Chapter 9

Lighting the Sky

A few hours had passed since the encounter with Izoltz. I knew Zephys wasn't happy that I had helped Izoltz with his injuries, but, at this point, I didn't care anymore.

"Zephys?" I said, looking over at him.

"What?" Zephys's tone was kind of rude.

"What is the Central Empire?"

"They're under control of Draehkim," He said, running his fingers through his hair.

"So do you think that—?"

"The only reasonable explanation is that Draehkim hired Izoltz." He answered my question before I even finished saying it. He looked worried, but I decided against saying anything else.

We walked in silence for a while, and I was trying to think of what to say. I had to choose my words carefully with Zephys because, depending on his mood, he could lash out at me. I've spent the most time with him out of all of the men at Camp Jade, yet I feel like I know him the least. I had no idea where he was even from.

The people who followed Kayif all came from different parts of the continent, trained especially for protecting their land. Kayif told me all about it one night by the bonfire and, since then, I'd become a lot more informed about the world I was living in. He spent so much time worrying about helping me adjust, even though he had plenty of other issues to occupy his time. He told that he was from Corinth, the nation at the center of the continent, where the most important nobles met and spoke about foreign affairs.

Areck and Heroth offered up that they were both from Deward Village, which was the central living district in the North Moon Nation. However, Heroth was the son of a man from the North Moon Nation and a woman from Terrax, which was east of the North Moon Nation, and that was why he had such a strange hair color. There were two other nations besides Corinth, the North Moon Nation, and Terrax: Farstar Nation and Jericho.

The Central Empire had never been mentioned around the campfire with Kayif or any of the others.

"I thought there were only five nations," I murmured shortly after.

"The Central Empire isn't a nation," he responded sourly.

"But I thought—"

"Draehkim formed an uprising that has escalated out of control." Zephys was beginning to get upset. "They've been conquering parts of the Farstar Nation and Jericho, calling it the 'Central Empire'. It's completely idiotic."

"I see," I said thinking about Kayif. I wonder why Kayif never told me about the Central Empire, I thought, maybe it would just upset him like it did with Zephys just now. Although Zephys seemed a little irritated from the mention of the Central Empire, I had a new confidence to ask him questions for some reason. I searched my mind, picking the words carefully, "Where are you from?"

"What?" Zephys looked at me, surprised.

"Like, what nation?" I asked. "Heroth and Areck said they were from the North Moon Nation and Kayif said he's from Corinth." I smiled and gazed at him, waiting for his answer.

"I…" Zephys trailed off, looking elsewhere. He had a distressed look on his face. "We need to find a cave to make camp in."

"Why can't we just set up a tent?" We had set up camp in tents plenty of times before, so I was confused why today was different.

"Look at the sky." His eyes flashed upwards.

I looked up as well, examining the gray clouds that loomed over us.

"It's going to rain." He frowned and his pace quickened.

"But the tents protect us from the—"

"Let's just find a cave," Zephys said forcefully, locking his gaze on mine. "Okay?"

"O-okay…" I sighed and looked away. I could tell he wasn't in the mood for me to continue talking.

A couple hours passed and the sun was almost below the horizon. I could see Zephys's breathing increase. His pupils were large and he was searching around anxiously for a cave. Finally, he let out a sigh. It was starting to get too late and it didn't seem like we were going to find a cave any time soon. If we didn't set up camp now, it would be too dark to get anything done. Zephys reached for the bag and started to unpack the tent. I noticed that his hands were shaking slightly as he set everything up.

"Are you okay?" I looked at him worriedly. I had never seen him act like this before.

"How about you do something useful for once and help me set up camp?" He lashed back at me, causing me to flinch.

I nodded, scared of what would happen if I said no.

In a few minutes, the tent was up and I was lying on my bed. I could hear the pitter patter of the rain as it hit against the roof. I sighed and smelled the wet smell that comes with rain. For some reason, I felt an urge to go outside and let the rain fall on me. I knew it would upset Zephys, but I got up anyway.

"Where are you going?!" Zephys called after me.

"Outside."

"But it's raining." He sat up and looked at me from his bed.

"I know," I gripped the tent curtain and let his cape fall from my shoulders. "I want to go stand in it."

Zephys raised his eyebrows judgingly, but then reached over to grab his cape off the ground.

I pulled back the curtain of the tent and, suddenly, there was a flash of light in the sky. It caused the entire heavens to glow brilliantly, exposing all the shapes the clouds had formed in the dark. It was followed by a loud boom, which made me sigh and stay in the tent. I reached out my hand and let the water droplets fall on my palm. I watched as they landed and dripped off the sides. It felt refreshing, but I pulled my hand in and twisted around to return to my bed.

When I looked back, Zephys had curled into a ball on his bed. Not thinking anything of it, I sprawled out on my bed. After a couple seconds, I spun around onto my other side and looked over at Zephys. Another boom sounded and I saw him flinch.

Is he scared of the thunder? I thought, staring at the back of his head. I could tell his body was shaking. No, that's impossible, I responded to myself in my head, Zephys would never be afraid of that. He still continued to quiver on his bed, so I spoke.

"Zephys?" I whispered.

He didn't respond. Another crack of thunder sounded and I heard the sound of a tree tumbling to the ground far off. During this, Zephys shook ferociously and I saw his arms slide around himself tightly.

Taking a deep breath, I stood up from my bed and walked over to his. I wasn't sure what I was doing, but my body was leading me there for some reason. I clenched my sun pendant fiercely in my hand, as if it could give me the self-assurance I needed. Heart pounding, I rested a hand on his arm. At my touch, he twitched noticeably, but he didn't look at me.

"It's okay," I murmured. I rubbed his arm slowly with my hand and sat down next to him on his bed. He still remained facing the wall, but I could see that his eyes were squeezed shut. I moved and placed my hand over his, which was still shaking. I tried to calm myself down, worried that Zephys could hear my heart racing.

Another thunder clapped and I squeezed Zephys's hand tightly when he flinched again.

"You're safe here." I reached my other hand over and held onto Zephys's large hand with both of mine. His breathing began to slow down and I continued to whisper comforting words to him. Finally, I started to pull away, but he, in turn, grabbed onto my wrist.

"Don't leave." He looked at me. His eyes were wide with fear, just like an innocent child. They looked damp, too, as if he was about to cry. "Please… stay here." His eyes were so incredible.

I met his gaze and my heart melted. "Okay." I lay myself down next to him. I began to move my arms around him, but hesitated. Eventually, I muscled up the courage to act. I held my breath, wrapping my arms around him and pressing myself against him. My heartbeat quickened again.

To my shock, Zephys flipped his body around and put his head on my chest. He didn't get angry or snap at me, and I felt my face go red. His breath tickled between my breasts, causing a strange feeling to pulse through my body. I began to stroke his hair with my hand, running my fingers through it. I heard Zephys sigh softly, making my heart hammer even more. His large arms wrapped around my waist and lower back.

"I can feel your heartbeat." His words were barely audible.

Embarrassed, I moved away slightly, and said, "I'm sorry, I just—"

"Shh…" Zephys pulled me back towards him, "It's nice…"

Another flash of light illuminated the tent slightly, followed up quickly by a deafening boom. Zephys grabbed onto the cloth on my back tightly with his hands and tensed.

"It's not going to hurt you." I rested my chin on his head and closed my eyes. His hair felt so soft as it intertwined in my fingers. I had never held someone in my arms like this before. Besides the first night Zephys and I had spent together after we fled Camp Jade, we had not slept within a few feet of one another.

The thunder was dormant for a while, and Zephys was the one to break the silence. "I don't know where I'm from."

"What?" I was caught off guard by his voice.

"The professor at the training academy… found me…" He voice faltered slightly. "…with my twin brother. He didn't make it through the storm though." I could barely hear him, his voice trembling now. "We had been abandoned. I spent my years growing up in the academy between Corinth, the North Moon Nation, and Terrax." He breathed in shakily, holding back what I assumed were tears.

I pulled him in tighter to me, holding his head with my hands. I didn't think there was anything I needed to say except that. The storms must bring back unconscious memories of the night he lost his brother. Zephys had become much more relaxed, stretching his legs out along the bed comfortably. Soon, his breathing slowed, and it seemed that Zephys had fallen asleep. I kissed the top of his head gently. I couldn't help but think about all the nights that he spent alone, terrified of the storms. My heart ached for him, but everything just seemed right holding him in my arms. I continued to stroke his hair long after he had gone to sleep.

Every once in a while, Zephys would mumble in his sleep and move a little bit, but his arms stayed around me. Each time his head moved, his hair would whisk across my chest and send a sensation through me.

My eyelids grew heavy, and, eventually, they closed completely.