Chapter 18 Revealed Truths….

Chapter 18

 

 

Revealed Truths….

 

 

 

Lucius swam as fast he could; the monster was right behind him. Sasha turned back for him leaving the safety of the group. Lucius screamed for her to keep going but she ignored him. She swam past him towards the monster, her trident at the ready. Lucius screamed her name as she hit the monster full force in the face. The water churned up the dirt of the lake bed making it murky. Lucius quickly lost sight of Sasha and the monster all he saw was dirt and blood. He had stopped swimming when Sasha had gone past and had turned back for her. He made it to the edge of the cloud of dirt and screamed her name again. No one answered. A hand shot out of the cloud and grabbed him by the throat. The dirt cleared and Lucius came face to face with---

 

Lucius awoke screaming and grabbed onto the figure he saw whose arms were open. Selene held him stroking his back shushing his sobs.

“Hey, hey. It’s ok, Lucius.” She whispered. Lucius clung to her like a drowning man to a thread of hope. Selene sat there and stroked his head and back till his sobs settled somewhat, despite his calm exterior Lucius was still considered a child by Zora standards.

“What’s wrong?” Selene asked him as he sat back. Lucius looked into her eyes and then looked away.

“Just a nightmare.” Lucius whispered.

“Want to talk about it?” Selene asked gently.

“No.” Lucius said coldly as he laid back down rolling away from Selene’s worried expression.

“Lucius. I know you’re lying about what you’re going to be doing in the Water Temple.” Selene said quietly.

“Your point?” Lucius asked still staring at the wall.

“Well, I was hoping you’d tell me why you are lying to us. We are your friends after all, or so I had thought.” Selene said not deterred by his coldness.

 Lucius sighed, “There are some things that you guys, my friends, don’t need to know.”

“We need to know if it is something that is harmful to you and us.” Selene said, she gently touched his left temple and her fingertips glowed. Lucius rolled away from her out the other side of the bed. He collapsed to the ground light headed. Selene stared at him without emotion till he regained his feet.

“Tell me the truth.” Selene said.

“I have to go to the Temple to check on a warning that was issued to me by Zara.” Lucius said, he clamped his hands over his mouth his eyes going wide. He hadn’t meant to say that, he was going to say the same things he had told the rest of the group earlier.

“What was the warning?” Selene asked.

Lucius didn’t take his hands off his mouth but his mouth moved on its own and he muffled out the answer. Selene still stared at him without emotion and in truth it was creeping Lucius out.

“What did you do to me?” Lucius demanded.

“It’s a truth seeker; it’s one of the Light Sage powers. Now, what was the warning?” Selene asked again. Lucius clamped his hands over his mouth again and answered. He couldn’t help it; it was like it was clawing its way out of his lips.

“Tell me.” Selene demanded standing up and moving around the bed to face him. Lucius backed up against the wall with his hands still on his mouth. Selene grabbed his wrist and pulled. Lucius fought back.

“Tell me the truth!” Selene screamed.

“The sky isn’t always blue! The sun always rises in the east and sets in the west.” Lucius rambled on and on about all the little truths he knew. Selene grunted in frustration.

“No, tell me the truth about why you are going to the Water Temple.” Selene specified.

“To die!” Lucius screamed the answer.

Selene dropped his wrists and stepped back away from him, her eyes wide with disbelief.

“What do you mean?” She whispered. Lucius tried to stop, but the truth clawed its way out of his soul.

“I was contacted by Zara, an ancient problem who was sealed away under the Water Temple. She told me that something evil is in the temple. And if it is what I think it is, then I have to die to save everyone.”

“Why would you have to die?” Selene whispered as tears welled up in her eyes, she tried to blink them away.

“That’s the way it works, I won’t mind dying if it is to save you.” Lucius whispered.

“What?” She asked.

Lucius sighed, now that he had said it, it wasn’t so hard to go on, “Selene, I love you. I know you are in love with Dahrin so I haven’t said anything because you were so happy. I never wanted to get in between you and your happiness, whether it was with me or someone else. I didn’t want to tell you guys about my real reason for going because I might not come back. I can’t stand the thought of losing any of you, especially not you, Selene.”

“What about Sasha?” She asked quietly.

“Sasha and I are just friends, I wish I could be and feel more for her, but I can’t.” Lucius answered staring down at the floor.

Selene shook her head, “You don’t have to go alone; we can all help. Except maybe G-Link since he can’t swim.” She said with a laugh. “I’m sorry I caused you so much pain, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s not your fault, Selene. And I have to go alone.” Lucius said pushing himself off of the wall to stand right in front of her. She looked up at him with sorrowful eyes.

“No, you don’t. I’ll go tell the others and we can help.” Selene whispered and started to leave. Lucius gently grabbed her wrist.

“Wait, Selene I have one request, fulfill it and I’ll let you guys come with me.” Lucius said. Selene waited for his request.

“May I have one kiss? Before I let you go for good?” Lucius whispered leaning closer. Selene looked into his eyes and thought about the repercussions of what could happen if she indulged this one request from her friend.

She sighed, “If it’s what you really want, though I think it will hurt you more, think carefully about what you are asking.”

Lucius chuckled, “That’s what I love about you; you care so much.”

“If you are sure, I don’t think one kiss would hurt anything.” Selene said slowly.

Lucius cupped her face in his hands and leaned down and touched his lips to hers. Selene closed her eyes as the warmth of his lips met hers.

There was a sudden shock and Selene started to fall to the ground. Lucius caught her and put her in the bed unconscious.

Lucius watched the rise and fall of her breath then slowly walked to the door; the others would come looking for her in a few hours.

“Good-Bye, Selene.” He whispered looking back as he stepped through the door.

Selene slept there peacefully as Lucius left the room to fulfill his duty as Water Sage.

 

 

Lucius swam to the entrance of the Temple, went through the doors, everything seemed to be in order. Looking around he didn’t see any monsters, he had his spear at the ready just incase. He went through room after room still nothing out of the ordinary.

‘Zara?’ Lucius asked.

‘I’m here.’ She answered. The water swirled next to him and a water phantom took on the form of Zara, she was beautiful from the waist up, her legs were a serpentine fin that had sharp fins that ran all the way up her back, two horns curled out of her blue hair that floated around her circular face. Her blue skin glistened in the water as she floated next to Lucius. Her one red eye looked at him with a smile from her right eye socket; Zara took his hand and guided him through the depths of the temple to where she was.

They finally arrived in the chamber that Zara was imprisoned in, and there in a solid chunk of crystal was Zara’s body. The phantom Zara let go of Lucius’s hand and swam to the crystal block.

“Ok Zara, where is the evil you spoke of?” Lucius asked her calmly.

“It will be here shortly. It wanders the halls in a set pattern. It is so horrid, it killed all of the monsters without a scratch, and I fear I am next!” Zara whispered sinking to the floor wrapping her arms around herself.

“Don’t worry, I’m here to help.” Lucius consoled her kneeling next to her. She looked up at him and smiled, her eye was still in the right socket.

There was a tremendous roar and around the corner came a monster that filled the doorway, it had long tentacles that ended in claws and had a long snout filled with teeth. The eyes were two red dots on each side of its face; its body was massive and filled the room as it oozed into the chamber.

Zara screamed and Lucius stood to fight. The monster stared at him in what appeared to be confusion. Then it roared once more and lunged at him. Lucius dodged out of the way and slashed with his spear. The monster screamed in pain as a gash appeared in its neck. It turned on him once more and attacked.

Lucius fought the monster gallantly. Its body parts laid everywhere around the room, it had two tentacles, one eye, and most of the use of its upper body left. Lucius had a couple of broken ribs and a busted eyebrow and multiple bruises over his body from being hit into walls. His left eye was swollen shut from the gash on his forehead but he held his ground.

The monster attacked once more and Lucius defended. He gathered his energy and his eyes glowed bright blue. The water in the room started to swirl around him faster and faster till he was the center of the whirlpool. The monster screamed as it was sucked in. Lucius let out a yell of fury and the whirlpool spun faster, it sucked everything in the room into it except the block of crystal that Zara was in. The monster was torn to shreds, the whirlpool ceased and the monster was flung against the wall that was still standing. It let out a groan and died.

Lucius collapsed breathing heavily; he looked around the room at the damage he had caused. Zara’s phantom peeked at him over the block of crystal. Lucius smiled at her. She smiled back and swam to his side.

“Good job Lucius, you did it!” She said hugging him. Lucius gasped in pain. “Oh sorry!”

“It’s ok.” Lucius laughed.

He stood back up and started heading for the door. “Where are you going?” Zara asked him.

“Back home, I need to rest.” Lucius answered.

“But you have to finish off the monster, otherwise it will revive.” Zara said.

Lucius sighed and walked over the corpse of the monster.

“What do I do?” Lucius asked. Zara swam over and floated behind his left shoulder. She pointed to a small gem that was fused into the monster’s forehead.

“You see that? Pull it out and crush it.” Zara answered.

Lucius knelt to get it and stopped with his hand almost touching the gem, something was off but he couldn’t figure out what. Something was warning him not to do as Zara said.

“What is wrong?” Zara asked him innocently. He looked at her and she stared back in confusion her eye in the right socket wide with innocence. Lucius looked back at the gem and shrugged, he put his paranoia down to fatigue.

He grabbed the gem and pulled it out of the monster’s forehead. The monster’s shape suddenly started wavering and dissolving being sucked into the gem that started glowing. Lucius held the gem away from him-self till it stopped.

He then put the gem on a rock and picked up his spear. Zara watched patiently. The uneasy feeling came over him again but for the life of him he couldn’t figure out why, sure Zara was off but she wouldn’t do anything to hurt him.

He lifted his spear high over his head and brought it down hard on the gem. There was a bright flash of light as the gem broke. Lucius watched it as it floated up to his eye level. Then remembered why he shouldn’t have done what he just did. Tentacles shot out from the dark space in between the broken pieces and grabbed him.

“Zara! What is this?!” He screamed looking at her for an answer as the tentacles started dragging him into the rift.

“Insurance. I cannot have the Water Sage running amuck while I take over Zora’s Domain. I must thank you though. If you had not killed the guardian I would not have been able to break the last seal and escape my prison.” She answered. The crystal block of her prison shattered and Zara slithered out free once more. Her eye was in her left socket. The phantom Zara looked down ashamed.

“Why? Why would you do this to me?” Lucius asked her, his foot disappeared into the rift and he lost feeling in it. He slammed his spear into the floor and held on for dear life.

“Well, I personally wanted to kill you, but she would not let me.” Zara said looking at the phantom.

“What?” Lucius asked confused looking at the phantom.

“She is Zara. I am Lara, the dark side of our being.” Lara answered. The phantom looked at Lucius with tears running down her face; her eye was still in her right socket. Suddenly Lucius understood what the old records meant by the sockets. When Zara’s eye was in the left socket she was Lara, when in the right she was Zara. Lara was the evil in the temple Zara told him about.

The rift pulled him harder and he let go of his spear, he dug his fingers into the sandy floor but he still slid further and further in.

“Zara! Help me!” Lucius screamed to her. Zara didn’t move, Lara laughed evilly at his plight. Lucius stared at Zara as he slowly slid into the rift.

“Zara!” Lucius screamed again. Still she didn’t move.

He slid further in and felt a tentacle wrap itself around his torso and gently pull. Lucius felt himself go numb as his body slid into the rift. The darkness closed over his eyes.

“Help me……………….Selene……….”