Chapter III

Kaili leaves home, the box opens, and new characters are met.

Her eyes were open. They had been for a few minutes now. Her gaze was locked on the ceiling above her, soaking in the bleak, empty room through the grey light of a predawn world. She wanted to stay like this, comfortably cocooned in blankets and pillows, right where, some part of her continued to believe, she belonged.

 

But she knew it couldn’t be. Forcibly ripping her gaze from the ceiling, Kaili tossed off the covers and determinedly set her feet on the unfeeling floor. As she changed into the clothes she had left out the night before, she let her eyes wander around the room. Images born from memory assailed her, but they were like hearing someone else tell a half forgotten story: hazy and full of holes. None were like the memories that she had relieved in the family crypt. They each lacked the crispness and reality that had so utterly transported her into the past. This only convinced her further that she was not meant to be here anymore. It was as if eyes met her gaze, eyes hidden in the painted shadows on the wall, and they all said the same thing. You are no longer complete. You have a different purpose. Go and follow your path wherever it leads you, and you will be welcome again.

 

Some part of her couldn’t help but ask, What if the path doesn’t lead back here?

 

There was no answer.

 

Shouldering her daypack, she turned her back on her room and fifteen years of memories. Until the path led her home, they weren’t really hers anymore.

 

When she made it to the bottom of the stars, back straight and head held high, Kaili was met by an unexpected surprise. Tyson and Elizabeth ambushed her, each latching onto one of her arms, pulling her first one direction and then another, bombarding her with questions fired faster than she could think. Cyd, who had been perched on her shoulder like nothing so much as an abnormally large, fluffy parrot, scurried down her arm and onto Lizzie’s head, leaving flurry of giggles in his wake. Holding his stubby little hands out before him, he struck up a squeaky conversation with Manic and Princess, the fist sized Puffskers that belonged to her half siblings, and who were now bouncing, quite contentedly, on Cyd’s soft palms. Princess was a silky purple, her fur drifting like it was underwater. Manic, who, for some reason, preferred the name “Mini Man”, was a mottled fire-orange, with fur that stuck up in tufts so he looked like a cotton ball that had just come out of the wash. Kaili had bought them for her siblings when they had each turned five.

 

As she tried to hold her own against the storm of questions, Kaili was struck by how innocent her half siblings were. They had their own version of what the world was. She had been much the same eleven years before, safe in the knowledge that nothing was ever going to change, that if anything bad ever happened, it wouldn’t be to her. But her life had made an abrupt about face, and was threatening to do so again. What’s going to happen to me? she thought. Am I ever going to come home? As her siblings asked her if she was going to be gone long and what she was going to bring back for them, she answered herself as much as them when she murmured, over and over, “I don’t know.”

 

When Kaili finally made it to the kitchen, she smiled at the sight�"and the smells�"that met her. Her father looked up from where he stood over the stove, cooking a batch of pancakes. He nodded towards a mixing bowl on the counter next to him. A sly grin spread over her face, and Kaili detached herself from her siblings to move over to stand in front of it. As she began putting together the ingredients for her favorite vanilla pudding, her dad moved to cut up fresh fruit. There was a familiar rhythm to each of their movements. She knew the steps to this dance.

 

And soon, that’s what it turned into. A dance. As they crossed each other’s paths, Alec would hold out his hand. When Kaili took it, her dad spun her around, covering the width of the kitchen in a few quick steps. After the food was prepared, and to no music except the laughter of Tyson and Lizzie, Alec led Kaili in an intricately spinning waltz, barely missing the table and the counters when he finished in a flamboyant dip.

 

Pulling herself back up, Kaili gripped her dad in a tight embrace, just like she had, years ago, when her father would dance with her and the music they spun to was her mother’s voice. At that memory, an idea came to her, and a sly smile danced in her eyes. Ignoring the questioning look on her father’s face, she looked down at their feet, and, with a greatly exaggerated expression of concentration on her face, placed both of her feet firmly on top of her dad’s.

 

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me.” Alec groaned as she looked up at him expectantly. “Don’t you think you’re a bit big to be pulling that one?”

 

She scowled up at him in a look of mock derision. “Suck it up. You’re a man.” Alec rolled his eyes and laughed.

 

“Well, if you get to play that trick, I get to do this.” Hefting her up quickly, Alec began spinning once more around the kitchen, Kaili squealing in protest, her feet a full foot off the ground. They would have stayed like that forever… if they hadn’t nearly fallen over. Ah, well. All good things must come to an end.

 

They sat down at the large oak table, Alec at one end, with Kaili and Lizzie on his right, Ty on his left, and Fredricka and the twins at the other. The entire feast was laid out before them: pancakes; a rich, brown syrup pulled from the sap of trees on the northern half of the estate; freshly cut strawberries with a liberal dusting of sugar; bowls  filled with sweet puddings; and milk that was thick with cream.

 

All of them began eating, loading their plates with food, laughing at the antics of Manic and Cyd, while Princess perched quietly on Lizzie’s head. Even Fredricka joined in the banter when Kaili shot her a remorse-filled apologetic smile. The only awkward part of the meal was the twins. They sat coolly at their places, ignoring everyone and everything, including the food in front of them (which, in Kaili’s opinion, was probably a good thing). Instead, they were eating some strange salad-like mess, with small green chunks that looked suspiciously like shredded cabbage, which they then stuffed inside some kind of roll. It was all very strange and very gross-looking, so everyone else just tried to eat their edible food in peace.

 

The enormous amounts of food that Ty and Lizzie were shoving into their mouths did not seem to make much of a difference, because the questions kept coming. Kaili was saved from answering them all by Fredricka and Alec, who interceded from time to time while Kaili ate quickly before jumping back into the fray.

 

And thus the morning continued, the meal lasting almost forty-five minutes before the sudden lack of any more food convinced them that it was probably time to clean up.

 

Soon, they were all standing outside in the yard, Zee’s harness on and the reins in Kaili’s hand. The twins were blissfully absent, probably off to powder their noses for some mindless reason or another. Before Kaili could turn away from her family for what seemed like it would be forever, her father grabbed her shoulder and handed her a simple paper wrapped package. “These are your mother’s sketchbooks and some of her journals. She made me promise I’d give them to you.” He smiled gently. “Not that I’d have done any different. I love you, bud.” He held out his arms, and Kaili gave her dad one last massive hug. Ty and Lizzie swarmed around her legs, holding on tight as if that could make her stay longer. After letting go of her dad, she knelt down to face her siblings at eye level. Looking into their open, innocent faces, she recognized the look that lived there. It reminded her of herself eleven years ago. And as she remembered herself, she heard her voice�"was it her voice? It sounded so strong!�"say, “I’m going to come home. No matter how longer, no matter how hard, I will come home.

 

With those words, she hugged her siblings one last time, and mounted Zee. One quick snap of the reins, and they were off, rocketing into the sky. Kaili looked back just once, gazing at her home of fifteen years as it faded behind the early morning mist. They climbed higher, the cold wind biting at her skin. Her eyes watered slightly from the crisp breeze, although some of it held a little more salt than usual.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

The sun was just beginning to kiss the western horizon when Kaili and Zee touched down in the woods. They had made good headway, traveling over twenty miles, hugging the southern border of the forested hills she had grown up in. Tomorrow she would break away from it and follow the Aythirn River, towards the main river crossing into Terigmahthn. For now, the woods offered shelter.

 

The team of pack squirrels had been here earlier in the day, leaving nightly provisions and food for her. One member of the team had stayed behind to make sure she found the place and to pack up and move to the next site tomorrow. It was a very efficient system. Her father had come up with it years ago.

 

She ate quickly, bolting down the food that had been laid out as fast as she could without making herself sick. Heber, the team member that had stayed behind at the camp site for her, laughed as the food disappeared into her mouth. She liked Heber. He was one of the hired hands that had been working for her family for years. In fact, his father had worked there before him. There were only a few at the estate like him, and even though he was five or six years older than her, Kaili had known him her whole life. He was one of her best friends.

 

She helped Heber put away what was left of the food and double checked the tether lines that held the squirrels to the ground while Heber banked the fire. After some quick good night, Kaili was inside her small one-man tent, digging through her pack.

 

Pulling out the box her mom had left her, Kaili gently lifted the lid to reveal a small, folded letter resting in a very shallow inferior. She could make out a slight ridge just above the letter, so she assumed that as the box chimed, the box retracted a shelf-like false bottom to reveal the next letter. But retracted into where?

 

She shrugged, unwilling to attempt to unravel any more of her mother’s mysteries without a little more information.

 

The light of embers outside continued to die, so Kaili pulled out a palm-sized polished crystal like the ones that hung in the crypt back at home. The light wasn’t harsh, merely naturally illuminating. As the fire’s light faded, the gem glowed brighter, giving Kaili more than enough light to read by.

 

My dearest Kaili,

      I know that when you read this, it will be because you are about to make a journey that I have always known you must make. A journey… that I prepared you for. This letter marks the start of a new life for you. Everything you do will have an impact, not just on your own life, but on the lives of everyone around you. You are a force of nature, my darling. You have the power to do anything you wish. Just remember what I taught you.

      The time has come for you to know about your bloodline. I cannot tell your everything in this letter. There are not enough letters in all the world to contain even the smallest fragment of your heritage. Others will come that will tell you everything you need to know. But all that in time.

      You come from a very long, very powerful line of beings that many people have forgotten the nature of. For thousands of generations, my family�"your family�"has embodied this world’s connection to something much greater than any of us. You are, in part, a pure manifestation of that connection. The time has come, my darling, for secrets in your blood to awaken. You have instincts, inborn knowledge, that will serve you well in the future. Trust your instincts, Kaili. NOTHING in this world happens without a reason. Nothing happens without a purpose.

      Finally, my darling, I want your to remember my name. Remember who I was the first time you saw me. Remember Destinæ Faylin.

 

Your mother, for always

 

 

Kaili didn’t know how long she sat there, staring at the white piece of paper held limply between her fingers. This letter didn’t make any sense! The first time she “saw” her mother? What did that even mean? Also, what was that about her being a force of nature? And an embodiment of a connection or some such a deal? She was a fifteen year old girl, for heaven’s sake! This made no sense!!

 

Kaili dropped her head into her hands, letting the letter drop to the floor. She didn’t know what was going on. It didn’t make sense… but it had to be true, didn’t it? Her mother wouldn’t lie to her, would she? Not like this.

 

But…

 

What about what Destinæ has said, just moments before death? “Promise me you’ll never hate me for the lies.” Was this was she had meant? Did that prove her mother’s dishonesty?

 

Kaili felt something soft brush past her arm, silky as the fur of a cat. Looking over, she saw Cyd standing next to her, looking up into her eyes with his own gently piercing emerald orbs. In his unique little voice, he said, soft as falling snow, “Sometimes it’s not the lies you tell that hurt the most. It’s what you never told them that stays in the heart.”

 

She blinked.

 

Once.

 

Twice.

 

The tears in her eyes fell slowly, tracing a track down her face that none behind followed. This was not the time for tears. Her mother had taught her how to be strong, just like she had spoken the same words that Cyd had just uttered. Destinæ had known, all along, just how badly it would hurt to know that secrets had been kept from her for her entire life. And it did hurt. It hurt so bad Kaili wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.

 

But her mother had taught her to be strong.

 

Kaili folded the letter up and returned it to the box, sliding it into a little vertical slit she hadn’t noticed before. She closed the led tight and placed it back in her bag. She changed into her pajamas and crawled into her blankets, holding tight to Cyd, who played the part of the inanimate fuzzy pillow quite well.

 

That night as she dreamed, she saw her mother dancing.

 

.:*:.:*:.:*:.

 

Asmodanious opened his eyes. “Something’s wrong,” he said, standing swiftly and walking towards a slivery blue crystal set into the wall. He placed his open palm over it and sent a controlled burst of magic into its core. A series of chimes rang form the crystal as it vibrated in response to the power. The same chimes rang form every other crystal in the building, letting all know that the time had finally come.

 

Asmo turned back to where he had been sitting, cross-legged, on the symbol of Darkness, his element. On the other side of the circular room, his fourteen year old sister, Veraci, was getting up from her position over the symbol of Light. Her eyes were wide.

 

“Did you feel it, too?” She asked a she smoothed her white robes, wrinkled from long hours of meditating.

 

“There is definitely something wrong with the connection. It felt like…” The dark haired boy cast his black eyes about, trying to think of something from sixteen years of memory that could begin to describe the disgusting feeling that had welcomed him when he had descended into the swirling pool of Bane magic. “It felt like the magic had been poisoned with something. I sensed other elements, but it was just residue, like blood on a knife. Whatever�"whoever�"is doing this to our world has blackness in his heart. Bane’s hand is clearly evident.” The young elf spat the last sentence, not willing to let the feel of the vindictive goddess of his element linger on his tongue a moment longer than necessary.

 

His younger sister smiled gently, putting a hand up to softly touch the white scar on her brother’s face. Asmo may have been of the element, but the hold of the Goddess Bane was not in him. “I sensed a strong force pulling all magic to it. The Light resists it, but I fear for the others.” Veraci closed her eyes for a moment, and then the white-blue orbs flashed open, filled with fiery determination. “Is it time?”

 

“Yes.”

 

The pair turned towards the door where Damien Karoll and his wife, Sara, waited with their cloaks. As one, Asmodanious and Veraci Faylin, the Shadow Stalker and Light Bringer, pulled off the amulets that had kept them hidden under the protection of their guardians for nearly thirteen years. Together, they threw up temporary masking spells, strong enough to see them to the Citadel, weak enough to grant them access. They pulled on their cloaks and began walking down the torch lit corridor.

 

“It’s time for the lost ones to come home.” 

Author's Note

This one was a real bugger to write. Goodbye scenes are always tough for me. Some of the dialogue and whatnot seemed a little forced to me. Any comments?