What I want to fight for

“Chosen one! I have one question for you; did you save Layla? Did you save my daughter?”

Zayden stood his ground, calling out to Reyna as her face perked up. Although she wasn’t entirely aware of what was happening, she answered honestly.

“Y-yeah, I convinced Cecilia to let her go.”

“Okay, then I’m going to give you an option; you can keep going with Cecilia, work for the light kingdom, or you can come back and fight for us! What do you want to do?”

“Huh?”

Reyna’s eyes held themselves wide open with shock; she had no idea how to process what he just said. As her brain only just began to wrap itself around it, Cecilia answered for her with a smug look on her face.

“What a ridiculous notion! What could a kingdom of darkness possibly offer? Grimy streets? A gloomy atmosphere? Complete and utter darkness every day and night? It’s an entirely miserable place!”

Despite the utter outrage of the woman in front of her, Reyna wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted herself. It was true that it didn’t sound like all that nice of a place to be, and all things considered, the people there hadn’t exactly been very nice to her so far, but if that was the case, why did she find herself climbing down from the saddle? Why were her feet slowly taking her forward across the barren ground?

“Chosen one? What are you doing, you can’t possibly be thinking of going with them? We have bright clear skies, lush plant life, delicious food, comfy beds, anything and everything you could ever want! What’s more, once we defeat the dark kingdom together, we’ll send you back home to your family!”

Reyna froze on the spot. She was sure Cecilia had said a bunch of things beforehand, but the only part she really heard was about going back home. Was that really true? If she toughed it out and helped these people, once everything was over and done with, could she actually just go home?

Zayden could see the uncertainty in her face; he could see the direction of her feet begin to sway back to Cecilia. Instead of panicking, however, he simply spoke clearly and calmly.

“We can do the same, you know. If the dark kingdom wins, and we take over the light kingdom, we can simply force them to send you back for us; either way, you can go home.”

Cecilia scoured at she saw as forced pleasantness on his part, eager to yell her criticisms right back at him

“Is that a promise you can even make? From what Juliana told me, you disobeyed the orders of your king to come here and make our deal; you aren’t even a dark sun anymore! You may not even be able to get back into the kingdom’s good graces, let alone ever fight for them again!”

“You’re right, I can’t really promise anything. Logically, this may not be the best choice, but I have this feeling that I need to try!”

He looked straight into Reyna’s eyes, showing determination in what he was saying, but also warmth and thankfulness.

“You saved Layla; logically you had no reason to, but you did it anyway, because it felt right. I’m sorry for the way things started between us; I was desperate to save my daughter, but now I want to make it right …”

Zayden planted one foot forward and placed his hand on his chest, shouting out towards her with all the honesty in his soul.

“... Forget my side of conflict, forget my role as a warrior; I want to help you as a person! It won’t be easy, it may not even be possible; the dark kingdom could kick us out and we could never get anywhere, but I’m determined to try! It may even be easier for you to go with the light kingdom, so I won’t blame you if you side with them; truly, I won’t. But if you choose us, I promise we’ll fight with you until the very end!”

Reyna stood completely still, taking in every word he said, then directed her voice towards the woman behind her.

“Hey, Cecilia, have you ever fought for anything in your life?”

“What do you mean? Of course I have, I’m a soldier; I fight for my kingdom all the time!”

“That’s not what I mean. From what I can tell, your family is rich, right? Have you ever had to struggle for anything, like work to get food on the table, or get your family through hard times? Ever had to buy your own clothes, make your own meals, or struggle for something you really, really wanted?”

“I … I’m not sure I understand you, chosen one. Food’s not a struggle; we have an abundance of it all the time. And whenever I want something, I can just ask my parents for it, or the servants we have will bring it to me. Oh, they could bring you things too if you ever want anything!”

“And your servants, how do you feel about them?”

“What do you mean, ‘feel about them’?”

“I mean, do you appreciate what they do? Do they get treated nicely for their work and everything?”

“Huh? What is there to appreciate? They’re just doing their jobs; that’s what we raise them to do, after all.”

Reyna started to get nervous. To a certain extent, she could understand the woman’s perspective, but now things started to sound a bit more sinister.

“What if one of your servants wanted to leave, and do something different with their lives … what would your family do with them then?”

“Oh, we just throw them into the deadlands in that case. I mean, if they aren’t being useful, what’s the point in keeping them around?”

That’s what Reyna was worried about. She’d gotten hints of it before, but now it was set in stone for her; this was the true Cecilia, one who didn’t care at all about people she saw as below her. Reyna could feel her face begin to drip with sweat as the woman kept talking, even lightening her tone as she remembered something.

“Oh! Actually, now that you mention it, I do remember one time I did have to struggle to get something! I always wanted to be a soldier growing up, and when I was the right age, papa got me enlisted immediately. I got bored of it after a while though, and soon I set my sights on becoming a ‘ray of light’ and working directly under lady Juliana!”

Suddenly her whole mood dropped again, looking down with her eyes welling up as she reminisced.

“But when I told papa I wanted to become one, he said it wasn’t possible, it was a position you had to ‘prove yourself for’, apparently. It was frustrating; life as a soldier suddenly just became so boring, day in and day out doing the same thing, standing by that same gate, especially when I knew something more exciting was so within my reach!”

Her expression returned to malice, pointing her finger straight towards Zayden without a shred of remorse.

“That’s why I killed that boy’s parents! I mean, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; a dark sun coming straight to my doorstep! How could I not take it!?”

In that moment, Zayden lost any patience he had left, immediately turning into shadows and dashing forward.

“You heartless monster!”

As he shot past, Layla called out in desperation.

“Dad, no! You can’t!”

He sprung out, brandishing his knife and heading straight for Cecilia’s neck, only for her to grab him by his own with little effort. She tightened her grip, causing him to scream with pain, and causing Layla to try and save him. Unfortunately, as she threw her tentacles forward, a hoard of giant Hidreuze sped out of the various skeletons strewn around the landscape; dozens of them, larger than she’d ever seen before, all swarmed her at once, rendering her unable to move. Despite the suffering of the victims around her, Cecilia dug her eyes straight into Reyna, booming her commands forward.

“I’m tired of all this nonsense, chosen one; come with me.”

Reyna’s nerves began to prickle all over; she could feel Cecilia’s will trying to spread to her. She didn’t want to follow it, she tried to resist it, but the woman hardened her authority.

“I said, come with me.”

The power of her will doubled; Reyna felt it pulling down on her very being. Cecilia’s words rang through the inside of her mind as it seared with pain. She desperately grasped her scalp with both hands, screaming with agony as the words ‘come with me’ resonated endlessly inside her. ‘Come with me’, ‘come with me’, ‘come with me’, ‘come with me’; it was all she could hear.

Zayden watched her struggle; the way she desperately held on made it look like her mind itself was going to implode. As Cecilia continued to strangle him by the throat, as Layla continued to have her skin pierced and energy drained by the fangs of a pile of monsters, he steeled himself and called out towards Reyna with all his might.

“Don’t think about Cecilia, or even about us! Decide for yourself what it is you really want to do!”

His words shot right into Reyna’s ears, shattering the other voices surrounding her. Instead of Cecilia’s will, something else filled her mind; thoughts of Emily, the sister she loved with all her heart. The sister who made her feel like life was worth living after their mother died. The sister who, despite her own uselessness and complacency to stay in her room doing nothing for months on end, was always happy to text her every day, visit her every week, and always greet her with a huge, honest smile, every single time.

She missed her; she missed her so, so much. It hurt not to be with her, it hurt more than anything she’d ever been through. She wanted to see her more than anything; it felt like she could go against the whole world if it meant seeing her again, but then she remembered, she was also the sister she wanted to be better for. That’s what she’d said to Susanne, and it was the promise she made to herself that very night before coming here. That was it; that was what she wanted …

“What I want to do is … is …”

She wanted to become someone who her sister could look up to, who she could rely on for safety and stability; someone who could help her achieve the best in her life. She wanted to become someone Emily could be proud of. If she worked with Cecilia, someone who discarded suffering, who entirely disregarded the feelings of other people, would Emily be proud of that? Could she possibly face her again if she took that path? No, no of course she couldn’t.

On the other hand, these other people, Zayden and Layla, came back to help her; they were currently fighting, and suffering, just for her sake alone. How could she possibly look after Emily if she couldn’t help the people in front of her right now? That’s when it clicked for her, and colourless elemental energy began to swirl around her chest; her spirit had fallen into place. The one thing that she wanted to do, from the bottom of her heart, was …

“... I want to protect people!”

Her newfound conviction roared out as she screamed towards the sky, an explosion of energy bursting out of her body, scattering in all directions and blowing almost everything except Layla and Zayden clean off their feet. The Hidreuze scattered and squirmed as they all landed on their backs, and Cecilia fought to push herself back up, whilst Reyna stood firm, confident, digging her eyes flowing with courage straight into Cecilia as her voice echoed throughout the deadlands.

“Cecilia … I’m done listening to you!”