Season of Cycle (Sky: COTL)

Season of Cycle: True Potential . . .

Tick... tick... tick...

"⏁⟟⋔⟒'⌇ ⏁⟟☊☍⟟⋏☌, ⌰⏃⎐⟒⍀⋏⟒"

Laverne snapped her head up, hearing a voice talk, she had awoken outside of the ark this time, seeing Aphelion standing at the cliff edge watching the dark dragons fly by. Laverne did not know if this was a trap, simply standing up slowly, she joined Aphelion, oddly enough, watching the graveyard below.

Aphelion spoke calmly, "...You realize, you can do so much more than just, fly right?" she looked to Laverne, darken cape swaying in the wind. However, Laverne was just confused, "..What do you mean, I can do so much more? I'm just a corrupted sky kid." the silver lady replied, looking towards Aphelion with wary eyes.

"Seriously! You, Laverne, you could be like me, you can control the dark creatures, you just have to embrace it, make it your life." Aphelion reached out, but Laverne flinched away, dark plants growing on the silver lady's wrists. "I'm not interested, I'm fine with my life-" she was quickly cut off by Aphelion shoving Laverne onto the ground, "you rather live in misery than embrace the power that Eden bestowed onto you?" the dark lady hissed.

"What power?! The Vault had no records of sky kids having powers!" Laverne snapped back, only to be kicked in the stomach, rolling on the sand against the ark's outer wall, "you can FIGHT, control the darkness, because we dark kids, we aren't ON record, we were killed because we resemble the very thing the elders tried to purge."

"Only thing I see needing to be purged is your ego," Laverne snapped back, Aphelion was about to throw a punch, but in a still moment, a voice rang in the silver lady's mind. . .

"⌇⎍⋔⋔⍜⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌇⊑⏃⍀⎅⌇"

In a flash of bright light, Laverne motioned her right-hand undercast, and black shards flung from the ground at Aphelion, one seemingly hitting her in the chest and knocking her back. When the dust settled, Laverne sat on the sand panting, and Aphelion had caught the black shard that almost stabbed her in the chest, tossing it to the side. In a moment of passion, Aphelion laughed, covering her face.

"You CAN do it, I knew it!" Aphelion continued to laugh, but Laverne was only confused, standing up slowly, she looked at her hands, "...I did that?" the silver lady mumbled, looking up at the other, things felt, weirdly wrong, but right at the same time. Aphelion finally stopped laughing after what felt like hours and looked at Laverne.

"You can control the darkness, you are a perfect balance of light and dark." Aphelion chuckled, taking her cloak off, she walked past Laverne, pausing to look back, "go ahead, leave, I have my answer. We'll meet again though, Laverne." Aphelion went into the ark then she called home, Laverne having just stood and watched.

She looked down at her hands again, then the black shards, feeling something inside her stir, but this time, it did not hurt, this time, it felt empowering, something finally, her own, that she could not lose. Looking back up at the view of the graveyard, Laverne took in a deep breath, hearing the voice speak again.

"⏁⏃☍⟒ ⎎⌰⟟☌⊑⏁, ⏃⋏⎅ ⎎⟟☌⊑⏁"

She didn't understand it, simply shaking her head, she took off back to Makuto and Aetrix, gliding over the patrolling krill and landing down at the campfire. When Makuto and Aetrix saw her, Makuto leaped up and dashed towards Laverne, pulling her into a big hug, "Laverne!" he cried, burying his face into her chest, "you're okay! You're okay..!" the boy cried out, refusing to let go of her.

"Yeah- yeah, I'm okay, Makuto." she smiled slightly, patting Makuto on the head. Tilting her head up, she saw Aetrix standing there with his arms crossed, giving a nod of approval. "Glad you're back," the man spoke shortly, Makuto finally letting go of Laverne. "Yeah, it was a... Interesting experience, Aphelion let me walk away." she sat down by the fire, soaking in its heat.

"She did what!?" Aetrix gasped, sitting down next to Laverne on her left, and Makuto on her right, "she let you walk out??" Aetrix was very much stunned, and Makuto was eager to hear the story, both asking, Makuto practically begging, for Laverne to tell them what had happened as Makuto helped her heal her injuries.

"I seriously shouldn't tell you guys- you, don't want to know." Laverne was on edge, eyeing Aetrix with concern, "it was nothing crazy anyway, we roughhoused a bit, and then she let me go." Laverne tried to explain, unsure if she should tell the others what she discovered about herself. Finally cracking under the pressure she stood up silent.

"...If I show you, will you promise not to kill me?" Laverne didn't show her face to Makuto and Aetrix, and both stood up and followed, "of course not Laverne, you're our friend!" Makuto spoke aloud, and Aetrix gave a nod of acknowledgment. "...Okay, just-" but before she could speak, she saw a red light shine from above, a shard having fallen from Eden into the graveyard, it scared the dark dragons away, and the three turned to where it landed, quickly stepping into the main graveyard, all the krill had vanished into their hiding places, seeing the red shard pulse, red darkness growing everywhere with more shards appearing, the skies red and gloomy, like death itself was here.

"Okay, surprise on hold, let's clear this shard!" Laverne called out, grabbing her candle, she started to burn the darkness away, feeling it absorb into her, she could feel something charging up inside her, but she didn't know what....

Meanwhile, Aetrix and Makuto worked on their parts of the shard, Aetrix swatting away any crabs that got too close to Makuto. In the midst of the clearing, Laverne felt her chest ache, falling onto her knees, that voice spoke again, commanding her almost.

"⌇⎍⋔⋔⍜⋏ ⏁⊑⟒ ⌇⊑⏃⍀⎅⌇, ⎎⟟☌⊑⏁ ⏚⏃☊☍"

Laverne shook her head, having lost sense of her awareness, her arms and hands swirled with a red aura, red shards appearing above her, she fired them at the crabs, each shard striking a crab and ending its life swiftly, like streaks of arrows hitting their targets.

Aetrix and Makuto witnessed this with utter horror and amazement but feared to question Laverne, so they continued to burn the darkness away as Laverne handled the pests. It was until a dark dragon came overhead, the silver lady looked up at it with lifeless eyes, summoning a small red shard, she took aim, and fired it at the dark dragon, the shard directly hit the dark dragon in the eye, causing it to shriek and fly off.

"Laverne, come on, we're almost done!" Aetrix shouted, growling at the fact she had harmed the dark dragon, but Laverne simply nodded, and the three finished, watching the shard crack and break, the silver lady stepped forward, seeing the remains slowly disperse, she took a red shard and held it, staring at it.

Aetrix however, knocked the crystal out of Laverne's hand, "you shouldn't be holding those, they drain you of your light." he hissed, quickly grabbing Makuto and Laverne, dragging them away as other sky kids started the activity, and finished it not long after.

The three sat down at the campfire again, Laverne refused to speak, her eyes glued to the fire, before shaking her head, "I'm going home, you two saw enough." she spoke briefly, but before she could leave, Makuto got up and hugged Laverne from behind, causing her to pause, her hands slowly grabbing Makuto's hands.

"..Please, promise you will be okay?" Makuto whined, keeping his head on her back. Aetrix however, pulled Makuto off of Laverne, "let her go, she clearly needs time to think." he ordered Makuto, who sighed, slowly returning to the fire. Laverne stood frozen for a moment before turning to Makuto and Aetrix, "...I'll be okay, Aetrix can come with me and make sure of it." she offered, and Aetrix glared at her, but in the end, the three made the agreement, and the two went home together.

"I can't believe you didn't tell us," Aetrix crossed his arms, sitting down next to Laverne at the shoreline, the silver lady shook her head, laying down, "I didn't know until Aphelion well, helped me unlock it." she looked up at the stars, her hands on her chest. The man sighed softly, shaking his head, he laid down beside Laverne, placing his arms under his head. "It's something alright, a sky kid able to control the darkness, but also control the light, just what are you?" he turned his head to her, wondering.

"I don't know, I'm a sky kid who's corrupted, that's, pretty much it," Laverne replied, her body growing exhausted, closing her eyes, she started to relax. "Night, Aetrix," she mumbled. The other simply sighed, shifting to his side to face her, and he whispered back. "Goodnight, Laverne."

The two slept under the stars, both finally able to relax from what the days had presented, such trauma and newfound things left Laverne scarred even more, and yet, Aetrix seemed to understand that. In the midst of the night, when Laverne was having a nightmare, Aetrix grumbled a bit, pulling the other close into a hug, possibly to get her to shut up, which oddly worked. The nightmare had stopped, and Aetrix could sleep in silence.

For what tomorrow brings for the two, who knows. . .