not have done that. If there’s one thing I know about Chantara, it’s that if she’s in a bad mood, anything can make it worse. I actually feared for this man’s safety based on what Chantara had just experienced.
Chantara’s eyes flared in anger and she gripped the Tenebris man’s collar, pulling him close.
“Listen close, you Tenebris worm,” she hissed in his ear, “I don’t have the time nor patience to deal with your games. And don’t think for a second I will be forgiving if you don’t answer truthfully.”
“Chantara,” I warned, “We shouldn’t kill him.”
Chantara turned to look at me, the tears still fresh in her eyes. I shook my head to tell her no. She glared at the Tenebris man once again, then glanced over her shoulder, seeing Maj’s body laying on the ground a few feet away from her.
Chantara’s shoulders slumped, and she let go of the Tenebris commander’s shirt, giving him one last glare.
“Fine,” Chantara said, turning away from the soldier, “We’ll interrogate him later. But I don’t want anybody letting him out of their sight.” As she started to walk away, she hollered back, “And make sure he stays in the light! I don’t want him to shadow travel.”
“Of course, my lady,” Bolivard answered, and stood watching the Tenebris man.
“Chantara,” I started to say, trying to catch up with her, “I’m sorry about what happened before. If only-”
“There is no need to apologize,” she interrupted, holding a hand up for me to stop, “As you said before, nobody could’ve predicted this. It is none of our faults.”
I have to admit, I was surprised by her response. I thought she’d still be furious with herself, or furious with the Tenebris man, or even furious with me.
Just a second ago she looked like she was ready to kill somebody but now she was calm and collected as she walked away from the Tenebris man.
“I can’t stay in this place anymore,” Chantara sighed, “We have to go to our next stop. If the Elders won’t help us, we need to find the other tribes that will.”
“Who?” I asked, confused.
“The nearest tribe,” Chantara sighed again, as she glanced over at Ignacio who was juggling fire from one hand to the other, “The Ignis tribe.”
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