Chapter 7

Chapter 7 Nix Year 4004
“Thats insane, you're insane. I’m not magical, I’m not dangerous.”
“Do you have any other explanation of how you got here? Think about it. Was there ever a time in your life when something, unexplainable happened? Something unbelievable?” I knew she had to be wrong, right? But the more I questioned it the more I began to doubt myself.
“Well there was something a few years ago. I stole a piece of bread for my... well someone and the castle guards caught me. I escaped. I didn’t know how I just did but...” my words faded off as I recalled the damp day.
xxxxx
“Stop!” A palace guard shouted at me as I knocked over an
apple cart in my attempt to escape. They tumbled to the ground like little bombs. The sound of the soldiers boots crunching them in between the cobblestones chased me like a bad dream. I ran around the corner climbing up the wooden ladder as fast as I could. I heard the guard stop in front of it. The latter began to shake violently as he followed me. I reached the top running across the flat roof top. The cracks in the dried mud grew with every step. I ran across the thin railing­less walkway connecting two buildings. It had been put up for the soldiers three years ago and never taken down. I glance back to see the man just clearing the top of the latter. Turning around I stopped short, the stale bread I had stolen falling to the ground. A second guard, probably on duty a few houses over had cut me off. I raised my hands to my chest, a reflective move, water sprayed in the mans face. He slipped off the roof landing unhurt on the balcony below. His clumsiness had allowed me to escape. At the time I had thought he slipped in a puddle causing it to fly in his face, I had even gone so far as to think there had been a person on the balcony emptying bathwater. But now...
xxxxx
“What happened?” She sat down on the stone shelf from before.
I sat next to her still slightly uneasy.
“Well if what you are saying is true then I guess I splashed water in his face, or something.” She raised one eyebrow and laughed.
“You splashed him?” I jumped up and walked to the edge of the cave.
“This is crazy. I have to get out of here. Let me go.”
“I’m not forcing you to stay here, and honestly I don’t think I need you, but you need me. You have to be trained, at least a few defencive moves, the king knows about you now.”
“So what. I can just leave, never see you, the king or anyone else from this hell hole again.” She walked up next to me facing the valley.
“I used to think like you. For a long time I was lost, no one keeping me here, no one supporting me, no one loving me. I almost left to. I was standing on the dock in Nautici before someone found me. They brought me here and showed me the valley. They said I had to chose. I could run, start a new life, never look back. Or I could stay and save a dying world. You can leave, just do one thing for me. Look down at the kingdom before you. Think about it. At one point there had to be someone down there you cared about. Dead or alive. Picture there face. Now ask yourself, would you sacrifice their life for yours?” She stopped talking, letting her words sink in.
“No.” The word was barely able to jump from my lips without cracking and shattering in half. She put her hand on my shoulder. I watched as the flames colored out the view of the valley. When they cleared we stood next to the same bush I had hid behind an hour before.
“You can go.” When I didn’t move she gestured to the woods. “Go on.” Lux turned the flames already liking at her fingers. “Wait!” She spun, no longer spraying red light across the small clearing. “This is for her, to keep her safe” She stared at me. I took a step toward Lux, the flames engulfing her body. She smiled slyly."What's your name?”
“Nix. Nix Tenebris.”