CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
~ One Wing Coming ~
The last of the warm, golden tones fade from the heavens as the stars begin to fill the darkening space. Floating visibly in the sky now is the silver, nocturnal mistress. Though far up and unreachable by mortal hands, her beams extend through the glass window of a large mansion and into a well-lit room. Inside this room a two toned blue haired boy leans on a wall near a small table. His purple eyes are set on the golden haired girl in the middle of the room who is happily feeding a family of cats and a dog.
Kai turns to the small table near him. On the table lies an envelope with a folded piece of paper sticking out. He had found this in his mailbox when he was returning home earlier in the late afternoon. The note inside the envelope was scribbled in the same awkward manner as two other notes he had gotten before in the mail. The message this time, however, was not signed. All it said was,
"Kai, beware the one winged King."
A retching noise causes Kai to return his attention to Lux. It would seem the silly girl tried to taste some of the food she was feeding to her pets and discovered it was not as tasty as she thought it was. Kai tries to hold back a chuckle as she runs out of the room, apparently heading for the bathroom to clean her mouth of the taste. He then turns his attention to the five animals as they continue to eat the bits that had fallen on the floor before. Though he enjoys watching them, his mind soon drifts back to the contents of the note.
'What did this person mean by 'beware the one winged King'?' he asks himself in his mind as he turns to the window. 'Does this 'one winged King' have anything to do with that…thing in those dreams that I've been having? Better yet, is that thing real like Lux is?'
The animals in the middle of the room now finished with their meal turn to greet Lux as she returns to the room. Now relieved of the taste of cat food, she returns their greeting with a cheerful smile and sits down amongst them to play with them. All five creatures react with delighted restlessness.
'Who is this person who keeps sending these notes?' Kai continues to ponder on the recent events in his mind. ' And why do I feel afraid of that dream coming true? I haven't even known Lux for that long yet I feel the impulse to protect her when she's in danger…and I've act on it.'
Kai recalls the fear he felt in his heart the last time he saw the dream of Lux and the one winged creature and turns to Lux. 'It felt like something very precious to me might get ripped away…'
"Kai?" a soft voice calls.
Kai snaps from his train of thought and focuses on the golden haired girl in the middle of the room. "Hm?"
"What's wrong?" Lux asks, worried.
"Nothing…" Kai tells her. "It's nothing. Don't… worry about it."
"Okay…" Lux replies softly, still a little worried.
...
In a place where the silver beams of the moon could scarcely reach and light, artificial or natural was not abundant, sounds coming from a handheld gaming console resound loudly. Rapid spamming of buttons can be heard as a small boy engages in a battle with a game character and emerges victorious. Bored with it now that he has won, he sets the gaming console aside and jumps off the crate he had been sitting on. He looks around in the empty darkness before making his way to a different stack of crates. Looking up, he addresses the one sitting atop the stack.
"Hey Zane," the small boy calls.
"Hm?" Zane turns to him.
"Where's Lok?" he asks casually.
"Out looking for the Knight." Zane replies simply.
"That's boring." the boy comments, turning to the opening in the roof.
Zane remains silent, but closes his eyes. The boy goes on, "So Zane,"
"What?" Zane responds without opening his eyes.
"Why did you stop me earlier?" the boy asks.
"You mean with Ventus?" Zane opens his eyes again.
"Who else?" the boy turns back to him.
"I've seen him blade." Zane replies, closing his eyes again.
"Huh?" Sparky looks at Zane through the darkness, confused.
"He's stronger than you." Zane tells him.
"What do you mean?" asks Sparky, now paying full attention to Zane. "He's only an ordinary human right?"
"He might not be." Zane states.
"How could that be?" the small boy asks. "He was the first one to be rejected by Lady Psyche…wasn't he?"
"That might be what it looked like." Zane says, opening his eyes again and turning to Sparky. "But I think he might be a Magnanima."
The small boy's eyes widen in shock. "No way…!"
"Sparky, think about it." Zane descends from the crate he had been sitting on. "Where do you think he gets his power from?"
"Well…" Sparky starts, unsure what to say.
"He was the first to be rejected by Psyche, yet he proves himself too powerful in battle to even be amongst the rejected bunch…" Zane takes some steps closer to Sparky. "…in fact, he proves himself far too capable in general to be classified as what he was classified as."
"Are you saying that…?"
"Yes, Sparky." Zane answers before Sparky finishes. "He may well be the Knight…"
Sparky says nothing, but gazes at Zane.
"I'm 90% sure." Zane turns to the opening in the roof of the warehouse. "Only I can't tell which of the Knights he is…if he is one of them."
A cold wind enters the warehouse and brushes the faces of the two. A few moments later, a creature, livid and pale, bearing one wing drops like a meteor through the opening in the roof. Sparky and Zane watch as the creature folds its wing and stands up. The august creature turns to the two of them. A chilly breeze levitates this creature's platinum hair slightly as he gazes through the darkness at them. His eyes, cold and piercing, glow iridescently and seem to grant him eminence.