Element Wielder

Chapter 28

Chapter 28

Falcon opened his eyes. A small room whirled around him before settling. Two open windows let in the morning breeze. By each window stood a small cabinet with a flower pot above it. They were the same ones from Faith’s garden, which meant he was back in Mayor Seth’s home. But how?The last he remembered, he and the Asturian forces were trapped in Ciompi.  

He brought his fingers to his injured eye. The swelling had gone down. Medicinal green leaves were spread over his chest and legs. A thick cream that smelled like death had also been applied to his neck and hands. He made an attempt at getting up to escape the stench, but his sore body forced him back into bed.

“Hey, you’re finally awake,” said Sheridan, striding into the room with a mug of water. The cuts on his arms were gone, as were the bruises on his face.

“Where’s Aya?” 

“She’s fine,” said Sheridan, waving his hand dismissively. “You’re the one who suffered a beating, not her.”

Falcon took a sip of the cool water. “How did we get here?”

“Don’t you remember? Hyatt, you took a harder thrashing than I thought.”

“I vaguely remember, but I might have imagined it. It feels like a dream.”

“No, it was no dream!” he exclaimed, his enthusiasm catching Falcon off guard. “This amazing wielder came out of nowhere and saved us all. No one knows who he really is. He appears and disappears as he pleases. People call him the Ghost Knight.” 

“You seem excited about this.”

“Why shouldn’t I? You saw the way he fought Draknorr while space wielding.”

“He’s a space wielder?” asked Falcon, finally understanding Sheridan’s excitement. Though not as rare as holy or chaos wielders, space wielders were still low in numbers.

“Yes, he created rifts in space and pulled all of us through them. The next thing you know we were back in Asturia. I never thought I’d meet another one of my kind, but on my first mission….” Sheridan took a deep gulp of air. “Can you imagine how much focus and energy is required to create so many rifts? Not even Tamius could accomplish such a feat, and you know how powerful the stories say his space wielding was.”

Aya trudged into the room. “You sound like a child with a shiny new toy.”

“Oh, my dear Nakatomi, this is much more than that. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to see if I can find the Ghost Knight, perhaps he will teach me some new techniques.” He kicked and punched imaginary foes in the air as he strutted out of the room.

Falcon and Aya were left alone staring at each other. He was sure what was on her mind, but he didn’t feel much like talking about it.

“I’m not surprised,” said Aya, breaking the awkward silence.

“What do you mean?”

“Ever since we were children, Lao has craved power.” There was a hint of anger in her voice.

“I knew he wanted power, but I never thought he would resort to this. We have to talk to him, find out what happened.”

“There is nothing to talk about. You saw him. There was no remorse in his eyes.”

“Maybe you’re right,” agreed Falcon. “I still can’t believe he would do this. The blood of all our dead is on his hands.”

“We almost lost you, too,” she murmured, taking a seat at the end of the bed. “You stopped breathing and lost a lot of blood. You only survived because of Faith.” Her voice cracked. “She brought you back from the brink of death.”