Chapter 37: Lightwork

"There is scarcely any passion without struggle." —Albert Camus, The Myth of Sisyphus and Other Essays

"The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow."

—Thomas Paine

"Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering." —Theodore Roosevelt

***

Through the muddy and sticky path, Xenia followed his father with the help of both Bandit and Mischief leading the way for him not to stray away.

As he was trailing his father, the thought of the ravens being Volcom's friends or pets crossed his mind.

"He might have long tamed them before and just wanted me to take the torch in being their owner. Or I could be entirely wrong and these two might be the offspring of the previous ravens. And Dad kind of predicted I would love to have them as pets."

In front of him, not too far from his direction, was the enraged and famished Balmackian ravaging through the mud on all fours with its harrowing claws and unshaped mind. Persistently, the man who does not seem to be in his right mind kept pursuing Volcom. However, the reason for his famine was not Xenia's father but the siblings he was carrying on both of his shoulders as he jumped from tree to tree.

"Look at him growl like a wild animal."

Volcom took a quick glance behind him and saw that both the Balmackian and Xenia were still following him after five minutes. Neither of them was catching up to his speed, even though Volcom was not at his full speed. One reason why was the cracks in the ground and the muddy and slippery path they have to take. Moreover, they needed to deal with some rocks mixed on the earth while having no shoes or anything to prevent their feet from getting hurt by splinters or anything of the sort.

"Not bad, Xenia. You've grown quicker and tougher than I had expected. For you to improve by yourself, you make me proud!"

"Ah, Mr. Volcom, can't you just get rid of that guy since you seem kinda strong?"

Volcom laughed at Arlan's words.

"No, son! I can't! He might be out of his mind but I will be no match against him in terms of strength and speed!"

"But you're clearly outrunning him!" Thaniel added, somewhat dissatisfied with being carried away like a child.

"That's because he is on the ground and I'm leaping from one tree to another. Had I run on the muddy earth, he would catch us in no time."

It was an efficient tactic he had done. However, what Volcom was doing was more tiring than running through the slippery slope because he was exerting an amount of effort every time he jumped off to another tree.

Things were going smoothly for Volcom. He was luring the Balmackian away into the seashore until one single-foot slip took them down from the tree. They almost fell on one of the cracks. If it was not for Volcom's quick-witted actions and fast reflex, they would have already met their demise, which was prolonged only to be faced with the current problem on hand.

Gritting his teeth in anger and drooling from both sides of his mouth where the saliva seeps out of the gaps in his yellowish teeth, the mad Balmackian wasted no time and lunged at Arlan and Thaniel. They were still both hurt by the fall, although the injury was minimized by the soft damped earth.

Against this persistent crazy guy, the kids will be no match. He will easily rip them to shreds with his elongated sharp nails because of the gift he possessed after the emergence flew past.

So, they could only use their hands to cover their faces from witnessing the harsh reality of being weak and helpless in the face of a bigger problem.

Dirty and unorganized, Volcom gathered up his strength and ignored the pain in his lower half just to stop and prevent the Balmackian from hurting Arlan and Thaniel. Head-on, he clashed with the Balmackian with his body. With all of the guy's attention focused on the kids, he kind of put him to a halt. However, it did not take long for the guy to begin struggling in his arm and use its claw on his arms, slowly digging through his flesh as he head locked the Balmackian.

On the muddy ground, they were beefing and squirming around. One was preventing the other from escaping while the other was trying his best to free himself from passing out.

"Argh! Get his hands off mine! Xenia, both of you siblings!"

Enduring the pain of having his arms pierced by sharp nails was one thing. Volcom continued to show an outstanding display of his full strength against the struggling force of the Balmackian guy with a "gift", who could be considered a superior human being since possessing a gift means gaining strength and speed. Not just some random ability alone.

Startled by Volcom's words for asking for help, Thaniel and Arlan hesitantly lend their hands to Volcom. But they eventually steeled their resolve and Xenia willingly helped his father.

Both Arlan and Thaniel went for the guy's hand while Xenia pressed on the guy's legs, although he was also putting pressure on his father, who was underneath the Balmackian. It didn't really matter.

When the obstacles were out of the way, the headlock on his opponent became tighter and tighter. Less and less air could pass and go through his body, thus gradually resulting in his consciousness fading away. However, Volcom knew the threat his enemy had against them. That was why he went and forcefully snapped the guy's neck, wherein the sound of it popping resonated deeply within the kids' cores.

They could not believe it, especially Arlan and Thaniel. Yet another person died in front of their eyes and all they did was freeze in their spots.

Uttering a single word became a hard thing for them to do. On the other hand, Xenia was somehow doubtful at first about his father being able to kill. However, this event pushed aside all the doubts and solidified his theory about something.

Volcom pushed the body to the side, huffing after a quarrelsome fellow met his demise on his very hands. Despite taking the life of a person— a human, Volcom did not seem to bother himself with it.

"I almost messed up trying to deal with this guy." Volcom let out an exasperated sigh right after sitting on top of the dead body. "It's now time to acquire the "gift" in order to be on par against the horde of strong people forming on this island."

~