Hope Released

Storming Sun Shower

     Although it took a couple of hours to travel the distance Nixon and I covered to get into Shadow territory , it took only seconds for Harquil to return. She took our hands and asked us to hold our breaths and hold still as she set us aflame. Not a moment of panic set through my veins at her touch. If anything all I felt was understanding and the continuous peace her presence shared. Her fire wasn't deadly to us, and most interestingly not to myself and my relation to water, but rather it seeped out of her skin with the possibilities of warmth and protection such as a bonfire would do to protect people from wild animals or the cold. The flames she set off engulfed us without a burn or a hiss. It was a different flame. A spiritual light. The next moment I breathed we stood at the meeting point of the town center of Livita just as Flyte instructed us to do so. 

     Joined three story intricate older buildings which used to incorporate small stores on the first floor with balconies running along the top two stood in a circle around a crumbled cobblestone ground. Nixon, Harquil, and I stood underneath a large wooden gazebo as it rained. The sun was rising far off in the distant horizon where the dark sky was turning a deep purple and orange. 

     We released hands as the smoke which appeared along with us vanished out the edges of the circular, peaked roof of the structure. 

     "The Shadows will be here shortly. Your teammates are coming out now." Harquil said and turned to me "Taseaya, I thought this would be a good spot for you. The rain will give you an advantage if Im correct to assume that your powers are much like mine and the gazebo will give you protection from your transformation... if that's what you are afraid of." Her eyes flashed red for a moment as she sent a bright smile my way over her shoulder.

     "What do you mean if that's what I'm afraid of?" I asked with confusion. Of course that's what I'm afraid of without a large body of water to swim in. But before she could answer I watched her body ablaze in an ember glow as she ran off towards a group of the Sun I recognized filing out of a nearby doorway. 

     "Seaya, look there." Nixon said , pointing towards an opening among the dead buildings that were well away from the rising sun now at our backs. 

     I assumed they thought they'd be alone at capturing the innocent Awetonians remaining here,  sleeping in the homes around us with the two hundred or so which poured out in a run , spreading out to start entering the homes. But without my noticing, Flyte had already made himself present in the center of the clearing and I spotted Lada and Skye walking towards him frantically with a lineup of the group which traveled here. 

     "Stop!" Flyte's voice carried with a boom. The group of Shadows continued its stream towards their destinations with a unified cry and raised fists. One of the rebels who had a long scar marking half his face caught my eye. It was the same man who tracked Skye and I months before. "We ask you to stop and reconsider what you are doing! These are innocent lives!" Flyte's voice stated again.

     With attention drawn to him a small group of four shadows broke from the others and charged at Flyte. This is when all of the soldiers of the Sun who were recently trained and departed for this mission stepped into line. A barricade was formed at the start of where the homes of the Awetonians began. The defensive position began and that was my sign to join them. 

     I took a step off the porch and just as my foot was about to touch the ground beneath the falling rain, Nixon's hand reached out and pulled me back beneath the shelter.

     "What are you doing love? You'll transform." my handsome companion said amidst the destructive force making their way to our army. 

     I looked to Harquil in the crowd of Sun soldiers and I couldn't stop my smirk from spreading smoothly onto my lips. I had an idea, and I was going to be brave.