Rising Shards

The vision of my parents’ past continued before us. My mother and father, in their teenage years, had apparently been sentenced for some crime and had to escape their city by boat with two others. Tik and I watched as their boat continued on.

“They said they won’t get us if we left the island.” One of the other exiles said. There were two boys with my parents, one hadn’t spoken a word, while the other immediately seemed like a chatterbox.

“Was this all just a game to them?” My father said. He looked devastated.

“We got exiled.” My mother said. “We really got…and they sent that mob after us…”

I felt guilty for the spark of happiness I got from seeing them look so defeated. My guilt was at war with the memory of my encounter with them, where they manipulated me into a random void node to experiment on me and pretty much turn me into a monster.

“Does anyone want to talk?” Mom said.

“About what?” Chatterbox boy asked.

“Introduce ourselves? We haven’t had a proper chance yet.”

“You start.”

“My name is Octa Tarian, and—” She looked like she was going to freak out again. It was another thing that I saw myself in her about. So my mom was capable of being foggy and absentminded and getting all freaked out.

“And what?”

“And…” Mom said. “I’m Octa Tarian, and my father—” She stopped. “I’m not really sure who I am.”

“I’m Neut Galatia. I enjoy long walks on the beach, and counting the stars.” Chatterbox boy had a mocking tone, which Mom looked like she was gonna react to, but she held her tongue. I noticed then that they were all wearing uniforms, blah ones that kind of reminded me of the all gray outfits I almost had to wear had I gone to Staverius Academy.

The other boy had a knife that he sharpened. “Dagro Akuar. From somewhere far away. Hope to return soon.”

Mom frowned at his name, but didn’t raise any objections.

My father gripped his hands together, still staring back at the island city they left. “I’m Arctus Kathron.” He said. “I’m not ready to leave yet.”

“None of us are.” Neut said. “But we have to move on. And by move on, I’m asking to not be the only one paddling please?”

“Why are we even staying together?” Dad asked, grabbing one of the boards. “Where are we going?”

“Do you mean aside from the fact that there was only one boat, or…?” Neut started.

“There’s an island not far from here, I think.” Octa said. “One of the forbidden realms, but we’re forbidden now, so…”

“I’m going home.” Dagro said.

“And that’s it?” My father said. “What about the rest?”

“We have to find a new one,” My mother said. “There isn’t much of a choice besides that.”

“But what if we find out that we hate each other?” My mother asked.

No one had an answer for him.

“We didn’t leave you here,” My father said.

“Wait…” My eyes widened. The memory of my father was looking directly at me. I could never forget those words. “You left yourself here.”

“We didn’t leave you here. We didn’t leave you here.”

It was what he told me right after I resisted the beast tendency.

“Shut it off, please,” I said. “Make it stop.”

“What’s wrong?” Tik asked.

“It’s the things they said,” I said, my voice shaky and my words barely audible. I felt frozen, unable to look away from my father’s stare. “They said them to me when…”

My voice echoed like thunder in the distance. “You can’t…leave me …”

Tik conjured another energy sphere and blasted it toward the vision before us, which absorbed it like dropping a stone in a river.

“It’ll take a second for the images to fade,” Tik said. “Close your eyes if you can.”

“I can’t…” I said. I felt like if I turned around, they’d get me somehow. But I wanted to call out to Stella. Could she see any of this? What if Tik wanted this, and this was all a setup?

“We’re not leaving you. We’re always with you.” Dad said.

“Please, make it stop.” I said, trembling, heart pounding. I felt like I was going to puke. Or faint. Or worse. I feared that if this went on much longer, listening to them was going to make me go all beast tendency. I needed to escape, but I couldn’t move. The vision finally started to fade, but not before Mom’s head whipped my way.

“Always remember, Endora is a part of you.”

I fell to my knees as the vision faded completely, silent heaves from me as I cried. Tik set her cane down, slowly sitting beside me to rub my back.

“I’m sor—” I couldn’t form the words.

“It’s OK, it’s alright, they’re not here,” Tik said. “Just breathe.”

It took a few minutes for me to feel normal-ish again. With the vision faded, Stella rushed over to me and held me close as Caya and Mars helped Tik rise to her feet.

“I’m…that’s so embarrassing.” I said.

“It’s not embarrassing to have trauma,” Tik said. “I’m sorry for rushing you into this.”

The steady sound of the waves helped me clear my mind, but brought me no sense of what I’d just witnessed.

“I’m so confused,” I said.

“I’ve thrown a great deal at you, and I’m certain the cacophony of images you’ve seen makes little sense,” Tik said. “But I promise you, even if you choose to not continue on this path, I will make sure you understand at least what you saw today.”