Facing one's darkness requires great courage. Accepting one's darkness requires great resolve.
Arwen's eyes widen when she realises who he is. "Luminous? One of the heroes who sealed the Black Mage?" She asks, bewildered.
Luminous scans the town briefly before saying, "The Black Mage. Ah, I see now. He cursed me." It is more a monologue than a reply, as he ignores Arwen's question. "I'm..." Darkness begin to spread from his eye. "... I'm tainted." His Dark Affinity strengthens, as he believes he has lost his Light. "I am no hero."
"No, Suon, I mean, Luminous, I can still sense the Light within you. Do not lose to the Darkness." Arwen says cautiously.
Luminous points the Shining Rod towards her, and replies triumphantly, "Even so, the Darkness is mine! I will wield this great power as I please. You have no right to patronise me!" The atmosphere around Luminous distorts again, and he casts his skill in one smooth motion. This time, the Abyssal Drop is much larger and potent. As it falls on Arwen, a translucent barrier appears before her. The condensed orb of darkness hits the barrier and are nullified. Luminous glares threateningly at her, and sees the weakness of the barrier. With a smirk, he prepares another assault.
Arwen stands firmly and concentrating all her efforts on the barrier. She does not appear to be the aggressive type of fighter, because she does not counter attack right when she had a chance.
Luminous realises that and laughs maniacally. "HahaHaHA! Foolish fairy! You shall perish before me!" More dark orbs crashed down on Arwen's barrier, and it becomes visibly thinner each time.
Arwen bites her lips as she knows very well that the barrier will fail soon. She looks around for an escape but there is none. When Luminous raises his Shining Rod again, she shuts her eyes to await her doom.
Suddenly, Luminous's hand stops in mid-air, and he is shocked by his actions. Sunfire becomes dominant. "I... I am so sorry Arwen."
When Arwen looks up to him, she sees the Light surrounding him. His eyes are back to the normal heterochromia eyes she knew. "Su- Luminous, you are back!" She flies nearer to him.
Luminous holds his hand up to stop her from getting close, and shakes his head. "No, Arwen, this whole time, it is me, including when I was attempting to kill you just now. Don't come near me."
"But, you are alright now. The Darkness is gone!"
"Yes, it is gone, for now...Not for long though." Luminous realises that, when half of his soul, Eclipse has overloaded the Darkness output, he will be weaker, so his other half of the soul, Sunfire will take over. The same will happen if Sunfire has overloaded. This cycle will loop infinitely within him. It is disorienting right now, because he does not feel whole in either side, like he is stretched thin. Furthermore, Eclipse is much stronger than Sunfire at the moment, resulting in his longer mode of Darkness. He is in an extremely unstable state; if he does not find a way to control these two powers in him, he fear that disasters will happen again. Suddenly, he recalls what happened back in Lania's house. "I apologize, but I must go now!" He says, and hastily Flash Blink back into the forest towards Lania's house's direction.
Arwen wants to call out to him, but she lets him go.
Back on the path to Lania's home, his home, Luminous's mind is full of dread and guilt. What will Lania think of me now? I have destroyed her home and hurt her. Did I... killed her? I didn't even hesitate when I attacked Arwen. Destroying was something natural to me at that time. I am a monster, and I should not be around anyone… When Lania's home comes in view, his heart pounds faster as the thought of seeing Lania laying dead in front of him invades his mind. No, please, no.
He arrives at the spot where he last seen Lania. She is not there. Panic begins to grip him, and he finds it difficult to breath. He sees a dragging mark on the ground and he follows the trail to the backyard of the collapsed house. There, he finds Lania sitting beside Penny, who is licking her wounds. When Penny knows of his presence, she hisses vehemently at him. "Mrow! You are a dangerous person! Penny was wrong to trust you!"
Luminous has no words to defend himself. "Penny, Lania..." He calls to them weakly. "I am terribly sorry..."
"Go away, mrow!" Penny's says angrily.
"Penny, shush. Don't be so mean." A frail voice says beside her. Luminous is so relieved to see Lania still alive. She is so weak, she could not raise her head. She says, "Luminous, you came back."
"But he destroyed our home! Mrow!" Penny is distrustful of Luminous.
"He is not the same now, Penny." Lania assures Penny, and smiles to him. "I trust you, Luminous. Will you explain to me what happened?"
"Let me tend to your wounds first." Luminous goes to her quickly. She is still bleeding, and there are deep cuts on her shoulder and legs. He winces at what he had done. He will heal her. However, when he intends to use the Light of Redemption, he hesitates. What if, when he uses his Light spells, his soul switches to Eclipse? "I... can't…" He decides not to risk it. "Let me bring you somewhere safer in Ellinia. And then I will explain."
"You are taking me with you. Mrow! I will be watching you closely." Penny stares at him.
Luminous carries Lania in his arms carefully, his right hand manages to hold the Shining Rod. "You can grip onto my shoulder. Be sure not to loosen your grip, I will be teleporting."
"You bet!" Penny jumps onto his shoulder and digs her claws into his clothes and flesh. He takes the pain calmly. "Ready?"
"Mrow, ready!"
He Flash Blinked back to town in a matter of seconds. In Ellinia, the fairies remains wary and scared of him, and did not leave their home. Arwen is already standing at entrance along with another fairy that is dressed in bright green with a ribbon tied on her hair.
"I heard from everyone that you were the one who wielded the Darkness in town just now." The energetic fairy with orange coloured hair says. "Very interesting. The Luminous in the old tales is the Mage of Light, if I remember correctly?" There is a slight hint of spite in her words. "Are you really that Luminous?"
"Rowen, now's not the time." Arwen retorts. "Luminous, meet Rowen. Please excuse her manners. She is not normally in town, but I called her back. Lania needs immediate treatment, and Rowen has the healing skills."
Luminous nods, trying not to let what Rowen said affect him. "Thank you."
After handing Lania and Penny over to Rowen, he is informed by Arwen that there is someone who wants to meet him in the Magic Library. She passes the message to him with such respect, the one who is living in the library is certainly no small fry. For some reason, this Magic Library has eluded his attention for these past six years. It must be a very advanced spell to cast on a whole building, and whoever lives in there is an expert. Inside the library, he sees a familiar figure. The long white mage robe, pointy hat, bulky staff and white long beard are the characteristics of Grendel the Really Old. Luminous stands in front of the old mage, and says, "You look well."
More to come