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“I’m impressed that you managed to finally control your wings Shella. Let us proceed with the next step.”
“Huh? Next step? Should we not keep at it? I mean, I only moved one wing so far. Hey Grandpa, I have an idea! You should teach me first how to fly with the wings. Is that possible?”
“Hehe. Sure. In time I will, my child. With some more practice you will control the wings more fluidly. But first let me introduce to you something new. Let me show you what an elite can do!” Grandfather Kiev grits his teeth and begins to concentrate. He positions himself in a battle stance, spreading his legs far apart from each other, arching his back slightly. Shella could feel a large amount of fighting energy emanating from him. It overwhelmed her mind. She never felt this way before when she would spar with her grandfather. She reached behind her neck to touch her stone and she wondered if the stone was doing all this.
Shella could hear her grandfather grunting, putting a lot of concentration on what he was about to do. Grandfather Kiev proceeded to hold both his hands out in front of him, forming the shape of a ball with his palm and fingers. He was concentrating power in his hand and effortlessly created a sphere of white bright glowing energy. Alrin and Shella couldn’t believe their eyes.
“What… What is he doing?” Alrin could finally see at first hand how capable of a fighter Shella’s grandfather was. “It’s a ball of bright light, coming out of nowhere.” What Alrin didn’t know was that Grandfather Kiev’s Aleeyah stone was helping him form that ball of energy.
“Grandpa, what in the world is that thing? How did you form that bright light in your hands?”
“It’s pure energy and it’s being produced by the stone, I just let the stone know when to make the energy. And then once it's made, I control it. The more skilled you become with the stone, the more energy you can summon from it. This…. This is an attack, to use against your enemies. I will teach you Shella how to summon such a power.”
Shella gulps down air, completely fascinated by the bright light and the power and authority her grandfather was displaying in front of her. She knew that an ability like that, to manipulate such a strong energy, most likely required discipline and probably had taken her grandfather a long time to master. At first she was fascinated by it but fascination soon turned to fear. She wondered if she had the skill to even accomplish such an incredible task. “Grandpa, when you were focusing on forming that thing, my neck…. and my mind felt strange for some reason.”
“Hmm. I see. Yes. This is your first time with a bonded stone. I should explain exactly what you felt. Your stone was picking up my fighting energy. Most call it a warrior's aura. Warriors who are very well trained and achieve a high level of combat emit different levels of aura. Your stone detects these auras and lets you know where exactly that fighter is in the physical world. So if your eyes were closed and you were facing away from me your stone could detect exactly where I was hiding.”
“Incredible. Shella’s grandfather is amazing.” Alrin could hardly believe what he was hearing. It was all new to him.
“Shella, this energy that is now glowing in my hands, you need to learn how to dodge these types of attacks. Energy attacks. The Darkness warriors will utilize attacks similar to these. However, the difference is, this is pure light energy, they…. they use dark energy to fight.”
“Dark….. energy?” For Shella all of this was new to her as well. Light and dark energy was something she wasn’t familiar with at all.
“Uhh… yeah that is correct!” Alrin completely consumed by the topic interrupts. Shella looks over at him with a serious face. “The Wise Ones. I-I remember them saying that the Darkness warriors only use dark energy. An evil aura can consume those that are not careful. Darkness can consume our hearts if we let it!”
“The boy has a point. That is all very true. The Dark One, Evailos and his Darkness warriors prey off of that. They want us all to be completely consumed by darkness. They want us to walk a path of killing and destruction like they do. As warriors of light, we reject that ideology. Shella, if you are to become an Aleeyah warrior, the path of the righteous, the path of light is what you must choose.”
Shella thought about that long and hard, a ‘warrior of light’. She immediately had doubts. She was uneasy with the fact that her grandfather wanted her to choose a path that was righteous yet deep within her heart she was secretly being manipulated by intense hate, anger, and rage. The thought of revenge.
Her sorrow and pain wouldn’t let her sleep at night. And her fear of losing Alrin would make her mind be pledged by anxiety.
“Shella! Here! Dodge this attack! Aaahhhh!” Grandfather Kiev launched that ball of pure light energy toward Shella. Shella had to snap out of her deep thought and immediately prepare herself to dodge his oncoming attack.
However, the ball of light was fastly approaching her at a rapid rate. It was almost impossible for her to get out of the way in time. Alrin looked on, hoping that Shella could do it.
“Argh! That energy is coming at me so fast!” Shella didn’t know what exactly to do. As the ball of light got an arms distance away from her, she leans back and instinctively lifts both her hands in front of her chest. It was as if she was intending to block the light energy. She had no idea what her body was doing, it was all second nature, last minute thinking.
Her grandfather’s ball of light energy quickly reaches her chest but with her hands in the way the energy for a short instance was captured by her palms. For only a few seconds she held the ball of light in her hands. She flinches and closes her eyes because the light from the ball was so intense.
“Amazing! She’s actually holding her ground and keeping the energy away from her. But… Can she actually…….?” Grandfather Kiev was impressed with his granddaughter, achieving something she was not even taught yet, holding your opponent's energy blast away from her. Sure, he knew that it was all coincidental. She discovered this ability on her own by mistake.
With her eyes completely shut because of the bright light, Shella could feel she was about to lose her balance and fall back. It was as if she almost had the ability to push the blast back, but didn’t have the forward momentum and power to do it. She decides to shift her footing because of the energy ball’s powerful push onto her palms. She encounters a problem. By mistake she moved her left hand slightly and that created a chain reaction. The sphere of light energy became unstable and bursted in front of her chest. The explosion pushed her back a few feet to the ground. The sudden unexpected blast made her heart jump. While she was on the ground she was breathing hard and her adrenaline was pumping. Shella opens her eyes and gulps hard. She heard a slight ringing in her ear and felt disoriented after falling to the ground. It all happened so quickly.
“Whoa! That was….. that was…. Wow… my eyes could barely keep up!” Alrin was taken aback by what he just witnessed. He holds his head with both of his hands completely dumbfounded. He had his mouth wide open, wondering if Shella was alright. The flash of light came and went almost in an instant. In the back of his mind he wondered how Shella could even keep up with such a fast moving attack.
“Shella! You alright, child?” Grandfather Kiev raises an eyebrow as he wonders if Shella was alright. She wasn’t moving at all after the blast of energy hit her. “Shella!” He started to walk toward her to make sure everything was alright.
“Perhaps he hit her with a little too much energy?” Alrin watches from a distance worried about Shella’s condition. “Why is she not moving?”
As soon as Grandfather Kiev reaches Shella to check up on her condition, Shella opens her eyes immediately, springs up from the ground, and punches him straight in the face with everything she had. “AaaHHHH!”
Shella bounces back shocked that her grandfather didn’t even flinch. She stood there motionless in awe of his abilities. He wasn’t even pushed back or at all startled by her sudden surprise attack. She started to wonder exactly how powerful her grandfather could possibly be.
“HAhahah! Oh good one child! You had me going. I thought for a second that the blast of light was too much for you and that I over did it for a second. You used it to your advantage, playing dead so I would lower my guard.” A smile appears on his face as he chuckles loudly. “That was some quick thinking on your part.”
Shella smiles confidently but is also blown away that her strongest punch did nothing to him. Alrin begins to smile as well, relieved that Shella was alright.
Immediately Grandfather Kiev changes his facial expression. He was confused and his face became serious. “Alright, look out, I will be the one attacking first this time grandpa…”
“Shella…. Dematerialize your wings, now. You no longer need them.” His voice was almost a whisper. Her grandfather looked around the open fields as his own wings disappeared. She could see that he had said that in a relaxed and calm manner but looked as if he was on edge.
“Ha. Yeah sure, you're just trying to fool me grandpa. You’re not going to get me…”
“Shella! Be quiet for a second child! Shhh!” Her grandfather looked around again, first to his left then to his right, squinting his eyes.
“Huh? What is it?” Shella still had her guard up, thinking her grandfather was just toying with her too, trying to get back at her by having her put her guard down. But something was wrong. Grandfather Kiev looked as if he felt uneasy about something. Shella right away picked up on his body language and after she saw him that way, an intense pressure started to pulsate on the back of her neck. She instantly knew it was her Aleeyah stone. “Okay, h-how do I turn the wings off?”
“Imagine yourself without them. And they should disappear…..” Shella did just as she was told and her wings instantly disappeared. “It’s important that you keep them dematerialized for now, extra energy is emitted from the stone when you have the wings on. I only say this….because…… my Aleeyah stone, it has detected a strong yet strange energy source near our village!”
“Grandpa, the back of my neck feels strange again! Is… is this your energy causing it, like before?” Shella could feel every pulse, it was as if her stone was telling her exactly where the energy was.
“What you are feeling Shella is different! It is not my energy this time. Both of our stones are detecting the same power at the same time. It's a fighting energy…. from someone else. A strong warrior nearby is giving out that energy. Our stones are sensitive to such energies. Having our wings activated puts us at a much higher risk of being detected by the enemy. That’s why I had you dematerialize yours. Not only can your stone create energy but it can detect other energies from far off distances. Not just mine. But…. This specific energy…. I-I do not recognize it. It is clearly an intruder.”
“What? Intruder, here? Now?” Shella looked around frantically trying to figure out if she could see anyone in the distance. But she didn’t have the skill yet to find where the energy source was coming from. “W-where are they coming from?” There was no time left. Grandfather Kiev could feel it with his Aleeyah stone that someone or something had discovered the location of their village and was heading their way. Thoughts of the The Invasion came to mind, Grandfather Kiev needed to act fast.
“Alrin my boy! There’s no time to waste!” Grandfather Kiev calls him over to explain what’s happening. “Someone is approaching our village. Go with Shella quickly. Hide! And warn all others in the village to do the same. You know exactly what to do.” Alrin hesitated at first. He was shocked but after The Invasion, strong measures were taken to ensure the safety of the village. Alrin knew the steps of what was to be done in that situation. His face becomes serious and he nods.
“Grandpa, what….” Grandfather Kiev placed both of his hands firmly on Shella’s shoulders to try and keep her calm. It was to assure her that everything was going to be alright. She felt frozen inside, not knowing what to do. She was in complete shock. Just by her grandfather’s body language she felt the urgency of the situation, but all she could think about was The Invasion and how traumatizing everything was for her. She gulped hard as her grandfather held her close and looked into her eyes.
“Go with Alrin, now! Remain calm, everything will be alright my angel. Stay safe. And Shella, one more thing. Whatever happens, by no means may you reveal yourself, I forbid it!” She was starting to tremble. But she nodded her head in agreement. Alrin grabs her wrist and quickly pulls her away from her grandfather’s grip.
“No… no, come with me. Grandpa please!”Shella reaches out to her grandfather in shock. She wanted her grandfather to follow them too. A feeling of confusion washes over her but she soon understands that her grandfather wasn’t going to hide with them. She didn’t want to accept it. But when she finally realizes that he wasn’t going to follow and hide with them, she turns toward Alrin and begins to run immediately toward the direction of the village. Her heart was racing and everything for her was happening so fast. The thoughts that swirled in her head just kept reminding her of her brother Corri and her father.
Grandfather Kiev felt horrible after the events of The Invasion. After Shella questioned him about him having the power to stop the Darkness warriors, he felt some guilt in his heart after finding out about the tragic loss of their family members. But he was just one man. There would have been no way he could have saved everyone. He would have placed his own life at risk by revealing his incredible fighting abilities. This time however, he wanted to make things right. If everyone was hiding, there would be no hostages. No one will be at risk. And he could confront the intruder without having to worry for anyone else's safety.
Alrin runs up to a giant black metal cauldron at the center of the village. Next to it was a small burning flame. He takes a stick next to the flames, digs into it deep until the stick is consumed with fire and immediately throws it into the giant black metal cauldron. The flames grow quickly and the black thick smoke it produces is expelled into the air. The smoke could be seen from all parts of the village. Villagers immediately warn one another as they point at the giant clouds of smoke in the air. This was the warning sign for all villagers to go into the underground bunkers and hide. In just a matter of seconds the village was completely deserted.
Out of the dense forest comes out a mysterious person. They wore a long black cloak and his face and head were covered by a hood. He realizes how quiet everything was. Carts and baskets were left in the middle of nowhere, as if people just dropped everything that they were doing and left. He pushed an apple around with his foot that was a few inches away next to a round wooden basket full of fruit. He walks slowly into the village, noticing the large clouds of smoke coming from the center of the village. No one was around. He looked to his left then to his right as he noticed the large burning flames and the crackling of the fire in a giant black metal cauldron.
From behind a home Grandfather Kiev emerges, revealing himself to the unknown intruder. Grandfather Kiev’s heart was racing, not knowing what to expect. His stone at the back of his neck was pulsing wildly, he knew that this person, whoever it was, had a very strong warrior’s aura. The mysterious person reveals their hands and is about to reach for their hood to remove it. Grandfather Kiev waited patiently to see who this person was and why exactly did they come to Ariace Village.
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