Eternity

The Destroyer

Much later, when we were all sat in the guest hut, we got the whole story. It was obvious that Aterunus was not comfortable speaking in front of all of us. He was quiet by nature, as his job implied. Assassins need to be silent. But he spoke anyway, if just to explain to Silensunus.

"After you all left," he began, "I was asked to look after Tutis. He seemed to be getting worse, and I wanted to do what I could. Presul's vines did most of the work. But I thought it was a good idea to have a silens there too. There might have been something they were unable to do. But there mostly wasn't. Most of the time I just sat there, waiting for him to wake up or you to return.

"One day, I was sat by his bed. He was as still as ever. But I noticed a blue light coming from his hands. I knew of his markings, and assumed they were glowing for some reason. I reached out to check. And sure enough, they were.

"I wondered why they were glowing. Then I noticed that my hands were glowing as well. But the glow was darker. I turned my hand over so that I could see the palm. And there they were. A thrill ran through me. I too, had been gifted as you had. But then, I wondered why my marks were so dark and yours were so bright. I immediately went to Sapiensvir. He didn't know what they meant either. But he agreed that I had to follow you. He put someone else in charge of Tutis, and I left. Neither of us had any idea that the destroyers had the same markings as the elementals.

"I arrived here. We are all psychic, but have you noticed that those of us who can manipulate the energy are more in tune with each other? I merely had to wonder where you were and I knew.

"I arrived here a couple of days ago. Stenr told me about the energy, and how I was a son of Escuro. I practised my abilities, honed them. And when Stenr found out why I was here, she immediately went to get you three. As soon as you were conscious, she brought you to her hut. And so, we have come in a full circle."

"But every energy can be used for good, can't it?" asked Silensunus.

"Yes, that is correct. Even death energy can be used for good. But all energies can also be used for evil. Which brings us onto the next problem."

"What?" I asked.

"When the destroyers died, their gifts also sought out human families. In fact, Terra could have survived if she had let Aqua's gift go. It would have found a human host family. But, the point is, each of the four destroyer's gifts found a host family, and each lay dormant until the owner was a silens. But the rules are the same. All four must be silenses or, I suppose, enyés, before any of the gifts can be activated."

"And the problem is?", I asked.

"If I am here," said Aterunus quietly, "Where are the other three?"

We stayed at the enyé village for one week, practising using the energy for things other than our elements. We could read each other's minds, move objects with thoughts, track people through psychic traces, even move ourselves a few inches into the air! And Aterunus always stayed on the fringes; I think he was worried. He knew that the descendants of the destroyers were out there somewhere, and he had no idea what they were doing. This put him on edge. Assassins don't like knowing so little.

Eventually, the time came for us to leave. We still had to save Tutis, after all. Aterunus could help us; we could tell he was powerful, as powerful as any of us. But we still hadn't seen him use the darkness.

The enyés gave us directions to the Witness Tribe and, from there, to the cave of the Jacalus. We travelled for exactly one week; the Witness Tribe wasn't far. After five days, we reached a small clearing, where we decided to rest for a little while. We didn't stay long; both Silensunus and Aterunus were on edge, and we trusted them. They were the two who had been silenses for longest - their senses were sharper than ours.