The Soldiers Key

Chapter 9: The Siblings

"What...?"
Tari sighed.

"Yes... the rumors are... partly true. Sol and Luna are really spirits... but killing them wouldn't bring back the clouds... if anything cause our demise much faster..."

"I don't understand..."
Tari looked at me softly.

"You know... people got too intrigued with the other world, the one of spirits within the Solfree nation. Now... let me explain how I met the siblings... share my story as you've shared yours."

I nodded my head.

"Alright..."

Tari took a deep breath.

"I was never a very exciting person... and if anything I was much like you. I grew up in an orphanage as well, though perhaps a little better off. Food wasn't completely scarce, though if I may say, food wasn't easily handed over without some sort of price. I remembered the sun... but it seemed so long ago to me back then. People were scared and out of fear, they started to get sick... so I... I ran away. This was three years ago. After I had ran, I found myself in a town I knew very little off. That's when I met Sol and Luna. They told me that they were looking for their mother, and so I tried to help them. Then... Solfree soldiers attacked us. We escaped from the town and the siblings soon told me about who they were. As it turns out... this nation and Solfree... had accidentally captured the spirits while performing some weather altering experiments, and took the form of children. Afterwards, the clouds came. However... then someone got the idea that if they killed the spirits then, the clouds would disappear. That's... not what would happen... in fact the spirits Sol and Luna would simply disappear and we would never see the sun again. So... I decided to help them, and they ended up calling me mother. We ran here, to this place so we could get help..."

"Mother... it's not really nice to bring other people in on our problems..."
I looked towards the door to see Sol and Luna as they walked back into the room.

Tari looked at the boy.

"Sol... you know he's already part of this..."

Sol nodded his head.

"Your right... the thing is... I don't want to drag more people than necessary into this."

Luna held onto her brother's hand.

"Brother... should we explain how we get home...?"

Sol nodded his head.

"Well, other has explained most of the story... but allow me to finish it. You see, spirits in this world control the balance of things, though we are not directly in control of it. If me and my sister were to die, then balance would be thrown off, and we would disappear, leaving nobody to maintain balance between light and darkness. See, my sister and I are the spirits of light and darkness, not really of the sun and moon. Granted, we play a part in making sure that the world sees equal parts of both. Without us maintaining that balance, the clouds came causing this unbalance. Of course... this is a lot to tke in, isn't it? How do you know that we are telling the truth? Well, to dispel any doubt in your mind..."
So snapped his fingers as the room suddenly turned incredibly bright for a moment, a small yellow orb floating above his hands.

"See, I control light, though hardly as much when in this human body..."
Sol flicked his fingers once more as the orb disappeared.

This is... a lot to accept.

"Sol... so how do we make the clouds...?"
Sol frowned.

"See, the thing is, we would need to reverse the process by which we were captured, and return to our plane of existence. To do that, we would need to go back into the machine that captured us in the first place... which is in the Solfree nation. And, to be quite frank, people there have this idea of killing us. In fact, the war may have started in part because of my sister and I. So... we decided to come here, to Lastandell. One of the most secure places right now. So we could figure out how to go home."
I nodded my head.

"I see... well, if it will make the clouds disappear... I will help you."

Sol smiled.

"Thank you. Just one more thing though..."
"Yes...?"
Tari spoke up.

"The Solfree has been following us for a long time now... and we think they might be coming to attack Lastandall, to kill Luna and Sol..."
I sat up slightly on the bed, the pain in my shoulder slowly fading.

"Alright... then we'll stay here in Lastandall until then... and then leave afterwards?"
Sol nodded.

"That's all we can do. If anything, I'm sure the Solfree nation will throw everything they have at us... with their belief that they can bring back the sun and moon..."

Tari looked at the siblings as she stood up.

"You two... stay with Arian alright? I need to go talk to Reven. I'll be back..."
Sol and Luna walked over to the bed and sat down next to.

"Alright, mom."

Tari shook her head.

"Why do you guys call me mom anyway?"
Luna spoke up, a little embarrassed.

"We've never had one. We were simply made into existence by father... so we figured... it would be nic to call someone mother..."

Tari looked at Luna with happy eyes.

"I see..."

Tari left the room.

Sol looked at me.

"You know... we've never had what you can call emotion, until we became human. We have learned what living is like... and you know... Reven was right. Life is not about inevitabilities, it's about living a life that you enjoy with those you care about."

Inevitabilities... once they return home...

"Won't you lose your emotion...? Return to being what you were before...?"
Sol nodded.

"Yes... once we return home... we'll no longer be able to feel, and I am terrified of losing that. But, we have to go back. We can't let people suffer. Luna and I... we've always helped humans, and it would be selfish of us to stop now."
I see Sol...

I guess... I understand a little better... about what life is. That life... is worth more than I gave it credit for.

Though is it only because I, finally have a reason to push forward?

The clouds that have caused so much misery... can go away.