Chapter 16 - Where is the source?

Violet was the next color.

Seriously, what's going on?

I think I'm conscious but I can't seem to get up. And there are colors that keep dancing around me.

"Do you not want it?"

"What? What does that mean?"

"Do you not want it?"

What is it that I should want? Well, I suppose whatever it might be, it can't hurt to have it. Right?

"I do want it. I just want to know what it is."

A laugh echoes throughout the darkness as the six colors spiral around my being – orange, yellow, green, blue violet, indigo.

There's one slot left that's still iridescent. But even I can guess what that last color will be.

I wonder what will happen when it's revealed.

~

Marcus watched as blue lightning now sparked from the boy's cloud and zapped along the roof's ceiling.

"Good grief." The man sighed as he countered a bolt of lightning with a red shard. "When will this madness end?"

The man then got up and made his way closer to the boy. He was still fine and breathing, as it would seem, but even Marcus didn't bother to get too close.

Instead he continued towards the balcony of the room. And there, the man looked towards the battlefield where he saw the giant rift far North from where he stood. There, several walls of ice had been clashing with bright orange flames.

And a bit closer to the capital's walls, the man could barely see the surge of malice through the night as well as the various powerful elemental attacks that fought that malice. If not for the Gifted's extraordinary senses, he probably wouldn't have seen anything at all.

As much as he'd like to be there, in his condition he wouldn't be of much help. And besides, he looked back to Evan, the man gave his word that he would look after the boy. Though he didn't know how exactly he would do that, at the very least he would stay here to see this through to the end.

The man rested his elbows on the veranda's railings and then braced himself against it. With weary eyes, he continued to watch the madness that enveloped Evan.

~

"Oi, you two take care of those things that keep coming from the rift!" Raus yelled to the two half-brothers as more dark creatures continued to come from the horrible world of hell.

Though the main threat was being handled by the family leaders, several other creatures of malice still continued to pour into the human world.

It was now up to the three men along with the other Gifted and soldiers that were there to handle these creatures.

In the darkness of the night where torches were now lit, giant arrows from bastilles accompanied along with flocks of smaller arrows, as well as what flame, wind and water that the Gifted could muster, were fired at whatever giants and dark birds came from the Rift.

Though, of course, that alone would not be enough and for the most part, it was up to Eon and Lias to push back the dark creatures.

As it were now, Eon wasn't planning to destroy these creatures. Since the Rift was now as wide as a small river, pushing back the malice beasts into the world of hell would be much easier than whittling them down until no malice remained.

Eon landed a kick at one giant that stumbled backwards as its body was riddled with arrows. The man then launched off from the monster to have Lias strike a golden fist that fell the giant to the ground. But it wasn't enough and it landed just at the edge of the rift.

"Dammit!" Lias panted as his broken arm became healed by the golden light that engulfed it. "There's too many. At this rate, even if our leaders do defeat that demon lord, we'll still lose to these creatures that keep coming from the rift."

Eon launched forward to kick a giant bird from the sky. It fell to the ground as golden light accompanied by slashes of water sliced it apart. Still, the monster would heal itself momentarily.

"We need to find whatever's keeping this rift intact and destroy it." Eon then looked to where fire and ice clashed on to the battlefield. "I bet he knows how to do that." Eon launched himself towards where Raus and the silver man were fighting. As he flew into the air, he shouted. "Take care of things in the meanwhile Lias!"

~

Rill was watching from the kingdom's walls as the battles continued to ensue in the distance. As much he would have liked to go, doing so would not be wise. His wits could tell him that he was not suited for battle at the moment and the restlessness that he felt didn't help with that. To boot, the feeling of malice that once drenched his body still lingered in his mind despite it having left his body itself.

"Aren't you going to get some rest?" Maya soon joined him at the wall. She was accompanied by Lelita.

"What about you two?" the boy replied as he crossed his arms and raised a brow. "You don't seem like you've gotten much rest yourselves."

Maya flung her hair and walked forward. "Don't put me in the same league as you. I'm of a higher caliber." She flaunted as she peered into the battlefield. "I'm thinking that I'll go and help over there."

"Are you sure that's a good idea? As strong as you are, even you need rest." Rill asked.

"As if I could rest as things are now." The girl said as she summoned a mighty wind and drifted towards the ongoing battle.

"What about you?" Rill asked to Lelita behind.

"I don't think that's wise." The girl replied. "Even if I go now, I still wouldn't be much help. Plus I'd have to first make my way past the seven family leaders. Unlike Maya, I don't have the luxury of flight and I wouldn't ask her to carry me after she's done it for so long while we were in hell."

"I see." Rill got up from where he was sitting on the edge of the wall. "In that case, why don't you help me with something?"

"With what?" Lelita raised a brow.

"That rift has been bothering me." Rill stated as he walked to the girl.

"I think it's been bothering everyone." Lelita replied sarcastically.

"No, no." Rill shook his head. "For rifts to be made, they require a source of some kind. Usually it would take a great sacrifice of life energy to open one and then it would continue grow until it reaches it full capacity." Rill looked back to the rift. "It seems that this one has already reached its limit in size. But what bothers me is that no one has yet to find its source."

"So what do you expect us to do about it?" Lelita asked as twisted her waist to the side while she crossed her arms and batted an eye.

"It's just a hunch but I think I know where the source is." The boy said. "I've thought about it and that place is where it's most likely to be found." The boy's eyes sharpened. "But if that's true, then…" Rill shook his head yet again. "That doesn't matter now." The boy said to himself and then looked forward to meet Lelita's brown eyes. "Follow me." He said and began to make his way towards the castle with Lelita following behind.

~

Silva was attempting to fall asleep on his bed. Unlike his companions, he for one, was not a true Gifted. He had only managed to stay awake that long due to his Barren heritage but when all was said and done, he needed sleep.

But still, as tired as he were, he couldn't quite find himself falling asleep. Too many things wandered in his mind and he found himself getting up to walk outside in a daze. He was very much half awake and didn't even entirely know what he expected himself do.

He wouldn't be of much use in battle so where was he going? He didn't know.

The thought of his father went through his mind. His father, for one, was probably still fighting on the battlefield amongst those Gifted. The boy clenched his fist. How was he to stay asleep when all of that was happening?

He began to think of the fastest way to go out into the battlefield. The castle would be best. He could make his way along the walls and then down through an old staircase that could take him down on the other side of the wall. Then he'd have to find a way across the man-made river that surrounded the capital.

No good. He wouldn't even be able to get to the battlefield. That staircase was only there to lead down so that the Gifted could have day outs by the river. It wasn't meant to be used as an exit so there was no bridge there that would lead across the river. He'd have to either give up or find a way across the river. He doubted that he could to the latter.

But still, at the very least, the boy wanted to watch the battle so he continued into the castle. But as he did so, he met up with Rill and Lelita who had been coming from the bridge that connected the castle to the walls.

"Silva, come with us!" Rill ordered as he ran past the young man. "The more people we have, the better." Rill added as he continued to run along the wall.

Though Silva had no idea why they wanted his help, the man was more than happy to do so. And with what strength he could muster, he ran behind the Gifted.