It was a late summer afternoon in Magix. The sun was setting along the horizon, creating orange coloured rays in the sky. They could be seen from almost anywhere in the city, but nowhere as spectacular as the Red Fountain School for Heroics and Bravery, one of the tallest structures in all of Magix.
Inside the school headmaster's office, the shining light, and position of the window curtains, created an aspect of light and dark in the room. This aspect seemed to divide the red haired man that was sitting in a red velvet chair on the other side of the window, into two different people. Half of his body was in the light while the other half was in the dark. Another, much older man with white hair, sat in front of him, behind a dark coloured desk. It was none other than the school's headmaster, director Saladin. Even with his old age, he was still able to help train new specialists, maintain the school's facilities, and even protect it if necessary.
After a long silence in the room, the conversation, which had been going on for the better part of an hour, between the two men continued.
"What are you afraid of Riven?" Saladin asked, leaning closer towards him, and assuming a more attentive position.
"Myself...It's like I don't know who I am anymore. " he responded, looking at the orange coloured sky behind him and unable to make eye contact with the headmaster.
The director pressed the matter further. "Why now?"
"I don't know...if I knew I'd do something about it." Riven replied, after a short moment of thought.
"Is it because of those witches?" Saladin asked, hoping to find the cause of Riven's current issue.
Riven started to grip the seat's red cushion, as a painful memory returned to him, one he would never forget, not for as long as he lived.
He looked up from the ground, sensing a presence behind him. He quickly turned to see what it was.
"What's going on?" he yelled, as he saw them. There were 6 of them and they looked exactly like him. They were standing in a semi-circle a few feet away. Quickly getting up, he turned his body to face the mirror images of himself.
"What are you trying to do?" he asked as he ran towards them, stopping in the middle of the arc to face them all. "What do you want from me, huh?"
The images floated away from him, still maintaining their semi-circle shape. "Come on, speak!" he yelled. "What is it, what do you want, huh? Come on!" He got into his fighting stance as he continued. "What are you waiting for?"
He stared at each of the images, but now there seemed to be so many, he could barely keep count. "What? Who are you?" he asked as he turned his head to check behind him.
Slowly each of them turned into a green monster with bright, orange piercing eyes. Next, all of them seemed to dissolve into a mould, forming a larger version of the same orange eyed monster.
"You stay away from me. Go away, go away!" he yelled, terrified of the creature. "No, you're not me, that's not who I am!" he screamed, waving his hands as the monster opened its large mouth, looking to swallow him. He sat down on the floor, covering his eyes, too scared to look at it.
When he dared to look again, the monster was sitting close by, in the same position as he was. "It can't be real, it's impossible." he said as he got up. The creature seemed to mimic his exact movements. He extended his hand to touch it and it did the same. "You don't exist, you can't..." He interrupted his phrase as he touched him. "You are real!"
Shocked by the revelation, he jumped backwards, crashing down against the cell wall behind him. The monster closed the gap and leaned in to face him. Their eyes met, and as they stared at each other, he saw his face reflected in the monsters eyes.
"No, I've worked through that." Riven answered the headmaster's question, releasing his grip on the cushion. He had worked hard to overcome this fear. It was a fear of becoming heartless, a fear of becoming harmful to others, of becoming...a monster. He didn't want to be alone, he didn't want to push everyone away, but it seemed as though it was exactly what he was doing.
"Mhmm..." replied the headmaster, slightly nodding his head with acknowledgement. After a short break, he continued with another question. "Did the death of your friend Nabu distress you?"
Another memory came into Riven's mind, this time a more recent one. A scene that never, in his wildest dreams, would he had imagined.
Falling to his knees, he placed the staff vertically in front of him. Carefully positioning it, he activated its magical power as he shouted: "Dark abyss, I command you, take this challenge: Your darkness against the power of light!" Looking towards the top of the vortex he continued. "Submit to the sun's strength!"
The top of the vortex seemed to bend as it re-directed its power towards the magical staff. Rising to his feet he formed a magical shield to protect himself, just as the energy from the vortex reached the apex of the staff.
"Nabu!" yelled Aisha seeing him struggle against the power of the abyss. "You won't win, you won't win, you will not win!" he yelled, concentrating all his energy into the staff. The energy from the vortex seemed to almost engulf him, but just then, a bright light shined from his location, forcing everyone to look away.
"Ahhh! No, no, may the light triumph!" he yelled. Soon after finishing the phrase, the vortex disappeared as its power was absorbed by the staff. Too weak to hold on, he fell to his knees, dropping it on the ground beside him. A cloud of smoke issued forth from the area as Aisha ran to him. "So...did it work? Did I do it?" he asked as he crashed backwards, into her arms.
It was truly remarkable how much he cared about him. Even though they had a very rough start to their friendship, Nabu was the closest he'd ever come to calling someone a friend...and now he was gone, before he could tell him how much he meant to him.
"He did what any one of us would have done if we had to." he replied with a short sigh and a sad expression on his face. The tone to his voice also seemed slightly elevated.
Still wishing to find out more, the headmaster continued with yet another question. "Is this about Musa?"
He knew they haven't had the best relationship; it had its constant ups and downs. He really wanted to avoid the subject, but if it was affecting Riven so much, then maybe it was something truly serious this time.
Once again Riven's mind was filled with a strong memory. Of all the ones he could have thought of, this memory in particular was one he truly wanted to remember.
The doors closed sharply behind them as they stepped out of the studio.
"Yes! I did it!" exclaimed Musa, jumping with joy."It's a miracle, because you could have sung a lot better." declared Riven standing with his hands in his pockets. She turned and looked at him with a surprised expression on her face.
"Do you...you really think so?" she asked, pointing her finger at him. "Well, Jason liked me, and he's the music expert." she continued, raising her shoulders.
"Of course, just like I suppose I'm an expert on cooking or knitting." he replied in a sarcastic tone. At that she became irritated, but managed to keep herself calm.
"Why are you acting like this? Aren't you happy for me?" she inquired. "You were obnoxious during the whole audition, I almost regret..." She stopped before finishing the sentence.
"What do you regret?" snapped Riven. At that, Musa took a step back in fear. "Nothing." she said, crossing her arms as she turning away from him.
"No, come on, say it! What do you regret, huh? Asking me to come with you, right?" he asked, also crossing his arms, as he finished the question. She turned to face him again and answered back. "Yes, that's right. You've done nothing but criticize me all day. Is this your way of supporting me?"
"Oh don't worry, I'm leaving. Ask your friend Jason to support you." With that, he turned around, and started walking back to the apartment.
He had almost lost her for good after doing that. In truth, he was lucky she even talked to him again. He had realized the serious error he had made in taking their relationship for granted, and was ready to make amends to make things right, but would things ever return to normal?
Riven gave no response to the headmaster's question, unwilling to discuss matters further. The entire conversation between them only made him realize just how frustrated he really was...at how the witches had used him...at how his best friend had died...at how he nearly lost the girl he loved. With all this anger, it was no wonder he was starting to lose control.
Sensing Riven's mood change, the headmaster decided it would be best not to continue with any more questions about these issues. "Riven, when you first came here you were bashful and disorganized, sometimes out of control. You learned to manage your anger and frustration throughout your time spent here at Red Fountain. Yet, it seems you are no happier. What are you afraid that you will do?"
"Before I came here I was wild, like an animal. I had no direction, no real purpose. You and the others gave me a reason to fight, or back off...it's not there anymore." Riven replied, looking down at the many books, stacked on the director's desk.
"Riven, consider what you're saying!" said Saladin, shocked at the specialist's answer.
Standing up, he began to lean on the headmaster's desk with, further reducing the distance between them, and making full eye contact with the headmaster. "I wanted to kill someone today...for cutting me off in traffic..."
As soon as he finished the phrase, another recollection came to his mind. It was an event that took place earlier that day.
He checked his mirror to get a better view of his left lane. He noticed a car in it, which was moving faster than he was. He turned his view back to front of his bike, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw the car from the left lane suddenly pull toward him. He quickly applied the brakes, increasing the distance between them and allowing the car to move onto his lane. It came to a stop at a signal just a few feet away.
" An instant later and I would have been run off the road!" he thought as he approached the rear of the vehicle. Brandon, who had been riding behind him, also slowed down for the signal. As soon as his bike came to a stop, Riven jumped off, and ran straight to the car, without even taking his helmet off.
It was a convertible and, in his angered state, he pulled the driver out of the car by his shirt. "Riven, stop!" yelled Brandon as he grabbed him from behind in an attempt to free the driver. Putting the driver down Riven turned his entire body with one sudden move, trying to shake Brandon off.
Caught off-guard and unable to hold on to him, Brandon was thrown on the pavement of the opposing lane. The signal changed, just as a car sped around the corner on the opposite side of the intersection. Seeing him, the driver slammed on the brakes, stopping just inches from Brandon's body.
"...I even came close to hurting Brandon...and it didn't bother me. I didn't care professor. Even animals' care about each other..." he continued with his statement.
It was because of this event that he had sought the headmaster's help and advice. He realized he had taken things too far, and just wanted to stop. So many thing had happened to him within the last few years that he felt the need to just get away from things, to get away from all the fighting, all the violence. Perhaps that way he would truly find some sort of peace, an end to all the problems he had had.
"...I don't know what's missing inside. I have no idea how I lost it. Until I get it back, I'm leaving Red Fountain." he concluded. With that, he turned around and headed toward the exit of the room.
The headmaster became stunned by Riven's actions. In all the years he had known him he had never seen the specialist act this way before. "It could be just a phase." he thought as he nodded to himself, sitting back in a more comfortable position in his red velvet chair.
