The Breakthrough

Solskin

Persephone woke up this morning excited for some reason. Following our daily route to Epoch's house, she was almost running instead of walking.

"What's up?"

"I have an idea. I need to talk to Epoch about it." Persephone looked thoughtful, her mind elsewhere.

It was pointless to try to continue the conversation. In silence, we walked to Epoch's house. But after a while, I couldn't bear it anymore.

"Persephone."

"What?"

"How do you feel about Xavier?" Surely I was not the only one feeling this anger.

Persephone paused and stopped walking. After some thought, she replied, "Honestly, I don't know."

I was confused. "What do you mean? He is our enemy. You have to hate him!"

"Yes, Kalakrath is our enemy. But Xavier, I am not too sure."

"But he is the source of everything wrong. Because of him, Mordred is dead. He leads the Three Kings gang!"

"Again. Is it really Xavier's fault?"

"They are the same person!"

Persephone stared right into my eyes. "I don't think so. I think Xavier and Kalakrath are two different entities. Xavier is our ally, despite all his secrets. After all, didn't he save all of our lives?"

"Yes, but…"

"But what? If Epoch's story is right, we would have lost by now. Kalakrath is just too powerful for us to stop. If he was already with the Three Kings, we would be done for."

"That is why we have to stop Xavier before he can go back to them."

"No, we should help Xavier. Think about it calmly. Xavier spent the last ten years keeping Kalakrath in check. And it has been weeks since he has disappeared and nothing has happened. Xavier hasn't lost yet. He is still keeping Kalakrath in check."

I stopped and considered her words. Why were they so logical? For a moment I felt conflicted, but it quickly passed. "It will all be over if we kill him!"

"If Xavier dies, what stops the Three Kings? They are acting completely independently of him. And what stops Kalakrath from breaking free and a new host being created?" With that, Persephone continued walking, almost angrily, to Epoch's house.

I opened my mouth to say something, but she had already stormed off too far. Shutting my mouth, I went to catch up and walked behind her silently.

Persephone

That entire conversation was concerning. Solskin was just too angry, almost frightening. I let out a deep breath. When I stared into his eyes, I saw unbridled rage and anger, like it was stained red.

I think Solskin broke inside. Returning back to life after taking his own must have driven him over the edge. Why didn't I notice it earlier? He must have been hurting so much, slowly beating himself. I was too caught up in dealing with my own issues. The memories that I had suppressed flooding back and the curse plaguing my thoughts.

I let out another sigh. We needed to talk. I didn't know when, but soon. With the outbreak of demons upon us, we need to be united. I began planning out what I was going to say to him, but we had arrived.

Epoch, as usual, was waiting outside, nose buried into some ancient tome.

Looking up, he greeted us, "Morning."

Entering the study that had become a second home to us, I opened immediately asked my question.

"Demons are similar to souls, right? What would happen if I tried to send them to the underworld?"

Epoch stopped. "That… could… work." The lights starting going off in his head. He rushed inside and began pulling tome after tome of the walls.

"In Xavier's case, I tried something similar. I forced the demon into Xavier where it would be weakened, which allowed me to banish it into another realm. Now, if we could send it directly to Hades, it would be trapped. But, what if they have a way back. No, they would be flooding through by now. It must be difficult for them to travel across dimensions by themselves…" Epoch's mouth took off, spouting every idea that came to mind. For once, we researched with a purpose.

Walking back, bone tired, I decided now might be the time. "Hey, Solskin. When we get back, we should talk."

Solskin just nodded.

??????

Day broke and I was out the door before Mordred even woke up. Nesting myself in a tree in the woods, I began sharpening my arrows. Set against the steady scraping of metal and stone, I let my thoughts drift.

Emmyth was currently lost to the enemy. Chances were he would never come back. So I would put his body to rest. Better that than let it continue to be desecrated by them.

Snap. The arrow head flew off. I let the useless shaft fall to the ground, letting the rage that had built up from that line of thinking subside.

I pulled out another arrow and began sharpening again.

Soon, I ran out of arrows to sharpen. I leaned back, staring at the clear blue sky. It was extremely serene.

"Why did you kill us then?"

I almost fell off the tree. Where did that voice come from?

Savah appeared in front of me. I quickly brought my bow up, ready to fight for my life. "Why did you kill my parents?"

He quickly turned back into a child, white eyes staring at me in horror. "Why, just why? You couldn't save your brother, so why did you do it?"

Then, he was gone. Only his words remained, echoing on the breeze. I felt the guilt claim my body and the hot tears streamed down my face. What have I been doing.