Chapter 10: Discovery

“What if I just simply said I was drawn to the strong hold,” I saw the frown form on her face now. “Bruce, the Supreme Triskelion Knight has lived for over a thousand years, you can’t fool her with those words.” Kora closed her eyes for a moment and opened them to stare at the night sky. We had been at this for a while and neither of us had gotten anything remotely close to being called a good cover story.

“Hey Kora, earlier, you said you and I were more alike than I knew, what did you mean by that?” She turned to me slowly and in silence looked back at the night sky.

“Every few hundred years, a very powerfully Celestial is born, one whose powers exceed the regular scope Celestian powers. Besides the four pillars of the Triskelion Knights, every other celestial has four unique powers, some have less than four but it never exceeds four.”

“And I'm guessing that this particular celestial has more than four powers.”

“You are absolutely right Bruce, this Celestial is known throughout history as The Core Light. And while other Celestials have four unique powers or less, the Core Light has Seven. Core lights are highly respected and feared at the same time, the presence of a Core light is always an opportunity to tips the scale of the war. On the path of darkness, the Core Light is known as the void, which always rises shortly after the ascension of the Core Light.” She turned to look at me now, “I was the last Core Light and now you are a Core light, but sadly there’s no telling what would happen if the entire celestial realm knew that the latest Core Light had the last Core Light living inside him.” She tried to hide the sadness in her face, but I saw right through it. My heart felt a bit heavy at this point, could things get any worst at this point? It wasn’t enough that I was a Celestial, a term which I was just reluctantly accepting. But now I was an all powerful celestial being that would definitely be put on the spotlight. If it was known that I had a spirit in me, there was a high chance that life in the celestial realm was going to be extremely difficult to handle, that’s if they don’t call for my death like they did in the days of the Salem witch trials.

“Kora, we won’t let them find out about us, I give you my word, from one core light to another.” She smiled now and I could see those tensed muscles on her shoulders begin to ease. “I know what you are doing Bruce, you are trying to distract me.”

“I wouldn’t say distract, but more like cheer you up a bit and with that little smile I see on your face, I’d say it’s working.”

“Just a little,” she hinted with her hands. “I've been curious to ask what I'm about to ask you, but I held it in mostly because I was scared, scared that the moment I do and the answers come, there will be no going back, ever. So I'm just going to ask, what are my powers?” she beamed a smile at me and go to her feet. “Watch and listen Bruce, and prepare to be blown away.” It was satisfying to see her genuinely excited about something. True we just met, but I can’t help but feel connected to her, I wasn’t sure if it was this core light thing that was connecting us, but whatever it was, I liked it.

She stood three feet away from me with her right hand stretched out towards and her palm open. She smiled and flexed her wrist and droplets of water began to rapidly rise till they formed a big bubble of water. I couldn’t help but smile, I had the power to create and control water, and this was just the first of my seven powers. Without saying a word, but keeping her gaze on me, she gracefully flexed her wrist and the water shimmered into a shiny metal ball. “Phillium,” her smile was full as she began to explain. “Phillium is the strongest metal in the universe, only a few celestials get to have this in their arsenal.” I gave a slight nod and she continued, she flexed her wrist again and with a shimmer, the metal ball was replaced with a bright crystal gem stone.

“This is Wixen in its purest form, it is stronger than all the gemstones in the universe and the only substance that can cut through a Phillium metal.”

I reached for her palm and placed my hands over the surface of the crystal and it warm and cold at the same time, in an instant, it was gone. She kept her eyes on me and smirked, in an instant a crystal force field appeared behind her and she was gone. I felt I finger tap my shoulders and when I turned she was standing there beaming a smile at me. “I knew I had the power to teleport, I used it once by accident but it was pretty cool.”

“I'm betting you will love this more,” she took a step towards me and she suddenly wasn’t there anymore. I waited for a beat, when something shoved me to the ground. Her laughter was the first thing I heard before she shimmered into my view. “You can turn invisible!” My voice was heavy as I tried to regain my breath. She knelt beside me and placed her fingers on the ground. “You are keeping up Bruce, that’s good, now pay attention,” suddenly the ground began to make a humming noise and began to shake. She smiled now and kept her voice slightly above the noise. “All matter is in a constant state of vibration, you have the ability to tap into the frequency of any matter and manipulate its vibration to your will.”

“Woaw, that’s fascinating, scary but exciting at the same time, I like it.” I waited a beat then poked her arm. “You said we have seven powers, you only showed me six, what the seventh one?”

“Breath of revival.” She sat now, playing with the stones on the ground. “What does that mean Kora?”

“It means that if someone dies and you get to the person within three minutes from the moment of death, you have the power to bring them back to life.”

I looked at the stars now, “that’s really powerful and could be used to save a lot of lives.” Kora’s had a smile on her face that had me a bit puzzled. “What are you smiling about?”

“You Bruce, you are so full of light and hope.”

I got to my feet, sending her a smile, “Let’s hope the light is enough drawn the darkness and end the war.”

She got to her feet, locking her hands with mine. “What do we tell Supreme Triskelion Knight, when we face her?” I turned my gaze to her now, “I have a little idea, long shot, but first, I have to turn myself in, guilty people run, I'm innocent, plus I'm the core light.”

She nodded and took in a breath, “you do realize that you can’t tell them that you are the core light because you haven’t gone through the Cryst so there is no way you are meant to know that information.” Her face held a little worry and her eyes carried the weight of them. “Don’t worry Kora, I won’t do anything to jeopardize our lives, but you can’t take control of my body anymore without my consent.” I felt my gaze on her waiting for her to agree. A moment passed and a smile formed on her face, “don’t worry Bruce, I won’t do anything to jeopardize our lives.” She mimicked me with a smile and in a flash, the smile was replaced with what I guess could be called her serious face. “I have something for you, stay still.” Before I could ask what it was, a wave of ticklish warmth swam across my body and in an instant, I knew exactly what she gave me. She just shared her muscle memory with me, basic survival instincts to lay the foundation, while I learn and build my instincts.

Closing my eyes now, I opened myself and senses to my environment, not the environment in my mind space, but the one in reality, where my body lies. I could hear the gentle flow of the wind, the sound of the leaves moving with the wind, and then I heard it, the rapid beating of a heart. The constant sounds of twigs breaking told me that someone was running in the woods. Focusing more, I heard more heart beats and more rapid breaking of twigs. Someone was being chased in the woods at night…