End of Nova

Chapter 16 | Castillo's Moon

"Did it work? Did it really work?" Eos asks the girls who were quick to come to explanations.

"We can't tell, only she can, I just hope she didn't get hurt." Kalani trembled, picking up the books she had used for the message and placed them back in the case.

"What do you mean hurt?" He boomed at her, causing her to look up partially scared.

"The book said she's see what I'd see, and hear me think," She explained to him, not fully still hiding something. "I can hear her think too, if it works."

"You weren't hurt, so why would she-" Eos stops speaking when Kalani lifted her shirt to reveal scar of a gash on her stomach. She then lifted her mane to show a lighter scar on her neck.

"Perks of living in the ruins." She tried to crack a smile, but couldn't bring herself to it.

"Leilani, you should have said something." He muttered to her, careful of the servants that were entering the room.

"I'm not like my sister. She's all happy, and in the ruins, that gets you killed. I had to protect her." She insisted, getting frustrated.

"They tried to hurt her? And you protected her?" He asks her, but it seems more of a realization.

She nods, and excuses herself from the room. Leaving Eos alone with his thoughts, which was not a good idea. Five minutes alone by himself he ran out of the room on a search for something.

---

When he got to his room, he remembered Deniya. 

How she wasn't in control that night.

That night she came to his room.

That night he had to hurt her to protect her.

That night she slept with ease.

Eos shook off his thoughts, and went to the training room. It was where the guards and more importantly him and the girls learned their skills. He was trained in knives and swords, hand to hand, and then some.

He was shocked when he saw Deniya training with a staff. She was getting good too, except for the occasional hit to her chest. She was focused, really focused.

"Why are you so focused?" He thought to himself, but the words came out of his mouth.

She turned around quickly, almost hitting herself with the staff again. There was some mumbling to herself, and some stuttering until she spoke clearly.

"I need to be focused. In control." She puts on a straight face, starting up her practice again.

"Because of the thing?" He walks closer to her, not fearing the staff hitting him.

"Yes because of the thing, it will always be because of the thing, no matter how hard I try I can't get away from it, I am it." She whispers to him, passing the staff around her.

"You were protecting me, you still are." She doesn't answer which leads him to grab the staff out of her hand.

She grunts, flipping him onto the mat. Her breathing becoming uneven,

"Don't do that." She demanded, looking at him laying on the mat.

He grabs her feet from under her, causing her to lose her balance and land flat beside him. She lets out a wince, and holds herself up. He's laughing, at her! 

She grips onto both of his arms, legs pinning down his own. He's still got that smile on his face, he's still laughing at her!

"Don't laugh at me! I've killed people!" She belts from her core, eyes widening in fear. 

Her breathing hitching up, she slowly lets go of him, and gets up from her position. As Eos gets up to help her, she pushes herself back into a corner, shake her head over and over.

"Deniya, nothing happened. I'm okay, no one's hurt. No one was laughing." He quaked, reaching forward to hold her, but she flinches away.

"Eos, I can't do this. I- it's just too hard." Deniya whined, pick herself up from the corner.

She looks at him for a second, but then turns to walk away. Until Eos takes a hold of her, her face now showing her tears.

"Deniya, I told you I'm going to help you, okay? You don't have to do it alone." He spoke to her, managing to get a hold of both of her hands.

"Why? Why do you want to help me?" She begged for an answer, but all she got in return was a hug.

"Because I do, now just take my help already." He responds, kissing the top of her head, and pulling her in even tighter.

---

Bravada felt her head spin. There was too much blood, she was going to die here. Had no one heard her screams?

It must have been hours since she last screamed. She couldn't scream anymore, she was too tired. 

Out of all the things she could hallucinate, she saw the lilac towers. 

But the image, was doing something. Like glitching, or something. It seemed off, she turned her head, and the image moved.

It was a screen!

She was seeing something on Nova, from someone's eyes. But who? 

The person was moving away from the screen, walking -

The palace!

This person was in the palace! They were walking with ease and comfort. It couldn't be any random stranger. Who was this?

The person rounded the corner, and went into some old room, filled with books. Bravada lifted herself up slowly, turning her head around to get a good view.

This was the room she took the timer from! But why would someone be in there? The person looked down, at a piece of paper. Something scribbled sloppily.

'Went to look for more stuff in the library, be back in 10'

Then a thought came to Bravada's mind. But it wasn't her own.

"Just like Evana to leave a library for a library."

"Hello?"

"What the Castillo? Who's in there?"

"It's Bravada. Who is this?"

"Bravada?!"

"Wai- Kalani?!"

"Bravada, where are you?"

"I'm on another planet!"

"This is so not good!"

"I needed help, and the timer sent me here."

"Did you find help?"

"In some words yes, not exactly. I still need time"

"Bravada, I don't think there is enough."

"Why?"

"The towers, something happened."

"What happened?"

"The royals, started this cleanse."

"What?!"

"All the people in the towers, they're dead."

"NO!"

"And, they plan on colonizing Catillo's moon."

"But why? Why would they-"

"What?"

"They're planning on leaving, because Nova is going down."

"Down?"

"They're going to cleanse the whole planet!"