Hey guys! A thank you to all my readers, here is chapter 38! Please enjoy and I'd certainly appreciate feedback! ;)
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
~ Tempesta ~
The sky slowly brightens as the stars and the faintly visible crescent begin to fade. Below, a one winged silhouette sits atop a ruined pile of metallic rubble. The sound of two sets of footsteps approaches at a steady pace and stop.
"…Like a duel
Between twin lions,
Equal in might
Matched in speed…"
Lok becomes silent and watches as the morning sun rises in the east. Zane and another man holding a black trunk appearing in his thirties stand at the edge of the rubble gazing up at him.
"You've a visitor, Lok." Zane tells him.
"The first half of the fourth part of Repose?" the man identifies. "I see you're still attached to that poem I read to you when you were a child."
Lok recognizes the voice and maintains his gaze towards the eastern horizon. He is silent for a while but then asks, "Why have you returned here, S.S.? I thought when I spared you that day I told you to go where you like."
"I've come by merely to say hi." The man called S.S. replies. "I'm here with some souvenirs. They're from an acquaintance I've made."
Lok does not show any interest but continues to watch as the sky slowly turns a pinkish hue and the clouds begin to grow luminous.
"I think you'll find this very useful to you." S.S. goes on, "The contents of this trunk are all yours."
S.S. hands over his trunk to Zane who receives it and places it on the ground to open it. As he sets his eyes on the contents, his eyes widen. "Lok, this is…"
"I figured you should be low on funds by now," S.S. states. "I thought this would be of use to you."
Lok eyes the contents from above the metallic mountain of rubble for a moment. "Conditions?"
"None." S.S. replies. "This is all merely a gift."
"I refuse to believe that." Lok states simply. "You can take it all back with you."
"As I said, it's a gift. If you don't like it, you may throw it away or give it to someone else." S.S. tells him. "I'll take my leave now, Lok."
S.S. turns to leave but stops and turns back momentarily, "You may find it interesting to pay a visit to Berlin, by the way. I believe someone there will be of interest to you."
With that, he began to disappear from their sight. Lok watches him go and then turns to the "gift" he left.
"Zane." Lok turns to his follower. "Begin making arrangements for me to go to Berlin."
"Yes," Zane replies.
"Also, contact Wyvynn."
...
The lambent light of morning illuminates a large, luxurious villa surrounded by lush, emerald, gardens. The air, saturated with the aroma of the nearby ocean and the forest's refreshing scent, permeates a sunlit hallway inside. Kai and Lux tread through this hallway, both in rather bright moods. Kai had decided to walk around to explore and get to know the interior of the place a little after breakfast since they will be here for a little while. Lux, not really interested going to the pool outside or any other activity the others decided on silently joined him, tagging quietly behind.
Kai glances at the girl behind him for a moment, watching her as she quietly admires the beautiful scenery outside the windows. He smiles at the sight, glad that she's back to normal and in a happy mood.
The two soon come to a pair of double doors where a maid exits, carrying some cleaning supplies with her. She greets the two of them and as she does, Lux catches a glimpse of the inside of the room. Interested in the room's contents, she stops. As the maid leaves, she quietly slips inside unnoticed.
Kai continues down the hallway and takes a turn. He then notices that the extra set of footsteps behind him is no longer audible. Turning around, he realizes that the girl must have entered the room they had just passed. Curious what she was up to, he backtracks to the room and turns the handle on the door to enter.
Once inside, he finds himself in a spacious room with a tall ceiling. The room appears to be a library or some form of storage for books. The first level of the room had many shelves lined up against the wall and in columns on both sides of the room. Two sets of stairs lead to the upper level of the room where more books are arranged on shelves against the wall.
Kai spots Lux on the second level standing on the second highest step on a wooden ladder pulling out a book from the shelf. He climbs up the stairs to where she is and begins to approach her. She turns to him a little surprised by his presence but happy to see him.
"Kai!" She jumps off the ladder energetically to greet him, the book she found on the shelf in hand.
Kai didn't really get the chance to say anything next as the movement on the ladder she had been using caught his eye. The momentum of Lux's jump had caused the ladder to tip and slide from its position. He watches as the base of the ladder hit the railings of the upper floor of the room while the top of the ladder collides with the lower portion of the shelf. The base of the shelf moves backwards more against the wall but the top begins to tip over.
Kai leaps forward towards Lux and pushes her out of the way just in time as the shelf and the books it contained fall over, settling into a huge heap on the spot where Lux had stood. The two of them lay on the floor, their bodies overlapping with one another. They stay that way for some moments as they mentally recover from the event that just transpired.
"Are you alright?" Kai asks her, pushing himself up a little from her and removing his arm from underneath her.
Lux nods slowly, slightly intoxicated by the scent of Kai's breath. Although her mind has already processed the fact that she is alright and no longer in danger, this is the first time that she had felt his face so close to hers. She then recalls the last time he had leaned over her like this at the estate in Sweden. Wondering if he was protecting her that time too from something, she decides to ask him about it as he sits up next to her.
"Last time…at the house in Sweden…" She asks innocently as she sits up as well, "Were you protecting me…that time too?"
"Huh?" Kai turns to her a little confused.
"When I woke up…and you were close to me…in my room." She specifies.
Kai remembers the incident she is referring to and turns from her, his face a little flushed. He wasn't protecting her from anything at all that time; the whole incident had happened because he had momentarily lost control of himself while alone with her in her room. Of course, he wouldn't want to tell her that…
"Uh…yeah." He answers her briefly, for once, glad that she is so innocent.
"Thank you!" she tells him happily.
He looks at her somewhat in stupor from his desperation to hide the reasons behind the incident. He does not realize the reason why she is thanking him.
"For both times…that you protected me." Lux finishes, a grateful smile on her features.
"Sure. No problem." Kai answers her, looking away. There was no way he could blame her actions for the day before now; he himself isn't even ready to express to her how he felt for her. He then turns back to her, "Listen…"
Lux tilts her head slightly, paying her utmost attention to him.
"Don't jump off a ladder like that next time." Kai tells her. "It can be dangerous."
"Okay." She responds with a willing smile, causing Kai to return a smile to her as well.
A thick volume that had fallen then catches Kai's eyes. It laid a little ways from the rest of the pile. The title of the book was printed in gold lettering and read, "A Collection of Old Fairytales, Folklores, and Legends".
Kai picks up the book and opens it, curious of its contents. Seeing his interest in the book, Lux makes her way behind him and looks over his shoulder at the contents.
...
A gentle breeze stirs some ripples in the water of a large fountain some distance away.
Wyvynn sits on the steps of an old fountain in the middle of the Piazza Fontana Grande in Viterbo. He watches as passersby comes and goes and as they enter and leave the shops at the plaza. The town appears small and old to him compared to Rome. Occasionally someone would notice him and eye him nonchalantly for a moment before carrying on with whatever business they had.
Wyvynn had become thoroughly bored. He could have chosen to keep following Lux and Kai, but he had already known where they'd be for the next few days and saw no point in terms of tracking. He wasn't even going to report their location anyway. Other than that, seeing them and their friends hang out was beginning to make him want to join in more and more. There was also the fact that the sight of Kai and Lux together made him wish he had a girlfriend too.
'…Then again, I can't really imagine Kai or Lux asking each other out so maybe they aren't together…' He then realizes what he was thinking. 'Why the hell do I even care if they're together or not, I'm not their friend, I'm not their enemy anymore and…'
Wyvynn gets up and sits at the edge of the fountain instead. Gazing into the water, he asks himself, 'Why the hell did I even follow them to Italy?'
A piercing ringing sounds, snapping Wyvynn from his thoughts. He pulls out his phone and reads the caller ID on the front display without answering it.
'It's Zane…' Wyvynn simply puts the device away, not bothering to shut off the sound.
He looks upwards at the sky and watches as the clouds float by. The ringtone eventually stops and he is left with the sounds of the plaza again.
'Did they find a way to locate them?' he asks himself in his mind. 'Why am I even keeping this thing on me? I've already betrayed them, practically…'
He recalls his lie when he reported back to Lok in Russia, the time he helped Lux in Gamla Stan, and when he sent a kid off to tell Kai where Lux is in Rome just the day before. He then realizes, 'I was afraid…that's why I still have this phone on me.'
He takes out the device again. It would appear Zane had left him a message. Deciding there is no reason for him to read the message, he gets up and holds the phone over the water of the fountain. Assuring himself one more time he was going to do this, he lets go of the phone and drops it in.
"There. I'm not doing this anymore!" He tells himself with a smile.
He then takes out a compass and looks around.
'What am I going to do now…? Lok's bound to come after me since he needs me at that altar…' Knowing that Kai and Lux are staying in a villa in Monte Argentario, he looks to the west. 'Well, they do seem to be a nice bunch. If I ask nicely maybe they'll let me join their group…'
...
Max stretches as he steps outside of the villa with Ray. He takes a moment to enjoy the fresh scent and the warm sun.
"It sure is refreshing here, huh?" Max notes as he begins to walk away from the villa and into the garden.
"Yeah," Ray agrees, walking with him. "The fact that it's so close to summer makes this place almost perfect."
"I hear there are a number of resorts around here." Max then suggests, "Maybe we should check them out a little later."
"I'd love to," Ray answers with a smile.
Their conversation is interrupted by a cheerful voice reading through something not too far away from the path on which they are walking. Max and Ray stop and turn to find Kai lying on the ground near a tree's roots with his hands behind his head and a blade of grass sticking out of his mouth. Lux sits against the same tree beside him with her legs bent away from Kai. In her hands is a thick book.
"…The little mermaid lifted her eyes to the sun…and felt them fill with tears…for the first time…" Lux reads, not noticing the two of them watching.
"She's sure improved a lot since she started learning how to read from Hilary." Max notes without interrupting her.
"Kenny sometimes helped her too." Ray adds. "Actually now that I think about it, I think Kenny taught her more than Hilary did."
They continue to listen to her read for a while.
"…but for each bad child…she shall cry and for each tear… a day will be added…before she may rise to the kingdom of God." Lux finishes reading the tale with a somewhat sullen look. She then comments, "I don't…like this story. The little mermaid…loved the prince. It's sad…"
"Well that's the original version of the story." Kai tells her with his eyes still closed. "By the way, you're still mispronouncing words occasionally and you're not reading very fluidly."
Lux appears a little depressed.
"But…" Kai goes on, dropping the leaf in his mouth, "You did better than the last one you read."
"Really?" Lux's eyes light up.
"Yeah." Kai answers her with a smile. "The book you were reading is for literary historians and scholars so it's fine if you trip a little."
Lux smiles to herself happily, warmed by the compliment.
"It's good to see that Kai has found someone he doesn't mind being with." Ray says quietly to Max while keeping his eyes on the two. "He used to always go off on his own."
"Yeah," Max agrees.
Lux then spots them and greets them, "Max! Ray!"
Kai sits up too now, as a way of greeting them.
Max and Ray look to each other and approach them.
"Hey," Ray returns their greeting.
"We were just out for a walk." Max tells them. He sits down with them and then indicates to the book, "I see you're practicing your reading skills."
Lux nods cheerfully. She then turns a page in the book.
"Where'd you get the book from?" Ray asks, sitting down on the grass as well.
"Library…inside." Lux answers.
She then begins to stare at the book. Noticing, Ray and Max move a little closer to see what she is looking at.
"Something the matter, Lux?" Max asks.
"This…is strange." Lux says to them. She then flips the book to them. "I don't understand it. What is Repose?"
"Huh?" Max takes the book and reads the page she indicated.
"Repose?" Ray defines the word to her, "It means sleep or rest, I think. Were you stumbling on the word?"
Lux nods somewhat.
"Repose…a latin text written in the fifth century…author unknown." Max reads out loud the text before the poem. "The original text eventually fell into a collection in Rinchnach Priory but was damaged in 1488 when the Hussites attacked and burnt down the monastery. As a result, the fifth and sixth parts of the poem are missing."
Kai moves closer to see the poem now.
"It's got quite some history, huh?" Ray comments.
"Yeah," Max agrees.
"What is the story…of Repose?" Lux asks, curious. "I could not understand it."
"Let's see…" Max then reads out loud for her,
"Hearts,
Smeared by ambition,
Create only misery.
To sate curiosity,
For the sake of pride,
Chaste avarice;
To the sufferer,
They are the same.
I shed a tear
In remembrance.
When the world is darkest,
The goddess awakens
And descends.
Under a starry sky,
By each other pass
The goddess and I.
A condition,
A power;
A wish to be granted,
A desire to recreate
That which has been corrupted
By the hearts of men.
It is sealed.
Of like minds,
I seek.
A mystic of the arcane,
A possessor of wisdom,
A mighty creature,
A loyal follower
I find...
My quest is opposed.
A kingdom there exists,
Two knights
Savoring the contemporary.
Enemies declared,
My armies engage…"
Max stops and reads the rest silently to himself. He then concludes, "Uh…I'm not sure."
"Maybe there's an analysis of the text somewhere." Ray suggests.
Before they can find it however, a loud splash sounds in the distance.
"What was that?" Max asks.
"Why don't we go see?" Ray suggests to them.
They get up and head for the area where the pool is to find Tyson, Daichi and Hilary gathered by the edge of the half emptied pool and Kenny frantically trying to dry off his laptop with a towel. Everything around the pool appears wet. Climbing out of the pool in a soaking black, robe-like windbreaker is a man familiar only to Kai, Lux, and Max.
"Hey dude, what's the big idea dropping in and splashing us?" Tyson demands angrily.
"Yeah!" Daichi joins in.
"What happened?" Max asks.
"This guy fell out of the sky all of a sudden and got us all wet." Tyson explains to him.
"Uhm…Sorry about that," the guy apologizes.
"Hey wait," Max recognizes him now. "You're the guy we met in Gamla Stan."
"Huh?" Tyson turns to his friend a little confused.
"You guys know him?" Daichi asks.
"Yeah…this was the guy who helped Lux get her wallet back." Max tells them. "Right Lux?"
Lux nods. "Yes, Mr. Stranger helped me."
"I'm not Mr. Stranger, my name's Wyvynn." Wyvynn corrects her.
"Mr. Wyvynn?" Lux repeats his name.
"Just call me Wyvynn," he tells her.
"Wait…so this guy was in Gamla Stan…and now he's here." Daichi brainlessly mouths out loud. It then hit him. He then points a finger at him. "You were following us!"
Kenny finishes drying off his laptop and sighs in relief before joining them.
"Woah…wait. Hang on, so you were following us and then you fell from the sky and splashed us…." Tyson crosses his arms and examines him more. "You even have that glow in your eyes. You're one of those Magnanima freaks who are after Lux, aren't you? Well she's our friend and you're not getting your hands on her!"
Wyvynn looks frozen for a second by the accusation. "Wait, hold on, I'm not here for that!"
"Then what are you here for?" Max asks.
"Okay, listen." Wyvynn pauses them. "Let me get one thing straight! If I wanted to kidnap Lux I could have done it at the estate, in Gamla Stan, and even in Rome. I wouldn't have to come and drop in with a big splash so you all know I'm here uninvited, now chill out!"
"So…you were stalking her even then?" Hilary asks.
"I…it's…just…" Wyvynn was quite taken aback. He straightens himself out and then tries to express himself again, "It's not what you think!"
"Guys, let's give him a chance to explain." Ray tells the rest.
"Wyvynn…" Kai addresses him.
Wyvynn turns to Kai, his face almost begging for Kai to go easy on him with the words.
"You said you could have kidnapped her in Rome. Were you the one who told the kid to direct me to Villa Torlonia?"
"Uh…well…yeah." Wyvynn answers.
"Why'd you help us?" Kai asks bluntly.
"I just...Look, you guys are right, I have been following you around," Wyvynn admits. "I was sent to. Lok sent me to look for and keep an eye on you - Kai and Lux, namely. But I swear, I didn't tell him where you guys were. I lied and told him I couldn't find you...I did that because...I had been watching you guys. When you guys were training, hanging out, havin' lunch. It looked like fun...and it made me think twice about what Lok had told me."
"What did he tell you?" Tyson asks.
"That we are different from the rest of the world. That we'd never fit in, or be accepted by others." Wyvynn then goes on, "…And that if anyone discovered what we are, we'd be shunned and maybe even go through the same hell again. And going through all that again...I'd never want that. It was why I went along. But then I saw how you guys treat Lux. She and I...are the same in terms of the changes made to us. The only difference is that she doesn't remember any of it."
Lux glances down at her feet, a more somber expression visible on her features. Kai takes notice of her change of mood.
"Anyway I came to ask if you guys might...let me become one of your friends too." Wyvynn continues. "That and...to be honest, Lok will soon realize I've changed sides and hunt for me. I won't ask for you guys to protect me or anything. I just wanted to join you. I'm not out to hurt Lok, but if I can, I'd like to see if I can convince him to change."
The group, with the exception of Lux, watch him, silenced by the sincerity of his speech.
"I know you guys probably don't trust me and I don't blame you." Wyvynn begins to turn from them. "Sorry about the water by the way, I had a bad landing coming here. Just so you guys will know where to find me, I'll be hanging around Forte Stella. It's a fortress near here."
With that, he leaves them.
"Hey wait!" Tyson tries to stop him.
Wyvynn was gone.
"Should we trust him?" Hilary asks the rest.
"He seemed pretty sincere." Max comments.
"But it's not like it's impossible for that to have been fabricated." Ray points out.
"I don't think he made that up." Tyson says to the rest.
"Yeah…" Daichi adds.
"Guy's this is all kinda sudden." Kenny then suggests. "Why don't we all think about it a little first?"
"I agree." Ray concurs.
"Yeah, me too." Max joins him.
"Oh, but come on!" Tyson whines. He turns to Lux, "Lux, you believe him too don't you? Didn't he help you before?"
Lux continues to gaze downwards without responding.
"Tyson," Kai stops him. "He said he'd be at Forte Stella."
"Yeah, so?" Tyson retorts.
"It means he gave us time to think this over." Kai explains to him. "So in other words, it doesn't hurt to consider it a bit first. Now, I personally agree with Kenny. We should think it over before we decide he's our buddy."
"Fine…" Tyson grumbles, dissatisfied by the fact that the others did not agree with him.
...
Soon, it had become noon. Tyson, angry with the others for not agreeing with him ate by himself. Lux, however, did not quite cheer up from earlier. After lunch, she had returned the book to the room she had found it in but left it to the maids to put all the books and the shelf back in its place. Kai could not help but notice her mood. Clearly, something had bothered her from when Wyvynn came by earlier, but she had not said anything about it yet.
The two of them step outside to find that the weather had begun to change a little. Whereas the morning had been sunny and bright, the clouds now cover a considerable portion of the sky, casting a greying spell on the land below.
"I will go over there." Lux points south to let Kai know. She then begins to walk in that direction at a lazy pace.
Kai watches her go for a while, concerned for her. 'Maybe I should go with her and make sure she's alright…'
Deciding it would probably be best, he silently follows her.
Lux eventually comes to a cliff at the edge of the tied island and takes a seat at a part that juts out a little, setting her bag down behind her. She looks up at the seagulls overhead for a while, her flowing hair waving gently in the sea breeze. One of the seagulls eventually land beside her. She turns to it.
"Hello," she tells it.
The seagull looks at her in response, not much of an expression on its face. She watches it and smiles gently. Realizing she has something it might like, she reaches into her bag and takes out a small bag of croutons she had saved from lunch. Spotting the bag of food, the bird immediately moves closer to her.
"So you do like these." Lux notes happily, opening the small bag for it. She then sets it beside her on the cliff and offers it to the small creature. "Here,"
Soon after the first bird began to peck at it, two other seagulls nearby join in and does the same. Eventually, the contents of the small bag are depleted and the two birds that had joined in fly away again. Lux waves at them as they go, the smile disappearing from her face.
The first bird that had dropped by looks at her for a while and walks in a circle as if hoping for more. Lux takes notice of it again and apologizes, "Sorry…"
The bird stops and looks at her.
"I don't have more." Lux tells it.
The bird flutters off but comes back and lands on her lap. The ticklish sensation causes her to giggle a little, "Stop that!"
The bird hops off her and settles back to the place where it had been beside her. Kai watches unknown to her from a distance near some trees as the two stay this way silently for a while.
"Today…someone came by to visit." Lux tells the bird. The bird does not understand a word of what she is saying but hangs around anyway. "He said that…there are changes…to us."
The bird continues to walk around in a circle, occasionally picking off any small crouton crumbs that it might find.
Lux looks upwards at the sky again. "…I'm different…from Kai and the others."
Hearing that, Kai remembers the things he had learned from Ventus about what the lab in Russia had done to Lux.
"There's a light…in my eyes. I know that…the others…don't have that. No one else…but them…and I…have it." Lux continues, "How different…am I? Am I…still…human?"
'So that's…what it was.' Kai continues to watch her, realizing what it was that bugged her. He stays silent, pondering on a way that could cheer her up.
The sky continues to grow darker as more clouds gather and the wind begins to howl. After a small while more passes, the bird beside her takes off and disappears into the distance. Lux watches it go, a little disappointed that her companion has left.
A bright light flashes in the sky, and is soon followed by booming thunder. Kai wakes up from his thoughts and realize that it might soon be more important for him to convince the girl to return to the house with him first before he tries to deal with her worries.
Lux hugs her knees to her and simply gazes out at the ocean, not really feeling like moving from the spot despite the worsening weather. Moments later, Kai feels a droplet of water on him and looks up at the sky. Rain had started falling and it soon turns into pouring. The sea is now visibly churned by the weather and the wind blows in violent gusts.
Kai turns back to Lux. Seeing as she still does not appear to have the slightest intention to move from the spot, he decides to make his way towards her to try to take her back to the house. 'If she stays here, she'll catch a cold.'
Hearing him approach, Lux turns around. "Kai…?"
"We have to go back." Kai tells her, extending his hand for her.
She is hesitant at first but as she is no longer alone here anyway, she nods and gets up to take it. As she does, a powerful gust of wind hits them, causing Lux, who had been wearing a pair of heeled sandals, to lose her balance and fall to the side. Kai attempts to grab her hand but fails, watching in horror as she falls over and plunges into the sea below.
"LUX!"