The Legend of Voden: The Rise of the Hollow

Chapter 2: Family

Voden lunged towards the falling lamp as it was about to hit the floor. He barely managed to grasp it by the handle when the lamp was barely inches away from a misplaced scroll.

This reminded him of a story that he read long ago, a story about a mother dragon saving her egg from falling off a cliff. He could understand that feeling now. He was relieved that he didn't need to wake up his ice-breathing sister, Iceleta, to put out the fire. Because the last thing he ever needed right now was for his sister to give him a good, long lecture.

Well, he needn't ought to do so anyway. Because his sister was already standing in the doorway.

"Gee, brother. This sure is a nice how-do-you-do," remarked Iceleta with the usual shrillness in her voice. "But you know, I can always enjoy a quiet night."

"If only there was someone here that could keep the noise down for tonight and actually let me sleep for once..."

"I could've," Voden retorted as he rose from the floor. "But thanks to you, I've got a little too...worked up while I was reading, you know?"

Iceleta looked smug when she crossed her arms. "A little too...worked up, you say? Well, the last time you were this worked up, I certainly didn't remember that you could burn the whole place down."

Voden remained silent as he eyed the lamp still in his talons. The white fire flickered once, signaling the final minutes of its light. They needed to move somewhere else if they wanted to talk.

"Voden, are you okay?"

Voden snapped back to reality, and for the first time ever in his life, he thought there was a look of concern on her sister's face.

"Yeah, of course. I'm fine," he replied with a dismissive wave of his wing. "Nothing to worry here."

"Nothing to worry here? Are you sure you're fine with your nightmares again tonight?"

Voden sighed loudly as he placed the lamp on the ground with a clank. The fire flickered once more as if to express his displeasure.

"You know, there is only one thing in this world that is more annoying than my nightmares," he said. "And no, sis. This does not mean that I had any nightmares tonight."

Voden flinched as he saw his sister shot him a look that could pierce through iron armor. He turned his back against her sister as he prepared for what he called The Rant.

"You know The Great Awakening's tomorrow right? You need to get enough sleep for tonight, or else you can't fight well for your class tomorrow. "

"But sis, I-I don't know if..."

Iceleta must've heard the doubt in Voden's voice when he spoke, because she raised her voice even higher than before.

"You know you're better than this, Voden. Tomorrow is a special day for you. You are going to grow up. You're going to finally witness your power. To Awaken to discover your-"

"What's the point of me going when I don't have an element anyway?!"

Iceleta stopped halfway through her rant when she was taken surprise by her brother's outburst. She gawked at him for a while as if she didn't believe his words.

"Voden, I'm sorry..." Iceleta began to apologize. "I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, hey. It's okay." Voden smiled at her as if to assure her that he was okay. Something told Iceleta that his smile wasn't very assuring.

"It's just that some things never change, Iceleta. Like me. "

Iceleta was stunned again by his reply before she finally knew what to do. She looked towards him and stared at him dead in the eye.

"Don't say that," she said, lowering her voice down to a whisper. "You'll find your element soon enough. You will."

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