TWINSTAR: The Prophecy of Light and Shadow

Chapter 7: The Nature of the Mark

VOLUME I: THE RESONATING CALL

Riven's POV

The cave was quiet, dark, and damp. It was deep inside the mountain rock, hidden away from the freezing winds of the outside world. I sat on a flat, cold stone with my back pressed against the wall. My breathing was still shallow, and my muscles felt heavy from the strain of using the Black Fang spell. Both of my crimson eyes stared down at the floor, watching the small puddles of water reflect the dim, flickering light of a single mechanical lantern. On the left side of my face, the dark purple veins had stopped pulsing wildly, but they still tinged my skin with a cold, numb sensation.

Lyra knelt right in front of me, her heavy mechanical armor making a soft clicking sound as she opened a small metal medical box. She had taken off her large Aegis-7 gauntlets, revealing her bare hands, which were covered in grease and soot from the fight. She picked up a small glass bottle filled with a thick, green herbal paste.

"Hold still, Riven," Lyra said, her voice quiet but firm. "This will help with the muscle strain. Your body is not used to channeling that much void energy at once."

"I am fine," I muttered, my voice sounding rough and dry like gravel. "I do not need medicine."

"Yes, you do," Lyra insisted, pressing the cold paste onto my trembling right shoulder. "You saved our lives back there, but you almost destroyed your own body to do it. We cannot have our leader collapsing every time we see an enemy."

From the mouth of the cave, Troy kept his eyes locked on the dark mountain path outside. His massive five-foot alloy blade was resting against his shoulder, catching the dim light of his heavy silver chest guard. "She is right, kid. The frost soldiers are gone for now, but Queen Elara will send more. You need to heal fast."

I did not argue anymore. I just sat silently, letting the cold cream soothe the burning ache in my muscles.

A few feet away, Caelum was sitting on a pile of dry blankets. His messy golden curls were bright even in the dim cave, and his natural golden aura cast a warm, comforting glow on the stone walls around him. He wasn't looking at Lyra or Troy. He was staring directly at my left arm, completely fascinated.

I had pulled my torn black sleeve up to let Lyra work, completely exposing my soul mark. The obsidian crescent mark on my left forearm was glowing with a faint, dark purple light. On the other side of the space, Caelum's right sleeve was rolled up too, showing his golden half-moon mark.

The two marks were moving. They were pulsing in a perfect counter-rhythm. When my dark mark glowed bright, his golden mark went dim. When his golden mark flashed like a miniature star, my obsidian mark faded into a dark shadow. It was a perfect, rhythmic dance of light and dark, beating together like two parts of a single heart.

"Look at that," Caelum whispered, his clear blue eyes wide with wonder. "They are talking to each other. Every time I breathe in, your mark brightens. Every time you breathe out, mine takes over."

"Do not stare at it," I said, turning my face away from him. "It is not a game, Caelum. It is a bond of magic we do not understand."

"I think it is beautiful," Caelum said, shifting his body closer to me on the stone floor. He reached into his leather travel pack and pulled out a small, wrinkled piece of dried fruit. "You look pale, Riven. And you are shaking. Here, take a dried apricot. It always makes me feel better after a long run."

He held the small piece of fruit out toward me, his hand entering the small ten-foot safety buffer I had tried so hard to maintain since we met.

"I told you to keep your distance," I warned, my crimson eyes narrowing as I watched his hand get closer. "My aura is not stable right now."

"It is just a fruit, Riven. It won't bite," Caelum laughed, stepping even closer.

He stretched his arm out, forcing the dried fruit toward my hand. I sighed, feeling too tired to keep arguing with his stubborn cheerfulness. I lifted my right hand slowly to take the food from his fingers.

Our fingers brushed.

The moment our skin touched, a sudden, powerful spark exploded between us. It wasn't a spark of pain, but a sudden jolt of pure energy that made the hairs on my arms stand up. A small plume of strange, thick smoke rose into the air right between our hands. The smoke was a beautiful, terrifying mix of golden starlight and obsidian darkness, swirling together like a miniature galaxy before fading away into the damp air of the cave.

I flinched away instantly, pulling my hand back against my chest and dropping the piece of fruit onto the dirt floor. The black fire at my fingertips sparked angrily for a fraction of a second before dying out.

"Stay back!" I growled, my heart hammering against my ribs as I stared at him. "Are you insane? I told you before. My darkness consumes everything it touches. It decays life. It eats light. If you keep touching me, my void will choke your magic until there is nothing left of you!"

Lyra stopped applying the paste, her eyes darting between the two of us with deep concern. Troy turned his head slightly from the entrance, his grip tightening on his big sword.

But Caelum did not move back. He did not look scared, and he did not look angry. He looked down at the floor, picked up the dropped fruit, wiped the dirt off it with his shirt sleeve, and then looked back up at me. A simple, genuine smile broke across his face, his clear blue eyes shining with absolute confidence.

"Well," Caelum said softly, his golden aura expanding just a little bit more, filling the dark cave with a wave of gentle, soothing warmth. "Then it is a very good thing that my light seems to have plenty to spare."

I stared at him, completely speechless. My jaw clenched, but I could not find any words to throw back at his ridiculous optimism. For my entire life, people had run away from my crimson eyes and my bleeding shadows. They thought I was a curse. They thought I was a monster that would ruin their world. But this golden-haired boy just sat there, bathed in sunshine, looking at my destructive darkness as if it were nothing more than a minor inconvenience.

"You do not understand the danger," I whispered, my voice losing its angry edge, replaced by a deep, heavy exhaustion.

"Maybe I don't," Caelum replied, tossing the dried fruit into his own mouth and chewing happily. "But the voice in our heads brought us together for a reason, Riven. Your shadow didn't destroy me in the chasm, and it didn't destroy me just now. It just made a little smoke. We are going to find the Keeper, and we are going to figure this out. Together."

Lyra smiled slightly, turning back to finish applying the herbal paste to my arm. "He is stubborn, Riven. You might as well get used to it."

"He is an idiot," I muttered, though I didn't move further away this time. I allowed my shoulders to relax against the stone wall, watching the counter-rhythm of our soul marks pulse in the quiet dark. For the first time in twenty-one years, the freezing cold inside my chest didn't feel quite so heavy.

TO BE CONTINUED...