Dark Days

Chapter 8

                When the group crested the fort walls, everyone looked at them with confusion. They didn’t know how to feel about the Ralquid. Half of them wanted to trust them, since no trouble has ever come to them when Kaitos was in the village, but half of them did not, since trouble came with the arrival of the others. The humans were stuck between a rock and a hard place with their trust now. Ritsu looked at all the humans below precariously before they landed in the middle of them.

                “Follow me,” Kaitos said leading Ritsu toward the hut that Miyuki was waiting in.

                “Kaitos!” A woman yelled as she began to run toward the group, but a bunch of men from the village stopped her.

                “He can’t be trusted, Melody,” one of the men said, “he’s one of them and you know they can’t be trusted.”

                “Melody, I’m so sorry,” Kaitos said to her before entering into the hut with Ritsu not too far behind him.

                “Kaitos,” Makka asked soothingly, “What did those men mean by we can’t be trusted.”

                “It’s a long story,” Kaimana butted in, “we need to tend to Malelia first.”

                Ritsu just nodded in agreement and laid Malelia down on one of the cots. Niyol flew over to Malelia and just looked at her with sadness. The scene was all too familiar for Niyol and it pained her to see it all again with someone else. Miyuki entered, and walked up to Malelia with tears in her eyes.

                “I was in a lot of pain from my attack,” Miyuki said softly, “but I don’t think my pain can even compare to what she is in right now.”

                “Kaitos!” Niyol shouted with some realization, “Ralquid who can control the water element also have healing powers.”

                “I know,” Kaitos said softly, “I’ve just always been afraid to use them.”

                Kaitos walked over to Malelia, who was still passed out from all the pain she was in, and summoned some water from the air. It began to glow a bright blue as it incased her wings, which were the worse of her injuries, and the most essential to her being. The water seemed to enter the wounds and make them grow shut right before everyone’s eyes.  Once the wounds were fully closed, the water dissipated back into the air. Malelia’s eyes fluttered open, and she shot straight up, terror overtaking her face. Ritsu just laughed at her, and they all watched her calm down and relax again.

                “What happened,” Malelia questioned softly.

                “Extremely long story, cut short,” Hakan started, “We were pinned under your rock dome, a big swishy wave noise overtook the dome, we got you to put the dome down, almost all the Shadows were dead except one who was injured to the point he fled, this guy came down from the sky and helped us get you back here, people don’t trust us, and now we’re here.”

                “Okay… and who is this guy…” Malelia asked expecting one of them to know, except no one answered.

                “His name is Kaitos,” Miyuki chimed in, “and his elemental’s name is Kaimana. They were raised here by a woman who found them. He’s the person who advocated that we could stay here.”

                “That was you,” Malelia asked gently.

                “Yes,” he admitted, “I wanted to finally meet someone who was like me, but I didn’t know all this trouble would come of it.”

                “Kaitos, it’s not your fault,” Makka spoke up, “in fact it’s no one’s fault. Regardless if we would have come through here or not, the Shadows were going to come. They didn’t know there were still Ralquid alive. They were almost surprised to see us.”

                “Kaitos, why did those humans say that we couldn’t be trusted? What is the legend behind their mistrust?” Hakan questioned.

                “Well,” Kaitos began, “Apparently long ago, the Ralquid attacked the humans and tried to enslave them. Something about the humans not doing what they were supposed to, so the Ralquid found it fit to control them to make sure it never happened again. The problem being though, the humans did do what they were supposed to. The Ralquid failed, however, when their powers over the elements faded.”

                “I think I know the legend you are talking about, although I heard it differently,” Miyuki spoke up, “Hafed was the first Shadow born from the lava pit. The humans and Ralquid worked together to push him back down in. Once he was trapped down there, the Ralquid and humans agreed that each group would send one person to help guard the pit, although one day, the human didn’t show up and Hafed escaped. The Ralquid successfully pushed him back down in with his power over electricity, but was furious at the humans. Once word got back to the Ralquid tribe, they decided that humans needed better rule and decided to take them over. However, since Hafed never resurfaced, the Ralquid’s powers faded and they gave up on their desire to control the humans.”

                “There had to be a mix up,” Ritsu said, “I mean, the humans said they sent someone, but they never arrived, causing the conflict. We need to figure out what happened, and why those human’s never showed up in the first place.”

                “And how are we supposed to do that,” Malelia asked, “the humans don’t trust us to begin with, and any that may know are more than likely dead.”

                “Not to mention,” Kaimana chipped in, “the humans also think that Ralquid may have either left the humans for dead against Hafed, or the Ralquid killed them. A lot of humans believe it was just a ploy to give the Ralquid a reason to want to take over the human tribes.”