Chapter 42: Twice

"All that is gold does not glitter,

Not all those who wander are lost;

The old that is strong does not wither,

Deep roots are not reached by the frost.

From the ashes, a fire shall be woken,

Light from the shadows shall spring;

Renewed shall be the blade that was broken,

The crownless again shall be king."

—J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, #1)

"I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,

in secret, between the shadow and the soul." —Pablo Neruda, 100 Love Sonnets

"Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry."

—Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, #1)

***

Faced again with the same threat from earlier, Xenia split up with Arlan and Thaniel, thinking of attracting the man's focus while having the siblings sneak up on him. He knew how thoughtless and stupid his idea was, yet he stuck with it.

Once you disappear in the darkness, it will be hard for someone to spot you in it unless you have night vision, which will help you see through the dark. And in the enemy's case, his mind was transferred through the bear just so he could control the wild animal and vilely massacre people with the bear's claws.

But do bears see clearly in the dark? Are they nocturnal creatures able to travel through the night with such ease. While black bears are usually diurnal they sometimes hunt at day or night for food if necessary. Moreover, places with high human use cause bears to become nocturnal in order to avoid contact. And in this bear's case, the decrease in their numbers, when Xenia's family appeared drastically, hastened, and humans soon invaded their habitat, which turned the bear into a night creature. However, does this mean this bear could see just fine in the night? Yes, they can. Black bears can even discriminate between shades of colors. Therefore, being out at night was not a problem for them.

"We are at a disadvantage. Bears have better eyesight than we humans do. And by putting his consciousness to the bear's mind, he would acquire the possibility to be the bear itself."

The man's laughter echoed at the bloody night. His laughter increased in volume and got louder as fear enshrouded the kids' minds. He could not feel nor see their fear but the smell of blood and how tense they were were telling him how afraid they must be.

"Adroit and nimble! We have a gifted kid here! Did you know? My stomach yearns for far smarter kids. The more intelligent they are, the fatter their brains are. Brains are the most nutritious organ a human can have. Well, I was just told it is. I'm not really sure. I'm no doctor or human anatomy specialist."

Xenia's body was trained to climb trees and jump around. Training his body every day for over a month has its own perks. The fruit of his labor was coming to light.

Still, the persistent bear who seemed to have unlimited stamina just kept following him around. If this bear has the ability to singlehandedly strike down a big tree, Xenia will be forced to run on the ground.

Like a monk sitting on his crossed legs and peacefully meditating, the man remained unguarded. Arlan and Thaniel could not just leave Xenia behind when he keeps putting his life on the line just to keep them safe.

At the side of his eyes, he caught the siblings almost near his real body. Upon swerving, bolted towards the siblings with rage and an undying urge to just mangle their bodies.

"Crap! He is coming our way at full speed!"

Not every part of the woods was bright red. Certain places in the woods were pitch black with no sense of light. One could instantly disappear in one dark spot and completely blend in with the environment.

With quick thinking, Thaniel thought of a plan. It may or may not work out, but he would still use it nonetheless.

"Child molester! I'm here! You want to rip me to shreds, right? Come and get me!"

Triggered by being called a child predator, the man fully ignored Arlan whom he passed by, and ran after Thaniel that was about to vanish with the dark.

"You're not getting away!"

The guy begrudgingly reached out to the kid's back before Thaniel could submerge in the dark. Shortly, he felt a tiny joy when the tip of his claw touched the kid's clothes until Thaniel abruptly switched to the side.

Thaniel threw himself to the side and avoided being caught.

Twigs and leaves rustle when the head-first bear could not brake and stop itself from severely crashing onto a tree trunk.

"Ow!"

The man felt something crack on the bear's left hand and a part on the bear's head. He immediately lost connection and was back in his own body.

Upon regaining consciousness, the man realized that Arlan was standing in front of him while gullibly holding a wooden plank.

"Enjoying yourself, eh?"

And a smack right across his face felt more painful than when he broke the bear's arm when it accidentally crashed on the tree.

Just when they thought that they were free from danger, that the greatest threat of them all will finally be eliminated, another set of storms broke in and revealed themselves as Baron and Grenoble. The tag team of these two is impeccable, and being the greatest fighters from Sulten Tribe would put the kids to rest.

"Some kids beat us to it. But it is not too late," Baron smirked and intimidatingly walked towards them. "We will spare all three of you if you step back and let us have that man."

In the overwhelming presence of a predator, Arlan and Thaniel froze. They could not utter a single word nor move back to agree with the proposal in exchange for their lives.

"Xenia was it? It's futile hiding from there. I can tell you're watching us."

Watching from the shadows, Xenia emerged out of the darkness. He had his obsidian knife out, but quickly placed it back to its sheath.

"Do it, Arlan, Thaniel. There is no need for the two of you to risk your lives in any danger." Xenia turned his gaze to Baron and Grenoble who were silently waiting for his response. "The two of you don't plan on letting us go, don't you?"

"That's right, brat!" Said Baron, ready to erase them from the surface of the island with his gift. "No Balmackians shall ever leave this place and bring catastrophe to the outside world."

"Enough, Baron." Cut Grenoble, deeming further conversation to be useless. "It is best if we just keep doing our job."

Scared for their lives, Arlan and Thaniel headed to Xenia with their tails tucked between their legs. They both hid behind the kid who seemed unfazed by the terrorizing presence of Baron and Grenoble.

"Your family had been on a long time running poison on this island. It is time to clean this island of outsiders and ungrateful inheritors."

~