Breaking The Balance

Breaking the Balance - The Difference Between Fantasy and Reality

Jordan stared at the dagger for a moment longer, his thoughts whirling and racing – coming up with extravagant and impossible scenarios in his head. The scenarios ranged from Caitlin suddenly grabbing the knife and digging it into the nearest person's back, to the knife being possessed and cutting his friend's throats in the knife. Needless to say, fear and fury were the main emotions controlling Jordan at that point – driving him to stride across the field, brandishing the knife in his hand. He spat out what he needed to say, his face tight with rage.

"What is this? Do you own this twisted creation? What are your intentions with it?"

Ianita and Caitlin looked up from where they were standing next to the still shocked Martha, confusion flitting across Ianita's face whilst understanding dawned in Caitlin's eyes. They both watched Jordan carefully, wary that his rage may cause him to lash out and hurt someone by accident. Caitlin moved in front of Ianita, not completely blocking the girl from his line of sight but hidden enough that if he acted in violence, he would hit Caitlin first.

"That's my dagger. I've had it since I was six. I personally hope to stab The Shadows with it but you know, defending you guys is kind of my main objective here."

"I saw this dagger. It was part of a memory that I saw when I was falling in the void – the one that I almost died for. It was locked away by the shadows and it took the combined power of Mianite and Martha to pull it back to me. I faced a line of objects – a pair of wings, a purple cloth, a pair of goggles and a dagger as dark as the void. I know what three of them mean now but I don't know what the dagger foretells. Tell me. Ianite had to have seen this."

Ianita and Caitlin tilted their heads in unison, an act that was slightly unnerving considering the fact that the two of them were such different people. Caitlin had brought out the fighter in Ianita and Ianita had brought out the protector in Caitlin. They would be down two capable warriors if they hadn't started fighting together. Looking over at Ianita, as if seeking permission to speak – Caitlin slid her dagger back into its sheath and spoke quietly, not wanting the others to overhear.

"The wings were a warning of what would happen to Andor. The purple cloth was another warning, this time for Ianite. The goggles represent that creature you saw in the damaged library, the one that warned you that someone was going to die. The dagger, however, was something that Ianite saw little of."

Jordan frowned, the phrasing of Caitlin's words leading him to believe that she knew more than she was letting on. Then again, she always seemed to. Jordan whistled, a familiar whistle that Tom responded to by wandering over to where they were standing – giving Jordan a look of confusion of why he had been summoned. He gestured for Caitlin to continue talking, signing subtly for Tom to listen to what she was saying. Tom was a great liar, which meant that he nearly always knew when someone was lying. It was a handy ability to have around.

"Each object that you saw in the void links to the next one in the sequence. Andor's devotion to Ianite was, in the end, the exact excuse that the king was looking for to punish him. Ianite grieved over her grandson that she never got to meet, weakening her and allowing The Shadows to poison her and cause her to crumble away. As The Shadows had possessed a goddess, they had the ability to create creatures to do its bidding – draining power from Ianite but also making those monstrosities that you met in the library. They couldn't do much at that point, they merely existed and spoke riddles but I guarantee that The Shadows probably has an army of them by now, just as highly trained as we are."

Tom frowned, making the same logical leap that I did. Somehow the creatures were linked to the dagger that Caitlin carried. Each item in the list came with a cost, whether it was Andor and Ianite's lives or the terror and violence that the creatures would rain down upon us very soon.