Chapter 22

T he next morning, we headed through the forest to the field where the old man would be waiting. We had no other choice; I had to learn how to do this. I still hadn’t gotten my powers back yet, but we’d worked on it more.

“It’s just up there,” Autumn said as we entered the once blood-soaked fields.

It was weird being back. I could still imagine where the bodies were piled up. We lost a lot of good people that day. I hadn’t even had time to think about Callie since she was killed on the mountain. She had believed in me more than anyone else in a long time, and I could really use that right now.

“There’s the love birds!” the old man yelled over, clutching a bottle of liquor.

“We’re brother and sister. And is that alcohol?” Autumn questioned.

“Siblings, well that’s nice. I don’t remember if I have anything, siblings,” he laughed, taking a drink. “Yes, it is, do you want some?”

“No, we’re good,” I cut in.

“Suit yourself,” he uttered. “Time for your first lesson, Jim.”

“My name is Mark,” I corrected him.

“Oh right, Jim is my name,” he laughed.

“Let’s just do this,” I insisted.

He walked to the front of the plane and opened the door. I followed and got into the passenger seat, waiting for his instructions.

“No, you get in the driver’s seat,” he said, pushing me over.

I reluctantly made my way over to the driver’s seat as nerves came over me .

“This is how you steer the plane. This is how you start the plane. And, well, that’s about it,” he laughed.

“Are you serious?” I asked.

“Look, I’ve been doing this a long time, I usually just wing it,” he laughed, taking another sip.

“Before we do this, do you know anyone by the name of Flint Taylor?”

“Flint, oh yes! That’s the Taylors’ boy; his sister was a ranking member of the Order before some kid killed her on a cliff,” he answered. “Flint was a troubled kid from the start. Always hanging around with the wrong people. But he wasn’t an idiot, he was actually very smart.”

“What happened to him?” I asked.

“Oh, let me see, that was a long time ago,” he said, drinking more. “He got into trouble a lot more as he grew up. He would always come to the bars talking about justice for humans and just nonsense. I don’t know whatever came of him. Why do you ask?”

“No reason, I just knew his sister and she spoke of him once.”

“Yes, shame what happened to her.”

I nodded at him as I turned the switch, turning the plane on. The engine sputtered and eventually turned on, spinning the propellers.

He handed me a pair of headphones as I put them on.

“Can you hear me boy?” I heard his voice come through the headset.

“Yes, what do I do now?”

“Push the stick forward, slowly,” he said as he laughed.

I pushed it forward as we trundled ahead. The plane was moving through the field, faster and faster as I kept pushing it on. My heart pounded harder. Fear crept in .

“Get a feel for that, boy!” he yelled as we moved faster. “Push this to move the wings for takeoff.”

I pushed the button as the flaps on the wings moved.

“Faster, faster!” he yelled as I panicked, pulling back on the wheel.

The plane lifted and dropped again, hitting a bump as we turned toward the trees.

He quickly reached over and pulled the stick back slowly; we almost crashed.

“I’m sorry, I just wasn’t ready to go farther.”

He laughed, then took another drink of his alcohol. We had come to a stop, almost hitting a tree. He turned the engine off and hopped out as I followed.

“What happened?” Autumn asked as she ran over to us.

“Your brother has some jitters,” the man said, walking by her.

“Where are you going?” I asked him. “We need to figure this out.”

“You don’t have a clear mind; you can’t fly without one.”

He continued walking into the woods as I ran over to him.

“We only have five more days to get to Rockport, so you have to teach me!” I demanded.

“Clear your mind, meet me back here tomorrow,” he answered, walking past me.

I turned and kicked a rotting log in anger. At this rate, we would never make it in time. Dexter and the Order could be in grave danger. We needed to get there.

“This isn’t going to work, we need to find another way there,” I said to Autumn as she approached .

“This is the only way; there is no one left here.”

“Then we go to old Dracfort or another town and find a real pilot.”

“The next town is a few days’ walk and there’s no guarantee they would even agree to taking us.”

“My powers aren’t back, Akira is nowhere to be found, and I can’t fly the plane,” I said. “What are we going to do?”

“He had a point, you know. You have so much on your mind, you need to relax.”

“Relax?” I argued. “The fate of the world rests on my shoulders, and this dagger here is the only thing that can kill the creature that killed our mother. Our mother being a 500-year-old girl who was burned for sleeping with an angel. And then her physical form was taken over by that thing. Josiah is gone, my family is an inbred cult that worships a mermaid. I’ve lost countless people I cared about, not to mention a new threat looming in Dracfort—Flint. The vision of the future I had, well, I lied. Autumn, we lose this war. We don’t lose it to the Syreni, no; we lose it to the Federation. An organization of humans who wipe out all half breeds.”

“Mark, calm down!” she demanded as I could feel the blood boiling.

“I will not calm down, Autumn. Just because we found out that we are siblings does not give you some privilege to order me around. We’ve been lied to our entire lives, we are responsible for whatever happens.”

I stood up, focusing a large tree in front of me, my hands shaking as I could feel blood running down my cheek.

“To top it all off, the entire Order of Lai is fighting the demons of the Syreni and we’re just sitting here taking lessons from a drunk!” I screamed as a loud cracking echoed through the forest .

The massive tree in front of us split down the center. I stood there staring at it, feeling the rage in me building. I thought of Flint and Aurora. I also thought of how I would kill them one day.

“Mark, move!” Autumn screamed, trying to pull me as the two halves of the tree tipped in our direction. We both stood there as the tree came crashing down on either side of us. We stood there in the middle of the two halves, almost crushed on either side.

Autumn knelt to the ground as I began feeling weak again.

“I’m sorry, are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” she said as blood ran out of her eyes. “Just weak, I think you used a lot of my energy right there. At least your powers are back.”

“My powers have a price, we can’t risk using them anymore until we know more.”

“We might not have a choice, Mark. If killing me means killing the creature, then do it!”

“I’m not going to live in a world without you, Autumn, I’ve lost too many people.”

“At least you were able to use your powers,” she said, wiping the blood from her face.

“Yeah but it’s not the same, ever since Whistler did something to me with this sword.”

“Maybe the power was transferred to the sword,” she suggested.

“Let’s get out of here,” I said, stepping over the tree.

“Don’t ever do that again, Mark, unless it’s for a good purpose!”

I nodded at her, helping her over the tree.

We walked through the forest and came across a small clearing. The sun shining through the trees revealed a small tree, its pink flowers still intact .

“How is this possible in the winter?” I questioned, walking over to it.

“I’ve never seen this tree before, Mark.”

Its trunk had natural symbols grown into the bark. I pulled out my dagger and carved the names of everyone we’ve lost into the tree. With every name I wrote, a flower fell, disintegrating before it hit the ground. In its place, a new flower grew even brighter.

“I don’t understand what this is,” Autumn whispered, taking in its beauty.

“It’s hope,” I said, finishing. “We can do this; no more names need to be added to this tree.”

We stood there taking it in, the sun lighting up the bright pink flowers, showing its true beauty. This tree grew where there was death. Autumn walked over and put her arm around me, as I did the same. With so much death and despair we’ve seen, it’s nice to take a moment and find the real beauty in life.

***

Over the next several days, I continued learning how to fly the plane. We showed the tree we had found to Jim and its beauty changed him. He quit drinking and actually became very useful to our cause. Autumn and I had gone through more of Josiah’s belongings, researching everything he knew.

We discovered more about each other, learning why we were so connected. We were more than siblings, more than twins, a new species. A dark evil in a divine holiness, a flicker of light in darkness. Nephion was what they called us, a mix of dark and light - good and evil. I have been battling both sides in me for quite some time.

We read journals Josiah’s father kept. It told stories of battles between humans, angels, and demons, and about other creatures that came through portals from other worlds to help with the fight. Josiah’s father’s last entry spoke of how he regretted ever opening the portals, that finding Magarass prison helped lock away several horrible beings, but in doing so opened up our world to other beasts like Aurora who remained hidden even after the barriers were closed again.

We learned that I was roused from the ancient slumber when Autumn was awakened. We were hundreds of miles away but still connected. We trained harder and harder and Jim helped me with relaxing. He helped me find peace in my mind, listening to the wind, feeling the elements of nature.

Through training, we discovered that when I used my powers, Autumn suffered. When she was closer to me, we were stronger. But if I used my powers too much, she felt the pain. We would continue to train over the next two days. It had been a bad storm here, but we’d been learning to fly without actually taking off.

We have just two more days until the last full moon of this cycle, the last sacrifice until Aurora is at full strength. We found more books on what the Order had predicted for if she reached that point. She ​ could take down the barriers and reopen the portals across the world. Other worldly creatures and demons ​ could enter our world once again.

It will be just like my visions, massive monsters ruling the land. Life as we know it would be wiped out, lost forever.

The stakes are higher than ever, and I’ve been trying to deal with that pressure in my own way. We haven’t seen or heard from anyone from the Order in days. We have no clue if Silverclaw ever reached Rockport or what happened. For all we know they could have found another way to destroy her or had been killed themselves.

I still haven’t seen Akira. She has not come looking for me in some time. I fear she is gone for good as Autumn’s raven has not come back yet either. Jim seems to think that our spirit animals are preparing for the end of the world. He has faith in us but is skeptical about us stopping a powerful demon.

I feared meeting my family back in Rockport, face to face, what will I do? If Charles is a part of the Syreni now, will I have to kill him? ​ I would not be able to kill them. They might not be my real family, but I spent my entire life with them. I have some demon blood running through my veins, I still feel that connection to them. I knew ​ what must be done, I just don’t know if I could go through with it. The Syreni must be stopped, Aurora must be defeated.

We are hoping to reunite with Richards; he will help us. I hope he has not been killed for helping me escape that town. If he is still alive, we must find him.

Autumn had been training more and more with her bow; she has become very accurate with it. She has been spending some time alone, ‘getting ready’ she calls it. She forced me to ​ write a letter, ​ i f we don’t make it. A letter to the next leader of the Order or whatever they may call it next. For as long as there is evil in this world, there must be a resistance to stop it.

We must be the example for those who come after us. Once the Syreni is defeated, we must deal with Flint. He may be just a small gang, ​ but if my vision of the future is real, he must be dealt with. If he exposes us ‘half breeds’ to the world, the humans will hunt us all.

We investigated the Burning Snow further, and we found more information on the sword. In Josiah’s secret notes there were writings about the ancient sword. When held by a pure demon, it is a flaming ice-sword. I guess once Whistler was defeated, his powers were imbued into the sword. When I picked it up the symbols lit up briefly before setting in the metal of the blade.

I have tried several times to use the swords powers but have had no luck. For now, it is just a steel blade with an ancient history. Jim was able forge part of my grandfather’s handle onto the new sword. The initials WDD, once again appeared on my sword. Though they are not my real family, I still ​ connect with them. William would have wanted me to carry this sword, to defeat the evil. Dexter believed that I could lead us to victory. Daniel, my father, is still on this sword, it gives me hope I could show him he’s on the wrong side.

I wrote my letter several times, throwing it in the trash every time. I just couldn’t find the right way to word everything. How do you tell the next leaders of an ancient organization you failed ?

The storm ​ is clearing today, we hope to get the plane off the ground a few times over the next two days. Once we’re in the air, Jim said the plane might only make it to the shores of Rockport. If that happens, we ​ must crash land in the water and swim the rest of the way.

For now, I will continue learning over the next two days. Autumn and I needed to stay connected if we ​ will use each other to defeat the creature. It’s weird, I never felt close with Charles, but always wanted a sister. We are still getting ​ used to our being siblings. I can see her out the window now, shooting arrows into the targets. I better get out there and continue training too before she yells at me again.