The Ancient Prophecy

53 : Insight on the past - Alk

I need to get some sleep . That thought had been crossing Alk's head for quite a while .
Since the preparations for war Alk got his day-off canceled . Meaning he got even less sleep than he was already doing before . Sometimes I wonder how I did not faint yet .
Now Alk had to do double the paperwork he had before , go to the army's barracks every now and then and spend hours training with the apprentices . It was not as if he held a grudge against the apprentices or anything . In contradiction , he was glad to train them , as they remembered Alk of him in his early days in the Finders . But it felt weird for him to train apprentices with the same age as him .
Alk only got out of the base to exercise formations on field with the army . It all just felt the same . The same march down the hill , the same commands to switch direction and formation . I wonder if they got as bored of it as much as I .
The only free time Alk had was the night . But he spend most of it doing his paperwork and reminiscing about any new strategies made in the war room . I have to give my best for this fight , as it is the last one we will ever have .
But the truth is that Alk had a conflict inside his mind . On one side he wanted to serve his army , do his duty , make sure that they could win . On the other hand.. he just could not fight with her . I do not want to hurt Phedora in any way .. but do I really have a choice ? Alk also knew that even if he wanted to fight Phedora he would die . How could I compete against the Demigod of Prophecy anyway ? She has the blessing of all gods , what possible chance could I even have in a fight ?
It was midnight . The moonlight was seeping through the wide window throughout Alk's room . The boy was standing at his desk , the candle beside him faded , the smell of smoke faint in the large room. He had his head leaned into his hand , glaring down at the papers spread all across the table , seeing only the black writting in the dim light of the night . Alk was slowly blinking , trying not to fall asleep . I am tired... but I have to finish.. all this . His eyes were slowly closing , the writting on papers becoming blurry .
Then a knock on the door made Alk flinch right before he could fall asleep . Who could come here at this hour of the night... ?
He stretched his hand to the unlit candle . His fingertips started to heat up , emitting a faint light . Just as he touched the fuse , the candle lit up .
After he discovered his power , Alk wanted to see what else he could do with it . At last he discovered he could do a lot more things with it , like lighting a candle with his fingers , melt wax to seal his papers , use the heat to seal wounds on his body . He also found out that he was resistent to fire .
Alk grabbed the candle on his desk and walked to the door . He twisted the doorknob and slowly opened the wooden door with a creak .
"I should have guessed it was you .." Alk said to Iro who was standing in the doorway .
"Titans , you look horrible !" Iro exclaimed just as she observed Alk's face .
"Thank you for the compliment , sister . And speak lower , I suppose you do not want anybody to know you are here , right ?" Alk gestured for Iro to enter .
"Sorry sorry , I did not mean it .. But what happened though ? How much do you sleep these days ? The dark circles under your eyes darkened since the last time I saw you ." Iro entered the room .
Alk could had been bothered if someone came this late in the night to speak to him . But he felt somehow at ease that it was Iro . I really did not see her in a while ..
"It is amusing that you think I sleep ." Alk spoke as he put the candle on his desk again .
Iro sighed "I wonder how you had never died from exhaustion yet ."
"I guess being part titan helps .." Alk tried a smile . He sat in his desk chair "So what brings you here at this late hour , Iro ?"
Iro sat on Alk's bed "I have not seen you in forever ! I just wanted to see what are you doing ."
"Paperwork , paperwork and also paperwork ." Alk gestured to his messy desk .
"Just what is written on all those papers ?" Iro frowned .
"Strategies , army formation details , weekly reports , letters sent to my office and many other things ." Alk looked at the papers on his desk once again , now seeing the words written on them properly in the candlelight "Iro ?" he suddenly asked .
"Is there something wrong , Alk ?"
"Why have you joined the Finders ?" Alk had always wondered about that .
"..." Iro took some seconds of silence "At first it started out as a promise that I made when I was younger with a... friend of mine ." her tone began to be more serious .
Alk stood silent , waiting for the girl to continue . He knew he had to be all ears if Iro spoke with such a tone .
"We promised eachother that we could join the Finders together . Then he disappeared for one entire year . Of course , I was worried . I even went to ask about him at his parents' house but even they did not know his whereabouts . Eventually he did came back ..but he seemed to have ..changed ." Iro's voice slightly died at the end of the sentence .
Alk was intrigued . Even if they knew eachother for two years , the two half-siblings had never actually opened up about their past before . I suppose both of us never had the chance to .. But the thing that really surprised Alk was the expression on Iro's face . Hatred . The one expression Alk never thought he could ever see on her always-smiling face .
"I was sixteen at the time and he was about eighteen . It happened three years ago , one year right before the finders' tournament where we met for the first time . He returned to tell me that the Fates themselves spoke about him . That he had a greater fate than anyone . That he could conquer the world and become a king . I did not belive him then and I still do not ." Iro grasped at her violet cape tightly as she spoke "He.. he was a good person . I knew him since we were little kids . But then... he had a crazed look in his eyes , a look I never saw before . He was blinded by the promise of power and fame enough to make him reckless and impulsive . He first came to see me after he returned , if his words were true . He told me he was going to give up everything and become a hero . Which could be considered an act of bravery , but not until you hear what plan he had in mind for it ."
Alk went silent .
"He was still going to join the Finders . But instead of just participating , he wanted to get powerful enough here to convince enough people to fight the Titans with him . And he came to see me only to offer the chance to join him ."
Alk's eyebrows shot up in shock . How could anyone in the right mind even think about doing that ?
"I refused him , of course . And then he got mad and threatened me . He almost fought me . Which could had not been much of a threat , but I was weaponless ." Iro let go of her cloak's fabric "In the end I never managed to get that stupid plan out of his head . But I sworn to myself to join the Finders on my own since that day . I wanted to be a better person than him . I wanted to do my duty as a finder to protect the citizens , not to rally against the ones we serve and self-proclaim a queen ." Iro looked at the floor "He did end up joining the tournament but he never won a place as a finder because of... you . And I am still grateful for that until now .."
Alk's eyes widened . Me ? But what did I do ? Who could had ... no.. do not tell me that this friend was.. "Aemillious ? You had been friends with Aemillious ?!"
Iro had her head in her hands now "Yes.. had been ."
"Iro..." Alk frowned . He was at a loss of words .
"His older brother was ..Chrys ." Iro continued "I was the only one who knew that because Aemillious told me himself years before . Chrys wanted to keep it a secret . I suppose he was too embarrased of him to even mention him to anyone besides me ."
Alk frowned harder . Or he was embarrased to admit he was supporting his brother .
"...Alk ?" Iro rose her head from her hands "I want you to answer a question truthfully .."
"What is it ?" Alk crossed his arms .
"..Did you kill Chrys ?" Iro asked , her tone as serious as ever .
Alk's face palled , but it was unobservable in the dim candelight "No." his stomach was lurching with dread .
"It is just... I heard this rumour around the base and I wondered..." then Alk relaxed slightly as he saw a reasured smile creeping on Iro's lips "I knew you could never do something like that ... It was stupid of me to even ask you that ..."
"I may have had some bad feelings about him but it is not as if I could go as far as killing .." Alk tried to smile back .
"That is what I thought too ... Anyways ..I told my story but how about you ? Why did you join the Finders ?" Iro asked , -to Alk's luck- changing the subject .
"My mom made me train since I was little to fight so I could join . Right when I got home after the tournament that day I found my mother dead on her chamber's floor with a dagger in her stomach . It had the Resistence's symbol on it . Since that day I had sworn to avenge her ." Alk quickly narrated . If he told the same story weeks ago he could have had to stop his tears . But now it felt easy to say all of this knowing the truth about his mother .
A line formed between Iro's eyebrows "I am deeply sorry , Alk..."
"Do not be , I got over it . My mother only considered me a trophy prize that she could get fame from anyway . I did not even want to join the Finders in the first place , but I only did it to avenge her death . I always knew she was not a good person .. but she was the only family I had left ..and I was desperated to cling on that until the end ." Alk frowned at the floor of his room .
And then Iro hugged Alk the same way she did the day he cried after the meeting with Hyperion . It was a warm hug like always . But Alk felt again a sense of dread .
Iro left some minutes later , wishing Alk a good night . The boy blew out the candle on his table . He resumed into looking at the papers again in the dark of the night . He could not see anything written on the papers as his eyes got blurry . Tears were starting to form at the corners of his eyes . This guilt will kill me on the inside at some point .