Nocte and Solem

Chapter 16

Chapter 16

 

“Mom!” I gasped. “H-How did you find us?” Mom laughed.

“Oh it was quite simple actually! I just found your trail of complete and utter betrayal and followed that.” I bit my bottom lip and winced.

“Mom, I-I-”

“Now come stand behind me, Lux. I’m going to deal with this nightmare, once and for all.” I stood in front of Tenebris in order to block him from harm.

“No.” Mom grunted in frustration, making the flames around her hands intensify.

“Lux, get out of the way!”

“No!” I yelled. I had never raised my voice at Mom before. I feel a little bad about it looking back, but at the time it didn’t matter to me. I needed her to listen and if yelling was the only way, so be it. “I won’t let you hurt him!”

“He’s a danger to us all!”

“No he’s not, Mom! He’s kind and innocent!” My mother scoffed.

“What I saw you doing didn’t look innocent to me.”

“Please,” I said, moving closer to her, “I know you think he’s evil, but I know him better than anyone. And I know for a fact that he is not a monster. Sure, he may have a temper, but nobody’s perfect.”

“Temper?” Huffed Mom. “He destroyed half the village! He knocked you out! He cannot control himself and is a threat to our lives! He must be disposed of just like the other Nocte!”

“Mom,” I said, holding her arms, “please, I can help him! He could rule with us in peace, just like it used to be!”

“NO!” Mom pushed me down hard onto the ground, scraping my arm against a piece of broken glass. “I will not rule alongside a filthy Nocte! I refuse! That’s what they thought too, and look what happened to them!”  I tilted my head in confusion.

“They? Them? Mom, what are you talking about?” My mother looked absolutely hysterical, her eyes bloodshot with rage.

“Them,” she growled, pointing at Tenebris, “the filthy makers of that demon spawn. They wanted to live in ‘peace’ and ‘harmony’ and rule ‘together as one’. I thought they were daft, but everyone in the council agreed that combining our kingdoms into one, joining our powers, would be right. But I knew! I knew that the Solem were BORN to rule! NO ONE ELSE! I had to do something about those pests, but I didn’t know what...until that beautiful day. The day they decided to create an eclipse. They couldn’t have given me a better opportunity to ruin them!” Tenebris gasped.

“It was you,” he said with a growl, “You were the one who took them away from me!” Mom laughed evilly, frightening me to see her act like this.

“Yes,” she said, “and the rest of your poisoned kind. And now, I will do what I should’ve done 17 years ago! There can only be one ruler of Gemina, and that ruler, will be ME!” Mom blasted a ray of fire toward Tenebris, who dodged the attack with perfect speed. “Stand still and accept your death with honor!” I got up from the ground as quick as I could and stood in front of Tenebris, blasting a ray of flame from my own hands. Mom’s flames and mine created a stalemate of power. I used all the energy I could to hold back her fire with my own.

“Tenebris!” I cried, sweat dripping down my forehead. “Run! Get to safety! Quick!”

“No!” Tenebris replied. “We won’t leave you here!”

“Go! I shouted angrily. “Get to safety, NOW!” Tenebris looked at me, then looked at Mom. He knew I wasn’t going to last for much longer. “Just go, Tenebris,” I said softly, “Go without me. I’ll be okay.” Tenebris closed his eyes, a single tear dripped down his left cheek, and then he vanished. I closed my eyes then. Tenebris was safe, that’s all that mattered to me. I had succeeded with my real mission, so now I was ready to go. My flame ray was slowly being overtaken by Mom’s. Tears dripped down my cheeks. The person who brought me into this world, was going to be the one to take me out of it...I felt my heart break as I let go of my powers and prepared myself for the flames to overtake me. Just when I thought I reached the end, I opened my eyes and saw Tenebris holding back the flames.

“Tenebris!” I shouted in both happiness and shock. “You came back!” Tenebris smirked as he pushed his shadows further into the flames.

“Never left in the first place.” I smiled at him and used my light powers to help Tenebris hold back the flames. Mom looked exhausted and her flame ray became weaker and weaker. Right before the flames could overtake her, she looked at me and Tenebris with an unnerving smile.

“Et brachia ex Sole caeli, et in exsilium agere eos!” Suddenly, the flames disappeared. Tenebris’s shadow powers and my light powers changed from two separate beams and started to criss-cross into one stream. The stream then began to circle around Tenebris and I at an incredibly fast pace. Mom chuckled as Tenebris and I were lifted into the sky.

“M-Mom?” I said shakily. “What is happening?” Mom smiled devilishly.

“You want to be together in harmony?” She laughed. “Fine! I hereby banish you to the Nether Region!” Before I could say anything more, the stream became a giant sphere, preventing me from seeing Mom or anything but Tenebris floating next to me.

“Lux,” he said, breathing fast, “What’s going to happen to us?!” I held his hands tight and looked him in his eyes.

“I don’t know, Tenebris,” I said, “but everything’s going to be okay.”

“But how can you know?” Asked Tenebris, squeezing my hand tightly. “How do you know something bad isn’t gonna happen?!” I looked down and chuckled, then looked back up into Tenebris’s beautiful yellow eyes.  

“I don’t,” I said, “but I promised you I’d be here with you no matter what, and if we’re together, how bad can things get?” Tenebris smiled a little and pulled me into a passionate, deep, and very romantic kiss. It could’ve been our last, for all we knew, so we wanted to make it as special as possible. And lord, was it special! Out of all the kisses we had ever had, that one was the best. Unexpectedly, Tenebris’s eyes bugged out in shock and pulled away from me.

“What?” I asked. “What’s wrong?” Tenebris looked absolutely terrified.

“Our hands!”

“What’s wrong with your hands?” Tenebris grunted.

“Not our hands! Our hands! Just look!” I looked down at Tenebris’s and my hands and gasped with fear. They were merging together, becoming one. I looked back up at Tenebris, now sharing his terrified expression.

“What the heck is going on?!”

“Oh yeah, like We’d know!” Tenebris and I tried to pull away from each other, but we just kept getting pulled closer and closer. The closer we got, the more attached we became. Tenebris and I screamed in fear and in panic as we watched our bodies slowly disappear and merge into one. I heard Tenebris cry out my name and I cried out his as our faces were pulled close to each other, and as our faces began to become one, everything went black.