Nightmares of The Past

We rise quickly and enter the tent, Yuki is already rushing to Raion's side. He screams in pain, his eyes still shut; he's asleep.

Yuki touches his forehead, “He's burning up…” She places her hands on the prince's forehead, casting a small spell to help lower his body temperature.

Daichi stands beside Raion, holding his hand. The prince convulses as if having spasms and continues to scream. I kneel beside him and as soon as my right hand touches his, it lights up.

A faint black energy, mixed with dark violet, emanates from his body. I don't understand it; his energy should be golden.

“These nightmares aren't imaginary enemies…” I realize it's very real, there's something inside him. Yuki looks at me, puzzled and Daichi nods, realizing the moment he feared has come: the nightmares are becoming reality.

This only means one thing; the enemy is close and it's time to prepare for battle.

By dawn, Raion finally rests peacefully. Thankfully, Daichi also manages to sleep. Meanwhile, Yuki and I take a stroll through the snow tribe's camp.

“I think a bit of peace is good for us,” I tell Yuki as we walk among some fruit trees, “we've hardly had a break in almost a cycle and a half.”

“I didn't think you'd last this long,” she says, breaking our embrace to pick a nearly round, violet fruit, biting it.

“Hey, no need to be mean just because I'm a level higher than you,” I tease, hitting a sore spot.

“Only sometimes!” she exclaims. I pull her by the arm for a kiss and I taste the sweetness of the fruit on her lips.

“Let me eat in peace!” she says, but I steal the fruit to take a bite myself.

We gather several fruits as we head back to the tent, greeting the tribe members along the way. A strong storm surrounds us, usually lasting several days. They are a nomadic tribe called Lumien Heimo, which roughly translates to “snow nomad tribe of the mountains.” Or something like that, I can barely manage one language, the universal one, luckily. I don't think I could handle two.

I look at my right arm, where the Loggex artifact is activated. It was a gift from Raion to keep us always connected. Even though it belonged to his previous guardians, he bought one more so all four of us could have it. I use it to read and research a lot about the world and the past. With the earnings, I also bought a better Zkan to learn and discover more.

Something I never realized when summoning my Minnex is that I can change the language to my ancestral tongue. It's the origin of my energy and magic; my tribe is Earth, with a turquoise-green energy. I summon energy in my hand, watching it glow and dance like a light green flame. I didn’t know my attribute until that day, it’s fire. Yuki has ice and Daichi earth.

“Thinking about your energy again, Kai?” Yuki asks, watching me. She does the same, her cold blue energy mixing with mine for a moment. But then they fade, or she fades them. “They're not compatible, none are.”

I think she's recalling when I suggested combining energies against a rock beast several months ago, but that's not what I'm thinking about. "It would be nice if they were. Imagine the possibilities... somehow, I merged with Loaw's energy, even if it was just a buff, I know... but we couldn't replicate that moment."

She nods and leans on my shoulder as we walk back to the tent.

We start cooking a sweet and sour, fruity breakfast. In this tribe, they eat a lot of rice for every meal, even breakfast.

After a while, the prince wakes up, and reflexively, Daichi does too when he feels movement inside the tent. We eat in silence, occasionally glancing at Raion, waiting for him to speak, then at Daichi, urging him to talk. We need to know what's happening and what to do next. We knew this moment would come; Raion warned us he could feel something, but he never specified and for some reason, it seems like he didn't want to.

“I'm sorry…” Raion begins, breaking the silence at last. “I think I owe you a full explanation. I wasn't entirely honest before.”

“HA! I knew it!” I blurt out, always sure he was hiding something. Yuki gives me a stern, disappointed look.

“Let him speak, Kai,” Daichi says with a smile. He knew too, but out of honor and affection for royalty and more nonsense that I didn’t bother to remember. He didn't want to admit or say anything.

“It was mostly for safety, mine and yours… My guardians asked and made me swear not to say anything. But… I consider you my friends and protectors." He says it with a certain fondness that makes me proud to be one of the three personal guards of the future King. Yes, King, I’m sure he will be the King, but I never said my thoughts out loud. “I must be completely honest with you. My power… doesn't belong to any of the five tribes.”

We're stunned by the revelation. There have always been five tribes, five powers, five energies in the world… Who is Raion? And why were there two different energies in his body other than his golden one?

“My power is different. My energy could be said to be the essence of energy… It's hard to explain, but it's as if it allows the union of energies. My Bandhan power is the power of bonding between my allies...” he explains, somewhat shyly, then looks down, seemingly ashamed of something. “In the battle with Loaw and Kiam, we were connected... and I could feel everything they felt.”

“Everything... everything?” Daichi asks, “I'm... sorry, Raion, I hope you can forgive me someday.”

“I already told you I forgave you, Dai,” he says with complete confidence, smiling a genuine smile tinged with sadness. “The past should stay in the past and knowing Kiam, he sacrificed himself so we could survive. His life and experience were also a gift, so we could continue living.”

“But...” Daichi says, tears streaming down his face. Finally, after so long, he's letting go of the guilt and burden he's been carrying.

“There are no 'buts', no resentment. You're free from all blame.” The prince stands up and wraps Daichi in a warm embrace. I glance at Yuki suspiciously, but she shakes her head to shush me.

The prince stays beside Daichi and continues his explanation, “What I'm getting at is... during that battle, I connected us four without your permission. I'm sorry. It gave you more power and resilience. You felt Loaw too, didn't you, Kai?”

I nod. So there was a reason, a way to combine powers. It was him, Raion the Fifth Prince. I smile at the thought while he looks at me, puzzled, then continues.

“Before those two, there were three protectors, but one betrayed me... Our bond broke, but not entirely; I can still feel him. That's why I can feel his energy and see how it flows in me. Even though he turned cruel and evil, I can feel all his suffering. I feel his pure energy trying to break free and return to nature, but his darkness slowly consumes him.”

“So?” Yuki presses, wanting to know the point of Raion's confession-talk. “What can we do? What will we do?”

“I'm telling you all this because... the reason for this pain and nightmares is that they've returned.”

“Returned to massacre the tribes?”

“Very soon... they're reactivating their plans. Something happened on the other side of the world that stopped them, but right now, I can feel everything returning...”

His silence leaves us speechless. It's time to rise and fight. We must stop the Caelux Empire and those jerks from continuing the massacres.

“The moment we've been waiting for and training for day after day, has come.”

“Yes,” says the prince, “It's now, I know where they are.”