I sat in silence and darkness for 2 hours in the cell. Or maybe it was longer, I couldn't tell because there was no windows to let the sunlight in. Was there even sunlight in Luminaris?
Anyway, after about two hours, I heard Mey's voice.
"Kai, I'm here. They didn't hurt you, did they?" Her voice was filled concern, her facial expression was probably still as calm as ever though.
"Other than this horrible hunk of stone that they call a bed that hurts my back, I'd say I'm living the life." I said, monotone.
"I see you can still crack crack jokes, so I assume you're fine." She said her voiced laced with annoyance.
Then she continued.
"I'm going to go and scout some more. I'll come back."
"Be careful, like I said that one angel seemed like he could see you back in the city."
"Alright."
The only indication I had that left was a gust of air that made my hair dance.
2 hours earlier.
"Eidonel, sir, we have brought Kai Mercer, he is secured in the lowest level of our prison." The four-winged angel said with a hint of pride.
"Good job, Vener." Eidonel said. The praise- or what passed for it was cold and emotionless.
Vener pride shrank under the weight of that indifference. He bowed, then turned to take his leave in silence.
"Eidonel." A voice said simply.
Eidonel knew the voice instantly. After all, the voice used to belong to his most trusted advisor.
He looked around the room to locate the voice but he saw nothing. When he turned back around to face the front, he saw her.
Mey was standing with her hand folded behind behind her back, her back was as straight as a board, as if she was making obvious she no longer bowed down to him.
"Mey. It's good to see the traitor doing well." He said coldly.
Mey waved her hand in front of her face as if swatting Eidonel's words away. Then she glared at him.
"Ironic that you call me a traitor. After all the reason I died was because you betrayed the trust humanity had in the angels."
Eidonel didn't flinch.
"Humanity's trust has always been fickle. They only trusted us because they needed us for our power. We were never revered like the angels we are."
Mey's eyes narrowed.
"We were meant to be guardians not rulers. There was no reason for them to rever us. We were only meant to protect them."
"And where did that protection lead, Mey?" Eidonel's voices raised ever so slightly. "They spat on our teachings and looked down on us. They turned us into weapons and nothing more. Your 'protection' let them think they were superior to us."
Mey took a step forward, her voice sharper,
"And you solution was to abandon them? Take away their freedom?"
He folded his arms.
"A blade in its sheath is still a blade. Humanity never learned from our teaching, so I acted."
"Acted? You left them to rot, you abandoned them. You call that action?"
Eidonel's wings shifted slightly, betraying his calm composure.
"You think I preferred chaos? You think I wanted them kill each other, to stumble blindly into their own ruin? That's not kindness."
His voice softened before he continued.
"I always admired you Mey, but you mistook fragility for beauty."
Mey's eyes glistened with fury, but her tone was calm.
"And you mistook order for peace."
A long heavy silence hung over two.
Mey then spoke again.
"Did you ever care about humanity? Or did that vanish the moment you abandoned them."
Eidonel's jaw clenched.
"I remember what it felt like to believe, Mey, in you." He looked away for a split second. "But you chose death, rather than standing by my side. And that's what hurts the most."
"I didn't chose death. Death was brought to me by your decisions. Why would I want to stand beside someone who treats their subordinates like that."
Eidonel didn't answer. The silence that followed was even heavier than the last.
Mey stepped back into the shadows and went invisible again before speaking.
"Kai is nothing like you. That's why you fear him. He still has something that you threw away long ago."
"And what's that?"
"Hope."
Then she was gone, but her last words echoed in throne room.
"But now that hope he had in you is long gone."
Just then Vener burst into the throne room.
"Eidonel, sir, I heard an unfamiliar voice. Are you ok."
Then he saw the dark look Eidonel had on his face. He shrank back, bowed slightly then left silently.
Meanwhile two hours after Mey and Eidonel had their chat, Kai was working on figuring out how to activate his powers that the voice from the church gave him.
He focused on the burning sensation he felt when he had first acquired the powers. He tried to replicate it but that didn't work.
Then he focused deep into himself. So deep he reached his soul. And there inscribed on his soul were the powers.
But his attention was drawn to something else, a seal.
He reached his hand out to touch it, but the closer he got, the more his head pounded.
The same pounding sensation he had when someone unlocked a memory for him, he realized.
He flinched backward, then reach out again. When he touched it, memories flooded his mind, and flashed in his eyes.
His head felt like it was going to explode. His eyes felt like they were going to popout of their sockets. This was worse than any other time.
He kicked and screamed from agony for about 5 minutes before he black out.
When Kai woke up, he had no idea how much time had passed.
He decided to focus on his soul again to see the state of the seal.
It wasn't gone, but it had weakened significantly. He wondered what happened. He couldn't access the memories that had flashed his in mind.
Kai dismissed the thought then turned to the powers.
The first one was called Runeheart. Kai read the description of the power.
Rune of Presence- Grants enhanced reflexes and perception, can briefly sense incoming attacks before they happen.
Useful, Kai thought, then his eyes drifted down. He strained his eyes trying read the next few lines but couldn't.
There were two other powers under Runeheart. It seemed as though they were locked for now.
The next one was called Sovereigns Command.
Sovereigns Command- Your words carry weight. When you speak with conviction, the world itself bends to one knee.
This one seems handy, Kai thought, so I just speak with conviction? Or does it have to be a command? Like,"stop", or something like that. Can I use it on someone stronger than myself?
His eyes moved right looking at the last power.
Echoflame- a volatile fire with light and shadows intertwined. When it hits an enemy, they feel visions and echos from your past. Emotional damage, not just physical.
Can I mix this with Sovereighs Command and just say burn? That'd be cool. Kai thought.
Kai retracted himself from his soul and sat in silence, waiting for Mey to come back.
Mey was hovering above the castle, then she shot down, flying through the halls and dodging the angels that were patrolling.
She then made her way back Kai.
"Kai, I've found a way out of the castle, but we're going to possibly have to fight our way out." Her voice was calm as usual.
"Mey, did you find Penelope?" Kai had concern leaking into his voice.
"Humans can't come into Luminaris." Mey's voice was matter of fact.
"What about me then?" Kai looked at where Mey's voice was coming from.
"Now's not the time, Kai." She was speaking fast as if she didn't want to discuss this.
Kai wanted to argue, but he knew Mey was right. Now wasn't the time for any of his lore. They had to get out of Luminaris and they had to do it fast.
However, something in Kai didn't like that, so he asked anyways.
"What am I? Really, Mey?"
There was a long, long silence before Mey sighed.
She didn't say anything she just placed a hand on Kai's forehead. She held it there for a little bit, then removed it and spoke.
"The answers you want are in that memory, but like I said before, now's not the time Kai."
But it was already too late. When Kai heard the first words of what Mey had said, he already dove deep into the memory.
Kai justified doing this by saying, "We're not in any immediate danger." And he was right, the guards hadn't noticed Mey yet. They also hadn't noticed they she was making contact with Kai.
What Kai saw in the memory wasn't just painful, it was proof of something he was. He always feared this might be the case when Mey said, "Humans can't come into Luminaris."