Light of the Dark

by N. Saraven

  “I knew I should’ve killed you when I last had the chance!” hissed Halgor with such hatred in his voice, which made Talek and Agony even more desperate to end this. Especially when they saw the paragon starting to faint. His hands lost their grip, his hoarse breathing slowly ceased.

  In the end, the friends could lift Halgor from the kobold, when Talek stroked at his crook of arm, which broke the elven’s strength. Agony took a hold of the elven under the arms, then picked him up, and with his own momentum, rolled both of them to the side, straight into the table. They crashed into it with a loud thud, Halgor half lying on Agony’s chest, although the warrior pushed him off immediately.

  Meanwhile Rita and Kira knelt by Veilon to see how he was.

  “He is still alive,” announced Rita as she checked the paragon’s pulse. The bruises on his throat would not heal so easily without magic; he also would not be able to speak for a while. Yet he survived, if barely.

  Interestingly, he could thank his life to his fatigue. He was so exhausted that even a little lack of air made him faint, instead of letting him fight to the end. Literally …

  As a result, when he lost consciousness, Halgor’s grip loosened up without him realising it, which actually gave Talek enough time to act.

  A few moments later Veilon started to come around, as fresh air filled his lungs again.

  “Not for long,” murmured Halgor, who struggled to get to the other from the bed where Agony had tossed him. But as soon as he emerged, Talek and Agony pinned him against the wall at his shoulders. The friends kept an eye on him at all times, but they both knew it was only a matter of time until the elven lost it completely and used magic. From his flaring gaze, it could happen in any moment.

  “What in the Gods has gotten into you?” cried out Agony, while trying to hold the struggling mage in place with Talek on his side. The elven stared at the slowly-sitting-up Veilon with such fury it made his friends truly worried.

  “You need to ask?” shouted Halgor angrily, which could leap into hysteria in any moment. “Thanks to that … THING, Neila left me! What did you do to her?! I knew that you wanted her for yourself all along, but I cannot imagine what venom you whispered in her ears to listen to you!”

  Veilon, who was helped up by the girls, gazed at the other. He panted heavily, his breaths sounding hoarse, as he tried to pull himself together, which seemingly was not an easy task. His body still trembled, and his eyes showed fear, hiding behind astonishment. He obviously could hardly believe that he truly was almost strangled to death.

  “What are you talking about? What happened?” asked Talek, confused.

  “Veilon turned Neila against me, that’s what happened! I don’t know how, but she gave up on us, just like that, sending her into Indrek’s waiting arms. All thanks to YOU!” hissed the elven.

  His hatred almost came to life. He tried to launch forwards, but the friends held him firmly in place. His eyes smouldered in fury, which could take over his mind in any moment. And then who knew what he would do …

  “What are you babbling about, you fool?” whispered the paragon hoarsely, yet nobody could miss the sarcasm in his tone. “‘Just like that’? Don’t make me laugh! You completely left her alone when she needed you the most, and you blame ME for it? I didn’t have to do anything. YOU made this possible, not me.”

  Talek and Agony exchanged glances hearing the Ruler’s mock. They knew it would take only a little nudge to push the elven to the other side. It had to be obvious to the kobold too, yet he decided to take his chance. Their chance …

  Halgor truly stumbled at the edge of a rampage. Yet he did not move a muscle, although he was so stiff, he could be a statue. His firm gaze only eyed the paragon, who continued talking in his breaking voice.

  “You want to blame me because you cannot face your own failure. But you know as well as I do: as miraculous as it sounds, I am completely innocent in this. I might have done things in the past, which if I could, I’d take back or choose another path. But right now, all I did was listen to her when she wanted to talk, or just was in the room when she needed company. Comforted her when she wanted it. You could have done the same. I wouldn’t have stopped you, nor stood in your way.”

  The air in the room froze, although it seemed boiling just a moment ago.

  Halgor had to face the truth. He tried to find signs of a lie on the other’s features or in his tone; however, there were none. Veilon told the utter truth, and he had to acknowledge it, whether he wanted it or not. And he tried to dismiss the clues, really tried to fuel his anger further just to take revenge on the kobold. Yet his body did not move a muscle.

  His own beliefs and values stopped him doing anything. He left those once, during the second and third Dragonwars, and he could not regret it more since then. So after the wars he tied himself to even stricter rules. Especially regarding Neila, whom he never, ever wanted to lose again.

  But to make their problems go away, first he had to come clean with himself. He had to admit and accept facts about himself—what his goals were in life, which he wanted to keep no matter what. Because it was important to him.

  Like his honour, which contained paying back any kinds of debts or the protection of the ones he considered worthy of his loyalty. Furthermore, taking responsibility of the caste, of which he became a Master.

  Before these things, basically before the Dragonwars, he only had to look after himself. Nobody had ever earned his trust, nor got behind the thick, high walls he constructed around himself. Even though Neila became the first person he let in, he did not even realise her or the others’ actual worth until he almost lost everything during the Dragonwars. He had to realise then that another existed in his world who needed attention and care. If he wanted that person to stay in his world, he needed to actually tend to their requirements.

  Halgor perfectly realised these insights in the passing ten circles. He started to truly know himself, to find all the things he thought as important, and what he wanted to do. So he always tried to actually stick with a decision, yet keep them bendable enough to do so if somebody needed him to. He had to learn how others behaved and why, to look for signs of what they were thinking.

  So now, as painful as it was, he knew that Veilon told the truth. Even if it seemed impossible, then and there, the paragon did not lie.

  Suddenly it all struck him, which felt as a terrible weight on his shoulders. He pulled a knee up, put his elbow on it, and rested his head in his hand. He did not even realise that he actually could do this, that the others had disappeared, leaving him alone in the room. He saw nothing with his eyes.

  There was no denying that he could give Neila everything she wanted. She had few needs, yet he still felt it would take more than he could give at the moment. The mage just could not face the situation, nor face that his rival could.

  He always knew that Veilon truly was his competitor, who had a real chance with Neila. Yet he never questioned her loyalty. Albeit, somehow the kobold could reach Neila in a way he never could, so after a while she started looking at the paragon in a different way.

  The elven never wanted to accept that he felt jealous of their forming relationship. That there were things in life which seemingly only the kobold could give to Neila, what they could only share with each other, completely leaving him out.

  Although Halgor tried to change, he never wanted to give his personality up. So he overlooked their growing whatever it was between them, dismissing their little mocking jokes aimed at him.

  Neila always had a fiery temper; she liked to have some fun. She never crossed the line she drew, yet when she felt that Halgor neglected her, she liked using Veilon to remind the elven of his mistakes. And the paragon loved to participate.

  However, Halgor never truly believed that there lay something deeper than torturing him in this. Sometimes he lost himself a little too much in his work with the apprentices, or in his own studies or alone-times to notice.

  Halgor knew it would be w
orth it in the long run. When he finally finished making himself whole, everything would have its place. He just needed a little time to work it all out. But alas, he forgot to talk with Neila about this, about how he felt, or what he was trying to accomplish. Which resulted in more and more serious jokes or flirtations with Veilon on her side, making him truly jealous after a certain point. Yet he still kept to himself, although he started to think that maybe not only the actual cheating could be considered as unfaithful behaviour …

  But he needed more time. Furthermore, somehow everything piled up in those times, which made Halgor very busy. He could not get a break, no matter how worried he became with Neila’s behaviour. Obviously, whatever Veilon tried to do, it was not against her liking, nor her will …

  Then the true nightmare started. One night Halgor had to leave the Tower for some research, which could not be delayed. When he returned the next morning, entering their room, he found Neila sound asleep, but not alone. He almost broke Veilon’s neck then and there, although the paragon managed to slip away.

  Halgor’s anger only rose when he found out that Neila knew nothing of the happenings. The kobold had found a way through her rune which protected the room from unwanted entering, and then it only took a sleeping spell to make sure that she would notice nothing …

  The elven promised himself that day that he would eliminate the paragon at any cost. He would never forgive him for what he had done, even though he would not mind the fact that he had a rival, that there was another male who wanted the same woman. But when the paragon started to play dirty, all rules were off. Moreover, after all of this, Veilon just fled Varomor like a fugitive, instead of facing punishment from his caste.

  It took a long time and even more effort from both of them to move on from this. However, Halgor became even angrier when he found out that Neila was mad at Veilon for different reasons than him …

  All these memories flooded Halgor’s mind in a split moment. They swirled around in his head as he sat on the floor. He stared into his lap, but saw nothing through his tears.

  Then another thought broke through which made him chuckle, even though he felt no mirth.

  In truth, after that night, Halgor wanted to forget its existence, make it go away. So he never actually asked what happened, or how Neila felt about it. So no wonder if ten circles later he had to pay the price of his negligence.

  He truly hated himself for not recognising the signs earlier. For not paying enough attention to the forming of something between Veilon and Neila. For never asking how she felt about the paragon. He thought what was between them could survive anything.

  The mage could not have been more wrong.

  He honestly thought that Neila knew him enough to know why he had to leave the Tower after Cameron betrayed them. But even if she did, I never understood her, he thought bitterly. She had a point when she said an elven always stays an elven.

  Although Halgor was very different from a typical elven in many, many ways, in some he stayed the same. When dealing with problems, elvens usually stayed away from everybody, managing them alone. These were the only times when they actually wanted to elude any contact with another. When they suffered from something, they found a way to deal with it. Or, as in most cases, they made them disappear without a solution.

  On the other hand, Neila would need somebody close to her to deal with the situation, and Halgor denied this from her. So he could not, or rather should not, blame Veilon for not doing the same. Nor should he blame Neila, if she decided to be with the one person who was actually there for her.

  On a relating note, Veilon himself seemed to be in a terrible shape. Yes, he was there for Neila, but at what cost?

  When Halgor thought about it, he had to admit that the kobold must have had a very trying time doing so. He almost strangled him to death for real, which could never have happened in normal circumstances. It even sounded ridiculous. The elven should never get that chance in life, meaning that the paragon obviously bit off more than he could chew, which made him completely exhausted.

  Halgor took a deep breath as he slowly returned to the present. He looked up and found, baffled, that he was alone. He never realised when the others had left.

  He gave a faint smile. To whomever he owed this, he was thankful.

  “The biggest question is, what now?” he murmured out loud, leaning back against the wall. He just realised how tired he felt, or how much his shoulders hurt. When he touched them, sharp pain struck him. He needed no visual conformation about the bruises on them to know their existence.

  While he muttered a healing spell, he thought about what he should do next. First of all, he needed to understand the situation. Thoroughly. And he knew only one other person who could give him the information he sought.

  “Great …” he mumbled as he scrambled to feet.

  Nothing hurt anymore, thanks to the spell, but he still felt terribly tired. He dismissed the thought of sleeping, then closed his eyes and concentrated on finding the kobold. Surprise, surprise, he was in the next room, most probably with the others.

  He took another deep breath, gathered his strength, then went to the neighbouring room. Every eye fell on him when he stepped in. Agony growled something; Talek only muttered under his breath. Rita and Kira held their breaths, as Veilon looked as if he was ready this time to face him.

  Halgor closed the door, gave a bitter smile and held up his hands.

  “If you don’t annoy me, you live,” he announced, which made the paragon snort. He had already healed himself; nothing indicated their earlier fight.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure of your lovely presence this time?” he asked.

  His voice was dripping with sarcasm, which made the others exchange worried looks. Agony and Talek stiffened, getting ready to jump if needed. But Halgor only leaned against the closed door, crossing his legs, and folding his arms.

  “I assume you know the most about the situation. For one, I want to know what is going on. For two, I want to know what you plan to do next.”

  The kobold snorted again in disbelief, as everybody else waited nervously.

  “Does this mean that you finally could think things over and realise whatever is going on, it has to stop?” teased the Ruler, but the elven just shrugged and motioned him to continue. “Neila is starting to lose control in every possible way you can imagine. Whatever she spoke of with the Gods, it only made it worse. I could not get a hold of Enargit yet, so I have no idea what he was talking about with them. In this, maybe you too should ask … somebody …” He looked deep into the other’s eyes, who just scoffed.

  “And who?” he barked back.

  “Don’t pretend to be a bigger idiot than you are!” snapped the paragon, who seemed to be more and more agitated by the elven’s presence.

  Halgor rolled his eyes anxiously.

  “Yeees, finally you understand,” noted Veilon, still full of mockery, when he saw the blue eyes stop and flare up.

  “But how? And what shall I ask?”

  “I’m sure you’ll find a way. And I’m sure that you have something to talk about too.”

  “You still didn’t say anything about how you plan to improve the situation?” asked Halgor sharply.

  “The situation cannot be ‘improved’.” Veilon sighed as he stood up from the bed where he sat until now. He started for the door, but the elven did not move at all. The paragon stepped before him, as close as he dared.

  “The situation can be prevented, ideally solved. And we cannot do either of them until we have all the information. So please be a good boy, and speak to Lexénia!” he said sternly, eyeing the other, who stood his gaze without blinking.

  Maybe they would have stood there like that for eternity if in that moment somebody did not want to enter the room. The person wanted to open the door with great force, as if they were in a hurry. As a result, Halgor completely lost his balance as he was tossed at Veilon, also making him stumble. Because neither of them wanted
to fall, they both grabbed the first thing they could—each other.

  Enargit entered to the view that the two rivals stood like children, hanging from each other’s neck as if they had nothing better to do. His astonishment must have shown on his dragon-face too, because Halgor straightened up immediately, elbowing the other away from him. Veilon stumbled a few steps until he found his balance again.

  “Er … this is interesting.” The dragon coughed nervously. Then he looked around the room. “Everybody is here, that is great.”

  He wanted to continue, yet his voice died. He drew a deep breath, as if he were not sure where to start. Everybody waited for him to do so, worried. He obviously had nothing but bad news.

  “We just came back from Indrek,” Enargit started.

  “I told you, everything will be okay,” Rita whispered to Agony, who just gestured her to be silent. But the Leader heard her.

  “Well, more or less. Yes, we succeeded in a way; we managed to make a truce with Indrek. If he does not attack us, we leave him to rot in his little Empire too.”

  “A non-aggression pact?” muttered Rita to herself.

  “But something is wrong, very wrong. The whole thing happened because Neila … how shall I put it? She took it badly meeting with the Gods.”

  “Yes, what happened there? Where did you go, and whom did you speak with?” asked Kira, unusually for her, as she hardly ever interrupted these kinds of meetings.

  “The kobolds managed to make us go into some kind of a trance, letting our minds leave our bodies and go to the Gods.”

  “I am so curious about where they live. Must’ve been beautiful.” The shade sighed.

  “Be silent, girl!” Talek chided her.

  “I was not occupied by the scenery, believe me,” replied the shadow dragon. “Only Neila and me visited the Gods because one of us was not there.” He glanced at Halgor, who only exhaled sharply. “We met Arisha, Setal, and Yverion. They started with the explanation of why they did not want us mortals to know that we live in only one world instead of three. But Neila was not interested in explanations. She demanded answers about the creation—why we were made, and why they play with us.”