Phantom Hunters | Saphir Casters Academy

42 | Absolution

XLII | ABSOLUTION

    "Garun?" Kael said, absentmindedly shrugging off Rita and stepping forward. "You came..."

    Fadhia, being her idyllic self, cheerfully waved her hand. "Hi, stranger! It's been a while since we last spoke! Why don't you join us? Did you hear Wynt's music? Wasn't it absolutely amazing?"

    "Hold on, Fads," Rita said, pulling the excited girl behind her and grabbing Kael's shoulder so he faced her. "You invited him? Did you even ask Wynt about it?"

    Kael shook his head, averting his eyes. He hadn't thought of that. "No. Sorry."

    Rita quirked her brow as if to ask if he was being serious but didn't say anything more, instead focusing on the boy standing in front of the group.

    "Why did you bring me here?" Garun asked, listless and despondent, tired of fighting for something that might not even be true. "Why? What is it with you? Why can't you just leave me alone instead of insisting that you show me this...this thing that I can't really have?"

    "What do you mean?" Fadhia asked. "Music? Have you never listened to music before?"

    "Shut up for a moment, Fads," Rita muttered, loud enough for the slim girl to hear.

    Kael wanted to break Garun from his obstinate disposition, from the chains of resentment and pain that trapped him in the past. He took in a heavy breath and readied himself to persuade the boy to see differently. Because under that terse mask of stone, Garun was just another broken boy who lost everything — a soul in need of mending.

    "The only reason you can't have it is because you choose to push it away," Kael said, speaking from all the years he'd spent listening to Lana's wise words of encouragement. "Look around you, Garun. You're not the only one who lost everything you have. I lost my mother and my twin sister — my best friend. Wynt lost his mother, and I'll bet that everyone in this room has lost at least one person in their lives. It's a normal thing that happens. You're not alone."

    "It's all just an illusion," Garun said, though it seemed he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else in the room. "You're all just living in an illusion! You're all crazy!"

    "Listen to me, Garun. This isn't an illusion. It can't be. You think the world is filled with nothing but darkness, but you're just missing all the bright lights flashing your way. You're refusing to leave the dark road when there are people shining their lights at you, leading you to them. Just look outside."

    A great silver sphere peeked from behind the tips of the trees, shyly greeting the students in silent astral elegance.

    "You think that's bad? Is that an illusion?"

    Garun stared at the moon. It seemed as if he was seeing it for the first time. It shone down on him like a drop of silver had been woven into the globe, readily embellishing the black sky and the wicked darkness that strived to usurp everything in its path. Reluctantly, he shook his head.

    "And what about the ocean, the grass, the sun, the blue sky? Are all those illusions of something good? Something beautiful? Do you see now why you're wrong?"

    "People will never change," Garun spoke in a desultory rebuttal. "It doesn't matter because people destroy everything. Happiness doesn't exist."

    Rita jumped into action, surprising everyone. She stomped over to Garun, raising her hand and swinging it down on to his cheek. Garun looked like he'd been hit with a bucket of water, eyes wide in shock and his mouth open with a question at the tip of his tongue.