When Darkness Consumes Us

FOR the twenty-nine years of her life, Selene never thought that legends that are supposed to be a thing of the past would become her present and reality. For instance, at this moment, she gawks stiffly frozen at the massive legendary creature in front of her. The beast has the body, tail, and legs of a lion while having an eagle's head and wings. Its long and sharp talons gleam against the dark, and Selene shivers in utter fascination, thinking about how something so frighteningly beautiful can even exist.

With its gleaming sharp talons, Selene's first thought is how easy it would be for the beast to slash her body into tiny pieces, and with its massive weight, she would easily be crushed by it like ground meat. Selene lets out a shaky laugh. "I can't believe I'm thinking something gruesome at times like this."

Selene hears a yell tainted with horror as the hunter struggles to regain his bearing while the monstrous creature terrorizes him. She breathed a sigh of relief. Selene is grateful that this beast is Zeno's pet that has an adorable name, Razor. Suddenly, she felt a hand on her waist, and she was carried effortlessly by Zeno while heading towards Razor's back.

"You have an adorable pet," Selene whispers breathlessly.

Zeno looks at her incredulously, clearly surprised by her remark, before a broad smile etched his lips. "I will let you touch him after this."

Zeno spread open his glossy black wings and carries her above. Once she's settled on Razor's back, Zeno went down and took the injured Black Panther and Grandfather Kenshin's unconscious body. She moves towards him, and upon seeing the large gashed on his chest, her suppressed memory sprung out without warning. It is a memory of holding her mother's bloodied figure while she screams for help. Selene clutched her chest as it twists painfully, and tears start to sting at the edge of her eyes. She tries to even her breathing as she agonizingly gasps for breath. It took her longer than five minutes before she can start properly breathing again, and it felt she was splashed with cold water as her heart settles and cool down.

Her senses sharpened, and Selene feels an empty stillness in her heart as she slashed her coat using Zeno's dagger and pressed it to his chest to stop the bleeding temporarily. Though she also has to find Khalil, Selene also has to make sure that Grandfather Kenshin's wounds get treated.

"Let's go somewhere safe. We need to treat his wounds." Selene murmurs without taking her eyes off him. However, will the medicine on her pack enough to treat him? If she can just heal someone using magic, just like how it quickly happens with her body.

In an instant, Razor is already flying thousands of meters in the sky while the enemies' arrows try to reach them but fail repeatedly. Selene stares at the unconscious body of Grandfather Kenshin, thinking about the predicament she got stuck in. If it's really true that she has an enormous amount of mana, it won't be impossible to use magic to heal his wound. Selene racks her brain, trying to come up with a solution. She organized her thoughts according to what she accurately remembered from the books she read earlier. However, all the books she had read, it mostly discusses the history of the kingdom. While the book Sorcerer's Compendium mainly presents ingredients for different magic spells, but nothing was discussed regarding healing magic.

Selene turns towards Zeno, who seems to be familiar with magic. "Do you know how to heal people using magic?"

Zeno forced a smile. "I can't really tell that I'm an expert with the topic. Although I can use some spells, I'm a Summoner. It's my specialty to summon high-level monsters and let them do my bidding. Only a magician with an attribute of light magic can heal someone."

Selene fires another question while thinking quietly. "What do you remember when a healer is doing it?"

Zeno snorted when she just disregarded the proud introduction of his abilities. "Well, I just see a white ball of energy coming off from their hands or something."

Selene breathed a sigh of frustration. Why the hell does someone have to be a light magician to used healing magic? How does she know her attribute? Will she have to rely on her basic knowledge and instinct? Selene is not even sure if what she read in novels is applicable in this world. However, she doesn't have a choice.

"Scratch that! Let's try it." Selene whispers while talking to herself.

Selene closes her eyes and tries to empty her mind. She shut herself from her external environment until all noises were drowned out except for her rhythmic breathing. Selene starts to imagine gathering her scattered energy into the center of her body. However, no matter how much she tries before it can even assemble like a ball of energy, she can see it breaking apart.

Selene breathed in deeply and tried to focus harder. After repeated errors, she sees a ball of white mass that starts to get warmer as it gets bigger and brighter at the center of her body. After gathering an appropriate amount of mana, Selene imagined sending it to her fingertips by traveling through her nerves to the wounded chest of Grandfather Kenshin. Like a needle and thread made of magic, she starts to suture the open wound up to the tiniest ruptured tissue. It was hard to keep the thread flowing that Selene repeatedly tried until she managed to succeed in her third try. After suturing the wound, she let her mana flows naturally inside his body to check for other injuries and tries to heal it.

When Selene finally opens her eyes, she saw Grandfather Kenshin's chest utterly rid of his wound. The painful look on his face vanished as he sleeps peacefully. Selene breathed a sigh of relief, and she felt a heavy weight lifted off her chest. Suddenly, Zeno falls down on his knees in front of her and looks at her in amazement.

"How many times do you have to surprise me for you to be satisfied?"

Selene makes a face while forcing a laugh. Even she is surprised with herself, it feels like she was not the same person a few days ago. She's not even sure if it's something to be celebrated about.

"Step aside. I need to heal him." She points towards the unconscious Black Panther at his side. Selene moves towards him, who has a smaller wound, but the arrow that must have struck him seems to be poisoned. He's starting to shake violently, and saliva froths out from his mouth. She tried to do the same thing she did with Grandfather Kenshin, but this time she focused her energy on getting rid of the foreign substance inside him, especially those that have reached the upper part of his body. Although it took her much longer to heal him, she managed to succeed. Her body also feels fine despite using an enormous amount of mana.

However, this isn't the time to relax. Selene still needs to find Khalil. "Where are we headed? Now that Grandfather Kenshin is fine, I need to go back t the village to check on someone. Why don't you just drop me off here, and you look after them?"

Zeno noisily exhales while he looks at her in sudden anger. He couldn't stop the sudden rise of his voice. "Why do you always volunteer to put yourself in danger instead of telling me to go?"

Selene shrugs in confusion. She doesn't understand why he is getting angry. "That is because they are my responsibility."

Zeno looks at her like she's some kind of an alien. "Then you should ask for my help! They are also my responsibility because I am one of them."

Selene is surprised that he said those words. Though he didn't outright deny his lineage, she thought he also didn't want to recognize it. Hearing him say those words made her see him in a different light.

"Then, can you please go back and check for any survivors. Please, save them."

Zeno nodded, suddenly looking please about something. "That's how you do it! It doesn't hurt to ask for help, right?"

Selene chuckles in disbelief. She can't believe she's being lectured by someone younger than her. However, he is not wrong at all. She should start to learn how to be a little dependent on someone. It's not a crime to ask for help. "I will do everything to save them. You can trust me."

AFTER crossing the dense forest, Zeno drops them off in a cavern located in the mountain's elevated part. Selene silently watches the sleeping form of Grandfather Kenshin. It looks like his face has aged dramatically as compared to the last time she saw him. It's been half an hour since Zeno left, and since then, she couldn't stop herself from worrying. Selene hopes that Zeno or Kaden will find Khalil and that nothing terrible happens to him. She clenched her fist to prevent it from trembling. Just thinking about it makes her heart clenched in fear. If that happens, Selene wouldn't know what to say once grandfather wakes up. How would he look at her, the person who took away his son and leaving the village without its protector? It feels like it's all her fault

As if hearing her troubled internal thoughts, she heard a groan from her side, and she sees Grandfather Kenshin waking up. "Are you alright?" Selene asks while holding his cold hand.

Upon seeing her, Grandfather Kenshin's eyes widen in surprise, and he jumps up from the ground. "How come you are here?"

"I went back to the village, and we just barely managed to save you from being taken away."

Grandfather Kenshin looks inside the cavern frantically. "How about Kaden? Where is he?"

"He must be probably in the village right now."

Grandfather Kenshin stands up and starts to walk away, but Selene straight away grabs his arm to stop him. "Don't worry. He's not alone. Someone is helping him."

He looks at her suspiciously. She feels bothered because of the look in his eyes. "Who is helping him?"

Selene looks at him worriedly. She swallowed the lump that forms in her throat before answering. She didn't want to tell him out of worry, but it's not like he can lie to him.

"It's his cousin, Nicolai."

As expected, he didn't take it well. He curses in disbelief, and his face is stricken with fear. "That Prince has finally made his move after many years."

Grandfather Kenshin clutched his chest as if in pain, and he froze in his tracks when he realized something. He immediately examines his upper body in confusion, and when he found his spotless skin, he looks at her questioningly. "Ho--w how did my wound disappear?"

Selene raised her right hand as if caught red-handed. "It was my doing. I tried healing you, and it worked out well to my surprised."

Selene forced out a laugh to lighten the situation, but Grandfather Kenshin only falls back in the ground as if losing his strength.

"Are you alright? Wait!" Selene almost forgot to ask the most crucial question. "Do you know where Khalil is?"

"Don't worry. Khalil is hiding somewhere safe. If Prince Nicolai is helping Kaden, then we should go check on Khalil along with the others."

She points towards the sleeping panther on the other side of the cavern. "What about him?"

He looks at him, trying to figure out who it is when the Black Panther suddenly wakes up and transform in front of her eyes. Selene breathed a sigh of relief. She's just thankful that he didn't shift back to his human form completely naked.

Grandfather Kenshin checked their surroundings, and after figuring out where they are, he told her that they just have to walk for about half an hour to reach the hiding spot they prepared in times of this kind of situation. Selene and Grandfather Kenshin, along with the Black Panther, Dimitri, trek the steep and uneven path towards the further elevated portion of the mountain. They decided to traverse the mountain path in their human in order not to attract any attention.

However, it is even more difficult for Selene to walk because she gets repeatedly burrowed into the heaps of snow. After their grueling march, they reach a cavern that is a little bit smaller than where they previously hid, but this time the entrance was close off by a large boulder. After Dimitri effortlessly lifted the massive stone slab, beyond it lies a dark and clammy room littered with broken pottery and dead insects. The cavern gives off an intense scene that makes her nose itchy. When Dimitri puts back the boulder to its place, the place suddenly becomes blindingly dark. Dimitri whispers something, and a medium-sized fireball appears in his hand that serves as their torch.

Although the entrance was a bit smaller and narrower that she keeps on bumping to the stone walls, Selene sees three laid-out paths in front of them after walking further ahead. Selene silently watches as Grandfather Kenshin took the way in the middle. She followed him while Dimitri quietly follows her from behind. The trail is twisted that leads passed to some small tombs that Selene sees various skeletal remains inside it. She can't even identify anymore if it's from the bones of the humans or animals.

As they move onwards, deeper into the cavern, they eventually end up in what is likely the final room. However, there is a huge boulder that has a strange rune carving that covers it. When Grandfather Kenshin placed his hands on the slab of rock, it suddenly disappears before her eyes. What she sees inside the cavernous room was occupied by what seems like to be the villagers, mostly composed of older people and young kids. There were also some women inside holding a baby and other pregnant ladies. Silence, coupled with tension, filled the room as everyone quietly observes their surroundings in full alert while other kids are sleeping soundly on the ground using only a thin piece of cloth as their blanket. Selene immediately seeks Khalil's small hunch frame, but she didn't see him anywhere. When he looks at Grandfather Kenshin, the anxious look on his face tells her the same thing.

"Please, wait here, Selene." Grandfather Kenshin ordered. He walked towards one of the young men who seem to be standing on guard. Although Selene couldn't precisely hear their conversation, it doesn't look like good news from the look of grandfather.

After their conversation, Selene learned that Khalil had been missing for some time and that Harrison, grandfather's acquaintance is already looking for him. Although he insisted that she should stay and wait for them, Selene just couldn't sit still and begged to help him find Khalil. And that's how Selene finds herself in the middle of the night amid the freezing weather looking for Khalil. They went in separate directions, and Grandfather Kenshin only agreed to accept her help as long as she will only stay near the surrounding area. And if ever Khalil finds his way back, she will have to guide him inside the cavern.

Selene tightly clutches the sword that she borrowed from one of the villagers. It's thin and a lot easier to carry. It also fits perfectly in her hands, and she can swing the blade with no difficulty. Selene just hopes that she didn't have to use it; that's what she's been thinking since she steps outside. Although she's been trying her best to shake the memory of slashing the man's exposed palm from earlier, it keeps on vividly popping in inside her head. Before her mind can even catch up with what she's doing before she realizes it, Selene had already swing Kaden's sword. And she's surprised that her body still remembers how to use a sword.

Her best friend, Patrick, has always taken it upon himself to sign her up in any kind of sports or activity that he thinks will benefit her state of mind. In rare times that she's having an outburst, Patrick suggested that she do something that Selene could quickly vent her anger with, and that's how she got saddled in attending kendo classes with him. He also had amusing reasoning that since she likes to watch, read, and write novels with historical drama as the genre, it would be interesting to learn how to use a sword. Well, she diligently attended her classes despite her busy schedule up until a year ago. Though she clearly remembers the techniques taught to her by the instructor, she didn't realize that her body will react instantly and that her body can move smoothly. Her hard work is paying off, and she didn't know that she will really put it to use.

Patrick's face, with his trademark smirk etched on his lips, vividly appears on her mind as if he's just standing in front of her. And Selene's heart tugs with undeniable longing; she already misses his nagging. He must be devastated and probably blaming himself for what happened. Since she's still alive, Patrick and her family are most likely looking for her right now. They will not stop until he finds her alive or her dead body. Selene is also getting worried about her family, especially her father's well-being. He must be losing sleep because of worry.

Selene suddenly loses her footing when she bumps into something big and hard. She stares shocked when she sees the bloodied body of a massive man beside her feet. After regaining her composure, Selene checks the pulse on his neck, but Selene couldn't feel it anymore. She wipes the blood on his chest using her fingertips and considering that the blood is still a bit warm and damp, it must not have been long since he died. Selene runs after the trails of blood tainting the pristine snow trodden path, and it didn't take her long to find the culprit. Just a few paces away from her, a man is dragging a child's body like a ragged doll as he struggles in his grasps. When the man mercilessly kicks the child in his stomach, his head lolls at the side, and Selene gasps appalled at the sight of Khalil's beaten and bloodied face.

At that moment, Selene just loses it. Her vision darkens, and her grip tightened on her sword that she almost breaks it into pieces. Before she can even stop herself, Selene draws her sword from the scabbard and swiftly dashes towards the enemy, and strikes his exposed back in a single motion while his blood splashes on her face. However, like the seasoned warrior he is, a single strike is not enough to bring him down. Before he can even regain his footing, she kicks him on his groin to incapacitate him. The man fell flat on the snow while he twists in pain and rolls on the ground. However, she thinks that it doesn't feel enough. She needs to beat him until he's dead—Selene stops short when she heard a weak, trembling voice below, and she felt his hands on her feet.

"Se-lene is tha-t you?" Khalil whispers faintly. Upon hearing his voice, Selene felt like she was punched back to her senses. She finds herself bathed in someone's blood with a bloodied sword in her hands that's about to slice off a man's neck. She wanted to cry, but she stifles the whimper that escapes her lips.

Selene's breathing becomes ragged and heavy as she struggles for control. Her body is not tired but her mind because she's barely able to restrain the urge to kill the man in front of her. She's being consumed with a wave of indescribable anger worse than when she has her outburst that Selene thinks she hears voices inside her head until Khalil shakes her back to her senses. Selene tries to control her breathing by doing her usual exercise and internally struggles to calm her mind and regain her wits.

"This isn't the time to be consumed by darkness. Calm down, Selene," she murmurs to herself repeatedly. "Please, calm down."

Though it was only a minute, it felt like years to her when her vision finally clears, and she's able to think clearly again. Selene immediately withdraws her sword and put it back to the sheath. She looks at the vile brute, who's still twisting painfully on the ground, and she punched him on his face strong enough to knock him unconscious.

Selene turns towards Khalil, who's already barely breathing. With only one eye that can hardly remain open, he looks at her in anguish. She takes off her coat and wraps it around his shaking body, and hugged him.

"I don't want to die," Khalil feebly whispers as he starts crying in her arms. "I sti-ll wan-t-to be with my fami-ly. I sti-ll wan-t to see the wor-ld"

"You will not die," Selene replies in a resolute voice while tears start streaming down her face. Her body violently shakes as she cries along with him, "Even if I have to give you all my mana, I will do it to save you."

Selene starts doing the same thing that she did with Grandfather Kenshin and Dimitri. However, before she can even begin amassing her mana, it felt like a dam broke inside her. And her mana flows freely outside her body with abundance; it feels like it even reaches across the land and even the deepest part of the ground, ultimately healing it. An explosion of white light emerges from her body, and for some strange reason, Selene feels warm and unbelievably satisfied. It felt like her soul intertwined with the spirit of the land, giving her a blissful sense of peace.