[365 PD]: Shoku

  ?Calm down, everything is going to be fine today. ?

  Shoku took long breaths to calm himself down. It was still very early in the morning but for once it wasn’t the cold air that had him shaking. King and Daria were already at the agreed place where they would confront Hector.

  He had something to do first before getting there, though. He looked up at the bakery which he was standing in front. He could hear noise coming from inside, and the scent of baked bread was as strong as ever.

  Shoku advanced toward it, just as he was about to enter, he bumped into someone.

  It was Solane who had barely moved from the shock while he stumbled backward. She raised an eyebrow.

  “I don’t usually see you so early. Do you want bread that badly?”

  “No... I'm here for something else.”

  Solane’s eyes locked on the leather sword belt he was wearing. She squinted her eyes.

  “Why do you want it?”

  Shoku was unsure what to say. Telling her that he planned to take down a magical noble with two other kids would not sound great. Still, he needed it now. He steeled himself and looked at her with determined eyes.

  “I used it to hurt a friend before. But now I need it to protect the people I care about. This sword is to be pointed at my enemies, not my friends and that is something I'll swear by until the end of my life.”

  The brunette slowly nodded at his words. He could even tell that she was slightly impressed by them. Perhaps she was expecting to hold onto the sword for longer.

  She turned and went back into the bakery. Shoku waited for a few minutes outside before she reappeared, holding his cherished wooden sword.

  “Here you go, I believe that your gift is in good hands once again.”

  With trembling hands, he grabbed the sword. He wrapped his fingers around the firm handle; it felt both familiar and a bit odd. It had only been around ten months since he last saw it, yet it felt like an eternity.

  It looked exactly the same as when it was taken away from him. Solane must have conserved it very well. He ran a hand across the wooden blade before performing a few short thrusts in the air. It felt a bit lighter than before, maybe all that mold scrubbing had a good side to it.

  With a smile, he strapped the sword to his back. His back had felt naked for a while, and the feeling of the comfortable weight settling against it stopped the unease.

  “Thank you for holding on to it for me.”

  Solane smiled “It’s nothing. But can I know what you are planning to fight with it?”

  Shoku gulped “Humm...some friends and I might have found the beast that killed Star.”

  Solane blinked slowly, her smile decreasing in size. “So, it was a beast you say?”

  “Yeah, a horrible one with lots of teeth and claws. It is very feral and hungry.”

  “...” The brunette looked down at the ground, her lips were trembling as if she wanted to say something. Finally, she said:

  “Good luck.”

  Shoku nodded and ran in the other direction. Solane kept his gaze on him until he turned a corner and disappeared. She let out a long sigh and shook her head before looking up at the sky. The moon was bright today but not full.

  Meanwhile, the small boy kept running in the snow, trying to reach the meeting point before Hector. They had agreed to do so at the edge of the west forest since Biar’s didn’t grow there. It was also the one right behind the wheat fields, so if things were to turn bad, they could easily run back toward civilization.

  Shoku scaled the hills in a few minutes and finally made it to the forest. He walked along the trees and fungi until he got to a better lit, and more spacious area. There, the giant fungi had their massive caps cut, leaving their tops empty. Small tree stumps peeked out of the snow here and there. The lumberjacks had been here not too long ago; they had transformed this part of the forest into an amazing place for a fight. It was spacious enough to move freely while also giving some coverage.

  His two accomplices were waiting for him. King was leaning against the foot of a great giant while Daria was walking in circle around a tree stump. The moment she noticed him, she ran up to the boy with a smile.

  “Sho, you got your sword back!”

  “Yep, and I'm ready to get rid of this pesky Hector.”

  He was lying. He had put his hands in his pockets to hide how much they were shaking.

  Yes, he was the one who proposed to fight first but now that he was actually about to do it, his heart was beating so loudly that he feared that the others could hear it.

  Thinking about it more clearly, did they really have to fight? Well, no. A lot of situations could be solved without any need for violence. But if they had to find another way to expose Hector, they would probably need to wait for the return of Xenevia. The words of a few children wouldn’t be trusted by anyone. The thing was that he had no desire to wait that long. Even if she were to hurry, Kirgivar was so far away that it would still take weeks for the Sister to get back in Bloux.

  Shoku looked at the two other kids, Daria looked like she was about to explode from all the excitement inside of her while King looked as unbothered as always. Hector had fire on his side, but these two weren’t normal, unlike the small boy.

  He possessed no magic or abnormal strength, all he had was a sturdy wooden sword. He put his hand around the handle of his sword, but he wasn’t dejected by this thought. As a matter of fact, it motivated him to perform better than ever today.

  He looked at King “Are you sure that he’s going to come?”

  The giant grunted “He better, in the letter I left under his door, I pretty much threatened to get everything out if he didn’t show up.”

  “But would he really take children seriously?”

  “Do you think that I wrote ‘I’m a kid by the way’ in the letter?”

  “Fair enough.”

  Soon enough they heard the crunch of snow under feet. Shoku flipped back while King pushed himself up, Daria simply turned her head. Out of the trees appeared two figures. One was Hector who was fuming with anger; his face had dropped all friendliness. The other one was the tall and well-built guy with a long scar on his face.

  Hector stopped and his deep blue eyes swiped over the three teenagers in front of him. For a second a glint of confusion shone in his gaze.

  “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

  “I told you to come alone.” stated King.

  Hector frowned “So it really is you who wrote the note...what does that mean? Aren't you the young noble of this town?”

  “I am and your gang squatting my house is very annoying to me.”

  The man smirked “So you want me to leave?”

  “Yes!” intervened Shoku. “Or we’ll beat you up and expose that you’re not a Vay Vay Bhon.”

  Hector smiled and looked at the scarred man next to him. Shoku was taken off guard when both started laughing in each other’s faces. They laughed so hard that Hector started coughing and the scarred man had to pat his back to help him.

  “Or we’Ll BeaT You uP aNd ExPosE yUo!” repeated Hector in a very unflattering tone.

  “Wait, I know this kid!” said the scarred man. “He keeps coming back to me at the mines like ‘PleaSe, I jUst wanT to heLp my DaDdy’.”

  Shoku was utterly mortified when the two men kept laughing. He could even swear that he heard King exhale from his nose a bit too loudly. Daria was just rubbing his back with a wide smile, not even trying to hide anything.

  What was happening recently? Did everyone decide that he looked like a prime bullying target?

  Hector finally straightened up and exhaled “Sorry kid but exposing me alone won’t really work. And really, taking me down? You’ll be better off with me as your light rather than this lightbringer.”

  Shoku gritted his teeth. “Then, at least answer me. Which one of you killed Star?”

  Hector raised an eyebrow “Who?”

  “The star owl!”

  The man sighed “It was a really, really sad incident. I mean all kinds of feral animals must crawl into this mud hole you call a tow. The bird may have survived if the old hag who kept it was a better listener.”

  This was the final straw for the boy.

  He was done with all the rotten words spilling out of the mouth of this charlatan. The straps holding his sword popped open as he pulled his weapon out. He ran straight at the noble who got startled and stumbled backward.

  Shoku was already in the middle of his lunge, sword ready to strike.

  Fortunately for the not so magical noble, the scarred man was faster and quickly stepped in front of him. He used his left leg to kick the blade, countering the thrust of the boy. Shoku stopped right in his momentum, nearly losing his footing.

  The scarred man took a step forward while winding up his right arm for a wide swinging haymaker. The boy didn’t have to be a battle genius to know that taking that blow to the face would put him out of the fight instantly.

  Thankfully, he didn’t have to dodge as he was pushed out of the way by the tall figure of King who used his thick arm to block the attack. The giant was slightly pushed back but otherwise looked fine. He and the scarred man were pretty much equal size, although King was still broader.

  “I can take care of this meat head. You and Daria go for the magician.”

  The scarred man forced a smile on his face. “What kind of freakish thing are you?”

  King grunted and pushed with all his might. The scarred man’s eyes widened as his feet slipped in the snow as he was being dragged away by the massive teen.

  Shoku immediately focused his attention back on Hector who had fallen on his behind. The small boy rushed him again but this time the man was ready and aimed right in front of him.

  Shoku stepped back just in time as the snow in front of him was violently lifted by a loud explosion.

  Shoku didn’t see any flash of light through the snow, meaning that Hector’s projectiles weren’t all fire-based. The boy would have to be wary as he had no idea what kind of combination the magician had up his sleeves. Literally.

  Daria didn’t waste any time. She ran around the man, jumped on his back and immediately started biting his shoulder.

  “Get off me!”

  Before the girl could get ready, Hector grabbed her arm to keep her in place and jumped backward, effectually power bombing her into the ground. She let out a loud oof as she was crushed underneath the man. If it wasn’t for the thick layer of snow covering the forest floor, she would have taken way more damage.

  Shoku rushed to get the man off his friend, but the magician had already expected that. He sat up at once and swung his arm right at the boy, landing a clean hit on the middle of his face.

  The boy felt the hard metallic part of whatever was under the man’s coat make contact with his nose. His head snapped backward, making him look right at the sky. He noticed a few red droplets sprinkled against the dark sky.

  ?Is that my blood? ?

  The boy fell on his back yet managed to keep hold of his weapon. His nose was burning and throbbing painfully. A warm liquid trailed down to his lips as a horrible taste of iron filled his mouth.

  Hector didn’t give him a second to breathe. The boy groaned as he was pulled up by his hair to face the charlatan. His blue eyes starred daggers into the boy.

  “Have you learned your place, brat?”

  Shoku didn’t even have to answer. A pink projectile hit Hector in the back of the head which made him drop the boy. Shoku used the opportunity to swing at the man using all of his strength. The hit connected with his left shoulder and made Hector flinch.

  Just then, Daria jumped into the fray with a nasty kick to the chest which forced Hector on his back. Shoku was still a bit dazed from the hit on his nose, but this didn’t stop him from continuing his assault on the noble. Now with the help of Daria, he started whacking the noble using his sword as the girl kept kicking him.

  The man was pretty much immobilized under the relentless assault of the kids. He cursed under his breath and pushed his head down. He lifted his wrist as quickly as possible; his fingers still got hit, but it was just enough time for him to shoot out a small sack made from paper.

  The kids watched almost in slow motion as the small sack rose to their level. They didn't have time to react before it abruptly burst into a flash of blue light. The flash was of such intensity that their eyes felt like they were on fire. Tears kept coming out uncontrollably, blurring their vision and blinding them.

  As Shoku was plunged into total confusion, he received a blow to the stomach which made him double over in pain. Soon enough, he also heard a pained groan from Daria but couldn’t pinpoint where she was. He started thrusting randomly, only to hit nothing.

  A kick brought him to the ground. Immediately, hands came to grab onto his legs and dragged him into the snow even as he flailed around to free himself. He could hear the ragged breathing of Hector above him, but his thrusts were still hitting nothing but the air.

  The struggle was interrupted by a strident shriek, a sound which couldn’t exactly be pinned as hysteria nor distress. Shoku’s heart skipped a beat when he started hearing the whistling sound of fast projectiles zipping all around the area. He could hear the projectiles bounce erratically against the mushroom's feet and the ground, completely out of control.

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  “Daria! Calm down!”

  “Magic? no way...that's impossible!” Hector voice lost all of its cool.

  Shoku was let go off as he heard Hector run in another direction, probably where Daria was. The boy sat up and tried to wipe his eyes, to no avail. His vision was still too blurry to see anything well.

  From what he could hear, the fight had moved between Hector and Daria. He couldn’t see but judging from the groans of the girl, she wasn’t the one winning. Shoku pushed himself up, trying to ignore all of the pain in his body. He couldn’t let her get even more hurt.

  A strange feeling swelled into his chest as his mind locked onto one single thought:

  ?I need to attack! ?

  Something inside of him felt like it exploded and in a feverish rush he gripped his sword and charged forward with a scream. For just this attack, his mind stopped thinking with logic, and he thrusted with all his might in a direction that felt right.

  In an unexpected turn of events, his sword did connect with something. The pained scream of Hector confirmed that he had hit the right target. Shoku barely had the time to get exited before he heard the booming voice of King:

  “GET DOWN!”

  Shoku felt like a bull rammed into him as he was tackled to the ground by a massive body. He couldn’t even protest before he felt hot flames briefly lick his face. In a heartbeat he understood that he had almost been turned into grilled meat.

  He blinked quickly and shapes became clearer around him. King was on top of him, blood was dripping from his lips, and he had a few bruises on his arms. All around them, steam was rising from the snow.

  King moved off the boy and Shoku sat up to look at Hector. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the man holding his right arm which now had a large, bleeding gap in it. The blood quickly stained the sleeve of his coat and dripped on the snow which was as pale as the magician’s face. His blue eyes stared into the void as his lips moved silently.

  Shoku looked down at the sword he was still holding and sure enough the tip of it was covered in the same red liquid. How did this happen? His sword was nothing but wood, and he wasn’t particularly strong. There was no way for it to inflict such a deep wound.

  As he lifted his sword, he felt it gently vibrate in his grip.

  Shoku looked around to see the scarred man groaning on the ground, holding his head in pain. He definitely wasn’t getting up anytime soon.

  “You already got him down?”

  King grunted “he’s big but his head is still soft.”

  The boys turned their heads as they heard approaching footsteps. Daria came from behind a tall foot, holding her left side. She was covered in snow, and her face was still wet with tears from the flash of Hector. She stumbled toward them, exhausted but still in one piece.

  Shoku had to force himself up, his muscles strained and fatigued. He got up just in time to catch Daria who had lost her footing on a root hidden by the snow. She held onto him, trying to catch her breath.

  “Are you okay?” asked Shoku

  She chuckled lowly “Yeah, I'm having tons of fun.”

  Her voice was so small he almost didn’t hear her. She must have busted her vocal cords from all of her shrieking. Shoku still caught a bit of trembling in her words.

  “No!”

  The three kids turned to look at Hector who was now hyperventilating. He stopped pressing the wound on his right arm to look at his bloody left hand. The last amount of composure he held on had shattered at this point.

  “I can’t lose to a bunch of kids!”

  He started fumbling nervously with his wrist. A clicking sound was heard just as he used his teeth to yank his left sleeve back, completely exposing a thick metallic bracelet. Black tubes were snaking around the rest of his arm, going up until they disappeared near his shoulder.

  The kids all flinched when the man let out an agonizing scream. The bracelet on his wrist started smoking as it seemed to be overheating. Hector clenched his teeth and looked at the kids with eyes full of rage and a surprising amount of fear.

  “I’ll kill you...it just a few dumb kids who were playing into the forest and sadly exploded on a Biar's.”

  He aimed his left arm at them but hesitated a second too much before shooting a black sack. It gave enough time for Daria to summon two spheres which sped toward him. The spheres collided with the dark sack at halfway distance, triggering it before it could reach the kids.

  A large cloud of flames formed at the contact points, lighting up the faces of the kids who had terrified eyes. All three understood that the stakes had risen; The magician wasn’t holding back anymore, and one mistake now meant a baptism in fire.

  Shoku’s heart was beating wildly, he was scared, unsure and in pain, yet he was the first one to take a step forward. The two others at his side snapped out of their daze as they saw his advancing figure. King was the second one to take action.

  “I take the right.”

  “I go left” followed Daria.

  Shoku felt a thrilling sensation grow in his chest; it was stressful and comfortable at the same time. His muscles were tired, but he knew he could go again for a few more seconds. With a deep breath he faced the cloud which was starting to dissipate into smoke.

  ?Let’s go.?

  Shoku dashed into the cloud of smoke, using it as a cover to book it straight to Hector. He jumped out of the cloud, just a few feet away from the noble who clearly wasn’t expecting that. But this time he didn’t hesitate; he aimed right at the boy with his burning bracelet. From the front Shoku could clearly see small holes pierced into the metallic ring.

  Fear flooded into the boy, but his body kept going. Just as he heard a clicking sound coming from the bracelet, he let himself drop to the ground. His body slid on the cold ground as a dark sack flew above him. Behind him, a tree stump went up in flame, flashing the whole area.

  Shoku managed to slide just past Hector’s raised arm. The boy noticed something from the corner of his right eye and immediately grabbed the legs of the magician. Hector didn’t even have time to shake him off before the massive body of King came crashing into his side, knocking the wind out of him.

  Since his legs were stuck in place, he wasn’t able to fix his balance and crashed down.

  Shoku took the opportunity to jump on Hector. He raised his sword high above him, using two hands to grip it. Hector hid his face behind the metal bracelet on his left wrist.

  Inside him, the thrilling sensation in his chest exploded. It was familiar to what he felt when he was blinded but even more intense this time. The intense feeling shot from his core, quickly traveling up to his arms.

  When he brought his sword down, he was shocked to see an odd, dark grey mist twirling around the blade. His sword clashed against the bracelet. To the biggest surprise of both Shoku and Hector, the wood won against the metal. The bracelet was shattered into two halves which fell off Hector’s wrist. Small sacks of different colors, ranging from black to light brown, harmlessly fell into the snow. The skin which had been under the burning bracelet was red and sizzling.

  Shoku was stunned for a moment which allowed Hector to push the boy off his body. In a last ditch of effort, the man grabbed his injured right arm with his left hand and lifted it up with a pained groan. The bracelet on his right wrist was still intact and ready to shoot.

  From this position, Shoku was unable to move in time and would have been blown to smithereens if it wasn’t for a massive pink ball being hurled right into Hector’s face. The man’s desperate eyes locked with the ones of the boy in front of him just before rolling up.

  Hector’s body hit the ground and this time he wasn’t getting up anytime soon. Shoku crouched next to the man just to make sure that his chest was still moving. Seeing it faintly going up and down relieved the boy.

  Shoku got up and screamed at the sky in victory, letting all of his emotions out at once. Daria quickly joined him with a hysterical laugh while King only grunted.

  “That was crazy!” started Daria in a small voice. “My body is still shaking all over, I don’t know if it’s because I'm scared or exited...” Her legs gave out under her, and she fell on her behind. “...ho, it’s fear.”

  Shoku forgot the pain and fatigue his body for a moment. Most of the time he fought in the past, it was against random small critters that he had to face out of necessity. Never before had he gone out of his way to start a fight in order to help others. The feeling was simply delectable.

  He looked back at his sword which still had the weird grey haze around it.

  “What is that?” Asked the girl.

  Shoku looked closer at it “No idea, maybe I'm actually a mage too!”

  King came closer and squinted his eyes “I’m pretty sure that it’s ziel.”

  “Ziel?” said the other two kids.

  “Yes, I read in a book that some people were able to draw their life energy out of their bodies. It’s a basic requirement to reach the higher military grades. It’s also not a form of magic.”

  “Wow, and how does it work.” excitedly asked Shoku.

  “No idea.”

  “...great.”

  King kneeled next to Hector and ripped his coat off him. Under it were tubes all linked to a weird metallic backpack. The backpack was thin enough to go unnoticed under loose clothing. A big open tube was at the top of it while what seemed like air pouches dangled under. Shoku had never seen such engineering before.

  King used the ripped coat to tie Hector’s arms against his body. The charlatan was still unmoving. King got up and pointed at the scarred man who was still struggling in the snow.

  “I will take care of this one. You two drag the pyromaniac bastard since he’s lighter.”

  Shoku and Daria looked at each other and sighed. Slowly but surely, they started dragging Hector back toward town.

  No words were uttered as the kids made their way back to the village. The only sound that broke the silence was their heavy breathing. Now that all the adrenaline of the fight had left Shoku, he was cold and on the verge of crying.

  At this point, he didn’t really know how to approach the people in town. How would they react to all of that? Shoku didn’t want to think right now and just put his trust in King. He was the smartest kid in town; he probably had something ready.

  When they finally reached the edge of the town, they were immediately spotted by a group of farmers which were about to go up in the fields to take care of the sturdy wheat which grew even through the snow.

  The man at the front dropped his hoe in shock and his eyes became as round as marbles. The other farmers gasped in shocks. They kept looking back and forth between the kids and the two knocked out men they were dragging as if they couldn’t believe it.

  “What have you done!?” Asked the farmer at the front.

  “OUT OF THE WAY!”

  King stepped forward, still holding the scarred man who had been tied with his own coat too. The young yeti starred daggers into the farmers who flinched at his sudden outburst.

  “All of you are going back into town. I want you to tell the most people that they have to come to the church of light.”

  The farmers looked at each other bewildered. Did this teen really try to order them around?

  “Do I have to remind you whose father owns the land you’re working on? I really do not recommend you try your luck right now. Hurry!”

  The farmers gulped drily and scurried away in all directions, leaving their tools on the ground in their hurry.

  “Let’s go” continued King.

  The walk to the center of town was not a great experience. Shoku felt exposed on all sides as he dragged the limp body of a magical noble. The people they encountered all had the same reaction: wide eyes and pale face while saying things like ‘Are you crazy!?”

  They all got shut down by King who looked as fierce as ever. His words were snappy and assured, never letting anyone stop them in their way. The poor fools who tried got shoved away like old sacks.

  People started following behind them, all heading toward the center to hopefully get more information on what was going on this morning.

  Eventually, the kids reached their destination. King pushed the scarred guy on the ground who cursed in response. He nodded at his accomplices and sure enough, Shoku and Daria settled Hector in front of the stairs of the church. He was now on his knees with his head down. His dark hair fell in front of his face like a curtain.

  The small group waited in front of the church for a good half an hour. Slowly more and more people started arriving, all looking in disbelief at what was in front of them. Shoku even had to look away when he saw Solane push her way through the crowd to make sure her eyes weren’t deceiving her.

  King looked at the crowd in front of him, judging it big enough, he stepped forward and took a deep breath.

  “People of Bloux, we have been lied to. This man here is not a Vay Vay Bhon.”

  The people in the crowd stayed quiet, not quite believing what he was saying. Well, why should they in the first place?

  King crouched next to Hector and fiddled with the bracelet on his right wrist. He managed to undo it and got back up, holding it high for everyone to see. In front of the crowd, he took a small grey paper sack out of the metallic ring. He threw it on the side where no one was. Sure enough, the sack exploded into a small explosion of yellow flames.

  The people in the crowd got agitated, whispering between themselves and looking in shock at Hector.

  “No way, he’s fake!” said a farmer

  “I knew something was odd with this guy!” yelled a middle-aged woman

  “How did we get tricked by this guy?” followed a miner

  The crowd of people quieted down once they heard the charlatan laugh despite his situation. Hector looked up at them, turning his head to flip his hair back. A weak smile was still on his face despite the blood dripping from the side of his forehead.

  “How humiliating...My secret exposed for everyone to see.” The man had to stop to take a breather, each word he pushed out of his throat felt like a chore. “But doing so doesn’t change much for your situation.

  He smiled at Shoku “hey kiddo, check my back pocket”

  Shoku took a hesitant step toward the man. He looked at King who just grunted at him to go on. The small boy went behind the magician and searched the back pockets of his pants. There was nothing in the right one, but he felt something cold and hard in the left one.

  “Come on, champ. Take it out” encouraged Hector.

  Shoku took the thing out. It was a chain with a small plate made of silver dangling at the end of it. The plate gently twirled in the wind, and Shoku was able to see the depiction of a very simplified flame engraved on it. An emblem familiar to him and everyone around here.

  It was unmistakably the sacred flame; the symbol of the Vay Vay Bhon family.

  “He must have stolen it!”

  King snatched the chain from Shoku’s hands. He flipped it around, and his eyes widened as he read the words neatly inscribed on it.

  “Vay Vay Bhon...Hector.”

  The whole place fell silent except for the choked laugh of Hector. No one dared to make a sound. The emblem of a family of high nobility wasn’t something that couldn’t easily be replicated. King said that he must have stolen it but even he didn’t believe it. Stealing one of those meant being hunted relentlessly by the whole army of the region. There was no way that Hector could have impersonated a member from the royal family for more than a week without any problems.

  “Ha...the stares. You don’t know how much I missed them.” The magical noble forced a smile on his face as he looked at everyone with nothing but resentment. “Yes, your eyes aren’t deceiving you. The circus came into town to deliver you their most freakish finding: A Vay Vay Bhon who was born without the blessing of the sacred flame!”

  His theatrical tone faltered for a moment which he quickly hid under a laugh.

  “Have you all gotten a good look at him? Isn't it great to see, a magical noble brought to the same level as you peasants?”

  “That won’t change anything.” King’s voice was quiet.

  “Indeed,” confirmed Hector. “I am still part of the royal family; I can ruin this town if I want to do so. All of you must obey me if you want nothing bad to happen. I can still show you the way of fire!”

  The crowd stayed silent, indecisive as to what to do. Most didn’t look like they were ready to stand up to such a powerful figure.

  Shoku noticed a certain man make his way to the front of the people. Shoku looked away in shame, unable to look at his father. The frail man looked straight at Hector:

  “I... I refuse.”

  Shoku turned his head back toward the man, eyes almost falling out. Had he gotten hit that hard and now he was imagining things? There was no way that his pushover of a dad said no to a man like Hector.

  Right after his father had finished talking, a snowball hit Hector dead center in the head. King turned his head in the direction that the projectile came from only to see Solane hiding her hands, looking away innocently.

  Sure enough, the people in the crowd started nodding at each other. A miner stepped forward; he had a bandage covering the left side of his face.

  “We don’t want any of your damn fire. I got burned and now I can’t work until it heals. How am I supposed to get food now?”

  More miners with all kinds of burn injuries stepped out of the crowd, each telling similar tales of how they couldn’t make money anymore because of defects from the fire lanterns.

  “Yeah, the spores aren’t very bright in this season but at least we don’t have to fear anything with them.” finished a tall sasquatch man.

  “Send all the men you want, we don’t care. We have a priestess with a horrible temper who could easily deal with them!” added a carpenter.

  “Leave our town!”

  The people of the crowd were now all crouching down to grab snow and throwing it at Hector. The man was pelted from all side, while it wasn’t physically painful, something else inside of him was hit by the coldness of the projectiles. He was shivering but Shoku guessed that it wasn’t just from the chill.

  “Get lost, no one wants you here.” stated King.

  The big teenager untied Hector who was now staring into the void. He gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up. His eyes darted around the crowd to look at the members of his gang. All of them looked away from him in shame and quickly walked away from the scene.

  “I see.”

  The charlatan slowly dragged himself away, stumbling on his feet as snowballs kept hitting his back. His wounded arm left a small trail of red dots in the snow behind him.

  “Untie me too!” grumbled the scared man

  King obliged and the man immediately got up. He grabbed his coat and ran after Hector. The scarred man draped his fur coat on Hector and put a shoulder under the magician’s left arm to support him. Slowly the two men walked away from the town center. It would be impossible to know where they were going next.

  ...

  The three children looked at the church. Once again, blood had sullied the snow in front of it.

  The people had done it; they managed to push back a threat to their city.

  Despite that, they didn’t feel like celebrating, all of them still had a weight in their stomachs. It wasn’t sure if they could sleep peacefully for the next few nights.

  .

  .

  .

  The two following weeks were some of the most stressful ones for the village. At every waking moment, the villagers feared the possible vengeance of Hector. Bloux was quieter than ever; people weren’t talking as much at the market, and the miners had their productivity slowdown in exchange for less injuries.

  The whole town now had a pretty depressing look to it as the church of light kept getting dimmer. At this point the crystal was nearly extinguished, which stressed out a lot of people except for Shoku.

  Speaking of the boy, he was back at his old job, getting rid of the fuse-shrooms on the walls. It would have been a lie to say that he missed it. But it was still way better than sorting minerals in the cold.

  One day as Shoku was resting in his room after a long day of work, his father barged in.

  “Sister Xenevia is back!”

  Shoku didn’t waste another second. He ran out of his room and booked it straight to the town center. Sure, enough as he got there, a large crowd had formed near the church.

  Shoku watched in awe as a magnificent dark horse made its way through the crowd. On it sat both a knight and their dear lightbringer. The knight was in full plate armor which had some interesting violet highlights mixed with the steel.

  The kight stopped the horse, and Xenevia simply hopped off its back before the knight could offer her his help. The woman was holding a basket which had a white cloth draped over it.

  “Hector! Where is he?”

  A man answered her. “He left a little while ago. The kids drove him away.”

  “The kids?” asked the holy woman, obviously confused.

  The crowd parted to leave a path for Shoku. The boy suddenly felt embarrassed to have everyone’s attention on him. He hesitantly stepped toward the lightbringer. He felt someone grab his sleeve and he was pulled forward by a wild girl who had appeared out of nowhere.

  Him and Daria stopped in front of the skeptical priestess. King was soon pushed next to them by Solane who had a big smile on her face while he was frowning.

  The priestess looked at the three kids in front of her. Her glowing green eyes roamed over their bodies, noticing faint remnant of bruises here and there. She let out a long sigh and signaled for the knight next to her to leave.

  “But holy sister, I have to make sure that all-” tried to protest the knight

  “Blah blah. I’ve been in this town for more than 30 years. I know how to deal with things on my own.”

  “...” The knight seemed to hesitate for a moment, his face unseen behind his helmet. Finally, he conceded and bowed deeply in front of the lightbringer.

  “I'll report that the escort mission has been successful”

  On these words, the knight in shining armor hoped back on his noble stead and rode away in the distance. Shoku noticed that King’s eyes stayed locked onto the silhouette of the knight for as long as he was visible.

  “It’s the adults who should take care of things like that.”

  The long-eared woman let out a long sigh and glared at the people in the crowd. Said adults looked away in embarrassment. The woman stepped closer to the three kids, and each gave them a pat on the head.

  “Good job.”

  Shoku’s jaw almost hit the ground; Sister Xenevia was praising them and openly showing them affection. Something was wrong today.

  King grunted “The Vay Vay Bhon are still going to come avenge their family member.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Xenevia smirked. “During my time at the capital I did some digging. I found out that while he was indeed part of the royal family, he had been disowned just a few months ago. No one will bother to do anything for him.”

  Everyone let out a breath they didn’t know they were holding. Hector really was just a loud-mouthed charlatan who was good at pretending.

  The people in the crowd started laughing and cheering. It was now truly over.

  In the meantime, the lightbringer approached Shoku and held out the basket in front of him.

  “Hold onto this for me.”

  The woman went up the stairs and opened the large pans of the church’s door. She slipped inside and disappeared in the darkness.

  Shoku looked down at the basket he was holding. It was made of pale strands, neatly tied together. The white cloth covering it had the symbol of the New Hope on it; two open palms with a sun cradled in them.

  He jolted in place when he heard a chirp come out of it. Daria looked over his shoulder and tried to lift the cover, only to have her hand slapped away by King.

  Suddenly, a bright light flooded the town center. The crystal atop the church was shining with its usual pure white light. Shoku normally liked dimmer lights, but he couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t miss the radiant version of the church of light.

  Shoku walked up the stairs to enter the holy building. Daria and King followed suit. Xenevia came out of the door at the back of the church, stretching her arms above her head.

  “I had forgotten how draining it is to fill a nearly empty crystal,” Whined the priestess.

  Shoku approached her with the chirping basket still in hand. “Is that...”

  “Yep.”

  The woman removed the cloth to reveal that the basket was full of soft cotton. One of these cotton balls had a small yellow beak barely peeking out of all the fluff covering its body.

  Xenevia gently picked the white ball into her hands, prompting it to unfurl into a bird.

  Shoku looked with wonder at the young star owl. The divine animal was covered in a mix of short feathers and fluff which were as white as snow. It would make for a superb camouflage if it wasn’t for the cyan undertone of the wings and the big round eyes of the same color. No matter how you looked at them, it was sure that this bird was not meant to survive in the middle of the wild.

  “Normally, I would have needed for her to grow big enough to fly correctly but I managed to convince the big cranky high priests to let me go a bit earlier.”

  Daria got closer to the owl, starling it. “What’s their name?”

  “She’s my little Skyfire!” proudly revealed the lightbringer.

  “Skyfire...just like a shooting star.” Observed King.

  The woman caressed Skyfire with a meek smile. Her eyes were a mix of melancholy and tenderness.

  “Yes, and I won’t let anything happen to her this time.”