Book of The Lightborn: Rise

Against Their Own

"I was afraid you two were going to take us all into that fight," Eraanel tried to lift his sister's mood with a bit of humour. He placed himself gently next to her. She was looking down, standing not too far from the massive trees. Night was approaching, the sun setting in the east, stars glimpsing from the west.

"Did I...do that to him?" Manna's question was burdened by deep thoughts and a deeper sadness. Eraanel wasn't the smartest, nor the best in dealing with such situations. Yet, as her brother, he felt impelled to give her an answer, even if it wasn't the best.

"Did I do it to him?" Eraanel asked back, his question slightly confusing to Manna. "Felemous, Salvete or any of our brothers and sisters, did that to him?" He further asked, Manna trying to find his logic. "I think we all caused it. It's just that he's blaming you the hardest becaus-"

"We did it, brother?" Salvete interrupted from behind. Her slightly orange glow was ever so dim, as she pressed her hands on her hips, the daggers shifting a bit under the pressure in the clawbear skin pelts she wore from waist to knee. "Last I recall, Manna kept asking more of him, kept looking at him as if he was some sort of wild beast that hunted us," Eraanel was ready to pin her down and make her shut up, jumping to his feet, his slightly yellow glow growing stronger around his body by some intensity. But, as he looked with light infused in his eye into her own, Manna held his right hand.

"She speaks truthfully, don't protect me from the truth," Manna ordered her brother, the power in her voice, while diminished, still strong, with a hint of misery.

Salvete looked him hard in the eye, not even flinching at his jump, she didn't have that playful nature about her. Eraanel, while he was ready to deal with her mere moments ago, was reluctant. He never saw Salvete like this. She closed on his face, a small distance from it "Say brother. Why do you protect Manna? Is she suffering because of what she did, like Orvus?" her questions and words cutting at a confronting fact, that Eraanel didn't know how to respond to.

"Is this really the moment to put her down even more?" Eraanel found it within himself to ask. "In case you didn't notice, sister, Orvus went mad. We still have to venture into the forest, and who is to lead us if not Manna?" His reasoning proved good. Yet Salvete wasn't willing to back down.

"And you want me to follow the one who made Orvus mad? How should I trust her, when she turns her back on her siblings the moment they do something wrong?" Her flawed logic, led by emotions, still struck Eraanel. He didn't feel like he could win this argument, a sudden urge to rely on more primal methods, boiling inside of him.

Manna could only listen, as her siblings were arguing. She thought about the wrong steps she made so far, what it cost her, them. She wanted to cry, crawl into a ball and hear no more of the world surrounding her. Manna wanted Kilon to tell her what she should do, where she should go. "None will help me," she thought to herself, "crying, not listening, wanting Kilon. None of those can help me, not here, not now.". It was a moment of clarity that refuelled her almost broken spirit. "If none can help, then I have no choice, but to push forward," a feeling of determination washing over her.

"If you're talking about turning backs, then how about Orvus who-" Eraanel stopped as Manna lifted herself up, her twin-pointed spear by the side. Manna's slightly orange glow was steady in its intensity. She looked down at Salvete, Salvete's eyes burning with anger, frustration, but also fear. Eraanel understood the fear in Salvete's eyes, it wasn't due to Manna, but the uncertainty which they had to face ever since they crossed the Frozen Passage, and arrived there.

"I will not turn my back, not any longer," Manna promised, her eyes telling of her determination. Salvete knew her words were true, and Manna's eyes told as much the same.