Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

I silently sneak in the window I left ajar for my return. My mother is somehow always able to sense my shadowing, so I need to be careful when using it around her.

Stripping off my cloak, I bundle it up and throw it under the makeshift bed made from two wooden planks, cloths, and feathers. My room is small, barely big enough to fit two people, but it is a lot more than what most have.

I grab the small box of ointment and strips of fabric and place them on the small wooden trunk sitting at the end of my bed. Opening the box, I check on my wound, pulling out a piece of fabric when a throat clears from behind me, making me wince.

"Seren, please tell me you did not just do what I think you did?"

I turn around and glimpse a look of disbelief written across my mother's face. Her thick brown hair is pulled back, accentuating the elegant bone structure of her face and the sharp look she gives me. Her lips are taut with displeasure, ready to release whatever pent-up anger and worry she has.

My mother can be a scary person when provoked. As a former guard to the previous king, her skills and training are beyond measure, her beauty and grace hiding a ruthless warrior beneath it.

No one provokes Aloisia unless they question their mortality.

"What exactly is it you think I did?" I ask, steeling myself for the oncoming lecture while angling my injured stomach out of her view. Seeing my small injury would only further her anger and concern.

Though she knows I can take care of myself and has seen me with much worse injuries, her worry for me always trumps any sense of duty.

Her sharp brown eyes narrow on me. "Now is not the time for games. Did you or did you not just sneak out to fight one of those dark creatures?"

I open my mouth to try to end this quickly, but she steps forward, her eyes alight with fury.

"What would have happened if you were caught? If they found out what you are, what we've been hiding all these years?" She knows she has trained me well, more worried about the guards catching me using my shadow powers than the dark creatures themselves.

Though, she has a right to worry. If the guards had caught me, I would be dead, there is no doubt about it.

But I can no longer hide myself away, not when the Sidus try to push back the dark creatures night after night. Not when the creatures grow in numbers and power.

Not when the Sidus' light powers barely harm them anymore.

We need to do more. I need to do more.

The shield is no longer keeping the dark creatures at bay, its powers deteriorating and allowing more to pass through. We need to think ahead and plan for more than just fighting and surviving. We need a plan to live a life where we are not always fighting against some constant threat.

My hands tightly fist the piece of fabric. "I cannot stand by and watch another parent lose their son or daughter. Not when I can help. These abilities might as well come to our aid. If the Caligo choose to ignore what is right in front of them, then that is on their own consciences, but I will not spend another moment hiding when I can do something."

She says nothing, watching me closely.

"You've trained me for this." I step forward and wince, the quick movement aggravating my injury.

She growls as her eyes zero in on it. "I've trained you to protect yourself, not to become a vigilante in the cover of night."

I hide the next wince threatening to reveal me, her words closer to the truth than she knows.

Grabbing the box, she makes me sit down so she can tend to my wound. Even in her angered state, she always looks out for me. It curbs some of my own anger, making me think before I say something I might regret.

"I need to help."

"Seren—"

"I'm not a child anymore. I know there is more dark than light in this world. Let me at least try to find my own path in it."

"Nineteen years of age is barely on the precipice of adulthood and does not give you the right to make decisions like this."

"And what about the others? Those who cannot fight? Those who have no choice or say? Should we just ignore their pleas and sit back and watch?"

My mother stays silent, focusing on tending to my wound. I grab her hands and hold them tight, waiting for her to look at me. The anger in her face masks the true emotion seeping from her eyes.

Fear .

She fears what may become of me should I join their fight, and thinks she has to always protect me from the harsh nature of our world as she tries to be my shield. But it is about time I become someone else's.

"Let me be their voice when they cannot be heard, their blade when they cannot fight. Please don't try to make me watch on as our world grows bleak and hopeless."

Her anger withdraws, an expression of sadness taking over her face as she shakes her head. "I know you are strong; you are my daughter after all, but if you're caught?—"

"I will not allow myself to be caught. I can do this. Please trust me."

She quickly pulls me toward her, gripping my shoulders tight before her hands envelop me. I ignore the twinge of pain in my stomach, comforted by her warm embrace.

"I do trust you; it's the rest that worries me." There's a tremble in her body as she holds me close. "I love you more than life itself, Seren. If anything were to happen to you, I fear the world without your light in it."

My eyes burn from the unfaltering love in her voice. I owe everything to my mother. She saved me when the very people who brought me into this world had abandoned me to the dark. I know love and kindness only through her. It is because of her love and strength that I am the person I am today. But helping is the right thing to do. She knows this because it is what she has taught me.

She pulls away and gazes at me before bandaging up my cut. "How many?"

Renewed energy lights up inside of me at the thought of finally having her blessing.

"Three."

She pauses, looking up at me with a frown before sighing and finishing up. I know what she's thinking. There shouldn't be so many showing up, especially not all at once. That's not normal, even for them.

"There has been a rise in the amount of them. Why?" I ask. There has to be a reason. They started showing up alone, the time spanned out between appearances. Then they doubled and now it seems that has only grown, bringing nothing but death and destruction with them.

My mother shakes her head. "Something is coming, Seren, something dark. I can feel it deep in my bones."

A cold shiver works its way down my spine as I feel the truth in her words.

She looks over my face with so much love in her eyes. As she cups my cheek, I feel the warmth seep into it. "Whatever it is, I hope we may all face it together and overcome it with victory." She moves her hand and the warmth goes with it.

There will be no all when it comes to facing whatever may come. The Sidus will fight and die while the Caligo guards watch on.

Not all Caligo are bad; the Caligo people mostly stay to themselves and up in their mountains beside the royals.

It is essentially the guards who force the divide with their cruelty. They think us beneath them and their powers and spread lies about our distrustful natures. Lies that are only supported by the foolishness of the rebels. A group of disorganized petulant criminals who do nothing but cause havoc and sully the name of the Sidus.

Not everyone agrees with our two kinds being divided. Many are amicable toward each other and not only out of purpose or duty. But the guards make sure to halt any growing relations between the two. They will never fight alongside the Sidus. Our mighty trio of royals and their own misguided trust ensures that.

"Our royals will do the right thing." My mother nods her head to herself, thinking her words to be true. Something I immensely disagree with. Her misguided trust could be due to meeting the king, her heart still hoping his legacy of royals will be just like him.

Apart from those close to them, no one knows what the royals look like; no one has seen them leave the safety of their palace since the death of the previous king.

At first, many believed them to be in mourning. But the years passed while the Caligo guard's power grew with no sign of them.

I imagine their looks to be like their personality and actions: sharp and cruel.

"They do nothing but sit on their thrones, declaring their commands and looking down on us as if we are nothing but small annoying creatures."

All royals have great power beyond measure. They say the Gods gave it to them to assure they could protect their people, but they do nothing to protect us. Nothing , when they could, and I cannot forgive that, no matter if their birthright calls them my rulers.

" They are our monarchs." My mother's tone leaves no room for argument. But I attained my stubborn nature from her and will always do and say what I feel is right.

"They are nothing to me. They help no one but themselves and their selfish needs. Our people are dying. Our kingdom has been cut off from everyone for longer than I have lived, and for what? Maybe if they gave us a chance outside to fight, we could defeat these dark creatures and whatever else is beyond them and be part of the world again."

A whole world might exist out beyond the dark forest and black sea, but we'll never find out if we stay trapped inside their cage.

"You do not know what you speak of. There are thousands, if not more, of those creatures out beyond the wall in the depths of the dark forest. If not for that shield protecting us, we would all be dead."

Would we? The guards are arrogant and cruel but also powerful. If they allowed the Sidus to all train and fight instead of coming up with some foolish guard's competition every year in an attempt to prove the Sidus' incapabilities, then we might stand a chance.

The only Sidus to ever join their ranks is Ryuu, and that was many years ago. No other Sidus has joined them since, and they have made sure to keep it that way, making each competition more brutal and vicious each year.

All Sidus should learn how to fight to protect themselves and one another in order to stand a chance against this threat. But the Caligo guard would never allow it.

They don't believe any pleas we've made about the weakening shield or previous Sidus deaths. And after the last few nights of multiple deaths, I doubt they ever will.

"What are we supposed to do? Just blindly follow their rule and live our lives in a cage?" I ask.

"It is better to live in a cage than to be dead."

"Is it?" How can anyone truly live when they've never been set free?

Her sigh is long and weary, the fight no longer in her. "Get some sleep. We'll talk in the morning."

I don't want to fight with her. I know she means well, but I can no longer live my life hiding among the shadows. I need to see the world with my own eyes and not through the filtered thoughts and opinions of others.

I glance back at my mother and the worry that crinkles her eyes and forehead before she turns to leave. "I love you, always. I hope you know that."

She pauses at my door, a quiet smile warming her eyes. "As do I, Seren, always."

Before leaving, a mischievous look graces her face. "Ryuu will want to see you early. Don't be late."

I wince hearing her quiet chuckle move farther down the small hall between our two rooms. I have no problem getting up early, but Captain Ryuu takes early to another level.

My mother's husband has been a thorn in my side these last few years. Ryuu is known as the only Sidus to win the Caligo competition and is a formidable force to deal with.

Though I doubt him staying on with the Caligo guards has given him a quiet life.

When our little family joined together, Ryuu never saw me as a newly acquired daughter but more of a soldier he could command at will. The crack of dawn is late for him and his form of torture that he likes to mask as training. His acquired training techniques tend to reflect the mood he's in, and my mother keeps nothing from him bar the secret of my birth and abilities. He will surely take whatever frustrations he has on my nightly escapades out in my session.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day.