Blade(Part 3): Dusk

Chapter 4: Dameon

Dameon watched Akanotahkon train with Diego, Shao, and Andrei for the rest of the day, all the way until the sun set. They showed him how to move stealthily through cities, identify certain kinds of enemy units by looking at them, and attack them without being seen. He showed great promise already, but it took Dameon months to learn how to effectively hunt from the shadows, and like every other Blade of Midnight, he was fighting out of hatred and is want for revenge. Dameon was the same way. They both witness injustice at the hands of powerful people, and were changed by it. There was also the fact that two colonies that suffered the most destruction at the hands of the Skaolan Empire were Thiala and Astae. Dameon had heard of atrocities that were inflicted upon the Auna and epsilon, but both Akanotahkon and Maisa had actually witnessed them. If Akanotahkon was fourteen years old, though, then he would have been two during the Colonial War. He may not have remembered them, but every Auna were all born aura-sensitive, and the human soul which that power comes from still has yet to be completely explored. Akanotahkon might actually have remembered the Colonial War as much as Dameon did.

"So, a new recruit?" Shala suddenly said, as she stood beside Dameon. He turned around and kissed her.

"Yeah," Dameon answered. "From Thiala."

"Oh," Shala sighed. She knew about the horrible things that happened in Thiala, too, just as everyone had. Captured Auna warriors, both men and women, were burned at the stake, or hacked to death with the Skaolans' cursed blades. It was even worse for the civilians, since they hardly fought at all.

"You know, Auna retain memories from their early lives better than normal humans," said Shala. "Whatever he saw twelve years ago, he hasn't forgotten it."

"Well, Akanotahkon has learned from what he does remember," Dameon agreed. "Gods, has it really been twelve years since the Colonial War?"

"It has been," Shala answered. "Twelve long years. How long do you think this war will last?"

"We lost Thebas before we took Akotyo, and before all of this, Acran lost Eleus before taking it back just months ago, and now we have Thebas again," Dameon reminded. "This is probably a game to Aziz."

"You heard what Maisa said," said Shala. "Aziz could very well be an Ancient One."

"No, she said he is an Ancient One," Dameon corrected. "And this is after being told that I'm one."

"Well, unlike Aziz, there is actual proof that you are," Shala argued. "You were spared when you could have been killed, Ianna only opened for you, and of course..." She extended an arm out to her side, then Rda glided down from the air and perched on her leather bracer before a screech came from his beak. He then beat his wings before jumping to Dameon's shoulder.

"You can't deny connections to you and only you," Shala concluded. Dameon hung his head and sighed. He knew Shala was right. He also had never heard of a King of Skaola that came before Aziz, when the country must have been one of the most ancient countries on Zenartha's surface, if not the most ancient.

"So, Aziz has been telling himself that he's a god, when the fact is he actually is a god," Dameon sighed. "Does that mean I'm one, too?" He and Shala both chuckled.

"Do you think any Ancient Ones are left?" Shala wondered. "Or, what else are they called? Ilentia?"

"Well, if the only ones left are the New Ones, I kind of doubt it," Dameon answered. "I don't even know which is which anymore. They're all the same to me."

"How do you think they are to me?" asked Shala.

"I don't know," Dameon admitted. "You believe this whole Ancient One thing about me more than I do." Shala stepped closer to him, with her hands on his shoulders, then stared into his eyes with a sad, but hopeful look on her face.