Code of Shadows

Gone (Part 26)

The Malacri froze in place for several seconds, then smirked evilly. He twitched his fingers, then was gone. I jumped back, confused. Then heard a long, loud cackle from behind me. I turned just in time to see the Malacri thrust his long knife through Mom's stomach.

I screamed and sprinted towards the Malacri. I should have killed him when I had the chance. The Malacri swirled to the left, and stopped right in front of Arin and put the dagger to his neck. I saw Arin's eyes widen, and tears to start to form in his eyes. I stopped dead in my tracks. I had covered half the distance to the platform in my mad sprint, but that wasn't enough. I needed to be there now, not after somebody else died.

The Malacri laughed. "Now what are you going to do? One wrong move and he dies." This was bad, very, very bad. The Malacri turned away from me, "Grab her." I felt hands pulling me to my knees, and binding my hands behind my back. I didn't take my eyes off Arin and the Malacri for one second. Once I was fully in their control, the Malacri laughed unpleasantly.

"Never trust a Malacri to keep their word." He then drew his sword back and cut at Arin's throat.

It all happened at once. My hands slipped magically out of their bindings, while everyone around me was blown back by an unseen force. I reached out my hand, and saw a small bubble form around Arin, and the Malacri fall dead to the hard wood of the platform. The blade glance off of the shield, and went flying out of the Malacri's hand. I got off my knees and ran towards Arin.

I was almost there, when I heard a gasp. I turned my head slightly to see who had made the noise. I gasped, and redoubled my efforts to get to the stage. It seamed to take forever. Everything came in and out of focus so quickly I didn't know what was happening.

I made it to the platform, and plowed over it, then collapsed at my father feet. He had already pulled the sword out of himself, and he was cradling Mom in his arms. I tried to get my magic to work, but there was absolutely none left. My multi spell magic had taken the last drop of it, and it had been within millimeter of taking my own life force, but I didn't care. All I cared about was my family. I cried then. My tears coming in torrents down my face. Mom was lying next to me, and she reached out her hand, and grasped mine with her already cold hands. She squeezed my hand and I looked up. Her eyes were filled with love, and tears.

"Go..." She said. "Raise your brother for us, and know that we are proud of you, we always have been." She took a deep breath, and stared up at Dad. They had a moment all to themselves, even though their blood was mixed together on the floor and they were dying. I tried again to find my magic, but I found it as empty as it had been previously. I applied pressure to Mom's wounds.

"Your not going to die, not now!" She smiled sadly at me.

"Go, go now. Take your brother, care for him. We knew that we wouldn't make it to Gobeithio with you, go, and know we love you."

"No, " I sobbed. "You will make it there, you will be happy, and you will live!"

"No, no sweetie," she gulped. "We don't belong in Gobeithio, you and Arin do. We are stuck in the old ways of Almosa. There is no knew learning for us. It is our time, know we love you, and that we are proud of you. Now go." She said it so calmly. She gasped, and stared into Dad's eyes. In that moment I saw all the love they shared. The last part of my already broken heart broke. I turned away to find Aala. She had tears in her eyes. I begged her with her eyes to do something, and she did. She wordlessly levitated Mom and Dad off the ground. They didn't care, but the left over of the Malacri's men did. They charged at us. we ran for our lives into the forest. I had hot tears rolling down my cheeks, and Arin's small hand in mine. The trees seamed endless, until finally, we sprinted out of the dark and droopy forest. The fog of the forest stayed behind us, and the sky was clear, the air was clear, and the stars painted the sky. Everything was beautiful. I turned, and stared back at the fog, the Malacri's men couldn't get through it, and they were all stuck on that side of the boarder. We walked several minutes away from the forest then stopped. Dad had already gone, and his body was beginning to get stiff. I brushed the hair out of his eyes, and kissed his cheek. Then went to Mom. I sobbed into her chest, and she petted my hair.

"It is all right, you will be all right," She gasped. She had tears in her eyes, and I knew she was close to her end too. I reached one last time. No magic, then a small and fleeting thought came into my head, you cannot heal Malacri wound with magic, they must heal naturally.  I gave up trying, and just sat their comforting Mom. Her breaths came less and less frequent, and I started to cry harder. Just when I though she was gone, she opened her eyes one last time, her beautiful brown eyes, and pulled herself up to kiss both Arin's and my foreheads.  She relaxed and closed her eyes again and peacefully slipped into the void.

I pulled Arin into my arms, and let him cry into my shirt. I just stared at nothing.

We must have been sitting there for hours before the a few birds started to sing in the distance, and I noticed a few signs of dawn. I finally nudged Arin awake, as he had fallen asleep in my arms. I set him on his feet, then had him follow me towards two trees, I dug my hands into the dirt, and started to dig. Arin joined me, and soon after Aala started to help too. The ground was soft and rich, and easy to dig through.

We dug for a while, then finally, I walked over to Mom and Dad and levitated them over to the newly dug hole. I set them in at the same time side by side, then I felt Belle stir in my mind. A moment later I saw her next to me, she gently waved her hand, and I saw each of my parents faces soften, their hands held each others, and they looked peaceful. The dirt gracefully pilled itself exactly were it had been previously. You could tell that the dirt was fresh, Belle then turned to me and Arin, she put a seed in each of our hands. I had no clue what type of seed, but I didn't care. I felt for Arin's hand, then led him to our parents grave. I dug two small holes with his help, right over each of Mom and Dad's hearts, then we each dropped out seed into the hole, and covered seed up. Teardrops pebbled the ground, and we backed away. I focused on the scenery. There was a large lake down the hill, and flowers bringing life into the whole area, you couldn't see the deadly forest from here, there were no other trees on this hill, and you could just barely see mountains in the background. This place was beautiful. I focused back on the grave in front of me. The two trees we had planted had grown into strong saplings with the help of Belle's magic. I smiled at the beautiful resting place in front of me, then put one final touch to the grave. I hauled a huge rock over to the grave, and words started to inscribe themselves in the stone.  

Lucy and Evan Agathist
They were strong and kind when with us.
Like a backbone for many.
So we wish them now, peace and strength,
till we meet them again.

I turned away numb and lost. But that was not going to stop me. I would do everything for them. I would change the world, and I would make them proud.