Sky: Unorthodox (V)

IV

When he opened the door, Eli was greeted by a small, cozy room. A bunch of white candles dimly lit the room, making it just bright enough to see everything around him. He looked around and saw that the room wasn't very full. There was only a small table with a notebook and a pencil on top, and a small bed with a white blanket. The walls were covered by interesting looking drawings and notes that only Ebony could understand. He was very interested in all this, but knew it would be better to save his questions for another day.

"I know it's not much, but it's the best I could get! I don't really have a home, so this is where I spend the nights. Much better than staying out there..." Ebony said as she sat on the bed. "Come sit with me! You seem tired, I wouldn't want you to stand up for a lot longer."

Eli, a little shy, slowly walked to the bed and sat next to her. He sighed and kept looking around the room, not finding any other interesting details.

"So! I'm sorry for talking to you like that, I had no idea that you were actually very confused. And you probably still are, so feel free to ask me anything!" she said.

"Thanks, Ebony," he replied. "Let's start with... the Pond-something? What's their name again?"

"You mean the Podnee?" Ebony said as she giggled. "You were pretty close! But anyways, the Podnee are a... group? Of people? That represent light? It's really hard to explain... Here, maybe I should start with something easier."

She quickly got up and picked up her notebook from the table, along with the pencil that almost rolled off of it and fell to the floor. She flipped through all the pages until she found an empty one, and she started doing a quick sketch. She drew a circle and then a line that cut it in half. After that, she started drawing some symbols, and started to talk again as she did.

"When The Shattering happened, many of us tried to help each other, but most panicked and felt like they had to scatter, divide, escape. A lot of people noticed this, but only two decided to do something about it. They created two sides, the Podnee and the Midnatt."

She put her pencil down and leaned back so Eli could see better. Eli took a closer look, and saw that she had drawn two emblems. They were pretty well made to had been drawn in only a few seconds, making him wonder if she had practiced drawing these before. She then pointed at one half of the circle that contained an emblem with a drawing of an owl spreading its wings and a crescent moon in the background.

"This symbol represents the Midnatt tribe. Tribe, that's the word I was looking for!" she said as she snapped her fingers. "They represent darkness. At first you'd think they're ominous and evil, but everyone is very nice! Especially their leader, she's helped me so much in so many things..."

"Interesting..." Eli said as he took a closer look at the emblem. Knowing Ebony would then talk about the other emblem, he started looking at it in advance. It was a raven drawn from its side profile, with a flaming sun in the background.

"This one's for the Podnee tribe." she said with a less optimistic tone. "Their leader claims that they represent light, but they don't at ALL. God, he's so selfish and full of himself... I don't know why people like him and follow his orders."

"Sounds like quite the annoying guy." Eli said.

"Oh, you'd hate him if you meet him, trust me. But at the same time..."

Ebony stepped back and looked at Eli with curiosity. He simply looked back at her, knowing she had something to say.

"Maybe you can make him understand," Ebony said.

"Wait, before we even get to that," Eli interrupted. "What was happening back there before the shadows attacked us? Were you getting kicked out?"

"Ah, right... You see, Abner doesn't really like me."

"Abner?"

"Yeah, that's his name. The arrogant guy that claims he has a kingdom instead of a tribe. Talk about bullshitting..."

Eli was a little shocked at that comment, but he stayed silent and kept listening to her.

"You might know better than me, but I like to believe there has to be a way to fix this mess. I know, maybe too much time has passed, but something tells me it's not too late. I mean, we're still here for a reason, right?"

Eli thought about it for a second, and he simply nodded.

"I don't know if it's me being very optimistic, but Abner seems to HATE it when I bring that up. First he exiled me from Harutown, and then he tried to..."

"To what?" Eli said, a little worried.

"...He wanted to get rid of me. Make sure I never annoyed him again."

"And he wanted to leave you in the middle of nowhere? Isn't that dangero-"

He stopped speaking as he connected all the dots. He remembered the shadow that killed that man, and realized that it could have been Ebony. Or to someone else's eyes, it should have been her.

"...He tried to kill you, didn't he? By leaving you out there," he asked. Ebony, with a frown on her face, looked down and nodded.

"Oh, I haven't met him yet and I already hate him." he said. "Where is that guy? I can't let him keep getting away with this."

"No! Don't fight him!" she said, panic-stricken by Eli's comment. "He might be evil, but he's very strong... A lot of people will defend him if it's necessary. Especially this one guy that Abner calls his special guard. He might be annoying, but no one's taken him down for a reason..."

Eli didn't reply, deeply concerned about the things Abner had done and was capable of. However, he remembered all the things he had been through. Maybe Eli had a chance to put this arrogant guy in his place, but it was too soon to start thinking about that.

"So... What exactly do you want me to do?" Eli said, willing to help after what he had heard.

"Maybe you can make him realize that this world still has a chance! He's hungry for power, and that is a huge roadblock for other people that want to try and solve this mess. That's why I was taking you to Harutown, where the Podnee live! So that you could meet him and hopefully talk to him. But I'm starting to realize maybe it was rude of me to just try to make you do that without telling you... Sorry!"

"Heh, don't worry about it," Eli said, understanding what she was feeling. "Well, I could try. But wouldn't it be better if I went alone? I mean, considering he thinks you're... You know."

"If you're fine with it, then I guess that could work," Ebony replied. "Just follow the torches until you see a few signs. You know you'll make it when you see a big castle made out of stone."

"Got it! Oh and also..."

Eli gently approached to hug Ebony. Ebony, without any hesitation, wrapped her arms around him as well.

"Thanks for explaining everything. I owe you a big one, Ebony!" Eli said. "I promise I'll do my best."

He then stepped back and opened the door to Ebony's small house. He got hit by a gust of cold wind, making him shiver a little bit. He was scared, but also very curious to find out how much Flockya had changed.

"Be safe out there! There might still be a few shadows lurking around..." Ebony said as she waved goodbye. Eli looked back at her to nod, then walked out the door and closed it behind him. He took a deep breath, and he started backtracking the path he took to get here. He knew this would be the beginning of an interesting adventure, and was hoping it didn't involve any more fighting.