“Take off your clothes,” he said with a chuckle.
“You’re a fucking monster!”
“Yet, you still want me.” He grimaced. “Pathetic.”
The guard stared, waiting while she stalled, reluctant to fully undress, until he grew angry and drew his sword.
Shit.
The guard lunged out with his sword, aiming to end the young girl’s life, but Emil, using the last of his strength, channeled his remaining energy and reached out to meet the guard’s forehead with a glowing hand and a bellow that resonated from his soul. His palm ignited with a radiant burst of light that brightened the interior of the forest with a soft blue hue.
The clang of metal against the ground was soon followed by the thud of a lifeless body. Emil stood solemnly with his hand still extended, panting heavily and cradling his right side with his other arm.
Wasn’t...fast...enough.
As devastating as it seemed from the onlooker’s point of view, the death was painless. It would have, in fact, been easier for Emil to stab him mercilessly to truly give him the death he deserved, but despite what they said, Emil still had a heart. Regardless of how they treated him, he knew he was still human.
The young lady looked in shock at the exhausted hero standing before her. Though she had seen the whole event, her mind was unable to process what she had just witnessed with rational thought.
“Are...are you ok?” she finally asked, not entirely sure what to believe.
“Is...there...anyone else?” Emil asked between his fleeting breaths.
“No.”
“Good,” he said before he collapsed face first to the ground. From where his hand lay, blood could be seen oozing from between his fingertips, forming a puddle underneath him. No...survivors.
Emil was a drifter and had been for as long as he could remember. For years he had been on the run, only stopping for supplies when necessary, while avoiding the main roads and the ever-looming vanguard.
Only recently had he slipped up, causing the calamity that had fallen on the innocents in the village in which he stayed. After running for so long, he only wanted a place to call his own, a warm bed to rest his head on at night, and the laughter of a loving family. This is what he longed for, but it was something, it seemed, he could never have.
As his life seeped into the ground through his drenched tunic, memories of times past flooded into his psyche. In his final recollection, there was no peace. No matter how good those times were, he knew in his heart that he had made the wrong decision.
Chapter 5: Alone
A sharp breath escaped from Emil’s lungs as he returned to the waking world. His head swirled when he found himself bandaged in a foreign bed.
Did I get caught?
A set of footsteps slowly approaching stirred his senses. Emil felt for his dagger, but to his dismay, he was unarmed.
As the footsteps crept closer, Emil’s eyes remained closed. Going solely off the sound of creaking wood, he began channeling his energy into his hand, prepping to lunge out at his unknown captor.
Almost there.
Emil lay still as he struggled to gather enough energy to ward off his attacker. His body had not yet fully recovered from his battle with Hugo, and, in turn, his capacity to fight was severely limited.
The footsteps came closer to the bed until they finally stopped. Emil opened his eyes and thrusted his hand towards the unknown assailant.
That girl...
He remembered everything.
Emil froze only inches away from her heart, stunned from his painful recollection.
“Oh, I figured you were up. Do you want something to drink?” the mysterious lady asked with a warm smile, further disarming his intentions. Emil’s hand warily hovered over the tray that she had prepped for him as he continued to study her. “I know it isn’t much, but it’s the least I can do for you.”
She...reminds me of Ren.
Emil slowly lowered his hand and grabbed the cup standing beside his freshly cooked meal. The energy that once flickered between his fingers was so faint that she failed to realize that she had almost lost her life to him.
“Thank you...” He paused and examined the mystery concoction before taking a sip. “We’re even.”
She smiled graciously at the thought, but her elation was cut short.
“How long was I out?” Emil asked after taking another sip of the tea she made for him.
“Um...just under two days,” she responded hesitantly, not quite sure if her answer would be to his liking.
“Were you followed?”
She paused as she thought silently to herself, mentally back-tracking the events that conspired over the past few days. She tucked her stray brunette hair behind her ears.
“No...no, I don’t think so.”
“You dragged me here by yourself, right?”
“Yes, but I had help.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
“You were hurt pretty badly. I knew you couldn’t stay there or the fire would get to you, so I dragged you from the forest and made a makeshift stretcher out of what I could find. You saved my life. I couldn’t leave you there to die. It wouldn’t have been right.”
“You’re quite resourceful to do all of that. No guards, no suspicious villagers? Nothing?”
“That guard you killed, he tried to rape me. I avoided them at all costs on my way back in. But yes, you were spotted. The townspeople that saw me assumed you had been hurt in the fire and were someone that I knew. The fire was pretty close to the town, so everyone knew that something had gone terribly wrong. They offered assistance but I kept to myself. Before you passed out, you said ‘no survivors.’ I figured you meant the guards, so I tried my best to keep a low profile.”
Without saying a word, Emil swung the covers off himself and sprung up from his lax position. He cradled his wounded side, ignoring the voice nearby telling him to stay put.
“Where’s my gear?” Emil asked calmly. He scoped out his newly found setting from behind the drapes of the young girl’s window.
“Over there in the chest at the foot of the bed. Do you not trust me? Look, I saw what you did back there to that man and I know what you are. If I wanted to, I could have easily killed you or left you for dead, but I didn’t.”
“No, no, I do trust you–”
“Marona. My name is Marona.”
“I do trust you, Marona. I’m just trying to make sure that we’re safe.”
As Emil spoke, his eyes peered out from behind the drapes, wary of any unknown threat.
“The fire...where is it now?”
“It died shortly after you went unconscious. Everything that was ablaze suddenly fizzled without a trace. No one has been there since... They say it’s cursed ground.”
“Take me there.”
Chapter 6: On Cursed Ground
“So why do you need me to take you there, again?” Marona asked inquisitively as she walked through the ruffled leaves on the forest floor. It was a cold, dreary morning when they left her home. They had been traveling the forest grounds using only the faint light from the hidden sun to illuminate their path.
“I need to see something,” Emil answered as he kept his gaze fixated on the foliage ahead.
The metronomic patter of crinkled leaves filled the void between them as they walked. Marona’s ears perked as she hung onto the thought that the mysterious warrior would somehow elaborate, but he fell short of her expectations. Curious for more, her feet stopped behind his when she paused to speak.
“Is...is it your family?” The words binded the once resilient warrior. A gasp escaped from his lungs as his feet froze to the cold, rigid earth. “You spoke of a girl named Ren while you slept the first night I took you in. Is she okay?” Marona spoke carefully, unsure if she had traversed into a tender spot of the young hero’s heart.
Emil slightly turned his head to the side, as if consulting an unseen force before finally answering. “I...don’t know.
”
The shackles that once bound him dissipated as he forced himself to move onward, adamant to deny any prying into his personal affairs.
“Hey...you can’t be all cold like that. We all have a burden to bear. Three days ago, before you saved me, I was going to Nerai to see my uncle. He ran the local bakery down there. When my parents died, he took me in until I was able to make it out on my own. The day of the fire, I was going to visit him for dinner and to catch up, but then I saw the flames. After that, I just wanted to make sure that he was okay. I ran as fast as I could. I knew it was stupid, but he was the only family I had left. Somehow along the way, one of the guards came chasing after me. That’s where you stepped in. Three days later, I still haven’t heard from him. Last night, I was so stupid...I even waited for him to come miraculously stumbling in like he would always do when he visited, but he never came. He was a good man. Did you know him? Mr. Harlan?”
Emil paused as he searched for the words within himself. He was still turned from Marona, but he could feel her eyes piercing him through his back.
“Yes...Mr. Harlan was...a good man. The night of the fire, your uncle and two others rushed one of the king’s lieutenants, Hugo, while I was pinned down with a group of people who had taken me in. He gave his life as a distraction so that I could launch a counter attack against Hugo and his army. When you saw me, it was after I had taken out Hugo and his men.”
“So, he’s...?”
“Yes.”
A moment of silence passed between the two as Marona came to terms with the fate of her late uncle.
Emil turned to her. Her hand clutched a turquoise pendent that loosely hung from her neck.
“I’m sorry,” Emil said softly as he looked on with remorse. The bitter sting of death was something that he had not yet grown used to. No matter how much he tried to harden his heart, the pain always managed to slip through.
“You know...when I didn’t hear from him after the fire, I knew something was wrong. I wanted to go back, but I was too afraid to go alone. Not knowing if he was dead or alive or trapped in the wild these past few days nearly ruined me. A part of me already knew he was dead, but I couldn’t bear to see him like that.”
“Because of him...he gave us a fighting chance, and for that I’m forever grateful.”
“Yeah, I know. He acted for the greater good of the village. If he knew his actions would save one life, he’d be okay with it. That was just the type of man that he was.”
“Marona...go home and mourn. I appreciate what you’ve done for me so far, but where I’m going, it’s dangerous. I can find my way from here.”
Her forest-green eyes shot up fiercely, breaking her from her grief.
“No.” The heaviness in her words had been replaced with a passionate flame from within.
“Hugo, the lieutenant I told you about, he destroyed a whole village without breaking a sweat. They’re others out there just like him and they’re looking for me. Chances are the king sent a relay group after not hearing from the main camp by now. Even if it’s just members of the guard, it’s too dangerous to bring you any further.”
“And what do you plan on doing? Fight them by yourself? Three days ago you could barely move and now you plan on jumping right back in? It’s suicide!”
“What I do is none of your concern. You don’t even know who I am.”
“I don’t need to know who you are to see that you’re a good person.”
Marona’s eyes met Emil’s, but he quickly averted his gaze by drifting them to the side.
“If you want to recklessly rush in and die, that’s your own call, but then what would the death of my uncle and all of the others stand for?! Huh?! Don’t be so selfish!”
“I—” The words rushed against him like the thrashing waves of a turbulent storm, each rift resurfacing memories of the fallen village he had called his home. Marona’s eyes softened as she looked upon Emil. The rage that once coursed throughout her body subsided. The tension that made her body rigid was no more.
“I’m sorry,” Marona sighed apologetically. “I know it’s hard on you, too.”
“I wanted to go back to the village to pay my respects and to see if I could gather any clues as to what their next move is. The guard could be out there so I wanted to do it alone. You’re more vulnerable than I am, and if they do come for me, I don’t want to put you at risk. I don’t plan on having anyone die today.”
“Right...but you’re not at one hundred percent yet, are you? If something happens, I can cover for you. I’m a pretty decent shot.” Marona confidently pointed to the crossbow she had harnessed to her back, loaded and primed for firing. “I also gathered some of my medical supplies from back at the house and brought them along just in case. I know you can heal fast, but part of the reason you’re standing here right now is because of my mixes. And look.” Marona reached into one of her satchels that hung from the band around her waist. “Explosives,” she said with a mischievous smile. “Look, I don’t want anybody to die today either, but if somebody does, it’s not going to be me...or you.”
“I can’t tell you what to do. If you’re going to tag along and we come across any of The Royal Vanguard, stay behind me and watch from a distance. Use the terrain to stay out of sight. If one of the king’s lieutenants come around, run. You can’t take them head on. Don’t look back. Don’t stop and try to help me. You run. Understand? You honestly have no idea what they’re capable of. It could be anything. So don’t try to step in if it looks like I’m outmatched. I can handle myself.”
The smile that was once across Marona’s face straightened as her brain began to process Emil’s words.
“Yeah, I follow...but how will I know if I see one? You know...an Abnormal?”
Emil’s demeanor changed as he continued to look deeply into Marona’s eyes. Her face remained sober, but underneath the stone exterior she presented, she could feel the tension welling up inside of her. A sudden pulse of blue light flickered from Emil’s hand. The reflection only intensified the look in his eyes. Marona jerked back at the emergence of the sudden wisp of light but quickly calmed herself by remembering that Emil was on her side.
“The king’s lieutenants...they’re Abnormals. They all have abilities like myself. Exceptional speed, durability, and physical strength all seem to be the common point between us, but we each have our own unique abilities as well. Other than that, the crest that they wear often denotes their power. The common people know them as lieutenants, but most of them are part of an elite group inside the king’s ranks called Legion.”
“Why haven’t I heard of them before?”
“While they do have powers, they don’t always use them. If you’ve heard the stories, then you’d know why. We’ve always existed among your kind, but our reception has always been less than favorable. Without their powers, they are still at an advantage when in battle with normal human beings. Aside from that, if they do have to resort to using their abilities, it’s often covered up or left up to speculation. It’s easy to get away with some things in the heat of battle if it involves physical feats. Even if one of them were to resort to other means, I’m sure The Royal Vanguard is under an oath of some sort. They’re becoming more aggressive now. I can tell it’s getting harder for them to cover their tracks. That’s why things are the way they are now.”
“What do you mean?”
“They’re expanding their reach. Legion. The guard. The king. All of them. You haven’t noticed?”
“Noticed what?”
“Nothing. It’s safer if I don’t tell you everything right away. Not until we’re somewhere private, at least. Just know that we’re the good guys and anything you hear from the king is a lie.”
“What about your powers? Are those off limits too?”
“I have the ability to project energy from my body.”
“Well, what type of energy is it? It looked like lightning,” Marona asked as she carefully examined his hand from a distance.
“Does it hurt when you use it? I saw you kill a man with your touch alone.”
“Me? No. Them? Yes. And I can change the intensity of it at will. Right now, for example, if you were to touch my hand, it would do nothing to you.”
Marona cautiously inched her hand towards the light resonating from Emil’s palm, not sure of what to think of his sudden offer.
“Go on,” he insisted as her hand hovered over his.
Marona looked up at him reluctantly before her hand began its descent. A wisp of his light tickled the inside of her bare palm, putting her fears to rest.
“It’s...warm.” The words sluggishly slipped off her tongue as she studied her newly found attraction. “And...calm,” she said shortly after with more urgency than before. “I...I can feel it.”
Emil watched her as she gazed on with amazement before ultimately clenching his hand, dissipating the energy that freely flowed from it.
“We should keep moving. We’re burning daylight. Any other questions?”
“Yeah...just one more,” Marona said quietly. “Your name. You never told me your name.”
“Emil. My name is Emil.”
“Emil...,” Marona whispered to herself silently.
Chapter 7: Death March
Emil and Marona paced themselves well, but the trek back to where Emil’s village once stood was a tedious one with the path they decided to take. He knew that they were after him, so he asked Marona to take the most obscure path possible in order to avoid any threats that may have come their way. He could have opted to use his powers, but the last thing he needed was to be spotted with Marona. She had a good heart, but her skills in combat were yet to be tested. If they got a hold of her, they’d be ruthless. After witnessing what happened to the people of Nerai and hearing Marona’s story, Emil was sure of it.
The Last Light Series Omnibus One: - The Dreamer and the Deceiver - All Things Eternal - Ode to the King: A Superhero Epic Fantasy Collection (The Last Light Collection Book 1) Page 4
