TI:E

Damp shadows peered over a second-long eclipse that rose over the sky, signaling an inescapable moment that Cethe would remember for life. The pangs circulating and stabbing her veins forced her to settle down, numb and broken. Dried waterfalls glued themselves on her cheeks, souring and pruning her skin to have the salty stench of tears. Her shoes were iron pucks, dragged on the floor with no sign of movement.

Perhaps familial issues would be seen as trivial considering the outcome of what the family does to maintain their bonds, but Cethe's overpowering rage, combined with her profanity, knows that her actions would not go unpunished. The overbearing circulation of thoughts around her head plunged her into such darkness that she could not think of it any longer. She ignored it, accepting the consequences.

She balanced the hilt of her father's blade on the stone grounds, nudging it with her nose to keep it steady. Stravian bystanders and civilians attempted to approach her for comforting purposes, but a small rejection in the form of a shoulder nudge was the signal to leave her be. By the time the eclipse had settled and the shadows covered her entire body, Cethe wanted to admit to her foolishness to end the madness.

Yet that was about to drastically change.

Cethe raised her head and was shocked to see Lyn sitting beside her. Alfaic was nowhere to be seen. Lyn's continuous blank stare upon Cethe began to mildly irritate her.

"What are you looking at," Cethe's voice exhaled an unkempt breath of disappointment. "Didn't anyone ever tell you what to do when people want to be alone?"

"No," Lyn replied.

"Then why are you here? Come to return me to my father so that you can get a reward out of it?"

"No," Lyn repeated. "I want to know why you are upset."

"Why I'm upset?" Cethe chuckled, wiping her eyes of the tears she previously cried out. She turned to Lyn and her face, making their appearance known to both of them. "You. You and I are both capable of fighting. We can be warriors. We can be strong. But for some reason... nobody seems to put faith in us. Nobody believes me when I say that we can defend this village!"

Lyn watched Cethe's frustration unfold in front of her.

"It's all the same with my father and the way he treated my mother," Cethe continued. "She never, and I mean ever, harmed my father in any way, and yet he adopts this overprotective thought in his head, thinking that we're never capable. But he's wrong. And even though he's wrong... he'll always think he's in the right."

"He is not," Lyn replied, turning her head in front to observe the faraway dogs prancing with their owners. "But then again, neither are you."

"What?" Cethe was taken aback by her response.

"I have seen these creatures and battled them. The sensation of pain continues to eat away at my skin. Before I have known of their existence, I was not afraid. But I can see now, even in the moment of my guaranteed victory, that there is a possibility of this pain reoccurring," Lyn explained, grabbing Cethe's sword from her grasp. She examined it closely. "It is not an easy task to take the mantle as a defender of your village. The responsibility of protecting others is a horrifying task to behold. And I have seen it. I have witnessed the atrocity."

Lyn stood up and swung the blade down to her shin. She scratched the stone floor beneath her and set it beside her futuristic heels. "Your goal to protect your village is not a weakness. But your mind to the dangers are. If you could witness it for yourself, then you would not feel the same as you do now."

Cethe exploded off of the ground, clenching her fists as she released her unbridled rage at Lyn. "Then show me, goddamn it!" She cried. "Prove to me that there's more to what you say!"

Lyn sighed and turned her back against Cethe. "I cannot," She voiced out. "I have a mission of my own to fulfill, and so do you. However, your mind is clouded by want, that you have forgotten what you need; and that is survival. Holding a blade is the least of your worries unless you want a death wish."

"Damn it, this isn't fair!" Cethe cried, her temper devolving into an absolute child. "I need to be the one. I... I have to be the one that defends this village!"

"And why is that?" Lyn asked. "The other warriors exist to secure your position."

"I don't care... about the other damn warriors..." Cethe's voice slowed abruptly as she collapsed to the ground. She rested her arm upon her knee and tucked her chin in to hide her eyes. "I want to end my family's suffering... so they don't have to look at Elaina any longer and wonder..."

"The presumed lord of SIGMA is your sister," Lyn said. "Do they fear this lord?"

"No," Cethe denounced. "They're not scared of her. The opposite. They hate her, and they tortured her for years. Ostracizing her from the village and trapping her in that deranged tower... was the best thing they had ever done, according to the village elders. And my brother Damian never knew the reason why, which is why he wants to see her so bad."

"And what is the reason why the lord is separated?" Lyn asked.

"Elaina's always been different! You wouldn't... you wouldn't understand!" Cethe exclaimed. "And it is no outsider's business. What she created will be forgotten forever. It's just the way everyone wants it to be!"

"Then I will end her myself." Lyn ignored her rejection of providing more information, turning away from her.

"NO!" Alfaic's voice cried. The sentient blade made a dramatic entrance, diving toward Lyn's feet at full speed before it stabbed the stone grounds underneath. Cethe yelped upon Alfaic's entrance, and Lyn turned back to stop herself from leaving. "You foolish whelps, we are only trying to help your situation! We do not have to resort to outcasting ourselves out of what remains a mystery. Don't you understand this? Both of you?"

"Lyn's selfish," Cethe stated, pressing her back against the stone pillar she laid against. "All she wants to do is to kill her! Well, I will not let any of you touch her!"

"Child, you have not given us a reason to not do so," Alfaic replied. "Hunting the lords of SIGMA is our goal. But perhaps... your sister may have a different fate than death if you depended on us."

"What?" Lyn intervened, finding the suggestion preposterous.

"We know nothing about the lords of SIGMA, other than the idea that my true owner used to be one of them. If we can assess the situation, then your sister may survive without even needing to be touched," Alfaic said, turning to Cethe. "Please, tell us about her so that we may help her."

Cethe clenched both sides of the stone pillar with her sweat-riddled palms, wishing she could assume a liquid form to dissolve and vanish within it. Her quick thoughts made for some even quicker decisions as she had no sign of changing the way she envisioned her sister. "No," Cethe voiced out, pushing herself from the pillar. Her innocent shepherded mentality grew weary and thin after hearing their selfish requests. Turning to the side of the pillar and away from them, her icy voice rang out, "Leave this village. Now."

"No," Lyn retorted, grabbing Alfaic and pulling it off of the ground. "You will tell me-"

"LEAVE!" Cethe lashed out with her arm until it brushed Lyn's hand aside. Her fiery-tempered indignation was met with the bitter sorrow of isolation as her hot eyes burned with mixed regret and rage. Her breathing was shallow, and her mind was set.

"Let's go," Alfaic interrupted, respecting Cethe's decision to reject their support. "Come on."

Lyn froze for an instant after subjecting herself to Cethe's bashful retaliation. She kept her neutral expression still before placing Alfaic on her back. She turned around and began walking away to leave the village.

"Cethe!" Damian's voice cried out. The stout little boy charged at her sister and held her tight, eyes swollen from an unusual burst of sudden emotion. His forehead rubbed against Cethe's chin as the two embraced each other. "Why... why are they leaving?" He asked.

"They can't help us," Cethe replied. "I... I don't want them to anymore. We don't need them for the festival."

"But... it isn't about the festival," Damian said. "It's about Elaina. I know you still care about her, Cethe! I know you do!"

"I don't," Cethe replied with a stone-cold gaze away from her brother.

"You do!" Damian continued, tugging on Cethe's white dress. "You're... crying."

Indeed she was, for Cethe's puffy eyes blotted out the clear view of her brother's initiation. She chose to deny it, for a warrior's spirit meant the world to her. But at the same time, there was no one she was fighting for other than Elaina. That meant that despite it all, she had been lying to herself about the real reason she wanted to be a warrior.

"You can't let them go!" Damian continued. "They wanted to help us! They wanted to help her. No one else... no one else wants to help..."

"Someone will come," Cethe whispered to herself. Her cold and lifeless eyes stared off into the distance as she warmly embraced her brother. "Someone will come. Someone will come. Someone... will... come..."

No one will come.