The flame , the size of a pinky finger, glided through the air like myself through water. Slowly but surely to stop an arms length away from us.
It started to rain as I thought it would. I felt a single drop on my arm and the flame twisted and spun into a thin disk like a roof over our heads. The relaxing aurora about this flame was like a campfire with friends or a fireplace at home in the late evening hours with a pet or loved one. There was nothing frightening about it and not a single thought of anxiety dared pierce my skin and tear through my mind. In fact, only the rich thick goodness of happiness rang through my body; a bell calling for a feast or a call from a friendly face at the door.
Then a young women stood on the now closed hatch. Where the rain hit her, steam rose and she remained dry. Her smooth skin appeared tanned with a sunny glow, slim but built strong with eyes that reminded me of Roses. Dark brown in the center but faded into a dark orange then encircled with a passionate red. She had red hair. Red like the rose but the edges really were ablaze like the embers in a campfire. Smoke escaped her fingertips and drifted to our right away with the slight wind. She wore all black, or it seemed it might have been coloured differently before but soot smudged and darkened it overtime. Patches of her clothing were burnt away. Nevertheless I couldn't take my eyes off of her beauty. A long face with pursed lips , thick eyebrows and pointed cheekbones and a small chin looked to us with careful patience.
"Harquil?" I mouthed but couldn't voice.
She nodded and moved to stand before us underneath the flamed shelter. Her flower petal lips and different parts of her face glowed for a fraction of a second here and there, as if lava flowed beneath her skin and reached its surface as she moved. "I've been awaiting you Taseaya..." she respectfully nodded her head at me and then acknowledged the other presence who found my hand to hold again ".. Nixon."
"My grandmother was right! You knew her didn't you?"I asked with all confidence as the guilt I felt at leaving my friends, with uncertainty that I would find our saving force would be found, ran from my body.
"Correct." she replied with a bright smile with her arms clasped together before her gently. She continued "I understand you do not have much time. Let me explain, I have heard your hearts calling for me. Just as I control fire I feel callings or feelings as strong as the element itself."
The wind changed direction and a few drops of the now more steady falling rain hit my arm. I stepped quickly into Nixon's side where his arm automatically swept around me. Harquil opened her hands and spun a finger once and the flaming shelter which floated above our heads spread down and semi-circled behind Nixon and I.
"That was close love. I feel you understand Taseaya's condition? The effects water has on her as well as her ability over it?" Nixon asked.
Harquil smiled again. Something proud came over her features when she looked at me and responded "Yes. I heard a great deal about her. Not by word of mouth , but as I mentioned, in the hearts of those her existence has impacted. I would have come back to Awetony sooner but you see I had left the moment I found I could bring back people's glows. The Rebel land is vast and there have been many lost Awetonians I was able to gather to bring back, the first of which you have found."
"Could you help us then? Stop the attack the rebels have planned on the small town we came from?" I asked , desperation in my voice.
"Yes." She stated. Her young, soft smile never left her blossoming lips.
"With all respect, I beg you to come with us then!" Nixon exclaimed, motioning with his free arm towards the direction we came from.
" I will join you. It has been my intention to do so in fact. However you must understand my mission is different than what you seek at this very moment. I will do what I can in this dire need but I must continue my search for the lost souls of Awetony." Harquil responded. The passion in her eyes at the mention of Awetony was fierce. Fierce in a way a mother bear protects her young cubs.
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.
"That's the whole point." I said and set off in a run to stand behind the others. Nixons running mimicked the swift and quiet sprint of his animal form and although I didn't hear his feet against the ground I felt his presence just behind me.
The impact of armies hit. The rebels held swords, knives, and a few guns. The first shots rang out and hit my ears like a gong. Nobody fell. The bodies of our soldiers were there for peaceful defense and that's what was being done. A dome of light flashed at every strike or shot the Shadows tried hitting at our mass. But our powers sustained their hold on various shields some of us were capable of creating. This was going to hold I knew for at least an hour. Once that failed-IF it failed and our army couldn't protect themselves- that was when we would attack.
The rain blanketed my exposed skin and seeped through my clothing. The glows of the Sun were slowly appearing with the water taking away the cover from their bodies. So was mine and so was my ocean blue tail. I swept my arms into a semi circle , gathering the water in the air into a swirl going in one direction to my left around my lower body. Squeezing my fists with a pulse I sent the water surging around me in a thick wave which supported me upright as I traveled forward. My long blue and gold hair stuck to my scaled and webbed arms as I kept them tense and sensing the water's movement every second that passed. Nixon's panther voice sent a murmuring rumble of approval my way.
Surprised glances looked at Harquil and her ember light as her hair burst into flames and she floated an inch above the ground with her fingers extended upwards , her palms facing the sky. The concentration needed by those supporting the shield didn't break but those who weren't capable of creating a barrier took the opportunity to gape at the powers Harquil beheld. The clear shield which bubbled our army and the Awetonians behind us in their homes now lit up in a candlelight colour; soft and warm and bright. This girl , or rather women- it was hard to tell as she looked ageless- extended the length of the shield and drew it out causing shadows to fall back from this semi invisible dome.
Nixon and I hesitated at the shield now that it was constantly visible but looked to one another for a second ; his cat eyes assessing my judging call, then made our way forwards together. I saw a pair of eyes peak from the windows now and again but never saw an Awetonian escape their homes. Flyte, who stood in the center of us all casting his shield among the rest, must have sent them warnings and orders to stay where we could protect them.
We stood and waited for the break of the shield which we knew would happen if the Shadows never tired out. There were many of them , but some were already slowing their fists and fires as sunlight began to take control of the day. Commands were heard by the scarred leader of this group of rebels. A shadow fell out of line, hit unconscious for not continuing his share of attack. Then another. This guy however, spit blood from his mouth which bled from his nose and picked himself up again, glaring at his leaders back as he turned away and then slid his gaze back to us. At a wave of his hand he persuaded some of the Shadows to come charging at the shield full force with a cry. The Shield flickered at the force but held. The clanging and sound of metal upon the sizzling shield sliced through the ongoing grunts of effort as the sunlight began to brighten furthermore. The sun would be upon us in just a few minutes after it lifted farther in the sky than the building we stood before.
"Prepare your powers Sun. The Shield will break soon." Flyte's voice echoed through our minds.
"But it is going so well!" One of our soldiers replied out.
"How can that be?" Another ,deeper, voice continued to question.
There was no reply, just a buildup of the feeling of courage. It didn't feel like it was caused naturally. My body was tense and filled with worry but quite suddenly regained composer and strength.
"Flyte." Lada stated with a smile next to me quite suddenly. She took a step away from the farthest line of people where we stood and transformed into a Wolf. An elephant and a horse appeared farther down the way.
It was true. I hardly had time to pick up my guard when the shield broke and the bodies of all the soldiers of the Sun fell to the ground. The Shadows were using their only ability against us; the power to take away mobility of another being. Without the use of my arms to feel and manipulate the water around me I fell useless to the ground with the others. My head lay at an angle towards the mass of glowing bodies to my left . I saw the helpless faces of my team , including Flyte himself who lay motionless surrounded by his own people.
My eyes could only stay open and hardly move at my command but my hearing didn't fail to sense the oncoming crowd of Rebels who stepped over us towards the buildings housing the innocent Awetonians. Snickers were heard here and there as conversation arose among their group.
"This one is interesting." a snobby women's voice could be heard not ten steps away from my head.
"Oh and look it over there!" Another childish voice added to hers. There was a silence from them and pounding footsteps as some rebels began to quicken their pace towards the entrance of the homes we were trying to protect.
My heart raced in panic as the first line of rebels made it far enough to notice the Prince.
"Laying helpless" a kick to the gut "and vulnerable" and another "like we used to huh Princey?" The rebels were all much closer now and just seconds from reaching the door "Watch us now." The man who abused Flyte turned his back from him as other Shadows followed his lead, each taking their turn spitting or snearing at the helpless Flyte.
I couldn't stand it. Neither could He.
Somehow Flyte managed to move a hand. Then a foot. And he was soon pushing himself off the ground. Elbows bracing. Then palms. This happened quick enough that the Shadows didn't know how to respond to his resistance against their power.
"I will not allow you to take any more of my people!" Flyte's voice boomed much like his Fathers.
The next moments happened incredibly quick. One moment I was sure the rebels would finally get to the door and watch as the Awetonians were forcefully taken, and the next Harquil appeared to be standing by the Prince, her glow much more than just a glow. She was vibrant like the sun itself as it ascended into the sky, finally shining directly on us . At their surprise I felt the force of their power weaken as their concentration diminished. Growls and grunts could be heard from some of the Sun soldiers across the space beside me as they straightened weighted limbs and grew into a crouch and stood one by one. The rain stopped and I still lay in the puddle, my mind screaming to stand with them. But even with my ability to heat and evaporate water it would be too late to offer assistance once I stood on my own two legs again.
Nixon got up beside me and immediately went to stand between myself and the rebel force, his Panther fur bristling at them.
"Full force! Now!" The man who I assumed was the leader of the rebels; the man with the scar I recognized, commanded. His voice guttural and rough , although intimidating, did not compare to Flyte's or his Father's gathering vocal tones like rising seas.
The Shadows as one moved again. Some among us now as they passed through earlier did not get a chance to attempt their controlling force on some of our sun soldiers as they threw them away by telepathy or sped around them in impossible speeds to throw them off track. Nixon sank his teeth into a rebel and threw him sideways then pounced on another to his left.
I lay helplessly on my stomach, my palms beneath my shoulders, my unnaturally long hair meant to be useful as camouflage beneath the waters among swaying plants laying in soaking strands on the tough ground beneath me. The sun made every drop of water glitter in this forsaken place. A contrast that was not unlike the battle that commenced as Flyte nodded to Harquil and her body was sent ablaze. Like an explosion, a dome of fire grew out from her and I thought that not only the Shadows were done for, but our army was too.
It reached me in under a second, too quick for me to panic.