Seeing Blood’s face made Dukaryn drop his guard for just a second. And that second was long enough for Blood to get Meenu out of his hands.
But Dukaryn didn’t seem to care about her anymore.
He stared at Blood, eyes wide. “You really are still alive.” He said. “Avaryn.”
Blood’s eye twitched when Dukaryn said that. It had been a while since someone had looked him in the eye and called him that.
Seliaryn just stared at the man in shock.
There was no way.
There was no way this man was Avaryn.
He had his face, yes…
But everything else…
His voice, his fighting style… everything…
Had he trained himself to change all of that? To make him seem like a different person?
But how?
People stared in silence at the man, trying to make sense of what was going on.
But then, Master Red spoke. “If you think about it hard enough, the memories will return.” He said
They all looked at him, before following his gaze to Meenu.
“That was the weakness of the memory spell.” He continued. “The memories were not protected by a stone wall with a golden key. They were protected by a house of sticks. Hit it hard enough and it will come crashing down. Am I right, Meenu?”
And just after he said that, Meenu pushed herself out of Blood’s arms.
She collapsed onto the floor and threw her hands onto her head, crying.
Seliaryn’s hearts dropped.
A house of sticks?
Had her memories of Avaryn returned?
Blood knelt down next to her. “Meenu…” When he reached out to touch her, she hit his hand away.
“Stop.” She whispered, crying. After a moment, she continued. “I don’t understand…” She looked at him, blinking away the tears.
Blood stood up and stepped away from her, knowing what was coming.
“How could you?” Meenu asked.
He narrowed his eyes.
“How could you kill all those people?” She yelled.
Dukaryn had had enough. “So what?” He yelled. “You’re Avaryn! Do you expect me to be scared?”
Blood’s hands balled up into fists. “I do.” He said, turning to face him. “And I expect you to leave. Leave now before I get angrier.”
Dukaryn snorted. “Yeah, right! I’m not–”
“Dukaryn!” Seliaryn called. “That’s enough.”
The King looked at the knight in shock.
Seliaryn ignored this and turned to the other knights.
As he did though, he saw a few of the other warriors, frozen in shock as they stared at their companion, Blood. It was clear that they too didn’t know his secret.
But Seliaryn pushed the thought away. “This battle is over.” He yelled, loud enough for everyone to hear. “Gather the wounded men and head back to the capital, now.”
“What?” Dukaryn hissed. “I am your King! You will not–”
He stopped talking when Avaryn appeared right in front of him.
Dukaryn blinked and took a step back.
“It’s over, cousin.” Blood said. “I suggest you get out of my sight. Call up a new army and hide behind your castle walls because you are next on my list of people I need to kill.”
Dukaryn let out a breath and was shocked when he was pushed back by Seliaryn who, for the hundredth time during this battle, stepped between the King and his opponent.
“Go Dukaryn.” Seliaryn said, not taking his eyes off of Avaryn. “Take your horse and go, now.”
The King hesitated before he cursed. But he did as he was told, as fast as he could.
Seliaryn stood right in front of Avaryn.
They were the same height, and shared the same eyes.
And the more and more Seliaryn stared at him, the more he realized it was really him.
“Why have you returned?” Seliaryn asked.
“I never left.” Blood responded.
“You should have.” Seliaryn said. He then turned his head to Meenu. “Look at what you have done.”
Blood hesitated before he looked at the crying Meenu.
Her parents were with her now, trying to console her, but she continued to cry. Even her brother Andrus was there, though he was wounded in the battle, he came to try and console his little sister.
But that didn’t work.
“Did you really think you could spend the rest of your life pretending to be someone else?” Seliaryn asked.
Blood didn’t respond to that.
“You cannot be with her.” Seliaryn said. “Not with the crimes you have committed. Not with the lies you have told.”
He turned around and walked away from him and towards Meenu.
Seliaryn watched as Blood approached the Kyrus family.
Lady Kyrus was the first to acknowledge him.
She stood up when Blood approached them, tears running down her cheeks. And she wasn’t thinking when her hands reached up and touched his face.
The dark look in Blood’s eyes didn’t fade, but sadness filled them when he looked at the crying Lady Kyrus.
“I knew it was you.” She whispered. “My dear boy.” But she pulled her hands away and looked down at her daughter.
Blood hesitated before he looked at her too. “Meenu–”
“Go away.” Meenu whispered. “Please… just… go away.”
Her family looked at her in shock and watched as she leaned into her father’s arms and cried harder.
Blood took a step back.
He didn’t need to be told twice.
But before he left, he flashed a look at Master Red.
Master Red returned the look and lowered his shoulders.
And then Blood disappeared.
The battle was over.
And no one had suffered more than Meenu had that evening.
Blood didn’t need to wait for Master Red at the hideout. He was already there, waiting for him.
“You knew this was going to happen.” Blood hissed right when he entered the large room where Master Red stood. “Didn’t you?”
Master Red didn’t lie. “I did.”
“Then why didn’t you stop it?”
“I did not want to.”
Blood lowered his squared shoulders. “What?”
“I wanted your identity to be revealed.”
“Then all of this nonsense about me making sure no one knew–”
“Blood.” Master Red started. “You are my smartest, wisest warrior… but at the same time, you are the most foolish.”
Blood was taken aback.
“Did you think I didn’t know, Blood?” He asked. “That I didn’t know about what you did with your evil?”
He hesitated. “It was to prevent myself from being overpowered by it.”
Master Red let out a laugh. “I am not an idiot, Blood. It was nothing more than a way to run away from who you really are.”
“You told me that in order to work with you I must draw a line between now and then. To forget my past.”
“Exactly. I didn’t tell you to forget who you really were.” Master Red said. “More precisely, what I meant was to not let your past define who you are. Not to erase it from your mind.”
“But–”
“And keeping your identity a secret is not the same as trying to forget who you are.” Master Red said. “The reason why I wanted your identity to be revealed, as risky of an idea as it was, was because I realized that that would be the only way you would grow up and act like a man.”
Blood narrowed his eyes.
“Because, Blood, I need you at your best for what I have planned. And your best is who you really are. Not this man who is trying to pretend he’s someone else.”
“It made me kill–”
“It didn’t make you do anything.” Master Red said. “That was your choice… and you did nothing wrong.”
He looked away.
“You did what you did for your father. Others may not understand it but I do. And you do as well. Do not try to convince yourself that what you did was wrong. And don’t you dare try to convince yourself that your evil made you do it.
“Your evil is you and you are your evil. Getting rid of it is as if a regular person cut off their dominant arm. Your father taught you that. He taught me that. So why would you go against your own father’s teachings?”
Blood didn’t respond.
“Besides, did you really think that ripping it away from your soul would actually separate you and it?” Master Red asked. “It has been like a ghost, following Meenu around. I have seen it. And I know that you are able to sense when Meenu is in danger. Why did you think that was? Did you think you had some emotional connection with the girl? No. That was your connection with your evil. That was your evil telling you that she was in trouble.
“And really, Blood. Do you really think that something that is supposedly the world’s greatest evil could be so bad when it too can love? You loved Meenu with all of your heart and soul. And that includes your evil. Even if you split it from you, it loves her. It is you and you are it.”
Blood was looking at his Master now. He never knew that.
“It is only called evil because of the men who challenged the first Lumynos. They were afraid of us. And as a way to make everyone fear us, the named our gift evil. And soon, even us Lumynos started to call it that, since we had no name for it. That doesn’t mean it is actually evil. This thing that we call evil… it is an extension of our soul, Blood.”
“I didn’t realize…”
“Of course you didn’t.” Master Red said, his voice calming down. “Blood… I need you to be a Lumynos man now. I need you to stop running away like a coward and be who you are destined to be. You are the heir to the throne of Raffyre and as the heir, you need to want the best for your nation more than anyone else in this country.”
Blood sighed, defeated… but at the same time… feeling a lot better.
“And in order to do that… I no longer want you to be Blood.” He said, shocking Blood. “I want you to be who you really are. I want you to go put yourself back together and come back to me. Then, you will fight by my side as Avaryn. Avaryn of the Lumynos family, son of Kyryn and the true king of Raffyre. Do you understand?”
Avaryn took a breath. “Yes, Master Red.”
“Go now.” He said. “This is your new mission.”