Skye Silver & The Soul of Fire Vol.1
Chapter 14 Seeing The Light Is Real

As we made our way through the cave region all I could think of was my mother. Whats she like as a person, what kind of ruler she is, the first thing she’ll say to me when we finally meet for the first time since I was a small child. My emotions were running high which counteractively took my mind off the journey for a moment.

At one point I could hear Kitai and Benign conversing but I was so zoned out I didn’t hear a word they said. I did, however, seem to somehow feel colder for once. I could feel the wind blowing against us despite the houses, buildings, and caves surrounding us. It was strange.

Outside the Cave Region walls, the strong wind would have been understandable because we were on the shoreline and the wind is always stronger and colder near the beach. However, the Massive wall that we approached when entering the Cave Region wrapped around the entire region leaving the wind from the ocean typically blocked out. Not to mention there was a massive volcano in the direction we were walking that I was sure no wind would go past and hit us this directly.

Nonetheless, the wind was strong and directly at us. I could hear the sound of chimes from front porches and shops blowing in the wind. There was dust being blown in our direction to the point we were all squinting our eyes to see the way. No one at the beginning of the new town we were in seemed to notice. They were carrying on about their days normally. Most of them I assumed had cars and busy schedules to tend to so they may not have noticed.

As we made a distance through the new district it was clear that it wasn’t just another regular town. It evolved into a massive city with huge buildings and people were everywhere. The cars were flying faster than I had seen in any region yet. Everyone was moving fast and focused like they all knew they had a purpose and meant to serve well on it. The town was dynamic as it gets. There were people wearing fire robes, as well as those sporting the casual look, I mostly saw men in black suits and white shirts with red ties, they reminded me of a typical businessman in America. There were people dressed in ways I had never seen showing off their personal fashion sense and no one was stopping to point or laugh at them. It was normal to be yourself here. The massive skyscrapers and statues of memorabilia posted all over was a clear sign that it was an important town and likely ran by the Queen rather than the Guerrillas.

The town that I later found out was known as “Chic District” reminded me of Chicago or New York in America so much I thought of Steven and Milan. The thought of Milan warmed my heart and soothed my Soul of Fire.

However, that feeling and thought came shattering like a windshield when the wind kicked up so strongly that it pushed me back a little while I was off guard. Benign grabbed my hand.

“You alright?” He asked.

“Yea,” I smiled. “Just wasn’t paying attention.”

He smiled back at me.

“Somethings not right,” KItai said stopping and scanning the view ahead. “It does get windy here but this is abnormally windy.”

“Yea and it’s actually cooler to me than normal wind,” I added.

“What do you think it is?” Benign asked.

“I’m not sure, to be honest.” Kitai responded, “This is the cave region anything can happen.”

Just as Kitai spoke those words a corpse wearing the same clothes as the guards at the front gate came flying out of the sky landing about 20 meters ahead of us. His Demi-God body hit the ground with so much impact it made an entire body print in the ground. Everyone in the immediate area began running and screaming for their lives. If a soldier could be taken out so could they Demi-God or not. As the crowd scattered like roaches in the light we were all scanning the skies to see where he may have come from. There was no one in sight and with all the tall buildings he could have come from anywhere.

“He came down with too much force to simply had jumped off of a building.” I thought to myself. “He was thrown, murdered!”

“That’s a bell ringer,” Kitai said.

“Without a doubt.” Benign agreed.

“A what?” I asked.

“You know how the bell rang in the other town to alert the occupants of an intruder, well that’s his job,” Kitai answered.

“Then that means…”

Just as I was about to piece together what was happening his voice came echoing through the street we stood on but sounded elevated. Suddenly the clouds that were blocking our vision to the tops of some of the buildings began shifting revealing Assail who was flying above where the Bell Ringers corpse was.

“This is as far as you go!” He yelled. “I’ll take that book and The Soul of Fire now.” He said in a sinister tone with a look in his eyes that was pure evil.

His pupils turned black and enlarged covering his sclera and iris. The mark on his face that resembled a DNA strand was enflamed like he had gotten a recent rebranding. There was visible wind under him like an upside down umbrella. His hands were submerged in balls of water similar to how Kitai and I would make our flames appear.

The sight of Assail was horrifying. We had been traveling for so long and fighting so much it had slipped my mind that he would be in the Cave Region before us. Not only that but I also didn’t think of him when the bell in the other town alerted us. Kitai had thought of it all which is why he forced us to sleep while we could at the border of the region rather than burning our energy trying to make the last stretch. He knew Assail would be waiting for us and it was only a matter of time before he ran into us. He got us rested and fed us while Assail scoured the region searching for us.

“Over my dead body!” Kitai yelled back focusing his prana to his hands and feet to begin flying towards Assail.

“Oh, that’s how I planned it to be!” Assail shot back. “Just like your mother!”

Kitai’s flames grew more intense as he said this bringing him much closer to Assail a lot quicker than he expected it. Before Assail knew it he was in defense mode against Kitai in hand to hand combat which I would say is bad for anyone.

“What do we do?” I asked Benign as we both look up watching the two battle.

“I’m not sure,” Benign responded. “Up until recently I didn’t know Kitai could fly and up until now I didn’t know Assail could either. I was anticipating a ground fight, not mid-air.

“We have to help him!” I said looking up. “He’s a great fighter and maybe a genius but Assail has unimaginable strength and power.”

Assail and Kitai were fighting so fast in hand to hand combat it looked as if they were fighting in slow motion that is until Kitai came flying back down in our direction from a stomach blow with water splashing as he neared the ground. Benign formed what looked like a trampoline of air that when Kitai landed on stopped him from hitting the ground and leaned him on his feet.

Kitai looked back to us. “Thanks! Now get her and that book out of here.” He flew back into the skies where Assail was waiting.

“We have to go!” Benign said tugging on my arm.

“We can’t leave him!” I yelped!

“I know! but there’s nothing we can do right now with them in the sky!” he said. “Let’s go!”

Benign and I began running down the street in the direction of the Volcano. I couldn’t help but to look back as we made distance. Kitai and Assail were having an all-out war. They were flying into buildings and meeting back in mid-air. There were flames and water splashing covering the sky as the two battled. Some of the people had even come out to the curbs and were looking up to witness the legendary Demi-God battle. Those that were brave enough to do so would eventually wind up dodging debris from the buildings and being splashed by water falling from the sky.

We were much further down the street when Benign decided to stop and turn around. He didn’t want to leave the range of the fight but he knew had to protect me as well as the book. We both looked back to the fight once again to see Kitai flying to the ground this time making an impact with it.

He stood back to his feet and I could see him scan the horizon to make sure we had left the area. He then proceeded to fly back up to Assail and continue the fight.

“Take this,” Benign said removing his book bag and handing it to me. “Stay here!”

He ran back towards the fight at full speed before I could decline his orders. Not knowing what he was planning I decided to stay put so there would be no confusion when he returned. Also, I was still able to see the battle going on from where I was so I could follow them if need be.

Benign went running towards the fight and I continued to observe Kitai and Assail battle it out above ground. They were both able to maintain their flight while still conjuring up extra prana to form moves I hadn’t seen before. Nearly every kick and punch they threw was accompanied by one of the four powers. Whether it was a kick with a foot engulfed in flames or a punch with the air pressure of a shotgun. They were both delivering as well as receiving harsh blows to each others body in the tussle. Every strike that landed was surely painful even for Demi-Gods.

Then there was another blow from Assail that sent Kitai flying backward. However this time he caught his flight before making contact with the building behind him. He shook off the harsh contact and jumped off the building flying into yet another melee with Assail.

As I looked back down at the streets I could see Benign nearing the fight and jump off the wall of one of the near buildings and began what looked like running up invisible stairs. He wasn’t exactly flying but he was indeed in mid-air. When he reached the two he launched a thunderous blow in the middle of Kitai and Assails scuffle.

He struck Assail who came flying towards the ground but rather than making contact with it he caught his flight near the ground and peered back up to Kitai. Benign landed on the ground like a superhero and gazed at Assail.

All three of them held their position for a moment. Then spontaneously Kitai began flying downward towards Assail at the same exact time Benign began running toward him. Assail aimed his left palm at Kitai in the sky and his right palm at Benign on the ground. Just as they both entered his vicinity He shot fireballs out of both palms. The fireballs forced Benign to dodge the route he was running and Kitai formed a water shield in front of him extinguishing the fires and continuing his route. Assail then began swinging both of his arms in Kitai’s direction which in turn were snatching stones out of a building behind him and launching them in Kitai’s direction.

Kitai dodged them all but the last one which was bigger than the rest and came just as fast sending Kitai back flying into the building across the street. At this time Benign was now in distance and dove head first in Assail’s direction spinning so fast the air was visible around him. Assail quickly lifted his hand bringing forth the ground in front of him as a shield that Benign slammed into leaving a spiral mark before the wall crumbled. Assail then punched Benign with what looked like a combo out of a video game with the final blow sending him directly into the building he had just launched Kitai into.

They both laid against the building in pain and were slow standing to their feet. Assail was across the street levitating slightly above the sidewalk. He floated to the middle of the street gazing at Kitai and Benign as they stood together with their backs against the broken wall they had just crashed into. They both ran up to him and started a three-man melee. They were moving so fast I wasn’t sure what was happening from the distance I was in.

I knew whatever was happening it couldn’t have been good considering it was two against one and Assail wasn’t budging. I was struck with the ultimatum of helping them fight or making as much distance to the Royal Cave as I could.

“If I go to the Royal Caves I will survive and return the book to the Gods which will surely bring great rewards. However, it would likely mean the deaths of Kitai and Benign.” I said to myself silently “And I would never let them die for me and some book.”

Finally, the confidence I needed was coming to fruition. I could feel the Soul of Fire beginning to rage inside of me. I looked at the scuffle, tightened the book bag on my back and began walking in their direction. Normally I was unable to feel the flames that engulfed my fist but I could feel them now. It was like a second prana controlling them rather than my own. I could feel the flames coursing through every inch of my body. Every slight pain that I had on my body vanished. My mind was clear of all but one goal, to stop Assail. Even if that meant my life.

I had promised myself earlier that I would stand up for myself and the time had come. This was the ultimate test of what I had learned on my journey and of myself. Not only referring to the skills I have honed and the strength I have attained but also it was a test of character. Will you leave your friends to save yourself or risk your life to save your friends? I had made my decision and it was clear. I would not stand idly by as my friends fought for me and I would not run when they were in need of my help.

Assail somehow managed to knock both Kitai and Benign out of the scuffle. He then used his ground manipulation to trap Kitai who had fell to the ground leaving only his head above ground. Subsequently, he flew quickly to where Benign slid backward but caught his landing and snatched him by the collar taking him to the sky the same way Kitai had done the Rogue Twin.

He flew so high up I was unable to see them as I ran over to Kitai. He was still conscious but wincing in pain with blood he coughed upon his lips rolling down to his chin.

“Kitai!” I yelled as I punched the ground around him releasing the hold on his body.

“Skye, I thought I told you to go.” He said in a struggling voice.

“I’m not leaving you here to die,” I responded.

“You don’t understand.” He said. “He could have killed me, he’s beating us down until we have no fight left so he can interrogate us about where you are. That’s why he took Benign to the sky, he saw you run with him.”

I was devastated to hear that I had done exactly what Assail wanted me to do. Our entire journey I focused on not being the “dumb new girl” and strayed away from any possible traps. I tried to make sure no matter who confronted us that I did what was best for us and I had somehow walked directly into one of those traps that puts everyone in jeopardy.

Kitai stood to his feet looking in the sky searching for Assail and Benign.

“Stay here.” He said. “I have to get Benign out of the sky, he can’t fly.”

Kitai blasted off into the sky until I was unable to see him as well. I looked up for as long as I could before the back my neck began hurting and forced me to look back down at the street level where there were now more people out on the sidewalks and glaring at me.

Normally if there was a large crowd most of them had no clue who I was with the exception of the few that do further research into all of the people from Astral. Similar to how history teachers would know more than everyone in the school about legendary beings. However, this time was different everyone in the crowd looked like they knew exactly who I was. We were in the Cave Region after all so everyone knew the queen and how her skin glowed. They had never seen anyone with the similar glow which let them know precisely who I was without asking.

I scanned through the crowd seeing all the stunned and scared faces. There were adults and kids all in the same shock. A few of them began looking up to the sky and tapping the shoulders of others in order to get their attention. Then all of their heads were looking up to the sky in sync like a crowd wave at a baseball game.

When I looked up to see what everyone was glaring at I could see Benign falling out of the sky.

“He’s not slowing down!” someone yelled in the crowd.

I stood looking up thinking of anything I could possibly do as Benign fell to what would surely be a fatal landing when All of a sudden I could see flames in the distance above him.

It was Kitai flying down to Benign with his arms stretched out in front of him.

“He’s going to hit the ground!” Someone yelled.

I feared what they yelled was true. Kitai would not be able to reach Benign before he hit the ground at their current speeds and distance. I could feel my throat tighten and my eyes begin to fill with water as Benign came closer to the ground. I Could see the determination in Kitai’s face to reach Benign but the distance between them was too great. I closed my eyes and awaited for the sound of an impact. I couldn’t stop Benign from hitting the floor but if he somehow survived the fall I could try Camerons cream on all the bones he would undoubtedly break.

After a quick moment, I could hear the crowd’s reactions but I didn’t hear anything hit the ground. Instead, there was ooo’s and ahh’s accompanied by the sound of water. I opened my eyes to see that Kitai had launched what looked like ropes of water out of his hands and lassoed Benign in just before he reached the ground.

The crowd began clapping and cheering as Kitai floated to the ground while he was holding Benign. However, the celebration was short-lived when Assail came crashing down to the street shortly after.

“So you actually caught him.” Assail said. “I’m impressed but now you’ve given me exactly what I want.”

KItai looked at Assail with revenge in his eyes. “You’ll never get her!”

“Oh, but I already have.” Assail responded.

He then did a move that I was now very familiar with slamming the bottom of his palms together and forming the cage of fire around Kitai and Benign. Assail began approaching me and I jumped into a fighting stance. He then began rushing at me so fast that all four elements were visible in the trail behind him. When he was in striking distance I used my X shield. Assail jumped above me and water formed around his fist. He came down at an angel punching through my fire shield breaking my guard and throwing me down the street like a plastic bag in the wind.

I stood to my feet mean mugging Assail as he continued walking in my direction. I began walking towards him as well. Subsequently, we both began running towards each other clashing in the middle of the street. I was lucky to be blessed with a natural hand to hand combat skills likely from my father, which is the only reason Assail did not destroy me as easily as he thought he would.

In the midst of our scuffle, I had flashes of memories going through my head. I remembered Ms. Cruise and how she defended me in class from a bully, I remembered Kitai first showing me how to use my power. I remembered Benign rushing to fight the Rogue Twin as I stood by attempting a new move. The memories were a boost for me to say the least. I landed a powerful blow that took both of my arms to do and burned my first prints into Assails chest as he flew backward and slid past the cage he had trapped Benign and Kitai in.

As he stood to his feet he brushed himself off and exhaled with anger and the burn marks regenerated to normal skin.

“Let me out of here and fight me like a man!” Kitai said.

“I would kindly take you up on that offer but that’s not what I’m here for.” Assail responded, “You’re just in my way.”

He continued walking towards me as I was marching in his direction. The crowd stood in anticipation for what would happen next. I could see Benign coming back into consciousness and Kitai turning to tend to him. Assail and I rushed forward into another battle with each other only this time rather than hand to hand combat I threw three fireballs in front of me. He used his air manipulation to throw them off course. Next, he formed Ice spears of his own and launched them at me but I dodged them and continued forward.

Just as we got within close range of each other I jumped over Assail who had thrust a jab in my direction. I did a front flip in mid-air directly over him and kicked off of his back sending him further in that direction and propelling me to where Kitai and Benign were.

I had spotted one of the spectators near Kitai & Benign holding a bottled water and I knew If I could reach and get it to Kitai he could release himself as Osiris did from my trap. I ran full speed to the man and snatched his bottle out of his hand throwing it into the trap where Kitai stood. Lucky it didn’t touch the fire and flew directly inside the trap.

“Sorry,” I said as I sprinted away. “I’ll get you another!”

The man raised his hands as well his eyebrows to show that he was ok with what I had just done and wanted to avoid any confrontation whatsoever.

“You got it!” He replied smiling.

Kitai caught the bottled water and opened it releasing enough water to extinguish the trap from the inside. I ran over to Kitai and Benign.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“Yea, we’re alright,” Kitai responded. “Thank you, Skye.”

“Hey let’s save the thank you’s for when the fight is over ok?”

Kitai and Benign both smiled as they were the ones who taught me to never celebrate until the fight was surely over.

“You’re right.” He said. “Let’s take this beast down.”

We all stood beside each other in unity waiting for Assail to approach us again. He came walking but this time slowly. He had underestimated his opponents and felt slight consequences of that. Without hesitation, we all rushed to him at the same time attacking.

It was amazing how he could hold his own in hand to hand combat against three of us but nonetheless, he was blocking, evading and attacking like there was only one of us. We managed to get the best of him at on point when Benign jumped out of the scuffle and used his air manipulation to wrap Assails feet together allowing for me to attack his lower body with no repercussions from his legs. I struck with precision directly in his left rib cage and Kitai came with a haymaker from the right side slamming his fist of fire into Assails face. The air hold on his legs released as he flew into a nearby building.

He stood up quickly but we could tell he was hurt. He looked at us and began laughing in an evil manner.

“You think you can defeat me?” He exclaimed. ’I am the most powerful Demi-God in Astral!”

“And soon you’ll just be the most recently deceased Demi-God in Astral!” Benign shot back.

“You imbecile!” Assail yelled as he ran to the middle of the street where we initiated another melee between the 4 of us.

Punch for punch and kick for kick Assail was just as fast as all 3 of us. It was nearly impossible to land an attack on him even with two others trying at the same time.

Finally, as he ducked a hook coming from the right side his face met with a knee propelling him backward away from us down the street. When he stood this time it was slower. As he stood I could see him shaking his head in reaction to the devastating knee attack. I could tell that he had gotten a lot angrier.

He released a war cry that was similar to the roar of a lion. The spectators standing around were startled by the sound and fear struck their faces. He then raised both of his hands by his side with his palms facing upward and began levitating into the sky.

“I have enjoyed our battle thus far but I’m afraid it ends here.” He said.

With his upside-down umbrella of wind under him, Fire around one first and water around the other. The skies darkened as clouds covered the rays of the sun and what seemed like a sunny day was now turning into a storm. Thunder crackled loudly and lightning strikes lit up the dark skies. The storm reminded me of the day at the library when the power went out and I heard Ms. Cruise’s voice screeching through the hallways.

“You two be careful,” Kitai said as he took flight towards Assail.

Assail threw his hands and front him in direction of Kitai and suddenly it seemed like Kitai was frozen in the air. The air pressure from Assail’s hands was strong enough to stop Kitai mid-flight and begin pushing him in the opposite direction back to the ground. Kitai attempted to throw fireballs but the pressure simply blew them out like candles as they left his palms. Soon enough Kitai was back at square one on the ground with us.

“What can we do? we can’t win in the sky.” Benign said.

“That’s true but he can’t get Skye or the book up there,” Kitai responded. “I’m not sure what he’s doing but he’ll come down.”

Just as Kitai said, Assail started spinning faster than a fully charged electric drill. The wind had vanished from beneath him as he came crashing to the street near where we were standing.

Upon impact with the ground there was a slight earthquake felt across the entire district I’m sure but the street we were on cracked down the middle and we all fell to the ground as well as most of the spectators around. The landing was so strong it altered our view of Assail as there were smoke and rocks still falling to the ground after the impact.

When the dust settled Assail was not there but rather a massive empty hole in the ground. The onlookers were all shocked, stunned and scared for what would happen next. There was a silence as Kitai, Benign and I scanned around for any sign of Assail. Not a sound in the town except the wind blowing close to our ears.

Kitai signaled for us to get back to back so he would not be able to sneak attack us and we could have a 360-degree view of the area. We stood in the middle of the street gazing through the sea of watchers trying to spot where Assail had gone but he was nowhere to be found.

Then all of a sudden there was another tremor under our feet but smaller than the first. When I looked down to asses the ground at my feet I saw Assail’s hand come blasting out from under the ground grabbing our ankles and essentially pulling us into the ground leaving only our heads exposed in the middle of the street.

Assail then burst out of the ground in front of me. Now towering over the three of us, Assail walked in a circle around us.

“Did you fools actually think you could beat me?” He asked. “A couple of teenagers and one guy with only two manipulation powers.”

“You lost this war before you started it.” He gloated. “and after I take your soul of fire I’m going to kill your mom the same way I killed his and take over this wretched Cave Region like half of them want me to anyway.”

With my body underground and caved in with no moving room I felt like I was running short of breath. Almost like when you go too deep under water. It was the like the concrete was expanding underground and squeezing the life out of us. My eyes filled with tears as I could feel the pressure closing in. I tried my best to keep my tears inside as my skin was ripped by the concrete.

I looked to the sky and I could see what looked like a bright light. However it wasn’t the sun, it didn’t burn my eyes to look at it. Actually, the light was rather pleasant and peaceful. I stared into the light and began smiling as a single tear fell from my eye and came rolling down my cheek.

I had always thought the movies were bluffing about actors near death seeing a light. Nevertheless, I was finally staring at my own and it was beautiful.

“Seeing the light is real,” I thought to myself.

All of a sudden my beautiful light was suddenly covered by a dark figure that was Assail standing over me.

“I’ve never been one to waste time on others who didn’t have what I wanted,” He said. “but you two deserve to die honorably by my hand for protecting her with your lives. I’m sure with all of these people witnessing your deaths your stories will last through the ages. The sad part about that is that it ends now!”

Assail rose his hands in the air revealing a sort of water pole. I was unsure what it was until the pole solidified into ice and a brick formed on the top of it forming a sledgehammer that he held high above his head.

“Now you die!”

My eyes widened as he inhaled in preparation to forcefully slam the sledgehammer down on our craniums.

“This is it.” I thought to myself.

I looked up at Assail directly in his eyes and he looked down in mines as well. I saw him begin the motion of swinging the sledgehammer down when it happened.

All of a sudden there was a massive flaming arrow that pierced through Assails back and stopped with the edge of the arrow directly over my head dropping a single drop of Assail’s blood on my face.

His pupils shrank to normal size and the sledgehammer turned into water and dirt falling on him. Then there was another arrow that also pierced his back and stopped parallel to the other arrow. Assail’s eyes widened with the puncture of the second arrow. He coughed lightly twice which made a little blood come out of his mouth as he glared at the arrows sticking through his body. I was sure Kitai and Benign were more confused than me considering they couldn’t even see what was happening behind their heads but they were silent.

Finally, a third arrow came whistling through the air from the opposite direction striking Assail in the top of his head as he was looking down at the other two arrows. His eyes closed and he fell backward in what looked like slow-motion but may have just been me losing consciousness from being under the concrete too long. When his body hit the ground the arrows all shifted until they were standing the same height. Assail was Dead.