Orchid

The Reason Why

"What. The. F. Are. You. Doing. Here?" I scream at him, and let loose a bolt of fire at him out of instinct.

What I fail to miss is that a whole band of warriors are standing behind him. A warrior with thick armor made out of scales yells and leaps forward. His armor sizzles as the fire comes in contact. Other than a few singed hair, the warrior seems fine.

Xander calmly answers my question patiently. "My elves and I just want to pay a visit to Kc." He shrugs.

As I study the warrior more closely, I see it is indeed an elf, with slim, pointed ears. Except the elf's eyes burn with fire and the darkness of dying galaxies. Unlike the merry light that glows in the Light elves's. And when the elf curls his lip, I see his teeth are like a wolf's. Pointed like fangs, ready to rip into skin and blood without any hesitation.

 "What is this?" Kc thunders, her eyes flashing in rage. "Demon promised that he would maintain peace amongst us until the Cursed Day. Angel, the only neutral one and his sister, promised me."

 Xander smiles. "But it is the Cursed Day. The Apocalypse, according to humans. Especially when you hold the most powerful soul in the whole world. Speaking of, hello, Orchid." He laughs in a joyful way, as if he didn't just reveal my identity. 

 Kaylen looks enraged, and Kc looks uncertain, as if she thinks Xander is lying. 

 Xander just continues. "So Demon sent us to kill all of you. I enjoy Doomsday, actually." He's exchanged his fancy weapon for a hunting knife, sharp and curved and ready to hack through skin and bone. "So, do any of you want to give in and join the side that'll always win, which is Yin?" He snaps his fingers, and three Dark elves bring a bag forth. In it are wriggling bodies.

 Light elves. All captured in that bag. Xander beams. "All of your stupid minions were so stubborn." He smirks. "That just means a lot of execution entertainment for my lady."

 Kaylen pauses. For a moment I think she'll renounce Light. But her eyes just focus and fill with rage. "Did you hurt my sister?" she screams. She grips her spear and throws it at one of the Dark elves. It hits her chest and she sinks to the ground, dead. Kaylen smirks herself, baring her teeth and stomping her foot. 

 The ground starts to shake and the Dark elves cry out. Xander hisses for them to shut up, but they don't. They just panick and attack randomly.

 Well, they already know I'm the Orchid, so I step forward and in the middle of Kaylen's earthquake, my hands spray a rage of a tsunami and Air responds and makes a tornado. Using Fire, I set an inferno up. Flames engulf a Dark elf and he yelps as it burns over him. 

 With Spirit, I could kill everyone, including myself, because I would run out of energy. I huff. My elements can deal with the Dark elf threats. I need to go after Xander and kill him for sure.

 I race through my disaster area. Funny, it doesn't affect me. I bump into a Dark elf and she scrambles back in fear. Her hand goes to her waist to a sword.

 "Don't even think about it," I say harshly, and shove her to the ground. She screams, but there's no one here to rescue her. I leave her to drown or burn to death.

 I race through, finding him just standing there with his dagger.

 "Long time no see, my friend," he says, raising his hand lazily.

 I stop and concentrate. White smoke starts at my hands and I send it toward Xander.

 Xander just graces me with a smile and his eyes roll up into his head. He just disappears and the smoke drifts into an unlucky warrior behind him. The warrior's yell comes too slow and he dies as Spirit stops his heart.

 Xander reappears on top of a pillar. "Nuh nah nah nah nah, can't catch me." His voice is hollow. He waves something from his pocket. The Yang orb. I have to get it. But those strange white eyes--what happened?

 Someone taps my shoulder and I spin around to find a Dark elf girl. I growl and prepare to kill her.

 "Please! Stop!" I realize she's only ten or eleven. "I'm not on their side!"

 I relax. "Give me another reason not to kill you. Young or not, you are dangerous."

 "I can tell you why Xander turned against Yang!" she pleads. 

 This is valuable information. But why would someone so young know such important information. "How would you know, little girl?"

 "Because," she says simply. "I've seen Lycaeon's mate before."

 This perplexes me. Mates? Oh, she means husbands and wives. Like consorts.

 I call on Spirit to put us in a dream-like environment, where only this girl and I can be seen. "Tell me your name first."

 "Anastasia Jackson," she says without any hesitation. 

 "You're Xander's sister?" Now this is confusing. Anastasia has brown eyes, not icy-blue.

 "Is it such a surprise?" she demands. "My mom Airilia can have three children, right?"

 "Ok...."

 "I've missed Xander so much." I realize that she's not an elf after all, that her ears aren't curved. "But I realized that he was forced to go into Yin."

 "How?"

 "Lycaeon saw him, but he refused to have anything to do with Yin. He wanted to be a warrior for Yang. He had no choice in the matter. Lycaeon's mate, Set, the Egyptian god of evil and Lycaeon's only true love, was trapped in the earth and needed a body. So Set possessed Xander and Xander is lost."

 "That explains a lot." My hand flies to my mouth. "But when he touched the Yang orb, he....he looked like a Yang again."

 "Set's curse is that if he touches the Yang orb with his hand for more than 10 seconds, he'll have to leave and never rise again." Anastasia blinks away tears.

 "Are you saying that Xander can be healed?" That sounds impossible.

 "Yes, I am." Anastasia smiles. "And I believe that you, Orchid, can be the one who can bring him back."

 I release Spirit and Xander(Set?) is perched on the pillar, smiling.

 I'm exhausted, but I start channeling Air. I hope Xander's wearing boxers.

 Air starts growing stronger as Dark elves die around me. Then with a burst of energy, Xander's black jeans are pulled off.

 Set(Xander) stares down in astonishment, his icy-blue eyes blinking at his checkered boxers. Air whisks the pants toward me and I grab the Yang orb out of the smelly jeans, disgusted. 

 I yell, "Yes!" and find that the Yin orb is tucked in there too. Xander is defenseless without it, except for his handy-dandy knife. Air carries me up and I imprison him in a ring of fire.

 "You lost," I say simply. "So may you be banished to your own personal hell forever, Set." I touch the glowing white Yang orb on his skin.

 He jerks away, the whites of his eyes disappearing back into those icy-blue. He bares his teeth and booms in a thunderous voice, "I am Set! Fear me."

 "Actually, you should fear me." I look at him, enjoying the sound of the sizzle on the orb on his skin. The icy-blue starts fading away into a light green and the kindness of his eyes before returns. He collapses.

 "Brother!" Anastasia climbs up and grasps his hand.

 Xander raises his head weakly. I don't know this Xander, and he probably doesn't know me. "Sister." He embraces her. He looks at me strangely but with a polite air. 

 "Hello," he says cautiously. "Do I know you?"

 I smile at him. I killed Set and rescued Xander. What a day.

 "Hi," I say to this cute boy. "My name's Orchid."