by Adam Lynch
“I don’t know who shot that, but it doesn’t change a thing,” says Judan, breaking the arrow’s tail and pulling it out. “I’ll still kill him if you don’t surrender yourself. You have three seconds to call off your animals, Taiyo—and your hidden archer.”
Suddenly, Yumi, Katsu, and Sadao, race over to grab Yuuto. Then, many other Leferians do the same.
“You’re not getting him again,” declares Sadao.
Judan laughs. “What good will that do? He’s locked in here with me. There’s nowhere he can go.”
Shoom. Another arrow flies in and hits Judan’s leg. He falls to the ground, groaning and cursing.
“Yuuto, now!” shouts Katsu, gesturing everyone to release him. “Attack him and take his key. It should be in his satchel.”
He nods and dashes towards Judan, preparing to hit him. But Judan catches his wrists and squeezes it, his eyes bulging. “You think you’ve won? Huh?”
Suddenly, Katsu throws a knife at Judan’s arm. He screams, and is forced to release Yuuto again.
Yuuto punches him as hard as he can. Judan is knocked to the side, almost to the ground. Yuuto steals the key out of his satchel, jumps back, and glares at him. “We have now.”
“Come on, Yuuto, hurry up!” shouts Yumi, everyone cheering him to free himself.
He dashes to the cell door, unlocks it and escapes. He looks at me and shouts, “Now, Taiyo! Give it to him!”
Grinning, I face the animals in the hall with us. “Put him down.”
His face flushed like he’s seeing a ghost, Judan watches as vicious carnivores stampede, pounce, and pin him. He screams, flailing helplessly. “What is this?! Are you not going to kill me?!”
“No,” I reply.
“What?!” asks Sadao, stepping towards me. “What do you mean you’re not going to kill him? He should die. They all should die.”
“Taiyo!” exclaims Yuuto, hugging me suddenly. The anxiety that Sadao was just instigating in me dissipates when I feel Yuuto’s love.
“Yuuto… I’m glad you’re safe.”
“I know.” He pulls away to see my face. We smile. “I’m glad you’re safe as well. We did it.”
It’s then suddenly, I think of her again…
I look around frantically. She’s not in here either. Where is she? For god’s sake, where is she? Is she in the fort at all? “Wh-where’s Kagami?!”
“Taiyo, she’s out here,” says Yumi from outside the hall.
My heart races. I grin, but don’t realize this until seconds later. I consciously prevent myself from racing to her and avoid looking too excited—I don’t want everyone to think I’m obsessed with her or something.
I push my way through the people and animals until the sun touches my skin again. It’s then, I see her. Kagami. Thank God. She’s safe.
She has a bow and arrow in her hand. Was she the archer who saved Yuuto?
As I approach her, she notices me, and our eyes meet. But my nerves overwhelm me, and I look away instinctively. No, don’t do that, Taiyo. She’ll think you don’t like her. I aim my eyes back at hers, even if I feel embarrassed about being too excited that she’s okay. Not knowing what to do while I approach her, I wave awkwardly. But before she has a chance to respond, Yumi runs up to hug her. Katsu is the next to steal her attention, asking if she’s okay.
A few feet away from her now, I wait until Katsu and Yumi are finished before I try to say something to her.
“Take everything you find,” Sadao tells the confused Leferians around the fort. “The Darkane have been defeated. The fort is ours. We’ll explain everything that happened later.” Then, he joins the others gathered around Kagami.
“Say something to her, Taiyo,” says Yuuto as he approaches me from behind, patting me on the back and smiling. At first, I’m startled, but then I smile, comforted by his touch. “She’s waiting.” After saying this and winking, he walks up to her, bows to her, and thanks her for saving his life.
It’s then I notice her turning to look at me again. I gasp and blush. She smiles, which makes me smile. Suddenly, I feel encouraged to approach her and say something.
“Kagami.” Her eyes glow when I speak her name. Everyone faces me. Then I lose my train of thought.
“We did it, Taiyo,” she says, grinning. “We won!”
I’m immediately infected by her joy, mirroring her grin. “Y-yeah. We did.”
“It wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for you, Taiyo,” says Katsu. “You saved us all. Thank you.” He bows.
“Yes, thank you, Taiyo,” says Yumi, following his lead. Sadao, Yuuto, and Kagami then do the same.
I’m overwhelmed with feelings of misplacement. “But you guys helped, too. It wasn’t all me.”
“But it wouldn’t have been possible without you, Taiyo,” Yuuto clarifies.
“Yes… this is all thanks to you, Taiyo, and I’m immensely grateful...” says Sadao… he’s seemingly hesitant about something. “But I’m wondering… what were you planning to do with the Darkane? I heard you tell Judan that you weren’t going to kill him... and I can see how you’re carefully preserving the Darkane’s lives...”
My eyes wide, I gulp. I can see he’s angry… it’s because of that that I can’t think of how to explain myself to him. I’m totally blank, and feeling nothing but an automatic response to hide, protect, or avoid...
“Listen, Taiyo… we have to kill them. All of them. If we don’t, they’ll come after us again. They’ll take you and Yuuto, and kill the rest of us—we’ll never be safe while they’re alive. They were going to kill us all anyway after finding the mind-reader—everyone knows that. I’m not saying we should kill them just because we have to. They deserve to be killed after everything they’ve done to us. They deserve to be killed after what they did to Akio... especially this bastard over here…” Tightening his grip on his ax, he paces towards Talden suddenly. Everyone chases after him.
“Sadao!” I shout, the fastest after him. “Wait, no!”
Talden still pinned by the wolves, Sadao stomps on him and raises his ax above his head.
“Wait, Sadao! Please! Stop!” I try grabbing the ax, but he shoves me away.
“What are you stopping me for?! This man killed Akio. He dug his grave, and now I’m dumping his corpse.”
“No! Don’t kill him!” Valida screams. Please! Stop! I beg of you! I could have killed you, but I didn’t.”
“You were going to, but Taiyo stopped you.”
“I could have killed you the second I aimed at you, but I didn’t. I didn’t want to kill you. I swear. I didn’t want to kill any of you. Please, don’t kill him. I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything we did to you guys. It was horrible. I know. I hate what we did. I hate that we did it. I hate myself for going along with it. I wish we hadn’t, and I severely regret it. I know you can and want to kill him right now, but please… have mercy. Spare my brother. If nothing else, spare my brother because I spared you. I could have killed you long before Taiyo saved you...”
Sadao scoffs and laughs. “Don’t spit your nonsense at me. Spared me? And you’re sorry? After we’ve turned the tables on you? Seriously? What a joke. Well, I’m sorry, too, but it’s eye for an eye... your brother has a debt to pay, and I’m here to collect.”
“Do it then!” shouts Talden suddenly. “Quit your remarks and do what you feel needs to be done.”
“Sounds fair to me.” He raises the ax further back, glaring at Talden one final time before severing his head.
“No! Not my brother! Please! I love him!”
Sadao gasps, pausing suddenly. His face softens. “And I…” a tear runs down his face. “I loved Akio...” He pulls the ax further back, eyeing Talden with reddened eyes. Talden glares back at him, but does nothing to resist.
He hesitates, but then goes to slam the ax down.“Sadao, stop,” Katsu shouts suddenly. Sadao pauses, facing him. “Stop. Killing him won’t set you free. It won’t help you or anyone else.”
“What ab
out revenge? What about justice?”
“What about them? Who’s anyone to decide what is just? A part of me wants revenge as you do, but we have to think about how our decisions will affect the rest of us. The people of our village are not murderous… and I don’t think we should become murderous. I think Taiyo’s promoting a truce between us and the Darkane, and I would agree that that’s what’s best for all of us.”
“What about what’s fair? You saw what this bastard did to Akio. You don’t think he should pay with his life?”
“Akio chose his own fate. And that’s the way he wanted it. And again, this isn’t about what you and I want. This is about what’s best for our people and preserving our humanity.”
“Katsu’s right, Sadao,” says Yumi. “Everybody’s gone through enough. We’ve won. We’re free. We have a chance to walk out of this without a blood bath, so let’s do that. We can set up a truce with them, and we’ll know if they’re lying because Yuuto can read their minds and tell us. So drop the ax, and let’s be done with this…”
Sadao pauses, seemingly stunned. “I… I don’t believe this…” He drops his ax. His body weakens… until it breaks. He covers his face as it wrinkles. He inhales and exhales deeply. He sniffles. Then, he weeps. Valida does the same after him. Rain starts falling down from the sky—finally… after holding for so long...
Free to Be
“S
o... you’re not going to kill us then?” As Fraisha asks this, pinned to the ground by Zara and Cybil—ironically, the tiger-bears he’s been searching for—everyone turns to face him and approaches him. Yuuto rips off a piece of his rags and blindfolds him. “What will you do with us? Will you enslave us? Will you take us as your prisoners?”
“N-no!” I affirm. “We would never do that. We will never do that… to anyone.”
“Right. Of course not.” He pauses. “I admit, Taiyo… I was terrified getting defeated by you. It was my worst fear in fact: to be defeated and rendered helpless at the mercy of new dominants. I was terrified to fall to the Starlights, because even as powerful as we had become, I thought they would come and take it all away without us being able to do a thing. Ironically, it wasn’t them. It wasn’t the army I was so afraid of—so focused on. It was you. Anything and everything else it could have been in the world, it was you. I never saw it coming. I did have my suspicions of you, and Judan had greater suspicions—I should have listened to him—but my fear of the Starlights was so great that I failed to stay present and attentive with what was growing under my nose. Fear has blinded me from seeing the truth in front of me, and now the truth has led me to wherever it desires… but the question I’m now so scared to ask is… what is it that it desires?”
I don’t answer. He pauses. Everyone observes him in silence. “Everything’s… been so confusing to me... I never know when I’m doing the right thing anymore. I’m never sure… I’m never sure because… because I’m always… scared, so scared. I thought what I was doing to your people was the necessary thing for my people—but lying here after getting defeated by you, I feel oddly relieved. I feel like God’s rightful justice has been carried out. Evil has been cast down, and good has prevailed. It took me until now to realize but… we’re the evil ones, aren’t we? It’s not that I thought your people were evil. I just thought we were all competing for survival in a world ruled by the evil ones. Evils ones being the Starlights… or our captivators who delighted in tormenting my people...”
He pauses, suddenly emotionless.
“I’ll never forgive them for what they did to my sisters… to my wife… I swore one day I’d find them again when we were stronger, and kill every last one of them. But now, despite how powerful I thought we were, we’re beaten again… but oddly this time… I feel we deserve it. You deserve your revenge… like we deserve ours. I understand. You want revenge for your friend, Akio… and you deserve it...”
He’s forced to pause when his face wrinkles, his eyes redden, and tears run down the side of his head. “But please… punish me in place of my brother, Talden. I beg of you. I’m the Darkane’s leader. Make me suffer in place of everything my siblings did to you. I’m responsible for what my people did to yours. Also please… don’t hurt my sister, Valida… she’s the only sister I have left. If you spare none of us then please… spare her. Don’t hurt her. Don’t take advantage of her. I beg of you to treat her as she’s treated all of you...”
“Fraisha…” Valida says.
“We’ve already decided no one’s dying today…” says Katsu.
“And we promise we won’t hurt your sister,” says Kagami.
“O-or anybody…” I add. “We just want to be free. A-and if you give us your word that you won’t come after us, you can be free again as well.”
“His mind has already agreed to your conditions, Taiyo,” says Yuuto. “But what if his heart changes? I’m not a fortune teller. And also, I want to remind you that his eyes are very dangerous. With them, he can take any and all powers from those who possess powers. This may be the one man that we can’t let live. He could become more powerful than any of us could handle. We can’t risk losing that much control.”
“If we take out his eyes, will that prevent him from gaining new powers?” Katsu asks Yuuto.
“Yes, but he will still be a lightning man.”
“If sacrificing my life is what is necessary for sparing my people, then I will accept. If you want my eyes, I will give them to you. You would possess the ability to acquire any power that exists in this world.”
“If only you didn’t have to kill people to acquire those powers…” says Yuuto. “And most of those people are probably innocent.”
“Well, I’m not innocent. You can take my eyes. Then, with them, you can take my power in exchange for my life. Then, you will become the new lightning god.”
“We told you, we’re not killing anyone,” says Katsu. “And especially not for power.”
“Then you are better people than I. But perhaps it’s easy to be moralistic now... but in the future… you might need what I’m offering you...”
“We have our own way of doing things.” He picks up a knife nearby and walks over to Fraisha, hovering over his head. “We will accept your eyes as part of your commitment to the truce, but after that, no one will have use for them… I’ll personally see to that.”
“Very well… then thank you... and I wish you and your people the very best of luck…”
#
Yuuto and I walk outside the fort together, many Leferians already gathered out here. He stops to look at me and sighs. “We did it.”
“Y-yeah. We did, didn’t we?”
“The plan we’d so carefully constructed compromised almost immediately… but everything still worked out in the end, didn’t it?”
“It did.”
“I was terrified, I’m not gonna lie. Thank god I wasn’t alone. I still can’t believe you saved everyone on that expedition and escaped the Starlights all by yourself. That just baffles me. How did you get through that alone? How did you not shut down?”
For the first time since it’d happened, I realize how impressive that actually was. How did I do all that by myself? “I… I don’t know, honestly…”
“It’s a shame I’m the only one besides you who can testify what happened out there that day.”
“It’s okay, I think I’d rather forget it anyway...”
“I know, but it’s so inspiring. What you did today… was inspiring.”
“You, too!”
“Honestly, I’m surprised at myself. Shocked even. What I did today, I’ve never been able to do. It’s thanks to you, Taiyo. You’ve inspired courage. You’ve inspired courage in me I never thought I could have.” He smiles. “Thank you, Taiyo.”
“No, thank you, Yuuto. Thank you for helping me when I needed it most. Thank you for talking to me when I was lonely. Thank you for supporting me, encouraging me, and talking me into believing in myself. Thank you for offering me alt
ernative perspectives outside of hating myself and thinking that everyone hates me. Thank you… for your help with Kagami… thank you for stepping out with me, confessing your secret with me, and fighting alongside me. You’ve even saved my life a few times, I remember. Most of all, Yuuto… thank you… for being my friend. For wanting to be my friend despite knowing everything I try so hard to hide from everyone else. Thank you for understanding me…”
He blinks rapidly to prevent tears from leaking out of his eyes. “You have no reason to hide anything, Taiyo. You have a beautiful soul, and a beautiful heart. That’s the core of who you are. Don’t hide it. Let it shine. Heal, and learn to love yourself so you can let it shine. Then, everyone touched by your light will be blessed, as I have been blessed. I have seen who you really are, and look at what it’s done to me? You have a gift, Taiyo. You have no idea. I’m not talking about your super-power gift. You have another gift. The gift of leadership. You lead others by being the first to step in when others are scared. You demonstrate what it means to serve and help others. You put others before yourself. You inspire them with your words, but much more with your actions. You may not realize this, but everyone from your village is already viewing you as their leader. This includes Kagami, Yumi, Sadao, Katsu, and me. We’re all looking to you to see what you’ll do next.”
I gulp. “H-huh? Me? Are you sure?”
“I know for a fact.”
“I-I don’t know. I don’t think I’m the best choice. I’m not qualified. I’m not experienced. I’m not charismatic. I’m not skillful. I’m not confident...”
“Good leaders aren’t good leaders because they think they are, but because they are. Don’t feel so much is on your shoulders all of a sudden. You have help—and lots of it. Yumi, Katsu, and Sadao have all the qualities you’re worried about—they will help you with anything you need. Kagami also wants to help—if you let her. And of course, I’m here to help you with whatever you need in every way I can. I owe you so much after all.”
“Now that we’re free again, we can go free your people!”
