Dreigiau Book 1: The Gift of Flame

Chapter 23

"Master ZenToYa? I'm sorry to bother you," AsaHi approached him with hesitation.

The man turned his head in a playful, half-upside-down manner and peered at the girl where she peeked shyly at him from behind a tree branch. She just happened to stumble upon him while exploring the wonders of the strange floating islands.

"No bother," he assured her, a fatherly smile creasing his face. "But what did I tell you about calling me Master? Seriously, just Zento is fine."

"But everyone else called you Master," she answered. "At least, they did when they came out to greet us."

He shook his head, "They weren't greeting me like that. There is only one Master of Ceiswyr."

"Master of Ceiswyr?" AsaHi's mind reeled, "I'm not sure I understand."

The man nodded gently, patting the grassy spot next to him in invitation. His wings fluttered once, stretching to relieve the kinks, like a person stretching their arms after a long sleep. Sucking on her lower lip, the girl made her way to stand shyly next to the man of Nefolian legend. In a simple, cross-legged manner, she sat.

"Where do you want to start?" his tone was suddenly very serious.

AsaHi realized that Zento was finally allowing her what she had been yearning for — the chance to ask the millions of questions that clouded her mind. Just as suddenly as she gained this right, she found herself facing the dilemma of what to ask first.

Finally, she took in a deep breath and began, "How did you get here? Everyone thinks you're..."

"Dead?" he supplied.

The girl nodded.

"I don't know that the question should be 'how did I get here,' but rather 'why am I here.'"

She gave him a puzzled look.

"I assure you, I haven't been snuffed out just yet. It wasn't my choice to allow anyone to think I was dead... that was all the work of the Council in Nefol," he said.

AsaHi blinked, "The Council? But why would they do something like that?"

"Their authority was founded on my good name," Zento leaned back, squinting into the sky, as if he, too, was looking for an answer from above. "I suppose they'd rather see me go out in a blaze of glory than to fall into shame. At least then, the legend that founded Nefol would be remembered with pride through the ages."

"Why would the Council see you as shameful?"

"Because of these," the man thumbed back over his shoulders, stretching his wings once again.

Her eyes widened. "They know about..."

"Yes. Some of them do," Zento looked away. "They didn't see this as a good thing. Called it a curse or an infection of the Bane. Whatever they believe, the Council turned on me. Whether that was just an easy excuse to supplant me, I don't know."

AsaHi reached out, placing her hands over one of his. Something within felt so terribly sad for him, "And you just left?"

"At the time, I was running for my life. No one had experienced an Awakening before — I was the first," he said.

"But, SoYa and TsuYa think that you're dead! Couldn't you have at least told them?" she spread her hands in protest.

"Nowadays I wouldn't be so afraid to show them. But back then, for all I knew, I was becoming the monster the Council claimed. I'd never heard of an Awakening before. I knew nothing of it," Zento's eyes grew distant. "In this city, Awakening is something wonderful and beautiful, something to be celebrated. But my own Awakening was very frightening."