Take Back the Light

Chapter 28

Alana couldn't breathe.

She held her head and tried to make sense of the terrible things she just saw, but she just... couldn't.

Finally, when air escaped her throat, it was in the form of sobs and cries. She stared at the cold black and green ground in front of her as if maybe it held answers. She felt tears falling down her cheeks, but she felt like she was spiraling away from her body, threatening to just leave, because her head hurt so bad and what did she just see?

Finally, there were splashes of color against the black and green as Ash and Cipher jumped in front of Alana, both looking up at their slinger somberly. Cipher looked hesitant and awkward, like he didn't know if he was allowed to comfort her, and Ash's antennae were drooping and his warm red eyes were staring at the ground. Seeing her beloved Infurnus brought her back to her senses, and she felt like she had been anchored back to reality.

"Y-you knew? This whole- whole time?" Alana gasped through her tears. Ash winced and nodded, chirping quietly. "And you t-too?"

When her gaze turned to Cipher, the Hypnogrif's eyes widened and he shrunk down a bit before quickly nodding. He looked almost scared of Alana, and through her tears, she realized that Ash did, too.

Do they think I'm mad at them?

With another sob, she picked up both of the slugs and held them close to her chest, the closest she could get to an embrace with the small creatures.

"You-you've had to live with all this for, for ten years! I'm so so-sorry!" she said between cries.

In a moment of crisis, there she was, comforting others first. Her world had been turned upside-down, and Alana- Alana Caelum, now- couldn't help but think about how painful it must have been for her slugs to keep such a horrible secret.

"Alana Caelum."

Alana started at the sound of her full name. It sounded so foreign but so familiar at the same time. She looked up, blinking more tears from her eyes, at the chief of the Shadow Clan. He was looked down at her sadly and sighed.

"Now you understand why this was kept secret," he said. "The fall of the West was a tragedy, and we spent months waiting for any sign that Evanlyn Caelum, or anyone from the West survived and would return to retrieve you. But nobody came."

Alana wiped tears from her eyes, sobs still shaking her shoulders. She shook her head and got to her feet.

"I- I can't talk about this right now," she gasped, almost falling over. "I can't think about this, I can't- I just-"

The two Paladins staring lifelessly at the cavern ceiling, killed because they were buying the Caelums time.

"It's so much, I-"

Nathanael's eyes going dull as the Geoshard crystal formed... almost a crown over his temples.

"I don't know what to do, I-"

The wound in Evanlyn's stomach, red flowing down her torso, her skin deathly pale as she did everything she could to secure the future of her realm.

The Shadow Clan leader reached out for her, but for a moment, all Alana could see was the hand of the Dark Slinger reaching out of the darkness, trying to steal her away from her home. She took rapid steps backwards, holding a trembling hand up and whistling for Midnight.

"I need to go, I can't be here anymore, I just... I'm so-so sorry, I never should have-have- I need to go!" she stammered, taking heaving breaths. It felt like she was drowning, but there was absolutely nothing she could do to get a good breath of air.