Chapter-V

Twyll woke up, a little disoriented. Her head felt as if it was stuffed with cotton. She looked around the shaded cabin, taking note of the single porthole bracketed by an iron rim bolted in place. The room consisted of the cot on which Twyll is laying on, a small sink with a mirror above it mounted against the wall opposite the cot and a small dresser. The walls were bare excluding the mirror. Walking over to the sink, she splashed water over her face. It did nothing to quiet the buzzing in her head. She looked at her reflection in the mirror not impressed with the results. Her heart-shaped face was paler than normal and her gold hair a dank mess. the skin under her eyes was puffy and red with purple shadows underneath. She looked like a mess and felt like one. She closed her eyes only to remember the distorted shadows and burning flesh.

The door groaned as Twyll opened it, stepping into the dim hallway outside. She turned to her left and saw that the hallway ended there and when she turned to her right the hallway turned to the left, the corner illuminated by an overhead halogen lamp. She turned the corner and noticed a light shining under only one door. Walking to the door, she knocked once and entered the room beyond. It looked like a war/weapon room. The racks against the walls to her right were stacked high with daggers, longsword, shortswords, scimitars, tulwars, claymores, knives, throwing stars, and cutlasses along with escrima sticks. The wall opposite the weapon racks was covered with rows of targets and fighting dummies. The wall opposite the door was covered in bookshelves. the bookshelves held hundreds if not thousands of books. She walked over to the shelves ignoring Cadence as she plucked a leather-bound volume from the shelf. It was titled 'One Thousand And One Ways To Incapacitate And Disarm Your Enemy' in raised gold lettering.

"An interesting choice." Cadence remarked as he reached her side.

"How so?"

"You seem like the kind of person who enjoys using knives as opposed to brawling with your hands, though considering the scraped knuckles I'm going to safely assume that you do partake in boxing?"

"You are very observant." She mused without any conviction "But you are right. I do prefer weapons to my bare hands."

Cadence grinned, showing off his straight white teeth.

"Where is my bag?" Twyll asked.

"Here." He replied gesturing to a small desk in a corner of the room. Twyll walked over to the desk and grabbed her satchel off the desk checking to make sure that everything is where it's supposed to be.

"Where are my crystals?" She asked with a fierceness to her tone.

"It seems that you are asking a lot of questions Twyll" Cadence mused, flicking at his nails.

Twyll moved fast. One second she was standing near the desk and the next she had Cadence by the collar slamming him against the bookshelves.

"Where. Are. They?" She asked with gritted teeth.

"I will inform you of their whereabouts only if you tell me where you found them." Cadenced responded in a calm voice.

Twyll narrowed her eyes at him. "They were given to me by my aunt when I turned eighteen. They were supposed to be a gift from my parents but based on your reaction you know what they are?"

"Yes."

She scoffed. "Cat got your tongue? Yes-what?"

"I have no idea." He exhaled.

A little dazed by his sudden cryptic-ness, she stalked over to the large rectangular wooden table in the middle of the room that was piled high with different scrolls and ink pots, along with several pens and a map with iron figurines arranged in a particular and precise formation. There were also few picture frames of him along with a few different people and one with a little, raven-haired girl.

"Who are they?" She asked.

"Some people would call that prying, or in your case avoiding the real problem."

"Which is?"

"The death of your aunt. The only guardian and parental figure you might have known."

"Maybe so, but I'm still curious."

He walked over and picked up the frame with him and two other people. One a middle-aged man and the other a woman who looked only a few years younger than the man.

"The man is my father. He is the one who wants to speak to you. The woman is my mother whose last name I share."

"And them?" Twyll asked pointing to another photo of a group of young men and women who looked around her and cadence's age.

"The pretty one with the pink hair and eyes is Karsyn. She is 20 and engaged to Shalom the one with the arm around her."

"They look like they are deeply in love with one another," Twyll commented.

Cadence chuckled.

"You could say that. The one with the stubble on his face is Trystan. He is my bastard brother."

Twyll couldn't help but be intrigued by his face. It was handsome- yes, but yet so plain. There was no emotion whatsoever on his face.

"Trystan and Shalom along with Kyan, the remaining male are warrior partners of sorts. Their energies combine very easily. Usually combining energies is very volatile, but there are exceptions and they are one of the exceptions." He said with a bitter smile.

"Do you feel left out?"

"No, they are brothers in the deepest of senses. I cannot reproach their connection. This brings me to the one I'm closest to- Bren Dearth." He replied pointing to the woman standing a little apart from the group. She had wine red hair and sharp black eyes. She has an angel's face and the devil's smile.

"Karsyn and Kyan are siblings."

"And who is the little one in that photo?" She asked pointing.

A smile came over his face.

"That's little Jenny, Shalom and Karsyn's daughter. She was born when Karsyn was just sixteen and Shalom was eighteen. She's the sweetest little thing." He sighed.

"Tell me more." She urged wanting to get lost in his stories to forget her pain.

Cadence laughed as if he knew what she was doing.

"Maybe tomorrow, right now we should rest. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." Saying that he walked out of the room leaving Twyll alone.

He left her alone to the sounds of the winds and the waves.