The Prodigies: The Return of Equinox

Chapter Twenty-Four: Revenge - Day Two

"Nano, why aren't you helping?" Svetra just couldn't stand Nano meandering and being up to nothing for any longer. "The Talon says that he knows how to trap the Demoness and that he knows for sure because his master taught him how."

"Rhet."

"What?"

"Thats his name. Not Talon. Not South. Rhet. The entire thing. Shouldn't you know this by now?. I was under the impression that you were a Prodigy."

"Excuse me?"

"We don't even know what kind of threat is here. Or if it even is here."

"Are you doubting him?"

"Of course I am. I'm the only one here who actually knows anything about what we could potentially be dealing with. The stuff that you guys are setting up could very well backfire, and most of it only works on low level summons. If even half of what we've heard about the Demoness is true, then she'll be about as dangerous as the shade I summoned. And worse still, we don't know who the summoner is, if the Demoness has a summoner."

Svetra stood there. She didn't really know what to say about what she just heard. She didn't know much about this short boy who spoke like he had better things to do. But she did know that he was prideful of his work and what he knew. Pride like that came from only two places. Foolishness or dedication. Sometimes both. Either way, she didn't feel like dealing with him.

"You should try talking to him." Svetra shrugged and started walking away from him. "I'm sure The South's Talons would appreciate your knowledge of the matter."

Nano would have said something, but she had reminded him of something. Of himself. His pioneering.

...

Tora was fixing up some traps with haste around the port town. The South's Talons warned them about what was to come. That once the very next sunset fell that She would be here. For what? Tora had no knowledge of why. Only that She would arrive. And that was what drove her to work on these traps she didn't understand.

Tora finished her handy work in one building and took a breath's moment to appreciate what she had done.

When she turned to leave the building she could hear something that resembled human speech. But instead of a single solid voice she heard a horde of people whisper in unison. What exactly? She couldn't tell. But she knew one thing. Those voices made her thoughts and feelings dull into a thick deep gray that had no end. She felt trapped in a moment that would span her entire life. She would grow old, frail, die, and turn to dust in this one moment. As she started to feel herself deteriorate completely from this world it stopped, and she dropped to the floor.

Her whole body trembled. She hadn't realized it, but she lost all feeling in her extremities. She felt the sting and tingle of them awakening and the muscles taking in oxygen from her blood. As if the circulation had been cut from her limbs and then it were released. She stood there, on her hands and knees, until she felt she was ready to find the source of what happened. The Demoness, she thought, I have to hold her off.

As she made her way all she saw was Nano walking away from The South's Talons. Nano was angry about something. And The South's Talons blankly returned to what he was doing. Almost as if unaware of everything in the world, or if they had even spoken to each other.

Tora assumed that maybe Nano might know what had just happened, so she ran over to him.

"Nano! Did you feel that just now?"

"What?" He knew then exactly what she meant.

"There was this crazy gray feeling like I was gonna disappear, but it went away. And with you knowing magic better than any of us I thought you might know what that was."

"That's not important, what is important is that Rhet hasn't been truthful to us. He is tied into why this Demoness exists and why he knows so much about how to fight Her. He's intimately aware of what is going on and I now know why he hasn't said anything." Tora just looked blankly at Nano, wondering if he had been responsible for the gray feeling. But she had other things in mind now.

"Does that mean you'll keep quiet on what's really going too?" Nano, who had been looking away into the wilderness surrounding the port town looked back at Tora. He had a fierceness in his eyes, but no malice.

"I won't keep quiet."

...

"So, the people think you're some real hot stuff, huh?" Jasper approached the South's Talons.

"I guess you could say that." He didn't really know how to respond. He felt a bad energy from Jasper, it was quite unnerving.

"How do you know about us?"

"I'm very in tune to the greater movements in the land. Also, I used to hunt Prodigies."

"Hunt?"

"Yes, when the Council wanted to start gathering you people up I was one of the ones that was contracted to hunt you guys down."

"Why you?" Jasper was curious. Was he really the best around at the time. That's what the rumors said at least.

"Because I was very good at what I did. I lured my prey rather than actually go after them. What I would do is get them in close in such a way that it would be pretty tough for any one kid to get away.

"Any one kid?"

"Well, at the time, that's all they were. Just kids. The oldest ones were around ten years old. You can imagine how easy it might be to lure a kid into a trap." There was a twinkle in his eye as though he was proud of how easy it was. How unmatched their skills were, predator and prey. It made Jasper sick, but it made him think too.

"Even so, I didn't like it too much. A lot of them forced my hand and I had to get rough. Some of them still have scars from when I took them. I'm sure they would repay the favor if they got the chance. That's what I get for following the orders of some old farts."

Just a kid. That's all he was when he betrayed the Rogue King. And just a kid when he was aggressively taken away by the Order. Is that all they were still? Just kids? Following the orders of old men who couldn't lift themselves off their shitters without help? He didn't want to believe it, even if it were for the good of the people.

"Maybe that's what we all deserve - hard choices. That's all we still do yet."