Word Count: 1974
~Vaela
I stare up out of the carriage window, admiring the sprawling buildings at heights I've never conceived of before.
"So this is what a city looks like," I marvel, tilting my head to get a better look.
This place is almost the exact opposite of the Jade Province. Instead of trees, there are endless buildings and roads paved through them, copious amounts of people mulling about, minding their own business. It's like one of the villages, but tripled in size, with enough people to fill all these buildings.
"I don't recommend any of you going for a walk without someone else with you," Marek instructs, bringing my gaze back to his. "This place is very unforgiving."
"We will be fine," Zavian mutters.
"I've been here a few times on tours with Kailor. I've never liked it," Nakoa says, shivering. She has huddled closer to Zavian, avoiding looking out the window. Whatever memories haunt her, I doubt she is going to share them with us, and I wouldn't dare ask.
All of a sudden the carriage comes to a stop.
"Looks like we made it," I muse, looking out the window again. We appear to be in the main street, the building's here especially magnificent. It wouldn't surprise me if in one of these, Tai has been staying for the past couple weeks, hiding out from Vaia. I can't imagine anything would inspire her to come here.
"You can always turn back, Akara. You don't need to see him, I can just go in," Zavian reminds me before we step out. I have no doubt everyone would stay in this carriage and have it turned away if I said the word, if any of us said the word.
I shake my head. "I'll be okay, Zavian. I need answers."
"Then let's go," Nakoa exclaims, as we clamber out onto the street.
It doesn't take us long to get into the building Tai allegedly dwells in, but it takes us some time to scale the stairs all the way up to the top floor. It appears as though there are multiple homes in this one building. I've never seen anything like it before.
Eventually we find the door numbered the same as what is written on the note from the ring. Marek is the one the knock.
My heart races as I stare at the navy blue door, anxious to see exactly who lives behind it.
And sure enough, Tai answers.
He flinches upon seeing me, immediately looking over my body as if he can't quite believe I'm real. He doesn't look that different, aside from some fading bruises and healing cuts. Overwhelming amounts of emotions crush over me, leaving me breathless.
"You're alive," he murmurs, before his gaze shifts to the right, noting who stands beside me. "And you bought Marek."
"We have a lot to talk about, Tai," I tell him, trying not to let my emotions overwhelm me. Part of me wants to lurch forward and embrace him, until I'm coldly reminded of why I'm here, and what he has done.
"Come in," he says, stepping back. Zavian and Nakoa go in first, but when Marek goes to, Tai steps in front of him, shaking his head. "You, stay outside."
Marek frowns. It's obvious from his expression that he's holding himself back. "I don't think so..."
"I'll be okay, Marek," I say.
He looks at me, wanting to argue, but he must read in my expression the desperation. There is no way Tai will speak truthfully if Marek is near, and I don't need them fighting right now. So mercifully, Marek backs off.
The moment the door closes, Tai is talking. "I can't believe you're alive. Everyone told me you were dead."
"I thought I was, but I survived. There's a good chance I'm turning into a Tani," I tell him, looking down at my hands as if I can see myself changing right this instance.
Tai is watching me when I look back up again, a grave look in his eyes. I wonder if Zavian and Nakoa weren't standing so close by, he would try to hug me, or even kiss me. Thankfully he hasn't, too stunned by my sudden arrival. I wouldn't want to have to push him off, because the thought of me touching him right now makes me shudder.
"So you did drink from the river?"
I inhale slowly. "Yes..."
Tai's emerald eyes flutter closed, and he rakes his hands through his curls. "Oh...right. This is really happening."
I frown, watching him start to pace. He knows something that I don't, I can see it written all over his face. He knew I would end up drinking from the river, considering the ring, which also means part of him suspected I would survive it.
"Tai, what is going on?" It's Nakoa who asks, seeing what I'm seeing in him as well.
"You're not going to turn into anything like the Beast," Tai explains, wincing as he looks at me. My heart plummets, knowing whatever he is about to say isn't going to be good. "I've made sure of that."
"What do you mean, Tai?" Zavian demands.
"I figured that if Vaia ever got her hands on you, she would do exactly that...force you to drink from the river, I mean," he tells me slowly. I blink, still confused. He didn't know for certain, but he figured? My throat tightens with panic.
I almost don't want to ask. "And?"
"And I was working on a cure for the river. I mean, it's not like Vaia just got the idea out of nowhere," he admits, his gazes sweeping over all of use to gauge out reactions. Each one of us is just as confused and mortified as the other, trying to piece together the reality of what Tai is telling us.
"You made a cure?" I ask, not wanting to believe my own words.
The Tai I knew would have told me. But there no longer is the Tai I knew. That person kept secrets from me, lied to me often, and made me think Vaia's belief was unfounded and random, coming from her own crazed ideologies.
"Sort of," he says quietly. "With modifications."
"And you didn't tell me?" I question.
Tai steps forward, but I match is back, not wanting him close enough to touch me. He frowns, not yet understanding why I'm being so cold him.
"Akara, how could I? You would have panicked, maybe not even trusted me." His eyes are wild as he explains. He's made a mistake, a large one, and he knows I would have never sided with him had he told me earlier, and now, I feel sick. "It was my fault. Vaia raided my workshop and thought she could give it a go."
"How long have you been working on it?" Zavian demands. In those big blue eyes of his, I can tell how hurt he is, like he is losing his best friend like I'm losing my lover.
"Years now, I suppose," Tai shrugs. "I never intended on using it on anyone..."
"Accept your brother. That's why he's dead." It comes out of my mouth before I have a chance to rethink. I should have brought it up later, when I have more information, I'm just so frustrated, and all this anger is getting hard to keep under control.
Tai stiffens, eyes widening. "I..."
"We went through your workshop ourselves, Taius," Nakoa says coldly.
"That was a mistake. A dreadful one," he explains carefully. "But the cure works, I mean it worked on you."
I frown. Has he gone insane? He doesn't look guilty that he killed his brother, or at least contributed to his death, he just looks mortified that we have exposed the secret he was trying so desperately to keep to his chest.
"I never took a cure," I say, gaze not lightening as I stare him down.
He rubs the back of his neck, the sorry look in his eyes appearing to be real, I just don't want to believe it right now. "No...Well, I slipped it to you in your drinks."
My mouth falls open. "I could have died."
"I knew you wouldn't though, because it worked on me," he says sheepishly. Under the scrutiny of me, Nakoa and Zavian, he's almost falling apart trying to explain himself. "For the most part."
"You took the cure?"
"Yes, awhile ago. Hence the healing abilities."
It feels as if my entire reality is crumbling. Those healing abilities, that we thought had come from his near death experience, and he even made it seem like that was the case, when this entire time, he knew he had taken the cure, and willingly drunk from the river. I felt the blame for so long, concerned that he was dying...Only for this to be revealed.
"But you inherited that from killing the Beast, right?" Zavian questions, glancing at me. I shrug, unsure if I have any words right now.
"Not exactly. I was technically Tani before I killed the Beast. That's why I didn't die," he says.
My eyes close, as I absorb that information. I thought I lost him that day. I was so distraught, as Marek and I helped him back to my home village, where I sat next to his bed, regretting everything I had done in life that led up to that moment. All for him to reveal that he had lied the entire time. He was a Tani, just like Marek.
"And you knew that..."
"Yes," he murmurs, stepping forward again, but Zavian forces him to step back, as if he believes he is capable of actually hurting me. "I love you Akara, but I wasn't about to throw myself in front of the Beast without knowing for certain I wouldn't die."
Ouch.
"But...I've seen you bleed." No of this is making sense. He lies so well, with such ease. I had no idea the entire time, and that's frightening. What more has he lied to me about that I am still yet to uncover?
"A modified the cure so that very few Tani traits would be apparent," he explains. "I can show you."
He reaches behind him, and all of a sudden, there's a knife in his hand. It's small, but it has me reeling back in panic. It's frightening, how quickly I assume he's intending to hurt me with that, considering how far I've leapt back.
Zavian is in front of me in a second. "Don't touch her, Tai."
"I'll heal her," Tai exclaims, confused by our reactions. He's trying to cut me, to show me that my blood will not look like Marek's, or any other Tani. It's sick, to think he intends to cut me with a knife.
"Your healing doesn't work," I snap, motioning to my stomach, and then to my hand. "You made me sick!"
"My theories are that I had to kill a young child Tani with healing abilities to become this, and therefore their abilities were not developed, and neither were mine once I inherited them," he says, rolling his shoulders back. I look to Zavian and Nakoa, who just gape at him in shock.
"You killed someone?" Zavian sounds breathless.
"Once you take the cure, your body is in a state of in-between, if you will. To become a Tani, you need to kill another and take their powers," he tells me. "You could kill Marek, and become a Summoner yourself."
I shake my head, realising that he's entirely serious. "I'm not going to kill anyone."
"You have to," Tai says sternly. "Or you die."
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Remember that you can always find this story 10 chapters ahead on Radish (:
You will find it under King's Possession Season Three!!
~Midika 🐼💜