The town engulfed in darkness

Helia tried to remain calm.

Her body was full of adrenaline, still riding the high of her successful performance. Only, now, chaos surrounded her, and she had an actual reason to feel afraid.

Amidst the yelling and running, she could see soldiers running towards the biggest part of the plaza. Everyone else seemed to want to go in the opposite direction, but she could not make out why. Not like she was going to question their judgement, anyway.

“Helia! The roofs!”, echoed Ceres' voice inside her mind. She focused her Handling downwards, and aiding herself with a gust of Wind, she jumped on top of the closest house.

From there she could see the plaza easily. And what she saw horrified her.

Stalls and tables had been knocked over and thrown around as people tried to flee. The bonfire had collapsed and spilled onto the floor, the flowers and decor that had been connecting everything now on fire, menacing nearby buildings. She could see guards carrying people, helping children, and fighting… Something.

In the distant darkness, she could not make out what it was. But then, she understood. It was the darkness itself. Just like what they had fought in the forest, only now, there were more. Many more.

Forcing herself to keep watching through the uneasiness, she also noticed all the people that weren’t moving. Their bodies were slowly being covered in the same dark liquid that had attached itself to Ceres. A young man tried to carry a child whose form was mostly darkness by then, only for the darkness to start seeping into him, too. He collapsed on the spot with his eyes still open, refusing to let go of the child.

“Let’s go, Helia!”, yelled Ceres. “It’s too dangerous! There are too many of them!”

She looked at him, horrified. “How could you say that? We have to help!”

“And how, exactly, can we help?”

“Well, we could…”, do what we did in the forest earlier today, she meant to say. But then she realized two things.

First, that would mean using Divine Handling in front of the whole town of Varsey.

Second, this was probably her fault. If she had reported the attack in the forest, maybe they could have prevented this. Maybe all the people being eaten by the darkness would still be dancing, eating, and enjoying their life.

She felt Ceres' gaze, yet no words came. But she knew him. She knew that, despite what he had said, he thought she could, and should, do something about it. That she was capable, for some reason.

Her heart was beating wildly inside of her chest. Her mind wandered. The whole town working together. The smile on the face of Marie, the star of the party. The kindness of the group who had come to see her and given her enough courage to perform her new act.

Ceres hurt in the forest, because she hesitated.

She looked at him, and nodded. He could see her hands shaking, but he didn’t mock her. He just turned towards the plaza, and flew. Helia followed him, jumping from roof to roof, riding the Winds he created.

Without a sound, she landed next to a guard who was fighting desperately with one of the creatures. Terrified townspeople were huddled behind him as he tried to hurt a shadow with his sword. She landed besides him with her hand raised, pointing it towards the creature.

“Miss, stay back!”, he yelled. But it was too late. A ray of moonlight cut through the night and struck the shadow, directly.

With a screech, it tried to lunge at Helia. But Ceres was already there to intercept it, his true form ready to protect her. The creature was blown away with a powerful gust of Wind instead of landing between them, and Helia took the chance to fire a second burst of Divine.

After a few seconds of squirming, it disappeared into the night, and with it, the darkness corrupting some of the people behind them. A man woke up, gasping for air, his eyes wide open in shock. A child and another young man hugged him, in tears.

“Take them to a safe place. Do not touch the creatures”, she said to the shocked soldier.

Before he could answer, she ran to the next spot of darkness she could see. Helia let her discomfort guide her towards the threats, but all she could find were immobile shapes laying on the ground. Knowing it couldn’t hurt the people inside the darkness, she tried shining her moonlight on one of them. Where the light hit it, the darkness disappeared, but then came back as soon as she stopped.

“You probably need to destroy the source to save them”, Ceres stated, mirroring what she was thinking.

But she didn’t need to think too long about it. Her Handling had attracted two creatures, who had been hiding further in the nearby alley.

They ran at Helia, and she prepared to fire two beams using both of her hands. She hit one of them with ease, but the other jumped, using a nearby wall to propel itself at her, its jaw wide open.

Ceres was holding the first one down, too far to help. Helia could see the despair in his eyes as he called out to her. The shadow got bigger, and bigger, until she couldn’t see him anymore, and then, it started closing down on her.

Seeing it from up close, it took all she had not to throw up. This thing was wrong, so wrong, it didn’t belong in the world, or anywhere. If it touched her, she would also become wrong.

Instinctively, she raised her arms in a protective stance. The creature tore through her decorative sleeves with ease.

“It took me so long to sew that”, she thought, as it bit her.

Darkness. An endless void. She tried opening her eyes, but they were already open, and she couldn’t move them. Everything was wrong, she felt wrong. What was happening? Where was she? Who was she?

Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. This darkness was wrong, and she shouldn’t be in it. She shouldn’t be anywhere. She shouldn’t be.

“Real darkness does not exist”, she remembered a voice telling her. Who did it belong to? “Even in the deepest of nights, you can look at the sky, and see the Moon.”

The Moon. She remembered it. She loved it. She owed everything to the Moon. If only she could see the Moon, one last time.

And then, a faint glow appeared. She tried to reach it, but she did not have hands. She tried to walk towards it, but she did not have legs. So, she yearned for it with her heart, and the light grew brighter, and brighter, until, suddenly, the darkness was no more.

She heard a terrible screech and looked down. Her arm was there, again, and it was glowing. The shadow that had started to cover her was retreating back to its host, who was squirming and suffering, unable to let go, until, finally, it disappeared into nothingness with a dark smoke.

Ceres cawed and scrambled to her side. The creature he had been fighting with had also dissolved, thanks to her first hit.

“Helia! Helia! Are you okay? It got you, and I couldn’t do anything!”, his voice was full of worry. She caressed his head, and she noticed her hand was also glowing. Actually, it was her whole body, now that she looked at it.

“I’m fine”, she said, as she collapsed. She was so, so tired, suddenly.

He stopped her fall with his wing, and only then realized the faint glow covering her.

“You have to turn it off, Helia!”, he yelled. “You’re pushing your Soul too much!”

“Oh, yeah, that’s a thing that can happen, alright”, she giggled, feeling dizzy.

Even the mightiest of Handlers partnered with the most powerful of Spirits couldn’t Handle endlessly. They were limited by the innate capability of their Soul, and the power their Spirit could offer them. After some point, they needed to take care of their bodies, rest, eat, and drink.

She reached for the power and turned it off, but her body didn’t stop glowing. She was so sleepy, too. It would be so easy to just, sleep…

“Not like that! That’s my Wind!”, Ceres shook her awake. “Stay with me, Helia! If you lose conscience like this, it will consume you!”

Using the last of her strength, she called upon the other source of power that her partner provided her, and turned the switch off. Slowly, her body lost its gleam, and she started to feel less weak.

She sat up, still supported by Ceres. The people that had been injured in the alley had also woken up a while back, and were looking at them.

“Don’t just stand there!”, barked Ceres, communicating directly with the minds of everyone around them. “Either get yourself to safety, or bring her, the one who saved you all, something to eat and some water!”

Shocked into action, the people around them started moving. They took the children and the physically injured, and left. Ceres was about to curse them all when three young men came back, bringing some bread they swore a bit too hard hadn’t been on the floor, as well as some glass of juice they had found miraculously intact.

“Here, give me that floor bread”, said Helia, still on the ground herself.

Ceres snorted, helping her sit up straight with one wing, and passing her the food with the other. She ate it without thinking too much about the current level of cleanliness of the streets.

“What was that?”, she asked Ceres, still chewing.

“You covered your body in a thin layer of Divine, creating a sort of armor. Good thinking, but very draining. We will have to work on that one after we’re out of this mess”, he answered as she gulped down the juice. It was warm, but still fruity and nourishing.

For now, this would have to do. She was already feeling better, but she knew it would not last. She needed to rest, and a real meal. But she couldn’t afford the time right now.

With the help of Ceres, she stood up. As she feared, there were still some shadowy lumps on the floor. At least one creature still remained.

“You can’t”, said Ceres.

“See, for once, we agree”, answered Helia, laughing as he rolled his eyes. “And yet, I have to.”

She walked back into the plaza, where two brave Handlers had stayed behind and were trying to control the fire before it destroyed the whole town. She recognized the elderly woman who had been lighting candles, and her firefly Spirit. A teenager stood alongside her, accompanied by a carp Spirit skillfully swimming through the air. They were both summoning as much water as they could while the elder woman tamed the flames.

As Helia was about to approach them, one of the creatures surged from the shadows. Unable to react in time in her dazed state, she watched in horror as the beast ran at them, but the elder lady seemed unfazed. Her Spirit flew at the thing, the gems that made up its body shining brighter than ever as it made a wall of Fire between them. The creature stopped, but it didn’t seem like it was the flamed that had stopped it. Growling, it retreated back into the shadows.

“How did you do that?”, asked Helia, amazed.

“They hate light” answered the woman curtly, and turned her attention to the fire once again.

Now that she was closer, she could see that both women were covered in sweat and exhausted. Yet, they refused to give up. They had to protect their home.

Helia couldn’t help with the fire, but she could help with the creature harassing them. To provoke it, she threw a gust of Wind at the pitch-black darkness enshrouding the nearby stall where it had hidden itself. The shadow started shaking, and slowly, took its usual four-legged shape.

Before the beast could do anything, Ceres lunged at it, and Helia shot a single ray of moonlight. She was still nearing her limit, and she didn’t know how many more of them were left. The light connected, and angered the creature further as its body began to evaporate.

Not wanting to Handle any more than needed, Helia started dancing with the beast. With the help of Ceres' wind, she jumped over it, landing behind it. Another step to the side as it pounced towards her new position, Ceres still helping her. She turned around it, always far enough to avoid getting bit, but never too far, keeping its attention. Until, eventually, it couldn’t move anymore, and only a faint smoke remained for a few more seconds.

One by one, the remaining shadowy lumps became human. Helia sighed with relief.

“It’s not over”, said Ceres, looking at the church, where lights flickered through the stained-glass windows. Only then did she comprehend that she had been trying to avoid looking at the stage that separated her from the entrance of the church. Despite the fire and the light of the Moon, it was unusually dark.

She focused on the upsetting feeling invading her mind when she looked at it. Doing her best not to avert her eyes, or her heart, she tried to make the source out. A few seconds later, the food she had eaten not long ago threatened to escape her stomach, so she let go. But she felt pretty sure, now.

“I think it’s just one”, she said, steadying her breathing. Ceres nodded, and they ran towards the stage.