16. Those Who Have Been Hurt

"Come." Raymond led Kalos outside the carriage and towards a small patch of dead grass.

Winter was fast approaching, but luckily for the group, they were well prepared.

"Sit down here," Raymond instructed.

Kalos sat down where Raymond pointed as everyone joined them outside.

"Ok, try creating an image out of light," Raymond instructed.

"An image of what?" Kalos asked.

"I don't know. Whatever you want."

Kalos the thought deeply. He imaged a scenario in which their journey had come to an end and they were in Carimae together.

Kalos gently poured out particles of light in front of him.

They bathed the grass in a myriad of colour's until they formed a large two-dimensional image.

Within it, everyone saw themselves sitting by a campfire. Raymond was drinking something out of a waterskin, Estella was holding a faceless child, Eevana's skin was as pale as ever and Crimwal was smiling.

All of them sat around Kalos, but they weren't moving.

"What the-" Crimwal gasped as he looked at his life-sized image.

"Hey! Where am I?" Peeta asked, but everyone ignored him.

Raymond and Estella paid the most attention to the image of Estella's child.

"Kalos, you said that you couldn't see the face of the person who attacked you right?" Raymond asked.

"Yes. It was all blurry."

"Mmm… maybe that's because you haven't met him before," Raymond said.

"But how can he have dreams about someone he's never met before?" Crimwal asked.

"This reinforces my theory that what Kalos had wasn't a dream, it was a vision," Raymond said as he looked at the faceless child.

"Kalos, can you make this image clearer, I want to see something," Raymond said.

Kalos then pumped more particles of light into the image, but no matter how much light he put into the image, the baby's face didn't show.

"Ok, I'm going to release a small portion of my darkness. Maybe that'll help enhance the image." Raymond said.

"Wait! Kalos, can you please make me a necklace as well?" Crimwal asked.

"Same here," Eevana said.

"Why?" Kalos asked.

"Because your father's power has a nasty habit of knocking people unconscious," Crimwal said.

Kalos nodded in acknowledgement, before making two necklaces that, as Crimwal noticed, weren't as pretty as the one Kalos made for Estella, but he didn't complain.

"What do those do?" Peeta asked.

"I have no idea how, but they protect their wearers from my, or anyone else's, aura," Raymond said.

"Oh, can I have one?" Peeta asked, but Kalos turned his head in the other direction with a pout.

"Aww." Peeta sighed before Raymond unleashed his aura.

The surrounding area may have been doused in pitch blackness, but the image looked far clearer.

Well, not all of it.

"Maybe it's not showing, because Kalos is yet to meet it," Estella said while rubbing her belly.

"Well, I find comfort in knowing that I'll be able to hold my baby at some point in all this," Estella said.

"No. This isn't a vision of what's to come. This is merely what Kalos wants." Raymond clarified.

"I think that's good enough, no?" Estella asked.

Raymond remained silent.

"Alright, now try showing us your vision," Raymond instructed as the peaceful campfire image disappeared.

Kalos then created the image of the cave in which his dream self awoke.

"What is this?" Peeta gasped as the Kalos from the dream awoke. He dusted himself off and gathered his things.

"Crimwal, aren't those your-" Raymond said.

"Yes." Crimwal agreed in a low voice.

Raymond walked around the tall extremely weathered and wounded Kalos.

"What happened to my boy?" He asked under his breath.

Dream Kalos then wrapped a beautiful but dirty blue scarf around his neck and exited the cave and that's when everyone saw Eslaf, except it was in flames and was under siege.

"Raymond! Those are- We-" Peeta struggled to form words as he saw a colossal being kicking down Eslaf's walls.

"Yes," Raymond said.

"What? Do you know that thing is?" Crimwal asked.

"Yes and no. We've only seen the horns. You see, down in Nar' Agrun, there's a large tower and at the bottom of that tower are what we thought were spikes of some sort, but as you can see on the head of that rather large fellow, they weren't spikes. They were horns." Raymond said as two dark beings appeared before dream Kalos.

"Who's that?" Crimwal asked as one of the two dark beings approached Kalos.

"My goodness." Estella gasped as Kalosýni's body was subjected to a brutal beating.

Peeta then noticed that Raymond's eyes had darkened.

"Raymond." He called out, but Raymond was focused on the image of his son.

"Raymond, don't forget that this is just a vision," Peeta said, but Raymond's eyes remained dark.

The being that mercilessly beat Kalos looked like a being of pure darkness and evil.

The dark, faceless being then spoke.

"Kalos… why did you do that to us- to him" The being said as the other dark being laid face flat on the ground.

"He says something different each time." The real Kalos pointed out.

"It didn't have to be this way…" The being said.

Dream Kalosýni's mouth moved, but no one could hear anything he said.

Raymond walked up to dream Kalos as the dark being punched Kalos in the face,

The vision ended and the world was cast into darkness.

Raymond summoned Reu and pointed it at Peeta.

"Wait- what are you doing?" Peeta asked.

"Raymond, calm down!" Crimwal cried.

"Dad, what are you doing?" Kalos asked.

"He thinks that Peeta is the one who kills you in the vision," Eevana said.

"What do you mean? Peeta has a face." Crimwal said.

"That's not what I mean. I think Peeta has something in common with the dark man from Kalosýni's vision." Eevana said.

"Show them," Raymond whispered.

"Come on Ray. Why on earth would I kill your son?" Peeta said while waving his hands.

"SHOW THEM!" Raymond yelled.

Peeta froze as particles of darkness surrounded him.

"What's happening?" Crimwal asked as Raymond circled Peeta with Reu a more nanometres away from his neck.

"Of all the knights in existence, Peeta is the one with the highest affinity for dark magic. When we entered Nar' Agrun on our first descent, you were able to manifest the purest kind of darkness." Raymond said as animosity reverberated from every fibre of his being.

An armour formed around Peeta that looked oozed a jet black darkness from its entire surface.

"This makes me wonder. Have you truly forgiven me? Or do you still serve the order as a rogue knight?" Raymond asked.

"Ray, I was cast aside, thrown away after I questioned the order. I wanted to find you out of my own volition. That's all. All feelings of hatred or blame were washed away once I saw you and your boy." Peeta said.

Raymond growled.

"He's not lying," Eevana said as she approached the two.

"And you'd know this how?" Raymond asked as Eevana moved some of her long black hair behind her ears.

Two stick-like structures then emerged from her head and formed antenna-like structure's.

"I can feel it. You can too." She said as she placed her hand on Raymond's shoulder.

Raymond turned to his son who looked at him with anxious eyes.

"Even so, what if something happens in the future and he turns his blade on my boy? And no, Eevana. You can't see the future." Raymond asked.

Everyone could hear the fear in his voice.

Estella walked up towards him as well.

"Maybe Kalosýni's vision showed you what you least wanted to see." She said.

"Maybe the singing children are the signs of a coming apocalypse and that is the last thing you want to happen. Just like Kalos showed us the perfect image of us together, Kalos has now shown you the worst of what could come. Maybe Peeta betrays us, maybe he doesn't. But one thing is certain, the dream is not real." She said.

Raymond dropped his sword and collapsed at Kalosýni's side.

"I swear Peeta. If you touch my son, I will kill you." He said.

The group eventually set up camp and digested what they'd learnt.

They concluded that the vision was a vision of the worst-case scenario and they each tossed around ideas on how to best avoid it.

"The way I see it, what we saw was the worst possible outcome in all this," Eevana said, her fluffy antennae still sticking out of her upper forehead.

Kalos couldn't help but gawk at them, this made Eevana avoid eye contact with the boy.

"I agree. But if it was what Raymond feared most, why did we see it through Kalosýni's eyes?" Crimwal asked.

"I don't know, but I have two theories. The first one is one where Raymond dies at some point on our adventure. In this version of things, the singing children turn out to be the signs of a coming apocalypse and that faceless being kills Kalos." Eevana said.

"But… how is Kalos seeing all this?" Crimwal asked, before sneaking a glance at the boy who tried to comfort his father.

"Once again, I don't know. Kalos already has access to a world of magic that even Raymond can't reach. So it's safe to say that at some point, either in the present or the future, Kalos gains the ability to send back information from that point in time." Eevana explained as Raymond sat up.

"Umm… sorry about earlier. I-"

"It's ok," Peeta said as he cautiously placed his hand on Raymond's shoulder.

"Anyway, my second theory is that our adventure ends without a problem, but the apocalypse happens either way and we all die," Eevana said.

"That's… dark," Crimwal commented.

"Well, there's not much else I can think of," Eevana said with a sigh.

"Aren't you from Nar' Agrun?" Kalos asked.

"Yes," Eevana admitted.

"During your time there, didn't you see anything… suspicious?" Kalos asked.

"Well, there is a large city beneath the spire of sin, but there's no one-"

"What?" Raymond and Peeta exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yep. Beneath the spire of sin, there's an enormous city, but no one lives there. At least, not yet." Eevana said.

Raymond had long since absorbed his aura, so everyone could tell that the sun was slowly setting in the west.

The group set up camp and prepared for a long night's rest.

Raymond spent most of the night looking at his son. His mind replayed Kalosýni's vision over and over again in an attempt to find any clues that he may have missed in his fit of rage.

"Hey, Ray," Peeta called out.

"What?" Raymond asked, his voice low and slightly apologetic.

"I do not know whether that was me in that vision, but I swear… I will not harm Kalos, no matter what." Peeta swore.

Raymond replied with a grunt before closing his eyes to sleep.

.

..

Peeta woke up as soon as the sun's first rays touched his skin. He climbed out of his tent and woke Kalos up.

"Hey. Come with me. I have a plan." Peeta said.

The two walked over to the carriage where they woke up Eevana.

After apologizing for waking her, they all walked into a nearby patch of forests where Peeta took of his clothes.

"Hey! What exactly did you bring us out here for?" Kalos asked while shielding his eyes.

"I agree. What are you planning, knight?" Eevana asked.

"Hey, come on. I thought we were past name-calling. I just want to prove my loyalty and honesty to Ray. Now, Kalos. Form a really long chain and bind me with it." Peeta said with widened eyes.

"You're a strange man Mr. Peeta," Kalos said as he quickly forged a chain and bound it to Peeta's skin.

"Sae- I mean, Eevana. I want you to coat the chain in your darkest magic. This will bind Kalosýni's seal to my flesh." Peeta instructed.

"This will hurt," Eevana said as particles of darkness gathered around her hand.

"Whoa! You can use dark magic? Can you teach me sometime?" Kalos asked as he tightened the chains, which were now spread across all of Peeta's limbs, chest and neck.

Eevana then sent her dark particles towards Peeta, who was now on his knees.

"Wait a minute! Isn't Mr. Peeta immune to dark magic?" Kalos asked as the practices of darkness approached the chains that bound Peeta.

"That's because he has an affinity that allows him to use it efficiently. He is still human. Whatever you're doing is definitely going to-" Raymond said as he leaned on a nearby tree.

"Arrg!" Peeta screamed.

"Shh! You'll wake aunt Estella." Kalos said while waving his hands frantically.

"What are you doing?" Raymond asked as he approached the trio.

"I just wanted to show you- Arrg!" He screamed again.

"- I'm still the loyal soldier who followed you into battle all those years ago!" Peeta yelled as the black flames erupted along the chains.

The chains then buried themselves into Peeta's flesh as he bit his teeth in a futile attempt to bear the pain.

"You wanna know what I think about what you're doing? You're being a little overdramatic. Sure, I threatened to kill you, but this… this is beyond bizarre." Raymond said as the last bits of the burning chain embedded themselves into Peeta's skin.

Kalos then gasped as all the chains and flames had turned into tattoos that went all over his body.

Peeta trembled as he got up. He then stumbled towards Kalos and reached out his hand towards him.

Kalos flinched but didn't move.

Peeta touched Kalosýni's shoulder and tried squeezing, but ended up burning his right hand in the process. A pure black flame erupted on his hand and burnt his skin clean off.

Peeta then passed out.

"Tsk! Look at him, doing all of this and expecting us to carry him back to camp. Come on, I'll grab his legs." Raymond said and the four returned to the camp.

Peeta eventually regained consciousness. His hand had also regained most of its skin and he quickly got dressed. He saw that everyone had finished breakfast, but couldn't find any bowls with his food anywhere.

"Hey, where's my food?" Peeta asked.

"Your food is in Kalosýni's belly. As payment for being an idiot and cursing yourself, you'll be having no breakfast today." Raymond said before noticing that Kalos and Eevana were gone. He let out a faint sigh. He didn't mind that Kalos was interested in dark magic, but Eevana was still a saepenar and saepenar were the strongest of the creatures in Nar' Agrun. Even if Eevana was different, she still had mountains of dark magic within her.

Raymond let out another sigh. He imagined how disappointed Kalos would be if he saw him doubting Eevana.

That boy… Raymond thought as he gazed at the flickering embers of the campfire flame.

.

..

Kalos stared at Eevana's antennae as they sat opposite each other in the woods.

Eevana's usually pale face had traces of red in it, but she retained her flat expression.

"Ahem! So, dark magic is slightly more volatile than-"

"Can I touch them?" Kalos interrupted.

Eevana's eyes widened and she backed away from the young lad.

"What are you- what do you mean? What do you want to touch?" She asked, even though she knew exactly what Kalos was talking about.

"Those." Kalos pointed at her antennae, which curled downwards as Kalosýni's finger approached them.

Eevana trembled slightly.

"You can't!" She said rather loudly.

"Why not?" Kalos asked. He'd been wondering what purpose they served for some time and had come to his own conclusions, but he was still unsatisfied. He needed to feel just how fluffy they were.

"Because- they're sensitive," Eevana whispered. Her head low. She had expected Kalosýni's desire to touch them to persist, but-

"Ok. Now, on to magic." Kalos said.

Eevana let out a relieved sigh as she raised her hands.

"Try channelling dark magic between your hands until it forms a bridge," Eevana said as particles of darkness danced from her left hand to her right hand. They eventually formed a bridge.

Kalos did the same thing and achieved similar results.

"Good. Now imagine that darkness as being a liquid, this means that we can give it shape. We can give it form." Eevana said as the darkness in her hands formed a solid block of black matter whose appearance closely resembled obsidian.

Kalos did the same.

"Wow, you're a fast learner." Eevana praised Kalos.

"Really? Awesome!" Kalos said as he tossed his solid block of darkness in the air.

"Yes, now let's try and make a dark flame," Eevana said as she placed her block on the forest floor.

"Imagine all those little particles of darkness inside the block rapidly popping and bumping into each other, then imagine that happening with every particle within the block." She said as a black flame erupted from her block.

Kalos did the same, but instead of a flame erupting chaotically from her block, a smooth stream of black fire flowed out and up from the block.

"Oh my goodness." Eevana gasped.

"What?" Kalos asked as the flame continued to burn.

"It's… perfect," Eevana said as she reached out to touch it.

"Wait!" Kalos warned, but it was too late, Eevana's hand was over the flame.

Kalos then noticed that she wasn't screaming in pain.

"It doesn't burn," Eevana said as she looked into Kalosýni's eyes. Her antennae then curled to the lowest possible point.

She removed her hand from the flame as Kalos placed a leaf over it.

The leaf instantly burnt, prompting Eevana to place her hand over the flame.

"You saved me back in Llendor. I forgot to thank you." She said as she sat closer to Kalos, who waved his hands frantically.

"Hey, come on. Anyone would have done the same. Even Crimwal saved aunt Estella." Kalos said.

"I don't think so," Eevana said as she tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

Kalos noticed that her hair was probably blacker than any he'd ever seen before. She was so pretty yet her sunken, slightly yellow eyes and slightly hollowed cheeks slightly tarnished her overall beauty.

Kalosýni's face lit up in fluster.

"I'm not that great you know." She said. Trying to disillusion Kalos, who she could tell was taken away by her looks.

"I've hurt many people before." She said, even though her heart begged her not to.

Kalosýni's eyes narrowed slightly.

"I've killed many people. Some of them had bad intentions, some of them were probably innocent. I am a saepenar after all." She said with a pained chuckle.

"Did you mean to kill them from the beginning or had they done something to hurt you?" Kalos asked.

Eevana's heart rate suddenly skyrocketed.

"I- yes, some of them hurt me. After I appeared in this world I looked for someone to be with since I couldn't be with my sister. The first one I came across was a kind farmer. He and his family thought I was a sick homeless human girl, so they took me in and cared for me. But I learnt very quickly that people don't just randomly accept strangers into their homes. On the night of my arrival, the farmer came into my room had his way with me. I didn't resist because I didn't know he was doing anything wrong and so my nights at the farm continued thusly." Eevana said as her chest ached. Not because of her story, she hated herself for wanting to make Kalos hate her.

Kalos silently listened as Eevana spoke. His face neutral and his eyes curious.

"One day, the farmer found out that his eldest son, who was a knight, died on one of the orders conquests. The farmer got into a heated argument with his wife and after that, used me as an outlet for his rage and loss. I accepted it, because I thought that's what I had to do, but that changed once the farmer's wife found found me naked in my room and badly beaten."

"But I thought you were a- " Kalos stopped himself.

"It's ok. I know what I am. But you must realise that I am very different from a normal saepenar. Most saepenar have rigid exoskeletons that protect them from harm. I, as you can see, lack an exoskeleton. That and I'm also very weak, so yeah. Anyway, the farmer's wife cursed me and called me many names. I don't ŕemember it all clearly, but all of the pain and hatred in that home made me really angry. I wondered why the farmer hit me, even though I hadn't done anything to him. I wondered why the farmer's wife hate me. I didn't know anything so I flared out in a burst of anger and released a burst of my magic, killing the farmer and his wife. This reminded me that I was still a saepenar, guardian of the top floor of the spire of sin. There was no way I could live amongst humans peacefully. I spent the next few years wallowing in my own pity. Too scared to try living with humans again and too weak to be a true saepenar. I truly am pitiful, aren't I?" Eevana said as tears fell from her eyes.

Kalos took a deep breath before standing up and sitting beside her.

She closed her eyes, but then she suddenly felt Kalos hugging her gently.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through all that. You know, it hasn't been long since our adventure started and I've since learnt that humans aren't all that great. Well, except aunt Estella. She's perfect. But most humans are flawed, mean and broken. But, even though there are many bad people out there. There are also many good ones. People who are hurt but don't actively go out trying to hurt others. People who are broken but who aren't trying to break others." Kalos said.

Eevana kept her eyes shut as tears continued to pour out.

She felt so warm, so comfortable in Kalosýni's embrace, something she felt when she wore the necklace he made for her.

She didn't know if Kalos was right about imperfect but good humans existing, but she was willing to give Kalos and Raymond a chance.

She wrapped her arms around Kalos but then strange happened.

"What are you doing?" She asked as she saw Kalos actively absorbing her darkness.

Her heart ached as she saw Kalos rapidly absorbing her essence.

"Don't worry," Kalos said as he held onto her tighter while making sure not to squeeze too tightly.

"Let me go Kalos!" She said, but the boy didn't listen.

"Let me go!" She yelled as she tried clawing herself free from him, but Kalos was the son of the eminence and she was a deformed saepenar.

The difference in their physical strength was far too vast.

Eevana dropped her arms in defeat as Kalos continued to absorb her essence then-

She suddenly felt the purest, most potent amount of darkness entering her body.

It was hers, yes, but it felt serval times more refined.

Kalos continued to inject streams of darkness into her before Eevana noticed that she had recovered her essence long ago.

Kalos was actively giving her some of his essence.

"No, Kalos! Stop!" She cried, but the boy didn't listen.

"I'm serious, you can't do this!" She cried.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I tried to make you hate me! I'm sorry that I'm a worthless piece of trash, so please stop! You're going to hurt yourself!" She cried out into the morning sky.

Then Kalos stopped.

Steam rose from his body and his eyes glowed bright blue.

He looked into her frightened eyes before slowly letting her go, revealing that she had clawed away most of his clothes and had left deep cuts into his flesh.

He backed away slowly as he stood up.

"I'm sorry, it's just- you're actually really pretty," Kalos said, shocking Eevana.

"I saw your darkness when you tried stopping dad from killing Mr. Peeta. It was so… beautiful yet so… clouded. Distorted." Kalos said with a lowered head.

Eevana then realised that Kalosýni hadn't been just looking at her physical body before, he was analysing her magical essence as well.

Eevana reached out her hand towards Kalos, but the boy flinched as blood slowly oozed from his scars.

"Why didn't you tell me? I'd have let you-" Eevana tried saying as her antennae curled even further to the point where they ached.

She slowly approached the wide eyed Kalos.

She opened her arms, but Kalos was too busy blaming himself.

"I didn't know you were trying to help me. So please, hold me again." Eevana asked as tears ran down her face.

Kalos hesitated. He knew that he wouldn't be in this situation if he had told her that he could freely manipulate the darkness inside her and heal her in the process, but now it was too late.

He'd forcefully altered her body without her consent and he didn't know how to reverse what he had done.

Eevana saw that Kalos wasn't coming to her, so she walked over to him and wrapped her arms around him.

"You can touch them." She offered.

Kalos flinched as Eevana brushed against his opened wounds.

"But I-"

"You made a mistake. You literally just taught me about giving people chances, so I'm giving you a chance. Touch them." Eevana offered.

Kalos swallowed loudly as he raised his hand above Eevana's head.

His hand hovered over her antennae before Eevana raised her head, forcibly making contact with Kalosýni's hand.

Her eyes then rolled backwards and she collapsed.

Kalos then caught her as a black fire coated her body.

The black fire spread to Kalos, but Kalos realised that although the flame was pure, it didn't burn.

The flame danced around their bodies and Kalos quickly noticed that his scars were closing.

The black flames gently touched his scars and poured themselves into the wounds.

This was Eevana's way of giving Kalos back some of what he had given her.