Chapter 5 #2
A loud crash erupts in the sky. The clouds are gathering at a fast pace overhead.
Lighting breaks through the darkness of the sky, illuminating it.
An eerie sensation enters my limbs as I watch my parents about to fight to the death, and I cannot help but feel a deep sense of bereavement.
It is odd. I have never had what other children had, so it should not technically be bereavement.
Yet nonetheless, an emptiness followed by an unbearable ache settles within me.
“Please don’t,” I whisper, hoping my father would hear me.
He does not.
My mother is his sole focus.
But just as he is about to strike, my mother blurts out.
“I am with child.”
Everything comes to a standstill.
The sword vanishes from his hand, and he drops his shield.
He stares at her dumbfounded.
“You… What?”
“I am with child. If you hurt me, you will also hurt the babe,” she quickly says.
Father narrows his eyes.
“Funny that you should care about that now.”
He tilts his head to the side and focuses on her belly, his ears pricking with awareness when he confirms her words.
His mouth is set in a grim line.
“You know I am telling the truth,” mother says, a twisted smile painting her lips.
As father struggles with the enormity of this news, mother takes advantage of his lowered guard to strike.
But not at him.
At me.
I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing myself for the impact.
A loud groan erupts, followed by a crash to the ground. My father falls in front of me. A gaping hole forms in his torso, blood dripping onto the ground in rivulets.
His eyes are wide, his features strained with pain.
My mother curses from behind, getting ready for another attack.
“I wish I could do more, Nykander,” my father whispers. “But whatever happens, you have to live. You have to live, you hear me?”
I nod numbly, my lashes stained with tears.
A cloud of electricity surrounds his body before slowly moving toward me, enveloping me whole. He chants something in a low voice, which is drowned out by my mother’s screeching as she sends blow after blow to the shield of electricity he created.
My body hums as I feel my father’s energy seep into my skin.
“This will protect you,” he says ambiguously. “At least until you find your own strength.”
He mutters another word, and the shield suddenly dissipates. Blood dribbles down his chin, and he coughs up more of the red liquid.
“What did you do, Hanth!” My mother yells.
Father gives her a lopsided smile.
“What I should have done a long time ago.” Then, turning to me, he whispers.
“I transferred half my spiritual energy to you. It will act as a shield if your mother tries to harm you, but without proper cultivation, it will only protect you until you reach your majority. I trust you will find your way after.” He takes a deep breath, coughing up more blood.
“Live, son. Live and prove everyone wrong.”
He stands up then. The hole in his body is not healing, which means he has truly reached his limit.
“You lost, Inaria,” he chuckles as he takes a step toward her. He can barely stand on his own feet.
Blood is everywhere.
Yet like a coward, I can do nothing but remain frozen to the spot.
Why am I so useless?
Tears stream down my face, and the inevitability of the moment hits me like a punch in the gut.
If he transferred half his energy to me, that means…
A sob escapes me.
He will not make it. There is no way he will make it with those injuries.
Mother’s nostrils flare, and in a split of a second, she teleports in front of me, ripping the dagger from my belt and aiming it for my heart.
My lips part on a soundless moan as I await for the blow. Yet as she tries to push the blade into my flesh, something repels it. Almost like a thin, invisible shield surrounds me, the sharp edge cannot pierce my skin.
Her eyes widen, and her gaze flies to my father’s satisfied one.
Not one to give up, though, she continues to strike, imbuing the dagger with her spiritual energy in an attempt to break the shield protecting me.
Sweat beads on her brow, her features twisted and dark. There is pure malice reflected in her eyes, as if my death is her ultimate goal in life.
I cannot understand this.
I stare at her as she continues to stab at the invisible shield and I cannot recognize the person in front of me.
She is supposed to be my mother, my protector. Instead, she only wants to be my destroyer.
Father’s hand closes over her wrist, holding it into place and stopping her.
“Enough, Inaria. You will not succeed.”
“Damn you, Hanth. Damn you to all eternity,” she grits out. Twisting out of his grip, she surprises him by pushing the dagger into his heart.
His eyes flare in surprise for a moment before he smiles.
“It seems I was already damned. I just did not know it,” he murmurs. He stumbles backward, his gaze unfocused.
“Live, Nykander,” he says, a barely audible sound. But it’s one that makes its way to the most hopeless depths of my souls, igniting a small flame inside. One that sparks to life because of him.
He crashes to the ground, and as seconds go by, his body shatters, turning into a myriad of shiny particles that are swept away by the wind.
The dagger falls to the ground. The blood marring the blade is the only proof of the atrocity it’s been used to commit.
I stare at the empty spot while my mother stares unflinchingly at me. Her entire body is trembling with anger. There is no sign of sadness or grief that my father is dead. Nothing.
There is only a thirst for violence. And as she sends another blast of energy towards me, it is once again repelled by my shield.
She stomps in front of me, glaring at me with contempt.
“One day, Nykander, this shield will no longer be able to protect you. And I will be there. Until then…” She leans in, her lips close to my ear as she whispers.
“You did this. You killed your father. You are cursed. But I will not let you kill me, or my children. I will end you. Maybe not today, or tomorrow. But one day, I will end you.”
With that, she vanishes, leaving me in the middle of the forest and surrounded by the blood of all my loved ones.
It appears I will live to see another day.
But at what price?