Dark Light

Chapter 53 - Twisted Soul, Part 1

It is a freezing night in the small province near the place where the reflection of heaven can be seen in the depths of the lake. The snows around the area are stockpiling like a gigantic white mountain. The living organisms around are hugging each other to survive the harsh climate, as well as the nonliving things where they keep close to each other. The lake starts to have a hint of ice on top of it, signaling the intense low temperature and many creatures on it start to hibernate and others leave it to find other shelters. 

A large wooden house beside the lake is standing still since the blizzard hasn't come yet. It is large yet two to four people can live inside of it. The house has a place outside of and a chair to see the view where the lake meets the sun and moon; someone is sitting there, an old man wearing a coat, beanie, and gloves. The door suddenly opens and a beautiful young woman goes out of it. “Hey! Old man! Get inside! You’ll catch a cold!” She said, but she is not mad at him, she is worried about him — his frail body cannot endure the coldness. 

    “I am fine. You do not need to worry about me. People often call you a worrywart because you worry a lot about things even though it is not important to be worried about.” The old man said and laughed.

    “You need to go inside now. I cooked some hot soup.” 

    “I am not hungry. You need to eat. You must be tired.” The old man refuses. 

    “But you did not eat the lunch that I prepared six hours ago. It is already lunch time.” She insists.

    “I’ll eat if I feel hungry. Besides, I do not move around so I barely lose energy to be hungry.”

    “What kind of logic is that? Is that some sort of magic not to be hungry?” The woman said and she was suddenly shocked about what she just said. “I-I am so sorry…” She said while hiding her face.

    “It’s fine. There’s no need to be sorry. I was born this way. In this world where magic can be seen to be everything but it is not — not everything is about magic. Everything is about skill and talent.” The old man said and took a sigh. “I still remember what my master told me: A skillful swordsman can change the course of an event.” He said and then stood up while holding his back.

    “Are you really okay?!” The woman exclaimed.

    “It’s okay, just a back pain from sitting here.”

    “I told you! You need to get inside!” She escorts the old man inside and lets him sit on the chair while she goes to the kitchen and grabs some hot soup. 

    “Here.” She said and placed it on the table. The old man eats a spoonful of it and says, “It’s nicely cooked… By the way, where is Nilfred?”

The woman sits on the chair with her one arm on the table and resting her face on it. “I don’t know where he went. As far as I know he mentioned earlier that he was going to grab some wood for the fireplace.”

    “How long has he been out ‘till now?”

    “One hour.”

    “What?! One hour?! It’s so cold out there tonight! He should’ve grabbed some wood tomorrow!”

    “I told him though. But he didn’t listen. He might have thought that we don’t have enough woods to survive the whole night.”

The door suddenly opens and a small boy around twelve years old enters the room with a lot of snow on him while carrying some woods. “I am home.” He said.

    “Oh my gosh! You’re alive!” The woman said and was hit in the head by the old man. “Ouch!” She said,

The old man goes to him and removes the pile of snow on him. “Are you okay? You’re out for one hour in this cold! Show me your hands.”

The young Nilfred puts down the wood on the ground, removes the gloves and shows his hands to the old man. The old man gently grabs his hands and checks if it has frostbites, fortunately, there is nothing. 

    “Go to your room and clean yourself. Then go to the kitchen and eat dinner.”

    “Okay.”

Nilfred goes to his room and sits on his bed. He then opens his pocket on the parka he is wearing and gets the frozen bird. Its coldness gets on the inner part of Nilfred’s skin — it is hard as rock, rough, and seems the bird is lifeless. “It’s still not dead. I can feel its burning soul.” Nilfred gently puts the bird on the blanket and he stands on its front. He puts his palm forward and closes his eyes. 

The orb — the soul — of the bird has its little fire struggling in the coldness of death circling around it. The snow inside the room is starting to melt as the temperature rises inside. A white light emerges on his palm as well as another white light emerges on the central part of the bird’s body. Then, the two lights create strings and connects to each other.

Nilfred opens his eyes and his eyeball has a burning image on it — a combination of red, orange, and blue. The fire travels from his eyes to the strings to the bird. As soon as it hits the bird, it starts to move and stand. It looks at the eyes of Nilfred and the whole room explodes.

    “What was that?!” The woman said and went looking above. It is a huge fire bird with wings of burning justice, a head of peace, a body of a soul, and a feet of hope. It moves its wings and a burning hope and can be felt — it’s not unbearable, it’s a form of heat as a heat from a beloved one – which melts the heart of anyone. Nilfred is standing below the bird, his hands are down and he is just staring at it. Nilfred, who was caught in the explosion, doesn’t even have any scratches. 

    “Nilfred!” The woman said and went to him. She gets Nilfred out of it and heads to the old man.

    “What happened?! Did it attack you?!” The old man said but Nilfred is cool as a cucumber. “No.” Nilfred said nonchalantly.

    “Slyiah! What is that thing?!” The old man asked the beautiful young woman.

    “I don’t know!”

Many people around started to go outside their house due to the explosion. Many people are shocked to see an extinct phoenix bird for many years before the era of magic in humans. Nilfred runs to the bird and talks to it.

    “You’re alive.” He said to the bird. The bird goes down and stands in front of him, but Nilfred is not afraid whatsoever.

    “You are a talented young man. Holder of one of the powerful and dangerous, but could be useful when used in the right way: Soul Magic. A magic used to hold by one of the great deities before you, humans, were bestowed by such power. You are the holder of that magic — you might be her reincarnation. Then, you reincarnated me, a phoenix who originally lived in the Spirit World or they say Otherworld.” The phoenix said and went up again. “Thank you, young man. I will go to the Spirit World.” The phoenix said and then circles up the sky to create a fire tornado and then eaten by it. The phoenix disappears as well as the fire in their wooden house. After that, Nilfred suddenly fell to the ground and lost consciousness.